Chapter 2
According to the rolls upon rolls of parchment her predecessors have submitted to the Department of Mysteries, there was not much the Unspeakables could learn about the Veil, the only artifact in the Death Chamber. Oh, plenty of studies and experiments have been done, to be sure (she now knew what happened to that mysterious intern who "vanished" after his first day in the department, all those years ago) but so far none have proven fruitful.
The Unspeakables learned only one thing: anyone who enters the Veil disappears without a trace.
This power to seemingly consume people and objects alike made any sensible witch or wizard wary of stepping into the Death Chamber. Only the Unspeakables even dared to touch the Veil, let alone get within arm's reach of it. Once in a while, a team of Unspeakables would volunteer to study the tall, dark archway of stone riddled with unrecognizable runes, but it would not be too long until they declare it a failure and move on to other topics of research, ones that are far more interesting and less intimidating.
Today, Hari was going to start researching into the Veil. She had no team (a request that Head Unspeakable Gloome approved, with great reluctance), and she had no deadline.
"Just make sure you don't die on me, Potter," were Gloome's parting words to her this morning when he handed her the official letter of approval. He was a no-nonsense man, Percival Gloome; with a voice that sounded like the crunching of gravel and dark, drooping eyes, most people misjudged him as a man of slow wit and an even temper. Well, they were half-right. Gloome rarely showed any sign of anger, but he was hardly stupid. After working for the man close to twelve years now, Hari could confidently say that she trusted the man completely.
More than trust, Hari respected her superior. His work ethic mirrored hers, and he shared her intolerance of societal pre-conceptions and old-fashioned customs. He also cared very little for the titles and honors her name carried, and expected her to pull her own weight in the department. This, more than anything, cemented Hari's loyalty.
The dark hallways in the department were silent, the light sconces of blue-white flames only bright enough to make sure nobody tripped on their own robes. Unlike Hermione who loved the bright, airy office in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, or Ron who was now busy handling Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and grew to love the controlled chaos of his and George's store, Hari relished in the peace and quiet of the Department of Mysteries' corridors.
"Too stuffy", 'Mione would say. "Creepy," was the word Ron used to describe it once, when he was still an Auror.
"Calm," Hari described it to them, ignoring their incredulous faces. She had laughed and shrugged it off with a, "It comes with the job, I suppose."
That had been…a decade ago, now? "But you haven't been there long!" Ron argued with a confused frown.
Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron and sighed into her glass of butterbeer. "She means the other one."
Ron's mouth formed an "o" of belated revelation, and merely shrugged before attacking his shepherd's pie.
Ah, that was a good memory. Hari smiled to herself as she walked down another corridor, this one darker and more foreboding, and felt her shoulders relax. She was in her element, here. The shadows could do nothing to hurt her, and the idea of anybody getting the jump on her in this place was laughable.
This was the entrance to the Death Chamber. She could feel the Veil just on the other side of the door at the end of the corridor.
She walked inside without hesitation. As promised there was nobody in the large circular chamber. The Veil stood silent and brooding at the bottom, in a dais of its own. Hari smiled. She took a step down the flight of uneven steps leading to the artifact that would be her research material for the foreseeable future.
For the first time in history, the Veil began to hum and glow a soft, pale green. The runes on the arch swam on its surface, as if dancing.
"Ah," Hari's smile grew. This was not the first time she had been here, but it was the first time she entered the Death Chamber ever since the bone-white Elder Wand and the Resurrection Stone appeared on top of her father's Invisibility Cloak a full month after Voldemort's defeat.
As she drew closer, whispers began tickling the edge of her hearing. They grew louder as she approached the dais.
And she could understand them. It was just as Death said. Hari's smile turned into a full-blown grin.
"How delightful," she purred. The whispers stopped, waiting. Hari touched the arch with a finger, and the Veil glowed more strongly. "Let's see where you will take me, yes?"
Hari stepped through and vanished from sight.#
A/N: It's still a Wednesday, so I'll throw this new chapter in as a bonus (and to avoid any questions about the legitimacy of this story as a crossover). Feel free to review after reading!