Future Nostalgia / Harry Potter Fanfic

Flight to the Ministry

Hermione and Ginny touched down on either side of him. Both slid off their mounts a little more gracefully than Ron, though with similar expressions of relief at being back on firm ground. Neville jumped down, shaking, but Luna dismounted smoothly.

"Where do we go from here, then?" she asked Harry in a politely interested voice, as though this was all a rather interesting day-trip.

"Over there," he said.

Estella gave her thestral a quick, grateful pat, then followed Harry to the battered telephone box and entered.

"Come on!" he urged the others as they hesitated.

Ron and Ginny marched obediently; Hermione, Neville, and Luna squashed themselves in after them.

"Whoever's nearest the receiver, dial six two four four two!" he said.

Ron did it, his arm bent bizarrely to reach the dial. As it whirred back into place, the cool female voice sounded inside the box, "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."

"Harry Potter, Estella Dumbledore, Ron Weasely, Hermione Granger," Harry said very quickly, "Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood...We're here to save someone, unless your Ministry can do it first!"

"Thank you," said the cool female voice. "Visitors, please take the badges and attach them to the front of your robes."

Seven badges slid out of the metal chute where returned coins usually appeared. Estella scooped them up and handed them quietly to Harry over Ginny's head; the first button read.

Harry Potter

Rescue Mission

"Visitor to the Ministry, you are required to a search and present your wand 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 the pavement rose up past the glass windows of the telephone box. The scavenging thestrals were sliding out of sight, blackness closed over their heads, and with a dull grinding noise, they sank down into the depths of the Ministry of Magic.

A chink of soft golden light hit their feet, and widening, rose up their bodies.

"It's clear," said Harry, as he peered through the glass to see whether anyone was waiting for them in the Atrium.

"The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant evening," said the woman's voice.

The door of the telephone box burst open; Harry toppled out of it, followed by Neville and Luna. The only sound in the Atrium was the steady rush of water from the golden fountains, where jets from the wands of the witch and wizard, the point of the centaur's arrow, the top of the goblin's hat, and the house-elf's ears continued to gush into the surrounding pool.

"Come on," said Harry quietly, and the seven of them sprinted off down the hall, Harry in the lead, past the fountain, toward the deserted desk where the security man was supposed to be.

His absence was an ominous sign, and her feeling of foreboding increased as they passed through the golden gates to the lifts. Harry pressed the nearest down button, and a lift clattered into sight almost immediately, the golden grilles slid apart with a great, echoing clanking, and they dashed inside. Harry stabbed the number nine button, the grilles closed with a bang, and the lift began to descend, jangling and rattling. In all her visits to the Ministry, Estella had not realized how noisy the lifts were-she was sure that the din would raise every security person within the building, yet when the lift halted, the cool female voice said, "Department of Mysteries," and the grilles slid open again, they stepped out into the corridor where nothing was moving but the nearest torches, flickering in the rush of air from the lift.