Lost Memories

lxi. back at the ministry

"Unless," said Ron, "she's found a way of opening it and she's now possessed."

"Wouldn't make any difference to her, she was so evil in the first place," Harry shrugged.

"We know everything important," Harry went on, addressing me. "We know they've stopped Apparation in and out of the Ministry. We know only the most senior Ministry members are allowed to connect their homes to the Floo Network now because Ron heard those three Unspeakables complaining about it. And we know roughly where Umbridge's office is. . . we've got this."

"There are an awful lot of things that could go wrong," Hermione mumbled, "so much relies on chance..."

"That'll be true even if we spend another three months preparing," said Harry. "It's time to act."

"All right," said Ron slowly, "let's say we go for it tomorrow... I think it should just be me and Harry."

"Ronald, don't start that again!" I sighed. "I thought we'd settled this."

"It's one thing hanging around the entrances under the Cloak, but this is different, Lottie." Ron jabbed a finger at a copy of the Daily Prophet dated ten days previously. "You're on the list of Muggleborns who didn't present themselves for interrogation and you, Hermione!"

"And you're supposed to be dying of spattergroit at the Burrow! If anyone shouldn't go, it's Harry, he's got a ten-thousand-Galleon price on his head —"

"Fine, I'll stay here," said Harry. "Let me know if you ever defeat Voldemort, won't you?"

"Harry," I wrinkled my nose, laughing at him.

"Well, if all four of us go we'll have to Disapparate separately," Ron was saying. "We can't all fit under the Cloak anymore."

"It's you and Harry that decided to grow another foot," I pointed my spoon at him. "Hermione and I seem to be lower to the ground every day!"

"Speak for yourself, Mini. I'm perfectly fine," Hermione smiled.

Dawn seemed to follow midnight with indecent haste. I found Hermione downstairs in the kitchen. She was being served coffee and hot rolls by Kreacher and wearing the slightly manic expression that I associated with exam review.

Hermione ended up Disapparating with Ron while I Disapparated with Harry into a tiny alleyway. It was deserted, except for a couple of large bins; the first Ministry workers did not usually appear here until at least eight o'clock.

"Right then," said Hermione, checking her watch. "She ought to be here in about five minutes. When I've Stunned her —"

"Hermione, we know," I said sternly. "And I thought we were supposed to open the door before she got here?"

Hermione squealed.

"I nearly forgot! Stand back —"

She pointed her wand at the padlocked and heavily graffitied fire door beside us, which burst open with a crash. Hermione pulled the door back toward her, to make it look as though it was still closed.

"And now," she said, turning back to face the other two in the alleyway, "we put on the Cloak again —"

"— and we wait," Ron finished, throwing it over Hermione's and my head like a blanket over a birdcage and rolling his eyes at Harry.

Little more than a minute later, there was a tiny pop and a little Ministry witch with flyaway grey hair Apparated feet from us. She barely had time to enjoy the unexpected warmth, however, before Hermione's silent Stunning Spell hit her in the chest and she toppled over.