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- 19 -
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The sick feeling from apparition did not fade when my feet finally hit the floor, anticipation churned through my stomach, and for the first time in a long time, I was sick. Sebastian stood to the side as my stomach emptied into the cold London street. The quiet street was filled only with my gasping breath as I struggled for air. Once I stood upright again, the retching subsided but the nausea refused to leave.
"This is where we separate," Sebastian spoke quietly, hesitantly watching as I did my best to compose myself. "If someone were to see us together..."
"I get it."
"You'll find Potter on the ninth floor."
"Why do I feel as if you're sending me to my death," I look him in the eye. I had intended it to be a joke but when the words left my mouth they turned grim. Sebastian doesn't say another word, but it is all the answer I need. With a blank face and without another word he disappears once more, leaving me alone in the street. I glance around, seeing the telephone box to my left. Harry had described it to me once, after his trial at the beginning of the year. I stepped inside, thankful for Harry's vivid description of his trip to the ministry, and dial the numbers; six, two, four, four, two.
"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."
"Oh uh, Elora Black..." My eyes flicked over the floor, spotting a badge dropped on the unusually clean ground. The words were in bold, and I couldn't help but laugh.
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Ron Weasley
Rescue Mission
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"...Rescue mission I guess," I laugh, the small badge gave me comfort. If Ron was here, so was Harry.
"Thank you," said the cool female voice. "Visitors, please take the badges and attach them to the front of your robes."
A badge of my own shoots out of a slot on the machine, Elora Black: Rescue Mission.
"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."
