sixteen ; the department of mysteries
The ride to the Department of Mysteries was agonizingly cold. Freezing wind whipped Diana's hair into her face, drying out her eyes and blowing hair into her mouth. She gripped the Thestral's neck tightly, pulling herself closer as if trying to absorb heat emanating from the creature. She was behind the rest, keeping watch and making sure no one fell. Periodically, she'd take a look behind her just in case—she knew she could never be too careful. Especially for what she's about to be getting herself into.
A pit of anxiety gnawed at her stomach. She knew, whether Voldemort had taken Sirius or not, something bad was awaiting them at the Ministry, and in the back of her mind, she wondered if she was even prepared.
She knew someone would be waiting for them. Whether Sirius was even there or not, she knew this was a ploy to lure them to the Department of Mysteries, and it worked. What would be waiting for then in the darkened halls? Death Eaters? Her father?
Eventually, all of the Thestrals started to dive headfirst to the ground—she clung tightly and closed her eyes and for what felt like years, she was free-falling on top of the Thestral until they landed roughly, causing her to get bucked off and land hard on the pavement.
She got up slowly, flexing her muscles and stretching her back. She watched as the others stood up, too, rubbing their arms through the cold and brushing their clothes off.
"Never again..." said Ron weakly, leaning on a wall. "Never again...that was the worst..."
Luna asked where they were going next, and Harry led them to a red phone booth down the road. They left the Thestrals to forage for scraps in the nearby dumpsters and they all squashed themselves inside. It was an incredibly tight fit, and Diana wondered how they all even managed to fit inside.
"Whoever's nearest to the receiver, dial six two four four two!" Harry said, and Ron twisted his arm oddly to be able to punch in the numbers.
"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."
"Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger," Diana quickly listed, "Luna Lovegood, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, and Diana. We're here to save someone, unless you idiots can do it first!" She felt odd listing only her first name, but she brushed it off. After all, it was a secret she was much too used to hiding.
Badges for each of them appeared in the metal chute where coins usually were discharged, and they passed them out.
"Badges, are you bloody kidding me?" Diana muttered, fastening her badge onto her shirt more ironically than any other reason.
"Visitors to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wands for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium."
"Fine!" Harry said loudly. "Now can we move?"
The floor of the telephone box shuddered and they slowly moved downwards into the ground. The Thestrals slid out of sight and they plunged below the surface in darkness. Finally, as they entered the Ministry, light emerged from the bottom and grew until they could finally see the Atrium. Diana had been here many times, but this was the first she had ever seen it so empty. They exited the telephone box and they toppled out. Their footsteps echoed annoyingly through the silent lobby, causing Diana to shush them quietly. The echo made her nervous; she was worried they would alert others to their presence if they were too loud.
"Come on," Harry said quietly and lead them through the deserted Atrium to the elevators, where they all clambered inside. Harry pressed a button and the golden grilles clamped shut before they lurched downward, deeper and deeper until they slowed to a stop at floor number nine. The lift was noisy, and Diana clenched her wand in her left hand tighter.
"Department of Mysteries."
All of them had their wands lifted as they walked out of the elevator, checking every hall they passed for lingering workers, but it was just as empty as the Atrium. The flickering of the torches caused shadows to dance along the walls, and a few times Diana stiffened, thinking one was a person. Her heart thumped loudly in her ears, but her face was kept impassive because she had the feeling that she couldn't be the one to freak out. She needed to be the one who kept it together and kept a level head, because she had the feeling no one else would be able to.
Finally, they reached the proper corridor. Diana had dreamed about it many times, but at last, she stood at the mouth of the corridor, her eyes glued to the elusive door that she had only seen in her head. Harry stood, too, watching it, and she knew he felt the same way.
"Come on," she said, and they walked down the narrow hall towards the door.
About six feet from the door, Harry stopped. "Maybe...maybe a couple of people should stay here, as a lookout—"
"And how're we going to let you know something's coming?" asked Ginny, her eyebrows raised. "You could be miles away."
"They need to come with, Harry," said Diana gently. His eyes settled on hers for a moment before he nodded once. The group closed the distance to the door, and Diana, who was at the front, gripped the door knob firmly and swung it open, and she led the others into a large, circular room.
Everything was black: the walls, the floor, the doors. Torches lining the wall burned blue, but it wasn't nearly enough light, and Diana had to squint to see until her eyes adjusted. Diana counted a dozen identical black doors. She had no idea which door was the right door, or what was waiting behind them.
They all peered around, trying to look for any clues that could lead them in the right direction, but all of a sudden the floor rumbled and the torches on the walls moved sideways until they were a blur; the walls were rotating. After a moment, the walls stopped moving, and everything was still once more. Diana had no idea which door was which anymore.
"What was that all about?" Ron whispered.
"It's to stop us from knowing which door we came through," said Diana, her eyes scanning each door.
"Where do we go, then?" Ron asked.
"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 into another room that sort of...glitters," Harry said hastily. "We should try a few doors. I'll know the right way when I see it."
Everyone except Diana moved behind Harry to the door right in front of him. She stood in the middle, her eyes trained on a spot on the wall, and all she could concentrate was the bad feeling in her stomach that something bad was going to happen.
"Diana," whispered Harry. Her head whipped towards the direction of his voice and she saw everyone crowded around an open door. She saw a bright room behind them through the opening.
"Sorry," she said, and she moved towards them to get a better look. There were a few desks, but the oddest thing was the enormous glass tank of deep green liquid, big enough for all of them to swim in. Objects were drifting through the water. Diana narrowed her eyes.
"Brains," she muttered as her eyes followed one float close to the glass. "They're 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 at the identical black doors on the wall.
"In my dream I went through the dark room into the second one," he said. "I think we should go back and try from there."
Hey all filed out of the large room and into the dark circular one they were in before.
"Wait!" Diana said right before Luna clicked the door shut. "Flagrate!"
She drew a fiery 'X' on the door and then shut it. No sooner had the door clicked shut behind them than there was a deep rumbling under the floor and the walls started rotating again, faster and faster, until the blue candles were just a blurred line. Finally, they stopped, and the room was still again.
"Good thinking," said Harry. "Okay, let's try this one—"
They all moved behind him with wands raised as he opened the nearest door. This room was larger than the last, dimly lit and rectangular. The center was sunken into a deep pit, with tiers ringing all the way down like large steps. Below them, at the very bottom, was a raised stone dais with an ancient-looking archway. A tattered black veil hung over it and blew lightly in an imaginary breeze.
"Who's there?" Harry asked, jumping down a tier. The veil fluttered silently.
"Shut up!" Diana hissed, right as Hermione whispered, "Careful!"
Diana followed him down the next few tiers until she could see the archway clearer. It was ancient and battered with old age. It was tall but narrow, and the veil swayed lightly still.
"Sirius?" Harry whispered.
Diana grew more and more weary of the arch, her stomach knotting with anxiety.
"We should go," she said, grabbing Harry by the sleeve.
The scared tone of her voice seemed to rattle Harry enough to pull his attention fully away and stare at her. "Now," she whispered, now a little more forcefully.
"Okay," he said, his eyes now turned again to the arch, but he didn't move. Diana froze, and they both took a step closer.
Whispering. She heard whispering.
"What are you saying?" Harry said loudly, his voice echoing through the pit.
"Nobody's talking, Harry!" said Hermione, now moving closer to the two of them.
"Someone's whispering behind there," said Harry. "Is that you, Ron?"
"I'm here, mate," said Ron who was across from them.
"Can anyone else hear it?" Harry asked. His eyes didn't leave the veil.
"I can hear them, too," said Luna dreamily.
"I can hear them," Diana breathed. Luna, Diana, and Harry stood still, gazing up at the great archway.
"Guys, come on—" said Hermione, but none of them budged. "Harry, we're supposed to be here for Sirius," she tried again.
"Sirius," he repeated slowly, still mesmerized. "Yeah..."
He took several steps backwards and wrenched his eyes from the arch. "Let's go," he said, and Diana took more steps back until she, too, was able to force herself to look away. She watched Luna, Neville, and Ginny do the same, and all of them stepped up the stone tiers all the way up to the door.
They entered the room, and this time Hermione inscribed the 'X' into the door. The door clicked shut and started spinning once more until it came to a stop and they were once again left to decide which door they would try next.
Harry approached a door, but it wouldn't open.
"It's...locked..." said Harry, throwing his weight at the door.
"Get out of the way!" Hermione said sharply, and Diana would've laughed if she wasn't so freaked out. "Alohamora!"
Nothing happened.
"Sirius's knife!" Harry blurted. Diana vaguely remembered him mentioning something about that, but she hadn't remembered it until now. He pulled it from his pocket and slid it into the crack between the wall and the door and ran it from top to bottom. He removed it and threw his weight onto the door again. Nothing happened. In fact, the blade of the knife seemed to have melted.
"Right, we're leaving that room," he said decisively.
"But what if that's the one?" asked Ron.
"It can't be, Harry could get through all the doors in his dream," said Hermione, and she made the 'X' on the door.
The wall started spinning again. It stopped.
Harry pushed the next door open.
"This is it!" he said, and he pushed the door open for them all to see.
From every surface, there were clocks. Clocks of every size, color, and type gleamed from every crevice and surface. There was a constant, loud, echoing ticking, and it reminded Diana of miniscule marching footsteps. A towering crystal bell jar stood at the far end of the room, and it casted glimmering, dancing light onto the walls.
"This way!" said Harry, and they followed him through the room, past the clocks and the peculiar bell jar. Ginny stopped to watch the bell jar, but Diana grabbed her arm and they kept forward.
They reached a door. "This is it," said Harry, and they drew a collective intake of breath as he pushed it open. Their wands were clenched in their hands, and Diana's knuckles were white.
High as a mighty church and full of nothing but towering shelves covered in small, dusty, glass orbs. They were tons and tons of them, littered on shelves as far as the eye could see in the dim light. Nobody moved, so Diana moved to the front of the group and braved forward. That seemed to get the rest moving, so they all walked slowly forward, peering all around with their wands at the ready. Diana stared forward. She knew exactly what this place was. This was what the Order was always talking about. She watched every orb she passed, years and years worth of Prophecy and memory littered through the dark aisles.
"You said it was row ninety-seven," Hermione whispered to Harry loud enough for the rest to hear. "We need to go right, I think."
They went on through the long aisles, attempting to keep their footsteps as light as possible. They passed row after row until they reached the eighties...nineties...
"Ninety seven!" whispered Diana back towards the others. They gazed around, but no one was there. Sirius was no where to be found.
Diana's heart sank. She knew this was going to happen. She knew this was just a trick to get them to the Ministry.
"He's right down at the end," Harry insisted. "You can't see him properly from here."
He moved to the end, but alas, it was empty. Harry kept muttering and looking, but Diana knew it was a lost cause.
"Harry," Hermione began lightly.
"What?" he said sharply.
"I don't think Sirius is here."
Harry looked like he was about to throw up. He ran up and down the empty rows, but they were just as empty as the others.
"Harry?" Ron called from next to Diana.
"What?"
"Have you seen this?"
"What?" Harry asked again, and he appeared and started walking towards them. Ron was staring at an orb, and Diana moved to him, too.
"It's—it's got your name on it," said Ron.
"My name?" Harry asked blankly.
Finally, Diana looked at the label. "Harry," she warned. "Don't come closer. Please, don't come closer."
Ron was staring at her in fear. He took a few tentative steps away from her and the orb, his eyes trained on her. "You—" he said, but he couldn't make any proper words. "You're—What—"
"Ron," she said slowly. "Please listen to me," she tried. "It's not what you think, please—"
"What is going on?" Harry asked, looking between he two. "Ron?"
Hermione snuck up from behind to get a look at the label. "Diana..." she said slowly, her mind working hard until her eyes landed on Diana in fear. She, too, stepped back until she was standing near Ron and Harry. "You lied to us," she whispered.
"Please," Diana begged, "Please listen to me—"
By now, Harry stormed forward to the orb. He read the label.
S.P.T. to A.P.W.B.D.
Dark Lord
and Diana Riddle
and (?)Harry Potter
"Diana...Riddle..." he muttered. His face went from curiosity to understanding to disgust, his eyes turning to stare at her. "You're his daughter," he said blankly, as if he had yet to really process this information. "You're Voldemort's daughter."
"What?" said Ginny and Neville at once, moving to look at the orb. Luna stared at Diana with an odd expression.
"You're his daughter," Harry said louder now, his face growing red with anger. "You're his daughter!"
"Please," she begged, tears stinging her eyes. "Please, I'm not like him, I hate him, please—"
"How could you!" said Ron. "You're his daughter? Are you working for him?"
"No!" she said hastily. "I would never, please, all of my loyalties are with the Order—" She faltered, her eyes peering at their horrified expressions. She turned directly to Harry. "Please," she whispered, "You said you'd never hate me."
His eyes changed at that, softening slightly. "How do I know we can trust you?" he asked her.
"You don't," she said, "but please, you must understand that I may be related to him by blood, but he is dead to me. I want him dead more than anyone else. Dumbledore trusts me. Please let that be enough until we can get out of here."
Harry said nothing, but he turned to the orb.
"Don't pick it up," she said quietly, but he did it anyway. Maybe he thought something would happen, but nothing did.
"Very good, Potter. Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me."
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