Chapter 10 : Ministerial Business
"If we're gonna do this, we're gonna do it right."
The light of Neptune cast wide shadows against the carmine panels covering the walls of Harry's office. At his desk, Harry and Ron were trying to bring some sense of order to the piles of books and parchments, in search of any relevant one that had been cast aside. Nearby, going through his own notes on a data slate, Ernie wrote down a list of preparations they had been working on for the last hour.
"I want a full report on the Ministry's new security measures and suggestions on how to bypass them by the end of the week."
"I'll get Angelina on it."
Since Ginny successfully "convinced" Harry, it seemed like the entire crew had been shaken out of its resigned lethargy and the station bustled with activity. While a few remained uncertain, the corridors were once more filled with the sounds of excitement and hope, the eagerness to fight spreading like wildfire through the crew.
They had been chomping at the bit for months now. Training, studying the ship, securing safe houses and moving around supplies for the people they had relocated... It was time for something real. Something that mattered.
Something that proved that they mattered.
"We'll also need an inventory of everything the engineers have found or made that we could use."
"You'll have it tomorrow. I think the twins finally managed to fix that damned egg grenade of theirs."
"That'd be useful. But make sure they're properly tested first. I don't want anyone getting injured because their tech exploded when they tried to use it."
"Send me the list once you're done." Ron piped up. "I'll get a few of each and have the team play with them for a bit."
Harry hummed in agreement.
"Better they learn how to use them now rather than when we're inside. Speaking of which... I want you to take the lead once we're in."
The look Ron gave him in return would not have been out of place if Harry had just professed his undying love for Snape.
"Mate, I've spent five years in the castle and I still get lost sometimes. You do not want me to guide you anywhere."
"Yes I do. You're the only one of us that's actually gone to the Auror office before. You also know most of the surveillance stuff they have lying around that we'll need to avoid."
Well, that wasn't exactly true.
Harry had gone there once in passing the previous year, to wait for his hearing, though he would have been hard pressed to remember the way now. Ron, for his part, had gone there multiple times over the years with his father, whose office was located beyond the Aurors'. While it could have been enough to justify the appointment, it was little more than an excuse in Harry"s eyes.
Umbridge removal may have been their first operation, but they had not been in any real danger given their tech and the fact that they were still in Hogwarts. This time, however, would be far, far different. They would need to infiltrate the heart of the hive, surrounded by all sides by death eaters and sympathisers. And while they couldn't afford to make any mistakes, there would be no better opportunity for a trial by fire of their combat team and their commander.
"I'm..." Ron held his stare for a few moments, and Harry could almost see in his eyes the self-deprecating words of refusal that died before they could pass his lips.
They stayed like this for a few moments, saying nothing and everything at the same time. This was the boy who had not hesitated for a second before sacrificing himself for his friends on the chessboard. The boy who had jumped in the chamber of secrets with him to face a monster that could kill with nothing but a look. The boy who had stood on his broken leg to protect him from whom they thought was a murderer.
The boy who had his complete and utter trust.
Finally, Ron straightened himself, all traces of doubt and hesitation fading away from his expression, though a slight tremor in his voice remained. "Alright. Yeah, I'll ... I'll do it."
Harry gave him a confident smile and a nod, certain that he had made the right choice. He may be in charge of the crew, but this was Ron's team, and just like Ron himself, they needed to be reminded of that.
"Sorry to interrupt your little staring contest, but we still have work to do. I'll be joining your training sessions until the day of the mission, Ron. Knowing you two, I got a feeling that I'm going to need to get better at dodging."
Finally breaking eye contact, Ron and Harry both turned toward Ernie with similar looks of surprise.
"What? You thought I'd let you guys go without me?"
"Well ... kinda." Ron gave a quick glance back at Harry. "You aren't exactly a duelling pro."
Harry, for his part, did not look away. He narrowed his eyes, searching for any trace of doubt in Ernie's expression, only to be met with a self-assured, almost amused grin.
"You sure about this? This isn't going to be a walk in the park. You might be better off staying here."
"And let you get yourself killed after all the work I had to put in to train you just right? I'm not starting over with a new captain, thank you very much."
This was it.
A year of training, research and preparations and the concerted efforts of the entire D.S.F had made this moment possible. There would be no more holding back. No more watching from orbit as the country went to hell.
It all started now ... By flushing far too many toilets.
Angelina's team had made good on their reconnaissance of the Ministry. An invisible Zacharias Smith had followed Ensign Pryden while he visited under the pretence of negotiating the exorbitant taxes they paid each month to keep the shop running. His observations had been completed by Angelina's own after she attempted to break into the Ministry at night, only to be stopped each time by Dementors and seemingly unbreakable locks.
Even if they managed to repel the dark creatures and make their way in, some rudimentary detection charms favoured by curse-breakers had revealed an impressive set of wards protecting the building. If they tried to force their way in, one way or the other, the entire Department of Magical Law Enforcement would come crashing down on them before they had the time to cross the atrium.
Not even the more hot-headed of them were foolish enough to think that a full blown assault would result in anything less than a massacre. Which meant they only had one solution that didn't include using the ship to blow up the entire Greater London area.
They would simply go in through the front door.
Or more precisely, the newly installed toilet stalls of the Whitehall underground station reserved for the Ministry's low-ranking employees. Each member of the infiltration team had invisibly followed an employee in the toilet cubicles and quickly flushed themselves down after them before the next one stepped in.
Side-stepping the security checkpoints that awaited every freshly-flushed arrival, they had regrouped in the atrium proper, where the higher-ranking officials casually stepped out of the Floo and went on to their business, unhampered by any security measure.
Their intrusion had almost ended abruptly when Alicia had crossed one of the checkpoints, and a sneakoscope a bit too sensitive for their well-being came to life. As the device spun and whistled sharply, the crowd around the checkpoint hurriedly distanced themselves from the poor sod that was being checked at the time. Each one of them trying their best to appear as innocent as possible as Hit Wizards made their way toward the commotion. Thankfully, in their hurry to dissociate themselves from the potential criminal, no-one seemed to notice the invisible girl who had to push her way out of the crowd.
This little incident only served to reassure Ernie that Ron had been right to keep their group small, despite the many others who had wanted to join in. Neville and Susan in particular had been the most vocal about it, and their insistence had almost made him feel guilty that he had used his closeness to the Captain to impose himself in their first real mission. Almost.
"While we're here, we should go to the Department of Mysteries and release Fudge's Heliopaths army. That way the Death Eaters won't be able to use them against us later."
"For the last time, Heliopaths don't exist, Luna."
"Yeah, and there's plenty of strange things in the Ministry already, so you don't need to invent some." Seamus piped up. "Did you know the building isn't hooked up to London's power grid? The whole complex is powered by literal bottled lightning, collected in high sea by a fleet of storm-chasing sailboats that-"
"Guys, this isn't a tour. Keep radio silence unless strictly necessary."
Cautious not to bump into the many employees going about their business, the group made their way to the elevators. They passed next to the disgusting monument that had replaced the golden fountain at the centre of the atrium, and saw far too many banners and posters that promoted something called the Department of Merit.
The snippets of conversation and the slogans as subtle as a Troll in an apothecary shop on the posters quickly painted a grim picture of the goal of this new branch of law enforcement. They were Aurors and Hit Hizards who had been assigned to investigate and root out the "corrupt and lazy holdouts of the previous administration", or anyone that would go against the new order both inside and outside the Ministry.
As if getting rid of the muggle-borns had not been enough for them. How far would they push their witch hunt, and how few would be left after they're done? They had enough trouble recruiting as it is without the Ministry going after every-
Hold on.
"Guys..."
"Just keep going, we're almost there."
"No-I mean, we are, but I think we should make a detour."
"Ernie, we're on a mission. We don't-"
"No, listen. This Department of Merit thing? It's investigating everyone who doesn't agree with them, right?" With the silence that was his answer, it wasn't hard for Ernie to imagine them looking at each other in confusion behind the blank metal of their helmets. "They're looking into the people who would oppose the ministry and making files on them."
Perhaps unsurprisingly after the last few months, the mention of paperwork seemed to have sparked understanding in the Captain's mind.
"You mean ... They've already compiled a list of people we could trust?"
"Exactly! We don't have to waste time doing background checks on everyone if we know the Death Eaters don't want them. If we find those files, we could have a thousand people on Requirement by next week!"
That seemed to finally get their interest, as excited chatter filled their communication channel, only to die out as quickly as it came when Harry spoke again.
"Alright, but we need to think this through. Chances are they'll raise the alarm as soon as we destroy the map so we'll need to go find those files before that. Ron-"
"Look. I'd love nothing more than to go around and take care of everything wrong in the ministry, starting with Malfoy's dad, but we have a mission to complete. There are hundreds of families out there who have no idea of the danger they're in. We can't take any unnecessary risks."
"And we can't pass this up!" Ernie interjected. "We'll never get an opportunity like that again. Once they notice we've managed to get in, they'll tighten up security even more."
"You're both right." Harry said as he stepped in between them. "We have to take the risk, but not at the cost of the mission. That's why we'll split up. I'll go with Ernie and we'll go search the new department while you complete the mission. Chances are we'll need time to go through the files anyway, so you should have enough time to destroy the map."
"I'm going too." Ginny stepped forward, placing herself beside Harry and Ernie. "I'm not letting you get yourselves killed by going down there alone."
"... Fine." Ron relented in a tone that left no doubt on his opinion. "But you don't need to go there."
"Ron-"
"Not like that. What I mean is you need to go to central archives. Every piece of paper in the building will end up there eventually. And I doubt it's as well guarded as the other department if they have Aurors leading it."
"Noted. That should make things easier." The comm channel fell silent, and Harry's silhouette on their helmet's display seemed to look at them all in turn, hesitating for a brief moment before speaking again. "We'll see you when it's done. Good luck."
And just like that, Harry was off. Ginny and Ernie followed him a moment later, leaving behind the rest of the group while Ernie added motivational speeches to his mental list of the things he would need to have Harry to work on.
"You know, you never told us it would be this big."
After arriving on the second floor, Ron had led his team through the law enforcement offices until they'd reached a door guarded by a Hit Wizard. Above it, next to an opening through which paper planes came and went, an engraved silver plate announced it to be the Improper use of Magic office, the most likely location for their target.
Shortly after their arrival, an older woman with a strict look had passed by them and gone in. He'd taken the opportunity to send Luna to slip inside after her to assess the situation inside while they waited outside behind a corner of the hallway.
"I take it that means it's in there? Do you see anything else?"
"Well, there are a lot of desks and bookcases and a huge chandelier made of floating glass balls filled with light..."
"Still not here to visit."
"Oh, and there are three Hit Wizards, a dozen clerks and a couple other doors."
"Alright, we're going in. Give me the name of one of the clerks."
"OK! Hmm ... Not that one ... This one's nose is too big..."
"Any will do Luna." Ron sighed.
"Fine. There's one named Corren Davis." Luna humphed. "You really are a lot more fun when we're in space, you know? We need to get you back on the ship as soon as possible. Or maybe it's because of this place? Do you think it's something in the walls? Or maybe-"
Having already tuned out Luna's rambling and the snickers of Katie and Seamus, Ron took out a sheet of paper he'd picked up on a desk earlier and pressed the tip of his wand to it.
"Mr. Davis, it has come to my attention that one of your recent reports regarded the child of one of our most well regarded citizens." As he spoke, taking great care to sound as insufferably stiff as he could, the words inscribed themselves on the paper in a neat and professional handwriting that couldn't be further than his own scribbles. "While I'm sure this is just a dreadful misunderstanding, I need you to come to my office immediately so we can sort this out before I need to fill a report of my own about your work. Signed Pius Thicknesse."
He tapped the sheet with his wand and released it from his hold as it folded itself in the form of a plane and took off around the corner in the direction of the door.
"When the clerk comes out, we confound the guard and we go in. Don't hesitate. Ready?"
Sounds of agreement in the comm channel answered him and he guessed that most of them, having found their seriousness, only nodded back.
Everyone being invisible like that was weird, even with the helmet giving him a rough idea of their position. At least with Harry's cloak you could see the other person under it.
Hearing the door opening got Ron out of his thoughts and around the corner in a second. With magic deafening the sound of their steps, they rushed for the opened door as a heavy man came out of the room. He hurried around the man and caught the door before it closed as Alicia and Seamus whispered the incantation of the confusion charm.
Once everyone was through, he closed the door behind them and took in the sheer size of the room. It was easily as large as the great hall back in Hogwarts. Rows of mostly empty desks were lined up against the walls on bleachers, like a rectangular amphitheatre overlooking the glass floor below that covered most of the room.
Underneath said floor was a giant and yellowed map of the British isles that looked like it had been drawn when Godric Gryffindor was still crawling around on all fours. Copper rings of various sizes were moving around the map under the glass, and each time one stopped somewhere, it glowed and one of the clerks would take note.
"Luna wasn't kidding. This thing is huge."
"The ministry doesn't really do things by halves when it comes to the Statute."
"It's almost sad that we need to destroy it. I don't know if there's anyone alive that could make a new one."
"I think that's a good thing. Wouldn't want to have to come back if there was."
"Let's burn this one before we start thinking of the next. Spread out and get ready to neutralise everyone on my signal."
Without a sound or even a shimmer in the air, the six of them scattered around the chamber, its occupants none the wiser until a bored clerk looked down to a strange metal egg that rolled under his chair.
"Hey Craig, you dropped some-"
An intense blue light and a piercing sound burst from under him, echoed from five other parts of the room, and bolts of electricity arced from one clerk to the next. At the same time, the red hue of stupefying charms impacted the three Hit Wizards.
For a brief moment, the room seemed frozen in time as the unconscious bodies of the ministry workers laid motionless where they fell. Then, the empty air distorted as the teenagers became visible one after the other and gathered in the centre of the room.
"Nice work everyone. Now let's finish this and we can go get Harry from whatever pitfall he managed to fall in. On three." Ron raised his wand toward the floor, aiming as far away from the group as he could, the others following his lead. "One. Two. Three. Bombarda!"
Five voices joined his own and Ron hurriedly raised his other arm, activating the shield emitter embedded in his vambrace to protect himself against the glass shards of the broken floor.
Or at least it would have protected him, if their spell had done any damage whatsoever.
"What the-"
Where their spells should have hit, barely visible engravings in the glass began to glow and spread out, forming a complex array of runic circles that progressively lit up the entire floor of the room. They attempted a few other spells, only to face the same result as they dissolved harmlessly on the enchanted surface without leaving as much as a scratch.
"Well that wasn't the bloody plan."
Deep in the beating heart of the Ministry's bureaucracy, entire flights of colourful paper planes flew above the trio's invisible heads, filling the drab corridors with some much needed life. More importantly, their coordinated flight served as a perfect Ariadne's thread in the real labyrinth of offices, record storage and meeting rooms that made up the fifth floor.
They advanced in silence, following the planes with their wands at the ready until Ron's voice came to life in their helmets. The range of the suit's communicator being limited, it was currently relayed by the communication stone attached to Harry's suit.
"I don't know about you guys, but we've hit a bit of a snag here."
"A snag?"
"Yeah ... We secured the map, but it's well protected and we can't do anything to it."
"Any idea how long it'll take to destroy it?"
"I'll call you as soon as we figure out if we even can."
"Great" Harry sighed. "At least we shouldn't have any problem finding those reports..."
The trio emerged in an enormous circular room, clearly too big to fit in this floor alone. All across the room, a multitude of clerks busied themselves in cubicles overflowing with stacks of papers and parchment. At the centre of the room, a gigantic cylindrical filing cabinet with far too many drawers rose from the floor to the ceiling, like a metallic pillar around which were arranged ten floors of private offices linked by catwalks. The air was abuzz with the sound of a thousand paper planes flying around, filing themselves on desks or in the giant cabinet, where other drawers opened themselves to let new documents fly out and zoom into a hallway.
"You know," Ginny said as they stood at the entrance, transfixed. "I'd joke about Malfoy's dad compensating for something, but I think we're long past that point."
"I think this says more about the Ministry itself than the current minister..."
"How are we supposed to find what we need in this mess? There could be centuries worth of paperwork in here."
"I think I know..." Ernie said, his eyes fixed on one of the floors above. "Even in a bureaucratic monster like this, there is one place where every piece of information gets abridged and reviewed."
"Oh." Understanding filled Harry's voice as his own gaze turned upward, toward a well ornamented door on the first floor adorned with a golden plate. "On the director's desk."
"Precisely. And I think I see our ticket-in getting up there right now..."
Bookcases filled to the brim, heaps of parchment and filing cabinets stacked on top of each other were arranged around a single desk in the circular office, in a way that mimicked the central record room outside. Documents floated about, occasionally coming down before the eyes of the elderly man settled in a well worn tall chair that shared his age, to be read and stamped before rolling itself on one of the piles, leaving another parchment to take its place.
The soft ticking of a great clock installed against the far wall and the regular sound of the stamp rhythmed the bureaucratic dance as they had done for generations. On the occasion where an error had managed to slip itself into the paperwork, the scratching of a quill and a tap of a wand came to break the monotony of it all.
Aldwin Krempet, head of the Department of Archiving and Classifications took great pride in the rarity of such occurrences. The well oiled machine that he directed had perfected its art since the inception of the Ministry and had bound it with as much red tape as wizardly as possible. If something needed to be done, it would need, among other things, to be ratified three times by seven separate committees, which would in turn need their findings reviewed and approved by a Department Head and the Minister himself.
And every time one of these documents was drafted, his department would be called to audit their adherence to the many, many regulations put in place over the years. While most only needed some minor corrections before being submitted anew, others required a more peculiar attention.
If a proposition was deemed too dangerous, or threatened the foundations of the county's traditions, its formulation or structure would inevitably be found lacking or going against a great number of regulations at every step. At least until its content was reviewed and brought down to a tamer and less dangerous state. The system had worked splendidly for a long time now, and had always managed to curb the excesses of overeager or overambitious ministers.
Of course, such actions had to be taken with great care and considerations. While some administrations were easier to work with, the most recent has proven to be quite persistent in their desire to implement sweeping changes to the country. Oh, they had been exceedingly clever and subtle with it, and it had taken weeks for Aldwin to grasp the true nature of these new laws, even with his trained eyes watching over their propositions.
The first wave documents they had submitted the very day the new minister was elected had been well prepared and absolutely flawless. His staff's weak attempts at contestations had been easily dealt with, leading to swift reforms and the birth of the new Department Merit. Now, however, it seemed the time for subtlety had passed, and more extreme propositions arrived on his desk each day. The usual tactics were met with increasingly harsh repercussions for those that dared impede the march of the Minister's agenda.
The door was slammed open, breaking both the serene atmosphere and Krempet's sombre ruminations.
A man in a slightly too small Auror trench coat stood at the doorstep, flanked by two men in dark Hit Wizard uniforms and a young secretary.
"I must say, Mr. Selwyn, this is highly irregular!" The secretary complained. "I'll have to make a report to the Minister."
"Well, this isn't exactly a regular visit either. Isn't it, Krempet?"
The men stepped inside with their wands in hand, leaving the door wide open behind them. No doubt that they wanted this to be a show to serve as an example.
"Of course." Aldwin took great care to roll the parchment in front of him and to tap of his wand to send it on the correct pile before looking up at the visitors. "I am, after all, the first Head of Department your masters have decided to arrest openly instead of having me murdered in a back alley like the others. Quite the honour, I must say."
"Oh, I like it when they know they're already done. Still, I would watch my tone if I were you, old man." Selwyn's eyes narrowed. "Your treasonous behaviour already landed you in quite a bit of trouble. You wouldn't want to worsen your case now, would you?"
"Mr Selwyn! You are a representative of the Minister's authority! This is no way to-"
Selwyn turned on his heels, his wand raised menacingly toward the taller secretary's face.
"Clam it, Weasley. My orders come from your precious Minister himself. You're only here as a courtesy. So shut your mouth and take your notes or whatever it is you do, or you'll join this traitor in Azka-."
One of the drawers of a filing cabinet against the wall opened and came off its tracks. It came crashing down onto the floor with a loud clanking noise, scattering dozens of files at their feet and stopping everyone in the room.
"Looks like this whole department is falling apart, just like its head." With a warning look at Weasley, Selwyn turned back his attention to Krempet. "Now, are you gonna come with us quietly, or are you gonna make this difficult? I was asked to bring you in, but they didn't say how many parts they wanted you."
"I fear that I am well past misplaced displays of violence. Though I do not doubt my fate will be no different either way."
"What did you expect? Betraying the Ministry has consequences, even for you."
"Betray the Ministry? It is the last thing I or the dozens of unfortunate souls of my staff you have already taken would ever do, young man. And you would know that if you took a bit more from your uncle. At least Desmond did not live to see you disgrace his name."
"I told you to watch your tone, Krempet." Selwyn walked up to the desk, his jaw set and his grasp on his wand tightening. "I won't repeat myself again. Now get up!"
With a swish of his wand, Selwyn sent the desk crashing into the book cases covered wall, scattering their content to the ground as he continued toward Krempet, relishing in the unmasked fear he had finally found in the older man's eyes.
"Mr Selwyn!"
"I said shut up!" Turning on his heels, Selwyn raised his wand toward Percy Weasley. "Crucio!"
Shamed and terrified for the poor man, Aldwin Krempet could not bear to watch this infamy. He looked away as he shut his eyes, waiting in apprehension for screams that never came.
Daring to open one of his eyes, he found himself just as baffled as everyone else in the room at the sight of a young girl covered from head to toe in a bulky red and gold armour, standing between Selwyn and Weasley with a crackling shield coming out of her raised arm.
Back in the map room, Ron and his team were busy trying everything they could think of to break the enchanted glass. Every tool, gadget and weapon they had brought with them had been discarded on the floor and their spell repertoires were running dry while they had yet to even chip the glass. Desperate for a solution, Ron had even contacted Hermione using his communication stone, though the engineers' ideas had proven just as unsuccessful as their own.
Leaving the others to their failing attempts after his own ideas encountered a similar fate, Seamus went around to pick up everything they had left lying around, starting with the stun grenades the Weasley twins had provided. The last thing they wanted would be the ministry putting his hand on their technology. Once back to the centre of the room, he turned his attention to the scattered tools and his hand stopped as he was about to pick up one of them.
Despite having been dubbed "blow torch", it looked more like a wrench with both ends closed and enlarged if you asked him. It did not use a flame, but a stream of light of which they could adjust the output, turning its colour from white to purple and everything in between. Now, Seamus didn't have the slightest clue of how it worked beyond "the darker the light, the hotter it burns", and the glass had remained impervious to its heat, even after they had followed Terry's directions to increase its output but maybe...
"Hey guys, we could-"
He never got the chance to voice his idea, however, as an alarm began to blare in the entire ministry, shocking everyone of them to a standstill. Regaining his senses quicker than the others, Ron's hand flew to his stone and brought it to his mouth.
"Harry, what's going on?"
"A bit busy at the-Get down!" Unintelligible shouts and the sounds of a struggle came through the stone for a few moments before Harry could be heard again. "Crap, run for it!"
"Put your wands down, all of you! Now!"
The shout brought the rest of them out of their shocked trance and they turned around, wand raised to see the guard they had confounded earlier raising his own wand at them from the doorstep. Cowering behind him was the clerk they had duped to open the door, who looked at the slumped forms of his colleagues with an horrified look before turning tail and running away.
Snapping into action, Luna lunged forward. As she disappeared from view, her left hand reached to the latches securing her hoverboard to her back.
"What the-"
Barely a moment later, the guard was blown back into the wall and slipped to the floor, unconscious, while Luna became visible once more.
"Secure the room! No one gets in before that map is destroyed!"
As they began to move at Ron's order, Seamus let everything he was holding fall to the ground in a cacophony of metal and glass to grasp Alicia's wrist before she would leave.
"Hey! Watch it, Finnigan."
"Take off your armour."
"The hell?" She scowled at him, and the few others still within earshot gave him scandalised looks while barricading the doors and tying up the clerks. "We don't have time for your stupid jokes!"
"What?" Confused for a second, Seamus gazed over her body and he felt his entire burn up. "No I ... That's not ... I got an idea for the map. But I need heavy armour since they have the most gold and silver in it, and you're the only one here wearing one. Plus, you'll still have the suit so..."
Alicia's scowl hardened as she tore her wrist from his grasp and raised her hand. For a brief moment, he thought she was going to slap him, and frankly he wouldn't have blamed her. His cheeks would remain unmolested, however, as she brought up her other hand to detach her vambrace and throw it at him before starting to take off the other pieces.
"Here. This better work."
Not daring to meet her eyes, Seamus muttered his thanks and knelt down on the floor, picking up the fallen blow torch. Turning it on, he dialled it back to the maximum output, praying that the jury rigged modification they had done would hold, and brought the business end just above the vambrace he steadied against the grooves on the glass.
It took a moment for the magic resistant alloy to heat up until a small portion on the edge reached its melting point. Ever so slowly, like the sweat that ran down his face under his helmet, it fell into the groove. As soon as the burning metal hit the glass, the glow of the runic circle flickered for an instant before intensifying.
Behind him, Seamus heard a door rattle as someone tried to force it open and he really hoped the others had managed to seal them. In the corner of his eye, he could see Ron coming back from one of the side entrances.
"Mate, you're sure this will work?"
"I have no idea."
"This is not how I imagined this mission would go!"
Ernie's complaints were drowned when the wall on their left exploded, sending large chunks of dark stone everywhere as curses and jinxes continued to rain down upon them. A dozen Aurors and Hit Wizards were hot on their heels, shouting death threats and swears when they weren't ordering them to stop.
He didn't know how long they had been running. Their escape from the archives had been a blur of shouts and panic after Ginny revealed their presence. They had tried to disappear again and use the chaos to leave unseen, but the invisibility modules had died out with their hoverboards and most of their equipment when an Auror had washed over the entire record room with a spell. Now, all he knew was that his lungs and legs burned and that he would need to compile a list of every insult he would use if he ever came across the one that had designed this maze of a floor.
Running clutching a small stack of files to his chest, Ernie outstretched his free arm backward and waved his wand in wide and well practised motions. The largest pieces of debris that littered the hallway's floor sprouted wings and turned into a flock of eagles that swooped down on their pursuers.
Bit of a rush job though, the feathers still looked like stone. Thank god McGonagall wasn't here to see this or she would have taken back his O.W.L...
"Funny, that's pretty much what I expected."
Not to be out-done, Ginny stopped and turned on her heels. She pulled two fanged Frisbees from the magnetic latches on her back and threw them at the Aurors. She didn't stay to watch them work, however, and she began to run again, hungry growls and pained cries filling the hallway behind them as they came up on an intersection.
"Take a left!" Ernie shouted, an idea coming to him. They took the turn and he stopped, making use of the cover offered by the corner to gather himself for a second before raising his wand in jagged movements.
"Maceria Lapidea."
The black stone around them seemed to slide on the walls they composed and reached out to fuse into a new wall of solid stone that closed the way behind them.
"Good thinking." Taking advantage of the brief respite himself, Harry brought a hand to the communication stone strapped to his chest. "Ron, we're running out of time here. Are you done?"
"Not yet. We're making progress on the barrier, though."
"Well hurry up! We'll keep them off your back." Urgently letting go of the stone, Harry brought his forearm up as stone fragments and spells began to fill the air once more. The energy shield shimmered into existence just in time for a curse to splash harmlessly against it.
"And how the hell are we supposed to do that?" Ginny shouted as she failed to stop a vicious yellow curse and winced when it crashed on her pauldron. "In case you hadn't noticed, we're barely holding on here!"
"There's got to be a way ... Ernie! What's on this floor?"
"Let's see ... Offices, dusty records, offices, meeting rooms, and ah-yes, more offices."
"Not helping, Mcmillan!"
"Just ... Keep running, OK? We'll figure something out."
The glow of the intersecting runic circles engraved on the glass floor flickered dimly as the molten metal flowed and pooled through the grooves, filling every nook and cranny. What remained of Alicia's greaves pained and gave in to the heat of the blow torch as Seamus moved it with focus and tired hands.
All around him, the sounds and shouts of battle echoed through the cavernous hall, his teammates defending their position from the assault of Aurors and Hit Wizards alike. On Ron's order, they had collapsed two of the entrances to focus their defences around a single door, though it had long been overrun by the ministry's forces and the battle had moved to the barricades made of overturned desks.
Sparks flew off the burning metal and Seamus flinched back to protect his exposed arms before getting back to work. His own vambraces, while not composed of nearly as much magic resistant metals as Alicia's armour, had already shared the same fate. The difference between the two armours and their effects on the enchantment had been stark, and he soon had to suffer Alicia's fury as he asked her to shed more of her protective plating while they ducked under spellfire.
"Almost there..."
When he completely filled the circle, the connections holding the enchantment broke and the glowing finally died down.
"I got it!"
Taking a step back, Seamus took out his wand and vanished a portion of the glass at the centre of the metal-filled circle, a nervous laugh escaping from his lips as it disappeared without resistance.
"Incendio."
A gout of flames emerged from his wand and plunged in the hole in the floor, turning purple as it quickly engulfed the century old parchment and spread out under the floor of the entire room. It looked like he was running above an inferno as he rejoined the others behind the barricade, where Ron had already taken out his communication stone.
"Harry, we're done."
"About time!"
"We need to find a new way out. They'll have the atrium locked down by now."
"Yeah we figured that out. Ernie tells me the Department of Transports is right below us on the sixth floor. They should have a porkey or a fireplace we can use."
"You sure?"
"It's not like we have a lot of options at the moment. We'll distract them a bit longer, but you better get your arse down here fast."
"Alright, but try not to get yourself nearly-killed, for once. I promised Hermione I'd bring you back in one piece." Pocketing the stone in his modified suit, Ron took out his hoverboard and looked at his team. "Time to disappear, mates. Let's ride."
"How did they even manage to replicate the gravity?"
"I don't know, but remind me to thank them once we're back."
Ernie's entire body felt like one big bruise, his left arm hung limply at his side and he was pretty sure he had broken at least a couple ribs, making every breath a painful experience. It did not stop the smile spreading on his face, however, as they finally stopped running at the end of a hallway on the sixth floor, which had mercifully been built by someone less enamoured with the tale of the Minotaur.
Their chase through the corridors had almost ended in disaster when the Auror's reinforcement had arrived from the other floors and trapped them in a hallway with no way out. Vastly outnumbered and out of options, Harry had taken out one of the last items they had not used already, a prototype of Fred and George he had brought at their insistence. With most of their equipment out of order, he had not expected it to actually work, but let it never be said that the twins failed to surprise him at every turn.
The unassumingly small silver box with a big blue button on top had unfolded itself and turned the entire hallway into a perfect replica of empty space, complete with stars and a disturbing lack of gravity. As he understood, the twins had repurposed one of their old inventions called a Portable Swamp to fit in the theme of the Enterprise as a new product. Using their own experience of space walks, and at times using the flailing Aurors and Hit Wizards as stepping stones, the three of them had made their way out of the box's range and found their way to the floor below.
"Still ... It's strange we haven't seen anyone on this floor yet."
"Maybe they evacuated when they rang the alarm?"
"Maybe..."
With Ginny covering their rear in case of their pursuers finding them again, Harry went ahead to peek around the corner.
"This is it. And Ron's team is already here."
Propping himself up against the wall, his good arm still grasping the files tightly against his chest, Ernie joined him to take a look. After a few metres, the corridor gave way to an oblong room painted from floor to ceiling with criss-crossing lines, their intersections marked with vivid green dots. The room itself housed a few desks on both ends, but most of the space was taken by a massive fire pit burning with green fire and surrounded by raised stones that wouldn't have been out of place in Stonehenge.
On the other side of the room, he could see the silhouettes of their five invisible crew mates.
"Wait, they can still turn invisible? That's so unfair."
"You can tell them that in person in a-"
"Harry!" Ginny exclaimed. "Incoming!"
"Crap!" Harry brought a hand to his communication stone. "We got company. Let's move!"
Not wasting a second, Ron's group rushed forward and spread out around the room, checking hiding spots and casting detection charms to find any ambushers. By the time Harry helped Ernie to sit on a stone at the feet of the fire pit, their search had found nothing, however, and they allowed themselves a moment to relax before the storm hit.
"Ginny, Luna and Katie, watch the Doors. Seamus and Alicia, use those desks and block the door, but don't touch the stones." Ron ordered, walking up to them. "Glad to see you in one piece." His gaze strayed a second too long on Ernie. "Mostly."
"Yeah, good to see you managed to make it out. Things got a bit tricky there for a second."
"We're not out yet." Ron turned toward the pit that burned with abandon not a metre from them, yet brought them no heat. "What now? Do we just ... jump in?"
"I don't know..." Ernie mused. "Usually, you'd need some Floo powder before the flames turn green, but ... this doesn't seem to work like that."
"I doubt they would leave it in the open like that if it was dangerous. There'd be railings or something." Harry said. "Then again, knowing wizards..."
"If this is the heart of the Floo network, or at least what's regulating it, then it must be connected to the fireplaces. Every fireplace. We could come out anywhere in the country."
"Anywhere's better than here, I say. Either way, once we're out, we can just apparate back at the shop and-"
"They're here!"
Katie's warning came a second too late.
A passive explosion took out their hastily made barricade and a good chunk of the wall with it, throwing them to the ground.
Pained cries filled the air, but none was as loud as Ernie's, who had landed hard on his broken arm. His eyes were brimming with tears that blurred his vision and his ears were filled by a strident whistle as pain shot through his entire left side. He could hear the distant voices of the others in his helmet, panicking and shouting muted words as he struggled to lift his battered body away from his arm. A task made that much more difficult by the fact that he could not feel his legs.
That was probably a bad sign...
With the pain subsiding and his eyes furiously blinking away the tears, his senses sluggishly came back to him. A look around him revealed the chaos of battle, the Aurors flowing into the room en-masse while Seamus, Katie and Ginny tried to slow them down, fallen stones giving them some cover. Harry was running in his direction, dodging spellfire as he went, a shield deployed. More worryingly, the others were nowhere to be found.
"Ernie!" Harry knelt down beside him, his shield arm raised to cover them. "Ernie, you're still with us?"
"Captain..."
"Alright, stay with me. The others fell into the fire. We're going too."
"Harry ... The files..." The reason everything had gone wrong. The reason why they had risked the mission and suffered the consequences. His own idea. "Where..." In his fall, his grasp had faltered and the files were blown away. His attempts at extending his neck to look for them only gave birth to new spikes of pain in his back. "I'm sorry, I-"
"Don't worry about that. We need-"
"Harry!"
He could see Harry look up in the direction of the others and tense.
They were out of time.
And they both knew it.
"Go!" Harry shouted to the others, spells crashing on his flickering shield as he attempted to pass his free arm behind Ernie's back. "Into the fire!"
"Not without you!"
"I gave you an order! We'll be right behind you!"
Harry pulled hard, trying to get him back up, and suddenly Ernie shouted his throat raw pain as he could see and feel his legs once again.
His broken, mangled and flattened legs.
One of the massive stones had fallen on top of him, breaking itself and reducing his legs to a bloody mess.
Something hit Harry hard, and they fell to the ground once more.
Pushing himself back up, Harry raised his shield again and sent a few spells of his own toward the Aurors.
Trying to turn to see how close they had come, Ernie finally found it.
Hidden beneath the rubble, just within arm's reach...
His wand.
"Harry..."
"Give me-Crap!-Give me a second."
Ernie's hand closed around his wand.
"Harry ... You've got to go."
"We're both getting out of here. Then you can scold me all night about my responsibilities or whatever you want."
Ernie brought his arm back and raised it.
"Harry. Captain." Finally, he turned from the battle to look his way. The blank, featureless metal of the helmet hiding his face and making him look almost alien. "Thanks. And goodbye."
"Ernie, no!"
"Depulso."
He could almost see the shock on Harry's face as he was pushed back into the fire and disappeared, as if eaten by the green flames.
Giving out a pained groan, Ernie rolled himself on his back. The battle around him had died out and he could already hear the Aurors approaching.
He could only hope that the others had all made it out.
The dark, criss-crossed and dotted ceiling above him looked like a weird artist rendition of a night sky filled with stars.
It was weird, how he had gotten so used to seeing the stars since they had found Requirement. Just peek out the window and you can see the entire milky way looking right back at you.
He would have liked to see it one last time.
The footsteps were getting closer. Time to finish this then.
He had insisted on coming along, and his idea was the reason the entire mission went pear shaped. He's even lost the files in the end.
Gathering what remained of his strength, Ernie raised a trembling hand toward the star-dotted ceiling.
Today had just been one screw up after the other.
But there was one last thing he could do to make up for it.
He could hear the Aurors shouting again. They'd spotted him.
Steadying his hand, Ernie tightened his grasp on his wand.
It was a good wand.
Ten and a half inches. Willow and Unicorn hair. Springy, but with a temperament.
He liked his wand.
A shame it would go out with him.
"Sorry, mum ... I'm not coming home." Under his helmet, tears flowed freely down his face, and he struggled to keep a stranded smile. "Bombarda Maxima!"
With a flick of the wrist, the ceiling exploded, bringing several tons of stone crashing down on him, and everyone else in the room.