Minerva McGonagall stepped out of one of the golden floo hearths that lined the entry corridor of the Ministry of Magic, dusted herself off, and strode down the black-and-white tiled floor toward the Atrium. Gold and brass and dark wood gave everything in sight a feeling of importance - this building was hallowed wizarding ground, you could feel the history and the greatness and the might looming about you in the very walls. Her boots clicked on the tiles, and she squared her shoulders and raised her chin, remembering the days when she walked this very corridor as an employee, trying to fit in and look as impressive as every other witch and wizard who worked in the offices within the Ministry... trying to catch the favor of their bosses, whose opinions and favors mattered if one wished to advance in their careers.

She stepped into the crowded Atrium, witches and wizards hurriedly walking this way and that, all in a rush to get to their destinations. She spotted Fabian Prewett by his bright red hair from across the room, head and shoulders above the other witches and wizards as he was standing on the edge of the fountain. She made for him, dodging between the crowd, and when she got closer and the people between her and the fountain were thinning out, she saw Elphinstone Urquart at Fabian's feet, sitting cross-legged on the fountain ledge.

Elphinstone's hair was wild to say the least, his blue robes worn and rough, and he was sitting cross-legged, a pair of loose yellow trousers visible over his bare feet. His glasses were skewed at the end of his nose, his eyes closed as though in meditation, and over his head he held a sign that read:

LEGALIZE WOLFSBANE - STOP GROUP TESTING - THE MINISTRY'S TESTS ARE DANGEROUS, DEGRADING, AND DECEITFUL.

Minnie walked up, looking from Fabian to Elphinstone, her eyebrow raised. Fabian spotted her and jumped down off the ledge. "Minerva," he said, greeting her.

Elphinstone's eyes opened and he spotted her, though he didn't lower the sign at all, he did smile. "Hello, Love. Come to protest?"

Minerva nodded to Fabian, then walked over to stand before Elphinstone, one hand on her hip, a disapproving expression on her face. "What is the meaning of all this, Elphie?" she asked.

He cleared his throat, "Just a friendly protest. Not hurting a thing. Silent, even." He nodded up at the sign.

Fabian sighed, "I've told him several times that Crouch's asked he to get the boot, says if he doesn't leave before lunch I've got to lock him up."

"Go on then, get your best bloody shackles!" Elphinstone challenged, "Come along, Mr. Prewett, what are you waiting for?"

"Elphinstone," Minerva's voice was harder this time, "Stop being ridiculous."

"It isn't ridiculous, Minnie," Elphinstone said, his voice firm. He glanced at Fabian, then back to Minerva, "What they're doing to those werewolves down there - it's wrong, frankly, and you know about what happened over the summer, to that little girl..."

"Yes, I heard about what happened to her," Minerva nodded, she shivered and looked down at her knees a moment, then back to him, "But you've got to come along with me and stop this before Mr. Prewett has to arrest you, alright?"

"I'd like to see him try!" Elphinstone replied hotly.

Fabian looked at Minerva pleadingly. "I really don't want to try," he admitted with a smirk. "But if Mr. Crouch orders it, I've got to give it a go."

She sat down on the ledge beside him. "Elphie, please. Getting yourself locked up is'na going to help your cause at all."

Elphinstone's grip on his sign tightened.

Minerva's voice lowered, "You do know that Mr. Tyr has been hired to your old position at Hogwarts."

His eyes flickered to hers.

"Perhaps your efforts would be better directed elsewhere," she suggested.

Elphinstone's eyes met hers and they searched one another, each through their own pair of spectacles. Slowly, he lowered his sign, and Fabian hustled to take it from his grasp as he put it down. Elphinstone asked, "And how is he holding up?"

Minerva replied, "Honestly, a bit on his last thread."

"The last thing he'll want is to see me," Elphinstone said, and he reached for his sign, but Fabian Prewett had already magicked it away and Elphinstone frowned up at him.

"Sorry, man," Fabian said, "I'm just following orders, you know how it is."

Minerva's voice was slightly desperate, "He does'na blame ye Elphie, it's only the Ministry itself that could ever blame ye for what happened with the twisted mind of Bartimus Crouch... It's no wonder they can't seem to capture any of You-Know-Who's followers..." She glanced at Fabian. "'Tis not directed at you, of course, Mr. Prewett."

Fabian shrugged.

Elphinstone looked quite frustrated. "But all those young kids down there --"

"Aye, I know," Minerva said, "But there's only so much ye can do with a protest alone."

Elphinstone pursed his lips.

"Come along, let us get back to Hogsmeade."

Nodding, however reluctantly, Elphinstone got up and Fabian Prewett breathed a sigh of relief. He mouthed a hearty thank you to Minerva, who nodded and took Elphinstone's hand, all but dragging him away out of the Atrium and back toward the golden mantels and hearths that lined the entry corridor.

Once they were out of earshot of Fabian Prewett, Elphinstone murmured, "Is he here?"

"But of course," Minerva replied.

Elphinstone looked around.

A touch came upon his shoulder. Silent, but heavy enough to be clearly felt. Elphinstone's mouth twitched to recognize he'd felt it.

Minerva paused in the doorway of the Atrium, glancing back to see Fabian Prewett headed through the grated door that led to the Magical Law Enforcement and Auror's Offices. "Where is it that they're holdin' them?"

"Department of Mysteries," Elphinstone whispered.

"That deep?" Minerva looked nervous, second guessing the plan.

Elphinstone's voice was flat, trying to keep from being listened to by passers-by, "It's the only place where they can keep hidden all of the screaming."

Fabian Prewett nodded to a couple of aurors that worked close to Barty Crouch, ducked 'round a representative from the Misuse of of Muggle Artifacts office who was carrying a box full of something that was fighting to get out and looking quite alarmed about it, and stepped into his office, kicking shut the door.

Gideon looked up from a stack of papers. "They're here?"

"Yeah, I passed him off just a moment ago at the Fountain," Fabian nodded.

Gideon rubbed his hands together and sat forward, "Brilliant." He grinned, "It feels like the old days, this does."

Fabian grinned, too. "I was thinking the same thing."

Gideon reached into his desk drawer and withdrew the Filibuster that he'd been hiding under a sheath of unprocessed forms. His eyes glinted as he read over the label, chuckled, and said, "It's as though this model were made specifically for us."

Fabian took it and looked it over, reading the description of the firecracker's display. "Brilliant! Excellent choice."

"How long ought we to wait?" Gideon nodded and took the Filibuster back from his brother, grinning down at it in anticipation.

Fabian glanced at his watch, "I reckon we could head back out there now, we've spent a believable amount of time here." His eyes twinkled.

Gideon grinned and jumped up, "I was hoping you'd say that."

The Atrium was especially busy for a Saturday. September marked the renewal of Floo Network registrations and witches and wizards flocked to either renew their current license to be connected or else to seek a new connection for the next year, and everyone was in a hurry to be somewhere else. Floo Network Registration offices were notoriously slow, the lines snaking out the door to their corridor and into the Atrium already, and everyone was feeling on edge and restless, annoyed with the silly Ministry requirement that it be done in person and not via owl.

Suddenly, there was a great whistling sound and everyone looked about. A sparkling streak suddenly shout up from the wand of the wizard in the fountain's statue. The spark left a trail of smoke... up, up, up, it went, growing until it had filled the ceiling.... and suddenly there came a long, low howling and the spark changed into the gruesome face of a wolf, which swept down over the people below, jaw opened, teeth glinting...

There was a good deal of commotion - witches and wizards screaming, shield charms popping - cries of disbelief and dismay - the cracking of the Filibuster louder than all of it. People stampeded every which way, absolute cacophony filling the Atrium as nobody knew which way to go, the wolf head rebounding back up to the ceiling... before immediately repeating it's howling cry and descent over the crowd.

Gideon and Fabian were the first two aurors on the scene, of course, and Fabian raised his wand to battle the Filibuster - though all his efforts seemed only to anger and enhance it than they did to subside the attacks of it. Gideon searched through the crowd, shouting directions that went entirely unheeded...

In all of the commotion, nobody noticed the grate to the elevators open seemingly by their own accord. Nobody noticed a Hogwarts teacher and an ex member of Ministry staff slip aboard. Nobody noticed the disillusionment charm on Garm Tyr beginning to fade off so that he became semi-transparent, his long dreadlocks hanging down his back. Nobody noticed when the elevator disappeared - going down.