Chapter Fifteen: The Department of Mysteries
The passageway closed in on Ron from all sides, unlike the rest of the ministry it looked like it'd been carved out of rock, rather than polished marble. Harry walked in the front, closely followed by Regulus, Ron, and then finally James. Ron was thankful that he wasn't in front, the other two seemed to know what they were doing at least.
"You brought me here." Ron's voice shook. "Why should I trust you?"
Harry did not answer him at first, but walked ahead in silence.
"You shouldn't," he finally said. "I told you that the day we really met. But all things considered … here," Harry tossed back a silver sickle silver sickle to Ron. "I've enchanted a duplicate of the coin, about an hour ago Granger was portkeyed away from the school. This'll take us to her." Ron's mouth fell open in surprise, it wasn't a real apology. But he was going to get to see Hermione again …
"You've been working together this whole time?" James asked hoarsely.
"No," Harry answered before Regulus could speak. "But we share an ally, and Regulus isn't the only person that wanted out …"
"But I thought you went home." Ron asked, tripping over a rock. Harry waved the invisibility cloak in his open hand.
"I was in the office the whole time, clung to the back of the fireplace. I needed to be sure before I helped you seize the second piece."
"So, you stopped him from killing me?" Ron gaped.
"That was me actually," Regulus offered. "I destroyed the locket and cup at the same time with basilisk fangs."
"I told you one was enough," Harry snapped. "You should have held off on one of them, bought more time."
"No, Dumbledore got the ring. I've the locket and cup, that just leaves the remaining three." Regulus waved the book in his hand. "Diary, diadem, but you haven't said what the sixth is—"
"I gave you the diary. You needn't worry about the other pieces." Harry hissed, and Ron noticed there was more of an edge to his voice.
"Ah, so there is seven. Then you needn't worry about fleeing the country." Regulus breathed. "How far do you think you make it before he tracks you down again? France? Albania? It's just borrowed time—"
"That's enough," James said in warning. Both Regulus and Harry were quiet for a moment.
"I'm surprised at Nagini," Harry said, breaking the silence. "I thought she'd have been part of the first group that came down …"
"Is that what the fourth card was for?" Regulus asked in disgust. "She'd never do it."
"You don't know her like I do, she'd leave if given the chance."
Ron felt his stomach sink, thinking about the decapitated snake head in the lift. James moved reflexively next to him, he shook his head, knowing Harry and Regulus couldn't see them. If Harry was planning on leaving, if he was going to ask her to come with him … Ron was very thankful that legillimancy required eye contact. They walked in silence for a moment again.
"Your mother's here too," James offered, "she wants to see you too." Harry was very quiet after James spoke. Ron could see his hand twitching in anger.
"Is that supposed to be a joke?" Harry asked quietly, turning around to face James.
"Of course not," James looked hurt. "She's with Sirius and Remus. Look I—what happened at Hogwarts wasn't your fault—"
"Yes, it was," Harry breathed. Regulus made a move to make a barrier between father and son. "I asked for it … I let them in, I gave you to him."
"YOU'RE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ADULTS IN YOUR LIFE MAKING AWFUL DECISIONS," James yelled. Ron saw Harry reflexively jump back. "Look can you just—" James lowered his voice. "Can you just let me help you?"
"I don't need you," Harry laughed humorlessly, continuing down the hallway. Regulus cleared his throat. "I haven't for a very long time …"
"Oh, look, an exit." Regulus said flatly. Immediately a door appeared to his left, and Ron realized he'd been influencing the direction of the tunnel the entire time. "Let's go through it."
The tunnel exited into a massive room, with planets dancing around in an inky black void. Ron thought that Regulus was going to fall straight to the unseen floor below as he stepped into the room, but instead he hovered in place. His hair bounced gently around his face, and Regulus let off a jet with his wand so that he could hold onto Pluto.
"Well, come on then." Regulus offered. Ron felt tears prick at his eyes as he tried to hold back a laugh. It'd felt like ages since he'd genuinely laughed at something …
"I bet we could see Uranus from here," he offered, and both Regulus and James laughed uneasily. Harry looked like he was strongly reconsidering killing each of them.
Ron felt a jolt in his stomach as he stepped into the room, like he was standing on the edge of a very tall cliff. It wasn't until James caught his leg, that Ron realized he was floating into the ceiling. Harry sighed and stepped into the room, inexplicably walking in the exact same path that Regulus floated down. His hair was still bouncing slightly, so Ron had no idea how he'd overcome the spell. He took out the invisibility cloak and disappeared under it.
"Aw that's not fair." Regulus sent off another jet with his wand. James did the same to help himself and Ron keep up. "I thought—"
A massive chunk of Neptune blew up, hitting Regulus square in the chest. From the other end of the room, Ron saw five Death Eaters clumsily float their way into the room as well. A red jet of light streamed from Saturn, and Ron saw a massive bloody X carved into the chest of one of them. The Death Eater shrieked as his companions randomly fired spells at the only three people they saw in the room. It was in that moment, that Ron realized how much Harry'd been toying with him during their duel in the Forbidden Forest. The four Death Eaters that remained were no match for him, seen or unseen. Within a matter of moments, each of them floated dead in the room, the first Death Eater still twitching slightly from the X carved in his chest.
"Now if you'd kindly, Regulus," Harry called, still invisible, from the other side of the door the five Death Eaters came through. Regulus grunted and began pushing himself towards the door, James and Ron following quickly in his wake.
"Oh, so you do have jokes," Regulus muttered under his breath. "You little—" He didn't finish his thought; James's eyes were burning a hole in the back of his head.
"Where is your office?" Harry asked as the three touched back down into the next room. Ron realized they were standing in another lab, the shapes in the jars around them eerily human shaped now. "It was much closer to the front of the department when I came down earlier."
"It won't let us." Regulus said, his tone shifted gravely as he closed the door to the planet room behind them. "I can only influence the shape of the department so much, but in the end, all the doors here lead to the exact same room …"
Ron heard an invisible sigh, and Harry removed the cloak. There were two doors ahead of them in this room, and Ron couldn't hear any more Death Eaters storming in from either side. Ron finally realized where he'd seen James's jaw twitch from, they had similar nervous ticks. Ron noticed he looked somewhat more strained than he had a moment before, Harry paced before both doors.
"You don't understand, I don't have time for this—you wasted your chance. It's only a matter of time before he—before—" Harry was breathing heavily, he reached out a hand to steady himself on a lab table. Ron knew exactly what was wrong, he'd seen the exact same thing happen to him before. James went up to help him, frowning in concern.
"Harry, what's—"
At once, the door to the lab burst open and two Death Eaters stepped in. Harry collapsed; James caught him before he fell face first into the potions left on the table.
"Expelliarmus!" Ron shouted, feeling a flicker of pride as the nearest one's wand flew across the room.
James sent out a blast with his wand, launching the Death Eaters into a glass cabinet. They crumpled to the floor and moved no more. Behind them, Ron heard a gurgled yell. He jerked his head around to see Regulus fighting to hold onto a basilisk fang he'd stabbed in the diary. Black ink sputtered from the sides, and Ron heard the distorted yell of someone screaming as if they were inside it. Ron saw a smirk flash across Regulus's face as he looked between the Potters and the diary.
"We need to go," James said, hoisting his unconscious son over his shoulder like a fireman. Ron noticed his eyes linger on the destroyed diary. "Reg, which way do we take from here?"
"Left is fastest to get to the others." Regulus stood, his clothes and hands soaked in ink, a look of grim triumph etched into every part of his face. "But we won't be able to stop at the mirror."
Ron felt the faint glimmer of hope he'd been holding onto for the past thirty minutes evaporate in an instant. He still had no idea how to reopen the mirror to get home, but it'd been nice to have it ahead of them, a goal.
"It won't do us any good to get trapped in a room with it." Ron pointed out flatly. "Defeating you-know-who is what's important right now." Regulus nodded, James looked grave but grateful to not have to make another stop.
"Ron, could you grab the cloak?" James asked. He adjusted his grip on Harry's arm and leg so he could still reach his own wand. Ron quickly collected the invisibility cloak off the ground, grateful to have it back.
The next room glittered like fairy lights, all around them Ron saw beautiful glass orbs placed delicately on shelves. The ceiling must've been over ninety-feet high, but the shelves went all the way to the top twinkling innocently. At first, Ron thought that they were just crystal balls, but that couldn't be true. He could actually see shapes moving inside here, the whispering forms of hooded witches and wizards. Ron saw several of them opening their mouths, as if they were trying to speak to him.
"Looks like The Keeper took off for the night." Regulus said, relieved. He started walking down the seemingly endless rows of glass orbs. "Come on, she worked hard to get the catalog right."
"Wait." James said, his gaze fixed on a small green orb sitting on a desk at the front of the room. It must've belonged to the archivist of the hall, Ron saw an identification tag attached to the glass ball:
S.P.T. to A.P.W.B.D. and S.S.
Dark Lord
And Neville Longbottom (?)
There was a black line crossing out Neville's name, leaving only the question mark.
"They killed him, why's it got his name on it?" James asked, he reached down to pick up the orb, and Regulus sucked in a deep breath of air. Ron saw Harry begin to twitch slightly on James's shoulder.
"Now Potter, we mustn't touch what isn't ours." Ron heard a mocking voice from the other side of the entrance. Crouch stepped in, behind him Ron could see other Death Eaters ready to pour into the room. Crouch considered the scene for a moment, before deciding to point his wand at Ron.
"I don't see any reason to repeat our last encounter." Crouch said. "Although I can't say I'm surprised Black turned traitor. Drop the boy, and I promise I'll make it quick for the three of you."
"Hey Barty," Regulus gazed wistfully at the massive rows of glass orbs between them. Ron saw a wolfish smile spread across his face, reminiscent of his elder brother.
"What?"
"Go to hell." Regulus moved his wand as fast as a dagger. The green orb on the archivist's desk exploded in a puff of smoke, shielding them from the Death Eaters, and the shelves overhead began to topple forward.
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches, born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies …" the familiar shape of Professor Trelawney arose from the orb. Ron bolted down the opposite corridor behind Regulus, James, and Harry. From behind he could heard Crouch shout angrily, a curse missed Ron by mere inches.
"Protego," Regulus summoned a barrier above their heads, small shards of glass still pelted Ron as they passed under, but he saw the orbs themselves bounce off the spell. They exploded into more ghostly figures overhead. Ron could barely think over their voices, loud and ringing. From behind them, Ron saw stunning spells bounce off the shield, shattering more rows of shelves.
"Non-lethal only!" Crouch screamed at the top of his lungs behind them, directing the Death Eaters. Ron sent a disarming jinx over his shoulder; he saw Crouch pull up his left sleeve to press the dark mark—
Up ahead, Ron saw a massive black door. It should have been some relief, at least he wouldn't be crushed by one of the shelves in the room. But something told Ron that he didn't want that door opened, he didn't want to know what was behind it. Regulus yanked on a silver knob in the middle of the door and practically pushed the other three through.
The room inside was pitch black, Ron and James both lit their wands, but it barely seemed to illuminate more than their hands. Ron heard a loud crash from the other side of the door, one of the shelves must've fallen in front of it. Regulus let out his breath.
"That should buy us some time." Regulus waved his wand and lit several torches around the room. Ron saw his left arm spasm in pain
"It's not enough," a groggy voice said. Harry'd woken up, so James set him back down on his feet. He staggered slightly, looking down to the stone dais. "You've killed us all."
"What is this place?" James asked, keeping a hand out to make sure he didn't fall again.
They were standing in a massive stone amphitheater, the steps funneling into a dais at the bottom of the room. There were several other doorways around the room. But instead of a theater, there was a singular stone archway made of the same stone as the rest of the room. A tattered white veil floated above the archway, although Ron couldn't imagine where the wind was coming from. The room seemed much older than the rest of the Ministry.
"I told you James, all doors in the department lead here." Regulus began to walk down the stone steps, expecting the rest to follow him. "The one and only exit to a lifetime in the Death Eaters." Ron and James followed in step behind, but Harry didn't move. Instead, he started down at the stone archway with a sense of dread.
"I'll be back in just a second," James said, "we need to get the others." From the other end of the room, Ron saw another door open.
Sirius, Lupin, and Lily slammed the door shut. They seemed to fair better in their fight, Ron couldn't imagine what he looked like at the moment, bloodied and exhausted. Lily perked up the moment she saw her family on the other side of the room. She raced down the stone steps, practically hurdling herself into James's arms when she reached the bottom. James seemed taken aback, but he accepted the hug. Harry's eyes widened in shock when he saw her.
"We made it," she said excitedly, looking up towards her son. "You're both here!"
Ron took out the sickle from his pocket. He'd made it to the bottom of the stone dais, Regulus and Sirius were whispering quietly on the other side of the arch. They sounded like they were arguing.
"That's mad, Reg, shut up." Sirius hissed angrily.
"You've got to believe me, we have to destroy all seven or he won't die—"
As he got closer, Ron heard more voices coming from the arch. It should have been impossible, he knew it was just Regulus and Sirius on the other side, why could he hear more people? Ron went to touch the veil, but Lupin caught his hand.
"You don't want to do that," Lupin warned. "You might not like what you see."
"Oh, but you'll know soon enough," a cold voice sounded, sending chills down Ron's spine.
Blood-pounded in Ron's ears, as Lily screamed. Back on the side Ron entered on, Tom Riddle smiled maliciously down at them. He had his left arm wrapped around Harry's neck, holding him in front like a human shield, and his wand in his right, pointed down at James and Lily.
"It's over, Riddle," Regulus called out from the other side of the dais. "We've destroyed four of the horcruxes."
"But surely we know each other better than that, Regulus Black," Riddle's eyes flashed dangerously, he laughed. "You may call me by my true name."
A/N: Happy halfway-ish point! This one's been a blast to work on so far, I mostly do original fiction but it's been a while since I've done anything close to novel length. I had an idea about potentially doing a shorter prequel to this AU with Draco Malfoy and the Triwizard Tournament, let me know if that's something you'd be interested in, or if there's a different character you'd like to hear more from!