It was so quiet. That must be one of the most unnerving things. You could just hear your own hart beating against your chest. Letting you know that you're not as calm as you want to be.
Draco and Ginny were walking for quite some time now and they seemed to be getting nowhere.
"How far is it?" Ginny asked, clearly aggravated.
"I don't know...best thing now is keep walking and hope we recognize a corridor or something" There wasn't much light and you could hardly see your hand in front of your face. The walls were bare; almost no decoration. (Aside from the ugly faces of Cornelius Fudge hanging there, smiling as if he were just crowned ruler of the entire world...reminding them of Lockhart)
And aside from not knowing where they were, in territory where (if caught) could mean expulsion of school, walking under a cloak with TWO people wasn't fun either.
"Ouch! That's my foot!"
"Well then don't put it in front of MY way!"
"Sounds good; if only you would get your elbow out of my freaking stomach!"
"Oh...sorry"
"Hey STOP!" Ginny yelled. Draco looked up exasperated.
"I'm not doing anything!"
Ginny rolled her eyes.
"I don't mean it that way...look!" Ginny pointed at a painting of an old witch, with long white hair and a grim expression.
"I know that painting! I have seen it just before we entered the corridor leading to the Department of Mysteries"
Suddenly they both heard voices of people speaking. When they looked behind their backs they could hear two voices clearly.
"Are you sure you heard a voice yelling, my dear Frollick?" one voice said.
"Yes Royce, I'm quite certain"
Draco and Ginny, because of their arguing hadn't noticed that the Invisibility Cloak had fallen off; the cloak being almost weightless, so they hadn't noticed. They noticed it too late because when the two men came around the corner they looked right at them.
"There! Two intruders, Royce!" said one of them, who will probably be Frollick then.
"Run" Draco mouthed and with the Invisibility Cloak, they both ran...like hell. They could hear the footsteps getting closer as they were running. Was Ginny scared? YES! Her legs felt numb and still she was forcing them to stride faster, harder. She knew she wouldn't be able to hold this for much longer; her hip hurt too much.
"Draco!" She panted. "We have…" (turning corridor, still with the two men following) "To hide somewhere..."
With no warning at all, Draco grabbed her sleeve and pulled her sideways into a closet. He closed a hand over her mouth to muffle any sound. It was a small closet and they were practically squished together. Ginny could hear Draco's hart racing. Both of them were standing there, still pumped with adrenaline, waiting for the footsteps. Indeed they came. They could hear them coming closer. And then...they stopped...
"Where d'you reckon they went?"
"No idea Frollick...you go that way and I'll go this way...we're gonna get those little buggers!"
Footsteps were leaving until they heard them no more...
Draco pulled his hand from Ginny's mouth and both of them let out a sigh of relief.
"Their gone" Draco said.
But the second he sad that, the door was flung open, blinding Ginny and Draco with sudden light.
"AHA! Here you've been hiding...sneaky little..." One man was standing in the doorway, with the other behind him. The first man leaned forward and grabbed Ginny by the arm.
"Come here little one" Ginny got mad. She kneed the man in the groin and he fell down whimpering. The second man then lunged at Ginny.
Draco...needless to say...got mad also.
He waved his arm strongly and it was like the man was struck back by an invisible force. He hit his head on the opposite wall. Ginny took out her wand and Stunned the other man. Both of them were now knocked out
They dragged them into the closet, put a silencing spell on it (Just in case they might go yelling or something when they woke up), took their wands and locked the door.
"...that was close" Ginny said, rubbing her arm. The man had grabbed her quite roughly.
"No time to waste, come on" And they went on again.
They turned back the corners that they passed and got back safely to the painting of the old woman they had seen earlier. The woman looked at them with (still) a grim expression...like they weren't worth to stand there.
"And who...might I ask...are you?" Ginny rolled her eyes. Paintings nowadays think quite highly of themselves.
"Uh...we're looking for the corridor leading to the Department of Mysteries" Ginny said.
"And why...exactly...do you think I would just give you directions like some common painting"
Ginny was just about to say something snappy back when Draco cut her off.
"Oh...but My Lady...we are aware that we are not talking to just an ordinary painting...we both know who we can speak with and not some low-life paintings..." Draco said silkily.
The woman in the painting looked at Draco and you could almost see the corner of her mouth twitching upwards.
"Ah...finally someone who can understand the royalty that they are talking to...unlike others…" She said, glancing towards Ginny as if making a statement.
Ginny's annoyance was growing...drastically.
"Could you, Fair Lady, be so kind as to give us useful information that a painting of your standards surely will possess?"
The mouth of the Lady now indeed was upwards in some sort of a way...you could almost (ALMOST) mistake it with a...smile.
"Of course...you're close actually...just follow this corridor, turn right and it's at the end of the hall"
"Thanks" And off they were.
They followed the corridor, turned right and could see the door.
"This is it..." Draco said.
"Yeah...it is"
"Well...here goes nothing" Draco grabbed the door-knob and turned it. Of course...It didn't open.
What a surprise...things can never go easy here
"Wandless magic?...like we used at Dumbledore's office?" Draco asked. Ginny nodded.
They closed their eyes and concentrated. They wanted the door to open really badly and the door was shaking a bit...
But it stayed closed…
"Why doesn't it work?" Ginny asked, not understanding.
"This is THE door of the Department of Mysteries. Many secret and dangerous things lie beyond this door. It will probably be protected with much more advanced magic and numerous defence spells"
"Why thank you, Hermione Granger" Ginny said sarcastically.
Draco pretended he didn't hear the comment and asked: "What do we do now?"
"Okay...let's try it my way" Ginny said and brought back her hand. Then she swung it towards the door. (Much like a tennis move) A BIG fireball, created by Ginny, connected with the door and it burned down...until nothing was left.
Draco looked astonished.
"Your way's pretty good" he complimented.
When they entered, Ginny could see the familiar, circular room with the many doors. She looked at the door (or what was left of it) that they had gone through and saw that it was replaced...by a wall, that would make it a bit more difficult to find the exit. Ginny turned her gaze back and let it take up her surroundings. Draco had been here too, but he was smaller and hadn't been chased by numerous Death Eaters.
Ginny breathing became rapid as she remembered how terrified she had been. Draco noticed and turned to her.
"You alright?"
"I'm as good as I'll ever be, but I'll never be comfortable here...too many memories..."
Draco grabbed her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
"Come on..." and they entered a random door.
