Close Or Far From The Law

Chapter 33 : 32. Intrusions

Voldemort passed control of the wands and called the elevator. Yes, he was at the Ministry, the opportunity was great. The Aurors had to protect the big names at the ball, they wouldn't pay attention to the rest of the building. Especially if they had no idea what was going on. After a few checking spells, he entered the cage and pressed the button to go to the Department of Mysteries floor. The machine started up, taking him away from the party sounds and classical music that echoed in the hall. He didn't think his little lion was having fun. There was no reason for this whole circus to please him, quite the contrary. He rather wondered if young Draco would still dare to titillate his young love. Voldemort still hadn't spoken about this with Lucius, on the contrary, he wanted to see where the Malfoy Heir was going with this. What he wanted by challenging him, because yes, it was indeed a challenge.

The elevator stopped on the correct floor, Voldemort exited into the vast white hall, facing the single door which then led to the hidden rest of the landing. Nobody expected him. He could have told his disciple to join him but he certainly didn't need him to make his way around the place. As for the other Unspeakables, he would know how to master them very well. Voldemort adjusted his hood which hid the features of his face in unfathomable darkness and tapped the door with his wand to open it. He preferred not to touch anything, just in case. He was all too aware that things in this place were not always what they seemed.

The door opened, Voldemort walked through it. As expected, everyone else got mixed up and he couldn't rely on Harry's memories to find his way. That wasn't how it worked. And Black's trick was of no use to him, smells did not stay long in a place designed to play with the senses and the mind. So yes, Voldemort opened one at random, hoping nevertheless not to come across the offices of the Unspeakables. Luck was with him, he opened onto a large room with a vaulted ceiling, filled with a collection of very rare animals in cages. Voldemort walked among the Demiguises who no longer had the strength to make themselves invisible, the black unicorns slumped in their boxes, the few chimeras clearly invented by the Unspeakables. Voldemort might have wanted to dwell on their work but he considered that such manipulations were unnecessary, that they created more danger than they answered questions. He continued towards the back of the room, having to be careful as he passed a busy desk.

And he was finally in the main corridor of the Department. The beginning was mostly just a setup to avoid visitors. While those who knew would not stop at that and would know how to find a real path through the places. In this case this corridor which was the very artery of the place. Voldemort listened, although he didn't think he would see anyone there at this hour. The dance had started two hours earlier, so there was no reason for anyone to work more than necessary that evening. Especially if he did something dangerous that could reach the guests.

Voldemort cracked a smile at this idea and continued his search. No, he hadn't come for the Hall of Prophecies, on the contrary, he had other ideas in mind. He wanted an easy and convenient way to enter the Ministry, whether for himself or his minions. Now, although the Department of Mysteries could be a labyrinth, it was also the one with the fewest personnel. Not necessarily the easiest to invade but the easiest to defend, certainly. Because the Aurors themselves didn't understand it. Voldemort finally found what he was looking for, a simple room that all the floors had, a room where no one would notice the slightest change: the storage room. Where we stored everything we no longer used, from broken quills, to crumbled desks, to tired cupboards. Things that we accumulated without thinking because we told ourselves that we could repair them, make something else with a simple wave of our wand when the time was right. The black mage took the displacement cabinet out of his pocket and returned it to its original size. He removed an existing cupboard and gave the cabinet the appearance of the missing one before putting it in its place. He ensured the location and satisfied, Voldemort entered the study and appeared in a room in his headquarters.