B.Q Book Four: The Black Queen's War

Chapter 32: The Ministry of Magic

Mad-Eye was no stranger to the twists and turns of Hogwarts. He had come to know them first when he had been a student, exploring the castle's hidden places the same way that many other Slytherins of the time had done, and then again when he had been employed as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher back in 1994. This part of the castle, however, was unfamiliar to him, and while he could not say definitively that it was because he had never been here rather than that it had no distinguishing features, the fact that Amelia was guiding him down here raised more than a couple of questions.

The first, namely, was "What's down here that you're so impatient for me to see?"

"A couple of weeks ago, the Unspeakables asked for a section of the castle where they could run some experiments. They said it was for the war, which was the only reason I agreed with it in the first place, but they sent a message this morning that whatever they were working on is finished and ready for a demonstration."

And she wanted him to watch her back. Not a bad idea; even though the Department of Mystery was supposed to be loyal to the Minister and the Ministry, the Unspeakables were so often doing their own strange things in their basement level that there were no ties between them and anyone else in the Ministry. If they decided to revolt, no one would know until it was too late to stop them.

That was probably not the reason she had come up with, though. More likely she was falling back on her own training as an Auror, which dictated that whenever possible, Aurors were to operate in pairs so they could not be taken down by a surprise attack from behind. She might also want him to take a look with her because she knew that they had very different ways of looking and the world, so he would see something she missed and vice versa.

He was curious about just why Marchbanks, whom he knew only by reputation, would let the Department of Mysteries run crazy experiments in the castle, but that was a matter for another time.

The door leading to the Unspeakables' laboratory had no special markings that could be seen, but its presence was obvious by the grey-robed figures standing outside to greet them. He swiveled his replacement eye to get a quick look inside the room, but the walls had been turned opaque in a similar manner to whatever charm they put on their hoods to hide their faces from both of his eyes. Even though he could not see their expressions, he could still imagine a pair of mocking smiles.

It would not be the first time he ran into Unspeakables who took pleasure out of being the smartest wizard in the room.

"Minister. Auror," one of the Unspeakables said with a faint nod as he opened the door.

When Amelia and Mad-Eye walked into the room, it was to find the lead Unspeakable sitting in a chair facing them, eight crystal boxes stuck on the floor and ceiling in a rough cube around him and the two chairs sitting in front of him. "I'm pleased you could make it," Croaker said with a wave. "Please, step closer. Come see the fruits of our research."

"You're talking about these box things, aren't you?" he asked, jabbing the end of his staff at the nearest one. "I hope they do more than look pretty."

The likelihood of them being as innocent as they appeared was an incredibly small one, that much he knew for sure. He had read the report of the candle the Unspeakables had crafted to assist in the raid on Voldemort's castle, so he knew the kinds of things they could do when they started showing off. If he was being honest with himself, the fact that they could make magic do seemingly whatever they wanted was actually rather unnerving.