Chapter 13

"After swearing an Unbreakable Vow to help destroy his creation, Flip was confined to his house where he has remained to date."

After I had finished reading the last page, I tucked Professor Flip's file back into the cabinet, my mind reeling. How could he have created the invisible monsters? Was it possible for a wizard to invent a whole new species?

I pondered how to give Hedgely further bad news about his father figure as I left the room, sweeping it over with a gaze to be sure that no evidence of my having been there remained.

"Dudley-" Hedgely began from where he stood slouched outside the door, but he was cut off by a stout, balding man, who shouted,

"Hey! What are you doin' outside my office?"

Hedgely mimed zipping his lips closed at me before turning to face him.

"Sorry, sir," Hedgely smiled weakly, "we got lost."

The man stepped closer to us, examining our faces with narrowed eyes.

"Got lost whilst going where? You look awfully young to be in the Ministry."

"We were going to the Department of Magical Transportation to complain-"

"Don't give me 'at boy, I weren't born yesterday," the man barked out a laugh, "if you were goin' there, you would 'ave took the lift to that floor. But you've ended up here, 'aven't you, on the other side of the buildin'. What are you really doin' 'ere?"

Hedgely gulped his throat bobbing. My hands started to sweat when he didn't buy our lies.

"We.. we're just... looking for the toilet!" Hedgely stammered, his face flushing bright red.

Despite the circumstances, I couldn't help but flash him a triumphant look at the pathetic excuse he had tortured me for using less than twenty minutes ago.

The man raised his eyebrows.

"Lookin' for the toilet, are you? I don't believe that for a minute! You are a pair of escaped Mudbloods, ain't you?"

I wasn't sure what a Mudblood was, but it didn't sound positive so I shook my head vigorously while Hedgely exclaimed,

"No! Of course not! We're Purebloods, both of us."

The man smiled, revealing crooked, yellow teeth.

"Then you won't mind if I take you 'round to the courtrooms for a couple of questions then."

"No, No!" Hedgely waved his hand dismissively, "You don't need to do that."

"Oh, but indeed I do..."

The man whipped his wand out of his robes and flicked it upwards, emitting a spray of red sparks. Seconds later, two large, burly wizards appeared around the corner. I backed away as far as I could before colliding with the wall.

"This is not necessary, we are Pureblooded wizards!"

"Yeah, we'll see about that, kid," said the man, before turning to what I could only assume were wizard security guards, saying,

"I caught these Mudbloods wandering around. Real wizards would know their way 'round the Ministry of Magic!"

He looked at us smugly, as the security wizards grasped our arms and pulled us back along the corridor. Hedgely tried to wriggle out of his escort's grip but only succeeded in having his other arm clamped down as well. I was too panicked to attempt to escape. I felt like a criminal who had been arrested for his crimes, when really I had done nothing wrong except, of course, snooping around a government building.

When we reached the lifts, I plucked up the courage to ask where we were going.

"To be interrogated," Hedgely said, twisting to speak to me over his security wizard's beefy shoulder. My heart was pounding so hard I was surprised I hadn't yet had a heart attack. At that moment, it would almost have been a blessing.

When the doors of the lift glided open and I was shoved over the threshold, I realised that I was in the same corridor where the woman Hedgely and I had shared a lift with earlier, had got out. As we drew closer, I could make out a line of people sitting on a hard, wooden bench at the end of the long hallway. They were all pale and frightened- looking – one man was even rocking backwards and forwards, his hands knotted tightly in his dark hair. A tall, hard-faced wizard leaned against the wall opposite the bench, glaring at the people sitting upon it.

"Howard!" called the security wizard who had been dragging me along. Howard raised his gaze towards us at the sound of his name.

"Mudbloods, caught trying to escape," said the security wizard, pushing me towards Howard.

"How many times do I have to tell you, we aren't Muggleborn!" Hedgely pleaded.

Howard smiled crookedly.

"That's what they all say," he said, pulling his wand out to point it at us. "Sit on the bench!"

Unable to find an alternative that didn't involve my own death, I obeyed and sank onto the cold wood, shuffling up to make room for Hedgely. The woman next to me had her eyes closed and appeared to be praying rapidly in a foreign language. What were they doing to these people?

After dismissing the security wizards, Howard leaned over Hedgely and tied his hands together, before moving on to do the same to me.

"Don't want you running off again, do we?" he breathed in my ear.

I recoiled at the smell of his rotten breath and attempted to tug my hands free from their bonds, to no avail.

"Dudley," Hedgely whispered between clenched teeth, "the Ministry are questioning all Muggleborns, you have to pretend to be Pure-"

"No talking," snarled Howard, glaring in our direction. Hedgely sighed and I slumped backwards against the wall. A familiar coldness crept up my spine and I felt utterly unhappy and depressed, like I could just cry for the rest of my life and-

I jerked forward, trying to clear my head and throw off the thoughts that were not mine. I squirmed in my seat, bringing happy thoughts to the forefront of my mind.

Presents stacked in the kitchen on my birthday. The first day of the summer holidays, marking two whole months of freedom. Trips to the seaside with Mum and Dad...

My reverie shattered as shouts and screams drifted through the door that stood ajar at the very end of the corridor. Hedgely's ears pricked up, Howard stood up straight and even the woman next to me raised her head.

I couldn't help but gasp as an enormous silver stag galloped through the doorway and up the hallway, closely followed by a smaller otter. A man and two women emerged after them.

"It's decided that you should all go home and go into hiding with your families," the man told us, looking at each person in turn. When his green-eyed gaze locked briefly with mine, his eyes widened slightly with recognition and my heart rate quickened before he turned to Hedgely. I knew him from somewhere, I was sure of it but how could I possibly know a wizard?

My train of thought was interrupted by Hedgely, who shouldered me.

"Move, quickly!"

I looked up to see all the Muggleborns who had been seated on the bench stampeding towards the staircase beside the lifts like a herd of buffalo, trampling Howard in their wake. I chased after them with difficulty due to my tied hands. I followed them up the tightly twisting spiral staircase, their whoops of glee echoing off the stone walls. I glanced over my shoulder several times to make sure Hedgely was still behind me after our liberation.

When the stairs opened out into the atrium, where we had been earlier, the formerly bustling place was now positively crammed full of people, all of them standing still, transfixed, staring at something out of my field of vision. I stood on my toes and craned my neck to see what it was. A red haired boy in an oversized suit stood kissing a woman who was at least twice his age, while a man wearing just his underwear looked on in horror. Beside him, was a girl with bushy brown hair and a familiar dark haired, bespectacled figure. I returned to my own height with a thump.

Harry was here, had been here this whole time. It was he who had set the Muggleborns free, disguised as an older man, I knew it was.

I jumped when a large hand clamped down on my shoulder. I turned to see a dark skinned man standing behind me, one hand on my shoulder the other on Hedgely's.

"Muggleborns?" he asked.

I opened my mouth to say no, but Hedgely beat me to it.

"Yes!" he said, nodding vigorously, "We are."

The man twirled his wand in between his fingers and the ropes binding our hands fell to the floor. He beckoned for us to follow him, and started moving stealthily through the crowd. I looked to Hedgely for confirmation before following him.

"Kingsley Shacklebolt," Hedgely told me, "He's a member of the Order."

Kingsley led us to a door on the far side of the atrium.

"Go quickly," he told us, "get as far from here as you can and lay low until the war is over."

Without waiting to be thanked he melted back into the crowd. Hedgely took hold of my arm and we went through the door. A busy London street flashed before my eyes before the tug of Disapparation took me back to Professor Flip's house.

I lay back in the cool grass to catch my breath. Hedgely loomed above me, his fingers laced behind his head, staring at the sky.

"I don't know about you Dudley, but I could do with a Firewhiskey right now."

"Sounds good, after that nightmare," I agreed. Hedgely held out his hand to help me up.

"I'll get the drinks, and then you can tell me what was in the file, before we decide what we are going to do next."