Death at Hogwarts - A Harry Potter fanfiction

Chapter Sixteen

"Snape is Headmaster of Hogwarts? No way!" Ron burst out, looking from Harry to Hermione and I. 

Harry had just returned from the final scouting of the Ministry, and had finally worked out how to enter. During his scout, however, he had learned that Severus had been made the Headmaster of Hogwarts. It was on the front page of the Daily Prophet that lay on the table before us. The four of us were in the kitchen, Ron, Hermione and I sat at the table, each of us nursing a cup of cocoa made by Kreacher, who, it turned out, was a fantastic cook when he was feeling nice. He had a soft spot for Harry and I, and had told me the reason he liked me is because I knew what it was like to not be human.  

"I can't believe it, either." Harry sighed, sinking into a chair with a sigh. Kreacher immediately ran up and placed a steaming mug down in front of him. Harry took a sip of the chocolatey sweetness and gave a grateful sigh. 

"Thanks, Kreacher." 

"You are most welcome, Master Harry." Kreacher croaked, bowing low before running off to check if the oven was hot enough to start preparing that night's stew for dinner. 

As I sat sipping my cocoa quietly, talk turned to the locket, and Dolores once more. After some talk, Harry spoke up. 

"I think we should do it tomorrow." 

Hermione froze, her cocoa halfway to her mouth and on gaped at Harry. I said nothing, did nothing. The sooner we got to the Ministry, the better. I had business there. Not that I was telling any of them that.  

"Are you mad? Ron asked hoarsley. 

"I think we're ready. We know as much as we can possibly learn without actually being inside the Ministry itself." Harry argued. 

He wasn't wrong there. They'd spent so long preparing now that any more waiting and scouting would be pointless.  

Suddenly, Harry went white and stood up, making excuses that he needed the bathroom. Hermione and Ron followed him, and I heard Harry yelling out not long after, and Hermione telling him off for not closing his mind to Voldemort. 

I closed my ears to them as I thought about my reason for going to the Ministry

The next morning, I was sat in the kitchen, nursing a cup of tea when Hermione walked in. Kreacher served her a cup of coffee and some hot rolls and she sat, reciting everything to herself, looking as manic as she had the year before when she had been revising for her exams. 

Harry and Ron walked in, Hermione barely gave them a nod before retuning to muttering her list to herself under her breath. 

Soon enough, we left, and arrived at the place where the others had been scouting from for so long.  

In no time at all, we were there, inside the Ministry of Magic. Hermione had taken on the form of Mafalda Hopkirk, Ron was Reg Cattermole, and Harry was Albert Runcorn, a rather menacing looking fellow. Me? I was no one. No one and nothing. I was invisible to all, not even the trio could see me, and that was just the way I wanted it. I told them in a quiet whisper that I would meet them the moment they had the locket and walked off, my destination clear.

Heading to the black corridor Harry had seen in his dreams in his fifth year, I walked into the Department of Mysteries and dropped both my disguise and my invisibility. Instantly, I sensed the veil react to my presence some way ahead. Momentarily ignoring it, I floated over to the door that Harry had told me he had failed to open, the one that Albus had told him contained a force far more powerful than death. He had been wrong. Behind that door was something that belonged to me, something that had been stolen from me. I had been waiting a long time to retreive it. I did not want to simply saunter into the Ministry and take it back, I had wanted a clear reason to go into the Ministry, and now I finally had one. I reached out and grabbed the handle and turned it. The door was locked. I growled. If they thought they could keep me out then they were sadly mistaken. I pulled at the handle, harder and harder. I roared and pulled with all my considerable might and the door splintered, then flew off it's hinges, flying through me and crashing to the floor behind me. I gave another low growl as I thought of all the trouble they had gone to hide it from me. I walked into the large room and took a look around.