Love Can Be Found In the Darkest of Places (A Marauders FanFiction)

Chapter 13: The Ministry

“Either get down here now, or we’re leaving without you!” Mr. Potter yelled up to James, who had been fast asleep until his father started yelling. Rose and Sirius were all dressed to go, and Mrs. Potter, who was staying behind, was waiting by the fireplace with a bowl of floo powder. They were skipping the visitor’s entrance and going straight through the floo network, by order of Albus Dumbledore.

Rose was wearing a mahogany colored dress that Mrs. Potter had loaned her, a simple a-line falling just above her knees. She’d done nothing to her hair but wash it, and applied only a few strokes of mascara. Simple or not, Sirius couldn’t help but gawk at her. “Coming!” James said quickly, hurrying down the stairs so quickly that he missed the last one and stumbled ungracefully into the living room.

He gathered around the fireplace with everyone else, and one by one, they each stepped forward and shouted, “Ministry of Magic!” before tossing their powder and disappearing through the network. Rose tumbled out of a ministry fireplace and onto the hard marble floor with a thump.

“First time, huh?” Sirius said with a light smile, reaching down to help her to her feet.

“That was awful,” she shook her head, feeling sick. “Never again.”

“’Least you didn’t throw up. I did, first time,” James said, grimacing at the memory of it.

“Right this way then,” Mr. Potter said, appearing from behind and startling the three of them. “We’ll have to check in first and they’ll direct us to where we need to go.”

--

Rose sat alone at a desk in a cold, empty room, waiting to give her testimony. Mr. Potter, James, and Sirius were not allowed into the room, much to Sirius’ annoyance. A single chair stood in front of her, and out of thin air, it was all of a sudden filled by a man with a great dark beard, and a heavy set frame. Rose jumped, startled.

“Sorry about that, I didn’t think you were already here,” the man said apologetically, pulling a vial out of his robes. “My name is Newt Ormond, I’ll be taking your testimony today. Behind that glass there is the Minister,” he said, gesturing to a black pane of what she assumed to be one-way glass. She wondered why the Minister of Magic would be bothered to attend the testimony of a seventeen year old girl, but shrugged it off.

“Now I’m just going to ask you to drink this for me, if you will,” he said, getting straight to business and handing her the silver vial. “It’s just a touch of veritaserum, not that we believe you’ve committed any crime.”

She didn’t understand why it was necessary, but knew it was the only thing she could do. She drank it in one gulp, and it slid down her throat smoothly with hardly any taste at all. Rose felt her mind almost opening up, like she was ready to spill everything.

“Where were you on the day your mother died?”

“The beach in Whitby – that’s where I grew up. I was writing a letter to Sirius by the water and then I –”

“That’s all I needed to know about that thank you,” he said curtly, cutting her off. “Now, what happened when you returned home?”

Rose explained almost every detail she could remember, from the disarray of her home to her mother’s last words to her. She remembered every word because she’d replayed it every night in her head before falling asleep. She was terrified of forgetting what her mother’s voice sounded like. She described the men to him, remembering the most about the tall one that look almost inhuman.

“He kind of looked like what you’d imagine the human form of a werewolf to be like. I’ve never seen anyone quite like him.” Ormond nodded, scribbling away on a pad of parchment that sat on his lap.