Lucy Riddle and the Boy Who Lived

The Rescue Mission

Chapter Twenty-One

At the beginning of the night, she had thought it would be just the four best friends who would be out to save Harry Potter's godfather. Never had she thought Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood, and, especially, Neville Longbottom would be willing to risk their lives for something they don't know about. Heck, not even she knew what exactly was going on.

"Where are we going, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"We need to go to the Ministry of Magic — and quick. Sirius is in the Department of Mysteries. I don't know how long he has before Voldemort kills him."

So that's how the group was flying on "invisible" skeleton horses called thestrals. Lucy was able to see the creatures and, in the moonlight, were actually very beautiful in an odd way. It was obvious who was and wasn't able to see it. Luna, Neville, and Harry were in the former group; Ginny, Hermione, and Ron were in the latter.

No one was talking. There was no noise except for the screaming Hermione, clutching her horse's mane as if it was her lifeline . . . which it was. Lucy couldn't help but feel a range of emotions flowing through her veins. Fear, panic, excitement, worry.

Would her father recognize her? Would he remember his only daughter? Would she be happy? Would he kill Sirius?

So many woulds; not a lot of answers. It wasn't long before they landed in a dark alley. Harry helped the others get off their thestrals. Lucy was feeling weary of being terrified or panicky about seeing Voldemort. She was supposed to be his daughter, not his enemy, but it was just so hard. He had done so many bad things. Things you can't look over.

Harry herds up the group into a red, busted telephone booth. He leaned over to picked up the receiver and instructed to Ron, who was closest to the dials, "Dial six two four four two."

Ron did as he was told, and another voice spoke. It wasn't any of theirs, but a monotone woman's voice.

"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and state your business."

"Neville Longbottom, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Luna Lovegood, Ginny Weasley, and Lucy Donavon. We're here on a rescue mission."

Name tags popped out of the change slot. It was all passed around to their respective owners. Lucy took a hold of hers and stared at it.

Lucy Donavon
RESCUE MISSION

The booth dropped until they reached the entrance of the Ministry of Magic. The Ministry retains an aura of mystery. They weren't even in the Department of Mysteries yet! Everything seemed too . . . simple. There were no wizards pacing around the underground building. Not a single person was in sight.

With the Dark Lord up and about, you'd think there'd be security guards everywhere. No one was idiotic enough to leave their secrets out a silver platter for their enemies to grab — with the exception of the Ministry of Magic.

"Come on," Harry said, waving the lot over towards a hallway. He ran passed statues of a witch, wizard, goblin, and elf. They were all high and mighty, but the picture was all wrong. Witches and wizards overpowered the goblins and elves. It was propaganda.

They stopped in a dark hallway with only one door right ahead. Lucy nudged her way to the front. Harry had stopped and tried to open the door, but with no luck. She felt something in her cloak. It was her father's makeshift knife! She always had it with her.

Lucy pulled it out and looked for a key. It was all the way at the end, and with luck, the door opened! She'd have to thank her father later on. She pushed the door with her foot and watched as it creaked open, displaying a room full of doors. There were symbols on each door, but they were the exact same: a star.