Harry Potter and the Re-Discovery of Magic

9: Tom's Not the Only Klepto Around

Hello!!!! I'm backkkk after hiding from posting anything for what seems like centuries.

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"I can't believe the entrance to the Ministry is in a muggle toilet. Couldn't they have come up with something a bit less... unhygienic" Harry muttered, as they walked through the atrium, a glamour shimmering on his features as per the Dark Lord's magic, which had turned his hair a light brown, along with his eyes.

"Yes well, as I said before, these people aren't very creative." Tom glanced at Harry from the corner of his eye and frowned. "We need to buy you some new robes. Those may be fine for school but you need some proper looking ones if you're going to stick around" Tom stated pressing a button on the elevator.

"So, we can literally just walk in there and take it?" Harry whispered after a few moments of silence, even if they were the only ones in the space.

"Not quite. The Hall of Prophecies is centred in the Department of Mysteries which is where the Unspeakables carry out confidential research. There's a ward that each person must pass through as it detects when something has been taken out without the proper paperwork and can only be overridden by one of the Unspeakables." Tom spoke, as the elevator stopped and the golden gates opened.

"Let me guess, one of them is a death eater." Harry said sarcastically, observing the shiny black tiles that made up the corridor.

"Gareth Greengrass has been an Unspeakable since before the last wizarding war. Also, you might want to get under your invisibility cloak now if you don't want to have to answer unnecessary questions from him." Tom added, as a man with curled grey hair rounded the corner in front of the pair a few seconds later.

Harry, who was now securely hidden under his cloak, followed the two through a plain black door. There was a shiver of magic in the air, which Harry deducted as the ward Tom had mentioned. They walked into a room that had multiple nondescript doors that were evenly position around the circular room, a blue flame darting around the centre, and Harry found he really, really did not want to get lost in this place.

Opening one of the doors, Greengrass led them into a room that was filled with clocks, something labelled as Time Sand and rows and rows of time turners ranging from periods of 1 hour to 24 hours. In a split-second decision, and a slightly stupid one at that, Harry reached out with his hand under the cloak and snatched two of the 24-hour time turners, placing them in his pocket before quickly racing after the two older wizards. Really, it wasn't like the Department was going to miss any, there were just so many, and it would be unfair if he'd only taken one for himself and not one for Tom.

They then passed into a room that held a large stone archway with an attached black curtain that fluttered slightly, even though there was no wind. There were voices that whispered from just behind it and the ring on his finger wriggled a little before Harry clamped his hand over it, not wanting it to fly randomly off his hand and give his position away from sneaking behind Tom and the Death Eater.

At last, through another of those plain black doors was a massive hall filled with rows and rows of smoky white orbs. Greengrass muttered something about needing to check up on his work and hurried away, leaving Harry and Tom in the middle of the hall.

"Did he just leave us in here?" Harry asked, taking off the cloak around his shoulders and swivelling his head around to observe the space.

"It'll take us a while to find it, even if they are stored by year." Tom said, twisting around and stalking off in one direction.

"Can't you just summon it?" Harry asked from where he was trailing behind the man.

"They have anti-summoning charms on, so people just can't take any one they wish. Just like you can't touch a prophecy that doesn't apply to you." Tom informed, causing Harry to snatch back his hand where he went to touch one of the orbs,