Poisoned Youth | ✓

35- Department of Mysteries

After ten minutes of arguing between the seven of us, Harry finally allowed Ginny, Luna, and Neville to join us. I was completely against it as Ginny was just a fourth year and the other two were decent in D.A., but not the best. On top of having an unlikely team, we had to ride Thestrals. It was horrifying as, when we flew, it looked as though I was on nothing and flying by myself.

Fear began to work its way into my chest once we landed and ran through the entrance of the Ministry of Magic and past the large golden fountain.

"Come on," said Harry quietly and the seven of us sprinted off down the entrance of the Ministry of Magic and past the large golden fountain, toward the golden lifts.

Harry stabbed the number nine button, the grilles closed with a bang, and the lift began to descend, jangling and rattling. When the lift halted, the cool female voice said, "Department of Mysteries," and the grilles slid open again, we stepped out into the corridor where nothing was moving but the nearest torches, flickering in the rush of air from the lift.

"Harry, where do we go now?" I whispered.

He pointed over to a plain black door and we all followed him to it. Walking into the room, we stood in a large, circular room. Everything in here was black including the floor and ceiling with branches of candles whose flames burned blue, their cool, shimmering light reflected in the shining marble floor so that it looked as though there was dark water underfoot.

"Someone shut the door," Harry muttered.

Without the long chink of light from the torch-lit corridor behind us, the place became so dark that for a moment the only things we could see were the bunches of shivering blue flames on the walls. The circular wall was rotating. For a few seconds, the blue flames around us were blurred to resemble neon lines as the wall sped around and then, quite as suddenly as it had started, the rumbling stopped and everything became stationary once again. It was though it was to stop us from knowing which door we came in through.

"How're we going to get back out?" said Neville uncomfortably.

"We won't need to get out till we've found Sirius —"

"Don't go calling for him, though!" Hermione said urgently, cutting Harry off.

"Where do we go, then, Harry?" Ron asked.

"I don't —" Harry began. "In the dreams, I went through the door at the end of the corridor from the lifts into a dark room— that's this one— and then I went through another door into a room that kind of... glitters. We should try a few doors," he said hastily. "I'll know the right way when I see it. C'mon."

He marched straight at the door we were looking at, we followed close behind him into the room; all of our wands raised. After the darkness of the first room, the lamps hanging low on golden chains from this ceiling gave the impression that this long rectangular room was much brighter.

"What're those things?" whispered Ron.

"Dunno," said Harry.

"They're..." I paused, scrunching my nose in disgust, "...brains."

"Let's get out of here," said Harry. "This isn't right, we need to try another door —"

"There are doors here too," said Ron, pointing around the walls. My heart sank; how big was this place?

"In my dream, I went through that dark room into the second one," he said. "I think we should go back and try from there."

So we hurried back into the dark, circular room; the ghostly shapes of the brains were now swimming before my eyes instead of the blue candle flames.