Chapter 31: September part 4

A/N: This will be a September Part 4/Part 1. If that makes any sense lol.

It has been two days since Hermione has been able to get in touch with Severus via journal. Her, Neville and Harry are making preparations to leave Grimmauld place to search of Voldemort's horcrux. Fletcher said that Dolores Umbridge has it. That means, he has to find a way to get into the ministry and get the locket from Umbridge.

"Well, this is great." Harry said sarcastically.

"No kiddin." Neville.

"I have a plan of action." Hermione said. The boys turn to her.

"Polyjuice potion." She answered.

"Remember the last time?" Harry asked, Hermione was not too keen on turning into a cat again.

" It won't happen again."

"What happened last time?" Neville inquired.

"She turned into a cat. Gotten the wrong stand of hair." Harry couldn't help but chuckle at the memory.

"If you say anything- we were only in our second year. Give us a break." Hermione rolls her eyes.

"Second year? Geez you're brilliant Hermione. Always have."

"Just give me some time." Hermione said.

On an empty street corner, When Neville peers around a building. A few yards off, a witch (Mafalda Hopkirk) approaches. Neville begins to walk, preceding her down street, then kneels, fiddling with his shoelace. Zap! Neville hurries back, takes her feet and helps Harry hustle her out of view. They prop her up unconscious. Hermione is pouring Polyjuice potion into three cups.

"Right. So let's do it. Who gets who?" Ron asked.

"Well, unless one of you fancies wearing a skirt…" Hermione leans down, plucks a hair from the witch. Neville frowns as he surveys the two remaining wizards.

"Remember what we said. Keep your eyes down. Don't speak to anyone unless absolutely necessary. Act as normal as possible. Just do what you see everyone else doing. We do that—and with a bit of luck00 we get ourselves inside and then…"

"It gets really tricky." Harry finishes.

"Correct." Hermione answers. Harry and Hermione look once more at the stunned trio before them.

"This is completely mental." Harry notices.

"Completely, utterly, without question." Hermione agrees.

"The world's mental. Come on, drink up. We've got a Horcrux to find." Neville encouraged. With making one last look of disgust, the trio downed the Polyjuice potion and changed.

The trio with their new identities, emerge. Neville (in the disguise of Reg Cattermole) takes out an ID card.

"In case you're interested, I'm Reg Cattermole, Magical Maintenance Department." Neville said.

"Mafalda Hopkirdk, assistant in the improper use of Magic Office." Hermione introduced.

"I'm nobody." Said Harry. Hermione and Neville gave him a look of, 'play along.'

"Fine. Albert Runcorn."

Finally, they were in the Ministry, in the Atrium. Neville comes shooting out of a fireplace into the grand atrium of the Ministry of Magic. He sees Hermione's already arrived and standing before a massive statue of black stone depicting a witch and wizard sitting upon hundreds of naked bodies twisted in pain. Harry joins her.

"Are those…?" Albert/Harry asked. Mafalda/Hermione nods with disgust.

"Muggles In their rightful place."

Harry glances at the bast of the statue, where the words: "Magic is Might" are engraved. Just then, a balding wizard bumps into Harry.

"Move it, will you! Oh, Runcorn! Forgive me…" The balding man said. The balding wizard hurries away, clearly frightened, as does another wizard, merely at the sight of Harry."

"You appear to be quite popular." Mafalda/Hermione said.

Neville approaches, running a gauntlet of pitying looks from co-workers who keeps saying "Good luck."

"I have to tell you, I'm starting to freak out a bit." Reg/Neville.

Just then, a gang of young, rough-looking wizards, led by their leader, Scabior, enter the Atrium, pushing along a small group of captives.

"The Ministry must be hiring young these days." Albert/Harry mentioned.

"They're not Ministry. They're snatchers. They hunt muggle-borns and blood-traitors for a price." Hermione answers.

"How long did you say this batch of polyjoice potion would last, Hermione?" Albert/Harry asked.

"I didn't." Mafalda/Hermione replied.

"Cattlemole!" Yaxley yelled. They all jump. Yaxley strides directly up to Neville.

"It's still raining in my office. Two days now."

"Really? Have you tried an umbrella?" Reg/Neville retorted. Yaxley eyes Neville curiously, then leans forward menacingly.

"You do realize I'm on my way downstairs, don't you, Cattermole?"

"Downstairs?"

"To interrogate your wife! If my wife's blood status were in doubt and the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement needed a job doing, I think I'd make it a priority. You've got one hour." Just then, the lift behind them clangs open. Hermione tugs Neville inside. Yaxley turns and storms off just as the doors close.

"Oh my God. What am I going to do? My wife's all alone downstairs?!" Reg/Neville panicked.

"Neville. You don't have a wife." Answered Albert/Harry.

"Oh- right."

"Look, we'll go with you." Albert/Harry suggest.

"No, that's mad. You two find Umbridge. I'll be fine. But how do I stop it raining?" Reg/Neville asked.

"Try Finite Incantatem. Of course if something's gone wrong with an atmospheric charm." Mafalda/Hermione recommends.

'Level Two. Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including wizengamot Administration Services, Auror Headquarters and Improper Use of Magic Department." A lady on the intercom voiced.

"This is you." Hermione said.

"If Finite Incantatem doesn't work, what then?" Reg/Neville asked.

Before she could respond the golden grilles of the lift close and she and Harry are swept away.

"I don't like him being on his own down there." Mafalda/Hermione confessed.

"Neville should be okay."

"You really have horrible teeth, you know that." Mafalda/Hermione changed the subject.

'Level One. Minister of Magic and Support Staff…'

"I say if we don't locate Umbridge within the hour, we go find Neville and come back another day. Deal?" Albert/Harry whispered. The grilles clang open again and Harry and Hermione freeze.

Standing next to a long-haired wizard, her neck enwrapped in a fuzzy pink scarf, is Dolores Umbridge. She looks up from the clipboard in her hand and sees Hermione/

"Ah, Mafalda! Travers sent you, did he? Good. We'll go straight down. (eyeing Harry) Albert, aren't you getting out?" Harry nods mutely, steps out. As the lift descends, he watches Hermione's anxious face sink out of sight.

Ministry of Magic: Level One.

Harry passes one gleaming door after another, glancing down purple-carpeted corridors that stretch into nothingness. A muttering wizard passes by, murmuring to a quill floating in front of him. Otherwise, it is eerily quiet.

"Weasley!" said the young wizard. Harry stops dead, peers around a corner and sees a slight, familiar-looking red-headed Percy Weasley.

"They're waiting for your report downstairs."

"Oh-yes… of course."

Harry watches as Percy hurries off. As Harry moves on, he hears voices ahead. Emerging into a wide open space and discovers dozens of witches and wizards sitting at a sea of small desks. Waving their wands in unison, squares of pink paper flit like kites through the air, dropping into neat stacks. Harry creeps closer, sees that they are pamphlets entitled, "Mudbloods and the Dangers They Pose to a Peaceful Pure-Blood Society."

"Reckon the old hag will be interrogating Mudbloods all day?" A red-haired witch said.

"Sh…careful." Said another wizard. Pius Thicknesse appears, trailing a retinue of lackeys.

"Runcorn." Thicknesse states.

Harry returns Thicknesse's nod, watches him pass from view. As his gaze shifts, he finds the red-haired witch regarding him with fear. She looks quickly away, resuming her work at double-time. Harry's eyes shift again, regarding at shining mahogany door across the way. He squints: something is imbedded within the door. He crosses the room, stopping dead in his tracks. Harry reaches into an inner pocket and removes a decoy detonator, an odd object with little weaving legs and a rubber-bulbed horn for a body. He releases it.

It scuttles down his body, across the floor and directly into the sea of desks. Harry waits. Then…bang! Black smoke billows into the air, pink pages fly everywhere and the detonator gives birth to dozens of tiny replicants of itself, which race about the floor, up the legs and across the desks of the pamphleteers. The Red-Haired Witch shrieks. Others follow and Harry slips into Umbridge's office, closes the door. The room's décor is sickeningly cute. Lace flowers. Harry takes out his wand.

"Accio locket." Albert/Harry said. Nothing. Harry frowns, glances about. A leaflet bearing his face—"Undesirable #1" – lies upon Umbridge's desk, along with photographs of other Order members. Two have a large pink "X" scratched on them: Dumbledore and Mad-Eye.

Harry begins to search the office, opening drawers, riffling through filing cabinets… then stops. Pulls out a file. Inside is a photograph of Hermione and an accompanying data sheet: "Blood Status: Muggle Born" "Whereabouts: Last seen in the company of Undesirable #1." Harry starts to put the file away, and begins to search for Ron's. Harry quickly replaces the file. "Blood Status: Pure Blood… last seen in the company of Draco Malfoy.

'Draco Malfoy? Why is he hanging around Malfoy?' Harry thought. Harry starts to put the file away, then pauses, looking closer. "Father: Arthur Weasley. Ministry Employee. Status: Tracked. Strong likelihood undesirable #1 will contact." Harry stares at the word "Tracked." Then:

"All right, all right. Let's calm down, shall we?" Demanded the balding wizard. Harry replaces the file, steps to the door and peers through. Slowly, he eases open te door, back out and turns. The Red-Haired witch is watching him. He puts his finger to his lips. Her eyes go wide as saucers.

"It probably just snuck here from Experimental Charms. I think none of us will soon forget last month's poisonous Duck…" explained the balding wizard. Seeing the Red-Haired Witch's expression, the Balding Wizard turns and, as before, withers at the sight of Harry.

"R-Runcorn." Harry gives him an appraising look, turns the corner and dashes off.

Level One: Outside Lifts

Harry sprints just as the same muttering wizard trails his quill out of an empty lift. Once inside, he hits a button and watches the grilles close. He glances at his reflection in the mirrored wall. Bares his teeth. Hermione's right They're awful. Just then, the grilles clang open and Neville enters, soaking wet and wild-eyed.

"Morning." Reg/Neville said.

"Neville, it's me." Albert/Harry said.

"Harry! I forgot what you looked like. Where's Hermione?"

"She went down to the courtrooms with Umbridge." The grilles open again and reveal…Arthur Weasley, in the company of an elderly witch.

"I understand Wakinda, but I can't be a party to that." Arthur stops then, seeing Harry, and regards him with utter disdain, then turns his eyes to Neville and softens.

"Hello, Reg. Isn't Mary in for questioning today? Try to have faith. If there's anything Molly and I can do for you-" Arthur pats Neville's shoulder, and he stops. Pulls his dripping hand away.

"Let me guess. It's raining in Yaxley's office again?" Wakinda asked.

"Tell him to try an umbrella." Arthur suggests.

Arthur and Wakinda exit. As they go, Neville cranes his neck, watching, with a look of longing as the grilles begin to close. Suddenly, Harry reaches out, blocking the doors.

"Arthur! You know you're being tracked, don't you?" Albert/Harry warns. Arthur turns to him.

"Is that a threat, Runcorn?" Arthur asked cautiously.

"No, Arthur, It's a fact. They're watching you."

Arthur eyes Harry with a mixture of suspicion and confusion and perhaps…recognition. Harry removes his hand. The grilles close. Neville stares at him.

"I'll tell you later. Let's find Hermione." Albert/Harry said.

Harry and Neville move down a dark torch-lit stone passageway. As they move further along, their breath becomes visible and Neville, soaked to the bones, begins to tremble.

"It's really cold down here." Reg/Neville commits.

Then they see. Swirling outside the courtroom doors like sentinels are tall black-hooded figures. Dementors. Just then, a man comes stumbling out of the courtroom in the company of a pair of death eaters.

"I'm half-blood, I tell you! My father was a wizard! Look him up! William Alderton! He worked here for thirty years…." A scared man said. As Neville watches the terrified man pass, Harry grabs his arm, pulls him toward the courtroom.

Courtroom

In a dark cathedral, possessed of a palpable chill. Dementors float eerily in the gloom. The ceiling stretches high, disappears in darkness. As Harry and Neville enter, unnoticed at first—they move cautiously, taking in their surroundings. Hermione is seen, sitting with a stack of parchment behind a balustrade alongside Umbridge and Yaxley, while while a bright silver cat, then drift to Umbridge's Patronus—prowls up and down, providing warmth to them and them only. Harry's eyes track the cat, then Umbridge herself.

"What is it?" Reg/Neville whispered.

The corners of Harry's eyes contract, his head slightly cocked…as if he can sense the presence of something.

"It's here." Albert/Harry said. As Neville reacts—deciphering Harry's words—a woman's voice comes their way:

"Reg.." Mary Cattermole sighed. Neville turns. Below the balustrade, a frail woman, Mary Cattermole sits alone, wrists chained. Seeing Neville, her wan face brightens. Neville moves to the center of the room, taking his place behind the woman. Hesitating, he places sees Hermione watching him.

"Mary Elizabeth Cattermole?" Umbridge asked.

"Yes."

"Mother to Maisie, Ellie and Alfred? Wife to Reginald?" Umbridge continued.

Mary looks up to Neville, her eyes glistening with fear. He smiles reassuringly. She looks away, replies: "Yes."

Harry eyes Umbridge. She has draped the pink scarf over her chair, revealing a Gold chain that extend from her neck down into the ruffled folds of her blouse. A slight humming, faint and oddly lyrical, rings in Harry's ears as he studies the chain. As if drawn forward by some irresistible force, he begins drift toward the balustrade.

"A wand was taken from you upon your arrival at the Ministry today, Mrs. Cattermole. Is this that wand?" Umbridge asked. She holds up a cherrywood wand. Mary nods.

"Would you please tell the court from which witch or wizard you took this wand." Umbridge demanded.

"But I didn't take it. I got it in Diagon Alley, at Olivander's, when I was eleven. It chose me."

Umbridge leans forward, teeth glittering as the cat slinks by and briefly illuminates her face—and the chain at her neck trembles like a snake, something heavy swinging forward and dangling over the void.

The Locket.

Neville stares at it dumbstruck. Hermione catches her breath. Harry, fully removed from the shadow now, stands clearly in view, the corners of his eyes narrowing once again, the hum growing louder in his ears. Slowly, he reaches into his pocket.

"No, no, I don't think so, Mrs. Cattermole. Wands only choose witches. And you are not a witch." Umbridge said positively.

"But I am! Tell them, Reg! Tell them what I am!" Neville starts to speak, but Umbridge's gaze has shifted, to Harry, to the wand rising in his hand…and pointed at her.

"What the devil are you doing, Albert?" Umbridge questioned. As Harry speaks, his own face ripped through Runcorn's, the polyjoice potion wearing off.

"You're lying. And one mustn't tell lies, Dolores… Stupefy!"

A/N: So, there's part 1 of September part 4. This is actually the longest chapter I've done so far! I've tried to make it as close to the actual story line as possible. With the exception with Ron. Also, why is Ron hanging out with Malfoy? What's the plan? But…. Draco is at Hogwarts. So, many questions. I'm sorry there is no Severus this chapter. I will do my best to have Hermione and Severus have some type of communication! Please rate and review! I've been trying to upload as much as I can.