A/N: It has been many years since I've worked on this story. There were supposed to be seven more chapters written for it. Shortly after posting the last chapter I did start writing Chapter 24, and I had outlines for the remaining chapters as well. Then I needed to get a new laptop and whatever interest that might have remained in this story was gone. However, while there is several chapters that I did not, and will not, write, I did end up writing the final chapter to the story a few years during the Covid lockdowns while bored. I just never got around to posting it.
So for those interested I will give a brief outline of what I remember for what were to be Chapters 24 - 29, and then after that will be the final chapter to this story. Despite losing interest in this story itself, I might end up writing a sequel as I've always had some ideas of how I'd like it to go. I guess we'll see what the future holds.
Chapter 24: Hary meets with the Russian agent he is to be working with. Based on intel from the Russian agent, Harry uses a disguise to infiltrate a support group that had been operating since the the first war with Voldemort, for those who lost loved ones to Death Eaters. He hears the stories of many people who still let the grief hang heavy on their souls, sixteen years later. He tells his own story, leaving out the important Boy-Who-Lived part, but uses his real grief to form a connection with the others. It is as a member of the support group that he gets close to a man they suspect is the second-in-command, and lover of the leader, of the anti-magic group.
Chapter 25: After a full moon passes with no issue, Harry tries to figure out what Greyback is up to. He sneaks into the camp under his invisibility cloak but before he can discover anything, the charm to hide his smell fails, and he gets chased out of the camp. He goes to another meeting of the support group, and knowing that it's not just the Death Eaters, but also the ineffective ministries that the anti-magic group hate, Harry vents his frustration that after Voldemort's war ended the first time around, governments let so many Death Eaters go because they claimed Imperius. He says the governments were too afraid to chase the truth because it meant too many rich purebloods would go to jail, and wizarding society could never have that.
Chapter 26: The leader of the support group and the suspected second-in-command recruit Harry into the anti-magic group. Harry reaches out to the Russian agent to let him know, as well as his handler in the UK Ministry, Rick. Arriving at his initial meeting, Harry waits until he can confirm the leader is there before signaling backup. Two teams of UK Hit-Wizards, and two teams of their Russian equivalent arrive at the meeting. Although they had been working with technomancy, many of the anti-magic group members are captured as they aren't quite there yet with the combining of magic and muggle weaponry. Those captured includes the second-in-command but the leader gets away and goes underground.
Chapter 27: Feeling good about his success of one of his missions, Harry focuses back on Greyback. It takes until the night of the full moon until he has an epiphany on the Greyback situation. He realizes he's given a brute like Greyback to much credit by thinking there is some kind of plan in motion he can't figure out. Tthere's no grand scheme on Greyback's part. The plan is to attack a nearby muggle village to boost the pack's numbers. Harry gets help from both the Polish and the UK Ministry to help fight off the attack. Greyback and most of his pack escape, but the number of muggles bitten is kept low.
Chapter 28: After finishing up his missions in Poland, Harry arrives back in the United Kingdom. The Ministry doesn't have a new mission for him yet so he decides to take it easy. The new school year has already started, and he surprises his friends on their very first Hogsmeade weekend. Arriving back at his flat in London, a muggle girl in his residential building asks him out on a date, which he accepts. He has a surprise meeting with Amos Diggory (the Minister) to discuss the war efforts, and in the meeting he mentions his date to Diggory.
Chapter 29: While on his date with the muggle girl, Harry is surprised at how empty the restaurant appears. Suddenly Death Eaters attack the place, and all of the patrons and waitstaff in the place take out wands to assist in the fighting, as they are all secretly Magical LEOs. Harry does his best to fend of the Death Eater attack, and keep his date safe. In the aftermath, he pieces together that Diggory used his date as bait to lure out some Death Eaters. Harry and Diggory get into an argument, as Diggory is unapologetic for what he did. Harry tells Diggory he quits, and walks out with his date, who had her memory wiped while he was arguing with Diggory.
Final Chapter
Harry browsed through the folder with some interest. He currently sat in Remus' office, in one of the spare chairs reserved for visitors. Christmas was a little over a week away and they were going to get lunch and do some shopping. He was just waiting on Remus to finish up with his work so they could leave. Of course being the workaholic Remus was, Harry had been waiting for thirty minutes already.
While he was stuck waiting, Harry looked through an ordinance Remus was looking to pass through the Wizengamot. It involved the creation of a location for werewolves to undergo their transformation, safe from harm to others and themselves. There was also a clause in the ordinance to have Wolfsbane potion available for all those werewolves who used this Ministry approved location. The actual building itself would be paid for by a joint donation from the Black and Potter families, Harry and Sirius already giving their approval. The Wolfsbane would be paid for by a government backed fund, dubbed The Human Mind Fund. Donations would be the hopeful main source of income for the Wolfsbane potions, with the Ministry paying the remaining cost out of a monthly stipend set aside in the budget.
It was an ambitious endeavor on Remus' part, but Harry was hopeful it would go through. There was a lot of distrust of werewolves from the general public and that was driving them right into Greyback's waiting arms. Yet, Harry knew there were a lot of werewolves who didn't want to join the deranged alpha's pack, and were hoping the Ministry would show them some form of kindness and relief, to help them out and keep them as a part of society in general.
"Does the Minister know you're here?" Remus asked, his focus still on the paperwork in front of him.
Harry shrugged his shoulders before realizing Remus wasn't actually looking at him. "More than likely. I wasn't exactly discreet about my entrance, and I'm sure someone at the security desk sent him a memo."
"You quitting so publicly was a bit of a blow to both his ego, and his overall support."
"Serves him right," Harry muttered. "That arse-licker put my bloody life in danger, and the life of a muggle, so he could capture a handful of Death Eaters."
"Despite my misgivings about him putting your life in danger, as a leader in a war, I'm sure you can understand his reasoning."
"It's not his reasoning I have an issue with," Harry said. "It's the fact that he didn't tell me, and I was on a date with a muggle girl. If he wants to use me as bait, make me aware and have my date be a Hit-Wizard who is trained to deal with that kind of situation. Not a poor muggle girl who had no idea what was going on."
"Yeah that's – "
Alarms started blaring. Remus stood up, his wand drawn.
"What's with the alarms?" Harry asked, also standing up and drawing his wand.
"That alarm only means one thing; Death Eaters are attacking the Ministry."
Remus made his way to his office door, and Harry followed right behind him. Remus opened the door and after checking both ways, stepped into the hallway. Ministry workers stood throughout the hallway, looking both confused and scared.
"If you aren't willing to fight then go!" Remus shouted. "Get home, stay safe and wait for your Department Head to contact you!"
Workers started to disappear from sight, no doubt Ministry supplied portkeys given the anti-apparition wards that covered the entire building; which unlike the portkey wards, restricted both inbound and outbound, and not just inbound.
Harry felt heavy magic press down upon him, and the number of workers vanishing from sight dropped down to zero. People looked around in a panic.
"The portkeys don't work anymore!" someone cried out.
"Try the floo."
There was a moment of frantic scrambling.
"Floo's down!"
Harry looked at Remus. While the potential of having these people forced to fight, given their inability to escape, would bolster their numbers, he knew they would be more of a hindrance than a help. Despite each one of them being supplied with a weapon since the age of eleven, most witches and wizards were useless in a duel.
"How do we get them out of here?" Harry asked. "Surely it can't just be the public entrance in the atrium."
He could see Remus racking his brain. The man was nothing if not a scholar. He probably knew a decent amount about the Ministry building because that is what Remus did; he knew things.
"There are technically exits on level ten. They're usually used for criminals when bringing them to and from Azkaban during trials and connect to an abandoned underground platform," Remus stated.
Level Ten was where the main criminal courtroom sat. It was where the major cases, such as the Death Eater trials at the end of the last war, were held. There were holding cells, a lobby and a couple of break rooms down there as well. It was only accessible via its own separate staircase you could only get to from Level Nine.
Harry nodded his head. "Lead them Remus. You know where these exits are. And be careful, no doubt the Death Eaters know of this platform as well, given that a lot of them had been on trial at one point or another."
"They can only open these entrances from the Ministry side, and the only ones who should know the location of the platform are the Azkaban guards and higher ups in the DMLE."
"Doesn't hurt to be cautious. You know about them, so no doubt the Death Eaters do as well. I'll go around directing others down to you."
Remus looked at Harry for a moment, uncertainty in his eyes, before nodding his head.
"There's another way out further down in the Ministry!" Remus shouted. "Follow me!"
Harry watched as Remus strode forward and workers hesitantly fell into line behind him. Remus projected an air of leadership at that very moment, very different from his usual low-key vibe he gave off. Everyone looking for guidance turned toward him on instinct.
Harry did a quick double check of the remaining offices near him, and finding them all empty, moved toward the main stairs. He had fibbed to Remus. He would direct others down toward the courtrooms, but only if he ran into them while going up to the Atrium. No way he would let others fight the battle and not lend a hand.
He moved toward the lifts but noticed the usual glowing buttons one would press to call the lift weren't lit at all. Instead, he made his way into the stairwell, which contained a set of stairs wide enough for six people to walk side by side. Barely anyone was in it. Whoever had decided to have the Ministry underground hadn't been thinking of the possibility if the building was ever attacked, and magical means of leaving blocked. Luckily, Remus knew criminals were brought into and out of the building by way of exits deep underground. If that wasn't the case, they could potentially have hundreds of Ministry workers unable to escape.
As Harry ran up to the Atrium, he passed by a handful of workers. He told them of the exits and asked them to please let everyone on their floor know before leaving themselves. He didn't know if they were actually going to tell everyone or not, but he at least had to put the word out there. The plus side of running into only a handful of people meant the Death Eaters were still stuck trying to get past the Atrium, or else he'd have run into a bunch of them by now.
When he burst into the Atrium, he quickly assessed the situation. Four of the six security counters had been destroyed. He could see the down bodies of the desk security guards and two dozen Auxiliaries. He counted maybe thirty other Auxiliaries throughout the room, some using the remaining security counters as cover with the rest spread out.
It was impossible to tell how many Death Eaters there were. The entryway to the Ministry, before the security counters where the portkey, apparition, and floo arrival stations were all set up, as well as the entrance from muggle London, was probably fifty feet wide and sixty feet long. While it wasn't entirely packed with Death Eaters, it was close to being full.
He ran forward and slid into cover behind the fountain, where an Auxiliary crouched down. The Auxiliary turned toward him with the tip of their wand glowing red.
"Friendly," Harry stated with a curt nod of his head.
"Good to have another wand, but I don't think it's going to do much good," the Auxiliary stated.
"What's the situation?"
"Too many Death Eaters to count. From what we know, both Hit-Wizard bases are under attack so they'll be no help. There's about a dozen Aurors trying to get in from muggle London but the Death Eater's blocked it, and they don't exactly have the numbers to be much help if they do get in. Oh, and we're stuck down here with no way of escaping."
"There's a way out on Level Ten, where Hit-Wizards bring prisoners to stand trial. Leads to an abandoned muggle train platform. They're organizing an evacuation through there. Remus Lupin is directing it."
The Auxiliary looked around. "We got a bunch of wounded. We need to get them out of here."
A stray spell clipped the statue wizard's head, blowing off half of the face. Bits of marble rained down upon the two of them, causing them both to flinch. Harry aimed over his cover and shot a couple of spells. However, each of them was shielded against; there were too many Death Eaters for any of his spells to get through. They were layering shield upon shield, dropping certain sections of the defensive magic to unleash an onslaught of spells before the shields were thrown back up and dropped in another area. It was a level of organization Harry hadn't seen from them before. It could only mean one thing.
"These Death Eaters are from the force on the continent; they are way too organized to be anyone else. They must have brought them over for the attack. This is their planned coup of the Ministry. Total annihilation of top leaders and law enforcement personnel."
"That's not reassuring," the Auxiliary muttered.
"Get the wounded out of here and make sure the lower levels are evacuated. We don't have the numbers to push them back so this will be nothing but a delaying action up here."
Harry looked over and saw the Auxiliary staring at him, making him roll his eyes.
"If this was a month ago, I'd technically outrank you," Harry murmured defensively.
Harry conjured a large block of marble, as wide as he was tall, and hit it with the strongest banishing spell he knew. The block of marble flew over one of the destroyed security desks, a dozen spells trailing behind it. As the block of marble was blown to pieces, and the shrapnel the explosion caused shielded against, one of his spells managed to get through a brief hole in the Death Eater defensive wall. It caught a robed figure in the stomach, and sent the Death Eater reeling backwards, their hand flying protectively over their midsection.
The Auxiliary that Harry crouched with pressed the badge on his robe."White take your team and evacuate the lower levels. Vaughn, get the wounded out of here. Your exit is by the courtrooms on Level Ten."
Groups of Auxiliaries moved off toward the staircase, lowering the already small amount that was still left in the room. The Death Eaters were advancing forward at a slow pace as they worked to take down the remaining two security counters, and the last viable piece of cover offered to the law enforcement officials.
"What's going on with the lifts?" Harry asked.
"They shut down as soon as the alarms started."
"Any secondary staircases?" Harry questioned, his mind churning with ways to handle their current situation.
"There's a smaller one by the lifts. There is also a hidden one that is used by the Minister and his staff, but I don't know where it is."
"Then let's assume neither do the Death Eaters. Since this is only a holding action, we're going to need something to slow down the Death Eaters when those of us in the Atrium need to make our escape too. Do any of the men up here know wards?"
The Auxiliary scanned the faces around him. "Douglas get over here."
The Auxiliary in question, a brown-haired female, was one of the law enforcement officials using a security counter as cover. She shot off some spells at the Death Eaters before sprinting toward the fountain and throwing herself into cover with the two of them.
"How's your rune work?" Harry asked.
"Bloody fuck, you're Harry Potter!" she gasped.
"Thanks for pointing that out," Harry snapped. "How's your rune work?"
She shook her head at his curt tone. "Decent. Nothing too amazing though."
"I don't need a Fidelius, just enough to slow down the Death Eaters."
Douglas shot the other Auxiliary a questioning look.
"The Death Eaters brought in reinforcements from the continent," the man Harry crouched with explained. "Which means we're hopelessly outgunned here. The lower floors are being evacuated as we speak. Right now all we're doing is delaying the Death Eaters enough for everyone to escape."
"When it's our time to leave," Harry started, taking over, "we need something to delay the Death Eaters for us to escape. I'll take the main stairs, you take the one by the lift. Anything that will slow the Death Eaters down and can be activated once we're through."
"I can do that."
With those words, Douglas sprinted from cover again, this time heading to the lifts off to the side. Death Eaters tried to track her with their spellfire, but she shielded anything that came too close. As she disappeared from Harry's line of sight, he turned toward the Auxiliary he was with.
"We'll need as much time as you can possibly give us."
"Me and the boys got some offense left in us. I can't guarantee anything but you'll get as much time as we can give. Just be ready for when shit hits the fan."
"Always ready for that," Harry murmured.
He turned toward the large opening that stood opposite the lifts. As he prepared to run, a hand came to rest on his shoulder. He turned around to see the Auxiliary holding out his hand.
"Names Grant by the way."
"Harry," he replied, reaching behind him to shake the offered hand.
With a nod of his head, Harry took off sprinting. He weaved around the spells directed his way before he was out of the Death Eater line of sight, and in the clear. He looked at the large opening he had to work with for a moment before taking a deep breath and letting it out.
He did his best to tune out the trading of spells taking place between the Auxiliaries and the Death Eaters. The Auxiliaries had increased their offense, launching spells with a renewed fury. Their numbers were being thinned, and they wouldn't hold much longer but they gave it their all. He kept his ears open but paid minimal attention.
He etched rune after rune, linking this one to that one, and one scheme to another. He went as quickly as he could. The designs weren't the prettiest but they would do, and that was all that mattered. He wished he had brought something to tie his schemes into in order to make the magic stronger; a gem or piece of dragon bone maybe.
Harry looked up from his work to see the Auxiliaries had splintered and were quickly making their way to the two stairwells. He finished the last rune and stood up as they ran past him. He looked behind them to see that the last two security counters had been destroyed and more bodies littered the ground.
"We gave you as much time as we could," Grant shouted as he slid to a stop next to Harry.
Harry raised his wand and hit the fountain with a bunch of spells as the Death Eaters came into view. The last Auxiliary sprinted past him and down the stairs. The five statues that made up the fountain came to life. As the centaur ran forward and bowled into a crowd of Death Eaters, the wizard slammed his arm into another one's head.
As the animated statues caused a distraction, Harry activated the magic on his runes. It was just him and Grant left. The others were probably sprinting past Level Three by now. Without a word, the two of them started their way down the stairs.
They came to a stop only one floor down, Level One, as the landing's door was thrown open and two figures crashed into them. Harry was seconds away from cursing the person whose body had collided with his but found himself coming up short.
"Ginny?" he asked, dumbfounded. "Mr. Weasley? What are you two doing here?"
"Harry!" Ginny cried out, all but throwing herself into his arms.
"Minister Diggory and most of his staff were assassinated," Mr. Weasley said, gasping for breath. "The rest of us have been avoiding his assassins for the last fifteen minutes. We might be the only ones left."
There were questions Harry had but they would have to wait.
"Rowle," Harry murmured. "The second time that man has killed the Minister in the last-."
Harry pushed the two Weasley's out of the way as a burst of spellfire shot through the area they just occupied. He returned fire down the corridor before slamming the landing door close and transfiguring it into a solid stone wall
"We're getting out of here. Death Eaters have taken the Ministry," Grant stated. "We've evacuated everyone we possibly could. At this point, whoever is left is on their own."
"Head down to Level Ten," Harry stated, moving the group forward.
As they started to move down the stairs, the stonewall was blown to pieces. Harry shielded himself from the debris as a Death Eater ran forward, a spell shooting from their wand. Harry leaned back, the spell flying centimeters from his face. He grabbed the wrist of his attacker and forced their wand arm into the air. Bringing his elbow up, he slammed it into the Death Eater's mask before driving his knee into their stomach. As the Death Eater doubled over, he grabbed the back of their robes and threw them down the stairs. The people with him pressed themselves against the wall as the Death Eater tumbled past them.
"Keep moving," Harry urged.
More spells flew at him, forcing him to toss a shield up. Mr. Weasley had said there were assassins, as in multiple of them. He had taken down one of them, but he had no idea exactly how many were left. The only thing he could guarantee is that the one he had taken out was not Rowle. No way that man would go down that easy.
As Grant, Mr. Weasley and Ginny moved quickly down the stairs, Harry traded some spellfire with an unknown number of opponents from Level One. The sound of intense fighting deeper in Level One reached his ears. Obviously, people were still alive. He contemplated briefly rushing in to try to find these other survivors but thought better of it. His enchantments wouldn't keep the main Death Eater force at bay much longer and he was only one person.
Conjuring a large snake, he turned it invisible before commanding it to attack the next person it saw. Hopefully, it was a Death Eater and not a fleeing Ministry worker. Although, he doubted there were many of those left.
With that done, he joined the others in the sprint downwards. He was faster than them, and caught up to them only two levels down. They were between Level Seven and Level Eight when an explosion rocked the stairwell, and they all grabbed onto the railings for support.
"They're through my wards," Harry said, answering the unasked question.
"Then it's best we keep moving," Mr. Weasley stated.
Level Nine was completely empty when they came upon it. None of the doors to the smaller courtrooms, or the Department of Games and Development, that lined the side of the hallway were open; neither was the black door that led to the Department of Mysteries. Midway down, the door for the separate stairwell that led to Level Ten sat. It too was currently closed. Off to the side of where they had entered Level Nine was a corridor that led to the lifts and the other staircase.
They moved forward cautiously, before coming to a halt in front of the Level Ten stairwell. No one was in sight, which meant all those who had gone down this way before them were either completely out of the building, or just about to leave.
"I need to make sure Fred and George got out," Mr. Weasley said as he broke away from the group and rushed farther down the hallway.
Harry bit back a curse. The Death Eaters were through his wards, and who knew where they were in the other stairwell by the lifts. They didn't have time to dawdle. He was sure Fred and George had left like most everyone else. Then again, he reminded himself, he wasn't a father so he couldn't place himself fully in Mr. Weasley's shoes.
"Keep an eye on our six," Harry stated to Grant, indicating the direction of the hallway they just came down.
While Grant kept his wand pointed in that direction, Harry moved toward the stairwell that led down to Level Ten. He turned the knob and pushed open the door to find himself face to face with a Death Eater, who seemed just as surprised to see Harry as he was to see them. Harry's wand snapped up, parrying the curse that the shocked Death Eater started casting on instinct. As he parried, Harry lifted his leg up and big-booted the Death Eater in the chest. The robed figure was thrown backwards, into the Death Eater behind him, sending them both tumbling down the steps to the landing below.
On the landing, Harry could see another Death Eater standing above a man and a woman, both of whom looked badly wounded. The third Death Eater turned in surprise, as Harry moved down the steps with a pair of stunners leading the way.
The Death Eater attempted to raise a shield but before it could fully form, Harry's first stunner shattered it and the second one hit the Death Eater dead center. As he came to a stop on the landing, Harry hit the door leading to Level Ten with a complex locking spell. He could hear screams and spellfire coming from the other side. It was obvious the Death Eaters had known about the secret entrance. He wondered idly, as he hit the two Death Eaters he had taken out seconds earlier with stunners, how many of those they had sent down this way had escaped, and how many were currently caught in the firefight that was taking place.
He looked down at the two people he had saved. Both were bleeding and bruised but on closer inspection, nothing appeared too serious. He waved a minor healing spell, as well as a numbing spell on both. He summoned their wands, before handing them back to the pair.
"Thank you," the witch breathed out.
"We tried to escape to Level Ten with the Auxiliaries but Death Eaters burst through where we were supposed to leave. The Auxiliaries put up a fight but there were too many Death Eaters. We tried running," the wizard explained.
"Move back up," Harry ordered.
They did as he said. He kept his wand focused on the door he just sealed as he slowly backpedaled up the steps. When he got back to Level Nine, he sealed the door to the stairwell.
"What the fuck is going on?" Grant asked, turning away from the direction of the hallway he had been guarding.
"Death Eaters came from our exit point," Harry murmured.
"My Auxiliaries?" the man asked.
For a brief moment, Harry wondered exactly what rank Grant held in the Auxiliary ranks. He wasn't the Captain of them, but clearly appeared to be some kind of Sergeant, or at least a squad leader.
Harry hesitated in responding.
"Are any of the Auxiliaries still alive?"
"I could hear fighting still taking place but it didn't sound good at all."
"They need my help," Grant muttered, as he moved toward the door Harry had just sealed.
"You'll end up dead or captured with them," Harry pointed out.
"What else is there to do besides sit here and get captured?" Grant demanded.
Harry looked briefly at Ginny, who stared at him with scared eyes. She hadn't talked much during the five minutes they had been in each other's company trying to escape. She was a good friend of his and he wouldn't let anything happen to her, nor Mr. Weasley, who was almost like a father to him.
His gaze shifted to the black door at the end of the hallway.
"The Department of Mysteries."
"Are you kidding? You think there's a way out in there?" Grant demanded.
Harry shrugged his shoulders. "Who knows. Maybe that's one of the Mysteries."
A commotion at the far end, where the main staircase was, caught everyone's attention. Death Eaters began to appear, making the choice for them.
"Go!" Harry shouted, indicating the black door.
The two people he rescued scrambled forward, followed quickly by Ginny. It was at that moment that Mr. Weasley, all by himself, appeared out of the Department of Games and Development. The man needed no instructions, following the other three toward the black door at the end of the hallway.
Harry and Grant worked side by side, moving backwards together as they shielded against the onslaught of spells shot at them. The only good thing was that only so many Death Eaters could fit side by side in the hallway, so no matter how many piled onto Level Nine, they only had to deal with spells from a finite amount.
"The door won't open!" Ginny cried out.
"Keep trying," Harry urged.
Mr. Weasley moved to Harry's other side, defensive magic pouring from his wand. Together the three of them shielded the incoming spellfire as the Death Eaters moved closer inch by inch. There was a moment reprieve when the door to the stairwell that led to Level Ten was blown off its hinges, and Death Eaters started to come from there as well, but it didn't last long.
The three of them found themselves with their backs mere inches from the other three they helped defend. Harry could feel his magic straining. Sooner or later a mistake was going to be made. They couldn't keep this up forever, and the inability to go on the offensive meant it was just a matter of time before they were overwhelmed.
As Harry shielded one group of spells, he had to use a bit of wandless magic with his spare hand to conjure a large block of wood to intercept an incoming Killing Curse. Next to him, Mr. Weasley faltered under a barrage of spells, and one slipped through. It caught him in the stomach, and he crashed to the ground immediately after.
"Dad!" Ginny screamed.
She rushed to his side, all concerns toward the advancing Death Eaters forgotten. Harry gritted his teeth and poured more power into his shields to make up for the lack of Mr. Weasley's defense on his side. With one down, the Death Eaters upped the amount of spells. He could barely keep up, and glancing out of his peripherals, he could see Grant was in the same boat.
"It's open!" the witch shouted.
Harry couldn't glance over his shoulder to see for himself.
"Quick, get in!" a deep voice called out.
Casting the strongest shield he knew, and pouring as much power into it as he could spare, Harry glanced over his shoulder. A nondescript looking man held the black door open. The witch he rescued earlier had already run through the doorway while the wizard was helping Ginny drag Mr. Weasley through.
As curses hammered at his shield, Harry turned and sprinted toward the doorway with Grant hot on his heels. As they passed through the door frame, Harry's shield collapsed but before any incoming spells could reach them, the black door was closed behind them.
Before anyone could say anything, the room they were in, which Harry noticed was circular with black marble floors and eleven more of the handleless black doors they just entered from lining the walls, began to spin. Well that wasn't entirely true. The floor itself remained stationary, it was the walls themselves that spun.
After a moment the walls stopped spinning and the man who had let them in, walked over to a door and opened it. Harry had no idea how the man knew which door to open, as they all looked exactly the same to him. He assumed working as an Unspeakable meant the man knew things that wouldn't be obvious to your average citizen.
"We can't remain stationary. They'll get in here soon enough. Sooner even if Rookwood is with them," the Unspeakable stated.
While that statement may have been true, Harry's first concern, now that they were out of immediate danger, was for Mr. Weasley. He moved to the man's side, where Ginny knelt, and dropped to his knees. The curse had ripped open the man's stomach, leaving a gaping hole that allowed one to see his insides, and they looked pretty damaged too. Blood seemed to be everywhere, including a pool that was forming underneath his body.
With the limited knowledge he had in healing, Harry began casting spells. This kind of injury was well beyond him. They needed to get Mr. Weasley to a healer quickly.
"My dad," Ginny pleaded through her tears. "You must have something to help him."
The Unspeakable looked down upon Mr. Weasley and frowned. "We study a lot of things in the Department of Mysteries; the soul, blood, time, space, thought, death, love, fate. However, the type of magic needed to save him is not one of them."
"Blood magic? Aren't there blood rituals that could heal him? I've read about them in some ancient magic text."
Harry could hear the desperation in Ginny's voice. He knew the basics of a few blood rituals. He had read about them in his study of Ancient Runes. The majority of them were not pretty, and were not feasible for the good of heart.
"Even if I myself knew any," the Unspeakable started, as he stood there still holding open the door, "the sacrifices one would have to make for such a ritual to work would do more harm than good. Besides, much of the Department has already been moved so as to prevent the information and research from falling into the Dark Lord's hands. We don't even have the tools available to perform one."
Ginny opened her mouth again but stopped and looked down. Mr. Weasley lay a hand on her arm. He tried to smile at his daughter, but it came out more of a grimace than anything. The man was extremely pale, and the dark red of blood soaked his clothes.
"It's okay Ginny," Mr. Weasley whispered.
"Dad, you're dying," she replied, her voice cracking.
"I've lived a good life. I spent thirty wonderful years with the woman I loved. I have seven beautiful children who I got to watch grow into wonderful people. How many people can claim such a blessed life?"
Each word sounded painful. Harry still kept up the steady stream of healing magic he knew, but it was clear it was not doing any good. At most, he was probably just giving Mr. Weasley an extra few minutes of life.
"Daddy please."
As tears fell down Ginny's face, Harry felt his own eyes start to water. Mr. Weasley had been like a father to him. He had taken Harry in as if he was his own son, and to a twelve year old who had never known what it was like to have a father, that had meant the world to Harry.
"Harry, you can stop," Mr. Weasley murmured.
His wand coming slowly to a halt, Harry looked at Mr. Weasley through his own tears.
"You've been a father to me," Harry quietly stated, his own voice cracking. "I never got to thank you for all that you've done for me; for what it meant to me to have you take me in as one of your own."
"You became part of my family Harry. I just need you to do something for me; one last request from a dying man. Keep Ginny safe."
Harry frantically nodded his head at Mr. Weasley's request. "Of course."
"Thank you … son."
Harry couldn't choke back the sob that escaped his lips. He shut his eyes tight and felt his tears leave warm trails down his cheeks.
"I love you Ginny." The words were said slowly, each one taking more and more effort. "And I love your brothers. And tell … tell my Mollywobbles, after she's done spoiling the grandchildren and the great-grandchildren that will come, tell her I'll be waiting for her."
Harry's eyes were still shut as he heard the last, shuddering breath of Arthur Weasley. The others in the room remained silent as Ginny's sobs echoed throughout the room.
There was a moment's pause. "We have to get going," the Unspeakable said, his voice much softer than before. "Already I can feel the Death Eaters breaking through."
Harry wiped at his eyes and stood up. He moved over to Ginny and gently brought her to her feet. She buried her head in his shoulder, and he rubbed her back soothingly.
"We need to get going Ginny," he murmured into her ear.
She nodded her head against his chest, before pulling herself away. Her eyes were red, and tears still flowed, but she seemed composed enough to at least follow the Unspeakable. There would be time for grieving later, and at that time, they would both partake in it.
Harry turned his wand once more toward Mr. Weasley. "We won't leave him here. He deserves a proper burial."
He hesitated. What was the protocol in this kind of situation? The man had just died, and here he was looking to shrink him down, or transfigure him into something that could be carried. Was such a thing morally appalling?
He cast a stasis field around the body, and shrunk him down in size, ignoring the loud sob that escaped Ginny at such an action. He conjured a silk handkerchief of Gryffindor red to wrap the body, now only six inches long, in. With that done, he placed Mr. Weasley in one of the pockets of his robe, ignoring the suddenly unclean feeling that overtook his body.
"Please," the Unspeakable said, indicating the open door he still held.
The group of five made their way through the doorway. The Unspeakable followed and closed the door behind him. Harry could hear the room they just left rotating again. The room they were currently in was long and rectangular, with low hanging lamps. A series of desks, void of any contents upon their tops, were set up and a long tank sat against a wall, filled with green liquid.
"Don't go near the tank," the Unspeakable ordered, as he began to march to the other end of the room.
Harry glanced at the tank as he walked by, and saw what looked like brains swimming within the green liquid. He squinted, but wasn't able to properly make them out. Had there really been brains in there?
"As soon as the alarms started we knew what was happening," the Unspeakable explained, filling in the silence that had surrounded them on their walk. "Our sensors detected anti-portkey and anti-apparition wards going up over the entirety of Great Britain. The Death Eaters must have been working on them for months without us noticing."
There was a hint of respect in the Unspeakable's words. Harry remembered Sirius telling him that there was something off with Unspeakables. They were brilliant minds but that kind of brilliance usually came at the expense of their sanity. He was seeing it first hand.
"We started packing up what we could. I'm the last one still left, making sure nothing too sensitive is left behind. I was alerted to the magic at the door. I thought it was the Death Eaters, so imagine my surprise when the monitors showed me the opposite, that it was really Harry Potter. I couldn't let you die out there of course. We all know of the prophecy down here."
As he spoke, the Unspeakable brought them to the door at the back of the room, opposite the one they had entered from. The next room contained several metal tables that sat about stomach height, each one stained with what could only be blood. Shelves that lined the walls of the room were all pretty much empty besides spare bits of parchment here or there.
Harry wanted to ask what the room was meant for. It looked like for experiments or autopsies, but on what, or perhaps the better question was on who, he wasn't sure. He also wanted to ask what the previous room was meant for. As well as if that was really a brain he had seen floating around in that tank. However, he knew he wouldn't get any of the answers he sought. It was called the Department of Mysteries, and the people who worked for it were called Unspeakables. If that didn't indicate he wouldn't get straight answers, he didn't know what did.
There was another door, opposite the one they had just entered from. It's where the Unspeakable led them too. This door, which looked just like every other door they had encountered in the place, led to a white room with two other such doors, one to their left and one to their right. Across from the door they used was a gray mist that hugged the far wall.
"This is our way out. A portal to muggle London."
"There were brains in that tank, weren't there?" the unnamed witch asked before anyone could move forward, no doubt wanting to satisfy her curiosity before they left. "And that was blood on the tables in the previous room wasn't it?"
The Unspeakable regarded her with blank eyes. "My dear, much has happened within this department. Even I am not privy to all of it. And that which I am privy to is, well, it's confidential. The only reason any of you were able to walk these halls is because we already moved everything."
The unnamed witch opened her mouth again, no doubt to retort about what the Unspeakable had just said, but the unnamed wizard squeezed her shoulder softly, and shook his head.
"Let's just get out of here," Grant muttered from where he stood, his arms crossed over his chest.
With those words the Auxiliary walked quickly at the mist. Just when Harry thought he was going to walk face first into the wall, he vanished from sight.
"Where does this portal lead exactly?" Harry asked, eying it.
"No idea," the Unspeakable said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Never had a need for it before."
With a roll of his eyes, Harry grabbed Ginny's hand and together the two of them walked into the mist. It was instantaneous of them stepping foot into what looked like an abandoned cafe. Grant had moved toward the window and was looking out into the road.
"Looks like we're a couple blocks from the Leaky Cauldron, and a couple of blocks from the Ministry. Maybe dead center between the two."
"My apartment is near here," Harry stated, as he moved toward the window.
Ginny followed closed behind him, her hand still grasped in his. He looked out into the street and saw he was on the road of the gym he had been a member of during the summer the previous year.
"Might be a good place to hold up at while we figure out what's going on. The Minister is dead, who knows how many Ministry workers survived the day, that includes Hit-Wizards and Auxiliaries, and we can't magically travel anywhere in the country. At this point, the United Kingdom might just be another country to join the Dark Lord's kingdom. How are the protections?"
The two unnamed members of their group appeared in the cafe next. They both looked around confused for a moment, before spotting the three of them at the window.
"The best Gringotts could provide, plus a few of my own I've discovered throughout the year. Probably some of the best warding you'll find outside of Hogwarts and the old pureblood manors."
Finally the Unspeakable appeared, brushing off imaginary dust upon his arrival.
"I suggest you get moving to wherever it is you plan on going. The Death Eaters had entered the Department of Mysteries by the time I left."
"What about you?" Grant demanded.
"The Unspeakables planned for such a moment," the Unspeakable stated matter-of-factly, as he moved toward the back of the abandoned cafe, toward a swinging door that most likely led to the kitchen. "I know where I need to be. The question is, do you?"
With that he was gone. Harry stared at the door he moved through for a second before shaking his head. Grant muttered some unflattering things about Unspeakables in general.
"My apartment is our best bet right now."
Harry turned toward the two unnamed people. They looked at him with uncertainty.
"We're muggle-borns," the witch blurted out after a moment of silence.
"We know what will happen to us, if caught," the wizard explained.
Harry nodded his head. "Come with us then. We can figure out what the hell is going on together before deciding what to do from there."