Chapter 11: Location
Harry tried to walk with confidence. After all he was disguised as a Ministry official and had every right to be walking through the Atrium. Hermione and Ron were trying not to walk too close to each other or Harry. After all they had never seen the three people they were disguised as together and they really didn't want to draw suspicion. Yugi followed right behind Harry, treading on his heels sometimes to let Harry know he was still there.
Harry made for the golden elevators which would take him down to the Department of Mysteries. It was difficult finding a speed to walk, he couldn't go too fast or Yugi would fall behind and get lost, but if he walked too slowly it would like he was dawdling. As such he almost skipped across the Atrium trying to find a happy medium.
Finally they reached the elevator and as Harry stepped inside he was followed by Ron and Hermione, looking as nervous as he felt. Harry was focusing on his legs because he couldn't feel Yugi leaning against them. He knew the elf had followed him to the elevator because he had felt a tiny hand tug at his robe as he stopped to let the doors open. However Harry had no idea if Yugi had made it into the elevator. He mentally swore at himself for allowing Yugi to come.
There were several other people in the elevator with them and so Harry couldn't call out to him. He bit the inside of his cheek and tried not to think about all the things Yami would do to him should Yugi get lost inside the Ministry. Harry tried not to shift around nervously.
As they descended into the Ministry people got on and off the elevator, some of them nodded in greeting to him and Harry nodded back, silently preying that they didn't actually talk to him.
True to their plan Hermione and Ron got off at the Auror's office; they were going to search there while Harry and Yugi went down to the Department of Mysteries. The darkings were going to serve as messengers, with a prearranged signal which Yugi had hopefully explained to them.
Finally the seemingly endless ride was over. Harry found himself alone in the elevator and so he glanced around. "Yugi." He hissed, praying that the little elf was still inside the elevator.
"Mmmf." Came a reply and after a moment, Yugi's head appeared out of nowhere, hair ruffled and standing even more on end than usual. "I got squashed." He noted indignantly. "Are we there now?" He asked, after lifting his hands into visibility and combing his hair flatter.
There was a soft ringing sounded and the doors opened. Harry bit his lip. Yugi had pulled the Cloak over his head again and vanished.
Harry looked out through the doors and stepped free. Harry had his hand on his wand, which was tucked into one of the pockets in the dark blue robes.
They hurried down the hallway towards the door which Harry had dreamed of so frequently in fifth year. He passed two other wizards in blue robes, but they did nothing more than nod at him in greeting, a look Harry returned.
Harry realised he was clenching his teeth, this was where Sirius had been killed and where in retaliation Harry had killed Bellatrix Lestrange with the earth magic. Harry swallowed; it felt as though his stomach had been filled with lead.
Harry hurriedly opened the door at the end of the dark corridor and stepped through slowly to allow Yugi time to get through. Yugi pulled the Cloak off his head again, looking around with interest. Harry stepped through the doorway and closed the door behind them. They stood once again in the spinning room. He nudged Yugi into the centre of the room and the doors began to rotate around them. Yugi watched them go around. "What is the point of this?" He asked them.
Harry gave all the doors thoughtful looks. "It's to confuse people."
"What about the people who are supposed to work here?" Yugi asked. His eyes were almost spinning in his head in an attempt to focus on one of the doors.
Harry looked down at him and his lips twisted in a vague smile. "If you know where you're going the doors will stop and open. The problem is we don't know where we're going." He said, at least that was Hermione's theory.
The doors stopped spinning and Harry moved forward to open one of the doors. They were just going to have to open random doors and searching the rooms, because there was no telling where the Unmentionables would keep the Horcrux. Harry shuddered back from the first door he opened. The room beyond held the Veil.
Harry was about to shut the door when Yugi gave a cry of horror and pushed through. The Invisibility Cloak fell from his shoulders into a silvery puddle on the floor. Harry stepped forward, ignoring the sudden departure of the two frightened darkings and looked into the darkened room. It was then that he realised what had Yugi in such a state.
Trapped by a circle of anti-Shade spells like the ones the Ministry had tried to use on Yami last year, was a Shade.
Harry broke into a run and leapt up the stairs to the dais where the Shade was trapped. The living shadow was curled into the centre of the circle moaning softly. Harry was about to pull out his wand, before he remembered that the spell to remove anti-Shade spells didn't work on this particular version of the spell. Cursing silently Harry knelt just outside the spell line, which glowed brightly to his eyes. Harry gave a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure no one was coming. "Hey can you hear me." He asked softly.
At the sound of his voice the Shade thrashed against the spells screaming in rage and agony. "Calm down." Harry said desperately. "You'll just tire yourself out. How long have you been here?" But apparently the Shade was beyond hearing. He twisted and thrashed around his prison letting out screams which made the hairs on the back of Harry's neck stand on end. Harry turned desperately to Yugi. "Can you do something?" The elf had his hands over his mouth and looked like he wanted to be sick. Harry knew that he was thinking of Yami.
Yugi shook himself fiercely, studied the Shade and then reached through the spells. Earth magic began to gather around his hand. The earth magic flowed around the Shade, forming a shield within the spell line. The Shade stopped screaming and slowly turned his attention to them.
Finally he spoke. "Who are you?" He snapped harshly, his voice a deep gravelly grumble. Despite the fury in his tone Harry could hear exhaustion in his voice. At first he wondered why the Shade asked, surely he had seen the Unmentionable Harry was disguised as before. Then he remembered Yami telling him that Shades could see through Polyjuice Potion.
Harry leant forward; he really hoped no one had heard the Shade yelling. "I'm Harry Potter; we can get you out of here."
The Shade interrupted forming a pair of deep violet eyes. Harry was interested. From what he vaguely remembered Yami saying, purple eyes meant that the Shade was young, but exactly how young was this Shade? "Ha, why would a human help a Shade? You mock me and I do not appreciate it." He almost seemed breathless. Harry couldn't even imagine how much pain he must be in.
Harry shook his head. "We will, but you have to promise me something in return." He really hoped this worked.
The Shade's eyes floated closer. "Oh yes and what is this promise you would have me make?" There was a trace of interest in his voice.
Harry looked down at Yugi. The elf couldn't sense the Horcrux and Harry wasn't much better, but Shades could sense them, or at least Yami could. Hopefully this Shade had either enough experience, or was old enough. Oh, well this was what he had to work with. "We need you to find something for us." Harry told the Shade.
"And what is that?" He sneered.
Harry bit his lip, he really didn't want to say but he didn't have a choice. "Look, we're hunting pieces of...the non-humans soul." Harry fumbled for a moment for the name the Shades used for Voldemort. "He shattered his soul. Part of it is here, but we can't find it. A friend of ours told us that Shades could sense the tainting." Harry really hoped that made more sense to the Shade than it did to him.
"Is that so?" The Shade didn't sound any more convinced than before. "Tell me human, how is it that you are not afraid of me?"
"I know you can't hurt me, plus I kind of have a Shade friend." Harry replied, wishing the Shade would just agree rather than asking all these questions. Yugi was starting to look tired from holding the shield in place. Harry took a moment to focus and send him some strength. Yugi glanced over at Harry and gave him a faint grateful smile.
A dark pained chuckled rolled from the shadows, distracting Harry. "Now I know you lie."
"Damn it, I haven't got time for this someone could come at any time. His name is Yami okay now come on. We let you out; you show us where the Horcrux is and then go."
"The blood-eyes?" The Shade actually seemed surprised. "The one bound to an elf?" Violet eyes turned down to examine Yugi. "You little creature? How odd." There was a long pause where Harry felt as though he was being very deeply examined. "Very well human I accept your terms, but I will be of no use so near to that." He glared at the Veil with undisguised disgust.
"I know. We're working on that too, when we break these spells just head for the door." Harry called up the earth magic, relishing the warm pins and needles which rushed up his arms. "What's your name by the way?" Harry asked.
"Hmmm. I am Taro." The Shade withdrew to the centre of the circle.
"Right." Harry said and with a deep breath he willed the earth magic to break the anti-Shade spells. The spells shattered and immediately Harry was surrounded by the chilling shadows of a Shade. Harry immediately realised that this Shade wasn't even nearly as strong as Yami.
The magic which attempted to push through Yugi's spells weren't even a quarter of the strength of the magic Yami had unleashed on him last year. "Stop it." Harry said firmly and sent out a gentle pulse of earth magic, but Taro had moved on already and fled the room. Harry and Yugi exchanged a glance and followed him out. Yugi scooped up the Invisibility Cloak from the floor as he went.
They found the Shade settled carefully in the centre of the spinning room, the moment the door closed behind them the doors began to spin. Harry looked at the puddle of shadows. "Are you alright?" Harry asked. Though he wasn't afraid of Taro, after his experience with Yami last year Harry had developed a bit more respect for the temperamental and powerful shadows.
Yugi was hiding behind Harry's legs again, peering around to look at the shadows, the Invisibility Cloak bundled in his arms. The shadows on the floor began to pull together, slowly revealing a tall heavily built figure wearing jeans and a plain red shirt. Violet eyes narrowed. "You are protected." Taro said from where he was seated on the ground. His gaze was very strange, as though he saw something in Harry that confused him.
Harry sighed. "Yeah, can you sense anything?"
Taro's eyes remained fixed on Harry for a moment longer before he turned his head and scanned the slowing doors. "Yes." Another long pause in which he watched Harry some more. Finally he pointed at a door to their left. "That one." Harry hurried over and opened it, peering in Harry was forced to get out his wand and light the end.
The room was full of filing cabinets. "There's nothing here." He called over his shoulder.
Taro groaned and struggled to his feet. "Get out of the way you useless human." He snapped.
Harry stepped back and allowed Taro through the door. Yugi followed him, closing the door and leaving them standing in the dim light of Harry's wand.
Harry scanned the room. It would take an age to search through all these drawers. "It is here." Taro mused; in the light of Harry wand he looked haggard and tired. Harry resisted asking him to hurry. Instead he looked around for his darking. For the first time he realised that they'd vanished.
"Yugi." Harry hissed at the little elf, trying to be quiet and not disturb Taro, who was making his way slowly around the room peering into various drawers. "Where are the darkings?" He asked. Taro glanced up and Harry gave him nervous smile. The Shade looked suspicious, but went back to his search.
Yugi however was looking around. "They must have run when we went into the Veil room. Hold on." Yugi's fingers lifted and several sparks began to jump back and forth between his fingertips.
Harry waited with baited breath. The darkings were their only way to communicate with Hermione and Ron. Finally Harry spotted a shadow skipping around Taro. Harry twisted a little earth magic its way and both darkings came hurrying back. Harry muttered Avis, the spell word they had taught the darkings and then his attention was drawn to Taro. "It is over here somewhere, I will get no closer." He told them.
Harry hurried over. "Thanks." As Taro turned to leave Harry had an epiphany. "Hey, do you think you could hang around and cause some chaos for a while? You know keep the other humans occupied?"
Taro sneered as his human form faded. "I intended on doing that anyway." Shadows flowed from the room and Harry turned back to the search.
Their search was anything but neat; Harry and Yugi pulled everything out of the drawers and tossed it on the ground. They tossed aside various artefacts and pieces of paper. In hindsight Harry realised they were lucky that none of them were cursed. Finally Yugi gave a cry of delight. "I found it." He said, lifting the locket by its chain. Harry grinned in delight as he immediately recognised the locket from the memories he had seen with Dumbledore last year.
Their small delighted celebration was cut short by a sudden scream. Yugi looked up. "Looks like Taro found someone to play with. I think we should get out of here."
Harry nodded. "We need to find Hermione and Ron and then get out of here; the Polyjuice Potion will be nearly worn off now."
Yugi nodded firmly and after handing the locket to Harry, who stuffed it in his pocket, pulled the Invisibility Cloak over his head. Harry pulled open the door and stepped out into the circular room with more confidence than before. This time there were several people in the room and it had stopped spinning, they were heading out of the main door.
One of the men glanced backwards. "The Shade escaped, we warned the Minister the spell wasn't ready for testing yet, now look." He snapped. Harry resisted smiling and just nodded, drawing his wand with the others. He was forced to follow them out of the main door and down the corridor where further screams could be heard.
Harry was just starting wonder how he was going to get away from the frightened group when Taro arrived. Apparently the arrival of fresh meat hadn't gone unnoticed by the strengthened Shade. He hit the adults with roar of delight. Coupled with the sudden terrified screams of the Unmentionables the sound made Harry shudder. Despite this Harry jumped out of the way, nearly tripping over an invisible Yugi. Harry gave a quick glance down at the apparently empty floor. "Come on." He said and ran back towards the elevator.
Moments later they were safely inside the small golden room and travelling upwards at an alarming speed.
Harry looked down at the floor. "What if they catch him again?" He asked Yugi.
Yugi's disembodied voice sounded around the room. "They will not, I put at earth magic spell on him. Taro will not notice, but he should be able to bash through any anti-Shade spells for a few hours. Hopefully he decides to leave before then." Yugi sounded very pleased with himself. Harry couldn't help but smile in response.
Harry pushed the button for the Atrium and waited nervously for the elevator to skyrocket back to ground level. Several more witches and wizards got on and off the elevator, all of them throwing nervous glances at the floor.
Several people also gave Harry nervous looks, probably wondering why he wasn't down in the Department of Mysteries dealing with the escaped Shade; thankfully none of them asked him anything.
Harry was one floor short of the Atrium when a familiar looking witch and wizard stepped onto the elevator. There was currently no one else in the elevator and Harry avoided looking too hard at the other two. At least until the dark haired wizard's hair started to glow red. Yugi's head appeared in midair. "Ron, Hermione." He whispered; purple eyes wide in surprise and worry.
The witch turned around and Harry could see that her features were slowly melting back into Hermione's more recognisable one. "Harry?" She asked and then gasped. "The Polyjuice potion's wearing off." She glanced over at Ron who was now almost completely back to himself, dressed in his too large robes.
"What do we do?" Ron asked, throwing a nervous look at the closed golden doors. In a moment they would open and step out into the Atrium, where they would be recognised immediately.
Yugi snapped his fingers. "I will call Taro up here." He said with delight. "That way we might stand more of a chance of getting out without being seen or at least getting free of the crowd enough to apparate."
Harry swallowed. "Okay, but can you call Taro?" In some ways this was great, they would have a Shade distraction without the issue of using up one of the fakes.
"Who's Taro?" Ron and Hermione asked in stereo.
Harry waved the question away as Yugi smiled. "I already have." Then the doors dinged open.
Everyone looked their way, but it seemed to take a moment for people to realise exactly who it was launching themselves from the elevator. Harry had scooped up Yugi and bolted through the crowd, followed closely by Hermione and Ron. As the first person yelled out over the crowd that Harry Potter was there, Taro arrived.
Whatever Yugi had done to call the Shade had worked and apparently Taro was feeling fully refreshed, because screams immediately broke out all over the Atrium. The wands that were pointed towards Harry ready to curse him were turned aside to try and protect their wielders from the surging shadows of the furious Shade.
Harry kept running, trusting Yugi's spells to keep him and his friends safe.
They were still too many people around them to apprate, too great a risk of someone grabbing them as they left. Harry spotted an empty area nearby and hurtled towards it. It was so close; three steps, two one. Harry spun on the spot grabbing Hermione and Ron as they arrived breathless behind him. As he did he noticed an older wizard lunge for them. With another spin they were hurtling through the compressing darkness.
And now you've met Taro, he's an absolute ass and has been the villain in three of my own stories. Still he's fun. I've actually toned him down a little here, but he'll get his glory day later on.
I've always wanted to introduce him to Voldemort.