Chapter 19

Harry opened the vial of the potion and put in the sample of hair he had gotten from the Ministry official. He was hiding inside a storage room inside the Ministry. He had done his research on the departments of the Ministry of Magic when his father was still alive, so he knew who he was looking for. He snatched the first official that was part of the records department. Of course, his magic just had to fluctuate just as he was sending a stunning spell at the official.

Harry looked down at the dead official at his feet and sighed. Only his magic could malfunction and turn a stunning spell into a killing curse. Great.

Harry chugged the Polyjuice Potion down, barely gagging from the taste out of experience. Within a few seconds, he looked like the dead official. Harry stepped out of the small storage room; there was nobody around at the moment. Harry walked down the hallway. He had memorized the layout of the Ministry of Magic when he was younger and in case his father had wanted to launch an attack on the Ministry, like he did in Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts.

Soon, Harry was at the door of the records department. He stepped into the room and made his way through the shelves of documents. He searched through the aisles relentlessly, looking for even a clue about the two bracelets.

"Looking for something specific?" a voice asked from behind him.

Harry turned to see another official.

"Yes, I'm looking for the documents on two bracelets," he said. "I was told to research it."

The other official nodded.

"Know where they come from?"

"Egypt," Harry said.

"That'll be in the fifth aisle," the official. "Did you forget how to search for documents or something? You're usually better than this."

"I'm not feeling so good today," Harry said. "Maybe it's that high-level criminal running around; it's making things stressful."

"Oh yeah, that Riddle guy," the official said, huffing. "That guy's an enigma; fakes his own death only to come back fifteen years later. I don't know what he was thinking, revealing himself to the world like that."

The official shook his head, sighing.

"Anyways, if you're that stressed, maybe you should take off early," he said. "Get your head straight before coming back."

"I'll be fine," Harry said. "Thanks for the advice, but I really need to go look at those documents."

The official relented with a nod.

"Fine. Call if you need anything," he said.

"Will do," Harry replied as he walked to the fifth aisle.

Harry trailed his fingers along the many documents on the shelf. He reached the 'E' section and found a few files on Egypt. He pulled the first one out and looked through it: nothing on the bracelets. On the fourth file, he finally found something.

"Two identical bracelets," Harry muttered softly to himself. "A huge massacre to retrieve a circlet...two bracelets...strange ritual by the pharaoh that seemed to amplify his magic tenfold..."

Harry lifted the parchment up to see more writing.

"One of the bracelets was taken during the massacre, but the pharaoh escaped with the other one. The pharaoh was later captured and killed. The other bracelet was rumored to be hidden somewhere in Asia because the pharaoh was found fleeing from that area, but it has never turned up in any search. The acquired bracelet was shattered in half during the battle by two wizards from England and America. In order to avoid another war, each half of the bracelet was given to the British and Americans. The circlet was taken by the French."

Harry searched through the document and frowned. There was no other information, but if the documents were accurate, half of one of the bracelets was inside the Ministry at the moment.

Harry smirked slightly. He just had to find the bracelet and get out. He placed the document back in its place on the shelf and walked out of the aisle.

"Find it?" the other official asked.

The official was sitting at a desk now, working on paperwork.

"Yes," Harry said. "It was more than I expected to get."

"That's good to hear," the official said, smiling. "You look exhausted; go home and get some rest."

Suddenly, the alarms went off, flaring red and screeching through the air.

"What's going on?!" the official exclaimed.

Harry sighed as he felt the potion's effects wear off. His skin bubbled slightly before settling back to normal; he was back to his original appearance now.

"Guess that's my cue," Harry said.

The official's eyes bugged out in shock.

"I-it's you! Harrison Riddle!" he shouted.

The official fumbled to get his wand out. It was obvious he wasn't experienced in combat.

"Pitiful," Harry said as he watched the official almost drop his wand out of panic.

Harry pointed his finger at the official.

"Avada Kedavra," he said.

The green light hit the official. Harry turned and hurried out of the records department. He knew the Ministry's layout like the back of his own hand, so it would be easy getting to the ancient relics department.

"Halt! Intruder!"

Harry ducked and a red stunning spell flew over his head. Avoiding the Aurors would be harder to do since they also knew the layout of the building, probably as well as he did.

Harry sighed in annoyance as he saw Aurors block him at the other end of the hall.

"I seriously don't have time for this," Harry muttered. "All right magic, please work until we get out of here."

Harry dodged a few more stunning spells. He ran faster, his transfigured leg muscles helping him increase his speed. He flexed his hands, his claws appearing immediately. Within seconds, he was on top of the Aurors. He ducked and slashed the first Auror's shoulder deeply, sending him down with a shout of pain. He kicked a second Auror away.

"It's Harrison Riddle!" A random Auror shouted.

More Aurors appeared. Harry hissed, his eyes slitting. He lunged forward and his claws easily pierced the skin of another Auror's throat. He slashed and the Auror collapsed to the ground, blood pooling out around him. He barreled through the Aurors easily enough. He ran down the hallway and spotted a pillar and dove behind it. He pointed his finger at a pile of rocks and transfigured it into a clone of himself, sending it running down the hallway. A minute later, Aurors ran past his hiding spot, racing after his clone. Harry watched them disappear around the corner before running down the way he had come from. He turned the next corner and entered the fifth door on the left, unlocked it easily enough. There were hundreds of artifacts. Harry looked at all of them quickly, dismissing each one after a second. None of the bracelets looked right. There were surprisingly a lot of bracelets cut in half in the large room.

Suddenly, Harry felt a tinge of dark magic. He followed it to the very back of the room. There were a few artifacts guarded by spells. He ignored the other artifacts and fixed his gaze on a half bracelet in the very corner. He walked towards it and studied it.

It was a beautiful bracelet, despite only being half of the whole thing. It had two silver bands with a band of tanzanite gems lining the middle. But that wasn't what caught Harry's attention; no, it was the strange dark magic leaking from the ends of the bracelet where it had been severed from its other half. The dark magic felt similar to the circlet's own magic, yet it was different at the same time.

Harry broke the wards and charms guarding the bracelet. He picked up the bracelet. He could feel its power and it had an invigorating feeling to it. It reacted with his own magic and for a second, his own magic flared up...but it didn't feel uncontrollable and destructive. Instead, Harry felt in control for the first time since his magic had started to fluctuate violently.

Harry shook his head to snap out of his daze. He tucked the half bracelet into his pocket. He had to leave the Ministry now.

He heard the door to the ancient relics department open and running footsteps getting closer to him. He grabbed the portkey from his pocket and within the next second, he was gone.

It was early morning when Alex, Hermione, and Ginny left the hotel to go to the Louvre. Ginny was complaining about the early hour. Hermione sighed.

"Ginny, you know why we're going this early. It's less busy at this time of day," she said.

"It's not even open right now," Ginny exclaimed. "Doesn't the museum open at like 9?"

"It's 8:30; it isn't that early." Alex said. "We'll be one of the first people to enter the museum."

"You forced us to wake up at 7," Ginny grumbled.

"I thought you would want to eat something before going to the museum." Alex said.

Ginny sighed in resignation and yawned.

"I really hope this jewel is the one we're looking for," she said. "Or else finding it before Harry might not be possible."

"I'm surprised he hasn't appeared yet," Hermione said. "You think he's up to something else?"

"No, he'll come after the jewel," Alex said. "Whether it is the jewel in the museum or not, I plan to get this jewel before he does. That way, he will be forced to come confront us."

"Yeah, and then hopefully he'll explain just what the hell is going on," Ginny said.

Suddenly, Alex halted. Ginny and Hermione paused and looked at him.

"Alex? Is something wrong?" Hermione asked. "The Louvre is still on the next street, so if you want to get in line quickly, we have to get there soon."

Without an answer, Alex abruptly turned and walked to the right.

"Hey!" Ginny exclaimed.

Alex walked over to a newspaper stand and grabbed a newspaper near the bottom, reading it intently. The newspaper was a subtle paper from the French wizarding community. The owner of the stand barely even knew it was there unless it was to restock it. Ginny and Hermione caught up to him.

"Alex? What's going on?" Ginny asked.

Alex glanced at them before holding the newspaper out for them to look at the main head title. Hermione and Ginny's eyes widened in surprise.

Recent Attack on British Ministry of Magic! Harrison Riddle Responsible!

"Harry attacked the Ministry?" Ginny hissed.

Alex replaced the newspaper and gave a wave to the newspaper stand's owner. The middle-aged man waved back before going back to his own newspaper. Alex walked away from the newspaper stand, eye twitching. His disguised eyes were tinged in anger.

"Hey, we need to talk about this," Hermione said, jogging to catch up to Alex. "Why would Harry attack the Ministry? Did he take something?"

"I don't know. Nothing is reported missing yet." Alex said. "But he's being reckless, outright attacking the Ministry like that. Before, the British and Americans were just supporting each other because Harry attacked the American community. But now, this is like a declaration of war against the British. The manhunt for Harry will grow tenfold. If we want to find Harry before anyone else does, we're going to have to find that jewel."

"Alex, do you think this whole thing is bigger than the circlet and pendant?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know," Alex said. "We haven't seen him in France at all. He has only part of the circlet as well as the pendant. If he was just after the whole circlet and the pendant, he would've come for the jewel already."

"So you think he's after another artifact?" Ginny asked.

"It is certainly possible," Alex said. "But there was no sign of him being interested in anything besides the circlet and the pendant. I must've missed something."

"And the fact that he's so close to France isn't good either," Ginny said. "Come on, we need to hurry to the museum before it gets too busy. We need to focus on getting that jewel first. We can worry about what Harry's planning later."

"Yeah," Hermione agreed.

Alex only nodded.