Harry ran.
He did not remember leaving the History of Magic classroom.
One moment he had been standing beside his desk, the phantom echo of Sirius's scream still lodged behind his eyes; the next he was tearing through corridors, down staircases, across moving landings, his feet striking stone with enough force to crack the edges of steps.
Students leapt aside.
Portraits shouted.
A suit of armour toppled over with a clang as Harry took a corner too sharply.
He barely noticed.
The vision still pulsed through him.
Chains.
Dark shelves.
The prophecy room.
Sirius in pain.
He burst through the front doors of the castle so hard they slammed open against the walls and sprinted onto the grounds.
Cold wind hit his face.
Grass bent beneath each stride.
He did not stop until he reached the open field near the edge of the Forbidden Forest, where the dark tree line loomed like a watching wall.
There, at last, he halted.
Breathing hard.
Hands shaking.
The world around him seemed too bright, too clear.
Then came the cracks of Apparition.
One.
Two.
Three.
Within seconds, Albus Dumbledore stood before him, robes unsettled by haste. Beside him appeared Minerva McGonagall, Filius Flitwick, Pomona Sprout, and Severus Snape.
Moments later came Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Luna, and several others who had followed in alarm.
Ron pushed forward first.
"What happened?"
Harry dragged a hand through his hair.
"I saw Sirius," he said, voice rough. "Department of Mysteries. Prophecy room. He was being tortured."
The group froze.
Hermione went pale.
McGonagall's face tightened.
Dumbledore's eyes sharpened.
But Ron,
Ron simply nodded once.
Then began walking toward Harry.
Harry blinked.
"Ron?"
Ron said nothing.
He kept coming.
And before Harry's frayed mind could process intent,
Ron planted his feet and drove a ki-enhanced punch straight into Harry's stomach.
The impact detonated through the field.
Harry shot backward like a cannonball, tearing furrows through the earth before crashing into a boulder and shattering it to fragments.
Gasps erupted from everyone present.
Hermione shrieked, "RONALD!"
Ginny half drew her wand.
Neville stared in horror.
Ron shook out his hand.
"Blimey," he muttered. "That worked better than expected."
At that same moment, Dumbledore vanished with a crack.
He appeared in the kitchen of 12 Grimmauld Place.
There sat Sirius Black at the table, arguing amiably with Remus Lupin over tea strength.
Both men jerked upright.
"Albus?" Sirius said sharply.
"No time," Dumbledore said. "Harry has received a vision of you being tortured in the Department of Mysteries."
Sirius swore violently.
Remus was already standing.
"False vision?" he asked.
"Most likely," Dumbledore replied. "But Harry believes it real."
Sirius's face changed instantly.
Fear.
Not for himself.
For Harry.
"We're going."
Dumbledore nodded.
The three crossed to the fireplace at once.
Green flames roared.
"Hogwarts!"
Back on the Grounds
Harry rose from the wreckage coughing, rubbing his stomach.
"You punched me?"
Ron pointed accusingly. "You were spiralling!"
Harry vanished.
Reappeared behind Ron.
Ron ducked instinctively, spinning into a backfist.
Harry caught it.
Then grinned despite himself.
And something in him loosened.
They launched at each other.
What began as a desperate interruption became a battle.
Harry's instincts took over first.
Saiyan speed.
Pandoran fluidity.
Wizard reflexes.
Ron answered with raw determination and months of relentless ki training.
He was slower.
Less polished.
But utterly fearless.
They traded blows across the field in bursts of motion too fast for many to track.
Harry struck high.
Ron countered low.
Ron fired a palm-blast of blue ki.
Harry swatted it skyward where it exploded like fireworks.
Students began pouring out of the castle.
Then more.
Soon dozens ringed the field.
Then hundreds.
Cheering rose.
"COME ON RON!"
"HARRY'S GOT THIS!"
"Five sickles on Weasley!"
"Ten on Potter!"
Even some Ravenclaws had parchment out, taking odds.
McGonagall looked scandalized.
Flitwick looked delighted.
Sprout was openly clapping.
Snape muttered, "Idiocy in organized form."
Harry and Ron blurred again.
Ron drove forward like a charging bull, fists pumping with ki.
Harry sidestepped, elbowed him past, then leapt and hammered downward.
Ron crossed his arms and skidded twenty feet through the grass.
He laughed.
Actually laughed.
"This is brilliant!"
Harry blinked.
Then laughed too.
The fear was bleeding out of him.
The vision no longer consumed his thoughts.
He was present again.
Aware.
Breathing.
Ron saw it happen.
His shoulders dropped in relief.
There you are, his expression said.
Harry nodded almost imperceptibly.
Then ended it.
He stepped inside Ron's next swing, turned, and delivered a precise chop to the side of Ron's neck.
Ron froze mid-motion.
Eyes crossed.
Then he toppled backward.
Before he hit the ground, Flitwick flicked his wand and caught him gently in midair.
The crowd groaned.
"Aw!"
"No rematch?"
Flitwick floated Ron upright, then tapped his forehead.
Ron spluttered awake.
"Did I win?"
"No," said Hermione furiously.
Ron Explains
Dumbledore returned with Sirius and Remus just as the crowd settled.
Harry saw Sirius.
Everything else vanished.
He crossed the field in three strides and pulled Sirius into a crushing embrace, then Remus with equal force.
Sirius wheezed. "Good to see you too, pup."
Remus smiled tiredly and gripped the back of Harry's neck.
"We're here," he said quietly. "We're alright."
Harry's breath shuddered out.
Behind them, McGonagall fixed Ron with a stare.
"Mr. Weasley," she said. "Would you care to explain why you assaulted Mr. Potter?"
Ron stood, still rubbing his neck.
"Well… because he was being stupid."
Hermione covered her face.
Ron straightened.
"Harry's already met Death, his parents, had the soul piece in his scar removed, and kept a connection to You-Know-Who."
A stunned hush fell.
Ron pressed on.
"So if Voldemort can still send things through it sometimes, then fake visions make sense, don't they? Harry sees Sirius tortured, panics, charges off to rescue him, walks into a trap."
Silence.
Even Snape stared.
Harry slowly turned to Ron.
"You worked that out?"
Ron shrugged awkwardly.
"I listen occasionally."
McGonagall inhaled.
Then, with immense dignity, said:
"Twenty points to Gryffindor."
The students erupted.
Ron looked ready to faint from happiness.
Hermione muttered, "Miracles do happen."
Minutes later, the inner circle assembled in Dumbledore's office.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Luna.
Sirius and Remus.
The four Heads of House.
Dumbledore.
A moment later, green fire burst in the grate and Elira Vael stepped through briskly, cloak still dusted with travel ash.
"You sounded urgent."
"It is," Dumbledore said.
They filled her in quickly.
Vael's expression darkened.
"So he knows the connection still functions."
"Yes," said Dumbledore. "And he means to use Harry's love for others against him."
Harry's jaw clenched.
"I nearly ran straight there."
"You did run straight there," Hermione corrected.
"Semantics."
Vael moved to the desk, already taking notes.
"Then we assume the Department of Mysteries is compromised tonight or soon. Death Eaters positioned. Goal: lure Harry to retrieve the prophecy."
Sirius scowled. "Then we go there first."
"No," said Snape sharply. "We do not charge blind into an ambush because Black is bored."
Sirius half rose.
Remus shoved him back down.
Dumbledore lifted a hand.
"We respond intelligently."
He looked to Harry.
"Can you sense intent through ki?"
Harry thought.
"At close range, yes. Sometimes hostility carries."
"Good," said Dumbledore. "Then we prepare layered teams."
Vael nodded.
"ICW operatives can reinforce entrances and hidden points. Quietly."
Amelia Bones was summoned via Floo and updated within minutes, promising trusted Aurors only.
Maps of the Ministry were brought out.
Routes marked.
Fallback positions assigned.
Portkeys prepared.
The room shifted into the atmosphere Harry knew from battle councils on Pandora, in Narnia, among Saiyans.
Serious people preparing for war.
At one point Sirius leaned over to Harry.
"Still glad Weasley punched you?"
Harry glanced across the table where Ron was animatedly explaining his own brilliance to Ginny.
He smirked.
"Honestly?"
"Yes."
Sirius barked a laugh.
Hours later, plans complete, the room thinned.
Harry remained by the window, looking over the dark grounds.
Dumbledore joined him.
"You did well today."
"I nearly doomed everyone."
"You were deceived," Dumbledore said gently. "And then you recovered."
Harry was quiet.
"I'm tired of being used."
Dumbledore's gaze went distant.
"As am I."
Below them, students still lingered in knots on the lawn, loudly recounting the Potter-Weasley duel.
Some were reenacting Ron's punch.
Others debated odds in a rematch.
Life moved strangely fast after fear.
Harry exhaled.
"When does it happen?"
Dumbledore's eyes hardened.
"Soon."
Harry nodded.
Then his voice dropped.
"Good."
Because this time...they would be waiting.