Harry Potter and the Desideratum Crusade [Harmione]

51. Attack at the Ministry

"The ward is down! We're under attack!" someone screamed, and the two wizards accompanying Scrimgeour ran towards the confusion, wands drawn. Scrimgeour spun around to see who was coming, and Harry scanned the seemingly endless numbers of Death Eaters that were arriving. There was only one thing on his mind. Where was Voldemort?

Harry and Neville dashed around the back of the fountain, away from the melee, and Scrimgeour followed.

"Look at this!" Scrimgeour yelled. "This is what happens when you interfere and don't let trained professionals do their jobs!"

"I had nothing to do with this!" Harry said.

"Of course you would say that!" Scrimgeour screamed. "What did Sandhill know? Did those Death Eaters follow you?"

"Harry had nothing to do with this!" Neville yelled over the noise. "He was only accompanying me to hear my Gran's will!"

"What a coincidence!" Scrimgeour sneered.

As soon as Neville had begun arguing with Scrimgeour, Harry went back to scanning the battle, looking for Voldemort. It was hard to recognize anyone with so much fighting going on, but he figured Voldemort would stand out.

Suddenly, there was a Death Eater standing right behind Scrimgeour and Harry reacted.

"Move!" he yelled as he pushed the Minister aside. "Expelliarmus!"

The Death Eater's wand went flying, and he turned to flee.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Harry yelled, and the Death Eater went down with a thump.

Neville helped Scrimgeour up, while Harry scanned for more attackers. Scrimgeour looked shaken, as he brushed himself off.

"I suppose I should thank you," Scrimgeour said gruffly as he held out his hand to Harry.

Harry looked at him for a moment, and then shook it reluctantly.

"Look, I know we don't agree on everything, but we are on the same side. I'm not trying to interfere or take over, or anything like that. I've got a job to do and so do you. Can we just leave it at that?" Harry asked.

"Minister! Are you okay?"

Four Aurors were running towards the group, and Scrimgeour turned to greet them.

"Fine, fine," he said gruffly. "No thanks to you. It was a good thing these young men were here."

The Aurors looked past Scrimgeour, but there was no one there. Harry and Neville had slipped out as soon as Scrimgeour's back was turned, and were heading back towards the lifts.

"Take the stairs," Harry called to Neville. They ran down to the ninth floor and ran the length of the hall to the Department of Mysteries.

"Room of Enchantment," Harry panted as soon as they got inside.

The door stopped, and Harry unlocked it and went inside, closing the door behind them. Harry went to the bookshelf and began to pull the books out as quickly as he could. Nothing happened.

"Try the key," Neville suggested, pointing to one book with a keyhole in it.

Harry inserted the key and the bookshelf opened. They rushed into the room to find Mr. Ollivander working quietly, completely oblivious to the happenings upstairs.

"You're early," he said without looking up.

"I'm sorry sir, but there's been an attack upstairs," Harry explained. "You should probably leave."

"I'm not going anywhere until this is complete. This is precise work, so sit down and wait."

Neville went and sat down, but Harry felt too anxious to sit. He hadn't seen Voldemort, and he suddenly had a sinking feeling as to why. He had to be at Hogwarts, and every moment spent here was a moment longer that Ron and Hermione might be facing him. The thought of Hermione in that man's clutches made him sick. He needed to get back to Hogwarts.