It's not easy to explain, but . . .

Chapter 30

                                Chapter 30 : Meanwhile, back at the Ministry

Dan, Rupert, Emma and Tom sat there, staring at Narcissa as she finished her story, then they swiveled their heads to look at Sirius and Minerva, who both nodded.

"Blimey!" "Bloody hell!" "Oh, my!" "Splendid!"

"Okay, I'll ask the big questions . . . what happened with Peter?  Did Voldemort realize what had happened?  Did you all get out safely?" Dan started listing the questions as they popped into his mind.

"Whoa, whoa!"  Harry stood, holding up his hand to stop the inquiry avalanche. 

Narcissa was smiling as she took her seat next to her husband, who leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek.  "Well done, my dear."

"We need to go back to the Ministry and what was going on there and then you'll see how the two tied together, "  said Harry.  "We followed the sequence of events, as they were written in the books, right up until the part where the Death Eaters have us surrounded in the Prophesy room.  That's when our part started to change."

Neville stood and walked forward to stand by Harry, who smiled at his mate, then ushered him forward to continue the story.

"Well, as you know, we had decided that we would try our hardest to not make a shambles of the whole room; breaking all of those Prophesies and getting separated in the process of trying to escape.  So, from Christmas holiday on, we'd been taking  'Apparition' lessons in order to get a couple of extra seconds head start and drawing the Death Eaters into the rooms where we wanted them," Neville explained.  "We'd paired up according to our dueling abilities, and proceeded to lead the Death Eaters on a merry chase through all the rooms and offices, heading to the Veil Room.

"There was no guarantee, of course, that they would split into the groups we knew from the books, so we had practiced different scenarios, in order to be prepared.  Anyway, when, instead of hitting the stacks and having them fall, each pair in our group 'Apparated' to the door that led to the rooms we knew we could get through and regroup, as we'd planned. "

"Ah, yes, well, best laid plans and all that," muttered Ron.

"It didn't happen quite as you'd planned?"  Emma asked.

"No . . . .but very close; we did have to improvise at a few points before the big fight in the Veil Room.," replied Neville.  "So, to go back a bit, we made it into the Prophesy Room and made our way to Row 97.  And we knew Sirius wasn't there, never had been, but we played our parts, remembering how you lot had done it in the movie, and sure enough."  Neville swiveled and swept his hand to indicate Lucius.  "The band of Death Eaters walked up to us right on schedule."

Turning to Lucius, Dan couldn't help but ask.  "Did you have any idea you were walking into a trap, Lucius?"

"None what-so-ever, Daniel.  We had watched from a distance, never had a clue we were being observed and in our supreme, arrogant confidence, thought a group of school children would be easily subdued and dealt with, except for Harry, of course.  He was to be delivered to the Dark Lord, with the Prophesy."  Lucius answered, looking directly at Dan, his voice never wavering.  "We were right fools and deserved what happened to us," he added.

Dan nodded and turned back to Neville.  "Okay, let's hear it!"

* *

As black shapes approached them from the different rows, wands pointed at them, eyes glinting from the depths of their masks, the group formed a defensive circle, facing outward, their own wands held at the ready.