Chapter Eleven: Madness in the Ministry
It was just after the Easter holidays and everyone was on the train, back from their different homes. In different compartments there were copies of the Prophet everywhere all sporting the same headline. People were asking each other the same question. "Did you hear what happened over the holidays?" There were however, two people that weren't affected by the strange happenings at the ministry.
One was at home, riding his new broomstick and the other was sitting alone in a compartment in the back of the train. They were Draco Malfoy and Harish Blake. Harish turned as Fred and George entered the compartment. Fred was also carrying a newspaper. across the top of the page in large black words was the headline:
Ministry Break-In: Death Eater Apprehended
Harish didn't even have the need to ask to see the paper to find out what the headline meant. "So," George said as they sat down. Both red-heads casually crossed their right leg over their left. Fred leaned back and George tilted his head to the left.
"What did you do over the Easter holidays?"
Four days earlier:
"Harish!"
A low, annoyed moan sounded from underneath a pillow.
"Harish!"
Harish groaned and slit one eye open. "What do you want Draco?"
"Father wants us."
Harish nodded slowly. He had been sent home with Draco for the holidays because his father was going to be busy all break. The older boy still didn't understand why that blonde cretin thought it was acceptable to wake people up by shouting their name happily.
He laid there for another moment before getting up and pulling on a bed robe. Then, he followed Draco downstairs to where Lucius was.
"Harish!" Lucius called importantly. "Draco!"
"Yes, Uncle Lucius?" he asked politely.
"Yes, Father?" Draco asked at the same time.
"I have something I must tell you both."
"Yes?" Harish and Draco asked together.
"Narcissa is out shopping and I just received an urgent call from the ministry."
"Urgent call?" both boys repeated.
"Nothing of importance, or course," Lucius said smoothly. "I just need to be there and I can't leave you two here alone. So, I need you two to smarten yourselves up, for you are coming with me."
"Really? To the Ministry?' Draco asked eagerly.
Harish shook his head and began climbing the staircase to put on some decent clothes. Draco soon followed and the two of them got dressed as quickly as possible. Then Draco stampeded downstairs; Harish followed with much more grace. Finally Lucius apparated the two of them
As soon as they got there, Harish could tell that whatever called Lucius to the Ministry was certainly of importance. He could hear screams and shouts. They seemed to be in an office that was no doubt Lucius'. There was a desk, one high backed chair, one rickety chair on the other side of the desk, and two neat stacks of paper.
A man came skidding into the room and panting heavily exclaimed, "We've just apprehended a man from the Department of Mysteries! The Minister wants everyone to check the perimeter to make sure no one else got in!"
Lucius looked concerned at this news and commanded as he followed the man out, "Stay here!"
The two boys looked at each other. After a second, Draco plopped himself on the rickety chair and Harish made his way around the desk. He sat in the chair and propped his feet up on the desk. After a minute of silence Harish said nonchalantly, "You know I've always wanted to know what was in the Department of Mysteries."
Five minutes later found them running through deserted corridors. "So," Draco panted quietly as they reached the lift. "Do—you—do—this—sort of thing….often?"
Harish couldn't help it. He laughed. "Yes, Draco…"
"…It's a daily occurrence," he said after a minute.
"What is?"
"Breaking the rules."
The lift bumped to a halt and a woman's voice echoed through the lift. "Department of Mysteries."
The two boys stepped off together. Ahead was a plain black door. As Harish stepped forward, it swung open and he walked through it.
They were standing in a large circular room. Everything was black including the floor and ceiling—identical, unmarked, handle-less black doors were set at intervals all around the black walls, interspersed with candles that burned blue.
"Shut the door," Harish told Draco. His cold, smooth voice echoed about the room.
As the door clicked shut, they were instantly plunged into darkness. All Harish could see were the blue flames on the walls, and his and Draco's faces reflected off of the shimmering black floors. There were a dozen doors and as the two boys observed them, wondering which one to go through, they began spinning.
For a few seconds the blue flames were blurred into a neon line as the wall sped around and then, just as silently as it started, the doors stopped. All Harish could see were the blue streaks that had been burned into his eyes.
"I think," he said quietly. "They don't want us to know which door we came in."
"How are we going to get out?" Draco asked, his voice going up in pitch.
Harish simply shrugged and walked forward and inside one of the doors.
"Uh—" Draco said, not moving from the centre of the room.
"Are you going to stay there all by yourself?" Harish asked. There was a moment of silence before Draco came bolting through the door as well.
Their eyes were met by a brilliant sparkling light. It took a few seconds for their eyes to get used to the light, but when they did all Harish saw were clocks…everywhere. They walked slowly through the desks, glancing around and heading toward a crystal bell jar that was quite taller than they were and appeared to be full of a billowing, glittering wind.
"Look," Draco said, pointing at the heart of the bell jar.
Drifting along in the sparkling current was a tiny egg. As it rose in the jar it cracked open and a hummingbird emerged, which was carried to the top of the jar but as it fell it became bedraggled and damp again, and by the time it came back to the bottom of the jar it was an egg once again.
They stopped to watch it, the younger boy becoming entranced. Harish glanced over to see a door at the end of the room.
"Where does this go?" he asked, walking towards it.
Draco tore his eyes away from the bird to see Harish open the door. Not wanting to be abandoned again, he trotted over. The two boys walked down aisle after aisle of glowing orbs. For some odd reason Harish felt compelled to go forward; almost like something of importance lied within one of the shelves. They passed row after row, finally coming to a halt at row ninety seven.
Harish looked around and as he turned to go back down the aisle he saw something out of the corner of his eye. The was a faint blue glow coming from under the shelf. "What's this?" he asked quietly, pulling the orb out from underneath the shelf with his toe. "A prophesy."
He bent over to pick it up, but Draco's frightened voice rang out, "Don't touch it! You'll go insane!"
His hand froze inches above the prophesy. "Someone's already touched it," he said after thinking for a second. "That's why your father was called here. If it's already been picked up off the shelf, the protection won't work anymore."
With that Harish closed his hand around the orb and picked it up. A voice, harsh and ragged echoed through his ears: The one with the power to vanquish the most powerful wizard of our time approaches…" Harish's stomach plummeted. Whoever the ministry apprehended didn't take just any old prophesy. It was the prophesy he had heard about at the beginning of the year. "Born to those who thrice defied the Dark Lord, born as the seventh month dies…" It was the prophesy against his father. Then, he had a feeling that he didn't pick up this orb by mistake. There was every possibility that Voldemort had been trying to get it.
"Boys!" Harish jumped and looked around wildly, spotting Lucius walking up from the door they had come through. Instinctively, he shoved the prophesy into his pocket. "There you are! We've been looking all over—haven't any idea how this looks—no matter—come with me…"
He grabbed their shoulders and steered them out of the room, out of the Department of Mysteries, and to the grates where they flooed to Malfoy manor. Immediately from there, Lucius made Harish floo to his own home. When he stumbled out of the fireplace, he saw his father standing with his back to him, his arms crossed behind his back.
When the Dark Lord heard the fireplace die back down, he turned around and looked straight into Harish's eyes. His mouth was pressed into a thin line, but other than that he showed no emotion, and that was what frightened Harish the most.
"Lucius told me what happened," he stated. Harish bowed his head. "The prophecy."
Harish looked up, startled. Voldemort was standing there with a hand outstretched.
"How did you know?" Harish asked as he placed it in his father's palm.
Voldemort actually smiled. "I know you better than you think, my son."
Present day:
"You mean—"
"He actually set that up?" the twins asked after Harish finished his whole tale.
Harish nodded. "I think it was some sort of test. Also revenge on Rowle. But I think he wanted to see if I would retrieve the prophecy if I was there. That's even why I spent the holiday with Draco."
The twins mouths formed perfect O's.
"You're dad's—" George said.
"Really…" Fred trailed off, uncertain for the right word.
"Slytherin?" Harish supplied.
"Yeah…" both twins agreed.
THE-GREAT-ALL—KNOWING-LORD-VOLDEMORT!
For a good while the ministry break-in was all anyone talked about. It put the entire Wizarding World into a state of panic. After Voldemort's "defeat" the everyone was lulled into a sense of false security. They celebrated, they forgot all about the statue of secrecy, and eventually they even forgot that they never found the Dark Lord's body. Then, years later when a Death Eater was apprehended inside the Ministry of Magic, the people began wondering if something was going on.
But, as all things go in and out of fashion, students began to talk about it less and less as exams grew nearer. By May Harish was rather glad that no one wanted to ask his opinion on why a Death Eater was even in the Ministry. They were so piled with homework that it came as such a relief. Harish spent hours on end studying in the library. The twins studied a little, but they were so easily distracted that they often ran off to do other things.
On top of that, they also had to decide which classes to take. This, Harish knew, would be important for whichever class he took, it would contribute to what job he had when he was an adult. Several kids made a really big fuss out of it, but some just closed their eyes, pointed their wand at a piece of parchment, and chose the class it landed on.
Also, everyone in Slytherin were trying to give Harish advice. One person would say, "You need to take Divination! You'll never know when you want to take a look at what your future might hold!" and then another person would say, "No, Divination is just a joke. What you really want to do is Arithmancy." Finally Harish got fed up with it and nearly hexed the last person that tried to give him advice. Eventually, the three boys all settled on Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures, and Divination. Harish didn't really like the idea of Divination and he would have taken Muggle Studies instead, but he was sure his father would kill him if he knew his son was learning about Muggles.
At the end of May was the final match between Slytherin and Hufflepuff. The Slytherin team, now most definitely unbeatable, flattened Hufflepuff two hundred points to ten. Harish was treated as a hero at the party that took place shortly afterward.
Finally exams were upon them and they spent their days taking an exam, studying for the next one, taking that exam, and then studying all night for the two they would take the next day. Harish was pretty confident that he scored well on all of them by the time it was the last day of school. At the feast it was announced that Slytherin had yet again won the house cup and they went to sleep in their beds for the last time that year. The next day, after confirming that the twins would correspond with him to see about getting together, Harish finally said a miserable goodbye and they parted ways, ready for the next year to come. The year that Draco would finally join them at Hogwarts.
YAY—DRACO!
"Anger, anger is all I feel. They did this to us, this is their fault. I need revenge. This is all their fault. Revenge, revenge is what I need."
A thin hand pointed to a recent newspaper of the break-in at the Ministry. This one Dumbledore spoke about it, saying that it was no big deal to get worried about, but later in the article the reporter started going on about how everyone now suspected that "You-Know-Who is behind this."
"They did this to me. They will pay. Angry….Anger…"