A/N Thank you for all the reviews! I think there's 38 chapters in total ... I think, so there's only four more after this one. Please enjoy and leave a review! xxx
Chapter Thirty-Four
The Ministry of Magic
Amara chose a Thestral close to her. She wound her hand around the mane and kicked off from a tree because she was too small to just mount it. She sat onto the Thestral and lodged her knees in the wing joints so that she was more secure. She wiggled slightly to get comfortable and noticed Luna sitting side saddle and Harry and Neville sitting on Thestrals themselves. Hermione, Ginny and Ron, however, were standing where they'd left them, open mouthed and staring at them.
"What?" Harry said.
"How're we supposed to get on?" said Ron faintly. "When we can't see the things?"
"Oh it's easy," said Luna, sliding obligingly from her Thestral and marching over to him, Hermione, and Ginny. "Come here. . . ."
She pulled them over to the other Thestrals standing around and one by one managed to help them onto the backs of their mounts. All three looked extremely nervous as she wound their hands into the horses' manes and told them to grip tightly before getting back onto her own steed.
"This is mad," Ron said faintly, moving his free hand gingerly up and down his horse's neck. Amara thought how strange it would be sitting on something invisible. "Mad . . . if I could just see it —"
"You'd better hope it stays invisible," said Harry darkly. "We all ready, then?"
Everyone nodded, Amara gulping but setting her face in a determined manner.
"Okay . . ." Harry said. "Ministry of Magic, visitors' entrance, London, then. Er . . . if you know . . . where to go . . ."
There was a slight pause when nothing happened, then Harry's Thestral launched off. Amara's and the others' Thestrals launched off too.
It was so fast Amara nearly fell off - they burst through the treetops and whooshed into the sunset. Amara's long hair whipped back so that it was flying behind her – she had to lean down so she didn't topple off. It was quite breath-taking being up so high, they flew over the Hogwarts grounds, bathed in a red glow, over Hogsmeade and loads of mountains and gullies. There were pockets of lights were the villages were, more turning on as the sun slipped behind the mountains. Amara had ridden a horse (once) and ridden a hippogriff and a broomstick, but this was so much better than all of them. The Thestrals seemed to know exactly where it was going, and it sped there with spectacular speed.
"This is bizarre!" Ron yelled from her left. Harry was ahead of them, Luna just behind, and Neville, Hermione and Ginny were behind her and Ron.
It was twilight and they sped faster – the mountains slowly disappeared and were replaced by bigger pockets of lights as they saw towns and cities. It was getting quite cold now, and Amara tightened her grip on the Thestral in case she fell off because her legs were becoming numb. Amara's panic for Sirius' safety had returned as they got further towards their destination. Had Harry actually seen Sirius there? Or was it Voldemort's trick? But how would Voldemort have tricked something like that?
It soon got completely dark and the only light was coming from the houses and streetlamps far below them. Her hands were now frozen from the chilly air, and her hair felt stiff from flying back so much.
Hermione shrieked as the Thestrals suddenly did a nose dive down towards the ground. They had reached London in no time at all, and Amara saw the huge buildings looming towards them, the yellow lights blinking at them curiously. Amara clutched her Thestral, squeezing her eyes shut as the ground cam nearer and nearer and nearer until – they hit the floor softly.
Amara saw Harry and Luna hop off their Thestrals, but Ron fell off his completely. Amara swung herself off her Thestral and gave it a little pat. Neville seemed to be shaking slightly, and Hermione and Ginny looked as though they'd rather not ever do that again.
"Where do we go from here, then?" Luna asked Harry in an interested voice.
"Over here," Harry said in reply. He walked over to a red telephone box that Amara hadn't noticed and opened the door quickly. They all hesitated.
"Come on!" he urged them.
Ron and Ginny marched in obediently; Amara, Hermione, Neville, and Luna squashed themselves in after them. It was very, very squashed, and Amara found herself squished against the wall next to Neville.
"Whoever's nearest the receiver, dial six two four four two!" Harry said.
Ron did it, his arm bent bizarrely to reach the dial. As it whirred back into place the cool female voice sounded inside the box, "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."
"Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Amara Matthews, Hermione Granger," Harry said very quickly, "Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood . . . We're here to save someone, unless your Ministry can do it first!"
"Thank you," said the cool female voice. "Visitors, please take the badges and attach them to the front of your robes."
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, and Amara managed to see what was on the first one:
HARRY POTTER
rescue mission
Amara very nearly snorted, but resisted, as it wasn't a very good situation to do it in.
"Visitor 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."
"Fine!" Harry said loudly. "Now can we move?"
Amara braced herself as the floor of the telephone box shuddered and the pavement began to rise – they were moving underground. The Thestrals and the dark night vanished and they sunk beneath the pavement into the Ministry of Magic.
It was dark for a moment before a gold light started to swamp them. Amara blinked at the sudden light and fetched her wand from her robes – who knew who was waiting for them.
But when they moved down to the entrance room (the Atrium, Amara thought) it was completely deserted, which Amara found was completely stupid.
There were no fires in the hundreds of fireplaces, and the light wasn't all that bright. Amara and Hermione exchanged anxious glances.
"The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant evening," said the woman's voice.
The door of the telephone box burst open; Harry toppled out of it first, followed by Neville and Luna. Amara, Hermione and the two Weasley's followed them out. At the end of the Atrium there was a huge golden fountain. In it was a witch, a wizard, a centaur, a goblin and a house-elf. They all looked rather dopey to Amara, and loads of water gushed out of different parts of the characters on the fountain.
"Come on," said Harry quietly and the seven of them sprinted off down the hall, Harry in the lead, past the fountain, toward a desk with weighing scales but no wizard.
There were no security wizards anywhere within the Ministry. How could they have gotten in so easily? If Voldemort was indeed in the Ministry … it wouldn't have been very hard for him to get in. Harry lead them towards some golden gates and into a lift station. He pressed a down button and a lift came down to meet them immediately. The golden grilles slid apart to let them inside – they rushed in, Harry pressed nine and they were on their way.
The cool female voice said, "Department of Mysteries," and the grilles slid open again and they stepped out into the corridor where nothing was moving but the nearest torches, flickering in the rush of air from the lift.
There was a plain black door which Harry turned too.
"Let's go," he whispered, and he led the way down the corridor.
"Okay, listen," said Harry, stopping again within six feet of the door. "Maybe . . . maybe a couple of people should stay here as a — as a lookout, and —"
"And how're we going to let you know something's coming?" shot back Ginny, her eyebrows raised. "You could be miles away."
"It'll be stupid otherwise," said Amara determinedly.
"Yeah, we're coming with you, Harry," said Neville.
"Let's get on with it," said Ron firmly.
Harry turned to face the door and walked forward. It swung open for them and they marched into the room. It was circular and everything was black inside the room. All the doors had no handles and the only light was the candles in between each door, all burning a bright blue.
"Someone shut the door," Harry said quietly.
Neville obeyed him immediately. But all it did was douse them into even more darkness. Amara gulped slightly as the blue flames seemed to shiver at them in excitement.
There was a loud rumbling noise and the walls began to rotate. Amara gasped as the blue flames merged into one and span around them, making her dizzy and slightly nauseous. Once it span for a while, it stopped so suddenly that Amara swayed on the spot.
He regretted giving this order the moment Neville had obeyed it. Without the long chink of light from the torch-lit corridor behind them, the place became so dark that for a moment the only things they could see were the bunches of shivering blue flames on the walls and their ghostly reflections in the floor below.
"What was that about?" whispered Ron fearfully.
"I think it was to stop us knowing which door we came in from," said Ginny in a hushed voice.
Ginny was right: Amara had no idea which door they had entered from. From the dim light, Amara could see the others had realised this too.
"How're we going to get back out?" said Neville uncomfortably.
"Well, that doesn't matter now," said Harry forcefully. "We won't need to get out till we've found Sirius —"
"Don't go calling for him, though!" Hermione said urgently.
"Where do we go, then, Harry?" Ron asked.
"I don't —" Harry began. "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," he said hastily. "I'll know the right way when I see it. C'mon."
He marched straight at the door now facing him, Amara and the others following close behind him, set his left hand against its cool, shining surface, raised his wand, ready to strike the moment it opened, and pushed. It swung open easily.
The long rectangular room before them was much brighter than the black room they had just left. There was nothing in the room apart from a few old desks and a large glass tank placed in the middle of the room. It was full of horrible green water and there were loads of pearly white things in it. They were drifting through it easily, and Amara was curious to what they were. At first, Amara thought they were fish, but when she saw no fins, she had to rethink.
"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," said Hermione. She sounded odd. She moved forward to look through the side of the tank. "They're brains."
"Brains?"
"Yes . . . I wonder what they're doing with them?"
Amara was slightly disgusted. Why was the Ministry of Magic have brains in a tank? Amara did not go near the tank – she stayed back with the others whilst Harry joined Hermione by the tank in interest. Amara wanted to get out of there.
"Let's get out of here," said Harry. "This isn't right, we need to try another door —"
"There are doors here too," said Ron, pointing around the walls.
"In my dream I went through that dark room into the second one," HArry said. "I think we should go back and try from there."
So they hurried back into the dark, circular room; the ghostly shapes of the brains were now swimming before Harry's eyes instead of the blue candle flames.
"Wait!" said Hermione sharply, as Luna made to close the door of the brain room behind them. "Flagrate!"
In mid-air she drew a fiery X. When Luna shut the door, the room began to spin once more, but the fiery X stayed true and firm.
"Good thinking," said Harry once the room had stopped again. "Okay, let's try this one —"
Again he strode directly at the door facing him and pushed it open, the others at his heels.
This room was much larger than the last one, but it was still rectangular and dimly lit. In the centre there was a sunken pit like an amphitheatre, complete with benches around the edge. In the centre there was a stone archway, cracket and ancient. There was a tattered black curtain that fluttered in the invisible wind.
"Who's there?" said Harry, jumping down onto the bench below. There was no answering voice, but the veil continued to flutter and sway.
"Careful!" whispered Hermione.
Harry scrambled down towards the veil, and Amara, after pausing, went too, and she saw Luna follow her. The veil was much bigger up close, and it still swayed like someone had recently passed through it. The room was void of people apart from the seven of them, and it meant that all their footsteps echoed loudly around the room.
"Sirius?" Harry said very quietly, so that only Amara and Luna, who were closest to him, heard it.
Harry edged around the edge to see what was on the other side. Amara gazed at the veil, open mouthed. She was transfixed with it for some reason, and had the very strange urge to get closer and walk through it. She knew that she wouldn't come out the others side – but where would she end up? She did not hear the others walk down too. The veil had a beauty Amara had never seen before …
"Let's go," called Hermione from halfway up the stone steps. "This isn't right, Harry, come on, let's go. . . ."
She sounded very scared, and normally Amara would have paid attention to this and follow her advice, but the veil was too beautiful and mesmerising. Then, Amara heard the voices on the other side. There were only a few, about one or two, but she heard them all the same. It was very quiet murmuring, and Amara stepped closer to hear it properly.
"Amara don't," said Hermione forcefully. "Harry, let's go."
"Okay," Harry said vaguely. He didn't move from his spot.
"What are you saying?" he said very suddenly and loudly. Amara felt relieved – Harry heard them too.
"Nobody's talking, Harry!" said Hermione.
"Yes there is," said Amara. She stepped closer. "Hello?" she called to them. The voices got louder and she stepped forwards eagerly. "Who are you?"
"Amara –"
"I can hear them too," breathed Luna, joining Amara and Harry around the side of the archway and gazing at the swaying veil. "There are people in there!"
"What do you mean, 'in there'?" demanded Hermione, jumping down from the bottom step and sounding much angrier than the occasion warranted. "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 —"
Amara ignored her. She strained to listen. The words became louder and she desperately tried to listen to what they were saying.
She stepped closer to the veil again. Hermione and Harry were talking, but she paid them no attention once more.
She reached out to touch it –
"Amara – no!"
She was inches away from the veil, but then Ron grabbed her and pulled her back quickly.
"Don't!" he said, and Amara was pulled back to reality just because of the scared, panicked way he said it. Amara blinked.
"Didn't you hear them?" she said.
"No," said Ron. "We've got to go – Sirius, remember?"
Amara nodded dazedly and followed Ron out of the room with Neville and Ginny, refusing to look at the veil again.
"What d'you reckon that arch was?" Harry asked Hermione as they regained the dark circular room.
"I don't know, but whatever it was, it was dangerous," she said firmly, again inscribing a fiery cross upon the door.
Once more the wall spun and became still again. Harry approached a door at random and pushed. It did not move.
"What's wrong?" said Hermione.
"It's . . . locked . . ." said Harry, throwing himself at the door, but it did not budge.
"This is it, then, isn't it?" said Ron excitedly, joining Harry in the attempt to force the door open. "Bound to be!"
"Get out of the way!" said Hermione sharply. She pointed her wand at the place where a lock would have been on an ordinary door and said, "Alohomora!"
Nothing happened.
"Sirius's knife!" said Harry, and he pulled out a shiny knife from inside his robes and slid it into the crack between the door and the wall. Amara and the others all watched eagerly as he ran it from top to bottom, withdrew it, and then flung his shoulder again at the door. It remained as firmly shut as ever. When Harry looked at the knife, it had melted.
"Right, we're leaving that room," said Hermione decisively.
"But what if that's the one?" said Ron, staring at it with a mixture of apprehension and longing.
"It can't be, Harry could get through all the doors in his dream," said Hermione, marking the door with another fiery cross.
"You know what could be in there?" said Luna eagerly, as the wall started to spin yet again.
"Something blibbering, no doubt," said Hermione under her breath, and Neville and Amara gave nervous little laughs.
The wall slid back to a halt and Harry pushed the next door open.
"This is it!"
Amara felt relieved – they didn't have to check all the other doors, which filled Amara with panic.
The room they were in had dancing diamond lights in it. There was a grandfather clock in front of them, in between loads of desks and bookcases lining the room. There was a steady ticking noise from the grandfather clock, and Amara saw a crystal bell jar at the end of the room.
"This way!" Harry called hurriedly. He was walking down a narrow space between the wooden desks towards the humungous glittering bell jar. It was standing on a desk, tall and proud, and was the only source of light within the room.
It also seemed to be full of a mysterious billowing wind, which glittered slightly as they watched it.
"Oh look!" said Ginny, as they drew nearer, pointing at the very heart of the bell jar.
Inside the bell jar was an egg, it was jewel-bright and shiny. The wind made the egg rise to the top of the jar. Once it had it spilt open and revealed a pretty little hummingbird, which rose to the very top of the jar, feathers fluttering determinedly. Once there, however, the feathers turned damp and it fell towards the bottom where the egg trapped it inside it once more.
It began to repeat the process, but Harry seemed to have had enough. Amara didn't really like the bell jar; it had an eerie feel to it as it was a very odd place for a bell jar to be. So Amara was glad that Harry urged them quite quickly forwards before the bell jar could do another round. Ginny, however, seemed quite taken by the bell jar.
"You dawdled enough by that old arch!" she said crossly, but followed Harry past the bell jar to the only door behind it.
"This is it," Harry said again. "It's through here —"
He glanced around at them all. Amara had her wand out in front of her like the rest of them, ready for anything; scared yet determined to remain loyal to Harry and his plans. Harry looked back at the door and pushed it open slightly. It swung open immediately and Amara found herself letting out a breath she didn't know she'd kept in.
The room they had gone into was so tall Amara couldn't see the ceiling. The candles burned blue in the brackets in between the walls, emphasising the chill that had been stuffed upon them once entering. There were hundreds of different rows stretching out, all containing small glass orbs, all of them dusty, as though they'd been there for centuries, and glowing dimly in the candle light.
Harry edged forward and peered down one of the shadowy aisles between two rows of shelves. There was no noise anywhere in the room – no movement or any disturbances.
"You said it was row ninety-seven," whispered Hermione from next to Amara.
"Yeah," Harry breathed back, looking up at the end of the closest row. Amara glanced up too and saw a glimmering 53 on one of the rows.
"Which way shall we turn?" Amara said very quietly. It seemed odd to talk in the quiet room, and she didn't want to draw attention to herself and the others.
"We need to go right, I think," whispered Hermione, squinting to the next row. "Yes . . . that's fifty-four. . . ."
"Keep your wands out," Harry said softly.
They crept down the creepy long alleys carefully, noticing that the ends, where there were no candles, were bathed in darkness. On the shelves the orbs had yellowing labels stuck beneath them, with writing on them, but Amara couldn't make any words out. Some had a glow; others were dark and empty.
They walked forwards again, looking left and right for any signs of movement. They were passing through row eighty-four - then eighty-five ... Amara's heart was hammering in her chest. It was so loud in her ears she was worried other people might hear it. As they got closer, Amara saw Neville become more anxious - Hermione looked petrified and even Ron looked scared. Harry kept leading them forwards, and Amara saw her wand was shaking in her hand.
"Ninety-seven!" whispered Hermione.
They stood grouped around the end of the row, gazing down the alley beside it. There was nobody there and it was very dark.
"He's right down at the end," said Harry hoarsely. "You can't see properly from here. . . ."
Be walked forwards, passed the hundreds of glass orbs and went down the alley in a very determined manner.
"He should be near here," whispered Harry. "Anywhere here . . . really close . . ."
"Harry?" said Hermione tentatively, but he did not want to respond.
"Somewhere about . . . here . . ." Harry said again.
They had reached the end of the row and emerged into more dim candlelight. There was nobody there at all. All there was was an echoing, dusty silence.
"He might be . . ." Harry whispered hoarsely, peering down the alley next door. "Or maybe . . ." He hurried to look down the one beyond that. He seemed slightly panicked because Sirius wasn't there. But Amara couldn't help but feel slightly relieved that he wasn't - does this mean he was safe?
"Harry?" said Hermione again. "What?" Harry snarled at her.
"I . . . I don't think Sirius is here."
Nobody said anything else. Harry ran up the space desperately, looking everywhere for signs of a man tied up.
Ron shifted next to Amara and walked over to one of the shelves. Amara followed him but because Ron was quite a lot taller, she had to strain her neck and go on her tiptoes to see what orb he was looking at.
S.P. A.P.W.B.D. Dark Lord
and (?) Harry Potter
"Harry?" Ron called suddenly as Amara let out a frightened breath. Why was Harry's name here? It didn't make sense ... And what were the chances that they'd actually found it?
"What?" Harry's voice sound strained and snappish.
"Have you seen this?" said Ron.
"What?" said Harry, but eagerly this time and he strode quickly back to where they were all standing.
"What?" Harry repeated glumly.
"It's — it's got your name on," said Ron.
Harry moved a little closer. Amara stepped away so he could see it better and went to stand next to Ginny. Ron pointed at the orb in front of him.
"My name?" said Harry blankly.
He stepped forward. Not as tall as Ron, he had to crane his neck to read the yellowish label.
Harry stared at it.
"What is it?" Ron asked, sounding unnerved now. "What's your name doing down here?"
He glanced along at the other labels on that stretch of shelf.
"I'm not here," he said, sounding perplexed. "None of the rest of us are here. . . ."
"Harry, I don't think you should touch it," said Hermione sharply, as Harry stretched out his hand. Amara had a bad feeling about the orb - it was eerily just sitting there, covered in dust.
"Why not?" Harry said. "It's something to do with me, isn't it?"
"Don't, Harry," said Neville suddenly.
"Harry, it's not right," Amara said.
"It's got my name on," said Harry.
He reached out and took the orb from its shelf and held it carefully. Amara was expecting something to happen once it had been picked up, but nothing did.
As it now seemed harmless, everyone crowded around him as he flicked the dust off of it. Then, making Amara gasp, a voice sounded out in the darkness behind them.
It was cold and drawling, and sent shivers down Amara's spine:
"Very good, Potter. Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me."