Ch 19: Meeting
Ministry Of Magic, Present Day (Day 7)
"Please take a seat." Kingsley welcomed Hermione and Ron into his chambers.
The duo obliged; curious to know what 'developments' Kingsley had mentioned in his message.
In the last couple of days; both the Minister and his office had changed greatly. A major part of the wall behind Kingsley was covered with moving photographs and news articles about the events of this week, a growing pile of parchment consumed some portion of Kingsley's desk. The remaining was occupied by The Pensieve and his forgotten breakfast. The Minister himself had bristles of facial hair popping out oddly and his eyes looked sunken in. It was obvious that he hadn't left The Ministry for days.
Moreover, what caught Ron's attention was the fact that Kingsley's fire-place was barred off.
Presently, Kingsley began speaking;
"I see neither Harry nor Draco is with you. So, you didn't meet them today?"
The duo nodded.
"As I suspected." He said softly.
He exhaled deeply.
"We will get to that later. For now, let's begin with what happened at our last meeting. Especially about the memories I had brought with me. I'm sure you remember?"
Ron didn't feel like answering that question. Just the thought of the gore he had witnessed made him feel sick. Beside him, Hermione remained quiet too; her hands clenched into fists on her lap. Kingsley didn't press them further;
"I believe I haven't told you how I obtained those memories yet?" he enquired.
Both Ron and Hermione shook their heads.
"I received them through owl-post." Kingsley stated.
"Owl-post?" Ron's shock was evident in his voice.
"Yes."
"And the sender?" Hermione asked.
"Unknown."
He continued;
"Let me make everything clear. The memories were those of Thomas Blake; a skilled Obliviator and the events we saw in them happened four days ago. About twenty-four hours before a Ukrainian Ironbelly was discovered taking a nap in Bournemouth. In the Obliviators' absence, I had no choice but to send your team to contain the event. Although, you managed to erase the memories of the Muggles present there, the news spread rapidly through Muggle social media. Furthermore, wizards attacked a Muggle art exhibition in London about six hours later. As a result, The Statute of Secrecy has collapsed altogether. Without the Obliviators and with most of our workforce already engaged; it is next to impossible to erase their memories for now."
"So it was according to a plan." Ron said.
"Yes. I had assumed that the person behind the Gringotts explosion and everything that followed it was the one who sent me the memories. I had my doubts even after the threat issued to me through Blake's memories. However, this—"
He produced an empty vial from his cloak
"—this confirms my assumption."
"Another set of memories?" Hermione said, startled.
Kingsley nodded. He then swirled the contents of The Pensieve until they glowed bright. He nodded towards the mixture.
"I'm afraid I must request you to accompany me once again."
§§§
The trio landed behind a dozen people standing outside an enormous building. A multitude of pillars guarded its entrance. Its ceiling was in the form of a colossal dome. Groups of people were entering the building. A clock hanging on the entrance told them it was 6:15 in the evening.
"This place—"Hermione looked wide-eyed at Kingsley.
The latter nodded gravely.
"The Art Exhibition."
Ron's gut clenched on hearing those words. All of a sudden, time seemed to slow down. The faces of the people heading into the building appeared more prominently to Ron; chatting, laughing, cherishing the company of their loved ones. All these people. Unaware of what awaited them.
"Go, now."
Ron was brought back to reality by a croaky voice a few steps in front of him.
"Leave no witnesses."
Hearing the command, the men in front of Ron pulled on hoods and paced towards the building's entrance. The trio followed them. While doing so, Ron glanced back at the man who had given the commands. He only caught a glimpse before he Disapparated but Ron was sure that it had been Nathan Claymore.
§§§
The sight before them now was nauseating. What had been an exhibition when they entered had quickly turned into a bloodbath. For some reason, none of the wizards had used the Killing Curse. Instead, they had chosen much more grotesque ways. The security guards had first been targeted with Exploding Charms; blasting them to pieces. Most of the people were launched into walls of the building and the remaining had simply been tortured till they died. Hermione was sobbing with her head buried in Ron's chest. Ron himself didn't feel much better. Kingsley still looked on but his fists were trembling.
Meanwhile, once the group of wizards had made sure that everyone else was dead; they took to bombarding the structure itself. Pieces of the ceiling fell all around them. Some of the walls also collapsed.
"Let's go back." Ron said to Kingsley.
The latter said nothing, observing a wizard standing in front of him.
"Can you hear me?" Ron said again.
Still no response. The chandelier fell and shattered on the ground in front of Kingsley. But, he still seemed unaffected.
"Hey" Ron repeated
"There's nothing left. Let's go."
Receiving no response; Ron made up his mind to walk up to Kingsley when the latter flicked his wand.
The falling sensation gripped Ron again.
§§§
As soon as they returned to the office, Kingsley started sifting through the parchment on his table. Ron offered Hermione a glass of water which she readily accepted. Before she had finished; Kingsley found what he was looking for.
He then sat down in his chair and placed the parchment in front of them.
"Daniel Killian." Ron read the heading of the document.
"Yes." Kingsley spoke;
"Another Obliviator. Also the man whose memories we were just in."
"WHAT!" Ron exclaimed in pure disbelief.
"Impossible! We saw them all being massacred at Privet Drive. This is from later that day. How could it be—"
"Possible?" Kingsley interrupted him.
"Not only is it possible, it would explain a lot of things."
Hey guys, I actually intended a longer chapter but my computer crashed on me again I could only salvage this. I have no choices but to break it into two chapters now. Sorry about that.
But, I will upload the rest of the chapter tomorrow. So, stay tuned.