Chapter Twenty One
Muggle Parliament
Apparation came with a horrible feeling, Albus had deduced. It was as though you were being squished down into a tiny little tube which you certainly could never fit into, and there was no oxygen there, either.
Needless to say, they were all happy when they once again landed on solid ground.
"Do what you must, James and Albus," Kreacher told the two brothers in an undertone. "Kreacher will join you at the Ministry once he has the three Weasley girls safely back at Hogwarts." And then, he was gone.
"Where are we?" Louis asked, looking around them.
"The muggle House of Parliament," James and Albus said together in awe.
"And how do you-"
"-Dad bought us here once, so we could see where Uncle Dud works," James cut Scorpius off. "He said if we're ever in trouble and can't get to the wizarding family, Uncle Dud's the next best thing."
"He has contacts with other Ministries throughout the world - people who can help us!"
"Kreacher's a genius," the two boys said together, heading towards the entrance.
"It's really old," Scorpius observed as they passed through the door and into a rather impressive foyer.
"It looks like Gringotts," Fred whispered to Roxanne, who nodded in agreement.
"We're here to see Prime Minister Dursley," James announced to the receptionists behind the front counter - who were laughing at him. "Why are they laughing?" he asked his brother who sighed.
"We're a bunch of kids who want to see the Prime Minister of England." In an undertone, he added, "If our parents weren't who our parents are, we'd get the same reaction if we asked to see Kingsley at the Ministry."
"Oh," James said, realisation crossing his face. "Look," he said to the young girl behind the counter, who was still laughing at him, "Dudley Dursley is our Uncle - sort of. He's my dad's cousin, anyway." He shook his head and continued. "Our dad told us if we ever need anything, we have to come here, to Uncle Dudley. Our mum and dad are in serious trouble. We need to see him."
"Honey, if your parents are in trouble, you're better off calling the police. Anyway, Prime Minister Dursley is, like the rest of parliament, in session as we speak."
"At this hour?" Albus asked her, stepping forward.
"They're debating a new Bill. He couldn't come out and see you even in he wanted to. I'm sorry." She paused, and then spoke again. "You're more than welcome to use our phone to call the police if you really need-"
"-Can we go into the public viewing gallery?" Albus cut over her.
"Ah, sure. Down the hall, first set of double doors on the left. But didn't you say-"
"Thank you!" the boys called over their shoulders as they raced down the hall, their cousins in tow.
"Kids," the lady behind the counter muttered, shaking her head and returning to surfing the Internet.
"What are we doing here?" Rose asked as they walked into the public viewing gallery. "We need to get into the Ministry! Or have you forgotten - our entire family is locked up in there!"
"Cool it, Rose," Albus told her, stepping up to the glass and locating his uncle right in the front row. "If they won't let us in to see him, we're going to get his attention."
"Albus - that's brilliant!" James hugged him.
"Well," he replied, struggling out of his brother's grasp, "I am a descendant of the Marauders."
"So how are we going to do this?" James asked, letting his brother take the lead.
"What kind of Weasley products have you got on you?"
"Fireworks, ah...a pasty surprise...couple of decoy detonators?" The four third years finished fishing through their pockets.
"What about ... the fire alarm?" Albus asked, an evil grin beginning to form in his face.
"I've got a box of matches," Roxanne offered.
"Perfect," James replied, taking them and finding the best seat to stand on. "Al, give us the cloak."
"Sure thing," he replied, passing the old silvery material over.
Although they couldn't see what he was doing, the rest of the group heard him light the match and blocked their ears. The fire alarm went off for about twenty seconds before they heard James mutter a charm which silenced it.
The Members of Parliament and the Speaker of the House of Parliament had been panicked at first, but now seemed simply perplexed.
"Must've been a prank by those kids," the Leader of the Opposition deduced, sitting back down comfortably and not giving it a second thought. However, to Prime Minister Dudley Dursley, those were no ordinary kids. As he stared up into the public viewing gallery, his eyes locked with his nephews, which were exactly the same shape and shade as his father's.
Dudley had seen that look of panic in his cousin's eyes only once before.
It was in that moment that Dudley knew something was terribly wrong.
Ignoring the questions of his fellow party members and the Speaker of the House, Dudley left his seat and walked towards the exit, gesturing to Albus to meet him outside.
"I'm terribly sorry," he said as he opened the door. "Family emergency. Unavoidable. I've got to go."
As he reached the hall, Albus looked around desperately for his dad's cousin, whom he knew was their only hope of getting help for the Ministry.
"Albus!" Dudley called, quickly walking up to the group of kids and shepherding them towards the elevators which would take them high above, all the way to his office. "What's going on? Minerva said nothing about term ending. Shouldn't you be at school?"
"We had to come to get help," Albus replied, holding the elevator door so Roxanne could pull James in by the back of his shirt, as he was busy staring at a pretty young girl walking by, wearing a very short skirt. "No, Louis," Albus said to his cousin, who glared at him and stepped back into the muggle contraption. "It's the Veela genes," he quietly explained to Scorpius, who nodded. "As I was saying," by now the lift had begun climbing the floors towards Dudley's office, "we came to get help. Today in Hogsmeade - that's the little wizard village just down the lane from the school - James, Fred, Louis and Roxanne were almost taken by the same people that took the others, but they got away - down, Fang!" he pushed the great black dog's paw off his shoulder. "So tonight, we snuck out of the school and went to Italy - Fang, I said down!"
"Here Fang!" Grace called him over to the other side of the very cramped space.
"Thanks. So, we went to Italy - don't worry, we called Kreacher-"
"-Only once we got there," Rose corrected him, her Granger genes taking over. "Sorry."
"The point is, Victoire, Dominique and Lucy are safe. Kreacher's taken them back to Hogwarts, and he said he'd meet us at the Ministry once he was done."
"But why do you need to get to the Ministry?" Dudley asked, shepherding the children into his office and motioning to his secretary that she should go.
"Didn't I mention? Rodolphus got inside. He's taken everyone prisoner."
"Can't they just magic themselves out? Sorry, I don't know the technical term."
"It's apparate, and they can't," James offered. "He's taken their wands. They're defenceless."
Five minutes later, Dudley had made some calls to his magical contacts outside the Ministry and had arranged for a team of 36 Aurors to arrive by portkey thirty minutes later.
"They don't have thirty minutes, do they?" Dudley asked the kids, who didn't answer. He sighed, and continued, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but you guys are going to have to go in. I know you can protect yourselves, your parents made perfectly sure of that. I've half a mind to call in the bomb squad or something."
"You can't - it's against the Statute of Secrecy," Rose reminded him.
"Yes, but that only applies to wizards. I wonder what the ruling is when it comes to Muggles?" Lucy countered, her eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. "Aunt Hermione would know..."
"So why don't we get going?" Louis suggested. "Then you can ask her yourself."
"Hey Dudley, you mind if we borrow your stapler?" Roxanne asked, picking up the small black piece of equipment.
"I doubt you'll get it back," Scorpius warned him.
"No problems," Dudley replied, obviously tense. "Leave the dog. He can keep me company."
"Portus," Roxanne whispered.
"So, you're name's Fang, hey? You don't look scary like your name suggests. You're just a big, slobbery teddy bear, aren't you?" they heard Dudley say to the giant, ancient dog. "Good luck!" he called, just as the group of kids began to spin and disappear.