The Enemy of my Enemy

The Rescue Mission

TEDDIE GREEN - RESCUE MISSION.

Teddie stared at the badge in her hand. It had come out of the coin slot in a pay phone outside a large stone building in the middle of London. She frowned and looked up at the others, all of whom had just toppled backwards out of the pay phone booth and landed in a heap on the floor of the Ministry of Magic.

Harry extracted himself from the heap and moved, his hand in hand, further into the main hall. The silence was eerie, and the hall so dark that Teddie could barely see the way in front of her. Surely it wasn't meant to be like this. Didn't Mo Flint say that some people worked late, and there was always someone working the night shift on the front desk.

"The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant evening," said the cool female voice from the pay phone. As Teddie stepped out of the box, she had managed to wedge herself into a corner and therefore hadn't been caught up in the others tripping over themselves.

"I don't like this," said Teddie, her voice echoing in the silence. She pulled out her wand and muttered 'Lumos'. A small ball of light appeared at the tip of her wand, as all around her, the others did the same.

Theo turned to Harry. "Which way?" he asked.

"Over here," said Harry, leading them through a set of golden gates. They hurried down the narrow pathway and stopped outside some lifts. Harry pressed the closest button and grids slid apart with a great, echoing clanking. The group dashed inside, and Harry stabbed the number nine button, the grids closed with a bang and the lift began to descend, jangling and rattling all the way.

Teddie bit the inside of her cheek. "Well," she said, her voice smothered by the noise of the lift. "If they didn't know we were here before, they surely do now."

Finally, the lift came to a stop and the doors slid open.

"Department of Mysteries," said the same cool female voice from the phone booth.

The group stepped out into a darkened corridor where nothing was moving but the nearest torches, flickering in the rush of air from the lift.

Halfway down the corridor, Harry turned to his left and faced a plain black door. His hands clenched into fists and then relaxed at his sides, and his gaze slid over the door, as if looking for something that was not there.

"What's in there?" Ginny asked.

Harry shook his head and stepped towards the door. "Let's go," he whispered, and he led them towards the door. He stopped just before it, his hand against the cool metal of the doorknob. "Wait, maybe... maybe a couple of us should stay here as a - as a lookout, and -"

"And how are we going to let you know something's coming?" asked Ginny. "You could be miles away."

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

Teddie nodded as Harry's gaze skipped to her. "When are you going to get it into your head?" she asked. "We're in this together."

Hermione nodded in agreement.

"Let's get on with it," said Ron firmly.

Harry hesitated. It was clear that he did not want to take them all with him, but he didn't have a choice. They were there, and there was no turning them back. Besides, he wouldn't have put it past Teddie to agree to stay behind, but following him, nonetheless. He sighed and turned his attention back to the door. He pushed it open and led them inside.

They were standing in a large, circular room. Everything in here was black, including the floor and ceiling - identical, unmarked, handle-less 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 so that it looked as though there was dark water underfoot.