*AUTHOR'S NOTE TO THE READER*

The following two chapters shadow the events that occur in Chapter Thirty-Four of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, entitled 'The Department of Mysteries.' It would probably benefit readers to pull out the book and follow along.

CHAPTER 1 - RESCUE MISSION

Half a dozen badges slid out of the metal chute where returned coins usually appeared. Hermione scooped them up and handed them mutely to Harry over Ginny's head. He glanced at the topmost one…

HARRY POTTER

RESCUE MISSION

(OotP - pg. 768)

In the gathering darkness, six thestrals shot out of the Forbidden Forest, wings pumping in an ancient rhythm, each one bearing a single rider. They were flying quickly, passing by Hogsmeade and crossing over mountains in mere minutes.

Hermione, however, saw none of this.

Her eyes were tightly clenched as she grasped the mane of the creature she couldn't even see. Her heart was thumping wildly, replaying over the events of the past few hours, trying to make sense of the dark feeling of foreboding that seemed to linger on the outskirts of her awareness. Flashes of Sirius in some unknown danger, Malfoy, then Umbridge (that foul pink toad!), the wrath of the centaurs, and poor Grawp, who was perhaps more like Hagrid than she had originally thought, raced across her mind.

The main thought, however, that refused to be repressed, and kept surfacing despite the many other troubles that should have fully occupied her mind, was blaringly simple.

I am flying. In the air. On an invisible beast, according to my two friends who are prone to hallucinations. Why are you so afraid, Hermione? The situation is perfectly under control.

Hermione whimpered and squeezed her eyes tighter together, clutching her knees forcibly against the thestral beneath her. The air was cold, and her fingers were getting numb, even as her fear bubbled up inside and tried to push out of her mouth in the form of a scream. Her attempt was futile as her thestral suddenly plummeted, and she heard Ginny's scream join her own as they began the mad rush to the ground, which was over as soon as it started.

As soon as she felt her thestral hit solid ground, with a surprisingly soft impact, Hermione slipped from the creature. Heart pounding, she gave a vague smile in what she hoped was the direction of the beast, then stumbled over to Ginny, knees wobbly from the long ride. The younger girl caught Hermione as Ron's thestral whizzed down to her left, also landing with hardly any sound. It was disconcerting to see Ron stumbling off of something made of thin air, and Hermione looked away quickly, only to be met with the sight of Harry patting his own lump of thin air. Swallowing, Hermione jumped reflexively when Harry's voice suddenly rang out in the crisp evening air.

"Come on!" Harry was hustling towards what appeared to be a simple Muggle telephone booth, but Hermione knew better. Fear twisted inside of her as the reality of their situation once again came crashing down. They were going into the bowels of the Ministry, which was a very illegal thing to do, and assuming that by some miracle there was no security, Hermione knew Harry would waste no time in charging ahead to wherever he believed Sirius to be.

Uneasily squashed between Neville and Luna, Hermione let Harry do the talking, and quickly took the proffered name tags from the thin metal chute where change was normally returned. Each bore the name of one of her companions, with the words "Rescue Mission" emblazoned against the bottom edge.

People on a rescue mission, or foolish children being led into the nest of a viper?

Hermione was prepared for either outcome.

She was instantly on high alert as the group stepped from the booth and into the Atrium, which she noted, with narrowing eyes, was suspiciously absent of security wizards. She didn't spare a glance for the statue in the middle of the spacious room, carved with primitive implication, pursing her lips angrily as she followed Harry and the others to the lifts. Her head darted from side to side, eyes never lingering in one spot too long, constantly searching for any sign of motion. She found none besides the swaying robes of Luna and Neville beside her.

The ride up the lifts was hazy, as her mind continued to spin in fast, concise circles.

"Department of Mysteries." The cool magical voice reflected Hermione's exterior as she focused on the grilles opening in front of them, opening to reveal…

…a simple black door.

Harry gazed at the door with a scary expression of triumph. He tried one final time to dissuade everyone from coming with him (didn't he realize what a waste of time this conversation was becoming?) and finally, finally moved in front of the door, which slid open as surely as if it was an automatic door built for Muggles. Although those were usually made of glass. And theoretically, should have been much more intimidating then the small door through which Hermione found herself walking. And yet, she felt the fear, palpable and metallic on the air, which seemed to be stirring as though with a winter breeze.

Ginny let out a quiet gasp from beside her, as Hermione stepped into a very strange room.

It was circular, and completely black, except for the candles around the wall which were blazing with pale blue flames. There were twelve doors, and Hermione suddenly felt as if she was back in her first year at Hogwarts, alone with Harry in a room full of potions, faced with a decision that would mean success or failure. The room felt remarkably like a test.

Hermione heard a rumbling sound a scarce second before the walls started spinning. She grabbed Harry's arm as they spun faster and faster, blurring into a single black-and-blue mass. Hermione closed her eyes, trying to stop the nauseating feeling that was making a bid for her sanity.

Slowly, as she heard the others talking around her and the rumbling noise fading into mere memory, Hermione realized that the walls must have stopped spinning, and she opened her eyes.

Dismayed, she quickly recognized that the spinning had served at least one purpose; it was no longer possible to tell which door they had used to enter. There must be some way to mark them, though, if they were going to make a habit of twirling around like children. Hermione didn't fancy being stuck in the Department of Mysteries for any longer than necessary. She cast another careful glance at the doors around them. All were the same, no handles, black, plain, and undeniably foreboding…

"-need to get out till we've found Sirius - " Hermione's head snapped up at the sound of Harry's voice, instantly worried that he would try something foolish.

"Don't go calling for him, though!" Hermione exclaimed forcefully, attempting to fix Harry with her most threatening I'm right and don't you dare disobey me stare.

He didn't reply, but he also didn't start calling out for his godfather, which Hermione took to be a good sign. She listened as he described his dreams to Ron (Harry sounded rather uncertain about them, which worried her), but also tried to think of a way to mark the doors so that the spinning wouldn't be a problem later. She was trying to remember a story she'd once read about a magic tinderbox and a saucer-eyed dog, when Harry abruptly went up to one of the black doors and pushed it open.

"He's a bit too enthusiastic to die, don't you think?" Ginny muttered, for Hermione's ears only, and despite the fact that it was a rather morbid joke, Hermione grinned. Her grin turned to a look of amazement as she stepped into the next room along with her friends.

Hermione knew what the room was instantly, having read about it in fourth year when she had been trying to find a way for Harry to stay underwater in the Triwizard Tournament. Her heart began to beat a painful rhythm against her chest, and she sucked in a breath of air as her eyes took in the sight of the enormous tank on the far wall.

A special spell had been cast upon the brains in the water, making it possible for them to function without bodies and without air. As far as she knew, though, these brains were locked safely away in the dungeons of Azkaban. It was not wise to casually keep the knowledge of the insane.

She heard Ron thinking aloud, wondering what the brains in the tank were. They looked slightly like jellyfish, but without legs.

"Aquavirius maggots!" Hermione winced at the sound of a high-pitched, excited Luna. "Dad said the Ministry were breeding – "

"No." Hermione shook her head, partially in exasperation, and partially to hide the shaking from the rest of her body. The Insanity Brains were not items to be taken lightly. "They're brains."

"Brains?" Ron repeated incredulously.

"Yes…" Hermione responded, her brain whirling, trying to think of a reason the Ministry would be studying these brains that didn't have to do with disembowelment or inverted eyeballs, and other similar forms of torture. She drifted closer to the tank, until only a single pain of magical glass separated her from the brains. "I wonder what they're doing with them?"

Hermione was snapped out her trancelike state by the look on Harry's face. He looked grim, and determined, and obviously didn't recognize the brains from his dreams. Right then. There would be time to think about the brains, and more importantly, what use the Ministry had with them, later. After they'd gotten out of this mess alive, and hopefully with all essential body parts still attached.

Harry led the group back to the circular room, and suddenly remembered the spell she had been trying to recall earlier. She stopped Luna from shutting the door to the Brain Room just in time.

"Flagrate!" Hermione made an X shape with her wand and was gratified to see a flash of fire mark the door.

Pleased with herself, Hermione watched the door shut and the instant spinning of the walls. That was one problem taken care of, then.

"Good thinking," said Harry happily as he moved them to another unmarked door.

Ginny grasped Hermione's hand tightly as the group entered yet another strange room.

Hermione's mouth fell open as she took in the room before them. It was a stone amphitheatre, leading down to a beautifully raised dais. The architecture was reminiscent of Ancient Rome, complete with a stunningly domed ceiling and an arch in the center of the dais that still managed to look regal, despite the large crack running through the stone.

Hermione stopped thinking about the architecture of the place when she felt Harry step towards the dais, clearly fascinated by something. Hermione followed his gaze to the swinging veil which hung down from the archway, and her stomach gave a lurch of uneasiness. There was something unnatural about that veil…

"Careful!" she said quietly as her friend drew closer to the dais. The feeling of unease in her stomach mounted, and began to reach epic proportions. "Let's go," she cried, in what she hoped was a convincing tone. "This isn't right." Understatement of the century. "Harry, come on, let's go…" He wasn't listening. She started to panic. "Harry, let's go, okay?"

Harry did not step away from the veil, seemingly transfixed by its' gentle sway. Hermione's feet felt frozen to the ground in fear as her other friends gingerly approached the dais to examine the veil for themselves. Harry's head was cocked to the side, as though listening to something, although Hermione could hear nothing but the increasingly rapid beat of her heart.

She felt dizzy for a moment, until Luna's voice penetrated through her terrified haze. "There are people in there!"

The only thing that was more powerful that fear for her own safety was fear for the safety of her friends, all of whom were acting like a bunch of hypnotized idiots. Hermione was not going to let their mission be ruined by a creepy piece of beckoning material.

"What do you mean, 'in there' ? There isn't any 'in there,' it's just an archway, there's no room for anybody to be there – Harry, stop it, come away-" She had finally worked up the courage to approach the dias, and she yanked on Harry's sleeve. She needed to get them out of there. Fast. So she said the one name she was sure would get Harry to pay attention.

"We are supposed to be here for Sirius!" Ginny glanced up at her, and suddenly seemed to become aware of the dangerous potential wielded by their current situation.

Harry finally seemed to come to his senses, and Hermione wasted no time in dragging him and the others out of the horrid room.

She marked the door to the Veil Room with an angry Flagrate and a fierce glare, before turning around to lecture her friends as the walls began their familiar spin once more. However, she was distracted when Harry pushed against another door and, unlike its' fellows, it did not budge. Raising an eyebrow, Hermione shoved her way past her hopeless friends (whom she was beginning to think were Crabbe and Goyle under Polyjuice Potion) and cast a quick Alohomora on the door. Nothing happened, which only served to add to her increasing frustration.

Harry pulled out the knife Sirius had gifted him with and Hermione felt a flare of hope that was quickly extinguished when the blade simply melted away upon contact with the door.

"Right, we're leaving that room well alone." Hermione tugged her friends away from the door, casting a subtle, purple Flagrate to mark it as sealed.

Annoyed by Neville's nervous laughter, which seemed to be in response to some comment she had made (Hermione wasn't really paying attention to the words coming out of her mouth at this point), Hermione almost missed the quiet excitement of Harry's next statement as he opened yet another black door.

"This is it!"

Hermione stepped forward into the new room and felt her jaw drop to the floor.

She had been there before.