Harry leaned into what must have been the thestrals ear and said, "Ministry of Magic visitors' entrance, London…if you know where that is…"

The thestral, apparently, knew exactly where it was and took off from the ground at once. My immediate reaction was to hug closer to Harry because it seemed to me as though we were floating in thin air. I had no idea what a thestral looked like but it must have had wings because I could feel them flapping right next to my legs. Ron and Hermiones' thestrals took off behind us and I could tell they were just as apprehensive about flying as I was.

In any other situation I would have thought flying through the air on a starry night with the man of my dreams would have been endlessly romantic, but as it turned out, it was not. In all the hype about Sirius being caught by Voldemort, Umbridge being taken away by Centaurs, and Draco Malfoy trying to turn me into some sort of sex slave in the Headmistresses office I forgot that I would be riding an animal I couldn't see, much higher than I had ever flown before. It didn't bother me so much when I'm only a bit off the ground, but with a thestral taking me soaring through the skies, I was pretty scared.

Once my mother and I went to a muggle carnival that came to town and I decided it would be great fun to go on the Ferris wheel. It was not, in fact, great fun. The stupid muggle operator spilled soda on the wheel operation machine thing (as you can see I'm not good with muggle technology) and my mom and I got stuck at the top. They had to get us down with one of those big, loud, red trucks that comes whenever a muggle lights something on fire and I've been scared of heights ever since. On the Quidditch pitch I was always okay though, I knew that I had total control of the broom. I just got terrified when I was up so high and I didn't have any control over where we were going or what I was riding on, and the fact that I couldn't even see what I was riding didn't help. The houses and cars below looked like small moving specks and if I had clung any harder to Harrys' stomach he would have coughed up his lower intestine.

The thestrals moved with amazing speed, but we didn't reach London until well after twilight. Harry seemed to have noticed that something was wrong with me and kept looking over his shoulder to see if I was okay.

"Are you alright Addie?" He asked finally after silently checking up on me about five gazillion times.

I only stared at him. At this point my life had flashed before my eyes several thousand times. I had nearly burst out into tears on three occasions and my hands were probably fused to Harry Potters' abdomen.

"A—Are you a—"

"Afraid?" I squeaked, "Just a little bit…"

Harry gave a small chuckle and turned back around so that I could think about my impending doom in peace. Sirius was still alive. I knew he was because Harry knew he was, and Harry Potter was never wrong. I only hoped that he wasn't too traumatized from the night's events by the time we got to the Ministry. I didn't want my father to end up like Neville's parents, sitting in a white room somewhere at St. Mungo's. I wanted him to live. I wanted to go back to Grimmuald place and show him how well I did on my O.W.Ls (aside from History of Magic and Divination of course), I wanted to show him how well I rode a broomstick, and to do all the things I had never gotten to do before. I wanted to have father-daughter time with him. I wanted to enjoy my father. Voldemort couldn't take that away, could he?

Suddenly the thestral lurched forward and we broke into a dive. The first thought that ran through my mind was, "Oh my God I'm going to die." I screamed. I screamed like I had never screamed before. I screamed until the thestral finally landed on the ground.

When we landed I quickly scrambled off the thestral and through myself on the ground.

"Oh beautiful land!" I cried. "Oh wonderful, beautiful land."

I heard a light thud as Harry hopped of the thestral and landed next to me. I looked up to see him grinning slightly as he held out his hand to help me off the ground.

"How is it that if you're so afraid of heights you play Quidditch?" He asked as all the others landed. "It doesn't quite add up."

"In Quidditch I have complete control of the broom. I'm in charge. But on that stupid thestral thing," I motioned where I believed the horse to be, "I kind of freak out."

"Kind of." Harry shook his head and walked over to help Hermione off her thestral.

Ron, who had reacted similarly to me, was on the pavement nearby attempting to hug the ground. When we had all gotten over the shock of the thestrals ride Harry directed us toward a rusty old telephone booth.

He stepped inside and motioned for us to follow him. Personally, I did not want to cram myself into an out-of-order muggle telephone booth at three o'clock in the morning. It seemed as though I had no choice, however, and I stepped tentatively into the phone booth behind Harry. As soon as Ginny had shut the door behind her Harry spoke.

"Whoever's nearest the receiver, dial six two four four two!" He commanded.

Ron reached over and dialed the number, even though I probably could have done it more effectively. Suddenly, a female voice filled the phone booth.

"Welcome o the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."

"Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, and Addie White," Harry said, "and we're on a rescue mission!"

"Thank you," the voice said. "Please take the badges and attach them to the front of your robes."

"Badges?" I said quizzically. "What badges?"

As if to answer my question seven badges slid neatly into the coin slot of the phone booth.

"Ah…" I said. "Those badges…"

Harry handed mine to me and I quickly pinned it to my chest.

The voice said something about submitting wands and a search of some kind and then the telephone box began to move. We were slowly going underground. As the top of the telephone booth sank below the surface we were swarmed in darkness. The booth moved farther and farther underground, until finally light appeared at our feet.

The Ministry was completely deserted. I had been there a few times before and there were no wizards bustling about doing their business, or witches gossiping in corners, just seven battered teenagers in a telephone booth.

When the whole booth finally reached the surface the door sprung open and we all toppled out. After dusting ourselves off everyone looked to Harry. He was the only one who had the slightest clue where we were going, so he lead the way.

As we passed by the Fountain of Magical Brethren I winced. The statue of the witch, holding her wand up to the sky was none other than my mother. It was one of her first jobs in the modeling industry. She had gotten it just after she came out of school. I took a moment to stare at it. There was something different about her. She was younger, that's for sure. Her face was much less drawn. She wasn't trying to be sexy either, she was just modeling. I remember her telling me about this job. It was before she was a pinup girl, before she was the face on the cover of every Witch Weekly, before she was the most sought after woman in the industry. She was a nobody. It was good to know that there was a time when my mother wasn't the center of attention.

We followed Harry into the elevator. It was strange that there wasn't any security. This was the Ministry of Magic after all. You would think that someone would be standing guard in case seven teenagers tried to break into the Department of Mysteries.

I nervously glanced over at Harry. He, unlike the rest of us, seemed to know exactly what he was doing. The elevator kept going farter and farter down but he stared determinedly at the doors. Finally the cool female voice said, "Department of Mysteries".

The gates to the elevator slid open and we all shuffled out. We were standing in a long corridor that was lit only by a few torches.

"Let's go," Harry whispered, and we all followed.

We moved into a large circular room. Everything in it was black. All the doors were identical; there was nothing to distinguish one part of the room from the other. I was scared, but I didn't say a word. As soon as Neville shut the door behind him the room became so dark we couldn't see an inch in front of our faces. I felt a hand grab mine and I looked to my right to see who it was, unfortunately, I couldn't see anything.

Suddenly, little blue lights illuminated the room and I felt whoever it was pull their hand out of mine. Then the room started to rotate. Hermione grabbed Harry's arm and I tried to plant my feet more firmly on the ground. The floor, however, did not move, only the walls.

"What was that about?" whispered Ron when the rotating had stopped.

"I think it was to stop us from knowing where we came from." Ginny said fearfully.

I tensed. Ginny was right. I had no idea which door was the door that led outside. We were trapped in the Department of Mysteries.

"How are we going to get back out?" Neville asked, voicing the question on everyone's minds.

"We won't need to get out until we've found Sirius—" Harry murmured.

"Where do we go then, Harry?" Ron asked.

"In the dreams I went through the door at the end of the corridor from the lifts into a dark room—that's this one—and then I went through another door into a room that kind of…glitters. We should try a few doors." Harry told us.

Great, I thought. I'm stuck in the Department of Mysteries with a bunch of underage wizards, and our 'leader' doesn't even know where he's leading us.

Harry walked toward the door facing him and we all followed closely behind. He pushed against it and it swung open easily. There were lamps hanging from the ceiling on golden chains making this room much brighter than the one we had come from. All we could see inside it were a few desks and a large tank filled with deep-green water with pearly white objects floating on the surface.

"What are those things?" Ron asked.

I took another look at them and gasped. They were very obviously brains, floating, disgusting, silvery, brains. I could feel myself about to gag and I turned to face the door.

"They're brains." I gulped disgustedly.

"Let's get out of here." Harry suggested.

"Good idea." I said, pushing open the door and running back into the dark, circle room.

"Wait!" Hermione called before Luna closed the door. "Flagrate!"

A fiery X appeared on the door and we all stared. What a brilliant idea! I could have kissed Hermione, but I thought better of it. Now we would all know where we had been. The room rotated again, but the fiery X still remained clear when the movement stopped.

"Let's try this one—" Harry said, pushing open another door.

This room was much larger than any of the other rooms we had been in. It was rectangular and the center of it was sunken in. The whole place looked like an amphitheater. In the center of the room was a stone archway with a veil that was fluttered slightly as though there was a light breeze.

I couldn't take my eyes off the veil. I kept getting a strange feeling that this veil, however old and tattered, would soon have great significance in my life. I watched it flutter, ever so slightly, and wondered what made it do so. I wondered exactly what was so special about this veil. I wondered…

"Who's there?" Harry asked jumping down from where we stood onto a stone bench.

"Harry!" I whispered anxiously, "What are you doing?"

Harry didn't answer, he just ran down the sunken pit until he had reached the archway.

"Sirius?" He asked gently.

Harry was acting very strangely, as though someone was standing behind the veil. I shifted slightly to look behind it and just as I suspected, nobody was there.

"Harry," I called, "Harry come on let's go on to the next room.

"Okay…" He murmured, but didn't move.

"Someone's whispering behind there." He told us, moving toward the veil.

I shivered. There was something very wrong about that archway, I could feel it.

"Harry come on!" I cried. "Nobody else hears anything let's just go, okay?"

"I hear it too," Luna said in her creepy Luna way. "There are people in there."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I snapped. "This isn't the time for your psychotic theories Luna! It's a veil, and behind the other side of the veil is the rest of the room. People couldn't be hiding behind that veil, we can see right past it! Harry, come on! Let's get out of this stupid room!"

Harry cleared his throat. "Addie's right, let's go."

The next door we tried was locked and charmed so that even Alohomora couldn't work. Harry had moved easily through all the doors in his dreams so we decided, it probably wasn't that one and moved on to the next.

Harry slowly pushed open the next door and gasped, "This is it!"

I hurried to look over his shoulder and saw a room filled with shimmering, dancing lights. I blinked a few times to become accustomed to the lights and slowly followed Harry into the room. Once inside, Harry knew exactly where he was going. He walked so quickly that it was hard to keep up with him.

"Look!" Ginny cried pointing to my left.

I looked over and saw a large, crystal bell jar that looked like it was filled with crystal wind. Inside if were tiny, sparkling, round balls. To my amazement a bird slowly crept out of the jar and then got sucked back in again. I was about to go help it when —

"Keep going!" Harry called.

"This is it," Harry said. "It's through here—"

I followed him anxiously. When we got to wherever Harry was taking us we would be fighting against full fledged Death Eaters, and, even more frightening, the Dark Lord himself. As much as I could tell myself that I could handle it and that I would come out okay. The chances were that I wouldn't.

I could die right now. I thought. My friends could watch me die, or worse…I could watch them die…

"Row Ninety-Seven." He told us and flew down the rows.

I watched the numbers fly by me as I hurriedly followed Harry.

Fifty-Three

Sixty

Seventy-five

Eighty-three

Ninety-six

"He's right down at the end!" Harry said, without a hint of fright.

I tensed even more and pulled out my wand, "Here goes nothing."

"Harry?" Hermione said.

"What?" He snapped.

"I…I don't think Sirius is here."

She had, in fact, stated the obvious. Nowhere, as far as I could see, was there any sign of Sirius, the Dark Lord, or whatever Death Eaters he undoubtedly would bring along. Harry ran down row ninety-seven and back.

"Harry—" Ron began, staring at one of the dusty shelves.

"What?" He snapped.

"Harry—it's got your name on it—"

Harry quickly walked up behind him, and stared at the small glass sphere which Ron had indicated.

"S.P.T to A.P.W.B.D….Dark Lord….and…Harry Potter…" He read out loud.

We all stayed quiet, none quite sure what that meant.

"Don't touch it Harry." I warned as he reached out to grab it from the shelf.

I had a feeling, much like the one I had with the arch, that the sphere was nothing but trouble.

"It's got my name on it." Harry said.

He quickly snatched the dusty glass ball off the shelf and began to inspect it. For the millionth time that night, I tensed. I waited for something to happen…for the room to shake…something. But nothing came. Just silence. And then—

"Very good, Potter. Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me." A voice said, a voice that I knew immediately as Lucius Malfoy's.