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Chapter 14

Out of it

"That must have been really nice of you, Ron." Hermione commented. The trio was sitting in the living room of their house, discussing Ron's date.

"Well, I did it," Ron said, praising himself. "Second date, here we come." Ron then put his feet on the table, and his hands over the top of his head, proving he was a know it all, and didn't have to worry about his next date.

"Since when do you have good dates? Usually all of them fail." Harry commented.

"I do, now that is. Now that I'm in such a good mood, I'm going to cook for you all, invite Ginny and Draco over too."

"Oh great, Ron's cooking," Hermione muttered to Harry sarcastically.

"Wahoo," Ron screamed. "Party at the Potters"

Ron then walked into the kitchen, starting to cook, using magic, that is. There was no way he would ever be able to cook the way muggles do. Hermione called Ginny, and they were both on their way over. Hermione thought Ron was going through a whole lot of nothing, just because he had a good date. She came to the conclusion that he was very happy, a little too happy.

It took Ron a while to cook, even though he was using magic. He served everyone food and drink, and assigned them seats. Hermione was next to Harry, and Draco next to Ginny. He sat himself right in the middle of the two couples, so he could make sure he was in the conversation.

"Draco, can you come here for a minute." He called.

Draco was sitting in the room with the others. He got up and walked into the kitchen, confused. He was unsure as to why Ron wanted to talk to him, as they had always been enemies. Come to figure it out, Ron only wanted to talk to Draco about Quiditch. Even though he was unsure of why he wanted to talk to him instead of Harry, he joined in on the conversation. After a few minutes, Ron called the rest of the crew in to eat. He made sure everyone sat in there correct seat, and then they all dug in.

"Hermione, wake up." Harry said gently shaking her. She slowly sat up, unaware of what was happening.

"Wh-what?" she asked, half asleep.

"Its not the weekend anymore," he said with a grin on his face.

She then got up and jumped off the bed, angry at herself for oversleeping. She ran into the shower, taking one of the quickest ones in her life. She rushed downstairs, grabbed breakfast, and her and Harry were out the door.

"Do you remember what today is?" Harry asked her. They were now in the car, and driving off to the Ministry, trying to get there as fast as possible.

"Monday," she said in between a yawn.

"Yeah," he couldn't believe she forgot. "But today's the day our jobs get evaluated. Plus, were already in deep water with the minister." He said, reminding her.

Hermione stared out the window, lost. To Harry, it did not seem like she was listening to him at all.

"Hermione, are you alright?" Harry asked her.

"Wh- Oh, yeah, of course."

In a few minutes, they were there. Harry parked the car, and they got out. They went into the Auror's department, where one of their big bosses were waiting for everyone to enter.

"Hello." He started. "As you all know, today is job evaluation day. First, you lot will be broken up into groups of five or six different people. Every group will be scattered in different places throughout the Ministry. Together you will try to figure out the mystery of each department in which you are placed. Even though it will seem like no one is watching you, someone will be."

From there on he called out names and placed people in groups. Since this was done in alphabetical order, both Harry and Hermione were placed in the same group. When everyone was divided, they found their group members and awaited their orders as to where they were to go. The man came to their group, and handed Harry a small piece of paper. It read:

'The Department of Mysteries: The secrets of the veil.'

"Oh great," Harry and Hermione said sarcastically, at the exact same time.

People slowly started filing out of the room they were now, and headed to where they were to go. Harry and Hermione lead there group down to the floor, were the Department of Mysteries was located. They walked down a short hallway, and ended up facing the same black door as they did so many years ago.

Harry slowly opened the door, not wanting to enter this room again. The nightmare kept playing over and over in his head, of Sirus dying, and everything else that went wrong that night. He walked in, very slowly and cautiously, with Hermione right by his side. The rest of the group followed his lead once again, knowing both him and Hermione had been here once before. Once they all entered, he had Hermione place an X on the door before closing it, remembering what happened as soon as they did. Hermione slowly closed the door.

The room started its revolt again, going slower at first and then getting faster and faster. A red blur was shown as the room spun, the X that Hermione had just placed.

"Any idea what door it is?" Harry asked Hermione in a soft whisper.

"No," She answered.

Harry then decided to randomly pick a door for the group to enter. He went to open it, but it would not. Hermione placed another X on the door, so they wouldn't get confused and try to enter it again. The room started spinning again, making Hermione very dizzy. She suddenly felt sick, but tried to calm herself, saying it was just nervous.

Harry opened the next door, and it wasn't locked. He remembered this room exactly like it was yesterday. They had entered this room in their fifth year. It was the bright room, the room that contained the brains. It was in this room where Ron almost got chocked by one, and Hermione lay there unconscious. He knew they were on the right track. He remembered there was a way to enter the room with the veil from here.

This time, he walked right to the back of the room, not even stopping to investigate the brains. He knew that they were still there, and he didn't care about them anymore.

Hermione, on the other hand, walked right up to the large tank in the middle of the room. She examined them closely, trying to study them. She slowly had a weird feeling pass through her body, like if she was being hot and cold at the same time. She had a sudden urge to grab a brain. She wanted one. She needed to touch one, to feel one. She lifted her hand up, and touched the aquarium glass. Suddenly, the class disappeared, and her hand touched the water. Brains swam all around her hand. She moved her fingers, trying to grab one. She was centimeters away from holding one when-.

"Hermione?" Harry called, not turning around to see what she was doing.

She quickly pulled her hand out of the water, having forgotten what she was doing. She ran over to Harry, ready to accompany him in whatever he might be doing next.

"yeah, what's up?" She asked when she found him standing near the doors.

"Do you remember what the room looks like?" He asked her politely.

"Um…" she thought for a moment, trying to picture it. "It was very dark and had a veil."

"Well, sort of. To get down there I remember we have to walk down some stone steps."

"Okay," she said, making a mental note of the room in her mind.

"I think it's this door." Harry said, and opened the door.

This was where the nightmare truly begun, he remembered. This is where he witnessed someone he loved dying because of some stupid veil. He took a deep breath, very worried.

"Its okay," Hermione whispered behind him.

Still very nervous, he shook his head in agreement. He took the first step and acknowledged that this was the exact same room he was in during his fifth year. Slowly and cautiously he went down the stairs, trying to become calmer. Hermione grabbed his hand and squeezed it, telling him she was there for him unlike last time. When he reached the last stair, he was a lot more relaxed. He and Hermione then split up, knowing they could investigate more of the veil that way.

Harry took a left while Hermione took a right. The rest of the people slowly moved around the room, feeling very uncomfortable. Harry kept staring at the veil, having no idea how to figure out the mysteries of it. He knew all that he wanted to know about it, it killed Sirus. He slowly became quiet, wondering if he could hear the voices like he did last time. He still did, but this time one of the voices was harder while the other was softer. He concluded that one was a man and one was a woman, even though he was really unsure.

Harry kept straining his ears, trying to hear what they were saying. To him, the noises sounded quieter than a whisper. He wished he knew what they were saying, and if they truly were people beyond the veil.

Hermione stood in the middle of the floor, staring at the veil. She now could hear the voices. She remembered that she could not hear them in her fifth year, and she wondered what had changed. The weird feeling again shook throughout her body, and once again she had a sudden desire for something.

She walked closer and closer to the veil. She now wanted that veil, she wanted to touch it. She needed to touch it, for Harry. She was in arm length, and she grabbed it. Hermione know wanted to go beyond the veil. For some reason her brain kept telling her Harry wanted her beyond the veil. Not knowing at all what she was doing, she walked around the veil, and took a first step. Her foot was half beyond the veil. She kept walking, knowing she was doing this for Harry.

"HERMIONE!" Harry screamed.

He ran over to her, and pulled her far away from the veil. Without another word, she fainted in his arms.

AN- Chapter will be up next weekend. I'm trying to make sure I update at least once a week, and so far so good.

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Kelly