Astra

LXXIII - The Ministry of Magic

ASTRA HAD MADE AN AGREEMENT with Rita Skeeter the year before, specifically telling her not to target any of her friends in any articles.

Technically, Rita had abided by those rules, not writing any articles of her own.

But it was obvious in the Daily Prophet that she was feeding information she had found in her beetle animagus, and Astra wasn't going to stand by that. She was petty, and Rita had tested her, so there was no other option than to go on with the threat.

Regulus wasn't helping her anymore, but she was quite glad that there was a certain relative who worked at the ministry and also spent a lot of time at Grimmauld Place.

Nymphadora Tonks was more than happy to help Astra with the court case, remembering certain things she had heard her mother, Andromeda, talk about and knowing her way around the ministry.

"You sure you'll get there alright? I could always take you," Tonks offered, heading out of the house in the morning.

"Don't worry," Astra reassured her, "owls have an excellent sense of direction."

The metamorphagus nodded and Astra turned around, going back to her room. Ginny and Ron were the only other ones in on the plan, helping make it seem as if Astra was still in her room. She was pretty sure that Sirius would have been fine with her getting revenge on Rita Skeeter, but if she never asked he would never be able to say no.

She prepared the papers, put into an envelope with a string around it, and the evidence which was actually pretty easy to gather once she knew what she was looking for.

Astra transformed into her animagus form and Ginny tied the envelopes to her ankle, giving a small mock-salute as Astra hopped out of the window and flew to the ministry.

It was true that owls had a great sense of direction; only thinking about the Ministry of Magic and letting her instincts take over, she was at the visitors' entrance in what was probably about an hour.

She opened the telephone booth and put in the code, 62442, and the dial whirred smoothly back into place. A cool female voice sounded inside the telephone box, as loudly and plainly as though an invisible woman were standing right beside her. 

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

"Astra Black to report Rita Skeeter as an unregistered animagus," she wasn't completely sure whether she should have limited it to only 'filing a court case', but the cool female voice said nothing against it.

"Thank you," it said, "Visitor, please take the badge and attach it to the front of your robes."

There was a click and a rattle, and Astra saw something slide out of the metal chute where returned coins usually appeared. She picked up a square silver badge and pinned it to her jacket.

Astra Black
Court Case Filing

"Visitor to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium." The floor of the telephone box shuddered and she was sinking slowly into the ground. 

Astra watched apprehensively as the pavement rose up past the glass windows of the telephone box until darkness closed over their heads. Then she could see nothing at all; she could only hear a dull grinding noise as the telephone box made its way down through the earth. After about a minute, a chink of golden light illuminated her feet and, widening, rose up her body, until it hit her in the face. 

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

The door of the telephone box sprang open and Astra stepped out of it. She quickly blinked, focusing her attention on only the living, as it was way too crowded there (though she couldn't figure out why anyone would want to spend time at the Ministry after they died).