After the unpleasant journey from the toilet and into the main hall of the Ministry, Sophia kept her head low as workers bustled around her. She tried her best to appear professional when she came out from the transportation bays on the side but could barely walk in the heels she wore. She had only ever worn two inch and below heels and these were at least four inches. Whoever Jane Mumpher was, she liked to be tall and above everyone else.
Sophia put one foot in front of the other as she gripped the briefcase in her hand, making her way towards the huge fountain that was made of what looked like gold. What was horrible to see was that they had now put statues of Muggles being suppressed by the Wizarding figure. Sophia had to force herself to stay calm at the awful sight before spotting multiple posters that she could see lining the walls of the hall. There were two different variations of these posters and the pictures moved subtly enough for her to see from her distance.
Undesirable No. 1
Harry Potter
Undesirable No. 2
Sophia Lupin
The pictures of their faces blinked at her and she forced her attention away from them, focusing on the guards that she could now see randomly checking identity cards. Sophia felt her heart pick up its pace as she saw one of the guards look directly at her, motioning for her card and stopping her from going any further. She stopped obediently and pulled out the small one page book that held Jane's fingerprint, picture and basic information. The guard looked down at it and glanced up at her, reading her information and seeing if her face perfectly matched the picture.
"When's your birthday Ms. Mumpher?" the guard asked and held the card away from her so she couldn't see. Sophia began to rack her brain and try to picture what she had read on that very card minutes before entering the Ministry. She nearly blurted out her real birthday, but had enough sense to stop herself before the words could get past her lips.
"6th of June," she said in her most grown up-sounding voice and the man handed her back the identity card, no longer acknowledging her as he went on to the next poor soul. Sophia inwardly sighed in relief and started to hurry towards the elevators that she could see positioned all around the back wall behind the fountain.
Already inside the elevator were three Ministry workers standing as stiff as boards while waiting for the doors to close. Sophia hurried in before they could do so and stood among the three, feeling the eerie and awkward silence that hung inside. From her quick glance while entering, Sophia noticed that it was two men and one woman inside. One wore a long black trench coat and had a scowl on his face, while the other man looked unusually nervous with fidgeting hands and upper lip. The woman stood in the back with her hand gripping the handle bar above her tightly, her wide eyes watching her as she stepped into the elevator.
"Cattermole," a voice intervened as a hand prevented the doors from closing. A man stood there with his bleach-blonde hair tied back into a low ponytail and was glaring at one of the three people that stood behind Sophia. "It's still raining in my office. That's two days now. Considering your wife is currently downstairs, I expect it done by today."
As quick as the man had come, he left and the doors to the elevator shut with a clang. Sophia peaked over her shoulder to see the once fidgeting man now wore a gob-smacked and panicked expression. She presumed that he was the supposed Cattermole the man had been referring to, and she suddenly felt a great sympathy for him. She had been under the impression that everyone who was still working at the Ministry had been doing so on their own accord and free will. But this however, proved that this was incorrect as the man's poor wife was being used as a form of black mail.
Regardless of her sympathy, the elevator came to a sudden stop and she had to physically straighten herself in order to stay standing from the sudden jolt. The heels on her feet were beginning to become extremely painful and she hoped that the pain couldn't be seen on her face. But somehow she doubted the three people in the elevator even noticed that she had entered in the first place.
"Auror Department," an auto-mated voice stated and the doors to the elevator slid open.
She braced herself to walk again and held her head high, walking out into the empty lobby. The floor was pure marble and looked to be polished daily, sparking Sophia's fears of slipping in her awful heels. Once she had the elevator doors close behind her and it descend to its next floor, she slouched in her stance and tried to ease the pain that was starting to occur not only in her ankles but in her back as well. Thank Merlin the lobby was deserted and she could lose her façade for at least a moment. But she quickly regained her straight stance and began to force her aching feet to walk professionally, following the hall that lead out of the lobby.
Not a single soul passed her while on her journey and it tweaked at Sophia's uncertainty. She didn't know if Jane Mumpher had anything to do with Auror department. If someone did see her and she was meant to be in the Publishing department or in the Misuse of Magical Objects department, she would seem suspicious. From how Sophia appeared, she'd guess that Jane was not an Auror. The short black hair and face that seemed to pinch together in the middle made her seem much less practical. Maybe something like the intervening with the Daily Prophet would suit her more.
She came to two double doors that sat at the end of the hallway and was now left with two options. Turn back and go to another department in hopes of finding the map, or go through these doors and trust her luck to find it inside. Grabbing the handle of the left door, she pushed it open and walked inside. She came to what looked like a meeting room as well as an office. A long table sat in the middle with chairs surrounding it while the back walls were filled with built-in drawers. They looked to be mahogany with golden handles and there had to be at least two-hundred and fifty of them.
"Oh Merlin..." Sophia whispered to herself and let the briefcase drop from her hand and pulled out the wand that she had hidden inside her suit jacket. "Accio map!"
The room stayed still and Sophia deflated. If it was in one of these drawers, there must be some sort of enchantments on it to prevent it from being found easily. She shoved Fred's wand back into her jacket and immediately began pulling open drawers from her left side. Frantically, she shuffled papers around in order to find the scroll of parchment she knew all too well.
Drawer after drawer, she became desperate. There was no sign of her map and time was ticking. She had lost track of the potion's effects and wasn't sure how much time she had left before she'd start looking like herself again. But she hadn't even made it to the next wall yet. She had been standing on top of the chairs in order to reach the tops drawers but was still on the left wall. Throwing papers everywhere around her, she felt the urge to cry. She had come so far and slipped past the guards without being under suspicion, but it had all been nothing. There wasn't enough time to continue searching as she was sure the potion was due its fading.
Jumping off the chair and grabbing her briefcase, Sophia started to hurry out of the now ransacked room and back down the hall that would lead to the lobby. Eventually, she reached down and threw off the black heels that were slowing her down considerably. She could feel her ankles bleeding onto the tiled floor but she could careless at this point as she started to feel the tips of her hair growing to their original length. Her pencil skirt felt looser and her suit jacket was baggier, now too big for her small frame.
She slammed her hand against the button that sat next to elevator doors and prayed that no one would be inside. She didn't want to curse anyone else but she would if she had to. The doors slid open and she went to run inside, only to stop and see one very familiar face.
"Harry?!" Sophia cried and the boy stared back at her with an equally as shocked expression. He stood in an over-sized trench coat and had two of the Ministry workers behind him who she had seen before in the same elevator.
"Sophia?! What are you doing here?!" Hermione's voice suddenly came out from the wide-eyed Ministry woman behind Harry, making Sophia whip her head to her.
"Hermione?!" she cried again and then looked to the fidgety man who stood in the corner. "Is that you Ron?!"
"No time to talk, get in," Harry grabbed the sleeve of her big suit jacket and pulled her into the elevator, slamming the button on the side to take them back to the main hall.
"Don't tell me this is Ginny or something?" Sophia jabbed her thumb over her shoulder to the last woman who stood next to Ron (Cattermole). The woman looked down at the girl with her jaw hanging open and couldn't believe she was in the same elevator as the two most-wanted Witch and Wizard in the world.
Sophia's statement was ignored as the auto-mated voice stated 'Main Hall' and the doors opened. She gulped at the sight of businessmen and women that walked by, not yet recognising her and Harry. The two quietly agreed to hang their heads low as they exited the elevator and attempted to sink into the crowd without being seen. It didn't help that Ron was stopped by the unknown woman and changed back into his usual ginger self, Hermione doing the same right in the middle of the crowd.
"It's him... it's Harry Potter!" a shaky voice suddenly called out and they turned to see a short man pointing a finger at Harry's face, looking around him for other people to notice. "It's the Lupin girl too!"
Sophia thanked her past-self for taking off her heels as her, Harry, Hermione and Ron began to run and push through the crowd. Their presence was now well-known and Ministry people parted in shock as they sprinted through them, heading for the apparation stalls that lined the walls of the hall. Hexes were now being shot at them from behind as guards began to chase them with their leader being the bleach-blonde man that had approached them before. Sophia ducked as a red beam shot over her head and pulled out Fred's wand, firing her own spells back towards their pursuers.
"Avis Oppugno!" she shot over her shoulder and birds flew out from the wand and began to peck at the guards' faces, causing them to cry out and trip over each other from disorientation.
She followed after Harry as he stepped into one of the appparation chambers and felt herself be sucked up into space, letting Harry decide where they should land. The pulling feeling continued for some time and she momentarily felt her feet touch the ground, seeing a familiar block of flats that sat on the dreary street of Grimmauld Place. However, she was apparated again and the feeling of being yanked in all directions continued for a moment longer.
Finally, she fell hard against a leaf-covered forest floor and shut her eyes to stop the spinning sensation. She groaned and gathered herself as quick as she could, sitting up and seeing that Harry, Ron and Hermione were in the same position as her. Only Ron was moaning and hissing aloud as his arm was soaked in blood. Her eyes widened as she crawled over and saw Hermione do the exact same on Ron's other side, the two meeting in front of the boy and trying to calm him down the best they could.
"Shh shh it's okay Ron! You're okay!" Hermione urged and began to sob while ripping apart Ron's sleeve. "Harry! Get the Dittany out of my bag! Quickly!"
"Hermione, his arm..." Harry gasped at the sight.
"I know! Just get my bag!" Hermione cried and continued to shush the weeping boy below her. Sophia barely knew what to do as Harry brought over the small vile of a lime green liquid and began to drip it onto Ron's gruesome wounds.
"I thought we were going to Grimmauld Place?" Harry questioned as he stood over the three with a concerned look.
"We were! We were there, but Yaxley had a hold of me and Ron tried to pull him off!" Hermione explained while still in tears. "We couldn't stay there so I brought us here! But Ron got splinched and I-I just..."
"W-Where is here exactly?" Sophia stuttered and relaxed when Ron stopped his whimpering and soothed into soft breathing.
"I-I'm not too sure," Hermione admitted as she put the lid back on the vile. "I just know that it's safe for now."