There was movement going on around us, pointless bustling, the flashes of more spells. To me it was meaningless noise, the deflected curses flying past us did not matter, nothing mattered except that Terry wasn't going to sit up and grin at me, laughing and eager to re-enter the battle.

Dumbledore had most of the remaining Death Eaters grouped in the middle of the room, seemingly immobilised by invisible ropes; Mad-Eye Moody had crawled across the room to where Tonks lay, and was attempting to revive her; behind the dais there were still flashes of light, grunts, and cries - Kingsley had run forward to continue Terry and George's duel with Bellatrix.

"Terry... please... I'll do anything..." I whispered, my heart erupting in pain. A bright white light was shining from my skin, a little ball of light slowly growing from my chest and moving to hover directly over Terry. I couldn't spare much thought for this ball, however, as my wings erupted from my back, ripping a pained scream from me. My small white wings wrapped themselves around my shoulders as I knelt over Terry, my body wracked with sobs. 

"Terry... please don't leave me... I love you..." I whimpered, hot tears dripping onto him as the ball of light started sinking. 

There was a loud bang and a yell from behind the dais. I looked up and saw Kingsley hit the ground yelling in pain: Bellatrix Lestrange turned tail and ran as Dumbledore whipped around. He aimed a spell at her but she deflected it; she was halfway up the steps now -

"Daisy - no!" Lupin cried, but I had already floated up into the air, wings flapping slowly. 

"SHE KILLED TERRY!" I bellowed. "SHE KILLED HIM - I'LL KILL HER!" 

And I was off with a powerful sweep of my wings up the stone benches; people were shouting behind me but I didn't care. The hem of Bellatrix's robes whipped out of sight ahead and we were back in the room where the brains were swimming...

She aimed a curse over her shoulder. The tank rose into the air and tipped. Dodging it, I flew towards the door; I swept over Draco and Suzanne, who were groaning on the floor, past Ginny, who said, "Daisy - what -?", past Ron, who giggled feebly, and Hermione, who was still unconscious. I slammed through the door into the circular black hall and saw Bellatrix disappearing through a door on the other side of the room; beyond her was the corridor leading back to the lifts.

I flew, but she had slammed the door behind her and the walls were already rotating. Once more, I was surrounded by streaks of blue light from the whirling candelabra. I landed in the middle of the room, my wings settling tight behind me. 

"Where's the fucking exit?" I shouted desperately, as the walls rumbled to a halt again. "Where's the motherfucking way out?" 

The room seemed to have been waiting for me to ask. The door right behind me flew open and the corridor towards the lifts stretched ahead of me, torch-lit and empty. I ran...

I could hear a lift clattering ahead; I sprinted up the passageway, swung around the corner, and slammed my fist onto the button to call a second lift. It jangled and banged lower and lower; the grilles slid open and I dashed inside, sweeping my wings out again and shooting up the lift shaft. 

I landed in the Atrium and looked around. Bellatrix was almost at the telephone lift at the other end of the hall, but she looked back as I sprinted towards her and aimed another spell at me. I dodged behind the Fountain of Magical Brethren: the spell zoomed past me and hit the wrought-gold gates at the other end of the Atrium so that they rang like bells. There were no more footsteps. She had stopped running. I crouched behind the statues, listening.

Suddenly, a pain like nothing I had ever felt before slammed into me. I screamed out as ribbons of blood blossomed across my arms, dripping blood onto the floor, but a bright white light shone through the cuts, as if burning through them, and as I screamed, crouching on the floor in pain, the ribbons disappeared. 

I lay there, panting. Surprisingly, Bellatrix hadn't come running at the sound of me screaming. She seemed to still be hiding. I caught my breath as I stood up, shaking. What the fuck was that? My wings shook also, tucking themselves in tight behind me. 

"Come out, come out, little Daisy!" Bellatrix called in her mock baby voice, which echoed off the polished wooden floors. "What did you come after me for, then? I thought you were here to avenge your dear friend!" 

"I am!" I shouted, and a score of ghostly me's seemed to chorus I am! I am! I am! all around the room.

"Aaaaaah... did you love him, little baby Potter?" 

Hatred rose in me such as I had never known before; I flung myself out from behind the fountain and bellowed, "Crucio!" 

Bellatrix screamed: the spell had knocked her off her feet, but she did not writhe and shriek with pain as I had - she was already back on her feet, breathless, no longer laughing. I dodged behind the golden fountain again. Her counter-spell hit the head of the handsome wizard, which was blown off and landed twenty feet away, gouging long scratches into the wooden floor.

"Never used the Cruciatus Curse before, have you, girl?" She yelled. She had abandoned her baby voice now. "You need to mean them, Potter! You need to really want to cause pain - to ENJOY it - righteous anger won't hurt me for long - I'll show you how it is done, shall I? I'll give you a lesson -" 

"I DO mean it!" I roared, stepping out from behind the golden fountain. "Crucio!" 

Bellatrix collapsed, screaming. Hatred and anger were pulsing through me, the thought of Terry lying down there, dead, all because of her... it simply made it easier to hold the curse. I advanced upon her, my wand pointed straight at her, my blood pounding in my ears as Bellatrix writhed. My stomach leapt as I watched; good. Writhe, bitch. Scream. HURT. 

My scar burned, and a random swoop in my stomach - that I could only describe as proud excitement - distracted me, making me lower my wand slightly. Bellatrix scrambled up, twitching, her arm shaking as she pointed her wand at me. I dodged behind the fountain again, my other hand to my forehead. 

"Itty bitty baby Potter can do it..." Bellatrix tilted her head, interest in her eyes. "Little baby Potter can perform a good Cruciatus Curse... what a surprise!" 

"Why's that a surprise?" I spat, my wings at the ready. 

"Why, baby Potter, aren't you Dumbledore's favourite girl? Aren't you supposed to be a good little angel?" Bellatrix laughed, a cold, maniacal laugh. 

"I'm not as pure as everyone thinks I am." I said. 

"But no matter, Potter, you cannot win against me!" She cried. "I was and am the Dark Lord's most loyal servant. I learned the Dark Arts from him, and I know spells of such power that -" 

"Crucio!" I yelled. I had edged right around to where the goblin stood beaming up at the now headless wizard and taken aim at her back as she peered around the fountain. She reacted so fast I barely had time to fly up into the air.

"Protego!" 

The jet of red light, my own Cruciatus Curse, bounced back at me. I flew up and perched on the witch's head, my wings arched around me protectively, and one of the goblin's ears went flying across the room.

"Potter, I'm going to give you one chance!" Bellatrix shouted. "Give me the prophecy - throw it down towards me now - and I may spare your sanity!" 

"Well, you're going to have to torture me until I lose it, because it's fucking gone!" I roared and, as I shouted it, pain seared across my forehead; my scar was on fire again, and I felt a surge of fury that was quite unconnected with my own rage. "And he knows!" I said, with a mad laugh to match Bellatrix's own. "Your dear old mate Tom knows it's gone! He's not going to be happy with you, is he?" 

"What? What do you mean?" She cried, and for the first time there was fear in her voice.

"The prophecy smashed when I was trying to throw it to my girlfriend! What do you think Voldemort'll say about that, then, eh?" 

My scar seared and burned... the pain of it was making my eyes stream...

"LIAR!" She shrieked, but I could hear the terror behind the anger now. "YOU'VE GOT IT, POTTER, AND YOU WILL GIVE IT TO ME! Accio prophecy! ACCIO PROPHECY!" 

I laughed again because I knew it would trigger her, the pain building in my head so badly I thought my skull might burst. I waved my empty hand from behind the witch's hat and withdrew it quickly as she sent another jet of red light flying at me.

"Nothing fuckin' there!" I shouted. "Nothing to fuckin' summon, you fuckin' bitch! It smashed and nobody heard what it said, tell your boss that!" 

"No!" She screamed. "It isn't true, you're lying! MASTER, I TRIED, I TRIED - DO NOT PUNISH ME -" 

"Don't waste your breath!" I yelled, my eyes screwed up against the pain in my scar, now more terrible than ever. "He can't hear you from here!" 

"Can't I, Daisy?" A high, cold voice said.

I opened my eyes.

Tall, devilishly handsome, dark hair perfectly styled, his scarlet eyes staring... Tom Riddle had appeared in the middle of the hall, his wand pointing at me who sat frozen, quite unable to move.

"So, you smashed my prophecy?" Riddle said softly, staring at me with those pitiless red eyes. "No, Bella, she is not lying... I see the truth looking at me from within her little mind... months of preparation, months of effort... and my Death Eaters have let Daisy Potter thwart me again..." 

"Master, I am sorry, I knew not, I was fighting the Animagi Boot and Weasley!" Bellatrix sobbed, flinging herself down at Riddle's feet as he paced slowly nearer. "Master, you should know -" 

"Be quiet, Bella." Riddle said dangerously. "I shall deal with you in a moment. Do you think I have entered the Ministry of Magic to hear your snivelling apologies?" 

"But Master - he is here - he is below -" 

Riddle paid no attention.

"Get down here, Daisy." He said quietly, his eyes fading back into their dark brown from his diary memory, his mouth quirked in a little smile which was probably usually very charming, but at this time I found it chilling. Riddle raised his wand, and I felt myself drift down towards him, felt my mind blur as I stared into his handsome dark eyes, felt like his sole attention on me was the only thing that I wanted in the entire world... 

"Very good." Riddle said softly, his smile widening. "Come here, Daisy... come home with me... we have much to talk about... and DO." 

Through the wistful fog in my mind, a small shiver ran through me. I knew that whatever it was he wanted to do with me, I certainly did not want to do. I took a step back, my eyebrows furrowing. Riddle frowned. 

"Imperio!" 

The headless golden statue of the wizard in the fountain sprung alive, leaping from its plinth to land with a crash on the floor between me and Riddle. The spell merely glanced off its chest as the statue flung out its arms to protect me.

"What -?" Riddle cried, his eyes back to red, staring around. And then he breathed, "Dumbledore!" 

I looked behind me, my heart pounding. Dumbledore was standing in front of the golden gates.

Riddle raised his wand and a jet of green light streaked at Dumbledore, who turned and was gone in a whirling of his cloak. Next second, he had reappeared behind Riddle and waved his wand towards the remnants of the fountain. The other statues sprang to life. The statue of the witch ran at Bellatrix, who screamed and sent spells streaming uselessly off its chest, before it dived at her, pinning her to the floor. Meanwhile, the goblin and the house-elf scuttled towards the fireplaces set along the wall and the centaur galloped at Riddle, who vanished and reappeared beside the pool. The headless statue thrust me backwards, away from the fight, as Dumbledore advanced on Riddle, and the golden centaur cantered around them both. 

"Professor, I can fight!" I yelled, my wings sweeping powerfully behind me, sending me high up into the air. "I can take him!" 

"No, Daisy." Dumbledore said, and with a flick of his wand I was landing gently on my feet. I sighed. Oh, well. It was worth a try, at least. 

He turned back to Riddle. "It was foolish to come here tonight, Tom." Dumbledore said calmly. "The Aurors are on their way -" 

"By which time I shall be gone with the Potter girl, and you will be dead!" Riddle spat. He sent another killing curse at Dumbledore but missed, instead hitting the security guard's desk, which burst into flame.

Dumbledore flicked his own wand: the force of the spell that emanated from it was such that I, though shielded by my golden guard, felt my hair whip violently as it passed and this time Riddle was forced to conjure a shining silver shield out of thin air to deflect it. The spell, whatever it was, caused no visible damage to the shield, though a deep, gong-like note reverberated from it - an oddly chilling sound.

"You do not seek to kill me, Dumbledore?" Riddle called, his scarlet eyes narrowed over the top of the shield. "Above such brutality, are you?" 

"We both know that there are other ways of destroying someone, Tom." Dumbledore said calmly, continuing to walk towards Riddle as though he had not a fear in the world, as though nothing had happened to interrupt his stroll up the hall. "Merely taking your life would not satisfy me, I admit -" 

"There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!" Riddle snarled.

"You are quite wrong." Dumbledore said, still closing in upon Riddle and speaking as lightly as though they were discussing the matter over drinks. I felt scared to see him walking along, undefended, shieldless; I wanted to cry out a warning, but my headless guard kept shunting me backwards towards the wall, blocking my every attempt to get out from behind it. "Indeed, your failure to understand that there are things much worse than death has always been your greatest weakness -" 

Another jet of green light flew from behind the silver shield. This time it was the centaur, galloping in front of Dumbledore, that took the blast and shattered into a hundred pieces, but before the fragments had even hit the floor, Dumbledore had drawn back his wand and waved it as though brandishing a whip. A long thin flame flew from the tip; it wrapped itself around Riddle, shield and all. For a moment, it seemed Dumbledore had won, but then the fiery rope became a serpent, which relinquished its hold on Riddle at once and turned, hissing furiously, to face Dumbledore.

Riddle vanished; the snake reared from the floor, ready to strike - 

There was a burst of flame in midair above Dumbledore just as Riddle reappeared, standing on the plinth in the middle of the pool where so recently the five statues had stood.

"Fuck! Look out!" I yelled.

But even as I shouted, another jet of green light flew at Dumbledore from Riddle's wand and the snake struck - 

Fawkes swooped down in front of Dumbledore, opened his beak wide, and swallowed the jet of green light whole: he burst into flame and fell to the floor, small, wrinkled and flightless. At the same moment, Dumbledore brandished his wand in one long, fluid movement - the snake, which had been an instant from sinking its fangs into him, flew high into the air and vanished in a wisp of dark smoke; and the water in the pool rose up and covered Riddle like a cocoon of molten glass.

For a few seconds Riddle was visible only as a dark, rippling, faceless figure, shimmering and indistinct upon the plinth, clearly struggling to throw off the suffocating mass - 

Then he was gone and the water fell with a crash back into its pool, slopping wildly over the sides, drenching the polished floor.

"MASTER!" Bellatrix screamed.

Sure it was over, sure Riddle had decided to flee? I flapped my wings, making to fly out from behind my statue guard, but Dumbledore bellowed: "Stay where you are, Daisy!" 

For the first time, Dumbledore sounded frightened. I couldn't see why: the hall was quite empty but for ourselves, the sobbing Bellatrix still trapped under the witch statue, and the baby phoenix Fawkes croaking feebly on the floor - 

A rattling drew my attention towards the lifts; Sirius forced open the grilles, sprinting towards me. He opened his mouth - 

Then my scar burst open and I knew I was dead: it was pain beyond imagining, pain past endurance - 

I was gone from the hall, I was locked in the coils of a creature with red eyes, so tightly bound that I didn't know where my body ended and the creature's began: we were fused together, bound by pain, and there was no escape - 

And when the creature spoke, it used my mouth, so that in my agony I felt my jaw move...

"Kill me now, Dumbledore..." 

Blinded and dying, every part of me screaming for release, I felt the creature use me again...

"If death is nothing, Dumbledore, kill the girl..." 

Let the pain stop... let him kill us... end it, Dumbledore... death is nothing compared to this...

And I'll see Terry again...

And as my heart filled with emotion, the creature's coils loosened. A flash of images ran through my head as if in retaliation, of Riddle looking down at me in the Chamber of Secrets, of Riddle torturing me in Floppy's Manor... of Amy collapsing, her eyes empty, onto the ground... of Floppy pinning me to the floor, his mouth and hands all over me... 

"You've lost, old man." I felt the creature speak through me. 

Fuck off. Who do you think you are, speaking through me? The darkness wavered in front of me, and I blinked; I watched as though from miles away as Fred and George entered the Atrium from the lifts, running to join Sirius as they observed from behind a ring Dumbledore had drawn on the floor, all four of them watching me with shock on their faces. Harry and Kylie joined, and more people came in behind them, though I couldn't see as the darkness covered my eyes once more. 

"She's becoming like me, old man. And I will have her." 

I felt myself writhing. No. No, you will not have me. But am I like him? I tortured Bellatrix... I really meant it... I enjoyed it, even... 

"Daisy, it isn't how you are alike." I heard Dumbledore's voice. "It's how you are not."

I thought of Sirius. I thought of Harry, of Kylie, of Fred and George. I thought of Terry. 

"You'll never know love, or friendship." I forced out, looking deep into the creature's red eyes. "And I feel sorry for you." 

Instantly, the pain was gone; I was lying face down on the floor, shivering as though I lay upon ice, not wood... 

And there were voices echoing through the hall, way more voices than there should have been... I opened my eyes, saw the headless statue that had been guarding me, but which now lay flat on its back, cracked and immobile. I raised my head a little to find Dumbledore's crooked nose inches from my own.

"Are you alright, Daisy?" 

"Yeah." I said, shaking so violently I couldn't hold my head up properly. "Yeah, I'm - where's Voldemort, where - who are all these - what's -" 

The Atrium was full of people; the floor was reflecting the emerald green flames that had burst into fire in all the fireplaces along one wall, and streams of witches and wizards were emerging from them. As Dumbledore pulled me back to my feet, I saw the tiny gold statues of the house-elf and the goblin, leading a stunned-looking Cornelius Fudge forward.

"He was there!" A scarlet-robed man with a ponytail shouted, who was pointing at a pile of golden rubble on the other side of the hall, where Bellatrix had lain trapped only moments before. "I saw him, Mr Fudge, I swear it was You-Know-Who, he grabbed a woman and Disapparated!" 

"I know, Williamson, I know, I saw him too!" Fudge gibbered, who was wearing pyjamas under his pinstriped cloak and was gasping as though he had just run miles. "Merlin's beard - here - here! In the Ministry of Magic! Great heavens above - it doesn't seem possible - my word - how can this be -?" 

"If you proceed downstairs into the Department of Mysteries, Cornelius," said Dumbledore - apparently satisfied that I was alright, and walking forwards so that the newcomers realised he was there for the first time (a few of them raised their wands; others simply looked amazed; the statues of the elf and goblin applauded and Fudge jumped so much that his slipper-clad feet left the floor) - "you will find several escaped Death Eaters contained in the Death Chamber, bound by an Anti-Disapparation Jinx and awaiting your decision as to what to do with them. We can discuss after I have sent Daisy and her friends back to Hogwarts." Dumbledore said.

"Daisy - Daisy Potter?" 

Fudge wheeled around and stared at me, who was still standing against the wall beside the fallen statue that had guarded me during Dumbledore and Riddle's duel. 

"She - here?" Fudge said, goggling at me. "Why - what's all this about?" 

But I was no longer listening to him. I had glanced around at my friends, after Dumbledore's mention of them, and what I saw made me dizzy with pure happiness. 

"T-TERRY!" I screamed, my wings spreading and driving me powerfully forward; I careened chaotically into my very alive best friend's arms as he laughed, his eyes bright. Terry caught me as we both fell back, and my wings flapped, floating both of us off the ground. We hovered in midair as the adults behind us talked frantically, but I did not care; Terry was alive, Terry was well - here he was in my arms, not a scratch on him. A happy yellow glow was seeping through my skin, and Terry laughed raucously, the same as I, as we floated slowly upwards. 

"I - I thought you were dead!" I cried, half laughing and half sobbing. "I was destroyed - Terry..." 

Terry grinned. "You saved me, Daze. I don't know how you did it, but you did." 

"The - the ball of light..." I said, as my feet touched ground again gently. "Was that -?" 

"It kind of sank into Terry's chest after you flew out and then all those weird cuts on his body started disappearing." Fred said next to us. 

"Then he just sorta choked and sat up, and he was okay after that." George said. "Completely okay. It was literally a miracle." 

I gasped. "When I was up here, cuts like Terry's just appeared all over my body. But I think my Grace healed me." 

The twins and Terry exchanged glances. "You... you took my injuries on as your own." 

"Blimey, Daze. Did you just bring Terry back from the dead?" 

I turned. Sirius, Harry, and Kylie were watching me with their mouths open. 

But I didn't even care that everyone might think I was a freak, or that all those Ministry people knew I was an angel now. Terry was alive. My best friend wasn't dead. And that was all that mattered.