They appeared in an alleyway just down the street from the ministry, and Thea made sure to keep close to George.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" George whispered.
"Positive," Thea whispered back, though now that she was here, she was a little less confident in their plan. "You probably shouldn't talk to me though because people will think you're talking to yourself," she added.
George chuckled at that. "You have a point." George headed out of the alleyway, and Thea followed close behind. When they reached the red phone booth, Richard Burke was waiting as he had the night before. Today, he was wearing an athletic club tee shirt, faded jeans with holes in the knees, and an Adidas ball cap. If the situation wasn't so serious, it would be laughable how much Liam tried to keep up with muggle fashions-Thea was pretty sure that Liam had picked out Burke's outfits.
"George," Burke greeted, offering his hand to shake, which George took and did briefly shake, before following Burke into the lift.
Thea only had a split second to make a choice-to go down with them, or wait and hope that Burke didn't come back up.
No. Thea shook her head silently to herself. Both were too risky. She would have to risk going through the employee entrances. She headed around the corner and looked over her shoulder to make sure no one could see her, before she headed into an alcove where the fireplaces were.
A few witches and wizards were heading out-probably taking their lunch breaks. Thea had to jump back to avoid them. They looked around, looking for whatever had made the small scuffle, but ultimately shrugged it off and headed on their way.
Thea let out a sigh of relief. Now that the coast was clear, she was able to pick up some ashes and stepped into the flue to transport her inside. "Main Atrium," she said quietly.
The flames burst up and then she was gone, reappearing inside the ministry. There were people bustling around, like the witches and wizards she had nearly run into outside, heading out for their lunches. It was like playing Frogger, but instead of trying to dodge cars, she was dodging people. If any one of them ran into her, that would be it-she would be caught, and the Aurors would take her to Azkaban-or worse. She didn't doubt that the Elite had Aurors on their payroll.
It took her a few moments, but Thea managed to make it through the crowd unscathed. She headed for the lift. It was just arriving as she got there, and luckily, there were more people getting off than on. There was just the problem of getting the lift to go where she wanted it to.
She took in those on the lift with her-Enid Barnes, Lana Owens, and Randall Carr...none of them worked on her floor. She was going to have to get creative.
Thea took a breath and closed her eyes. Focusing on Enid's thoughts, she did something that she had never done before-she created a memory-a memory of Burke's wife, flirting with another man at the Leaky Cauldron. It was innocuous enough that it would hopefully not cause too big of an issue between the couple, but juicy enough that with a little push, Enid would be dying to head down to the Department of Mysteries to tell Burke. Enid was known for being a gossip.
It didn't take long to see that Thea's plan had worked.
"Oh!" said Enid. "I forgot, I have to go down to Level Nine-Richard Burke works there, and I just saw his wife..."
Thea waited as Enid rambled out her story to Lana. The lift stopped, and Randall got out, but Lana hesitated.
"Oh, go on," said Enid. "Let old Hester know that I'll be along in a few minutes."
Thea wanted to let out a sigh of relief as Lana stepped off of the lift but didn't for fear that it would get her caught.
"Department of Mysteries," said Enid, and the lift started to move again. After a moment, it stopped on Level Nine, and Enid got out, followed by Thea. Enid hurried into the atrium, and Thea followed.
Burke was just leaving.
"Richard!" Enid called out. "I was looking for you. I just saw your wife..."
Thea didn't stay to hear the story she had planted but used Richard's distraction to cast the non-verbal spell to find the Death Chamber. The door popped open, and she headed inside.
George was in the centre of the room with Liam near the dais, and it didn't appear that either noticed the door opening by itself. Good. That had been a lucky break.
The other Unspeakables were working with a house-elf in one corner of the stone circle, at the base of the steps, but Thea refused to look. She couldn't help the elf that way. The only way she could help the elf was by finding the entry passes.
She looked around each of the stone benches along the outside of the room, before resigning herself to having to join everyone else in the centre. She had hoped to avoid that, because the chances of her running into anybody increased the closer she got to them. Each step she took down the concrete steps had to be slow for fear that her shoe might tap on the stone and draw attention. She held her breath as she made it down the last step and began maneuvering between Unspeakables, careful to stay away from Liam and George.
"I'm just not clear on how you intend to bring someone back from the dead," she could hear George saying as she searched one corner. No passes there.
"But, but," sputtered Liam, "you saw...with the house-elf..."
No passes in the next section. Thea was getting closer to George and Liam.
"I saw a house-elf survive all manner of things because you ordered it to," said George, "but what I didn't hear was an explanation on how you intend to apply that to bringing a human being back from the dead."
"Well, that's what the research is for," said Liam. Still no passes. Thea passed by them, staying nearer to George. At least George knew there was someone invisible here, and if she accidentally bumped into him, he could cover. Luckily though, Thea didn't run into anyway and started making her way to the opposite side of the room.
"I don't know," said George. "You're asking for a lot of money, but you're not really offering anything in return."
Still no passes. Thea had searched most of the room.
"Well, I don't know what to tell you then," said Liam, irritation in his voice. "We are still in the early stages of our research. If you want to see your brother again, you should get in early, so he can be put at the top of the list—otherwise, there are other people who will be given the priority."
"Let me ask you something," said George, "has anyone actually given you money yet?"
Liam got quiet.
"That's what I thought," said George. "Come find me when you have more to go on."
Thea looked over her shoulder to see George starting to head out. She hurriedly checked the last section before running after him, nearly slipping on the stone benches. She caught up to George in the hallway and gripped his arm.
He nearly jumped out of his skin.
"It's me," she whispered.
"Did you find them?" George whispered back.
"Let's get out of here first," said Thea. And the two headed for the lift. It was empty, but the hallway in the main atrium wasn't. Thea followed George to the visitor's exit, and they headed out, and George headed straight for a nearby alley.
"You still there?" he asked.
"I am," said Thea, reaching out to grip his arm. "Let's get out of here." They apparated back to Grimmauld Place, and it wasn't until they were safely inside that Thea lifted the disillusionment charm.
They found Jax and Ginny in the kitchen.
"How did it go?" Jax asked.
Thea sat down at the table. "Well, the good news is that I didn't get caught. The bad news is that I couldn't find the passes."
"Well, Jax is going to the ministry next, right?" Ginny asked as George took the seat next to Thea. "You can just go in with him and try again."
Thea shook her head, again, and took a breath. "I don't think they're at the ministry."
Jax looked over at her, narrowing his eyes. "Where do you think it is?"
"Do you think it's with..." George began, but Thea cut him off.
"Don't say it." She sighed. "But yes, I think it might be." A part of her had known, from the very first instant of Liam throwing Zelda the house-elf into the dais, that this went deeper. Liam very rarely did anything on his own. He had been the leader of his group of friends at Hogwarts, but it had been more like he was the mouthpiece of the group, while Nott had been the brains. He never would have thought to experiment on house-elves to try to bring someone back from the dead—someone had had to have tipped him off on that, and she knew exactly who.
"Thea!"
Thea blinked and looked over at Jax who had apparently been trying to get her attention while she had been lost in thought. "Sorry."
Jax shook his head. "I was just saying that I don't think it's a good idea for you to let them catch you."
"I know," said Thea, "but It's also what needs to be done. I also wish you would reconsider going back to the ministry. It would be a good opportunity for them to go after you."
"I'll be safe at the ministry," Jax assured her.