"Let's all calm down," Lucius said smoothly, raising his hand to suppress the mounting tension in the air.
"Why does Voldemort need me to get this thing?" Harry demanded, glaring fiercely at the surrounding Death Eaters.
"He spoke the name!" Bellatrix shrieked, her face contorting with rage. "You filthy half-blood!"
"It's quite alright, Bellatrix. He's simply curious," Lucius said, blocking her advance with his arm while maintaining his composed demeanour.
"The prophecy orbs here have been enchanted with powerful magic by the Unspeakables," Lucius explained with obvious satisfaction. "Anyone not mentioned in the prophecy who attempts to take one will be driven completely mad by the experience."
"You're really quite fortunate, Potter," Lucius continued, slowly approaching Harry with predatory grace.
"Haven't you ever wondered about the true nature of your relationship with the Dark Lord?" Lucius's voice became soft and tempting, like a serpent offering forbidden knowledge.
"All the answers you seek are literally in your hands right now, and all you need to do is give it to me," Lucius said with a cold smile.
"Attack now!" Harry shouted without warning.
"Stupefy!" Six stunning spells shot simultaneously toward the surrounding Death Eaters.
The Death Eaters deflected the attacks with practised Shield Charms, but the deflected spells shattered countless nearby prophecy orbs in explosions of silver light and ancient magic.
At that moment, at the towering peak of the Hall of Prophecy, hidden in the darkness and covered by supernatural clouds, a dragon crouched, holding a purple crystal ball while cursing profusely under his breath.
He wove intricate nets from pure dream essence, dropping them down through the air to catch the released prophecies from the shattered orbs through their mystical connections to the collective unconscious.
Then he pulled the captured prophecies upward and carefully mixed them into his purple crystal collection device.
Far below, the Death Eaters transformed into streams of black smoke, continuously pursuing Harry and his companions through the maze-like corridors of prophecies.
Lucius materialised from the dark mist, reaching out desperately toward Harry's precious burden.
"Zoltraak!" Harry raised his wand with newfound determination, and a brilliant beam of cutting light sliced through the air, striking Lucius and sending him flying backward into a shelf.
The spell continued its destructive path and exploded at the end of the passage, causing countless crystal orbs to rain down in a cascade of shattering glass and releasing magical energy.
The dragon high above cursed even more harshly but had no choice except to dramatically speed up his frantic movements, terrified of missing even a single prophecy in the chaos below.
The group of students scattered at a crucial fork in the pathway, each taking different routes to confuse their pursuers.
A trail of black smoke materialised to block Luna's escape route, and a Death Eater's fist emerged from the darkness, striking Luna hard and sending her tumbling to the cold stone floor.
"Stupefy," Luna gasped, raising her wand to counterattack, but the Death Eater kicked the weapon from her grasp before she could complete the spell.
The Death Eater pressed his wand directly against Luna's throat, deep red light flickering ominously at its tip as he prepared to cast an Unforgivable Curse.
But Luna smiled serenely at him and placed her palm against the Death Eater's abdomen. An attack spell exploded with tremendous force, blowing the surprised Death Eater away from her.
At the same time, black smoke began rising from Luna's own body as she tapped into abilities that shouldn't have been possible for someone her age.
"Accio wand!" Luna cast a wandless summoning spell, calling her weapon back to her hand, then immediately hit the stunned Death Eater with a powerful Stunning Spell.
"Luna!" Neville called out as he ran toward her from behind.
Behind him, Bellatrix suddenly appeared like a nightmare made manifest and cast a vicious Cruciatus Curse directly at Neville's back.
"Ahhh!" Neville screamed in agony and stumbled forward, bringing Luna down with him as they both crashed to the floor.
In the central corridor, the remaining members of the group continued their desperate flight through the Department of Mysteries.
A Death Eater's black smoke floated alongside Harry, and a grasping hand reached out to snatch the glowing prophecy orb from his protective grip.
"Silencio!" Hermione immediately shot out a ring of silver light. The Death Eater's magic was instantly sealed, causing his smoke form to split apart and dissipate.
The pursuing Death Eaters behind them witnessed this display of advanced magic and shuddered with new respect, no longer daring to carelessly use Apparition in their attacks.
At the same time, Hermione flicked her wand with calculated precision, causing prophecy orbs on the surrounding shelves to begin falling in carefully orchestrated avalanches. Each sound of shattering glass made the dragon high above feel his heart bleed a little more.
They ran desperately through the twisting passages, finally pushing open a heavy door to discover a room filled with hanging planets that rotated slowly in magical orbits.
Ginny looked back at their pursuers, gathered an enormous amount of magical power, and unleashed a maximum-strength area attack spell at the Death Eaters flooding through the doorway behind them.
'My dear sister, oh no,' Aiden thought with genuine anguish, feeling like someone had stabbed him directly in the back.
The violent explosion toppled multiple shelves holding crystal orbs throughout the Hall of Prophecy, and even more precious orbs crashed wildly to the stone floor below.
The Aiden hiding in the concealing clouds had no choice but to reveal his dream nets directly, desperately catching as many prophecies as physically possible while they were still recoverable.
At the same time, he infused the hidden power of Order from the deeper layers of the prophecies into the Death Eaters' bodies as they passed beneath him.
This ancient power normally wouldn't cause any immediate harm, but if they were ever infected by chaos in the future, the results would be catastrophic for them.
The Death Eaters dodged the falling debris for several tense minutes and eventually realised that the shattered prophecies and the suddenly appearing nets didn't actually pose any direct threat to them, so they resumed their relentless pursuit of the fleeing students.
The chase continued through the Planetary Chamber, the Brain Room, and the Time Room. One by one, Harry's companions fell behind, captured or injured by their supernatural pursuers.
Finally, in the Death Chamber with its ominous stone archway, Harry was tripped by a piece of fallen debris and crashed heavily to the floor.
The surrounding Death Eaters quickly formed an encircling formation around him, trapping him completely. They held his captured friends as hostages, making Harry hesitate to take any aggressive action that might endanger them.
At this desperate moment, Harry regretted immensely not listening to Aiden's repeated advice to practise Occlumency properly with Snape, no matter how unpleasant the lessons had been.
"Heh heh heh heh, did you really think, or rather, are you so incredibly naive as to believe, that a handful of children could possibly subdue experienced wizards like us?" Lucius asked mockingly.
He walked over, leaning heavily on his ornate cane, though it was obvious that his leg had been broken during the battle and was causing him considerable pain.
The other Death Eaters weren't in much better condition. Some had their noses cut off by cutting curses, others were still bleeding from various wounds, and all of them looked significantly worse for wear.
Unfortunately, Harry and his group were still too inexperienced in actual combat and hadn't delivered the killing blows that would have ended the threat permanently, instead giving the Death Eaters opportunities to recover and regroup.
Lucius once again reached out toward Harry with growing impatience, commanding him to surrender the prophecy orb immediately.
With no other viable options and his friends' lives hanging in the balance, Harry reluctantly prepared to give the crystal ball to Lucius.
But then, brilliant white light descended behind them like the arrival of salvation itself, and a wonderfully familiar figure appeared before Harry's astonished eyes.
"Stay away from my godson," Sirius declared firmly, then punched Lucius directly in his aristocratic nose with tremendous satisfaction.
Lupin, Tonks, Kingsley, Moody, and more Order of the Phoenix members appeared in rapid succession, Apparating into the chamber with their wands already drawn for battle.
They immediately engaged the Death Eaters in fierce magical combat that filled the air with flashing spells and desperate shouts.
Lupin let out an inhuman howl and transformed into a magnificent pure white werewolf, then pounced toward Bellatrix with supernatural speed and grace.
Bellatrix was caught completely off guard as his powerful jaws bit deep into her wand hand, drawing blood and making her scream with pain and outrage.
"You disgusting werewolf! How dare you try to infect me with your filthy curse!" Bellatrix's eyes immediately turned red with murderous fury.
"Avada Kedavra!" The sickly green Killing Curse shot toward Lupin like a bolt of death itself.
But Lupin easily leaped high into the air with inhuman agility and dodged the lethal spell with room to spare.
Then he raised his wand again with predatory focus. "Stupefy!"
The powerful Stunning Spell struck Bellatrix and sent her flying backward into the stone wall.
In front of the mysterious Veil of Death, Harry and Sirius joined forces against Lucius and the dangerous Dolohov in perfect coordination.
Sirius used an expertly cast Banishing Charm to send Dolohov spinning through the air to crash into a distant wall.
Harry took advantage of Lucius's moment of confusion and pain to cast a perfectly aimed Disarming Charm, knocking the Death Eater's wand away and leaving him defenceless.
"Well done, James," Sirius said proudly, fighting with increasing vigour as memories of his best friend filled him with renewed strength.
A final Stunning Spell sent Lucius spinning twice in the air before he crashed heavily to the stone floor and lay motionless.
Just then, Bellatrix, who had been lying apparently unconscious on the ground, suddenly sprang back to life with the cunning of a predator.
She raised her wand to cast the Killing Curse directly at Sirius while his back was turned in victory.
But then, amber and deep blue heterochromatic eyes suddenly appeared in Bellatrix's tormented mind with supernatural clarity.
'Do you really want to kill him so quickly?' whispered a voice that seemed to come from her own thoughts. 'Isn't he your beloved brother?' 'Why let him die so easily when there are so many more interesting possibilities?' 'Why not torture him instead, like you did to the Longbottoms? Make him suffer properly...'
Strange, seductive thoughts welled up from the deepest recesses of Bellatrix's twisted heart, so the deadly green light at her wand tip flickered and extinguished, replaced by deep red light that promised agony instead of death.
"Crucio!" The Cruciatus Curse struck Sirius with full force, and he collapsed to the ground, falling into a deep, pain-induced coma rather than tumbling through the Veil.
At the same time, completely unnoticed by anyone in the heat of battle, the black curtain of the Veil of Death that had been fluttering ominously toward Harry's position suddenly seemed to shrink back as if deterred by some invisible protective force.
"Sirius!" Harry cried out in anguish, his expression of joy transforming instantly into horror and despair.
He rushed over and gathered his godfather's unconscious form in his arms, checking desperately for signs of life.
"Retreat immediately!" Moody commanded when he saw how badly the situation had deteriorated. "Everyone out now!"
Bellatrix took advantage of the chaos to grab the precious crystal ball from where it had fallen and sprinted toward the exit with her prize.
Lupin quickly leaped onto the stone platform, grabbing the unconscious Sirius with one hand and Harry with the other, preparing to evacuate them both to safety.
Unfortunately, Harry broke free from Lupin's protective grasp and chased desperately after Bellatrix, driven by rage and the need for vengeance.