The Ministry Has Fallen

Chapter 3

Author's Note: Sorry there was no update last week. I had a family matter that needed taking care of, and I didn't want to just rush the chapter and thus sacrifice quality.

Longer chapter this time, so yay! Also - there will be OOC-ness in this story. I will warn you about this now. Not terribly drastic, but things like Luna no longer being the dreamy, innocent person she's always been, and Harry being far harsher than he used to be. This is a war, and they are rebels - war changes people. If you don't like their personality shifts, you don't have to read. I personally think I still kept quite a bit of their underlying personalities, despite some harsher changes to their mannerisms.

That said, yes, events are still building up, but if I remember correctly, there will be more action next time around. This chapter was meant to set up their new way of living. :) Hope you enjoy! Please leave a review and let me know what you think!

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Six years.

For six, long years, they had been in hiding. He would laugh directly in the face of anyone who even dared think for one moment that the life of a rebel was exciting and dangerously fun. Yes, the occasional duel and heart-pounding moment of escaping from the recently established Enforcers made life a bit exciting.

It would surprise most then that a life in hiding was rather dull.

Harry held his breath unnecessarily as the Enforcer brushed past his nook. The heavy-duty Disillusionment spell combined with his carefully honed skills would keep the man from detecting him, unless he was part werewolf. In which case, Harry knew he'd be sniffed out immediately. Nonetheless, the small, rational part of him was still unfamiliar with the whole concept of stealth and though he knew he'd only be discovered on a stroke of very bad luck, Harry still felt the tiny thrill of fear, and it was this fear that bid him to hold his breath.

It helped to calm him, somewhat, as the thin, weepy-eyed man stopped, his gaze sweeping the area. A second Enforcer joined the first, this one considerably larger. "Where'd he go?" The first man shrugged, brow furrowed. "You lost him?" The larger Enforcer towered over the smaller man, but to his credit, the thin man didn't cower or budge.

"If he's one o' them Nixes, he's got more tricks up his sleeve than the usual folk we catch wandering around after curfew. Keep your eyes and ears open, Al."

Al glared down at the smaller man for a few more seconds, then relented. "Fine, but if we get in trouble with the uppers, I'm putting it all on you."

"Fair enough." The thin man glanced around them. "And if we do catch him, I'm taking all the credit. It's only fair, if I get all the blame." Al protested, but the other man didn't respond. Instead, he pulled out his wand.

"If you're gonna catch a Nix, you gotta think like a Nix," he said in a low voice. "Homenum Revelio." Harry gritted his teeth, hand clenched around the wand.

"Absconditus," he whispered. The counter spell washed over him only moments before he felt the revealing charm hit him. Again, Harry held his breath, but just as it had during training, the counter spell worked, and the revealing charm turned up nothing.

"He must be farther ahead than we thought," the thin man mused. Al scratched his head.

"Or he apparated."

"We didn't hear anything though."

"If he really was a Nix, then he would have cast a silencing charm," Al said defensively. "You said to think like a Nix, didn't you?" He received a sharp stinging hex, upon which he yelped.