|| Enchanted || Lily Luna Potter

A Stroll Through the Ministry

Whirling through a flammable fireplace is the last damn time I would transport through. All I remember is screaming my hair off through the ride and not the good kind of screams. Fortunately, the fireplace immediately spit us out. We fell on top of each other and groaned in pain. I coughed, making charcoal air out from my face. CJ fell on Jack's back but managed to get up. Leila, on the other hand, fell on top of my stomach. Good thing she is athletic or she'd be giving me stomach issues. "Is everyone ok?" Leila asked. Jack got up and rubbed his back in pain. "Yeah...I think." He said, whispering the last part. We realized we were covered in complete soot and wiped it off repeatedly. I looked around confusedly. CJ did the same. "Where are we?" I asked. She hummed in response. "This place look familiar..." She trailed off. "Looks like a bookstore." Leila said. Got a point there. This store is rammed with collections of books rather peculiarly. Jack slightly jumped while watching four books fly themselves to the cashier table. A young mother, holding her little daughter's hand was pulling out her money and buying them. Leila grabbed my shoulder. "Guys, let's be discreet. We can't look like we came from the fireplace." She whispered. Jack huffed. "Then how will we explain the soot?" He whispered. As they spoke, CJ walked to the lady and spoke in her ear. She's gonna get us in trouble before we even leave this shop. The lady smiled, pulling out her wand. Her daughter smiled sweetly at her. Aww! Jack and Leila were confused. She walked back to us. "You might wanna stay still." She said. The lady waved her wand, making charcoal soot disappear off our clothes. My eyes widened. I smiled. That was awesome! "Thank you!" CJ beamed. She returned the gesture as they left the shop. We soon acted we were done shopping here and followed behind. The cashier was easily fooled. A wide view of this town nearly stole my tongue. Our jaws dropped shockingly. "Are we at..." Jack trailed off. CJ smiled happily. "Yup. Diagon Alley." She said. All young or old witches and wizards walking back and forth. Including huge packed stores and cafes.

I was still freaking mesmerized. This isn't no dream at all. If it was, I would be on the floor sleeping from all the transporting crap. CJ smiled, twirling around. "We're here! We're here! I've always known there was something off with my family!" She squealed. Truthfully, CJ has no idea of what her family's truly like and this could be the answer. The question is what's really going on here. Some people bumped past Jack. "Sorry! Excuse me, sorry!" He told them. We went back on the sidewalk from the crowd. Leila shrugged. "Where's Drell?" She asked. CJ groaned, pulling out his letter. "If only we had the Marauder's map." She muttered. My brain clicked. I nudged her shoulder. "Ceej, hand me back my match and lighter." I told her. Jack handed them back. Guess he must've had it. Leila facepalmed her forehead. "River, what exactly do you do with that thing? Light up candles?" She asked sarcastically. Jack snickered. "Or smoke a joint?" He joked. I fake smiled. "You know what I could light up? Two people in a fireplace!" I growled. They stopped talking while CJ was going over the letter. I walked up to her. "Anything?" I asked. She huffed. "Nothing! Drell could've gave us a map or location address!" She complained. I pulled out a match and lightened it up. Maybe we could burn the letter if it's useless. Sudden words seem to appear instantly from the back. We watched in shock and amusement. "What the..." Jack trailed off. CJ turned it around. Words in ink were beginning to be shown due to my lightened match. We smiled. "Damn that's lit!" I cheered. Leila laughed. "Read it! Read it!" She told her. The lines officially turned into a map with the title. CJ smiled. "It says Ministry of Magic and this first line is leading to- Lily cut her off. "Forward! Past this Gringotts bank where we find some telephone booth that'll take us there." She finished. They looked at her in shock. I smirked. "Shout out to our map reader." I joked. We laughed. My brain clicked, remembering the telephone booth. "That's the same one Harry took to his hearing!" I told them. CJ smiled widely. "Yes! That's the one! Let's go!" She beamed, taking off past us. Jack and Leila stared at me weirdly. I put hands up in surrender. "Hey, she made me watch these films." I said. They nodded in understanding as we followed behind.

The same red telephone booth Harry used was found. We walked in but got quite squished together. I managed to shift between Jack and Leila. CJ was carrying the match so we could see the map. "Ok, how do you get there? Call them?" I asked jokingly. They snickered quietly. She smirked and pressed a couple numbers on the keyboard. "Whoa! Damn! Hey!" We blurted as we transported underground. They backed against the walls for dear life but I stayed on my feet. Green flames erupted, making us appear presently to our next destination. Our eyes widened. Leila gasped. "Is this really happening?" Jack asked himself. CJ smiled. "I give you The Ministry of Magic." She playfully introduced.

I found myself cringing disgustedly. CJ slightly cringed but shook it off. Leila chuckled. "Are you two ok?" She asked. "Eww. Gross." I blurted. Jack was confused. "What's gross?" He asked. "Business people equals authorities and all these colored pantsuits." I said through gritted teeth. CJ inhaled a deep breath. "If we can Floo ourselves here, we can handle going pass business people." She said confidently. I shivered disgustedly, noticing an older man signing papers with a magicked pencil-wait quill. That's what they're called. CJ turned the letter over and sighed. "Now where's his office?" She asked. We were getting odd looks from some business people. Leila pointed to the second line on the map. "There! After taking the booth, his office is two towers up so I guess we'll have to take the elevator." She told us. Jack pointed to one nearby. "Found one!" He quickly said. We carefully rushed through the small crowds and stepped into the elevator. I'm eternally grateful it's not squished like that phone booth. Three more people stepped in while one pressed a button. He was tall, dark and wore a dark purple-blueish dress robe with the same colored hat in different shapes. CJ's jaw dropped. "What?" I whispered in her ear. "Don't you remember? That's- she was cut off when the man himself looked at us weirdly. "Hm, where are you lot coming from?" He asked. We mentally panicked. She smiled politely. "Hi! I'm CJ! I'm Drell's niece. I came here with my friends to pay him a visit." She told him. Wow, how'd she pull that off? We returned the gesture. "Yeah. Sup I'm River!" I said. "I'm Leila." She introduced politely. "Jack!" He said. He smiled kindly. "Nice to meet you all. Drell told me so much about you CJ. I'm Kingsley Shacklebolt. We should be arriving to the third floor in..." He trailed off. The doors reopened, letting us step out where we saw a hallway of many offices. CJ couldn't help cheering quietly that Mr. Kingsley knew about her. He was leading the way as we walk passed Ministry workers. We came to a halt once he opened the doorknob. Drell sat behind his desk signing paperwork and a moving quill was signing one itself beside his left arm. "Drell! Look who came to visit!" He said, smirking. Leila smiled at Kingsley. "Thank you." She said. He nodded and walked away. He looked up to see us but checked his wristwatch. "Well...it took you long enough." He said in a unimpressed tone.