Josh felt small in Harry's arms. He was light too, light enough that Harry suspected he could lift him up.

Harry had never had any siblings and the strange thought occurred to him that he had never hugged anyone as young as Josh before. But it felt nice, and knowing Josh was safe and alive made Harry feel so relieved he thought he would pass out from the strength of it.

Josh's body began to shake. Harry felt Josh dig his face into the crook of his neck and begin to sob. Harry felt his heart break, he knelt more comfortably on the floor and embraced Josh tighter.

"Hey," Harry said softly, very aware that they didn't have a lot of time before the Death Eaters caught up with them. But he didn't want to scare Josh anymore than he probably already was. "It's alright. You're safe now."

Josh continued to sob. "I thought they were going to kill me. And then they said they were after you, and I thought that they would kill you. It was so dark where they kept me, and I tried to tell the teacher at school not to let me go with that man, b-but they let me go anyway-"

Josh was talking nonsense. He was rambling but it allowed Harry a clear enough picture of what had happened and it broke Harry's heart. "Josh, listen to me-"

"And one of the Death Eaters was a Werewolf, at least I think he was. He kept coming at me, I tried to get away, I tried to crawl away, but h-he said, he s-said he could smell me. And he kept looking at me hungrily, and said that he was sure I would taste salty-"

One of Harry's friends made a disgusted noise. He didn't look to see who it was. He was focused on Josh; sweet innocent Josh, who Harry felt such brotherly love and protection for it was startling. He made a vow to beat the crap out of the Death Eater when he found them, and he had a pretty good idea on who the Death Eater was. There wasn't many Werewolf Death Eaters around and Harry vowed to make Greyback pay.

"Hey," Harry said softly again. He gently took Josh's face between his hands. Josh was still shaking and his face was red and tear stained. He looked scared and traumatised and Harry couldn't blame him. "You're safe now, okay?" Harry made Josh look him right in the eye. "I won't let anyone hurt you again."

The look in Josh's eyes made Harry's heart ache. It was full of innocence and as he gazed at Harry, his eyes were so full of trust.

Josh leaned his forehead against Harry's. "I'm so glad you're safe."

Harry smiled. "Right back at you, kiddo." Harry suddenly had an idea. "Listen, you still want to learn Quidditch right, and ride a broom?"

Josh looked confused but nodded. Harry used his thumbs to wipe away some of the stray tears still running down Josh's face. "Well, when we make it out of here, I promise to teach you to ride a broom, despite if your parents say no. But you've got to listen to me for a little while, okay? And stay by my side, got it?"

Josh's face lit up slightly and a smile broke out on his face. "Yeah, okay."

Harry stood up. He turned around and realised half of his friends weren't with them. Just as his chest had lightened at finding Josh, it now plummeted again with dread. "Where are the others?"

"I don't know!" Hermione said, a bit frantically. "I thought they were behind us!"

So did Harry. But he could hear footsteps approaching and knew they had to move. "Right, we need to move. We will have to find the others along the way. If we stay here we might as well yell and give ourselves up to the Death Eaters."

The others nodded grimly and all clutching their wands tightly, made their way forward.

Harry gripped on to Josh's hand, and felt Josh's small fingers close around his own. They began to run, Harry only hoped he could find the others and get them all out of the Ministry safely.

•••

Eleanor was panicking. Her mind wouldn't stop running to Josh, or to Harry, or Hermione, Ron and Ginny. Where were they? Were they okay? Had Death Eaters gotten to them? Had Voldemort?

And what about Neville and Luna? Were they okay too? Eleanor wondered if they were confused. They had no idea about the Order or who Sirius was, or how closely Harry was tied together with Voldemort, which made their devotion to still follow Harry and help him all the more heartbreaking. Harry truly had incredible friends, and it made it all the more unfair that they had all been born into a war no one wanted.

Eleanor had no idea where they were going. Arthur had took them all to an old red Telephone box in London and told them to get in. Apparently they were using the guest entrance into the Ministry as it would be less inconspicuous if the place was swarming with Death Eaters.

For the first time Eleanor felt no joy in being surrounded by magic. All she felt was dread, and it was made worse as the telephone box plummeted underground, taking any of her remaining hope with it.

They saw dirt for a while, surrounding the four walls of the small telephone box that they were all squished in. It made Eleanor feel even more claustrophobic, especially because she currently couldn't move and was pressed against Tonks and Kingsley.

Soon, the dirt surrounding them dissapeared and the space opened to a big cavernous room covered entirely in black tiles. As they descended towards the floor, Eleanor noticed fireplaces lining the walls, as well as metal grates for the elevator. A tall statue stood in the middle of the room, practically glowing gold against the dark black walls.

Eleanor followed everyone out of the telephone box when it reached the floor, ignoring as the cool tone of a woman wished them a pleasant visit to the Ministry of Magic.

Nobody spoke. Nobody moved for a moment. Everyone held their breath. It just occurred to Eleanor how easy this had been. They were in the Ministry of Magic, where Harry was. Where Voldemort was.

But where were the Death Eaters? The Order all had their wands out, their bodies tensed and poised for a threat that wasn't there. After a minute everyone lowered their wands, it was clear that no Death Eaters were here.

It was eerie, Eleanor thought as she glanced around the huge empty space. She couldn't imagine it bustling with busy workers, the place seemed tainted to her. Dark, wrong somehow. She would forever remember this as the place that took her Josh away.

"Where is everyone?" Although no threat posed and the place was evidently deserted, Eleanor still whispered. Despite that, her voice still carried, making her wince.

Remus answered her, sounding grim. "I'm not sure. I thought the place would be crawling with Death Eaters, but we better not let our guard down. It's still obvious something isn't right here."

"But how are we meant to find everyone? This place is huge." Eleanor asked again, despite her best efforts, her voice echoed again, sounding impossibly loud in the still quietness.

"Because we know where to look." Mad-Eye replied gruffly and started limping towards the golden metal grates of the elevator. Nobody seemed to question him, and they all followed him without a word.

It was only Remus who stayed back. He stared hard at Eleanor. "Go back, let us deal with this."

Eleanor stared back at him stubbornly. "No."

Remus's face turned hard with fury. "Damn it Eleanor! Can't you see I'm trying to protect you!" His troubled eye turned to ones full of grief. "I know you're scared for Josh and Harry. I get it. But you should know I'd rather die then let anything happen to them."

Eleanor stared open mouthed at Remus. She knew he cared deeply about Harry and Josh, she knew he cared deeply about her. Eleanor had grown very fond of Remus too over the months she had know him. He had been her first proper introduction into the wizarding world. Harry had kept it all from her, but Remus had been the gateway, the floodgates that had opened and completely dragged Eleanor under the tides of the wizarding world.

Unable to find the right words the express herself, because how could she explain to Remus that she didn't want him or any of the others to continue on either? How could she explain to him that she also didn't want them to risk their lives, how could she explain to him that this thought was hurting her just as much as it was torturing him? So instead of trying to explain herself she stayed quiet for a moment. Then she decided to try and direct the conversation to something more practical.

She walked forward towards the others, hoping he was following behind her. She knew he would be. "So how does Moody know where to go?"

Remus sighed, clearly giving up trying to convince Eleanor to turn back. "Because we know Voldemort would eventually try to come here. What we weren't counting on was him being successful, or dragging Harry and Josh into the mix."

"But why is Voldemort here? What could the Ministry have to offer him?" Eleanor asked.

"It's not the Ministry he's interested in, it's what's inside the Ministry that he wants."

Eleanor's eyes flickered to Remus's troubled face. This suddenly seemed so much bigger all of a sudden. It suddenly all seemed so real to Eleanor. "I don't quite understand-" Eleanor began but then her mind sparked with a memory. "Wait, Harry's dream! The corridor, it's here isn't it? At the Ministry?"

Remus, despite everything, smiled slightly. "Harry was right, you are quick to catch on to things. You could give Hermione a run for her money."

Eleanor snorted. "Yeah right, as if anyone could give Hermione a run in for her money. But what does Harry's dream mean?"

Remus sighed, loosing his smile. "We've known for a while that Voldemort's been after a weapon and that it resided in the Department of Mysteries here at the Ministry. We've also known that Voldemort's been trying really hard to get to it."

"He's almost succeeded a few times," Remus continued. "The Ministry has been influtrated by his followers and they managed a few attempts at trying to get a hold of the weapon by using the Imperius Curse on our lookouts. Luckily they failed and got caught, not so lucky for those who had been put under the Curse and punished." Remus' face was grim.

"As you know," He continued on still. "Harry has been having dreams of a corridor, we knew what it meant immediately, as did Dumbledore and that's why he was so forceful that Harry have those Occlumency lessons. If Harry ever found out what was through that corridor and discovered its secrets, we knew he would want to go and find it immediately. And despite everything, all the protection we put up for Harry and all the defences we put up against Voldemort, we still failed because both of them are here now."

Eleanor studied Remus. She felt her heart light up with affection, despite the constant worry gnawing at her, not knowing what was happening to Harry or Josh. "You did your best, Rem. All of the Order did. This is not your fault."

Remus only sighed, still looking troubled. They had neared the elevator. The two of them were still a few paces behind the others but Eleanor watched as Moody pressed impatiently at the elevators buttons, waiting for the golden grates to open.

"But what is the weapon? What could it be for you to think that Harry would want it just as much as Voldemort?"

Remus looked at Eleanor. He only answered with two words but it sent a chill down her spine regardless. "A Prophecy."

Eleanor was silent as the grates opened with a deafening squeal. She was sure someone had to have heard and been alerted of their presence. But still the entrance hall stayed silent and empty. There was no yell, no thundering footsteps, no flashes of light to say they had spells firing at them. It was just quiet.

Eleanor still stayed silent as they all piled into the elevator. She stayed silent as she watched Arthur press the button to take them to level nine. She stayed silent as the elevator jumped and began the descent, plummeting them downward. She was silent as she watched the different levels and floors pass through the golden grates, silently counting down in her head as each floor passed by. She took note that they all seemed empty and quiet, surely they should have passed by some kind of danger by now, some kind of indicator that they were right about Harry.

She stayed silent as the elevator slowly slowed to a stop. She stayed silent as the grates opened with the same ear splitting squeal. The elevator announced that they were on Level Nine, Department of Mysteries and still no sound escaped her.

A kind of crescendo was going on in Eleanor's chest. Now that she knew of the Prophecy she knew kind of what to expect. But she also knew that she had no idea what was coming. She didn't know what state she would find anyone in, she didn't even know where to begin with Josh.

But she now did know Voldemort's motives to lure Harry here. And that Harry's dreams did have a purpose after all. It suddenly seemed like the whole year was leading up to this moment. Like every little thing that had happened was leading to this path. It seemed suddenly to Eleanor that no matter what had happened or what would happen, that this outcome was inevitable. Eleanor had the feeling again that this was so much bigger than her, so much bigger than Harry, so much bigger than even Voldemort himself.

Eleanor took a deep breath and stepped out of the elevator.

There was no turning back now.