Dawn Rivera

Out of the Fire

We hurry towards him.

"Harry!" I say at once, feeling very frightened, "What happened? Are you all right? Are you ill?"

"Where have you been?" demands Ron.

"Come with us," says Danny quickly. "Come on, I bet he's got to tell us something."

He and Harry lead us along the first-floor corridor, peering through doorways, and at last find an empty classroom in which they dive, closing the door behind Ron, Hermione and I the moment we are inside.

"Voldemort's got Sirius."

"What?"

"How d'you - ?" Hermione says.

"Saw it," says Danny. "Just now. When he feel asleep in the exam. Didn't you, Harry? See, thought it might be something like that."

"But - but where? How?" I say; my face is white.

"I dunno how," says Harry. "But I know exactly where. There's a room in the Department of Mysteries full of shelves covered in these little glass balls and they're at the end of row ninety-seven...he's trying to use Sirius to get whatever it is he wants from in there...he's torturing him...says he'll end by killing him!"

I find Harry's voice is shaking, as are his and Danny's knees. They move over to a desk and sit down on it.

"How're we going to get there?" Danny asks us.

There is a moment's silence. Then Ron says, "G-get there?"

"Get to the Department of Mysteries, so we can rescue Sirius," says Harry loudly.

"But - Harry...Danny..." says Ron weakly.

"What? What?" says Danny.

We are all gaping at Harry and Danny as they are asking something unreasonable.

"Harry, Danny," says Hermione in a rather frightened voice, "er...how...how did Voldemort get into the Ministry of Magic without anybody realising he was there?"

"How do we know?" bellows Harry. "The question is how we're going to get in there!"

"But...Harry, Danny, think about this," I say, taking a step towards them, "it's five o'clock in the afternoon...the Ministry of Magic must be full of workers...how would Voldemort and Uncle Sirius have got in without being seen? Harry, Danny...they're probably the two most wanted wizards in the world...you think they could get into a building full of Aurors undetected?"

"I dunno, Voldemort used an Invisibility Cloak or something!" Danny shouts. "Anyway, the Department of Mysteries has always been completely empty whenever Harry's been - "

"He's never been there, Danny," says Hermione quietly. "You've dreamed about the place, that's all."

"They're not normal dreams!" Harry shouts in our faces, standing up and taking a step closer to us in turn. He looks as if he wants to shake us. "How d'you explain Ron's dad then, what was all that about, how come I knew what happened to him?"

"He's got a point," says Ron quietly, looking at Hermione and I.

"But this is just - just so unlikely!" I say desperately. "Harry, Danny, how an earth could Voldemort have got hold of Uncle Sirius when he's been in Grimmauld Place all this time?"

"Sirius might've cracked and just wanted some fresh-air," says Ron, sounding worried. "He's been desperate to get out of that house for ages - "

"But why," Hermione persists, "why an earth would Voldemort want to use Sirius to get the weapon, or whatever the thing is?"