Bree sighed as she wrote down the last answer on the exam. Professor Tofty had taken Harry out of the room. When Bree left the Great Hall she found that Harry was long gone. She sighed and set out to find him. She met up with Ginny and Luna and told them what had happened. They found Harry after they heard him yelling in an empty classroom.
They opened the door and walked in.
"Hi," said Ginny uncertainly. "We recognized Harry's voice. What are you yelling about?"
"Never you mind," said Harry roughly.
Ginny raised her eyebrows.
"There's no need to take that tone with me," she said coolly, "I was only wondering whether I could help."
"Well, you can't," said Harry shortly.
"You're being rather rude, you know," said Luna serenely.
Harry swore and turned away. The very last thing he wanted now was a conversation with Luna Lovegood.
"Wait," said Hermione suddenly. "Wait… Harry, they can help."
Harry and Ron looked at her.
"Listen," she said urgently, "Harry, we need to establish whether Sirius really has left Headquarters."
"I've told you, I saw -"
"Harry, I'm begging you, please!" said Hermione desperately. "Please let's just check that Sirius isn't at home before we go charging off to London. If we find out he's not there, then I swear I won't try to stop you. I'll come, I'll d - do whatever it takes to try and save him."
"Sirius is being tortured NOW!" shouted Harry. "We haven't got time to waste."
"But if this is a trick of Voldemort's, Harry, we've got to check, we've got to."
"How?" Harry demanded. "How're we going to check?"
"We'll have to use Umbridge's fire and see if we can contact him," said Hermione, who looked positively terrified at the thought. "We'll draw Umbridge away again, but we'll need lookouts, and that's where we can use Ginny, Luna, and Bree."
Though clearly struggling to understand what was going on, Ginny said immediately, "Yeah, we'll do it."
"Okay," Harry said aggressively to Hermione, "Okay, if you can think of a way of doing this quickly, I'm with you, otherwise I'm going to the Department of Mysteries right now."
"The Department of Mysteries?" said Luna, looking mildly surprised. "But how are you going to get there?"
Again, Harry ignored her.
"Right," said Hermione, twisting her hands together and pacing up and down between the desks.
"Right… well… one of us has to go and find Umbridge and - and send her off in the wrong direction, keep her away from her office. They could tell her - I don't know - that Peeves is up to something awful as usual"
"I'll do it," said Ron at once. "I'll tell her Peeves is smashing up the Transfiguration department or something, it's miles away from her office. Come to think of it, I could probably persuade Peeves to do it if I met him on the way."
It was a mark of the seriousness of the situation that Hermione made no objection to the smashing up of the Transfiguration department.
"Okay," she said, her brow furrowed as she continued to pace. "Now, we need to keep students right away from her office while we force entry, or some Slytherins bound to go and tip her off."
"Luna and I can stand at either end of the corridor," said Ginny promptly, "and warn people not to go down there because someone's let off a load of Garrotting Gas." Hermione looked surprised at the readiness with which Ginny had come up with this lie; Ginny shrugged and said, "Fred and George were planning to do it before they left."
"Okay," said Hermione. "Well then, Harry, you and I will be under the Invisibility Cloak and we'll sneak into the office and you can talk to Sirius -"
"He's not there, Hermione!"
"I mean, you can - can check whether Sirius is at home or not while I keep watch, I don't think you should be in there alone, Lee's already proved the windows a weak spot, sending those Nifflers through it."
"I… okay, thanks," he muttered.
"Right, well, even if we do all of that, I don't think we're going to be able to bank on more than five minutes," said Hermione, looking relieved that Harry seemed to have accepted the plan, "not with Filch and the wretched Inquisitorial Squad floating around."
"Five minutes'll be enough," said Harry. "C'mon, let's go -"
"Now?" said Hermione, looking shocked.
"Of course now!" said Harry angrily. "What did you think, we're going to wait until after dinner or something? Hermione, Sirius is being tortured right now!"
"I - oh, all right," she said desperately. "You go and get the Invisibility Cloak and we'll meet you at the end of Umbridge's corridor, okay?"
"Wait!"Bree exclaimed before Harry had the chance to run off.
"What!" Harry snarled.
"Your Invisibility Cloak isn't upstairs." Bree said.
"Well, where is it?" Harry snapped.
"I'll go get it. Meet you at the corridor." And with that, Bree ran off to find Alice. When she found Alice she gave her a quick summery of the situation and told her to go tell Ben what was going on. She took the cloak and ran to the corridor that led to Umbridge's office.
She joined Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Luna, who were huddled together at the end of Umbridge's corridor.
"Here" she panted.
"All right," whispered Hermione as a gang of loud sixth-years passed them. "So Ron - you go and head Umbridge off… Ginny, Luna, if you can start moving people out of the corridor… Harry and I will get the Cloak on and wait until the coast is clear…"
Ron strode away, his bright-red hair visible right to the end of the passage.
"Why did you have Harry's cloak?" Ginny asked Bree as they walked to one the end of the corridor while Luna went to the other.
Bree didn't answer. "You can't come down here!" she called to the crowd. "No, sorry, you're going to have to go round by the swiveling staircase, someone's let off Garrotting Gas just along here -"
"I can't see no gas." Someone said.
"That's because it's colorless," said Ginny in a convincingly exasperated voice, "but if you want to walk through it, carry on, then we'll have your body as proof for the next idiot who doesn't believe us."
Slowly, the crowd thinned. The news about the Garrotting Gas seemed to have spread; people were not coming that way anymore.
Hermione whispered, "Good one… don't forget the signal." As she and Harry passed by invisibly.
"What's the signal?" Bree asked.
A loud chorus of 'Weasly is our King' if we see Umbridge coming." replied Ginny.
A little while later Umbridge showed up with her Inquisitorial Squad and a captured Ron. It all went to hell from there.
There was a fight and Neville showed up and tried to help the girls. Bree, Neville, and Luna didn't activate the wards, it would be too obvious. They had to wait until just the right moment.
They were gagged and taken up to Umbridge's office.
"Got 'em all," said Warrington, shoving Ron roughly forwards into the room. "That one," he poked a thick finger at Neville, "tried to stop me taking her," he pointed at Ginny, who was trying to kick the shins of the large Slytherin girl holding her, "so I brought him along too."
"Good, good," said Umbridge, watching Ginny's struggles. "Well, it looks as though Hogwarts will shortly be a Weasley-free zone, doesn't it?
Malfoy laughed loudly and sycophantically. Umbridge gave her wide, complacent smile and settled herself into a chintz-covered armchair, blinking up at her captives like a toad in a flowerbed.
"So, Potter," she said. "You stationed lookouts around my office and you sent this buffoon," she nodded at Ron — Malfoy laughed even louder - "to tell me the poltergeist was wreaking havoc in the Transfiguration department when I knew perfectly well that he was busy smearing ink on the eyepieces of all the school telescopes - Mr. Filch having just informed me so.
"Clearly, it was very important for you to talk to somebody. Was it Albus Dumbledore? Or the half-breed, Hagrid? I doubt it was Minerva McGonagall, I hear she is still too ill to talk to anyone."
Malfoy and a few of the other members of the Inquisitorial Squad laughed some more at that. Harry was so full of rage and hatred he was shaking.
"It's none of your business who I talk to," he snarled.
Umbridge's slack face seemed to tighten.
"Very well," she said in her most dangerous and falsely sweet voice. "Very well, Mr Potter… I offered you the chance to tell me freely. You refused. I have no alternative but to force you. Draco fetch Professor Snape."
There was silence in the office except for the fidgetings and scufflings resulting from the Slytherins' efforts to keep Ron and the others under control. Ron's lip was bleeding on to Umbridge's carpet as he struggled against Warrington's half-nelson; Ginny was still trying to stamp on the feet of the sixth-year girl who had both her upper arms in a tight grip; Neville was turning steadily more purple in the face while tugging at Crabbe's arms; and Hermione was attempting, in vain, to throw Millicent Bulstrode off her. Luna, however, stood limply by the side of her captor, gazing vaguely out of the window as though rather bored by the proceedings and Bree was deep in thought, trying to decide if she should activate a ward and which one to activate if she did.
Footsteps were heard in the corridor outside and Draco Malfoy entered the room, closely followed by Snape.
"You wanted to see me, Headmistress?" said Snape, looking around at all the pairs of struggling students with an expression of complete indifference.
"Ah, Professor Snape," said Umbridge, smiling widely and standing up again. "Yes, I would like another bottle of Veritaserum, as quick as you can, please."
"You took my last bottle to interrogate Potter," he said, surveying her coolly through his greasy curtains of black hair. "Surely you did not use it all? I told you that three drops would be sufficient."
Umbridge flushed.
"You can make some more, can't you?" she said, her voice becoming more sweetly girlish as it always did when she was furious.
"Certainly," said Snape, his lip curling. "It takes a full moon-cycle to mature, so I should have it ready for you in around a month."
"A month?" squawked Umbridge, swelling toadishly. "A month? But I need it this evening, Snape! I have just found Potter using my fire to communicate with a person or persons unknown!"
"Really?" said Snape, showing his first, faint sign of interest as he looked round at Harry. "Well, it doesn't surprise me. Potter has never shown much inclination to follow school rules."
"I wish to interrogate him!" repeated Umbridge angrily, and Snape looked away from Harry back into her furiously quivering face. "I wish you to provide me with a potion that will force him to tell me the truth!"
"I have already told you," said Snape smoothly, "that I have no further stocks of Veritaserum. Unless you wish to poison Potter - and I assure you I would have the greatest sympathy with you if you did - I cannot help you. The only trouble is that most venoms act too fast to give the victim much time for truth-telling."
Snape looked back at Harry, who stared at him, frantic to communicate without words.
Voldemort's got Sirius in the Department of Mysteries, he thought 's got Sirius -
"You are on probation!" shrieked Professor Umbridge, and Snape looked back at her, his eyebrows slightly raised. "You are being deliberately unhelpful! I expected better, Lucius Malfoy always speaks most highly of you! Now get out of my office!"
Snape gave her an ironic bow and turned to leave. Harry knew his last chance of letting the Order know what was going on was walking out of the door.
"He's got Padfoot!" he shouted. "He's got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden!"
Snape had stopped with his hand on Umbridges door handle.
"Padfoot?" cried Professor Umbridge, looking eagerly from Harry to Snape. "What is Padfoot? Where what is hidden? What does he mean, Snape?"
Snape looked round at Harry. His face was inscrutable. Harry could not tell whether he had understood or not, but he did not dare speak more plainly in front of Umbridge.
"I have no idea," said Snape coldly. "Potter, when I want nonsense shouted at me I shall give you a Babbling Beverage. And Crabbe, loosen your hold a little. If Longbottom suffocates it will mean a lot of tedious paperwork and I am afraid I shall have to mention it on your reference if ever you apply for a job."
He closed the door behind him with a snap.
He looked at Umbridge, who seemed to be feeling the same way; her chest was heaving with rage and frustration.
"Very well," she said, and she pulled out her wand. "Very well...I am left with no alternative... this is more than a matter of school discipline...this is an issue of Ministry security...yes...yes…"
She seemed to be talking herself into something. She was shifting her weight nervously from foot to foot, staring at Harry, beating her wand against her empty palm and breathing heavily.
"You are forcing me, Potter… I do not want to," said Umbridge, still moving restlessly on the spot, "but sometimes circumstances justify the use… I am sure the Minister will understand that I had no choice."
Malfoy was watching her with a hungry expression on his face.
"The Cruciatus Curse ought to loosen your tongue," said Umbridge quietly.
Bree panicked and grabbed for a ward that would strike Umbridge dead. Neville looked at her in alarm.
"No!" shrieked Hermione. "Professor Umbridge - it's illegal."
But Umbridge took no notice. There was a nasty, eager, excited look on her face. She raised her wand.
"The Minister wouldn't want you to break the law, Professor Umbridge!" cried Hermione.
"What Cornelius doesn't know won't hurt him," said Umbridge, who was now panting slightly as she pointed her wand at different parts of Harry's body in turn, apparently trying to decide where it would hurt most. "He never knew I ordered Dementors to go after Potter, Smith, and Diggory last summer."
"It was you!" gasped Harry. "You sent the Dementors after me?"
"Somebody had to act," breathed Umbridge, as her wand came to rest pointing directly at Harry's forehead. "They were all bleating about silencing you somehow - discrediting you - but I was the one who actually did something about it… only you wriggled out of that one, didn't you, Potter? Not today though, not now -" Bree found the ward she was looking for. Umbridge cried, "Cruc—"
"NO!" shouted Hermione in a cracked voice from behind Millicent Bulstrode. "No - Harry - we'll have to tell her!" Bree didn't activate the ward, instead she stared curiously at Hermione.
"No way!" yelled Harry, staring at the little of Hermione he could see.
"We'll have to, Harry, she'll force it out of you anyway, what's… what's the point?"
And Hermione began to cry weakly into the back of Millicent Bulstrode's robes. Millicent stopped trying to squash her against the wall immediately and dodged out of her way looking disgusted.
"Well, well, well!" said Umbridge, looking triumphant. "Little Miss Question-all is going to give us some answers! Come on then, girl, come on!"
"Er - my - nee - no!" shouted Ron through his gag.
Ginny was staring at Hermione as though she had never seen her before. Neville, still choking for breath, was gazing at her, too. But Bree had just noticed something. Though Hermione was sobbing desperately into her hands, there was no trace of a tear.
"I'm - I'm sorry everyone," said Hermione. "But - I can't stand it -"
"That's right, that's right, girl!" said Umbridge, seizing Hermione by the shoulders, thrusting her into the abandoned chintz chair and leaning over her. "Now then… with whom was Potter communicating just now?"
"Well," gulped Hermione into her hands, "well, he was trying to speak to Professor Dumbledore."
Bree tried to grin, but couldn't through the gag. Ron froze, his eyes wide; Ginny stopped trying to stamp on her Slytherin captor's toes; and even Luna looked mildly surprised. Fortunately, the attention of Umbridge and her minions was focused too exclusively upon Hermione to notice these suspicious signs.
"Dumbledore?" said Umbridge eagerly. "You know where Dumbledore is, then?"
"Well… no" sobbed Hermione. "We've tried the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley and the Three Broomsticks and even the Hog's Head -"
"Idiot girl - Dumbledore won't be sitting in a pub when the whole Ministry's looking for him!" shouted Umbridge, disappointment etched in every sagging line of her face.
"But - but we needed to tell him something important!" wailed Hermione, holding her hands more tightly over her face, not out of anguish, but to disguise the continued absence of tears.
"Yes?" said Umbridge with a sudden resurgence of excitement. "What was it you wanted to tell him?"
"We… we wanted to tell him it's r - ready!" choked Hermione.
"What's ready?" demanded Umbridge, and now she grabbed Hermione's shoulders again and shook her slightly. "What's ready, girl?"
"The… the weapon," said Hermione.
"Weapon? Weapon?" said Umbridge, and her eyes seemed to pop with excitement. "You have been developing some method of resistance? A weapon you could use against the Ministry? On Professor Dumbledore's orders, of course?"
"Y — y - yes," gasped Hermione, "but he had to leave before it was finished and n - n - now we've finished it for him, and we c - c - can't find him t - t - to tell him!"
"What kind of weapon is it?" said Umbridge harshly, her stubby hands still tight on Hermione's shoulders.
"We don't r - r - really understand it," said Hermione, sniffing loudly. "We j - j - just did what P - P - Professor Dumbledore told us t - t - to do."
Umbridge straightened up, looking exultant.
"Lead me to the weapon," she said.
"I'm not showing… them," said Hermione shrilly, looking around at the Slytherins through her fingers.
"It is not for you to set conditions," said Professor Umbridge harshly.
"Fine," said Hermione, now sobbing into her hands again. "Fine… let them see it, I hope they use it on you! In fact, I wish you'd invite loads and loads of people to come and see! Th - that would serve you right - oh, I'd love it if the wh - whole school knew where it was, and how to u - use it, and then if you annoy any of them they'll be able to s - sort you out!"
These words had a powerful impact on Umbridge: she glanced swiftly and suspiciously around at her Inquisitorial Squad, her bulging eyes resting for a moment on Malfoy, who was too slow to disguise the look of eagerness and greed that had appeared on his face.
Umbridge contemplated Hermione for another long moment, then spoke in what she clearly thought was a motherly voice.
"All right, dear, let's make it just you and me… and we'll take Potter, too, shall we? Get up, now."
"Professor," said Malfoy eagerly, "Professor Umbridge, I think some of the Squad should come with you to look after -"
"I am a fully qualified Ministry official, Malfoy, do you really think I cannot manage two wandless teenagers alone?" asked Umbridge sharply. "In any case, it does not sound as though this weapon is something that schoolchildren should see. You will remain here until I return and make sure none of these -" she gestured around at Bree, Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna "- escape."
"All right," said Malfoy, looking sulky and disappointed.
"And you two can go ahead of me and show me the way" said Umbridge, pointing at Harry and Hermione with her wand. "Lead on."
Bree activated the restraint ward she had once used on Umbridge once she was sure the toad was far enough away. With the Slytherins unable to move, everyone was able to free themselves and remove there gags. Bree went around collecting wands from the Slytherins. When she was done she turned to Draco.
"Well I've practiced this spell before, but I've never actually used it on a person. Here's hoping I don't scramble your brain!" She said cheerfully as she lifted her wand.
"One, two, three, Obliviate!" Bree repeated the process on the rest of the Slytherins and then stunned them.
"I made them think that they got there asses kicked by us." Bree told her follow ex-captives.
"How did you do that?" Ron asked.
"Oh, right." Bree said, frowning.
"Maybe we should tell them." Neville suggested.
"Maybe. Just one question." Bree said as she looked at Ron and Ginny. "Do you think Dumbledore is trustworthy?"
"Of course." Ginny and Ron answered. Bree sighed.
"Yeah, sorry about this, well, not really. Obliviate!" she said.
"Did you really have to do that?" Neville asked.
"Can't have them telling the old coot. Anyway, I fed them the same story I gave the Slytherins." Bree replied before going over to the window.
"Looks like Hermione is leading the old toad into the forest." She stated as Ginny and Ron came out of their daze.
"Well, let's go help them." Ron said.
They walked into the forest and wandered for a bit.
"How are we supposed to find them?" Ron grumbled.
There was a large commotion somewhere in the distance.
"That's how!" Bree shouted before taking off towards the noise.
"Anyway, Harry, how exactly were you planning to get all the way to London?" they heard Hermione ask.
"Yeah, we were just wondering that," said Ron.
Harry and Hermione were covered in blood. It wasn't theirs.
"So," said Ron, pushing aside a low-hanging branch and holding out Harry's wand, "had any ideas?"
"How did you get away?" asked Harry in amazement, taking his wand from Ron.
"Couple of Stunners, a Disarming Charm, Neville brought off a really nice little Impediment Jinx," said Ron airily, now handing back Hermione's wand, too. "But Ginny was best, she got Malfoy - Bat Bogey Hex - it was superb, his whole face was covered in the great flapping things." Ron explained.
Neville stared at Bree. She shrugged.
"Anyway, we saw you out of the window heading into the Forest and followed. What've you done with Umbridge?" Ron continued.
"She got carried away," said Harry. "By a herd of centaurs."
Bree grimaced and tried very hard not to think about Greek Mythology.
And they left you behind?" asked Ginny, looking astonished.
"No, they got chased off by Grawp," said Harry
"Who's Grawp?" Luna asked interestedly.
"Hagrid's little brother," said Ron promptly. "Anyway, never mind that now. Harry, what did you find out in the fire? Has You-Know-Who got Sirius or -?"
"Yes," said Harry, as his scar gave another painful prickle, "and I'm sure Sirius is still alive, but I can't see how we're going to get there to help him."
They all fell silent, looking rather scared; the problem facing them seemed insurmountable.
"Well, we'll have to fly, won't we?" said Luna, in the closest thing to a matter-of-fact voice Harry had ever heard her use.
"Okay," said Harry irritably, rounding on her. "First of all, 'we' aren't doing anything if you're including yourself in that, and second of all, Ron's the only one with a broomstick that isn't being guarded by a security troll, so -"
"I've got a broom!" said Ginny.
"Yeah, but you're not coming," said Ron angrily.
"Excuse me, but I care what happens to Sirius as much as you do!" said Ginny, her jaw set so that her resemblance to Fred and George was suddenly striking.
"You're too -" Harry began, but Ginny said fiercely, "I'm three years older than you were when you fought You-Know-Who over the Philosopher's Stone, and it's because of me that Malfoy's stuck back in Umbridge's office with giant flying bogies attacking him -"
"Yeah, but -"
"We were all in the D.A, together," said Neville quietly. "It was all supposed to be about fighting You-Know-Who, wasn't it? And this is the first chance we've had to do something real - or was that all just a game or something?"
"No — of course it wasn't -" said Harry impatiently.
"Then we should come too," said Neville simply. "We want to help."
"That's right," said Luna, smiling happily.
Harry's eyes met Ron's. He knew Ron was thinking exactly what he was: if he could have chosen any members of the D.A., in addition to himself, Ron and Hermione, to join him in the attempt to rescue Sirius, he would not have picked Ginny, Neville or Luna.
"Well, it doesn't matter, anyway," said Harry through gritted teeth, "because we still don't know how to get there -"
"I thought we'd settled that," said Luna maddeningly. "We're flying!"
"Look," said Ron, barely containing his anger, "you might be able to fly without a broomstick but the rest of us can't sprout wings whenever we -"
"She's talking about Theatrals. For those of you who can't see them, there are two of them over there." Bree said, pointing to an area between to trees.
"Well, we need three," said Hermione, who was still looking a little shaken, but determined just the same.
"Four, Hermione," said Ginny, scowling.
"I think there are seven of us, actually," said Luna calmly, counting.
"Don't be stupid, we can't all go!" said Harry angrily. "Look, you four -" he pointed at Bree, Neville, Ginny and Luna, "you're not involved in this, you're not -"
They burst into more protests.
"Okay, fine, it's your choice," he said curtly, "but unless we can find more Thestrals you're not going to be able -"
"Oh, more of them will come," said Ginny confidently, who like Ron was squinting in quite the wrong direction, apparently under the impression that she was looking at the horses.
"What makes you think that?"
"Because, in case you hadn't noticed, you and Hermione are both covered in blood," she said coolly, "and we know Hagrid lures Thestrals with raw meat. That's probably why these two turned up in the first place."
"Okay, then," he said, a bright idea occurring, "Ron and I will take these two and go ahead, and Hermione can stay here with you three and she'll attract more Thestrals -"
"I'm not staying behind!" said Hermione furiously.
"There's no need," said Luna, smiling. "Look, here come more now… you two must really smell…"
No fewer than six or seven Thestrals were picking their way through the trees, their great leathery wings folded tight to their bodies, their eyes gleaming through the darkness. He had no excuse now.
"All right," he said angrily, "pick one and get on, then."
Bree grabbed the mane of the nearest Thestral, placed a foot on a nearby stump, and cleanly swung her leg over the animals back. She found there was a way of lodging her knees behind the wing joints that made her feel more secure.
Then she looked around at the others. Neville had heaved himself over the back of the next Thestral and was now attempting to swing one short leg over the creature's back. Luna was already in place, sitting side-saddle and adjusting her robes as though she did this every day.
Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione however, were still standing motionless on the spot, open-mouthed and staring.
"What?" she said.
"How're we supposed to get on?" said Ron faintly. "When we can't see the things?"
"Oh, it's easy," said Luna, sliding obligingly from her Thestral and marching over to him, Hermione and Ginny. "Come here…"
She pulled them over to the other Thestrals standing around and one by one managed to help them on to the back of their mount. All three looked extremely nervous as she wound their hands into their horses mane and told them to grip tightly before she got back on to her own steed.
"This is mad," Ron murmured, moving his free hand gingerly up and down his horse's neck. "Mad… if I could just see it -"
"Weel, we could go back up to the castle and kill Malfoy." Bree suggested.
"Murder is never the answer." Hermione admonished.
"No, murder is the question. Yes is the answer." Bree replied brightly. Hermione just sighed.
"We all ready, then?" Harry interjected.
They all nodded.
"Okay…"
He looked down at the Thestral he couldn't see.
"Ministry of Magic, visitors' entrance, London, then," he said uncertainly. "Er… if you know… where to go…"
For a moment Harry's Thestral did nothing at all; then, with a sweeping movement that nearly unseated him, the wings on either side extended; the horse crouched slowly, then rocketed upwards so fast and so steeply that Harry had to clench his arms and legs tightly around the horse to avoid sliding backwards over its bony rump. The other Thestrals followed.
Bree closed her eyes and clung to the Thestral.
"Never doing this again." She muttered.
"This is bizarre!" Ron yelled.
Twilight fell: the sky was turning to a light, dusky purple littered with tiny silver stars, and soon only the lights of Muggle towns gave them any clue of how far from the ground they were, or how very fast they were traveling, not that Bree could see anything.
Then they were descending at last.
As soon as the Thestral had landed, Bree slid off its back and onto the ground.
Ron landed a short way off and toppled immediately from his Thestral on to the pavement.
"Never again," he said, struggling to his feet. He made as though to stride away from his Thestral, but, unable to see it, collided with its hindquarters and almost fell over again. "Never, ever again… that was the worst -"
Hermione and Ginny touched down: both slid off their mounts a little more gracefully than Ron, though with similar expressions of relief at being back on firm ground; Neville jumped down, shaking; and Luna dismounted smoothly.
"Where do we go from here, then?" she asked Harry in a politely interested voice, as though this was all a rather interesting day-trip.
"Over here," he said. He gave his Thestral a quick, grateful pat, then led the way quickly to the battered telephone box and opened the door. "Come on!" he urged the others, as they hesitated.
Ron and Ginny marched in obediently; Hermione, Bree, Neville and Luna squashed themselves in after them. Harry came in after Luna.
"Whose hand is that?" Bree asked.
"Sorry." Said Ron as he tried to shift away from her.
"I'm telling George." Bree replied.
"Whoever's nearest the receiver, dial six two four four two!" Harry said.
Ron did it, his arm bent bizarrely to reach the dial; as it whirred back into place the cool female voice sounded inside the box.
"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."
"Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger," Harry said very quickly, "Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, Bree Smith… we're here to save someone, unless your Ministry can do it first!"
"Thank you," said the cool female voice. "Visitors, please take the badges and attach them to the front of your robes."
Half a dozen badges slid out of the metal chute where returned coins normally appeared. Hermione scooped them up and handed them mutely to Harry over Ginny's head.
"Visitors to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wands for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium."
"Fine!" Harry said loudly, as his scar gave another throb. "Now can we move?"
The floor of the telephone box shuddered and the pavement rose up past its glass windows; the scavenging Thestrals were sliding out of sight; blackness closed over their heads and with a dull grinding noise they sank down into the depths of the Ministry of Magic.
A chink of soft golden light hit their feet and, widening, rose up their bodies. Harry bent his knees and held his wand as ready as he could in such cramped conditions as he peered through the glass to see whether anybody was waiting for them in the Atrium, but it seemed to be completely empty.
The light was dimmer than it had been by day; there were no fires burning under the mantelpieces set into the walls, but as the lift slid smoothly to a halt he saw that golden symbols continued to twist sinuously in the dark blue ceiling.
"The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant evening," said the woman's voice.
The door of the telephone box burst open; Harry toppled out of it, closely followed by Neville and Luna. The only sound in the Atrium was the steady rush of water from the golden fountain, where jets from the wands of the witch and wizard, the point of the centaur's arrow, the tip of the goblin's hat and the house-elf's ears continued to gush into the surrounding pool.
"Come on," said Harry quietly and the seven of them sprinted off down the hall, Harry in the lead, past the fountain towards the security desk, which was empty.
They passed through the golden gates to the lifts. Harry pressed the nearest 'down' button and a lift clattered into sight almost immediately, the golden grilles slid apart with a great, echoing clanking and they dashed inside. Harry stabbed the number nine button; the grilles closed with a bang and the lift began to descend, jangling and rattling. The cool female voice said, "Department of Mysteries," and the grilles slid open. They stepped out into the corridor where nothing was moving but the nearest torches, flickering in the rush of air from the lift.
"Let's go," he whispered, and he led the way down t he corridor, Luna right behind him, gazing around with her mouth slightly open.
"Okay, listen," said Harry stopping again within six feet of the door. "Maybe… maybe a couple of people should stay here as a — as a lookout, and —"
"And how're we going to let you know something's coming?" asked Ginny, her eyebrows raised.
"You could be miles away."
"We're coming with you, Harry," said Neville.
Harry still did not want to take them all with him, but it seemed he had no choice. He turned to face the door and walked forwards, it swung open and he marched over the threshold, the others at his heels.
They were standing in a large, circular room. Everything in here was black including the floor and ceiling; identical, unmarked, handle less black doors were set at intervals all around the black walls, interspersed with branches of candles whose flames burned blue; their cool, shimmering light reflected in the shining marble floor made it look as though there was dark water underfoot.
"Someone shut the door," Harry muttered.
Without the long chink of light from the torch lit corridor behind them, the place became so dark that for a moment the only things they could see were the bunches of shivering blue flames on the walls and their ghostly reflections in the floor.
There was a great rumbling noise and the candles began to move sideways. The circular wall was rotating.
Hermione grabbed Harry's arm as though frightened the floor might move, too, but it did not.
For a few seconds, the blue flames around them were blurred to resemble neon lines as the wall sped around; then, quite as suddenly as it had started, the rumbling stopped and everything became stationary once again.
"What was that about?" whispered Ron fearfully.
"I think it was to stop us knowing which door we came in through," said Ginny in a hushed voice.
"How're we going to get back out?" said Neville uncomfortably.
"Well, that doesn't matter now," said Harry forcefully, clutching his wand tighter than ever, "we won't need to get out till we've found Sirius -"
"Don't go calling for him, though!" Hermione said urgently.
"Where do we go, then, Harry?" Ron asked.
"I don't -" Harry began. He swallowed. "In the dreams I went through the door at the end of the corridor from the lifts into a dark room - that's this one - and then I went through another door into a room that kind of… glitters. We should try a few doors," he said hastily, "I'll know the right way when I see it. C'mon."
He marched straight at the door now facing him, the others following close behind him, set his left hand against its cool, shining surface, raised his wand ready to strike the moment it opened, and pushed.
It swung open easily.
After the darkness of the first room, the lamps hanging low on golden chains from this ceiling gave the impression that this long rectangular room was much brighter, though there were no glittering, shimmering lights as Harry had seen in his dreams. The place was quite empty except for a few desks and, in the very middle of the room, an enormous glass tank of deep green liquid, big enough for all of them to swim in; a number of pearly-white objects were drifting around lazily in it.
What're those things?" whispered Ron.
"Dunno," said Harry.
"Are they fish?" breathed Ginny.
"Aquavirius Maggots!" said Luna excitedly. "Dad said the Ministry were breeding —"
"No," said Hermione. She sounded odd. She moved forward to look through the side of the tank.
"They're brains."
"Brains?"
"Yes… I wonder what they're doing with them?"
"Thoughts are very powerful and being able to influence someone's mind is better than having to fight them." Bree stated.
"Let's get out of here," said Harry. "This isn't right, we need to try another door."
"There are doors here, too," said Ron, pointing around the walls
"In my dream I went through that dark room into the second one," Harry said. "I think we should go back and try from there."
So they hurried back into the dark, circular room.
"Wait!" said Hermione sharply, as Luna made to close the door of the brain room behind them.
"Flagrate!"
She drew with her wand in midair and a fiery 'X' appeared on the door. No sooner had the door clicked shut behind them than there was a great rumbling, and once again the wall began to revolve very fast, but now there was a great red-gold blur in amongst the faint blue and, when all became still again, the fiery cross still burned, showing the door they had already tried.
"Good thinking," said Harry. "Okay, let's try this one -"
Again, he strode directly at the door facing him and pushed it open, his wand still raised, the others at his heels.
This room was larger than the last, dimly lit and rectangular, and the center of it was sunken, forming a great stone pit some twenty feet deep. They were standing on the topmost tier of what seemed to be stone benches running all around the room and descending in steep steps like an amphitheater. There was a raised stone dais in the center of the pit, on which stood a stone archway that looked ancient, cracked and crumbling. Unsupported by any surrounding wall, the archway was hung with a tattered black curtain or veil which, despite the complete stillness of the cold surrounding air, was fluttering very slightly as though it had just been touched.
"Who's there?" said Harry, jumping down on to the bench below. There was no answering voice, but the veil continued to flutter and sway.
"Careful!" whispered Hermione.
Harry scrambled down the benches one by one until he reached the stone bottom of the sunken pit. His footsteps echoed loudly as he walked slowly towards the dais. Bree followed him. The pointed archway looked much taller from where they now stood than it had when they'd been looking down on it from above. Still the veil swayed gently, as though somebody had just passed through it.
"Sirius?" Harry spoke again, but more quietly now that he was nearer.
Gripping his wand very tightly, he edged around the dais, but there was nobody there; all that could be seen was the other side of the tattered black veil. Bree heard whispers coming from the veil. She was greatly reminded of the crack in the universe and guessed that the veil was probably just as dangerous.
"Let's go," called Hermione from halfway up the stone steps. "This isn't right, Harry, come on, let's go."
She sounded scared, much more scared than she had in the room where the brains swam.
"Harry, let's go, okay?" said Hermione more forcefully.
"Okay," he said, but did not move.
"What are you saying?" he said, very loudly, so that his words echoed all around the stone benches.
"Nobody's talking, Harry!" said Hermione, now moving over to him.
"Someone's whispering behind there," he said, moving out of her reach and continuing to frown at the veil. "Is that you, Ron?"
"I'm here, mate," said Ron, appearing around the side of the archway.
"Harry, let's go, okay?" said Hermione more forcefully.
"Okay," he said, but did not move. He had just heard something. There were faint whispering, murmuring noises coming from the other side of the veil.
"What are you saying?" he said, very loudly, so that his words echoed all around the stone benches.
"Nobody's talking, Harry!" said Hermione, now moving over to him.
"Someone's whispering behind there," he said, moving out of her reach and continuing to frown at the veil. "Is that you, Ron?"
"I'm here, mate," said Ron, appearing around the side of the archway.
"Can't anyone else hear it?" Harry demanded, for the whispering and murmuring was becoming louder; without really meaning to put it there, he found his foot was on the dais.
"I can hear them too," breathed Luna, joining them around the side of the archway and gazing at the swaying veil. "There are people in there!"
"What do you mean, 'in there'?" demanded Hermione, jumping down from the bottom step and sounding much angrier than the occasion warranted, "there isn't any 'in there', it's just an archway, there's no room for anybody to be there. Harry, stop it, come away -"
She grabbed his arm and pulled, but he resisted.
"Harry this thing is dangerous. We need to go find Sirius." Bree said forcefully.
"Sirius," Harry repeated, still gazing, mesmerized, at the continuously swaying veil. "Yeah…"
He took several paces back from the dais and wrenched his eyes from the veil.
"Let's go," he said.
"That's what I've been trying to - well, come on, then!" said Hermione, and she led the way back around the dais. On the other side, Ginny and Neville were staring, apparently entranced, at the veil too. Without speaking, Hermione took hold of Ginny's arm, Ron grabbed Neville's, and they marched them firmly back to the lowest stone bench and clambered all the way back up to the door.
"What d'you reckon that arch was?" Harry asked Hermione as they regained the dark circular room.
"I don't know, but whatever it was, Bree's right, it was dangerous," she said firmly, again inscribing a fiery cross on the door.
Once more, the wall spun and became still again. Harry approached another door at random and pushed. It did not move.
"What's wrong?" said Hermione.
"It's… locked…" said Harry, throwing his weight at the door, but it didn't budge.
"This is it, then, isn't it?" said Ron excitedly, joining Harry in the attempt to force the door open.
"Bound to be!"
"Get out of the way!" said Hermione sharply. She pointed her wand at the place where a lock would have been on an ordinary door and said, "Alohomora!"
Nothing happened.
"Sirius's knife!" said Harry. He pulled it out from inside his robes and slid it into the crack between the door and the wall. The others all watched eagerly as he ran it from top to bottom, withdrew it and then flung his shoulder again at the door. It remained as firmly shut as ever.
What was more, when Harry looked down at the knife, he saw the blade had melted.
"Right, we're leaving that room," said Hermione decisively.
"But what if that's the one?" said Ron, staring at it with a mixture of apprehension and longing.
"It can't be, Harry could get through all the doors in his dream," said Hermione, marking the door with another fiery cross as Harry replaced the now-useless handle of Sirius's knife in his pocket.
"You know what could be in there?" said Luna eagerly, as the wall started to spin yet again.
"Something blibbering, no doubt," said Hermione under her breath and Neville gave a nervous little laugh.
The wall slid to a halt and Harry, with a feeling of increasing desperation, pushed the next door open.
"This is it!"
There was a beautiful, dancing, diamond-sparkling light. There were clocks gleaming from every surface, large and small, grandfather and carriage, hanging in spaces between the bookcases or standing on desks ranging the length of the room, so that a busy, relentless ticking filled the place like thousands of minuscule, marching footsteps. The source of the dancing, diamond-bright light was a towering crystal bell jar that stood at the far end of the room. Bree looked around, she half expected to see a TARDIS since the room was dedicated to the study of time, instead she found a cabinet full of time turners. She grabbed a couple of them and hid them in the bigger-on-the-inside compartments in her boots.
"This way!"
Harry led the way down the narrow space between the lines of desks, heading for the source of the light, the crystal bell jar quite as tall as he was that stood on a desk and appeared to be full of a billowing, glittering wind.
"Oh, look!" said Ginny, as they drew nearer, pointing at the very heart of the bell jar.
Drifting along in the sparkling current inside was a tiny, jewel-bright egg. As it rose in the jar, it cracked open and a hummingbird emerged, which was carried to the very top of the jar, but as it fell on the draught its feathers became bedraggled and damp again, and by the time it had been borne back to the bottom of the jar it had been enclosed once more in its egg.
"Keep going!" said Harry sharply, because Ginny showed signs of wanting to stop and watch the egg's progress back into a bird.
"You dawdled enough by that old arch!" she said crossly, but followed him past the bell jar to the only door behind it.
"This is it," Harry said again, "it's through here -"
They all pulled their wands out and looked suddenly serious and anxious. He looked back at the door and pushed. It swung open.
They were there, they had found the place: high as a church and full of nothing but towering shelves covered in small, dusty, glass orbs. They glimmered dully in the light issuing from more candle-brackets set at intervals along the shelves. Like those in the circular room behind them, their flames were burning blue. The room was very cold.
Harry edged forward and peered down one of the shadowy aisles between two rows of shelves.
He could not hear anything or see the slightest sign of movement.
"You said it was row ninety-seven," whispered Hermione.
"Yeah," breathed Harry, looking up at the end of the closest row. Beneath the branch of blue glowing candles protruding from it glimmered the silver figure fifty-three.
"We need to go right, I think," whispered Hermione, squinting to the next row. "Yes… that's fifty-four…"
"Keep your wands ready," Harry said softly.
They crept forward, glancing behind them as they went on down the long alleys of shelves, the further ends of which were in near-total darkness. Tiny, yellowing labels had been stuck beneath each glass orb on the shelves. Some of them had a weird, liquid glow; others were as dull and dark within as blown light bulbs. Bree trailed behind everyone else as the passed row after row, so no one noticed when she ducked into row ninety-six after something caught her eye.
The orbs had tags on them, faded yellow with age and labeled with the name of the person they were apparently meant for. Bree walked down the row of orbs, frantically examining each one. They were all meant for the same person. The Doctor. At the row she stopped. She could hear her friends on the other side of the shelf.
"Harry, have you seen this, it's got your name on."
Bree was more focused on the orb in front of her. It was the most recently added orb, it's tag was still crisp and white and it was dated just a few days before.
The tag read:
B.L.S. to M.R.J.
The Doctor
Bree couldn't fathom why her initials were on the tag. She grabbed it. Pain erupted inside of her head.
Omake
Ron was sitting at the kitchen table when George came in and punched him in the face.
"What the bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed, clutching his soon to be black eye.
"Keep your hands off my girlfriend." George replied.
"It was an accident!"
"Hands off."
Later that summer, Ron was out shopping in Diagon alley.
"Hello, Mr. Weasley." Said a voice from behind him. Ron turned and found himself staring at Bree's Uncle Vince and his two bodyguards. "We need to have a chat."
Oh look over there children, there's a sale at the Owl Emporium. Half-off owl treats. What's that? No, just ignore the screaming. Just ignore it and it will be all over soon.
