Faery Heroes

Chapter 38: Raid on the Ministry

As the trio of thieves admired their newest target, a crisp female voice intoned, "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic."

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"All right, girls, remember the plan," the masked man reminded his lovers. "We aren't the Foxes tonight. Get in, get out, no one ever knows we were here."

Hermione, her illusion masking her as the most pompous of the Weasley clan, nodded. "Try to maintain mirror silence, but if we do need to get in touch with each other, code names are the order of our birth dates. Unless the timeline is more different than we think it is, there shouldn't be anyone here except whoever the Order sent to guard the Department of Mysteries, but there's no reason not to take precautions. You're taking care of that, Two?"

"I am," came Harry's voice from somewhere ahead of her. She huffed to herself; she often attempted to figure out exactly when he left her side on missions like this, but not once had she succeeded in that self-imposed challenge. Between his experience at sneaking around, a silencing charm on his feet, and Death's own Cloak of Invisibility, he was nearly impossible to track when he did not want to be found.

"And I'm hitting Umbridge's and the Minister's offices," Luna added, her pet snorkack's natural Notice-Me-Not field wavering slightly as she drew attention to herself. "No telling what kind of dirt the Toad is hiding. I'll look through the Department for the Control of Magical Creatures, too, if I have spare time. Since MacNair's been dead for almost a month, I doubt they'll have kept any of his personal effects, but you never know. Maybe there will be something linking him to Death Eaters we don't know about."

"Understood." She, on the other hand, would be looking through the law enforcement floor of the Ministry; it housed both the Improper Use of Magic Office, the bane of all Muggleborns, as well as the Administrative Registration Office, more commonly known as the Hall of Records and the place that would hold addresses for the rest of the Death Eaters. Not to mention, she was curious what the DMLE knew about their other heists, and the Auror and Law Enforcement Patrol would be the best places to find that out.

The first expected hurdle, the empty security desk, proved to be nothing. The trio had multiple plans for any warning charms on the golden gates nearby for unregistered wands or someone passing through them or something, but to their surprise, there was nothing. "One, Three, explain something to me, if you could. Why do they have a security desk at all if people can just walk right in, fully armed and undetected, whenever the hell they want?" Harry grumbled.

"Because they just want to put up a display of safety and competency?" Luna offered. "If they harass enough people who just want to get on with their day, they can convince themselves that they're prepared even though they have nothing to actually stop someone who plans to do some harm? Or maybe it's just an illusion of safety for the average wizard, I don't know."

"Considering we're the ones benefiting from it this time, I'd suggest we don't argue against good fortune at the moment," she cut in. "Everyone grab a lift. The faster we get to our targets, the faster we can get out of here."

The end of the hallway contained at least twenty golden grilles, so they had no trouble finding one for each of them. Hermione waited rather impatiently for the lift to arrive at her destination; with the Atrium being located on the eighth floor from the surface, rising all the way to the second where the DMLE was situated took a while, especially when the lift opened its doors automatically at each new floor. Finally, however, the chains clattered as the grille slid open for the last time, and the same feminine voice she heard when they arrived told her, "Level two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters, and Wizengamot Administration Services."