WE'LL TAKE ON THE WORLD ; h.j.p.

32 | The Department of Mysteries

"Whoever's nearest the receiver, dial six two four four two!" Harry said, and Ron followed the order, his arm bent bizarrely to reach the dial.

As it whirred back into place the cool female voice sounded inside the box, "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."

"Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Allison Parker," 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."

Seven badges slid out of the metal chute where returned coins usually appeared. Hermione scooped them up and handed half of them over Ginny's head to Allison; she spread them to the others, then looked down at her own, which read:

Allison Parker, 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."

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

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

A chink of soft golden light hit their feet and, widening, rose up their bodies. Allison could feel Harry next to her tense up, hand clenched around his wand and bringing himself into a position where he was ready to fight, as much as possible in a cramped space like this one, while Luna on her other side was looking towards the ceiling of the phone box dreamily.

Allison peered past her through the glass to see whether anybody was waiting for them in the Atrium, but it seemed to be completely empty. The light was dimmer than it was during the day. There were no fires burning under the mantelpieces set into the walls, but she saw as the elevator slid smoothly to a halt that golden symbols continued to twist sinuously in the dark blue ceiling.

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

The door of the telephone box burst open; Harry toppled out of it, followed by Allison and Luna. 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 seven of them sprinted off down the hall, Harry in the lead, past the fountain, toward a deserted security desk.

It was strange that there was not a single security officer in sight, nor any other Ministry employee, and the feeling in her gut that something was off grew bigger as they passed the golden gates, Harry pressed the nearest down button and an elevator clattered into sight almost immediately. Her dad always complained about how long he had to wait for the elevators to arrive, and for them to be completely empty, even at such a late hour, seemed odd.

The golden grilles slid apart with a great, echoing clanking, and they dashed inside. Harry stabbed the number nine button, the grilles closed with a bang, and the elevator began to descend, jangling and rattling. The elevator made an awful lot of noise and Allison would have been convinced that it surely alarmed any security guard in the building, if she did not have the unsettling feeling that there weren't any there at all...

When the elevator halted, the cool female voice said, "Department of Mysteries," and the grilles slid open again, they stepped out into the corridor where nothing was moving but the nearest torches, flickering in the rush of air from the lift.