𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞 𝐀𝐦𝐞 | 𝐇.𝐏.

𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝟕 - 𝟒

I cast a silent Stunning spell, Potter caught her as she fell sideways into the alley, and then he sat her down against a foul-smelling dumpster. We did this three more times to three more Ministry workers, and soon we had two middle aged men and two grey-haired woman in front of us, eyes glazed over and heads lolling onto their chests.

Along with Mafalda we Stunned a woman named Louise Dankworth, and two men whose identification cards read "Albert Runcorn" and "Reg Cattermole."

My heart beat faster as Hermione handed each of us a bubbling vial of pre-made Polyjuice Potion, a hair from each of the heads of the worker we would be impersonating in all of them. Mine was a muted lavender color, which was at least better than Potter's weird, pepper-shaded grey.

Hermione took a deep breath and looked at each of us. "Right. Remember what we said. Don't speak to anyone unless absolutely necessary." She handed each of us a coin with an ornate "M" carved into the middle. There had been a few in each of the Ministry worker's pockets, and they were needed to show proof before entry. "Do what everyone else does. If you act normal, then with a bit of luck we'll get inside. After that..."

"It gets really fun," Potter finished for her.

"Yeah," she grimaced. 

We all stood next to each other for a moment, staring silently at the people we had Stunned and holding our Polyjuice Potions to our chests.

"This is completely mental," I said.

"Completely," Potter agreed.

"The world's mental," Weasley said matter-of-factly. We all turned and looked at him with raised eyebrows. "What?" He asked defensively. "We've got a Horcrux to find."

"On three," Hermione sighed. "One... two... three."

I tipped my head back and drank the entire vial of potion in one swallow. I learned the hard way, from multiple past experiences, that the easiest way to drink Polyjuice Potion was to make it go as quickly as possible. If you take a small sip, you're never taking another one.

Less then five minutes later I walked out into the sunny Muggle street as Louise Dankworth, respectable Ministry employee. I could have laughed at the irony. To disobey my father I was dressing up for the part that my father had always wanted me to play.

Hermione and I walked next to Potter and Weasley all the way to the end of the street until we were forced to split. There were two lines for the toilets, and Hermione and I joined the female one. There was absolutely no way we were in the wrong place—dozens of Ministry workers that each of us had seen on our trips were here. I just hoped that there wasn't a secret word or code to get in.

The line went quickly, and the two of us stepped into neighboring stalls. I looked around for any hint of what we were supposed to do to transport ourselves to the Ministry, but there was nothing except a metal trashcan and depressing, faded blue tiles on every possible surface. Someone impatiently knocked on my door.

Then Hermione's head peeked over the wall of my stall. "We have to flush ourselves in," she hissed.

"What?" I demanded.

"Step into the toilet and flush yourself," she grimaced, then disappeared.

I swallowed my disgust and stepped into the toilet bowl. To my surprise, Louise's shoes stayed completely dry. I took a deep breath, unbelieving of what I was doing, squeezed my eyes shut tight, and pulled the chain hanging next to me.

There was a whooshing sound, a swirl of cold air around me, and then suddenly I was stumbling out of one of the hundreds of fireplaces lining the Ministry's main walls. Normally they were reserved for people who came to work using Floo Powder, but I guess their purpose had been changed to toilet transportation. Who knew? Maybe it would catch on.