Artemis Hexley and the Return to the Riddles

Chapter 2: Mayhem at the Ministry

Having spent six years living and studying at Hogwarts castle, Artemis had seen a great deal of grandeur in her life. However, nothing at Hogwarts had quite prepared her for the splendour that was the atrium of the Ministry of Magic.

The atrium was a large and grand hall, bigger than any of the rooms in the castle, with dark polished floors and a high ceiling decorated with slowly moving golden symbols. The walls were even shinier than the floor, and lined with ornate fireplaces. Overhead, flurries of paper airplanes soared through the air, and she and her friends were surrounded by the hustle and bustle of hundreds of witches and wizards making their way through the grand room.

"It's a bit crowded, isn't it?" Charlie murmured as they left the security desk, dodging out of the way of a witch running through the atrium from a nearby fireplace in the direction of a monument in the centre of the hall.

"I quite like it. It's exciting," Artemis replied, and she pulled at his arm gently, her eyes on the monument the witch had just run past. "Come on. Let's go and see what that is."

"I need to go and meet Liz and Barnaby for the orientation-"

"I know, and you will. It won't take a minute to go and look, will it?"

Charlie sighed, and both he and Tonks followed Artemis to the centre of the atrium, where they were able to see that it was not simply a monument, but a great fountain, with five enormous statues in the centre - a witch, a wizard, a centaur, a goblin, and a house-elf - all carved out of bright shining gold. Artemis stared, mesmerised by the way the light in the atrium reflected off the surface of the statues and the water droplets that cascaded around them.

"They look a bit gormless, don't they?" said Tonks, one pink eyebrow raised at the house-elf statue.

"Shush," Artemis hissed back at her. "I think it's brilliant."

"Speak for yourself. All I'm saying is in all the times I've been to the bank I've never seen a goblin gaze lovingly at me like it wants to kiss my-"

Artemis rolled her eyes and turned to Charlie, who was also regarding the statues with a sceptical look in his brown eyes.

"Don't you like it either?"

"I mean, it's pretty," Charlie said, frowning slightly.

"But?"

"But I don't think whoever made it has ever met a real centaur before. Can you imagine Torvus looking at anyone like that?"

Following Charlie's line of sight, Artemis had to admit that he had a point. Torvus was the only centaur Artemis had ever met, and though they had eventually made their peace with one another, they had not gotten off to the best start. Looking closer at the golden centaur statue, Artemis could see a look of wonder and admiration in its expression that would have looked positively absurd on Torvus' face. Still, there was something about the centaur statue's gilded visage that seemed somewhat familiar. She was certain that somewhere - in a book or a painting, perhaps - she had seen a centaur look just like that before.

"Maybe that's just Torvus," she said, crossing her arms across her chest. "I know he's your friend, Charlie, but he can be pretty rude and abrupt sometimes."

Charlie blinked at Artemis. "Well, some people like that."

Tonks snorted, and Artemis shook her head and narrowed her eyes at Charlie, who almost smirked.

"Right then, shall we go and experience some work?" he suggested, and they made their way through the crowds to the lifts at the far end of the atrium.

Inside, they could see from the controls of the elevator that they were currently on Level Eight, several storeys below ground level. In fact, only two levels were below them: the Department of Mysteries on Level Nine, and the courtrooms on Level Ten, which could apparently only be accessed by stairs. Artemis froze, her hand still reaching out to the buttons of elevator.