21. The last gate

'What was that place you saw anyway?'

Hermione looked across the table, first at Harry, then at Isaac Edwards.

She and Harry had left the flat above Armin's shop together, leaving a note to explain Harry's sudden departure. Isaac Edwards was waiting for them at the cottage.

'I think it was some sort of library.'

She recalled the aisle Rachel passed down, lined with bookshelves from floor to ceiling.

'And the missing boy, Caleb Priestley, he's in there?' said Isaac.

'I think so,' Hermione replied.

'And Rachel is there too now?' Isaac seemed more emotional than usual. He feels real concern for that girl.

'And what about Lillian Herrick?'

'She never entered the building. Either she was unwilling or unable.'

'That's an interesting development,' said Isaac.

'Yes,' said Hermione. 'I think she might be safe from Lillian in there.'

'Is there a way of going back and getting her out?' asked Harry.

'I'm not sure,' said Hermione. 'She certainly went in willingly. I wonder whether she would be able to leave of her own accord.'

She looked again at Harry and Isaac. Their eyes were red from lack of sleep and she imagined she looked the same, if not worse. Dawn was approaching, but who could think of sleep?

'Did you ever come across something about a library, or some sort of repository, in all the texts you studied on the Seven-Pointed Circle?' asked Harry.

'I've been racking my brain, trying to remember,' she replied. 'There were maybe some vague hints, but they could easily be misinterpretations.'

The idea of going back there filled her with dread, she realised.

'I don't suppose you stopped to glance at any of the titles,' Harry remarked.

'I didn't have the chance,' Hermione replied. 'But one thing I do remember: they all looked the same.'

'Like they had the same binding?' said Isaac.

'Yes.'

'Or, like they were all volumes of the same book?' Harry suggested.

'The same book...' Hermione repeated, a light going on in her eyes. 'Harry, thank you!'

Suddenly she started to pace up and down the draughty kitchen, muttering under her breath, as if she were trying to remember words she had learned. After about a minute, she stopped pacing and turned to them.

'The dark will not hide you, nor will the light,' she said, reciting the words she had remembered. 'With every deed, every thought, the book writes itself. It is a repository, Harry. A repository of every thought and deed. The quotation comes from a late commentary, seventeenth century if I remember correctly, by an author called Donatus Poorwill. I didn't think of the commentary at first; I was searching for a more direct source.'

'So whose thoughts and deeds are kept in this book?' asked Harry. 'Just those who master the Circle, or everyone's?'

'Everyone's, Harry, everyone's. Be sure of it,' said Isaac gravely.

Harry and Hermione stared at him. His normally stoic facade seemed to be cracking.

'The memory you showed to Rachel,' Hermione began, 'was so powerful that it overwhelmed both Rachel and Lillian.'

Isaac almost smiled.

'I knew I'd have to tell you about it,' he replied. 'Do you know what the circular incantation is?'.

'I've heard of it,' Harry said, glancing quickly at Hermione. 'From a book you once lent me. That book of yours called it a kind of dark magic.'

'The book exaggerated,' Hermione replied, smiling at Harry.

'It's not dark magic,' Isaac explained. 'At least insofar as it's not intended to do harm to others. But it's dangerous. Because it's so seductive.'

He explained his fascination as a young man with trying the incantation, how since it required two people to perform he had convinced a colleague, a young witch called Kirsten, to try it with him.

'I convinced her, charmed her into trying it,' he explained, his face ashen and his hands shaking. 'I didn't even know her that well. Or not to begin with, anyway. It took control of her completely.'

'And it killed her,' murmured Hermione, the scene from the room coming back to her. Particularly the dreadful pallor on the girl's face as her heart stopped beating.

'Yes, it killed her,' Isaac replied, his gaze rooted to the floor. 'In a way I can never leave that moment. In fact I'm condemned to relive it, over and over again. I dread the day when I see her again, but long for it at the same time. I can never make amends, never be forgiven, never even ask for forgiveness.'

He stared across the table and off into space, a look on his face as if he had just watched her die again. Hermione wanted to try and comfort him. But it was hopeless. Still, she had to say something.

'The incantation,' she began. 'You are the night to which I am opening. It's almost like an echo of the incantations used to enter the Circle. The similarity never occurred to me before.'

'Could be a coincidence,' Isaac replied. 'Or it could be that there are ways in which our magic draws on other magics.'

'I've never come across the idea of a link before,' said Hermione.

'But why not?' Harry exclaimed. 'Who says that our magic and other types aren't just parts of the same magic?'

'Yes, why not?' Hermione remarked. 'That would be something to look into.'

'You should write a book about it,' Harry replied. 'Once all this is over.'

Hermione smiled.

'Maybe I will,' she said softly. 'If we ever get that far.'

The silence was adding to their feeling of unease. Any sound outside the window or inside the cottage made them startle.

'After tonight,' Harry began, 'what's Lillian Herrick going to do?'

'You mean more than she already did this evening?' Hermione replied, the image of Harry sprawled on the floor in Armin's flat beneath the message written in blood rushing back into her mind.

'I wouldn't be surprised,' said Isaac, 'if she were to move faster against the wizarding world.'

A loud noise behind them in the kitchen made them all whirl around, their wands out in an instant. The leather document case that Isaac had brought with him had fallen off the chair. The three of them lowered their wands.

'Is that all?' Hermione remarked.

'Wait a moment,' said Isaac, starting towards the document case where it lay on the floor. 'Look there.'

The zipper was moving slowly of its own accord, gradually opening the case. They raised their wands again.

'Is this our magic or hers?' said Harry.

'It's the Circle,' Hermione replied in a distant voice, not taking her eyes off the zipper. Suddenly the case flew open and a London A to Z detached itself from an inner pouch and swayed across the room, before coming to rest on the kitchen table.

'Will it be cursed, do you think?' asked Harry.

'If it's Circle magic, then Hermione I think you will have to try and deal with it,' said Isaac.

'Yes, I will,' Hermione replied' her voice cool and distant. She was already halfway through the incantations.

Once inside, she walked calmly to the kitchen table and picked up the book and started to leaf quickly through the pages. She stopped on a page in central London. A miniature rendering of the Seven-Pointed Circle was marked in the vicinity of St Pancras station. Hermione laughed quietly to herself.

'Hermione, what is it?' She heard Harry's voice as if through water.

'It's the British Library,' she said. 'I think it must be Rachel.' A red line emerged from the Circle and began to move along Euston Road, past Kings Cross and onto Grays Inn Road. It was as if someone was drawing a line in red biro on the map. The red line moved swiftly, swerving left at Chancery Lane tube station onto High Holborn, then right onto Fetter Lane, now following the route along which Hermione and Demelza had once followed James Black: left onto Fleet Street, under the tower of St Bride's, but then continuing to Ludgate Circus and onto New Bridge Street, heading for the Thames. The red line came to a point just in front of Blackfriars Station, right on the river bank. There the Seven-Pointed Circle drew itself again. Hermione stepped back out of the Circle and turned to Harry and Isaac, a little smile on her face.

'She's drawn us a map,' she said.

'Who? Lillian Herrick?' asked Isaac.

'No, Rachel has.'

An early morning train was rolling into Blackfriars Station on the railway bridge across the Thames. Hermione, Harry and Isaac stood on Blackfriars Bridge, looking back at the north bank of the river, searching for the exact spot where the Circle had been drawn. For the second time in the space of a few hours, Hermione had found herself scribbling a note, this time to Caius, explaining her absence and half-suggesting that he follow them to 'somewhere near the Ministry'. Her hunch was that the drawing on the map had something to do with the final gate, and she had a sneaking suspicion that it would lead right into the Ministry.

'What are the chances this is a trap?' said Isaac.

'Reasonably high,' Hermione replied.

'Look down there,' said Harry suddenly, pointing to a small green space overlooking the river. Standing by an empty bench stood the figure of a young woman with dark hair.

'It's Rachel,' said Hermione. 'Or at least it's someone in her image.'

The figure who looked like Rachel looked up, quickly perceiving their presence. She gave them a brief wave, but didn't move from where she was standing.

'Let's go,' said Hermione. They descended the steps to the Embankment. The smell of the traffic fumes was already strong. The girl followed them silently with her gaze until they reached the little riverside garden. She was wearing a long dark overcoat and jeans and now had dark-rimmed glasses, just as Hermione remembered her from the school photo Isaac had shown her.

'You've no reason to trust me, of course,' she said plainly, pulling the overcoat more tightly around her.

She looked around at them, her eyes still seemingly focused on some far distant point.

'I'm not sure we've got the luxury of worrying about that at the moment,' Hermione replied.

'Possibly not.'

'You were able to leave the repository,' Hermione continued.

'It's not the sort of place you ever leave,' came the reply.

'But you're going to help us?' said Hermione. 'Why?'

The girl looked at Isaac.

'In return for the gift he gave me.'

'Don't you fear what Lillian might do to you?'

'No, because by helping you I'm not going against her.'

'I see,' said Hermione. 'Or at least I think I do.'

'You're very clever, Hermione,' said Rachel, 'but you're also too close to this now.'

'I know,' Hermione replied.

'You want to see the final gate,' Rachel replied. 'In fact you need to see it. And Lillian wants you to see it.'

'You speak as if she foresaw all this,' said Hermione.

'That's not impossible,' said Rachel. 'So by helping you my conscience is clear, in a manner of speaking.'

'Does that mean you'll go back to her?'

The girl shivered and shook her head.

'I just want to be with my friends.'

'Is that possible?'

'No.'

She looked bleakly at Harry and Hermione, looking much like the shy and studious teenager she had once been.

'By the way,' she added, 'this doesn't mean that you can stop what's going to happen from happening.'

'Honestly,' Hermione replied, 'I'm not sure we can either.'

They looked at each other grimly. A smile broke out on Harry's face.

'Still, that's never stopped us before.'

They leaned over the side of the embankment and looked down into the mass of grey water below.

'This is called the Dowgate,' said Rachel. 'If you look down there you can see the way in.' she continued, pointing down at a kind of opening at the bottom of the embankment where a little current of water coalesced with the main flow of the river.

'Is it some sort of sluice gate?' Hermione asked.

'Yes, it's where one of London's underground rivers flows out into the Thames,' Rachel explained.

They set off down slippery grey steps that led towards the water.

'We're not going to have to swim to the Ministry of Magic?' Harry remarked.

The steps ended at a narrow stone platform, just a few feet above the point where the water lapped against the embankment. Next to the platform, directly above where the current of water flowed into the Thames, was a metal grating about the size of a person.

'Have wizards ever used this route to get in and out of the Ministry?' Hermione asked.

'I'd say probably not,' Isaac replied. 'But who knows?'

'Whether or not it was used I don't know,' Rachel replied. 'But wizards knew about it. They put enchantments inside to hide the way into your Ministry.'

'Do we need to cast a spell to open the grating?' said Hermione.

'Try just opening it,' replied Rachel.

Hermione paused for a moment, then reached sideways and put her hand on the grating. It was cold and slimy. She looked back, slightly unsure of her balance. Harry shifted a little on the platform and took hold of her waist to steady her. She smiled at him and turned back to the grate. This time she pushed on the grating, and found that it swung open far more easily than she had expected. She shivered as a cold breeze that seemed both damp and stale wafted out of the opening.

'Looks muggle-made to me,' Isaac remarked.

'Who wants to go first?' Hermione asked.

'I will,' said Harry. 'The water's not much more than a trickle.'

He looked down and jumped off the ledge, landing on the threshold of the opening and grabbed the wall to steady himself.

'It's ok,' he called out.

Hermione made the jump next, followed by Isaac and Rachel.

'You were right,' said Isaac to Rachel as they headed into the tunnel, walking on its sides to avoid the channel of water flowing in the middle. 'Charms were cast here, at some point in the past. Only the magic has faded.'

'And no one will be watching from the Ministry end,' added Harry, 'since the Ministry probably no longer has any record of this place.'

They advanced by the light of three wands. Harry in the lead, followed by Hermione, then Rachel, with Isaac bringing up the rear. In places the air grew denser and smelled of what seemed like cordite.

'That must be what's left of the protective spells,' remarked Isaac from the rear. The tunnel bent left and right, perhaps avoiding obstacles that lay deep in the ground below London.

Finally, after another bend, the tunnel opened out into a wider space. The fog of spent enchantments was thicker still and the bare stone walls of the tunnel glistened eerily. Harry made his wand cast more light: the tunnel came to an end in a blank wall. They all turned to Rachel. She looked at the blank wall and said calmly:

'This isn't the end of the tunnel.'

'Really?' said Hermione, going up to the wall. She ran her hand over the rough stone surface.

'You're right!' she exclaimed suddenly. 'This is a false wall. Do you see the markings?'

She traced a line on the wall in a broad circle, then a series of shorter lines bisecting it at different angles.

'Now do you see it?' she said.

A large circle intersected with seven lines was now visible on the wall.

'Has this been put here to block our path?' said Harry.

'Quite probably,' Rachel replied.

Harry turned to Hermione.

'When you say this is a false wall, do you mean it's an illusion?'

'It's not exactly an illusion,' said Hermione, touching the wall again. 'It's a real wall, only one that was made using the Circle.'

Harry ran his hand over it.

'It certainly seems real enough. I suppose if I try and put my fist through it, I'll just break my hand.'

Hermione put her hand on his to stop him.

'Yes, you would.'

'The problem is we have to get through here somehow,' said Isaac.

'Yes' said Hermione. 'And I suppose it was put here for our benefit.' She turned to Rachel.

'Are we close to the opening, do you think?'

Rachel nodded.

'We're close to the other door.'

They all stared at the blank wall in front of them, which seemed as solid as if it was carved out of the rock around them.

'We're assuming that this is some kind of trick,' said Harry. 'But it could be a double bluff. We could just blast it away with a spell, only we don't dare to. And maybe that's the point: Lillian Herrick could be out there laughing at us as we stand in front of a wall doing nothing.'

'She would enjoy that,' said Hermione. 'But I think the joke would wear thin a bit too quickly for her liking.'

'The other possibility,' said Rachel, 'is that you're supposed to break down the wall.'

'What did you say?' said Hermione, turning to her.

'That the idea is to break down the wall,' Rachel repeated, in the same nonchalant voice.

Hermione hugged her suddenly.

'Rachel, you really are on our side after all.'

'What do you mean?'

'I think that's it: we're meant to break down the wall. And by doing so, break down the wall. I bet that this wall has been put up like a kind of screen to cover the real door. If we break down this wall, we break the door too. Making us the ones responsible for opening the door between the magical and non-magical worlds.'

'In other words, doing Lillian Herrick's job for her,' said Harry.

'Oh, she'd love that,' commented Hermione as she paced back and forth in front of the wall.

'Thing is,' said Isaac. 'If you're right, and I think you are, what are we supposed to do? We can't just sit here and guard this place, any more than we can guard the other openings. And we would have to search the entire Ministry for the opening on the other side, and that could take a very long time. I don't think anyone even knows how far the Ministry really extends.'

'That's true,' said Hermione, nodding sadly.

'There's something else,' remarked Harry, who had returned to the wall and was running his hand over it, 'with this false wall here, we've no way of knowing whether the real gate has already been opened or not.'

'And if that's the case,' said Hermione, joining him at the wall, 'she could already be inside, or anyone else that she cared to let through. That would be another fine trick for her to play on us, to have us sitting around in front of a gate that's already been opened.'

'Hermione,' Harry asked, 'could you look around the wall without breaking it down?'

Hermione smiled.

'Using the Circle, you mean.'

She glanced across at Rachel. Rachel nodded then walked slowly towards the false wall, looking up at the lines of the circle etched there. She reached up and placed her hand at the centre of the circle.

'Since this wall was made under the red sky,' she said, turning to Hermione and speaking in a low voice, as if her words were intended only for her. 'We need to look at it under the red sky too.'

The two of them took a step back from the wall and closed their eyes, whispering the incantations under their breath in unison.

The false wall stood in front of them as before, only Harry and Isaac were no longer standing next to them. Rachel glanced at her and shot her a fleeting smile.

They went up to the wall. It looked just as solid as the real one. Hermione put her hand on it.

'It feels the same.'

'It is at the moment. We just need to roll back time a little.'

'You make it sound so easy.'

'You just have to move it, like any other object.'

They positioned themselves on either side of the circle on the wall, focusing on a spot in the lower half of the circle, more or less at their eye level. To begin with nothing happened. The passing of time in reverse, if that was what was happening, was imperceptible. Suddenly a small beetle could be seen scuttling across the wall, only it was moving backwards. More time of unknown duration passed, until suddenly the carved circle erased itself line by line from the wall. Then the wall simply ceased to stand in front of them. A chill breath of wind escaped from within.

Before them was an opening where the wall had previously been. The stone tunnel continued for a few more feet only, before it reached a rusted metal doorway. The doorway hung open, revealing an extremely dusty, long-abandoned corridor of the Ministry, which led away into the distance. The corridor was lit by witch light. As she looked down the corridor, Hermione could make out footprints in the dust on the floor, possibly made by more than one person.

'We've seen enough,' she said.

Rachel nodded. Hermione looked once more through the opening. Then she let go of the image before her. As she did so, time seemed to reel back into place and the wall reappeared.

'It's been opened,' said Hermione, as soon as Harry and Isaac were back before them. 'The way into the Ministry is open.'

'Could you see where?' asked Isaac.

Hermione shook her head.

'Could be anywhere, but somewhere down in the catacombs I should think.'

'When?'

'Recently I suppose.'

'Did someone go in?'

'It looks like it. Possibly more than one.'

'Could they still be in there?'

'Who knows?'

'Shall we try and follow them?' said Harry.

'I wouldn't if I were you,' said Rachel.

'Why not?' said Hermione.

'This was meant to be the trigger,' she replied.

'The trigger?'

'The wheels are in motion,' she added. 'The magic that hides your Ministry will have been breached.'

'Surely the charms hiding the Ministry are too powerful to be breached just like that?' said Harry. 'Think about all the protection guarding Hogwarts.'

'They are powerful,' said Isaac. 'But these outer burrowings of the Ministry are only partially still part of it, and so the charms aren't as strong. And while they can easily keep the non-magical world at bay, who knows how they'd fare against the otherly-magical?'

'Put it this way,' said Rachel. 'I wouldn't risk getting stuck inside now.'

'But the people inside need to be warned!' Hermione exclaimed.

'Hermione, wait,' said Isaac, reaching out his hand to stop her. 'What are people going to do if they see you and I running around the Ministry shouting 'everybody out! the witchfinders are coming!'

'Point taken,' Hermione replied, her enthusiasm deflating in an instant. 'So what do we do?'

'I don't suppose there's any way of resealing the opening?' said Harry.

'Even if we could do it,' replied Isaac. 'The Separation is probably too weak. You would block one hole and another ten would appear.'

'But if the Ministry's been exposed,' Harry continued, 'does that mean it'll now be somehow … visible to the world?'