Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story.

Slight AU: Begins with Order of the Phoenix movie adaptation.

The Other World

Harry and Hermione forced their way through the thick brambles and underbrush, their cloaks getting ripped and torn on the thorns, Umbridge following them with some difficulty with her stubby legs, her want pointed at their backs. Harry slowly moved up close to Hermione.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Improvising," she whispered. Hermione slowed to a stop, staring panic-stricken at something in front of her. Harry moved to see, and his heart began to pound rather painfully. Hermione had led them to Grawp's clearing, but the only thing there was a severed rope tied uselessly to the tree that had once held him.

"Well?" Umbridge demanded, circling them. "Where is this 'weapon'?" Harry and Hermione stared at her, silent. "There isn't one, is there? You were trying to trick me!" she whispered, her eyes popping. She stopped circling them, her gaudy and strangely short wand still pointed at them. "Do you know…I really hate children."

A twig snapped behind her, and Umbridge spun around in a panic. There was nothing there. Only the deep shadows created by the thick trees that towered hundreds of feet above them.

"Who's there?" Umbridge screeched. There was silence. Harry and Hermione looked around, beginning to get worried. Unlike Hermione, Harry knew that she had taken the path that he and Ron had walked to go to Aragog's nest. Was it an Acromantula lurking in the shadows? He and Hermione were wandless, so if Umbridge panicked, they were doomed.

Something else moved off to their left.

"I demand that you show yourself!" Umbridge ordered, whirling her wand in that direction. Suddenly a figure exploded into view on the right.

"Stupefy!" Ron yelled. A jet of red light blasted from his wand, straight and sure at Umbridge, and she only barely blocked it in time. Harry grabbed at Umbridge's arm, trying to get her wand, but she threw him off. Ginny, Neville, and Luna jumped over the crest of the hill, their wands drawn, Neville carrying something in his hand.

"Harry! Hermione!" He called, tossing them their wands. Harry caught his, Hermione also deftly snatching hers out of the air, and the six of them lined up in front of Umbridge, their wands pointing straight at her heart.

"I knew it!" She screamed triumphantly. "I knew it, Potter! You're leading a rebellion against the Ministry, just like I said!"

"Right," said Harry, stepping forward. "And now there's nothing you can do."

"Oh, I'm not so sure about that, Potter," Umbridge said in her most deadly sweet voice.

"Stupefy!" Harry cried. Umbridge deflected it with a wave of her wand, then countered with one of her own.

"Impedimenta!"

"Protego!" Harry's shield came up just in time and the spell careened away, slamming loudly into a tree.

"Petreficus Totalus!" Screamed Ginny.

"Expelliarmus!" Ron cried.

"Stupefy!" Neville hollered.

"Tarantallegra!" yelled Hermione. Together, casting spells again and again, they pushed Umbridge back further and further until she was pressed against a tree, keeping a sustained Shield Charm and cowering, her teeth bared.

Harry knew from personal experience that a direct hit from a strong curse would shatter a Shield Charm, and he raised his wand directly at Umbridge's chest. Suddenly her shield disappeared and she raised her wand off to the right with a look of desperation. Not knowing what she was about to do, Harry cast a spell as quickly as possible.

"Diffindo!" he cried. But he wasn't quick enough. Just before he had spoken, Umbridge had cried,

"Expecto Patronum!" A horridly fluffy silver cat erupted from her wand and streaked into the night right before Harry's spell connected with it, and the wand core was severed.

An explosion unlike anything Harry had ever heard blasted them all backwards as he wand blew up, sending a shockwave shooting in all directions and ruffling the branches of the ancient trees. Harry landed hard on his back, and heard all the others slam hard on the ground next to him. Harry struggled to his feet and viewed the scene, the others getting up around him. Umbridge lay spread-eagled on the ground, slumped against the tree, knocked completely unconscious.

Harry slowly approached her with disgust.

"Should we just leave her here?" He asked.

"Don't be ridiculous!" said Hermione. They all looked at her in surprise. "Look, I'm not saying I like her or anything, but there are all sorts of horrible things in this forest." They reluctantly agreed, and Hermione pointed her wand at Umbridge.

"Mobilacorpus!" She muttered. Umbridge floated into the air and remained suspended there like some sort of grotesque puppet. They began walking as fast as they could through the underbrush and back to Hogwarts.

"You know she sent a patronus to the ministry, don't you?" Hermione said, looking at Harry. "That means the Ministry will be here in minutes."

"I know," said Harry.

"You know what else that means?" she prodded.

"Yeah," said Harry. He touched a finger to his throbbing scar. "Voldemort knows too."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"POTTER!" A voice cried across the grounds. Harry looked up in fright to find Professor McGonagall striding towards them, anger etched on her face. "What are you doing out here at this time?" She stopped as she saw Professor Umbridge floating behind them. "What's Professor Umbridge - ?"

"Professor," Harry interrupted. "Sirius- he's in the Department of Mysteries! Voldemort's got him!" McGonagall jumped horribly when he said the name.

"What on earth are you talking about? How do you know this?"

"I just had a vision…right when Fred and George left. Professor, we need to get there now!"

"Just a minute! How did you end up in the forest with Professor Umbridge?"

"We were going to use her fire to get to the Ministry," said Hermione. "But she caught us before we could leave!"

"And you ended up in the forest because…?" McGonagall prodded.

"Hermione was trying to lead her to Hagrid's brother in the forest, but he wasn't there?"

"Who?"

"Never mind," said Ron.

"By the way, Professor," said Luna in her traditional dreamlike manner, "Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Millicent Bulstrode are unconscious in Umbridge's office."

"Are you telling me," McGonagall began, her face beginning to turn red, "That you six have attacked a Ministry official and those working for her?"

"She was going to put the Cruciatus curse on me, Professor," Harry said quietly. McGonagall's mouth closed.

"Then she got what she deserved. Thank you, Potter, for finally stepping up to her."

"Professor, what about Sirius?" Harry asked. "I saw Vol – You-know-who torturing him in the department of mysteries!"

"Just a minute, Potter," said McGonagall. She turned and pulled some small object out of her cloak, holding her wand in front of it. It looked like some sort of mirror. She tapped it with her wand and muttered something, and to Harry's shock the face of Sirius appeared in its reflection.

"What is it, Minerva?"

"Sirius!" Harry cried, running forward and snatching it out of Professor McGonagall's hand, to her protests of 'Really!'

"Harry?" Sirius asked. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"I just had a vision…that Voldemort had you in the Department of Mysteries!" Sirius's eyes widened, but he didn't look at all shocked.

"Dumbledore warned me that something like this would happen," he murmured.

"Something like what?" Harry asked.

"Never mind. Did Umbridge happen to get a message to anyone?"

"She sent a Patronus off before we could disarm her," Hermione answered.

"What? Why didn't you tell me this, Potter?" McGonagall demanded.

"There wasn't time!" said Harry defensively.

"Well, that means that the Ministry is probably at Hogwarts' gates," said Sirius. "What was Voldemort doing in this vision, Harry?"

"He was torturing you to get you to 'fetch' something for him that he couldn't touch." Sirius's brow furrowed.

"That doesn't make any sense," he said. "The only thing I can think of is that he wanted you to come to the Department of Mysteries tonight."

"What's in the Department of Mysteries?" Harry demanded.

"Nothing that you need concern yourself with right now," said McGonagall. She thanked Sirius, taking back the mirror, and its surface went blank. "I am very glad that you finally disposed of Umbridge, but I'm afraid that our fighting the Ministry is exactly what Dumbledore did not want. The Ministry will be sending their Aurors, and that means that we will have to defend the castle if we don't want to go to Azkaban for ten years, as the lot of us who are loyal to Dumbledore will. I'm sure you don't want that, so into the castle! Move, all of you!" Harry, his mind reeling with questions, followed her directions nonetheless and sped through the front gates. Once they were in the Entrance Hall, Harry pulled them aside.

"Hermione, those coins still work, right?"

"Yes, but what - ?" Harry pulled his out and tapped it with his wand, thinking of a sentence.

"Meet in Entrance Hall. Emergency," he decided on, and immediately the numbers that had previously stood on the coin whirled around and interlocked, forming the sentence he had spoken. Neville, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Luna all went for their pockets, Neville fumbling his around when he pulled it out.

"Worked, Harry," he said, nursing his burnt fingers. Professor McGonagall walked through the front doors and started when she saw them.

"What are all of you still doing here? Up to your dormitories!"

"We're not going anywhere," said Harry. "I've called everyone who was in Dumbledore's Army. They're coming down here now."

"Potter, there is no way that I am going to let-"

"Professor, it's my fault that his happened," said Harry. "We're going to help you defend the castle.

"What's up, Harry?" came a familiar voice. Harry turned to find Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas and Angelina Johnson descending the marble staircase, followed by Parvati and Padma Patil, Colin Creevy, Zacharias Smith, Lee Jordan, and, to Harry's annoyance, Cho Chang.

"Everyone, we've finally gotten rid of Umbridge," Harry announced. Shocked muttering suddenly ensued, and Harry was bombarded with questions from everyone.

"How?"

"When?"

"What did you do?"

"What happened?"

"There's no time to talk right now," Harry interrupted them. "She managed to get a message to the Ministry, so they're probably here by now. Everyone who wants to help defend the castle, stay. If you don't, we won't hold anything against you." No one moved.

"Where should we go?" Harry asked, turning to Professor McGonagall.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

They were all lined up in front of the castle doors, their wands out, staring towards the gates. Professor McGonagall was on his right, as were Professors Flitwick, Snape, Sprout, Trelawney, looking somewhat nervous, and Hagrid, the pink cloth of the umbrella that had previously concealed his wand unceremoniously ripped off, his features hard as he stared at the gate. McGonagall had summoned all of the teachers that would be able to fight.

The gates opened in the distance, and Harry's heart began to race as he began to recognize cloaked Aurors walking past the winged boars.

Fudge walked confidently through the gates, a line of twenty Aurors in front of him for protection, absolutely pink with pleasure at himself. A rebellion at Hogwarts! Brilliant! He pointed his wand at his throat and spoke.

"Sonorous!" he intoned. The spell complete, he called out across the grounds to the assembled line, his voice magnified a hundred times.

"SURRENDER!" He yelled. "YOU ARE IN VIOLATION OF MINISTRY LAW, AND JUSTICE WILL BE BROUGHT AGAINST YOU! GIVE UP NOW, AND A YEAR WILL BE DROPPED FROM YOUR SENTENCES!" Fudge lowered his wand and laughed to himself. One year wouldn't matter much if he gave them all fifty, which was exactly what he was going to do. Minerva McGonagall would die in Azkaban, as would her conspiratorial sentiments that were poisoning Hogwarts.

A figure slowly stepped with perfect sureness, gracefully approaching the man with the lime-green bowler hat perched arrogantly on his head. His black cloak flowing behind him, he stopped to stand next to Fudge. This moment was just too perfect, he thought with a smile.

"Reports, Kingsley?" Fudge asked. He turned to look at him with a lofty expression on his face, but when he saw who stood next to him, his features fell in total shock and devastation. Beside him stood a man with a bone-white, deathlike face, and red eyes with terrifying snakelike slits for pupils. Beside Fudge stood the devil himself.

"N-n-n-!" was all he could say, his tongue completely tied. The demon smiled.

"Lord Voldemort will do," he murmured, and pointed his wand. A flash of green light erupted, and Fudge was dead before his corpse could touch the ground.

Harry's scar lit up like a hot wire was pressed up against it an emerald light flashed over and over again at the gates. Harry buckled and fell to his knees. Figure after figure fell as the light touched them. Finally it stopped, but the pain in Harry's scar didn't. Black-cloaked figures stepped over the bodies at the gate, all of them faceless except one, who was bone white and looking directly at Harry.

Everyone on the line was petrified as the figures slowly advanced.

"…Everyone get inside, that's an order," said McGonagall. Harry was filled with admiration as the D.A. members all looked to him for instructions.

"Do what she says," said Harry. Immediately they all ran inside, all except Ron and Hermione.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked. "Get inside, the both of you."

"We're not leaving," said Hermione, her jaw shaking.

"We're not, mate," said Ron.

"I'm not letting you stay here!" said Harry. "It's my fault all of this happened! Everything that Dumbledore fought for, left for, is for nothing! I'm making this right! Now, you get inside!"

"The same goes to you, Potter!" said McGonagall, turning on him, her face red.

"Professor, I'm - "

"Potter, you are underage, so you have no right to stay out here!" said McGonagall. "We teachers will deal with this-"

"Deal with VOLDEMORT?!" Harry yelled.

"GET INSIDE!" She cried. Spells suddenly flew, and Harry realized that the Death Eaters were in attack range. Spells of red and green exploded past them, the teachers spreading out and firing their own spells back. Harry raised his wand at one of the Death Eaters twenty yards away.

"Stupefy!" His spell shot out and hit the Death Eater right in the chest, blasting him backwards. Harry saw Voldemort step forward and cast a spell that made Harry's hair stand on end. Suddenly all of them were blasted backward into the Entrance Hall.

There was a burst of light behind them, and Harry looked up to the doors and found Voldemort on the threshold his wand drawn, but his Death Eaters were staring horrorstruck at something behind Harry and the rest of them. Harry turned and relief such as nothing he had ever known poured through him. Dumbledore stood behind him, his wand held loosely at his side, staring at Voldemort as calmly as though he was about to have afternoon tea.

"Good evening, Tom," He said quietly. "Were you expecting something?"

"Back," said Voldemort. The Death Eaters were only too glad to oblige, scampering as far back behind him as they dared though trying to appear as though they weren't running away. Voldemort and Dumbledore stared at each other. Harry, Hermione, and Ron slowly backed away, as did the other teachers. There was silence for a moment. Suddenly Voldemort's wrist twitched and pointed at Harry.

"Avada Kedavra!" He screeched. Harry reacted purely out of reflex, drawing on an old memory.

"Expelliarmus!" He cried. It was all he could think of to do. His scarlet spell slammed into Voldemort's just at the right time, and their beams locked together.

"Break it, Harry!" Dumbledore cried over the explosion of sound that ensued as their beams crackled. Harry jerked his wand and the connection severed, knocking him backward.

"Run, all of you!" Dumbledore yelled. Harry turned and grabbed Ron and Hermione's arms, pulling them away as Dumbledore and Voldemort began blasting unheard of spells at each other. They ran down random halls, and after a few moments Harry realized that he had never been this way before.

"Where are we?" he asked. There was a horrible cackle as suddenly a flying shadow shot past them and a figure landed before them, fog flowing from her features like dust. Harry recognized the sunken face of Bellatrix Lestrange standing before them, insanity written on her features.

"Stupefy!" Hermione yelled. Bellatrix reacted instantly, bringing up her shield, though she stumbled at the force of the spell. Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned and ran down the corridor. They reached one of the staircases and charged up it. Harry looked over his shoulder and found Bellatrix flying down the corridors like some deranged bat, pursuing them up the stairs. How was she doing that?

"Stupefy!"

"Stupefy!" They shot spells back at her and she swerved around them expertly, though they slowed her down. Suddenly she looked to her right and screamed, zooming away. Harry looked above them and his eyes widened in awe. A streak of light and a powerful shadow of darkness swirled in the air, entangled, shooting spells at each other. Dumbledore flew past Voldemort and landed in front of them.

"Go! Run!" He commanded, and the stairway exploded as a spell of Voldemort's shattered it to pieces. They ran down the corridor, but Harry looked back and saw the shadow of Voldemort land at the edge of the corridor.

"You cannot protect them forever, Dumbledore!" Voldemort taunted. Spells flew, pieces of the walls around them shattering and hitting them with pieces of stone. Harry looked around in panic, not willing to fire a spell past Dumbledore and risk hitting him. Suddenly he recognized a tapestry in front of him. It was a group of trolls bludgeoning a man with clubs. Harry slowly turned around, his eyes widening. This was the doorway to the Room of Requirement.

"Come here!" He called over the noise of the furious duel.

"What?" Ron yelled.

"I have an idea!" Harry closed his eyes and thought with all his might.

Please give us somewhere we can hide. Somewhere we can be safe. Some way to escape!

"Harry!" Hermione yelled. A door had appeared in the wall. Harry grabbed the handle.

"Let's go!" he cried. He yanked the door open.

"Harry!" Dumbledore yelled. An explosion rocked the corridor walls as the three of them disappeared inside and closed the door. Harry looked around and was completely befuddled.

They stood in a perfectly blank room with two windows on their left that opened to what appeared to be a rainy countryside. At the far end of the room stood a great wardrobe of rich wood, intricate carvings the like of which Harry had never seen before adorning its surface. There was complete silence. No sound of the duel, nothing but the trickling sound of the rain on the windows. Harry found his pounding heart calming in the peaceful atmosphere the room exuded.

"Harry," said Ron quietly. "What did you ask for?"

"I asked…for somewhere we could be safe – escape to," Harry murmured. He found himself staring at the wardrobe, an inexplicable feeling of its importance dawning within him. Harry walked forward, Hermione and Ron following him.

"What is this?" Hermione asked.

"A wardrobe," said Ron.

"Besides that," Hermione said, the sting of her response diminished by her avid staring at the wardrobe. Not knowing why, Harry reached forward and pulled open the ornate door.

The inside was completely filled with fur coats. Harry stepped inside and found himself walking forward.

"Harry, where're you goin' mate?"

"Come on," said Harry quietly. They followed him into the wardrobe, pushing the coats aside. Harry stopped and stared in wonder as he felt snow falling on his face. Ron and Hermione's feet faltered and they stood beside him. Before them was a forest of ancient pines, and a foot of snow covered the ground.

"Impossible!" Hermione breathed. The three of them walked forward between the trees. Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked around in wonder as the forest went on and on. Harry had never seen anything like this. No spell was powerful enough to contain this much space in the wardrobe! Suddenly the three of them came to a clearing, and Hermione put a hand in front of Harry and Ron, stopping them.

"Look at that," she murmured, staring at something in front of them. Harry looked, and immediately his brow furrowed in confusion. A lamppost stood in front of them, its candles lit, but the strangeness of it was revealed as one traveled their gaze downward to find that the metal twisted like roots and sunk into the ground like a tree. They stared at it for a full minute.

"Guys," said Ron. "Where are we?"

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

He nodded, a feeling of warmth filling his chest. The three of them were here, the three additional ones that he needed for his return to succeed. Though another was desperately trying to enter, he had to deny the man's wish. Albus Dumbledore was a good man, but he was not meant for this journey. Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley were meant to do this alone; it was how they must grow.

He sat back on his haunches with satisfaction as he looked forward to what would unfold.

"Sir?" Orius asked. "Are you quite well?"

"I am," He said. Aslan nodded to himself. "This is only the beginning."

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