During the long crawl up the shaft, the lift rattled in time with the movement of Teddy's wand. It finally came to a screeching halt on the fourth level. Albus and Scorpius pulled the golden grilles aside and opened them, revealing a corridor where dozens of students, standing and milling around nervously, had spotted the three of them and were crowding around them in excitement.
"Now you can relax, kids! The Auror is here!" Teddy exclaimed as he led the boys out into the hallway. But as soon as he did, the lift, having lost its magical hold, began to lurch and plummet, crashing to the ground floor with a thud. Teddy scratched his head in embarrassment. Meanwhile, a girl with bushy red hair pushed her way through the crowd of children. Up close, it was Rose.
"Teddy, what's going on?" demanded Rose. "The sirens went off earlier, so I let the younger students down first, and the lifts suddenly stopped working. We didn't know what was going on; me and the other prefects took control of the situation and —"
"It's a very bad position we're in, Rose," said Albus grimly. " The Dawn Breakers have swooped in and taken over the Atrium, forcing the adults to evacuate underground. It's impossible to get down there now."
Many of the students burst into tears or hung their heads helplessly. The fear was understandable, as many of them had been attacked by Dawn Breakers on their way to Hogwarts and taken away for the night. Smith, a sixth year Hufflepuff who had been strapped to a drone and hung upside down during the kidnapping, was shaking all over with fear.
"They're coming for us!" cried Smith. "They're coming for us for our blood!"
A few students let out a shrill scream. Albus squeezed his eyes shut as he remembered the thick needles of the Dawn Breakers taking his blood to test his blood type. . . . He paled, not to mention the other Slytherins who had the horrible experience of being locked up in the Wizarding Factory for six months and having their blood forcibly drawn until their faces turned pasty.
"Knock it off, Smith. A coward like you is a disgrace to our House," Teddy said through gritted teeth. "Of course they'll come. . . . But they won't have any idea how many students are trapped up here. So we'll just have to hit them hard and get out of here."
"That's easy to say, but how?" exclaimed Smith, eyes wide. "The Atrium is full of them, and the gates to the basement would be locked —"
"Oh, stop it!" cried Rose. She looked around at the students her age, who were just as scared as Smith, and went on, "Sure, things are bad. But do you think it's going to get better if we just give up and sit here?"
"Of course not, Rose," Scorpius said, and a few other students joined in.
"Then let's do it right!" cried Rose heatedly. "We'll fight to the death, just like our parents did! It's better than getting caught again and being a blood bag for the rest of our lives, don't you think?"
"Of course!"
"Right!"
The students cheered, applauding in unison. Even Scorpius was clapping stupidly, staring at Rose as if he were even more in love with her charms. Finally, when the room was quiet again, Teddy spoke again.
"I totally agree with her. First, let's all go back to the Grand Meeting Room. The enemies don't know we're here yet, so let's not make too much of a fuss."
Albus and Scorpius shuffled with the students into the huge hall, which now looked quite similar to the Great Hall at Hogwarts, with four long dining tables divided into Houses and many candles floating in the air to light the interior. The only difference was that instead of the open sky above, the ceiling was closed like any other buildings. Teddy must have expected to see professors there to help him, for he was disappointed to see only children inside.
Albus looked at the hundred or so students with him, most of them a year or two younger than him or around his age. Most of their faces were somber again, as if the morale that had been boosted by Rose's impassioned speech moments before had already faded. Teddy made them sit around the table by the House and counted them. For better or worse, none of Albus's siblings or close relatives were there. As soon as he had a head count, Teddy called out to Albus, Scorpius and Rose.
"Rose, were there any adults here? Anyone?" Teddy asked in a whisper.
"No professors," said Rose. "They all went downstairs because there's no house-elf and they had to cook for themselves. . . . There was supposed to be a Sorting Ceremony and Start-of-Term Feast, but —"
"And the other places on this floor? There might've been some Ministry workers here. . . ."
"There were, but they were the first to run away as soon as the sirens went off," said Rose indignantly. "They must've been the officials from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures — they took the lift down, saying they were going to supervise the young ones. A poor excuse for sure."
"Well, it's an open secret that most of the Ministry officials are incompetent," said Teddy. "Except for Aurors like me, of course. . . . Now, let's check the other rooms on this floor, just in case there's a gutless wizard still hiding."
They slipped back out into the hallway, leaving the other students in the Grand Meeting Room. The sign on the first door they saw read Dragon Research and Restraint Bureau.
"We'd better not go in there," muttered Teddy. "It smells really bad like burnt . . . and the people who work there usually just hang out outside."
The second door they saw was the one assigned to the Office of House-Elf Relocation. They opened it only to find the room to be deserted, except for a few pamphlets on the floor about improving the rights of House-elves. They checked the equally empty Goblin Liaison Office and Centaur Liaison Office and came up empty-handed. The department's shared library and storage facility next door was also deserted, although there were a few books and filing cabinets on the shelves.
"I guess only a few people were at work to begin with," said Teddy wistfully. "There wouldn't have been much work to do in this situation . . . "
It wasn't until they reached the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures that they saw their first living creature. A cage in the corner held a small, adorable chick. Rose tried to pet it, but when she saw fire spewing from its tiny beak, she freaked out and backed away. After filling the chick's cage with water and food, they left the room. Now there was a single office in the hallway they hadn't visited: Werewolf Support Services.
"Wait, I think I hear something in here . . . " Teddy leaned against the closed door and pulled out his wand. As he did so, Albus pulled Mad-Eye Moody's magical eye out of his pocket and held it up to his right eye. Five figures appeared in a purple blur: four people sitting side by side along the wall, and another sitting across from them.
"You're right, Teddy. There are five people in here."
"We don't know if they're friends or foes," said Rose warily. Albus tensed at the thought that they might be werewolves.
"Okay, let's check . . . "
Teddy pushed the door open, wand pointed forward, and stepped inside. Albus followed, with Scorpius right behind him. Upon entering the room, their eyes were immediately drawn to a middle-aged man dressed in a long lilac dressing gown. The man grinned broadly, ignoring the wands pointed at him, and revealed dazzling white teeth. The man was quite handsome, with curly blond hair and bright blue eyes.
"I was wondering when you'd get here!" the man exclaimed. In front of him was a row of small cages along the wall, holding four other men. At the sight, Teddy slapped his palm to his forehead as if he remembered something.
"I forgot about these people. They're patients from St. Mungo's Hospital — these four are werewolves, and we're keeping them here for now in case the Dawn Breakers use them for evil purposes."
"Forgot about us?" shouted the man with graying hair and long sideburns, the oldest of the four. "We're innocent, let us go!"
"Then who is he, Teddy?" said Rose, frowning and looking at Lockhart.
"Well, well, well. . . . You've got to be joking, right?" the handsome man said with a chuckle, pulling out a battered peacock-feather quill pen from his pocket. "My name is Gilderoy Lockhart, children. I'm a recipient of the Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five-time winner of the Weekly Witch's Most-Charming-Smile Award!"
"I know him, my father told me," Rose gasped, not even lowering her voice. "He's a born imposter. . . . He used to go around interviewing famous people before he erased their memories, and then —"
"Hey, Rosie, stop," Teddy said quickly, then walked over to the confused-looking Lockhart and put a hand on his shoulder. "Good to see you, Mr. Lockhart. As a matter of fact, I'm a big fan of yours. I've read your book Wanderings with Werewolves at least a dozen times."
"Really, young man? Then I'll give you my special joined-up autograph!" exclaimed Mr. Lockhart excitedly, seemingly forgetting that he had just been embarrassed by Rose, as he took out a piece of parchment and signed it with a quill. Teddy smiled as he accepted the dusty, half-blackened piece of parchment.
"Thank you, Mr. Lockhart. Could you do me a favor? I heard you used to be a professor at Hogwarts, and I've got some kids in the hall next door. I was hoping you could look after them for a while."
"Oh, of course! There's so much to tell them," Lockhart beamed, then added, "Maybe I should organize a class. . . .
There's so much advice I'd like to give them in these troubled times —"
Lockhart stormed out into the hallway, not bothering to wait for the others.
"Er, Teddy, are you sure this is a wise thing to do?" Albus asked quietly, having heard from his father how Lockhart had ended up like this.
"Of course it is. I know as much about Lockhart as you do," said Teddy confidently. "But right now I'm not in a position to choose. . . . It'll help if we have an adult to tell the kids something entertaining while we figure out a plan to get out of here."
"Hey, we're adults too!" said a pale man trapped behind the bars. "We can help you! Just get us out of this nasty place!"
"I was just about to." Teddy raised his wand and pointed it at the bars. "Alohomora!"
The four iron doors creaked open. The werewolves remained in their cages, unsure if this was a trap. Teddy took their four confiscated wands from a nearby basket and handed them over. The werewolves hesitantly stepped forward and accepted the wands.
"My late father was a werewolf too, but he fought to the death to protect his students, just like any other true heroes," said Teddy seriously. "I think you can be of great help if we work together to get the children out of here."
"You must be the young Mr. Lupin. My name is Silas Crump," said a middle-aged man with brown hair and a beard. "Remus Lupin lived a more noble life than any werewolf I've ever known. . . . It is a great honor for his son to give me the chance to do the same."
"Good, now I won't be the only one babysitting." Teddy grinned and left the room with the werewolves, leaving Albus, Scorpius and Rose to exchange worried looks. While Teddy was a skilled wizard, he was also known to be rather clumsy; they had their doubts about the wisdom of his plan.
"It'll be fine," said Scorpius weakly. "It's still a few days until the full moon. . . . We just have to get them back here by then."
"Babysitters, huh? I can't believe it," said Rose indignantly. "He acted like he was going to trust us with something important!"
When the three of them retraced their steps back down the corridor and into the Grand Meeting Room, Rose's frustration didn't seem to improve. Gilderoy Lockhart was already standing at one end of the hall, pacing around as if he were back in his old professorial days, and around him the bored children had already pulled up chairs and sat down around him, creating a small classroom of sorts.
" . . . and just like that, I saved the Transylvanian farmer from the Babbling Curse. I had scabs on my ears from all the chatter he told me, but I didn't care as long as he lived happily ever after!"
Lockhart grinned broadly, revealing shining white teeth, and the mostly female students erupted in applause and cheers. He moved from chair to chair, beaming, and signed the scraps of parchment they held out to him with the peacock-feather quill. Rose let out a long sigh and Albus shared a look with Scorpius and a bitter smile.
"Shouldn't someone tell them?" said Rose darkly. "That he's a total fraud."
"Let's leave it at that, Rose," said Albus. "He certainly lightens the mood. Anyone can take their mind off their troubles with a good story."
"That doesn't change the fact that we're in trouble," Rose said, lost in thought. She looked back at Albus and Scorpius, her eyes wide as if something had suddenly occurred to her. "I've got an idea! You don't have anything pressing right now, do you?"
"Of course not. It's not like we have classes to attend," said Albus sulkily.
"I'll do whatever you say, Rose." Scorpius said, blushing slightly.
"Okay. Then let's go see what the devil's going on downstairs," said Rose. "I can't stand to stay here like this."
"But do you think Teddy will let us?" Albus muttered, looking in his direction. Teddy was sitting alone in a dark corner of the hall, lost in thought, and right next to him the werewolves were talking among themselves, looking uneasy.
"He won't notice if the three of us disappear for some time," said Rose. "Teddy must have some grand plan to get us out of here, and we need to gather information. It's the right thing for everyone."
"I agree with you a hundred times, Rose," said Scorpius quickly.
"All well and good, but how are we going to get down there?" said Albus skeptically. Scorpius, who had been staring at Rose in fascination, slowly turned his head to face him.
"We can use the lift."
Albus smirked at that and said, "You must be out of your mind, Scorpius. We just rode in it — it doesn't even work anymore and they'd definitely notice if we tried to move it with magic."
"We don't need the lifts to work to get down," said Scorpius, his expression more clear. "We can just open the door and fall down the shaft."
"Good idea, Malfoy! Then we can use the Cushioning Charm to get down safely," Rose said with a small clap of her hands. "I learned that spell when I was very young — my mother said it saved her life once."
They cautiously approached the door on one side of the Grand Meeting Room, trying to stay out of Teddy's sight, which wasn't difficult since he was still deep in thought. They managed to slip out of the hall unnoticed, except that Albus had made eye contact with Lockhart and received a series of frivolous winks. The corridor outside was silent.
"That's the lift that crashed to the floor earlier, the one we took here," Scorpius said, pointing to one of the closed golden grilles. "Maybe we can jump through here and get into the lift so we can look out."
"Right," said Rose simply. She skillfully flicked her wand, and with a creak, the grilles slid open. With another flick, accompanied by a spell against the darkness below, she jumped into it without warning.
"Wow, isn't she scared?" said Albus, and soon Rose's fast falling form was lost in the darkness.
"How brave! That's why I like her," said Scorpius admiringly.
"Hey, when are you coming down?" said Rose's voice from below, echoing through the narrow walls.
Albus exchanged glances with Scorpius, took a deep breath and jumped down after her. At first his body dropped straight down like a rock, but then his fall slowed, as if he had become weightless. Then, as Albus flailed his limbs in the air, his body slowly and gently came to rest on the cold metal surface of the lift's exterior. It felt like an invisible, fluffy, huge pillow had enveloped him.
"Lumos," Albus muttered, and a faint glow emanated from the tip of his wand.
"We should raise this." Scorpius pointed to the square covering that lay in the middle of the lift's roof, exposed to the light. Albus waved his wand carefully and the cover floated up and moved aside without a sound. Albus lay down on the floor and shone his wand into the lift, and when he saw that it was empty, he flopped down inside. Scorpius followed and landed next to him, and he held out a hand to Rose to help her down safely, but she jumped unassisted.
Albus muttered, "Nox," and extinguished the light on his wand-tip, reaching out and grabbing the golden grilles in front of him. Very slowly, so as not to make a sound, he pulled the doors aside, and with a creak, a small gap opened. The children peered out, each at a different level. When they saw the Atrium, it became clear why the adults couldn't come to their rescue. . . . The place was packed with hundreds of black-clad Dawn Breakers, armed with rifles and wands.
It was then that Albus's eyes fell on a soldier who looked like the most unusual of them all. An old man in a red beret stood near the shattered golden gates, one side of his face covered in ugly burn marks where an eye had been replaced by an artificial eyeball that glowed red. To top it off, he had a scorpion-tail-like metal contraption hanging from his back that clanked in all directions, making it impossible not to stare at him. . . . Albus had heard from the adults that the man was Colonel Fubster and that he led the infamous Death Troop, known for killing anyone who got in their way.
"That's a man named Fubster, isn't it?" whispered Rose uneasily. She seemed to be looking in the same direction as Albus. "Dad said he's the one who killed many of Uncle Harry's Aurors. . . . He kills witches and wizards like us for fun."
Just then, another soldier in a black uniform approached and stood across from Fubster, and they began to talk. He looked like one of the Death Troopers; his face was covered with pimples and he wore thick horn-rimmed glasses.
"That one's Warren," muttered Scorpius. "He's a cold, vicious bastard. . . . I met him a few times when I was locked up in the Wizarding Factory."
"What are they talking about?" said Rose. "Maybe they're saying something important that might get us out of here. . . ."
"I've got an idea," said Scorpius. There was a rustling sound, and he pulled a smartphone out of his arms, along with three wireless earbuds that looked like white beans. "I've got a bug in that side of the wall — we could eavesdrop."
"A bug? Must be a Muggle invention," said Rose. Albus took one of the earphones, put it in his ear and looked out again. Soon he could hear clear speech coming out of his ear, as if it was being held right in front of him. Rose gasped, amazed at the ability of the listening device.
" . . . so that's why we're going up there, to get the kids trapped up there?" came Warren's voice. "What's the point of having the Death Troop out there? Eisenbein won't let us kill the children, because that would mean losing all their healthy blood."
"That's right," Fubster said, his voice rough and cracked. "The only ones stuck up there are the little punks. . . . They're just going to cower up there anyway. It's just that Robby Leach wants to take a tour of the Minister of Magic's office upstairs, and we'll have to provide security."
"The Minister's office?" said Warren, a little surprised. Fubster shrugged, and with him the scorpion-tail-like machine buzzed overhead.
"We need to share with our investors what we have accomplished so far, according to her," Fubster continued in a lower voice, glancing left and right. "But I suspect there are more personal reasons at play — Leach's grandfather was Minister of Magic, and she wants to regain the position he lost long ago."
"Madam Leach has a very good reason," said Warren. "Those damn wizards. . . . They've ruined so many people's lives."
"Well, their days are almost over," said Fubster solemnly. "A whole new world is coming. . . . It's not just that everyone will be able to use magic. When our technology and magic combine, imagine how astonishing things will be."
"Is the one that blew up the visitor's entrance this morning one of those examples?" said Warren, adjusting his glasses with interest. "Because it didn't seem like a normal bomb, you know — something fell out of the sky and blew a hole through it in one swift move!"
"Yes, you saw it right. Must have been a big shock to the wizard bastards, who thought they'd be safe for years hiding in here like rats," Fubster chuckled. "That's another case of magic and technology combined. . . . The one we used this morning is a weapon the Americans developed called the Rod from God, and it works by ramming an extremely heavy metal pole down to earth from a satellite in space."
"And where does the magic come in?" asked Warren.
"To get that pole up in the air! It used to be that if you wanted to send something into space, you had to launch a rocket that cost a fortune. . . . But now we can do the same thing with a simple Levitation Charm that even first years at Hogwarts can use. When the power of magic becomes ours, it won't be long before we're sailing through space."
"That's amazing!" said Warren in awe.
"And that's not all. We've also recently managed to concentrate the power of the Killing Curses into a very powerful bomb. If we can detonate it in time, the damage will be immense," said Fubster excitedly. "By the way, Warren, I guess we haven't had a chance to catch up on our personal lives. . . . Now that we're nearing the end, let me ask you one thing: How did you end up working for Eisenbein? 'Cause you hated them wizards?"
"I didn't really hate them at first, though I changed my mind after learning the ugly truth about the Wizarding world," said Warren thoughtfully. "Still, I never had any reason to like them. . . . In fact, going back a few generations, one of my distant relatives was a witch. From what I've heard, she went to Hogwarts very happy in the beginning, and came out not having seen the good side of it at all."
"Was she expelled or something?"
"It was worse than that, she came out dead," said Warren darkly. "Her name was Myrtle, and she was often bullied by the other students for being a Muggle-born."
At the mention of that name, Albus pulled his face away from the grilles for a moment and exchanged glances with Rose and Scorpius. He was already familiar with Moaning Myrtle from his parents, who had told him about her haunting the girls' bathroom on the second floor of Hogwarts. The Myrtle Warren had just mentioned seemed to be the same person as that ghost.
"Myrtle hid in the bathroom one day to cry, as she always did, and was found dead on the spot," Warren went on. "The incompetent professors said they didn't know why Myrtle was dead and called her parents to take her body away. I suppose one of the pureblood bastards must have secretly killed her with magic."
"See? Wizards and witches are born evil," said Fubster. "Maybe people in the Middle Ages were a lot smarter than we are. Now that I think about it, burning witches whenever they were spotted seems like a very reasonable thing to do."
"So what's your story, Colonel?" said Warren carefully. "How did you come to hate Wizardkind so much?"
"My reasons are much more personal than yours. . . . I lost my wife and daughter to the Death Eaters, including an eye," Fubster said in a bitter tone. "I was working as a Major in Military Intelligence, a promising soldier at the time, until the terrorist attack by those monsters took everything from me."
"And you sought revenge," said Warren after a moment of silence.
"Of course. That's why I insisted on staying in the military after I was so badly wounded. At first, I thought it would be easy to find the culprits, since my position gave me access to virtually all of the nation's secrets. What I didn't realize was that there was a whole other world hidden inside this country . . . "
"What happened, sir?"
"Every time I gathered evidence against the culprit, it disappeared of its own accord, and the memories of the few witnesses I had were wiped clean. A sinister force more powerful than the British government tried to cover up everything about the accident."
"You mean the Ministry of Magic. So what did you do?"
"I did everything I could, legal or not, and I barely managed to get the name of an orphaned boy who was connected to the culprits. Do you have any idea who that might be?"
"By any chance . . . is it Harry Potter?"
"Exactly. I've been trying to reach him in every possible way to see if I can find out anything. I went to Privet Drive, where he lived at the time, and made some phone calls, but every time I failed because something strange happened, like the bus breaking down, or the boy not being home, or my mind suddenly going fuzzy . . . "
"Very sneaky, these wizards," said Warren sharply. "They still have all these weird spells I don't even know about, and a normal person would have been no match for them."
"By that time I had been kicked out of the army for illegally spying on civilians. Then I met a woman named Marjorie Dursley, a close relative of the Dursleys who lived with Potter, so I moved in next door to her to get some information."
"Marjorie? Is that the woman my father called Aunt Marge?" Albus whispered in the dark. "I heard she was quite an awful woman."
"Shh, let's keep listening," Rose whispered back.
"I used to look after her dogs for her when she was away, trying to win her favor. I even helped her drown an ugly puppy once. I had been so patient with her, doing all her favors, and then I got this news — Marjorie was going to stay with Potter for a week. I rejoiced inwardly, thinking I might find out something about the boy when she got back."
"But I guess things didn't work out the way you hoped, Colonel."
"That's right, Marjorie came back a mess. Her skin was sagging like someone who'd suddenly gained a ton of weight and lost it all at once, and she had no memory of her time with the Dursleys, which is how my last attempt to find out about the Wizarding world ended so disastrously. . . . I would have gone mad with despair if Eisenbein hadn't found me."
"He is the savior of our kind," said Warren firmly. "We would all gladly give our lives for the new world Eisenbein wants to build on the ruins of theirs."
"Yes, but even more important in war than giving one's life is the willingness to take the life of another," said Fubster seriously. "All the wizards and witches in the world, child or adult, are undesirables. Frankly, if it were up to me, I'd wipe them out without trace . . . but the world Eisenbein wants doesn't sound so bad after all. Maybe if they're locked up in a factory for the rest of their lives and have their blood drawn, they'll feel a little remorse for all the evil they've done."
"I doubt it, Colonel," said Warren with a smirk. "They're vicious to the bone, and I'm sure they'll come up with all sorts of schemes even in that situation."
Just then, a cheerful bell rang inside the lift and Albus, who had been concentrating on the conversation, nearly screamed in surprise. They quickly moved away from the slightly open door and hid in the darkness of the lift.
"Ah, I see they have fixed the lifts," said Fubster. "Give it a test run, and if everything's okay, go up with Leach's men."
As soon as he said that, the lift they were in began to rattle and move upward on its own.