TEDDIE GREEN - RESCUE MISSION.

Teddie stared at the badge in her hand. It had come out of the coin slot in a pay phone outside a large stone building in the middle of London. She frowned and looked up at the others, all of whom had just toppled backwards out of the pay phone booth and landed in a heap on the floor of the Ministry of Magic.

Harry extracted himself from the heap and moved, his hand in hand, further into the main hall. The silence was eerie, and the hall so dark that Teddie could barely see the way in front of her. Surely it wasn't meant to be like this. Didn't Mo Flint say that some people worked late, and there was always someone working the night shift on the front desk.

"The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant evening," said the cool female voice from the pay phone. As Teddie stepped out of the box, she had managed to wedge herself into a corner and therefore hadn't been caught up in the others tripping over themselves.

"I don't like this," said Teddie, her voice echoing in the silence. She pulled out her wand and muttered 'Lumos'. A small ball of light appeared at the tip of her wand, as all around her, the others did the same.

Theo turned to Harry. "Which way?" he asked.

"Over here," said Harry, leading them through a set of golden gates. They hurried down the narrow pathway and stopped outside some lifts. Harry pressed the closest button and grids slid apart with a great, echoing clanking. The group dashed inside, and Harry stabbed the number nine button, the grids closed with a bang and the lift began to descend, jangling and rattling all the way.

Teddie bit the inside of her cheek. "Well," she said, her voice smothered by the noise of the lift. "If they didn't know we were here before, they surely do now."

Finally, the lift came to a stop and the doors slid open.

"Department of Mysteries," said the same cool female voice from the phone booth.

The group stepped out into a darkened corridor where nothing was moving but the nearest torches, flickering in the rush of air from the lift.

Halfway down the corridor, Harry turned to his left and faced a plain black door. His hands clenched into fists and then relaxed at his sides, and his gaze slid over the door, as if looking for something that was not there.

"What's in there?" Ginny asked.

Harry shook his head and stepped towards the door. "Let's go," he whispered, and he led them towards the door. He stopped just before it, his hand against the cool metal of the doorknob. "Wait, maybe… maybe a couple of us should stay here as a - as a lookout, and -"

"And how are we going to let you know something's coming?" asked Ginny. "You could be miles away."

"We're coming with you, Harry," said Neville.

Teddie nodded as Harry's gaze skipped to her. "When are you going to get it into your head?" she asked. "We're in this together."

Hermione nodded in agreement.

"Let's get on with it," said Ron firmly.

Harry hesitated. It was clear that he did not want to take them all with him, but he didn't have a choice. They were there, and there was no turning them back. Besides, he wouldn't have put it past Teddie to agree to stay behind, but following him, nonetheless. He sighed and turned his attention back to the door. He pushed it open and led them inside.

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 so that it looked as though there was dark water underfoot.

"Department of Mysteries?" Teddie asked, glancing at Theo. "Isn't this where Derrick said his uncle worked?"

Theo nodded. "Yeah. He said he was an Unspeakable," he confirmed.

"What's that?" Ron asked.

"Someone who can't talk about their job outside of work," said Teddie. "Whatever they do in here is equivalent to signing the Official Secrets Act in the Muggle world."

Harry met Teddie's gaze as he glanced back over his shoulder. "Someone shut the door," he said, his voice low.

Luna slid the door back into place.

"I wish you hadn't said that" said Teddie, as darkness enveloped them immediately. She could hear the breathing of the entire group in the silence, and it felt like the air around them was alive with the buzzing of white noise.

Hermione yelped as Harry stepped forward and the walls around them started to spin in a clockwise circle. The flames on the candles burned brightly, resembling a neon sign as they moved faster and faster by the second.

Then… they stopped.

"What was that about?" whispered Ron.

"I think it was to stop us knowing which door we came in from," said Ginny.

Looking around, Teddie realised that she was right. The door behind them could have led to anywhere.

"How are we going to get back out?" Neville squeaked.

Harry shook his head. "None of that matters right now," he said. "We have to get to Sirius. He'll know the way out."

"Just… don't call him," said Hermione.

"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. I'll know the right way when I see it. C'mon."

"Hang on," said Theo, staring at Harry. "You're telling me we're here, risking our necks for Black based on your dream?" He turned to Teddie.

Teddie shrugged. This was the first time she was hearing about the dream, too.

"It's real!" Harry argued.

"How do you know that?" Theo asked.

"Because it feels real when I see it!"

Teddie sighed and touched Harry's arm. "But all dreams feel real," she said. "I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm just… how do we know that this isn't a trap?"

Harry turned away from them, his eyes set on the door opposite. "If you don't want to come with us then you can try and find the way out," he said. "But I have to save the only family I have left." He strode away, reaching for the door handle.

"You think I wouldn't do the same for mine?" Teddie asked. "Mason is all I have left, Harry, and I would move heaven and hell for him. But I wouldn't go running into a place that I had only seen in my dreams. We didn't even tell someone that we're coming here. No one knows we're down here. What happens if this is a trap?"

Harry shook his head. "He's here," he said. "I know he is." He grasped the door hand and pulled it open.

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 was no glittering, shimmering lights that Harry had described from his dreams. The room was quite empty except for a few desks and, in the very middle of the room, an enormous glass tank of deep-green water, big enough for all of them to swim in, which contained a number of pearly white objects that were drifting around lazily in the liquid.

"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," interrupted Hermione. "They're brains."

"Brains?"

"Yes… I wonder what they're doing with them?"

Teddie stepped closer to the tank and peered into the depths. The brains glimmered eerily as they drifted around the green water.

"Let's get out of here," said Harry. "This isn't right, we need to try another -"

"There's a door in here, too," said Ron.

"In my dream I went through that dark room into the second one," said Harry. "I think we should go back and try from there."

The others nodded and Theo caught Teddie's hand, dragging her away from the large brain tank, closing the door behind them.

"Just a second," said Teddie, drawing her wand. She pointed it at the closed door at her rear and said, "Flagrate!"

A giant flaming 'X' appeared on the door, and no sooner had it clicked back into place did the room start to spin again. As it stilled, the flaming 'X' remained.

"Good idea," said Hermione.

Teddie beamed.

"Let's try this one," said Harry. He opened a second door and stepped inside.

This room was larger than the last. It was dimly lit and rectangular, and the centre was sunken, forming a great stone pit some twenty feet below them. They were standing on the topmost tier of what seemed to be stone benches running all around the room.

Steep, stone steps descended between the benches, right down to the middle of the room. In the centre of which was a raised stone dais, and upon the dais was a stone archway that looked ancient, cracked, and crumbling.

A black veil flickered in the archway.

"Do you hear that?" Theo asked, peering at the veil. He looked to Teddie; her eyes also transfixed on the stone dais.

Teddie nodded, numbly.

"Hear what?" Hermione asked, her tone scared. "I can't hear anything. Can you?" She turned to the others.

Ron, Ginny, and Neville shook their heads.

"I can hear them, too," said Luna.

Hermione turned, terrified to Harry. "We should get out of here," she said.

But Harry didn't move. Just like Teddie, Theo, and Luna, he was staring at the archway.

"There's someone down there!" Harry said suddenly, and he lunged forward, clambering over the benches and hurrying down the steps.

"Harry!" Hermione called.

Teddie followed Harry, bumping into him as she jumped off the bottom step and he stopped just before the dais. Theo and Luna came next, followed by the other four.

"Harry, let's just go, okay?" Hermione said, forcefully.

Harry ignored her. "What are you saying?" he asked.

"Nobody's talking, Harry," said Hermione.

"Someone's whispering behind there," said Harry, moving closer to the dais. "Is that you, Ron?"

"I'm here, mate," said Ron, appearing around the side of the archway.

Jumping up onto the dais, Teddie stepped closer to the archway. Her hands reaching out towards the veil. "Mum? Dad?" she asked.

"Wait, Teddie, don't -" said Harry, rushing forward. He caught her hand seconds before she could touch the veil and pulled her back.

"What are you doing?" Teddie asked, wheeling around to stare at him. "I can hear my mum and dad. They're in there. I can get them."

But Harry shook his head. "We have to go," he said. "Come on." He dragged her all the way back to the door, and only released her once they were all safely back in the black room.

Teddie blinked as the door closed behind her and Hermione carved a flaming 'X' into the wood. "What happened?" she asked, looking around. Her head felt heavy and it was like a fog was lifting from her mind.

"What d'you reckon that archway was?" Theo asked, wrapping an arm around Teddie as she fell into step beside him.

"I don't know, but whatever it was, it was dangerous," said Hermione.

For the third time, the black room spun in a circle and then became still again. Harry approached a third door at random and pushed. It did not move.

"What's wrong?" asked Hermione.

"It's stuck," said Harry. "Or locked. I don't know."

"Out of the way," said Hermione. She pointed her wand at the door and said, "Alohomora!"

The door didn't budge.

Teddie knelt beside the keyhole. "Does anyone have a bobby pin?" she asked.

"A what?" Ron asked. Even Ginny, Neville, and Luna looked confused.

Hermione and Harry shook their heads.

"What about something sharp?" Teddie asked.

Harry dug into his pocket and pulled out a switch blade. "I have this," he said, offering it to her.

Teddie eyed the knife curiously and took it. "Do I want to know why you're carrying a knife around with you?" she asked.

Harry shrugged.

Teddie shook her head and turned back to the door. She flicked the knife open and stuck the blade into the lock, twisting and turning it.

"You know how to pick a lock?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah. Why?" Teddie asked.

Hermione shrugged. "Where did you learn that?" she asked.

"Grew up in Spinner's End," said Teddie. "Trust me, we're practically street kids. We learn things."

But nothing happened. With a sigh, Teddie stood up, jamming the knife into the crack between the door and the wall, and dragging it downward.

The door remained locked, but a sizzling sound caused Teddie to look at the knife as she pulled it out of the crack. The whole blade had melted. Her eyes widened and she turned to her friends.

"Alright. We can forget that door," said Hermione. She stepped back, along with the others, and pointed her wand at the frame. A fiery red 'X' appeared.

The room spun for the fourth time, and when it stopped, Harry approached another door. He swung it open and gasped.

"What?" echoed his friends.

"This is it!"