Chapter 31 – Difficult Decisions

Down in the dungeons, Severus Snape stood at his worktable and by all appearances seemed to brood. Madam Pomfrey had only left his workroom twenty minutes or so before, and ever since her departure he had been standing motionlessly in front of his worktable, staring down at the ingredients and potions aligned there. He and the Hogwarts nurse had been going through a number of potions which she had in store and took into consideration of giving Lupin tomorrow. There were quite a number of strengthening solutions and potions that would serve to improve Lupin's condition in so far that his body could stand being poisoned at all, but quite a few of those could interact with the poison Snape intended to give to him and thusly the two of them had been going through the list Madam Pomfrey had brought, ruling out those of which the ingredients would have a side-effect on the poison. While there was a number of potions Madam Pomfrey could give Lupin, there were only few poisons which could be used for their purpose. Actually, there were only two poisons to which the antidote could be administered effectively after the heart of the poisoned person had stopped beating. Snape was strongly tending towards one of those two poisons because that left him with a larger time-span in which the antidote could be administered. Of course, Lupin would not be able to swallow the antidote by the time it was given to him, Snape would have to inject it into a vein in his arm, then Madam Pomfrey would have to use a reviving spell to cause his heart to start beating and spread the cure through his system so that his heart would start beating on its own again. It was a risky thing they were trying to do anyway, Snape didn't want to chance anything.

It was quite good that Madam Pomfrey had insisted on them having the talk about the potions, because after some moments of mentally going through the list of its ingredients, Snape had ruled out Pepper-Up Potion immediately. If Madam Pomfrey gave that to Lupin before the poison was given to him, Snape could as well spare himself the effort of injecting the antidote, because the interaction of the ingredients would kill him for sure, and irreversibly. And as little as Snape would bemoan Remus Lupin's untimely decease under any other circumstances, Snape would not allow him to die while his life was his responsibility.

And now he was standing here, on his worktable, a line of potions bottles in front of him, mentally contemplating their ingredients and possible interactions with the poison. Most potion masters would have consulted books and lists of ingredients for this task, but Snape was at his best if he simply used his mental catalogues of the respective potions. He had gone through the list twice already and not found a flaw. But that was not enough, Snape didn't want to risk to have missed something. He had advised Madam Pomfrey on three of the strengthening solutions, the use of which depended on Lupin's condition tomorrow morning and noon. And now he'd put those potions to the test.

A wave of his wand levitated a cage with rats over to his worktable. He opened the latch, took one out and put it on a scale to determine its precise weight. Holding the frightened and scurrying rodent in one hand, he did a quick calculation to he amount of strengthening solution and poison that he would give it. Normally, Madam Pomfrey handed out potions by eye-measure except from those which needed to be measured precisely to be effective. But tomorrow morning, every potion she'd administer would be measured out in relation to Lupin's body weight. Snape needed total control over what was going to happen tomorrow, so that he could react immediately if something went not quite as planned.

For the next hour, Snape measured out strengthening solutions, poison and antidote and administered all three of those potions to three of the rats to see if he had to expect any side effects tomorrow when he repeated the procedure with Lupin.

The first experiments went well, so Snape decided to run a few more tests with overdoses and other possible interfering factors, just to be prepared. This was going to become a long night, and Snape was glad that he had decided to cancel his Occlumency lesson with Potter. The boy had not shown up at eight, so the dratted house-elf had probably found him. The lesson would have been a waste of time, anyway. Ever since he had gotten to know that his precious godfather would be cut off from the world of the living for good, Potter had been positively impossible to teach the fine art of guarding his mind. He lacked focus on a good day, when he was distracted or otherwise emotionally distressed, he was absolutely unbearable and, above all else, impossible to teach. No, Snape preferred to spend his evening with a task like this, a task which was about potions and measurements, things that could be weighed and predicted, contrary to entering the mind of a stubborn teenager. Snape leaned back for a moment, then he reached into the cage and pulled out a new rat to weigh it.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Harry gasped and spun around as he heard the shrill and angry voice behind him. He had of course recognised the voice, but even now as he faced the person who towered angrily behind him, he could not quite make sense of all this.

"Hermione? What in Merlin's name are you doing here?"

Hermione bristled, stroke a strand of hair away from her face and shook her head. Her face was vivid, the cheeks flushed red from her anger, and her eyes were sparkling dangerously.

"What I'm doing here? What I'm doing here? I'm trying to save you from the biggest stupidity in your long history of really big stupidities, that's what I'm doing here! It's bad enough that you're trying to involve Ron into something that might get him into real trouble, but did you even spend one thought on the fact that what you're about to do is illegal? Not to mention immensely dangerous? You could get killed, you could get expelled, you could get arrested or Merlin knows what else!"

Harry took a step back from Hermione's furious presence and looked around the room. His eyes quickly fell on Ron, who was standing in a corner near the fireplace and was grimacing at Harry as if to wordlessly communicate that he had done all he could to stop her. Harry turned back towards Hermione.

"How come that you're here? And how do you know what I'm planning to do? Not even Ron knows what I'm planning to do."

Hermione turned around and pointed her finger at the parchments which Harry had left lying here in the common room earlier when Dobby had brought him the book. Now the parchments were spread on the table in front of the fireplace. Harry breathed in deeply and turned back to Hermione.

"You read my papers? Are you mad?" First Remus, then Dobby, and now Hermione and probably also Ron. Harry couldn't believe it that everybody was reading his papers. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again a words failed him.

"I'm not mad, I'm trying to keep you from doing something stupid! Harry, you cannot honestly believe that this is a way of bringing Sirius back."

"That's exactly what I believe", Harry said angrily and brushed past Hermione to the table where his papers lay. He stacked them together and carried them upstairs into his dormitory, hoping that Hermione would not follow him up here. True enough, she had been in Harry's dormitory before, but Harry hoped that just for once, Hermione would be able to read the signs and stay out of his hair for the time being. There were steps on the stairs behind him, but as he turned to slam the dormitory shut, he saw that it was Ron coming after him. Harry let go off the door and went into the dormitory, Ron following only moments later.

"I'm sorry, mate", he said as he closed the door.

"What is she doing here", Harry hissed angrily.

Ron sat down on his bed and raised his hands in an apologetic gesture. "I told you that Hermione and Ginny came home early from their holiday. Bill and Charlie went to fetch her this morning, she arrived shortly before lunch. Somehow, she knew that I was up to something, you know how she is. And when I didn't tell her, she followed me around. She caught me taking the portkey from my parents' bedroom, and from that moment on there was no getting rid of her anymore. She threatened to tell on me if I didn't bring her along, so I figured we'd somehow get her distracted from what we were about to do once we were here. Problem was that you left your notes on the table. Before I could stop her, something had caught her eye and she had started reading. She grew increasingly agitated the more she read, and I couldn't stop her anymore. I'm sorry."

Harry shook his head and sank down on the bed. "It's not your fault. It was me who left the papers lying around, I should have known that somebody could find them. Merlin knows that far too many people have read them already."

Ron frowned, but didn't investigate any further. Instead, he stared up at the ceiling for a long moment before he looked back at Harry.

"Is Hermione right?"

"With what?"

"That what you want to do is illegal? And dangerous?"
Harry thought for a moment, then decided that he could as well tell Ron the truth.

"Yes. It's illegal, and it's probably dangerous. But you don't need to worry about that, you won't be involved in either the illegal or the dangerous part."

Ron shook his head. "That's not what I mean, and neither what I worry about. But if it's illegal and dangerous, something could happen to you. That's what worries me. And I want to know if you think it's worth the risk."

Harry pulled his knees up onto the bed. "Yes, I think it's worth the risk. Listen Ron, contrary to what Hermione believes, I spent more time researching this than I ever spent on my schoolwork. I'm convinced that it will work, and that it will bring Sirius back. I've researched it thoroughly, I am convinced that it will work. I only get one chance at pulling this through, and I'm going to use it, no matter if you're helping me or if Hermione is trying to stop me or not."

"You're serious about this, aren't you?"

Harry nodded. "More serious than I've ever been about something before. Ron, it's my fault that Sirius fell through that bloody archway in the first place. And now I find the chance to bring him back, don't you think that I have to use it? I have to set things right again, for that I could need help, but if you say you're not in, then I'll do it on my own."

"You're convinced that this will work?"

"Yes. And I need to do it. I need Sirius back."

Ron thought for a moment, then he nodded. "Problem is what we're going to do with Hermione. Because whatever you do, you won't be able to change her mind about this. She was positively livid when she figured out what all this was about."

Harry settled back against the headboard and thought for a moment.

"You got the portkey?"

Ron nodded and pulled a small box out of his robe pocket.

"Yes, I got it. It isn't set for a certain number of people, so it'll take both of us to the Ministry. Let's hope that my Dad isn't called to an emergency tonight."

"Won't your parents miss you and Hermione?"

Ron shook his head. "Not for a while, at least not until we're already well on our way. Mum was far too busy fussing around Ginny, and Dad had something important to talk about with Kingsley and Tonks. I told Mum I'd be in my room, doing my homework with Hermione, so I guess nobody will come looking for a few hours."

"Good. I have a few of the things I need up here with me, but I need to get the candles from downstairs. And that means facing Hermione again."

Ron nodded, then a thought crossed his mind and he quickly got up from the bed.

"It might be better to face her before she has the idea to tell somebody else about your plan to stop us."

Harry got up as well, grabbed his backpack and invisibility cloak and took the wrapped book out from under his pillow. He put everything into his backpack and both of them immediately hurried down the stairs. Hermione was still in the common room, angrily pacing up and down in front of the fireplace, muttering to herself. Harry and Ron wordlessly brushed past her and Harry started to put the candles into his backpack.

"You aren't leaving, are you?", Hermione said from behind them. Harry packed the last candle into the backpack and turned around.

"Yes, we're leaving. You might not understand it, but I need to do this."

Hermione furiously shook her head. "You won't. I've stood a lot of dumb ideas the two of you cooked out, but this goes too far. This is way out of your league, Harry."

Harry shook his head, then looked at Ron. "You're coming?"

Ron nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

They walked over to the entrance and climbed out of the portrait hole into the corridor. But, much to Ron's surprise, Harry turned right and went down the corridor instead of left towards the staircase. He frowned, but followed his friend down that corridor. There were rapid steps behind them, indicating that Hermione was trying to catch up.

"What are you doing, Harry?", Ron whispered. "That's the wrong direction."

Harry nodded. "I know. But I have an idea. Trust me."

Ron frowned, but wordlessly followed Harry down the corridor. Hermione was catching up with them, and before they reached the staircase at the end of the corridor, she grabbed Harry's arm and stopped him. Harry turned slightly and opened the door they had stopped in front of, but Hermione positioned herself in the doorway and stopped him from going that way.

"I can't let you go, don't you understand? This is madness."

Harry shook his head. "Hermione, you're my friend. Normally, I'd trust your judgement blindly, but you simply don't understand. You just don't understand how much I need to do this. There isn't anything else I can do."

Hermione shook her head. "I can't let you do this, Harry. This will only cause problems too big for you to deal with."

Harry stared at Hermione for a long moment, then he shook his head. "I've been dealing with quite a lot of problems in my life, Hermione. I can manage that, believe me."

Again, Hermione shook her head, but Harry interrupted her before she could say something else.

"I'm sorry, Hermione, but there's no other way."

And before Hermione realised what was going on, Harry had pushed her backwards by the shoulders into the janitor's closed they had stopped in front of. Hermione opened her mouth in indignant protest, but before she brought out a single word, Harry had slammed the door in her face and was locking and bolting it from the outside. Good thing Filch used to heavily guard his cleaning detergents, and good thing too that he didn't keep the closets locked during the holidays. Hermione immediately started drumming her fists against the door from the inside, yelling at Harry and Ron to let her out. Harry breathed in deeply, then turned into the direction they had come from. Ron remained standing, staring at the closet with his mouth hanging open.

"Ron, come on. We don't have much time."

"You just…a closet…locked Hermione…in a closet…"

Harry sighed and retraced his steps towards his friend, pulling on Ron's sleeve to get him moving. Ron did move, but he seemed to be still awed by the experience of seeing Harry lock Hermione into a cupboard.

"Won't she get out of there?"

Harry shrugged. "I doubt that Hermione will use her wand. Laws against underage magic during the holidays, you know how she is about the rules. Maybe she can break down the door, but that will take a long while. Until then we're hopefully back already. If she isn't found before that, but the castle is quite empty, so our chances are good that we'll go undetected for a while."

Ron wordlessly followed Harry down the corridor, and only as they stopped at a point where they could no longer hear Hermione's shouting he seemed to release his breath.

"Man, she's going to be pissed about that. Totally pissed. Probably won't talk to us for months, if ever again."

"I'm sorry I dragged you into this, Ron. But there was no other way I could think of to get her out of our hair for the moment."

Ron made a noncommittal sound in the back of his throat that meant something across the line of we'll burn that bridge when we come to it. Harry couldn't agree more. With what he was planning to do in the next hours, worrying about Hermione was quite low on his list of things to worry about.

"Where are we going?", Ron asked as they hurried down yet another staircase. They were heading in the general direction of the entrance hall, that much he was aware of, but he didn't know where exactly Harry wanted to go to. At this question, Harry stopped dead in his tracks, looked around, then pulled Ron into the closest room. It was a classroom, but none that Harry had ever had any lessons in. Probably there for Arithmacy or Ancient Runes, things like that.

"I'm so stupid."

Ron frowned. "Far be it from me to disagree with you, but why?"

"I wanted to go outside before we take the portkey. I thought that maybe the castle is too heavily protected for the portkey to work. But then again, so is Grimmauld Place. I didn't think about that, but the portkey should be set to work even at warded places. At least we can try it out, it might save some time."

Harry put down his backpack and pulled out his invisibility cloak.

"Are you sure that your father isn't in the office? Or his colleague, what was his name?"

"Perkins", Ron supplied. "No, Dad isn't in the office, and Perkins is on holiday. Dad had been constantly droning on about how much work he had to do and that Perkins would only be back at the end of next week. There's a fireplace in Dad's office, we can use that to get back to Hogwarts later."

Harry nodded, though he hadn't yet wasted any time on the thought of how he was going to get back to Hogwarts. If things went the way he hoped they would, then there'd also be Sirius to consider. For now, getting into the Ministry of Magic was his main concern.

"If you think it's safe for you to be visible."

Ron nodded, and so Harry put his backpack back on and wrapped the invisibility cloak tightly around himself, making sure it covered him entirely. Ron pulled out the box that contained the portkey and held it out to Harry.

"Ready?"

"Yes."

"Good. On the count of three. The portkey should have a few seconds delay, then it'll activate."

"All right", Harry said, feeling his pulse quicken. Ron's hand that was holding the portkey was also shivering slightly. Ron swallowed, then steadied his hand.

"All right. One, two, three."

Harry and Ron simultaneously put their hands on the portkey. For a moment, nothing happened, then Harry felt the familiar tuck behind his navel that seemed to pull him physically away. Harry closed his eyes and hoped that this would all work out.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Harry had closed his eyes when the portkey had activated, and as the world stood still around him again, he slowly opened them again. They were standing in the crowded, windowless office which Harry had seen a year ago when Mr Weasley had brought him to the Ministry for his hearing. Ironic, really, that last year he had struggled not to get expelled from Hogwarts for the use of underage magic, and now he had returned here to do the same again. But he didn't allow the thought of a possible expulsion to enter his mind. that was not important now, if only he managed to bring Sirius back, then things would somehow fall into place. If only he had his godfather back, then he would gladly do without his final two years at Hogwarts.

Next to Harry, Ron was letting out a deep sigh of relief at finding themselves in an empty office. Obviously, despite all his reassurances that they would not be noticed, he had not been entirely sure that this would go well. But so far, so good. They were in the Ministry of Magic, now Harry only needed to get into the Department of Mysteries. Harry drew the cloak away from his head slightly, so that Ron could see his face but that he could cover himself again quickly in case somebody came. Ron's presence here might be explained more easily than his own in case somebody saw them.

"Ron, why don't you floo back to Hogwarts now? I can make my way downstairs on my own, I've been here before."

Ron frowned and shook his head. "You're mad. You don't honestly think that I'll leave you alone now. Something unforeseen might happen, I could help you with it. You're going to the Department of Mysteries, after all. This is not a field trip, you could run into serious trouble."

Harry nodded slowly. "But then you'd either have to get under the cloak with me or we have to think of something else. The last times we were here, we had visitor's badges." Harry grimly remembered the badges they had gotten a few weeks ago. Harry Potter, Rescue Mission. Quite a rescue mission it had been, Harry thought with a slight stab of pain in his chest. He didn't think that anybody had paid real attention to those badges, especially to their content, but that had been different circumstances. It was evening, there might not be as much business at the Ministry than there was during the day, but still they could encounter quite a number of people who might wonder about the visitor without a visitor's badge.

Ron thought for a moment. "Even if we could get a visitor's badge, I don't think it would get me into the Department of Mysteries without questions. I doubt that just about anybody can walk in there. And it doesn't matter anyway, because we don't have a visitor's badge. Besides, people here know me, or at least they know that I'm Arthur Weasley's son, it would be too obvious if I was walking around here in the evening without my Dad."

Harry nodded again. "Then we have to take the cloak. It might be a little slow, but it's all I can think of."

"Right."

Harry adjusted the backpack on his back, freed a bit more of the invisibility cloak and Ron wrapped it around himself. If Ron grew only a bit more, they soon would not be able to do this anymore. When Harry had gotten the cloak, Ron, Hermione and he had fitted underneath it, but now it was a bit of a struggle at first to keep it closed around just the two of them.

"All right, it should work like that. We just have to walk slowly, so that we don't become visible."

Ron nodded, and they slowly went over towards the door. Harry's biggest problem was that they would have to walk past Auror Headquarters, and he was sure that people were there even during the night. But they'd just have to wait and see what came out of it.

Harry slowly opened the door to Mr Weasley's office and took a peek out. As he had expected, there were the sounds of activity coming from the Auror Headquarters, but he could see nobody close to them who might wonder about the opening door. They snuck out and closed the door behind themselves again, then slowly edged along the corridor towards Auror Headquarters and towards the elevator.

Quite a number of the cubicles in Auror Headquarters were occupied with people working, Aurors bustling to and fro with parchments, reports and pictures in their hands, conversing silently about the cases they were working on, or simply shuffling through their work. Harry looked around, but on the first gaze saw nobody he knew. At least Tonks was nowhere to be seen. Slowly, Harry and Ron shuffled through the corridor between the cubicles, careful not to get into anyone's way. They had to be silent, they could not allow themselves to run into anything, and they could not chance somebody noticing their presence in any way. A few times, they had to halt abruptly without bumping into each other to let an Auror pass them into one of the many cubicles. Harry's heart was beating fast in his chest, so loud that it nearly drowned out the conversation of the Aurors around them.

Two Aurors they passed were talking about having arrested a group of wizards who had planned on breaking into Gringott's. They were very amused by the idea that there were people stupid enough to try and break into the wizarding bank, and one of the Aurors said with a chuckle that it was a pity that they had arrested the perpetrators before they had tried out their plan. Seemingly, he found the idea of the Gringott's goblins getting hold of possible burglars very amusing. Harry shook his head and urged Ron to continue along the corridor. Most small threads of conversation they heard didn't deal with such amusing themes as a near break-in at Gringott's, however. The Aurors who were on duty were conversing silently, as if afraid to speak louder, and every other moment, Harry heard a hushed You-Know-Who, or a remark about Death Eaters. It seemed that Fudge's public admission of Voldemort's return had had a serious impact on Auror work, not overly surprising after the two attacks that had taken place. Harry had never heard of Aloysius Vandenberg before Remus had told him about the man, but if he had been one of the top Aurors of the Department, then surely the Aurors were doing their best to both, protect themselves and find out how to stop any possible future attacks.

As they edged farther along the corridor, the elevators still seemingly miles away, Harry's breath caught in his throat as he suddenly saw a well-known face. In the cubicle to their left, Kingsley Shacklebolt sat at his desk and was leafing through a stack of parchments. Harry had at first not recognised the cubicle. On his last visit here a year ago, Kingsley's workplace had been covered with all kinds of pictures of Sirius, as well as a map that had located his possible sightings. Harry stopped and took a deep breath. Of course, with Sirius fallen through the archway, there was no further use in a search for him. It had always been a big advantage that Kingsley had been the one in charge of the search for Sirius, that way the Order could have made sure that he would not be caught, but now the search seemed to have been called off. It was only logical considering what had happened, but still something inside of Harry stung at that thought. Everybody had given Sirius up, everybody but him. And that thought hurt.

Kingsley was leafing through a stack of parchments, sorting them into a number of piles on his overflowing desk. Just as Harry wanted to urge Ron to continue, the Auror suddenly turned around and stared straight at Harry and Ron. The two teenagers froze, and Harry's mind raced. Kingsley could not see them. There was no way that Kingsley could see them under the invisibility cloak. It just wasn't possible. But maybe a piece of the cloak had gotten dislodged without them noticing and now a leg or an arm was sticking out? Harry was standing stock-still, entirely unable to move and check whether the cloak was still in place. Please don't let him see us. Please don't let this be over, I need to bring Sirius back. Harry already saw his only chance to save his godfather crumble away in front of him, but then, just as suddenly as he had looked up, Kingsley looked back at his parchments again, pulled out a quill from a drawer and started to write.

Next to Harry, Ron released a silent breath of relief, and the two started to continue their slow crawling towards the elevators. It took a small eternity until they reached the golden grilles that marked the entrance to the elevators. A sinking feeling spread through Harry's stomach, and under the cover of the cloak he looked at Ron. They couldn't get any farther from here. If they called the elevators, they would be noticed. It would be too suspicious if the elevator opened, nobody came out or went in, and then left again. Soundlessly, Ron mouthed We'll wait at Harry, and Harry nodded. It was the only thing they could do. They had to wait until either somebody came into Auror Headquarters by elevator, or if somebody left the Headquarters that way. Harry would prefer the first, because that way they'd have the elevator for themselves on their way down to the Department of Mysteries.

So they waited.

And waited.

Harry took a look at his watch. Half past eight. Seemingly, there weren't many comings and goings during the nightshift. Next to him, Ron was nervously shifting from one foot to the other, until Harry put a hand on his arm and stilled him. It was an excruciating wait. The minutes stretched endlessly, and whenever Harry checked his watch after what felt like fifteen, twenty minutes, only three or four minutes had passed.

Finally, after ten minutes to nine, one of the Aurors strode towards the elevators, his arms stacked high with cardboard-folders of files. Good. That way, the man's attention would be focussed on his load and would be less likely to notice the two invisible teenagers. The stack of files swayed dangerously as the man bent down to press the button. Inside the elevator shaft, things began to rattle and move, and maybe twenty seconds later, the golden doors opened and the Auror entered. Harry and Ron slipped in after him, carefully staying to the far side of the elevator to avoid a collision with the man. Harry looked up at the ceiling, but this time there were no memos fluttering around, waiting to be delivered. All the better.

The Auror bent down again to press the button for the Atrium. Again, the stack of cardboard boxes swayed dangerously in his arms, and Harry watched in shock how the thick folder on top got more and more out of balance and finally toppled off the stack and fell down – right on Ron's foot. It gave a heavy thud and the Auror uttered a small curse. Quickly, Harry turned to the right and clamped his hand over Ron's mouth before he could gasp or cry out. He had to bite his own lip, because the first thing Ron did was bite his palm, but he forced them both to remain stock-still and silent.

The Auror put the stack of files on the floor of the elevator, picked the heavy folder up and placed it on top again, then he pulled out his wand and levitated the stack up in front of him. Harry and Ron remained pressed against the wall of the elevator with bated breath, hoping that the man would not brush a leg or dislodge the cloak in his process of sorting his files.

"Easier to levitate", the Auror mumbled to himself. "I told Sheila, but does she ever listen? No. Of course not. Nobody ever listens to Eugene." He made a sound in the back of his throat and turned towards the door. After a few moments, the elevator came to a halt, a female voice announced that they were now in the Atrium, and he levitated his stack of folders out. As the doors closed behind him, Harry and Ron breathed an audible sigh of relief.

"That was close", Ron muttered. Harry nodded.

"You're right. Nearly too close. Let's hope that we don't meet anybody else."

He went over to the row of buttons and pressed the nine which would take them down into the Department of Mysteries. The golden grills closed in front of them, and with a jerk, the elevator started to move downwards again. Harry and Ron stared at the lightened buttons that announced their present level. Harry watched the light shift from third to fourth, then to the fifth and sixth floor. The light jumped to the button for the seventh floor, and suddenly the elevator stopped.

"Level Seven, Department of Magical Games and Sports, incorporating the British and Irish Quidditch League Headquarters, Official Gobstones Club and Ludicrous Patents Office", the voice announced pleasantly. Harry and Ron retreated to one side of the lift, again pressed up flatly against the wall, and hoped that this would go well. Two witches entered the elevator, one of them pressing the button for the Atrium without really looking at what she was doing. They were engaged deeply in conversation.

"I tell you, this isn't the last we've heard of this, Amelia. Peterson won't stop bothering until we agree to raise his funds for the advertising campaign."

The other witch laughed. "We would, if his advertising campaigns had had any results concerning the use of capacity in the stadiums. But what he calls advertisement campaign hasn't brought us one single spectator more in the past."

"That is only too true." At that moment, the elevator started moving again, and both witches turned towards the row of buttons.

"Why are we going down?", one of them asked. The other only shrugged her shoulders.

"Maybe you accidentally pressed both buttons?"

The first witch shook her head. "Impossible."

At that moment, the elevator stopped again and Harry and Ron edged closer to the door.

"Department of Mysteries", the female voice announced, and the two teenagers began pressing through the gap as soon as it opened. Behind them, one of the witches made a small sound in the back of her throat.

"Always those people who press buttons to random levels. It's not as if we had any time to waste with senseless elevator rides, I've been here for long enough today. Fermere!"

Much to Harry's shock, the elevator doors began to close again before they had even been fully opened. Ron was already halfway out the elevator, so Harry had to get out as well. He made another step forward, and, without bothering with silence or remaining inconspicuous, he pressed himself through the closing gap. The elevator door closed with a loud, rattling sound behind Harry just after he had squeezed himself through the gap. Harry breathed a sigh of relief, but then the elevator started moving upward and he felt a strange pull that drew him backwards, against the elevator. In front of him, he saw Ron's eyes widen.

"Harry, your cloak!"

Harry made a step backwards to that he was not pulled from his feet, then he turned around. His own eyes widened, just like Ron's had done. He had made it out of the gap between the closing elevator doors. His cloak, however, had not made it. It was stuck between the elevator doors, and thanks to the two witches inside, it was pulling him back against the grilled doors, and upwards. Harry gave a sharp pull on his cloak, but nothing happened. He was caught.