The Cupboard Series 2: Hermione's Book Nook

Chapter 9

"Just throw the powder into the fire, step in and state your destination clearly, in this case, the Ministry of Magic, and you'll be there in a jiffy," old Tom, the innkeeper of The Leaky Cauldron explained.

Harry looked up at the lanky man, a look of dubiousness on his face.

"It'll be fine, Mister Potter," Tom laughed, "hundreds of people do it every day. Beats walking everywhere or taking the Knight Bus or even one of them muggle automobiles. Trust me. Bit of advice, though. Keep your elbows tucked in, you don't want to go bangin' into anything on your way past and I always find that it helps to step forward the instant that you start to feel yourself slowin' down."

"Um, right. Thanks," Harry replied as he tentatively grabbed a handful of powder from the pot over the public FLOO in the bar.

Stepping forward, Harry threw the powder at the flames. Instantly, they shot up and turned a brilliant shade of green. Then, at Tom's urging, he stepped into the fire. Surprisingly, or perhaps not, apart from a slight increase in temperature, he didn't feel anything from the flames.

"Ministry of Magic!" he said, barely suppressing the cough threatening to burst from his chest as he inhaled a lungful of ash.

Instantly he was whirled away. Fleeting glimpses of strange rooms shot past in a dizzying rush before the world jarred back into focus, sending him tumbling onto a marble floor. Picking up his glasses from where they'd landed just in front of him, he pushed them back onto his nose and looked around.

He was in a vast hall with people bustling about everywhere. A whole bank of fireplaces was stretched out on the wall opposite him, mirroring the ones on his side of the hall that he now noticed. Further down the hall, it opened up to nearly twice the size of the Great Hall at Hogwarts. Standing in the centre of it all, was a fountain with a marble witch, wizard, goblin, house-elf and centaur shooting water out of different parts of the sculpture.

As he got to his feet, Harry absentmindedly dusted himself off. Sporadically, flames turned green, spitting out witches and wizards, who, without even sparing a glance in his direction, rushed off across the hall. For a fleeting instant, he wondered about the wisdom of coming here, but then he remembered what it was that he was escaping – the last of his homework, not to mention the team of goblins working on getting the bookshop / café ready for its grand opening in ten days' time.

Resolvedly, Harry began walking down the hallway. A small booth not far in front of the fountain caught his attention and he wondered in that general direction.

"Name and business here in the Ministry of Magic," a bored sounding security wizard asked from where he sat behind the booth.

"Harry Potter and I'm here to see someone in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement Office," he replied.

The guard's demeanour instantly changed. He sat up straighter and looked intently at the boy in front of him. His eyes darted up to stare at Harry's scar.

"Right, I just need to register your wand, Mister Potter," the guard said to Harry's scar.

Desperately trying to suppress a sigh of annoyance, Harry handed over his wand. The guard fumbled for it in his effort not to take his eyes off of that famous scar. After a brief wave of the guard's own wand, Harry's holly wand was handed back, along with a visitor's badge.

"Just affix that to your robes, Mister Potter," the guard instructed. "Department of Magical Law Enforcement's up on Level 2."

"Thank you," Harry said, taking his badge.

Wide-eyed, Harry crossed the immense hall to find a bank of large elevators. Stepping into an open one, he peered up curiously at the half dozen paper airplanes circling its ceiling.