It's really short, I just kinda ran out of steam. It's been a long day for me. And tomorrow won't be much better. . . ugh.
indigofisbee- haha! That is so awesome, I laughed really hard. "Lumos!" haha. I must say, this chapter is not the one I promised. I feel bad about it.
wisegirl2772- Am I good or what? My timing. It actually surprises me! Ron, I know, he's just a weird character for me. Plus I think I like that there is someone who does not like Ev, in the golden trio. I am so weird. . .
Erugalatha Fael-ionath- I realise that. I guess I'll just make it a flaw into my story, I sort of forgot that he got all moody when he wears the locket. I mean, who forgets that? Me. . . . I'll make it awesome! I seriously had a hard time not apologising in this chapter. It's just a word that I say out of habit. Trust me, people tell me the same thing all the time. So I will try to stop using the "S" word. I almost wrote it too, at the end here. . . .!
The Dark side of the Mind- Yay! Another reader, who read the first part! Sadly this chapter is not as promised.
I really am not feeling to hot. I think I overdid it today. So, this chapter was sort of fudged, the next, I swear, will be as promised. I need to fly to my sweet fluffy bed, and drink Butterbeer!
CHAPTER NINE: Inside
Hermione swallowed thickly staring up at the statue before her, next to her stood a tall blond woman, wearing gray robes. Nikita Oppel, Runcorn's assistant. She was pale, with a disgusted look written on her face. Every now and then, her hands would fidget with the fabric of her robes. She obviously did not like wearing them.
She noticed Harry, or rather the tall dark wizard that Harry was impersonating. Albert Runcorn.
"Psst!" she said. He looked at them and hurried over.
"You got in alright then?" she asked once at her side.
"No, he's still stuck in the bog," said Ron, in the ferrety mans voice, sounding odd to Hermione's ears. He was playing Reginald Cattermole. She was Mafalda Hopkirk.
"Oh, very funny. . . It's horrible, isn't it?" she said. "Have you seen what they're sitting on?"
The wizards sitting on ornately carved thrones, looking down were actually sitting on mounds of carved humans, each clawing at anything; hundreds of carved naked bodies, or men, women, and children, each supporting the handsomely dressed wizards.
"Muggles," she whispered, trying not to let Harry hear her shock and horror. "In their rightful places. Come on, let's get going."
They passed through a set of gates and into another smaller hall, where lines waited in front of twenty golden grilled lifts. They entered one when a voice rang out.
"Cattermole!"
Wildly they looked around, until they saw a scowling man striding up to them, wearing lavishly embroidered robes. Harry and Evangeline looked sick and terrified, this was someone they had seen before.
"I requested somebody from Magical Maintenance to sort out my office, Cattermole. It'd still raining in there."
Ron swallowed, terrified.
"Have you tried an umbrella?" he asked weakly, giving a nervous laugh in Cattermole's voice. The man's eyes widened.
"You think it's funny, Cattermole, do you?"
"N-No," said Ron, "no, of course not."
"You realize that I am on my way downstairs to interrogate your wife, Cattermole? I'm surprised you're not down there holding her hand. But if my wife was being accused of being a Mudblood, and the Head of Magical Law Enforcement needed a job doing, I think I would make that a priority to do that job, Cattermole. Do you understand me?"
"Yes," gulped Ron.
"Then see to it, Cattermole, that if my office is not completely dry within an hour, your wife's Blood Status will be in even graver doubt than it is now." The man swept passed them, giving a polite nod to Harry, disguised as Runcorn.
They got on their own lift in silence, the grilles shut with a clang and the lift began to move upward.
"Oh my God. What am I gonna do? My wife's all alone downstairs!" exclaimed Ron in a horrified voice.
"Ron, you don't have a wife," said Evangeline with a snicker.
"Right," he muttered seemingly coming to his senses. "What do I use, though, to make it stop raining?"
"Try, Finite Incantatem," said Hermione, as the lift slowed to a stop. Ron glanced at them frantically as the grilles clanged open, a disembodied voice said, "Level two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters, and Wizengamont Administration Services."
Hermione shoved Ron forward, feeling very sorry for leaving him on his own. Ron stumbled from the lift, turning as the golden grilles shut and the lift moved again. Hermione saw his eyes following them as if pleading for them not to go.
"Actually, Harry, I think I better go after him," she told Harry quickly as Evangeline stumbled slightly as the lift jerked. She didn't like leaving Ron off on his own. "I don't think he knows what he's doing and if he gets caught-"
"Level One, Minister of Magic and Support Staff."
Hermione gasped. Four people stood before them, two in deep conversation: a long-haired wizard wearing magnificent robes of black and gold, and the other a squat, toad like witch wearing a velvet bow in her short hair, she wore all pink, just like Hermione remembered. Next to her Harry stiffened.
"Ah, Mafalda!" said Umbridge looking at her. "Travelers sent you, did he?"
"Y-yes!" she squeaked.
"Good, you'll do perfectly well." Umbridge stepped into the lift with the dark haired wizard. She glanced at Harry with her beady black eyes. "Aren't you getting out, Albert? And you as well, Nikita?"
"Yes, of course," said Harry in Runcorn's deep voice. Evangeline smiled in a simpering manner, and got off with Harry. The grilles clanged shut, Hermione watched anxiously as their faces sinked back out of sight, the tall wizard on her one side, Umbridge on her other.
Oh, what happens next? Seriously, this is a filler.
Why do I feel like crap? I almost said the "S" word! AHHHHHH! Don't mind me, I'm super tired and have no idea what I am writing at the moment.
I will now go to bed, and get good rest, and produce AWESOMENESS!
~CHAO