Love And Revolution

VI

They zoomed down the short chute and emerged out of the fireplace into the Ministry of Magic. The great Atrium was not as cramped with people as it usually was since the day-crew had finished their work and only those who had night shifts were milling about. Snape's sharp eyes quickly found Hermione over the throngs of people, while she was still dusting the soot off of her dress.

"Remember, we've got a maximum of twenty minutes before they realize something is wrong." she said out of the corner of her mouth, her breath hitching, "We've got to hurry."

"Look, I know I said that if it doesn't work out, we'll surrender, but I can't let them catch you." he proclaimed urgently as he stared intently at her face. "Twenty minutes. And then you get out- evidence or no evidence."

She wanted to argue but there was no time to lose. As they jogged towards the elevators they knew that the two people whose identities they had stolen, had woken up minutes after they had left them, smelling the fumes of the potions they had dangled in front of their noses, and would be joining them any second now. They had to get out of there as soon as possible, lest they wanted to come face to face with their body doubles.

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Harry was in his office going through some paperwork when there was a purposeful knock at his door. He looked up irked.

"Not now, Tom. I told you I'm busy-"

"Sir, you need to take a look at this." he announced, "There has been a security breach."

"That's not my division," Harry replied, anxious to get back to his reports. "Talk to Robert at the Law Enforcement patrol- "

"They want an experienced Auror on the scene. And mostly everyone has gone home or have been assigned missions." His subordinate didn't fail to convey that he was needed urgently and the nature of the problem confused him.

Harry sighed and got up to follow him to the Monitor room.

*****************************

Hermione and Snape stood rigid inside the elevator as it carried them down to the basement level. Even though it was just a couple of floors, it felt like it was taking a long time and both felt their hearts palpitating.

Hermione nervously looked around and felt as if she could actually hear a ticking in her ears in lieu of the passage of time. "Should we have taken the stairs? What if we run into the real Evangeline and Reginald? They'll be using the elevators as well..."

"As far as I know, their offices are on the upper floors, and we're going down. There's a slim chance of us running into each other." he reassured, "Besides, we have these dungbombs that you supplied from the ingenious collection of the Weasley twins. Worst case scenario is we have to use them to make a hasty escape."

Their whispered conversation was put on hold as the lifts screeched to a halt and the gilded gates opened to let in another passenger. "Ah, Evangeline! Fancy seeing you here." A bespectacled woman in her early fifties got in, displaying a set of pearly white teeth. "How are you? How's the baby?"

A sharp intake of breath seemed to choke Hermione's throat and her hand immediately shot up to her belly, where no fetus was actually there. She couldn't seem to make herself speak and drew in shallow gasps, taking big gulps of air.

A painfully long minute passed before she could even make herself function again. It was when she felt a hand clasp over hers in a sort of calm firmness that she looked up to her side to see Snape staring down at her. She felt him exude his strength through that touch and finally managed to reply, "F-fine, she's- she's fine."