AN: I am so, so sorry for the delay in posting this chapter. I had my end-of-high-school exams, and I think during that study period I got out of the habit of writing so much. Anyway, my goal this year (I'm loathe to call it a New Year's Resolution because they always seem to fail) is to write more. My overall aim is to write a bit every day and try and post at least one chapter every week. Obviously, I'm not there yet since we're two weeks into 2015 and this is my first chapter, but that's what I'm aiming at.

Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions/ideas about what the Doctor, Hermione and Colin could do, I'm happy to take them on board. I have a friend who's been helping me with ideas, but we don't go to school together anymore, so any help is appreciated. I've already been given a couple of ideas which I've worked into a rough plan for future chapters.

Anyway, thanks for being patient and I hope the chapter's not too bad =)

8 – Infiltration

After a fifteen minute walk, the Doctor, Hermione and Colin were in Whitehall, standing outside an old red telephone box, which was missing several panes of glass and stood before a heavily graffitied wall.

'This is the visitor's entrance to the Ministry,' said Hermione.

'How d'you know that?' asked Colin.

Hermione shrugged. 'Last summer holidays I stayed at the Burrow with the Weasleys, and I got chatting with Mr Weasley about the overlap between the muggle and wizarding worlds, and he told me about the visitor's entrance to the Ministry.'

'Well how does it work?' said Colin.

Hermione shrugged. 'I'm not really sure. I think you get in and dial a number or something.'

'Right,' said the Doctor. 'In we get then.'

The three of them crammed into the booth.

'Now what?' asked Hermione. 'We don't know the number.'

The Doctor grinned and picked up the receiver. He pointed his sonic at the phone and pressed a button. The sonic whirred for a couple of seconds, and he turned it off again.

A cool female voice sounded inside the telephone box. 'Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business.'

'What department should I pretend to be in?' the Doctor whispered to Hermione.

'Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures,' Hermione whispered back.

'Right, yes,' said the Doctor loudly. 'I'm John Smith, Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. I'm here to collaborate with a colleague on the matter of the Weeping Angels. Hermione and Colin are my assistants.'

The female voice sounded puzzled. 'We have no record of a John Smith in that Department.'

'That's because I'm a visitor,' said the Doctor. 'I'm from the New Zealand Ministry.'

'Of course,' said the voice. 'Visitors, please take your badges and attach them to the front of your robes.'

Three square silver badges clunked into the slot where returned coins normally appeared. They read John Smith, New Zealand Ministry of Magic; Hermione, assistant and Colin, assistant. The three of them pinned their badges on as the voice spoke again.

'Visitors to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium.

The floor of the telephone box shuddered and it began to sink slowly into the ground. The pavement rose up past the glass windows, and they were enclosed in darkness, with only the dull grinding noise of the telephone box's movement for company. After about a minute, light began creeping up their feet. Slowly the telephone box descended, coming to a rest on the floor of the Ministry of Magic.

They were standing t one end of a very long and splendid hall with a highly polished, dark wood floor. The ceiling was peacock blue and inlaid with golden symbols that moved and changed. The walls were panelled with dark wood and had many gilded fireplaces set into them. Every few seconds a witch or wizard would emerge from one of the left-hand fireplaces with a soft whoosh. On the right-hand side, short queues were forming before each fireplace, waiting to depart.

'What are the fireplaces for?' asked the Doctor.

'They're part of the Floo Network,' said Hermione. 'You stand in the fireplace, say where you want to go, and throw in some Floo powder. Then you appear in another fireplace, as long as it's connected to the Floo Network.'

'Oh. Right.'

The three of them walked down the hall and deeper into the Ministry. They passed a fountain with several larger-than-life statues. The Doctor paused to examine them, but there were no stone angels. The statues were golden, and there were a wizard, a witch, a centaur, a goblin and a house-elf. Silver and bronze coins glinted in the bottom of the fountain.

'I've never seen coins like that before,' said the Doctor.

'Wizarding money,' said Colin. 'The bronze ones are Knuts and the silver ones are Sickles. We also have golden coins called Galleons.'

The trio continued down the hallway.

'Hey! You three!' someone called. They looked left to see a a badly-shaven wizard in peacock-blue robes gesturing at them from a desk to the left beneath a sign reading Security. The Doctor, Hermione and Colin walked over to him. He nodded at their silver badges.

'Visitors?' he said.

The Doctor smiled. 'That's right.'

'I need you to step over here.'

The three of them stepped over to the wizard, who produced what looked like a golden car ariel, and passed it up and down each of their fronts and backs. Nothing happened to Hermione and Colin, but as it passed the Doctor's chest it vibrated. The wizard frowned.

'What's in your front pocket?' he asked.

'Sonic screwdriver,' said the Doctor. The wizard looked puzzled. 'A scientific instrument,' elaborated the Doctor. He reached into his pocket and placed the gold and silver screwdriver on the desk.

The wizard picked it up and turned it over in his hands. 'What does it do?'

'I work in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. I use the screwdriver to scan magical creatures. It speeds up my research tenfold. Instead of casting spells to examine a creature, I can use my screwdriver, which doesn't damage the creature and is much more efficient.'

'I see,' said the wizard. He clearly didn't.

The Doctor reached into his other pocket. 'This is my permit for it,' he said, holding up what appeared to Hermione to be a blank piece of paper inside a black wallet.

The wizard looked at the paper and nodded. 'That seems to be in order.' The Doctor picked up his screwdriver and slipped it and the paper back into his jacket.

'Wands,' said the wizard.

Hermione and Colin handed their wands over. The wizard dropped Hermione's on a strange brass instrument, which looked like a set of scales with only one dish. It began to vibrate and a narrow strip of parchment came speeding out of a slit in the base. The wizard tore it off and read it.

'Ten and three quarter inches, dragon heartstring core, been inure four years. That correct?'

'Yes,' said Hermione, and the process was repeated for Colin.

The wizard turned to the Doctor. 'Sir, I need your wand.'

'Don't have one,' said the Doctor.

The wizard frowned and Hermione interjected. 'He doesn't have his wand here. He left it at the place we're staying. We know very little about Magical Creatures he came to examine today, so he left it behind so that he didn't accidentally cast a spell on them or something.' She lent forward and said in a stage whisper, 'He's very absent-minded. Clever, but absent-minded.'

'Forgetting not to cast a spell? That seems unbelievably scatter-brained,' said the wizard, putting emphasis on unbelievably.

Hermione shrugged. 'Why do you think he has two assistants at the age of thirty?'

'Hmmm,' said the wizard. 'Fine. You can pass.'

Hermione smiled. 'Thank you.'

The Doctor grinned. 'Off we go then.'

The three of them plunged back into the steady crowds of work hours at the Ministry.

'What was that blank paper?' asked Hermione.

'What?' said the Doctor. 'Oh, it's psychic paper. Shows people whatever I want them to see. '

'Handy,' said Colin.

'Tell me about it,' replied the Doctor. 'So, where would the Ministry keep its Weeping Angels.'

'Whatever floor the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures is on,' said Hermione.

The Doctor, Hermione and Colin found a bank of lifts and got into one. For some reason, there were several paper planes flapping around in the lift, but none of them knew what they were for, so they decided it was best to ignore them.

'What floor?' whispered Colin as several other wizards entered the lift.

'Don't know,' Hermione whispered back.

'Excuse me,' the Doctor said. A wizard turned around. 'I'm John Smith, visitor from the New Zealand Ministry of Magic.' He pulled out his psychic paper and showed it to the wizard. 'I was wondering if you could tell me what floor the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical of Magical Creatures is on.'

'Fourth,' said the wizard.

'Thanks,' said the Doctor, and Hermione pressed the button.

The Doctor, Colin and Hermione arrived on the fourth floor. The Doctor walked straight up to someone.

'Excuse me,' he said. The wizard turned. 'I'm looking for your Weeping Angels. Where do you keep them?'

'Our what?'

'You know, the angels that are made of stone if you're looking at them, but move when they aren't.'

'Oh, the Angelae. They're that way.' The wizard pointed down the corridor. Then he frowned. 'Hang on a second. Who the hell are you?'

'Oh, very rude of me,' smiled the Doctor. 'I'm John Smith, New Zealand Ministry of Magic.' He showed his psychic paper.

'That piece of paper's blank,' said the wizard.

The Doctor looked at it. 'So it is,' he said nodding. He glanced at Colin and Hermione. 'Run.'

'What?' said Hermione, but the Doctor was already bolting down the corridor in a strange, gangly run with Colin hot on his heels. Hermione dodged the wizard and went pelting after them.

The three of them stopped, Hermione and Colin breathing hard, outside a door with a large WARNING! DO NOT ENTER sign on it.

'This'll be it,' said the Doctor. He was grinning, barely out of breath. He pulled out his sonic and aimed it at the lock, but nothing happened. He frowned and shook the screwdriver.

'There'll be a spell on it,' panted Hermione.

'Ah,' said the Doctor. 'Can you take it off?'

'I'm under 17. The Ministry has a…' She took a huge breath. 'In short, no.'

In the hallway behind them, Hermione could here people shouting.

The Doctor pointed the sonic at the other side of the door. There was a faint sound of metal moving against metal.

'What are you doing?' asked Colin.

'Undoing the screws holding the hinges on,' said the Doctor. 'It is a screwdriver, after all.' He finished the top hinge and moved to the bottom one. The shouting was getting louder, and they could hear running feet.

The screws clinked out of the bottom hinge. The Doctor pushed on the door. It didn't move very far since it was still locked in place at the latch with a spell, but it was enough space to squeeze through. The three of them ducked through the door. The Doctor pushed it shut behind them.

At the sight of the brightly lit room, Hermione's breath caught.

In front of them was rank upon rank of Weeping Angels.