Chapter 157: The Department of Mysteries

Hermione, Neville, Ginny, and I stared awestruck and confused as we watched Harry and Luna mount air.

"What?" he said.

"How're we supposed to get on when we can't see the things?" I asked simply.

"Oh, it's easy," said Luna, sliding off the air and onto the ground, marching over to the rest of us. "Come here."

She pulled us over to the other Thestrals and one by one managed to help us on to the back of them. It felt so surreal. I could feel the Thestrals warm skin and somewhat silky mane, but not being able to see what I was touching was freaking me out.

"This is mad, I tell you, mad." I said as I moved my free hand up and down the horse's neck. "If I could just see it-"

"You'd better hope it stays invisible," said Harry darkly. "We all ready, then?"

The rest of us nodded. Even the Thestral nodded. I could feel his neck move up and down.

"OK...Ministry of Magic, visitors' entrance, London, then," Harry said uncertainly. "Er ... if you know ... where to go..."

For a moment, everything had went eerily quiet. Then, I felt the horse extend its wings out with a whoosh that would have probably knocked me down if I were still on the ground. Then I felt the horse crouch slowly, then rocketed upwards so fast that I ended up almost snatching some of it's mane out.

We passed over the castle and Hogsmeade, and it felt somewhat amazing, yet almost heart stoppingly scary to be looking as if you were zooming through the air.

"This is bizarre!" I yelled at the others, although I didn't think they paid much attention. They all looked too bewildered themselves to be thinking about what I was saying.

Twilight fell: the sky was turning to a light, dusky purple littered with tiny silver stars, and soon only the lights of Muggle towns gave us any clue of how far from the ground we were, or how very fast we were travelling.

I couldn't help but think about what we were going to be facing. It was scary, blindly going into a situation, despite having done it since I was 11 years old. This however, was something entirely different. We could be possibly facing You Know Who and Merlin only knew who else.

We could very well lose our lives.

My stomach gave a jolt as my Theatral suddenly started to descend. I heard Ginny yelp from behind me, as we began to come out of the clouds. Bright orange lights were growing larger and rounder on all sides; we could see the tops of buildings, streams of headlights like luminous insect eyes, squares of pale yellow that were windows. Quite suddenly, it seemed, we were hurtling towards the pavement. I braced myself for impact, but I didn't do it quick enough, because next thing I knew, I was being thrown off as the horse landed on the walkway.

"Never again,'" I said as I struggled to my feet. "Never, ever again ... that was the worst-"

Hermione and Ginny touched down on either side of me: both slid off their mounts a little more gracefully than I did, though with similar expressions of relief at being back on firm ground; Neville jumped down, shaking; and Luna dismounted smoothly.

"Where do we go from here, then?" she asked Harry in a politely interested voice, as though this was all a rather interesting day-trip.

"Over here," he said. He gave the air what looked like a pat, then led the way quickly to a battered fellytone box and opened the door.

"Come on!" he urged us.

We squished ourselves into the tiny box. HArry came in last and said "Whoever's nearest the receiver, dial six two four four two!"

I was closest to the fellytone, however, I had to bend my arm awkwardly to reach the whirly dial. After i was done, a calm lady's voice came out of the hearing part.

"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."

"Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger," Harry said very quickly, "Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood ... we're here to save someone, unless your Ministry can do it first!"

"Thank you," said the cool female voice. "Visitors, please take the badges and attach them to the front of your robes."

Half a dozen badges slid out of a metal. Hermione scooped them up and handed them out. Mine read Ron Weasley: Rescue Mission.

"Visitors to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wands for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium."

"Fine!" Harry said loudly. "Now can we move?"

The floor of the telephone box shuddered and the pavement rose up past its glass windows. Blackness closed over our heads and with a dull grinding noise we sank down into the depths of the Ministry of Magic.

A glow of soft golden light hit our feet and, widening, rose up our bodies. We hesitated, but thankfully no one was waiting for us when we got to the floor.

"The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant evening," said the woman's voice.

The door of the telephone box burst open and we all toppled out. The only sound in the Atrium was the steady rush of water from the golden fountain, where jets from the wands of the witch and wizard, the point of the centaur's arrow, the tip of the goblin's hat and the house-elf's ears continued to gush into the surrounding pool.

"Come on," said Harry quietly and the six of us sprinted off down the hall, Harry in the lead, past the fountain towards the desk where the watch wizard weighed wands from what I remembered when I visited with my dad. From what I remembered, there should have been a security person there. A fact that brought no comfort to the situation, as there wasn't one around.

Harry turned towards a plain black door. "Let's go,' he whispered, and he led the way down the corridor, Luna right behind him, gazing around with her mouth slightly open.

"OK, listen," said Harry, stopping again within six feet of the door. "Maybe ... maybe a couple of people should stay here as a-as a lookout, and-"

"And how're we going to let you know something's coming?" asked Ginny, her eyebrows raised. "You could be miles away."

"We're coming with you, Harry," said Neville.

"Let's get on with it," I said. "You're not getting rid of us, mate".

Harry sighed and turned to face the door and walked forwards. It swung open and he marched over the threshold, the others at his heels.

We were standing in a large, circular room. Everything in here was black including the floor and ceiling; identical, unmarked, handleless black doors were set at intervals all around the black walls, interspersed with branches of candles whose flames burned blue; their cool, shimmering light reflected in the shining marble floor made it look as though there was dark water underfoot.

"Someone shut the door," Harry muttered.

NEville closed the door, which made the room almost pitch black. The only things visible were the bunches of shivering blue flames on the walls and their ghostly reflections in the floor.

There were a dozen doors here. Harry looked around as if he were trying to figure out exactly where he should go. As if he had been here before. Then it dawned on me that he was using what he dreamed about to lead the as he was gazing ahead at the doors opposite him, trying to decide which was the right one, there was a great rumbling noise and the candles began to move sideways. The circular wall was rotating.

Hermione grabbed Harry's arm as though frightened the floor might move, but it did not. For a few seconds, the blue flames around us were blurred to resemble neon lines as the wall sped around; then, quite as suddenly as it had started, the rumbling stopped and everything became stationary once again, and all i could see were blue streaks.

"The bloody fuck was that about?" I managed to whisper.

"I think it was to stop us knowing which door we came in through," said Ginny in a hushed voice.

She must have been correct, because now Harry appeared confused. I looked around and realized that I couldn't even tell which door we had entered from.

"How're we going to get back out?" said Neville uncomfortably.

"Well, that doesn't matter now," said Harry sharply, "we won't need to get out till we've found Sirius-"

"Don't go calling for him, though!" Hermione said urgently. Harry shot her a look that clearly stated for her to be quiet.

"Where do we go, then, Harry?" I asked, eager to get a move on. We were acting like sitting ducks at the moment.

"I don't...In the dreams I went through the door at the end of the corridor from the lifts into a dark room-that's this one-and then I went through another door into a room that kind of ... glitters." he said as he tried to gather his thoughts. "We should try a few doors, I'll know the right way when I see it. C'mon."

He marched straight at the door now facing him with us following closely behind, put his hand against it, braced himself with his wand at the ready, and pushed the door swung open with ease, making me feel even more cautious.

This was all starting to feel way too easy..

After the darkness of the first room, this room appeared to be a bit brighter, as the hanging lamps provided a soft glow. The place was quite empty except for a few desks and, in the very middle of the room, an enormous glass tank of deep green liquid, big enough for all of us to swim in; a number of pearly-white objects were drifting around lazily in it.

"What're those things?" I whispered as I peered into the eerie pool.

"Dunno," said Harry.

"Are they fish?" breathed Ginny.

"Aquavirius Maggots!" said Luna excitedly. "Dad said the Ministry were breeding-"

"No," said Hermione, oddly. She moved forward to look through the side of the tank. "They're brains."

"Brains? Bloody hell!"

"Yes ... I wonder what they're doing with them?"

I peered into the tank. Sure enough, there were brains the size of bludgers "swimming" in and out of sight in the depths of the green liquid, looking something like slimy cauliflowers.

"Let's get out of here," said Harry, putting a hand on my shoulder as he was peering in too.."'This isn't right, we need to try another door."

"There are doors here, too," I said, pointing around the walls. Harry's face fell.

"In my dream I went through that dark room into the second one,' he said. 'I think we should go back and try from there."

We hurried back into the dark, circular room; the ghostly shapes of the brains were now swimming before my eyes this time.

"Wait!" said Hermione sharply, as Luna made to close the door of the brain room behind them. "Flagrate!"

She drew with her wand in midair and a fiery 'X' appeared on the door. No sooner had the door clicked shut behind us than there was a great rumbling, and once again the wall began to revolve very fast, but now there was a great red-gold blur in amongst the faint blue and, when all became still again, the fiery cross still burned, showing the door we had already tried.

"Good thinking," said Harry. "OK, let's try this one-"

He strode directly at the door facing him and pushed it open, his wand still raised. This room was larger than the last, dimly lit and rectangular, and the centre of it was sunken, forming a great stone pit some twenty feet deep. It reminded me of a huge Quidditch pitch, only stone and eerie. There was a raised stone dais in the centre of the pit, on which stood a stone archway that looked as if it could crumble at any moment. Unsupported by any surrounding wall, the archway was hung with a tattered black curtain or veil which, despite the complete stillness of the cold surrounding air, was fluttering very slightly as though it had just been touched.

"Who's there?" said Harry, jumping down onto the bench below. There was no answering voice, but the veil continued to flutter and sway. It made me feel uneasy. As if there were a presence that I couldn't see, but could sense in the air.

"Careful!" whispered Hermione.

"Sirius?" Harry said, approaching the veil.

"Let's go," called Hermione. "This isn't right, Harry, come on, let's go."

She sounded scared, much more scared than she had in the room where the brains swam, which I didn't blame her. The entire thing felt as if we didn't belong there. As if we were almost in another universe. The others looked as if they sensed whatever I did, as they hung closer to the door. Harry however, appeared as if he was being lured towards the veil, determined to touch it.

"Harry, let's go, OK?" said Hermione more forcefully.

"OK," he said, but didn't move. Hermione looked over to me and then back to Harry.

"What are you saying?" he said, very loudly, so that his words echoed all around the stone benches.

"Nobody's talking, Harry!" said Hermione, now moving over to him.

"Someone's whispering behind there," he said, moving out of her reach and continuing to frown at the veil. "Is that you, Ron?"

"I'm here, mate," I said, inching towards him.

"Can't anyone else hear it?" Harry demanded, placing his foot on the dais.

"I can hear them too," breathed Luna, joining us around the side of the archway and gazing at the swaying veil. "There are people in there!"

"What do you mean, 'in there'?" demanded Hermione angrily, as she jumped down from the bottom step, "there isn't any "in there", it's just an archway, there's no room for anybody to be there. Harry, stop it, come away-"

She grabbed his arm and pulled, but he resisted. He seemed as if he were transfixed by it all.

"Harry, we are supposed to be here for Sirius!" she said in a high-pitched, strained voice.

"Sirius," Harry repeated, still gazing, mesmerised, at the continuously swaying veil. "Yeah..."

SOmething seemed to have broken whatever trance Harry was under. He looked around more clearly, as if the purpose of why we were here had returned to him. He took several paces back from the dais and wrenched his eyes from the veil.

"Let's go," he said.

"That's what I've been trying to-well, come on, then!' said Hermione, and she led the way back around the dais. On the other side, Ginny and Neville were staring, apparently entranced, at the veil too. Without speaking, Hermione took hold of Ginny's arm while I grabbed Neville's, and we marched them firmly back to the lowest stone bench and clambered all the way back up to the door.

"What d'you reckon that arch was?" Harry asked Hermione as we regained the dark circular room.

"I don't know, but whatever it was, it was dangerous," she said firmly, again inscribing a fiery cross on the door.

Once more, the wall span and became still again. Harry approached another door at random and pushed. It did not move.

"What's wrong?" said Hermione.

"It's ... locked." said Harry, throwing his weight at the door, but it didn't budge.

"This is it, then, isn't it?" I said excitedly, joining Harry in the attempt to force the door open. "Bound to be!"

"Get out of the way!" said Hermione sharply. She pointed her wand at the place where a lock would have been on an ordinary door and said, "Alohomora!"

Nothing happened.

"Sirius's knife!" said Harry. He pulled it out from inside his robes and slid it into the crack between the door and the wall. We watched eagerly as he ran it from top to bottom, withdrew it and then flung his shoulder again at the door. It remained as firmly shut as ever. What was more, the blade had melted.

"Right, we're leaving that room," said Hermione firmly.

"But what if that's the one?" i asked impatiently.

"It can't be, Harry could get through all the doors in his dream," said Hermione, marking the door with another fiery cross as Harry replaced the now-useless handle of Sirius's knife in his pocket.

"You know what could be in there?" said Luna eagerly, as the wall started to spin yet again.

"Something blibbering, no doubt," said Hermione under her breath and Neville gave a nervous little laugh.

The wall slid to a halt and Harry pushed the next door open.

"This is it!" he exclaimed. "This way!"

He led the way down the narrow space between the lines of desks towards a blue light. A tall crystal bell jar stood on a desk and appeared to be full of a billowing, glittering wind.

"Oh, look!" said Ginny, as we drew nearer, pointing at the very heart of the bell jar.

Drifting along in the sparkling current inside was a tiny, jewel-bright egg. As it rose in the jar, it cracked open and a hummingbird emerged, which was carried to the very top of the jar, but as it fell on the draught its feathers became bedraggled and damp again, and by the time it had been borne back to the bottom of the jar it had been enclosed once more in its egg.

"Keep going!" said Harry sharply, because Ginny was trying to stop and watch the egg's progress back into a bird.

"You dawdled enough by that old arch!" she sassed, but followed him past the bell jar to the only door behind it.

"This is it," Harry said again, sounding as if he was going to explode. "It's through here-'

He glanced around at them all; they had their wands out and looked suddenly serious and anxious. He looked back at the door and pushed. It swung open.

The room was like dusk and full of nothing but towering shelves covered in small, dusty glass orbs. They glimmered dully in the light issuing from more candle-brackets set at intervals along the shelves. Like those in the circular room behind us, their flames were burning blue. The room was very cold.

"You said it was row ninety-seven," whispered Hermione.

"Yeah," breathed Harry, looking up at the end of the closest row for the number, I gathered.

"We need to go right, I think," whispered Hermione, squinting to the next row. "Yes ... that's fifty-four."

"Keep your wands ready," Harry said softly.

We crept forward, glancing behind us as we went on down the long alleys of shelves, the further ends of which were in near-total darkness. Tiny, yellowing labels had been stuck beneath each glass orb on the shelves. Some of them had a weird, liquid glow; others were as dull and dark within as blown light bulbs.

We passed row eighty-four ... eighty-five ..eighty six, the suspense of coming up on what Harry was looking for made the air in the room seem thin, and it felt like it was getting colder the farther we walked.

"Ninety-seven!" whispered Hermione.

We stood grouped around the end of the row, gazing down the alley beside it. "He's right down at the end." said Harry. "You can't see properly from here."

He led us between the towering rows of glass balls, some of which glowed softly as we passed. There was no sign of Sirius, or anyone other than us, in sight.

"He should be near here," whispered Harry, trying to sound confident. "Anywhere here ... really close ..."

I looked ahead. I didn't want to tell him. I didn't want him to have been duped...

"Harry?" said Hermione in an uneasy voice that Harry adamantly ignored.

"Somewhere about ... here ..." he said.

We had reached the end of the row and emerged into more dim candlelight, There was nobody there. All was echoing, dusty silence.

"Mate..." I began to say.

"He might be ..." Harry whispered hoarsely, peering down the next alley. "Or maybe ..." He hurried to look down the one beyond that.

"Harry?" said Hermione again.

"What?" he snarled.

Hermione looked at the ground. "I ... I don't think Sirius is here."

Nobody else knew what to say. Harry began frantically looking around.

I looked at the shelf beside me and seen what appeared to be Harry's name etched in brass. As Harry ran looking for Sirius, I gazed at Harry's name that was under the glowing orb, along with other words:

S.P.T. to A.P.W.B.D.

Dark Lord

and (?)Harry Potter

"Harry?" I called.

"What?"

"Have you seen this?"

"What?" said Harry, as he rushed back over to where we were all standing. "What is it, Ron?"

"It's-it's got your name on it, mate" I said, pointing to the label.

Harry moved a little closer. "My name?"

He stepped forward and craned his neck to read the yellowish label affixed to the shelf right beneath the dusty glass ball. "What is it?" I asked. "What's your name doing down here?"

I glanced along at the other labels on that stretch of shelf.

"I'm not here, and none of the rest of us are here." I said, searching for our names.

"Harry, I don't think you should touch it," said Hermione sharply, as he stretched out his hand.

"Why not?" he said. "It's something to do with me, isn't it?'

"Don't, Harry," said Neville suddenly. Harry looked at him. Neville's round face was shining slightly with sweat. He looked as though he could not take much more suspense.

"It's got my name on," said Harry, closing his fingers around the dusty ball's surface. We all braced ourselves, thinking something dramatic was going to happen, something exciting that might make their long and dangerous journey worthwhile after all

Harry lifted the glass ball down from its shelf and stared at it. Nothing whatsoever happened.

And then, from right behind us, came a proper and sinister sounding voice.

"Very good, Potter. Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me."