The next few weeks involved planning and strategy of how to get into the Ministry of Magic undetected, and then one day Sirius before he left to go into hiding with the others was to use Polyjuice Potion, and take the form of Ministry workers to get in. It was a tearful farewell when Sirius finally left, hugging Harry tightly and told him to be safe.

The foursome carefully chose their people: Albert Runcorn, Mafalda Hopkirk, Reginald Cattermole. But with Brooklyn, he ended up with the most unexpected host, Percy Weasley. He felt nervous about taking his form, because of the possibility of running into Mr. Weasley. Ron told him as long as he kept up the act, Mr. Weasley wouldn't suspect him.

Along the way, they met more bad news: for Severus Snape was appointed Headmaster of Hogwarts. Brooklyn had to go into a private area to blow off his fury, for he felt sick at the thought of that slimy murderer sitting in Dumbledore's chair!

It was now the big day they were supposed to go into the Ministry. Hermione's Polyjuice was ready, and the unconscious bodies of their hosts were tucked away safely in a hidden alleyway. Brooklyn put Percy's hairs into his glass, and stared a little at its color, a bright green.

Okay...interesting color reaction, the gargoyle thought, grimacing again as he took that potion, reluctantly.

Now, in the form of Percy, Brooklyn with his friends went along their way until they encountered an entrance saying GENTLEMEN on the left, and LADIES on the right.

Hermione looked at the three boys nervously. "See you soon," she said, turning on her heels to the ladies, while the three boys went the other way.

Brooklyn Harry and Ron entered the men's bathroom stalls, standing in line until it was their turn. The gargoyle glanced about his stall, wondering how it was supposed to work, until Harry gazed over at him.

"Apparently, Ron says we flush ourselves down the toilet," Harry muttered in a disgusted voice. Brooklyn's face fell. Who the heck even thought of that kind of entrance?

Nodding and grimacing again in disgust, Brooklyn stepped foot into the toilet. The water didn't feel wet, surprisingly enough. He pulled the string, and felt the sensation of being pulled down a tube, appearing in one of the fireplaces in the Ministry.

He met up with the other three, and proceeded along their way, nerves growing as thoughts of running into Mr. Weasley here kept penetrating his mind while approaching the statue that replaced the old one of the witch, wizard, centaur, and house elf.

It was now three huge stone chairs, which resided witches and wizards with looks of importance and strength with the saying Magic is Might. And below it…

Brooklyn stared in disbelief, at the sight of the carvings of men, women, and children with ugly and stupid faces holding up the chairs. That was bloody horrible!

"A-are those?" Harry asked in disgust. Hermione nodded, revulsion on her face and Ron's, too. "Muggles, in their rightful place," she whispered in fear.

The red gargoyle shook his head. "I hate it!" He grumbled, hands balling. Harry took his hand gently, smiling a little, and calming him down a tad.

As they approached the elevators, Yaxley came up to them, a scowl on his face.

"Cattermole? It's still raining inside my office, for two days now," he said. Ron looked nervous. "Uh, did you try an umbrella?" He asked.

Very smooth, Ron, Brooklyn thought, until Yaxley looked over at him, and he gulped.

"What are you doing with these three, Weasley? Aren't you supposed to be helping the Minister with paperwork?" He asked suspiciously.

"Oh! Er, I uh, he reassigned me to be with Mafalda, to help her out, as a junior assistant for her, yeah!" He quickly came up with, while the rest of them stared.

Yaxley raised his brow before turning back to Ron.

"Do you know I am going downstairs, Cattermole?"

"Downstairs?"

"Yes, to interrogate your wife. Now, if my wife's blood status were in doubt, and the Head of the Magical Department of Law Enforcement needed a job doing...I think I might make that a priority. You have one hour," Yaxley finished, the lift closing. Brooklyn glared after the Death Eater, still outraged at how easily the Death Eaters had taken over.

Ron looked panicked, while the lift went on it's way.

"Oh my god! What am I gonna do? My wife's all alone downstairs!" He gasped. Brooklyn folded his arms.

"Ron, you don't have a wife," he pointed out in a deadpanned voice. Ron smiled embarrassedly. "Oh, right, Brook."

The lift halted on Ron's floor, and he got out, after Hermione told him how to stop it raining.

"Level 1, Minister of Magic and Support Staff," the elevator lift announced after a minute later. Brooklyn had nearly fallen in the lift because he didn't have his tail.

"I'd say if we don't locate the Horcrux we find Ron and come back another day, deal?" Harry said to Brooklyn and Hermione who both nodded as the lift opened, revealing…

Oh snap, Brooklyn thought, eyes widening at the sight of her. Umbridge hardly changed, she still wore the pink cardigan, and looking more toad like than ever.

She smiled simperingly. "Ah, Mafalda! Travers sent you, didn't he? How wonderful! We'll go down together! And Mr. Weasley! Yaxley informed me you were assisting Mafalda today, care to join us? It would be a real pleasure!"

Brooklyn attempted to smile, but it felt like a grimace, as he nodded, seeing as he had no choice but to play along. Umbridge noticed Harry still there. "Albert, aren't you getting out?" She asked. Harry nodded, stepping out. He gazed back to his brother and friend who had desperate looks on their faces as the lift started up again.

I'll come back for you, Brook and Hermione! I promise! Harry called silently, hoping they understood, then went to see if he could find the Horcrux.

It took him some time, but Harry couldn't find the Horcrux in Umbridge's office after using the Decoy Detonators, which had Mad-Eye's eyeball attached to the door, that he stole for himself, for a little revenge. He returned to the lift and Ron came in with him, but at first didn't recognize Harry.

"Morning," he mumbled. Harry nudged him gently. "Ron, it's me, Harry!" He hissed. Ron looked relieved. "Harry! Blimey! Forgot what you'd look like. But...where's Brook and Hermione?" Harry's face fell.

"They've gone down to the courtrooms, with Umbridge," he said, and Ron's face paled. "Bloody hell," he mumbled hoarsely.

With Hermione and Brooklyn, things have so far gone okay without Umbridge suspecting, until they actually got to the courtroom. Stepping out, Brooklyn flinched silently from the terrible familiar cold.

Dementors, just perfect, he thought. This was the worst thing for him right now, stuck in a room with two other things he hated besides Demona and Voldemort: Dementors and Umbridge.

Their first attendant Umbridge interrogated was a nervous looking young man, whom she convicted of course, and Brooklyn was forced to watch security dragging the babbling man away, looking in tears. Brooklyn, unable to stop himself, looked up at the Dementors, who stayed put by Umbridge's cat Patronus, and began to sweat a little, panting, that feeling of despair threatening to come over him again. For this was real, and not in a Pensive this time.

Hermione noticed, and took a gentle hold of Brooklyn's hand, assuring him that Harry would come for them.

"Just keep focusing on happy thoughts," she murmured silently. Brooklyn nodded, shutting his eyes and tried blocking out Goliath's screams, focusing only on his family, and friends, and steadying his breathing.

He also couldn't cast his Patronus even though he really wanted to, for a giant gold silver Phoenix was definitely a giveaway.

Next was a young woman named Mary Cattermole, and Brooklyn immediately thought of Ron who had taken form of her husband.

"Your name is Mary Elizabeth Cattermole?" Umbridge said.

"Yes." She whispered fearfully.

Umbridge turned towards Brooklyn. "Be sure to write down everything like the last interrogation, Mr. Weasley. I wish to remember them."

Brooklyn nodded silently, reluctantly. He hated writing these down.

The interrogation continued, until Brooklyn's eyes caught the arrival of Harry and Ron, and he breathed in relief. They were gonna get out!

Harry inclined his head at Umbridge's chest. Confused, Brooklyn turned to look, and his breath caught in his chest at the sight of the Horcrux. She was wearing it.

Brooklyn felt as though that terrible thing was watching his every move, and his hand holding the quill shook.

"A wand was taken from your arrival from the Ministry. Is this that wand?" Umbridge questioned Mary coldly. Mary rocked back and forth in her chair. Ron stood with her awkwardly.

"I-I didn't take it. I bought it in Diagon Alley, from Ollivanders when I was 11. It chose me!"

Umbridge frowned, eyes flashing, and a rush of hatred surged through the gargoyle even more for the toad.

"You're lying. Wands only choose witches, and you are not a witch! Keep lying and you'll be subjected to the Dementor's Kiss!"

What would you know? I'm not a human or a wizard, yet my wand chose me! Brooklyn thought, gripping his quill hard, gritting his teeth.

"But-but I am!" Sobbed Mary. Harry then moved forward, drawing his wand, and. Umbridge tilted her head.

"What on earth are you doing, Albert?" Umbridge asked. Harry narrowed his eyes.

"You're lying, Dolores. And one mustn't tell lies," he said lowly, and pointed his wand, striking.

"Stupefy!" He shouted, knocking Umbridge out. Hermione grabbed the Horcrux off her chest. Yaxley tried going for her but Brooklyn struck him back with Flipendo.

"WEASLEY!" Screamed Yaxley in fury, still unaware it was really Brooklyn, thinking Percy had turned on them.

But now, with Umbridge unconscious, her Patronus disappeared, and the Dementors went for the group. They took Mary with them to the elevator.

Brooklyn backed up against the elevator walls, the Dementors trying to reach in at them, the terrible freezing lung choking cold getting worse. He shivered even more from it, legs sinking beneath him, feeling like he lost his energy until Brooklyn remembered Hermione's words, keep thinking happy thoughts, so he did that, raising his wand, and he and Harry both shouted out.

"Expecto Patronum!" The Stag and the Phoenix soared through the lift doors, knocking the Dementors back, and the air grew warm again, the lift beginning to move.

The lift returned to the main lobby, but when the entrance opened, Brooklyn's blood froze at the sight of Mr. Weasley.

"Percy?" Gasped Arthur in shock, seeing him with the strangest group when they exited.

"Dad!" Brooklyn found himself blurting out, and Ron had instantly facepalmed, much to Mary's confusion.

Mr. Weasley glared. "You stopped calling me dad a long time ago, 'son'," he said heatedly. Brooklyn realized his mistake, but then had an idea.

"I-I know, but I was wrong, about everything. I'm really sorry, for snapping at you, at Mum, at everyone. I mean it, really. I don't know If you can find it in your heart to forgive me." he muttered. "But my group have to leave and help this couple, and you need to, as well. They're tracking you, father. They're tracking the whole family." With that, he pushed Harry and the others on their way.

Mr. Weasley stared after them, mouth open. "Percy…" he murmured, shaking his head before going in his own was open mouthed as well. "Brook? What was that?" He asked. Brooklyn felt himself going red.

"Just thought I'd apologize for Percy, that's all. It didn't feel right for me pretending to hate Mr. Weasley. And maybe the real Percy can one day apologize like I did, too," he replied honestly. Harry grinned at him. "Well I liked it," he stated, but then Brooklyn gasped in pain, clenching his stomach. The potion was wearing off, along with the others.

Brooklyn gritted his teeth, his wings and tail growing back out, shooting upward, until his gargoyle form returned. Harry and Hermione too we're back to normal, but not Ron yet for some reason.

Mary was staring in disbelief, at the sight of the most wanted group standing right before her. Brooklyn chuckled nervously. "Uh, hey."

"R-Reg? What's happening? Is that-that-Harry Potter?" She gasped. Ron took her hand.

"Mary, don't worry about it, just go get the kids, and get out of the country, I'll meet you there, I promise!" Ron told her. She sobbed, then to everyone's shock, she kissed Ron right on the mouth.

Brooklyn stared, thunderstruck, as Ron changed to normal while she still kissed him, and they broke apart. It was even worse when the real Reginald Cattermole, Albert Runcorn, and Percy Weasley all appeared at once, appalled and furious looks on their faces.

"I think now is a good time to run before—." Brooklyn muttered, the four of them backing away, until somebody shouted out.

"It's Harry Potter, and the gargoyle!" Shouted a voice.

"—We're caught...RUN!" Brooklyn shouted, and they made a break for the fireplaces, Yaxley right on their heels and shooting spells at them, even closing up the fireplaces. The foursome reached one that didn't close, Harry going first, then Hermione.

Brooklyn shot a spell at Yaxley, but he deflected it, eyes murderous at the one pretending to be Percy. Panting, he went right into the fireplace with Ron, Yaxley reaching out to grab them.

Chaos, and suffocating darkness squeezed onto Brooklyn. For a brief second he saw Grimmauld Place until it disappeared again. Stomach churning, everything grew hazy and nauseous, making the gargoyle go unconscious.

Twittering birds hit his ears as he woke, lying on a forest floor. Grunting a little in pain, he sat up, looking over to see Ron grunting in pain, blood streaming from a wound on his arm, and his friends sitting down around him. Brooklyn's face fell, rushing over to check.

"What happened?" He gaped, seeing the chunk of flesh missing from Ron's shoulder. Hermione was in tears.

"I know we needed to go back to Grimmauld Place, but Yaxley had hold of me! I couldn't let him see where we stayed. Once his grip slackened, I shook him off and took us here instead, but… Ron got Splinched!" She sobbed, trying to calm Ron down.

Brooklyn felt like throwing up at this, for when Harry started Apparating, he told Brooklyn about how if you don't use it right, you can lose part of your body, a hand or whatever. But this...this was more gruesome than he thought.

Hermione had Harry pull out Essence of Dittany from her pouch, which he did, and she squeezed some drops onto Ron's wound. All color was drained from his face when he suddenly fainted.

They set up their tent a while later, which was one of those extended tents used at the Quidditch World Cup, and waited for Ron to heal before moving on. Hermione had put up some defensive shield hexes around their camping area, so that no Death Eaters would come knocking.

After about a week, Ron had managed to heal and they could go on their way.

The four friends traveled for several months, which involved stealing, hunting (provided by Brooklyn), and borrowing. Thankfully there was no Hedwig to worry about, since she was living with the Weasleys. Brooklyn still missed Wyvern, but he slowly was starting to accept his owl was now in a happy place.

With the Horcrux they now had, they had tried to destroy it with many different spells, but it was indestructible, so the trio took turns wearing it, while Brooklyn watched over each of them carefully, since he didn't feel like touching another one of those things again after the diary.

But as this kept going, tension arose even more among the group especially whenever they were in a place that had fog everywhere from breeding Dementors.

It was Ron's turn wearing the Horcrux one bad night when Brooklyn had once again gone out hunting, but all he could find was one small rabbit that Hermione cooked.

Ron poked unhappily at his food.

"You know? Mom can make wonderful food appear out of thin air," he suddenly said, making the others look up.

"Uh, no offense Ron, but that's impossible, and I worked as hard as I could," Brooklyn snapped. He had been feeling a little snappish earlier with their lack of food, which resulted into poor catches each time. Ron ignored the gargoyle's comment, continuing to talk about his mom's cooking until they were in bed.

Hermione at one point had managed to learn something new about the Sword of Gryffindor, that it was goblin made, and able to absorb Basilisk Venom.

Brooklyn was shocked. "So you're saying the sword can destroy Horcruxes? Then maybe that's why Dumbledore left it for my brother!" He exclaimed, with Harry looking excited.

"Yeah, but there's only one problem, we don't know wh-Ron, what's wrong with you? We need that light," Harry said, for the lights went out, from Ron's Deluminator. He glared at the three of them.

"Oh, am I interrupting? Carry on, don't let me spoil it for you all," he huffed, and Brooklyn noticed he still wore the Horcrux.

"You feeling alright, Ron?" Brooklyn asked, narrowing his eyes after Ron put the light back.

"Feeling peachy, according to you, anyway."

Harry frowned. "Well, if you got something to say, spit it out!"

Ron's hands clenched into fists. "Alright 'mate', I'll 'spit it out'. Just don't expect me to be grateful just because now there's another damn thing we got to find!" He growled.

Brooklyn got to his feet. "Yeah, Ronald? What the hell did you think you tagged along with us for?"

Ron nodded. "Yeah, me too."

Harry also got up and circled him. "What part of this isn't living up to your expectations? Did you think we'd be staying at a five star hotel? Finding a Horcrux every other day? Did you think you'd be back with Mummy by Christmas?"

Brooklyn tensed, sensing growing hostility. Other nights they've been able to keep their tempers, but clearly all this was the Horcrux's doing, it was hurting Ron's brain quite effectively.

"I'd just thought after all this damn time, we'd actually achieve something! I'd thought Dumbledore would've told you something worth while! Thought you two would have a plan!" Ron yelled, his voice growing louder.

Brooklyn moved to tower Ron. "We've said this before: Harry and I told you guys everything Dumbledore told us, and in case if you haven't noticed, we already got one damned Horcrux!" He snarled.

Ron glared back with equal measure. "And we're just as close to getting rid of that thing just as we are to finding the rest of them! You two deserve a medal for least accomplished!"

The gargoyle's eyes glowed white at that, struggling to keep his temper.

Hermione tried to take the Horcrux off Ron but he shoved her away. "You two have no idea what I go through every night listening to the radio, to make sure I don't hear Ginny, the Twins, Mum, or Dad being the next victims!"

"Oh yeah? You don't think I don't know how this feels?" Harry roared.

"No! You don't know how it feels! Your parents are dead! And all you got is your godfather and non human brother! You don't have a proper family!" Ron screamed. Brooklyn felt his heart wrench from Ron insulting him again by saying non human after devil.

"I swear, if you don't take that back—!" He shouted furiously, but Ron interrupted.

"I'll bet you listen to the radio too and make sure your precious Clan isn't next, either huh Brooklyn? Admit it! Angela could be one of the names, or Goliath!"

His face burned, Brooklyn was now seeing red. Ron had gone further than he had ever gone before, unlike the past times he insulted the Brooklyn, this took the cake. Hissing in an unearthly manner, he raised his talons.

"NO! BROOKLYN, STOP!" Hermione screamed. Her voice somehow brought Brooklyn back down to earth, his vision returning to normal, realizing he was gonna strike his friend. No. Former friend. He shook all over.

"Why don't you just leave, then, since you aren't having fun?" Brooklyn snapped, almost forgetting now that it was really the Horcrux that made Ron act like this in the first place.

"Fine, I think I will!"

"Good luck with it!" Harry snarled.

Ron yanked off the Horcrux, tossing it onto a bed. He took his bag and stormed out of the tent. Hermione glared back at the brothers before running out, trying to get Ron back in. But it was too late, as Brooklyn heard the sound of Disapparating. He was gone.