The Love Of A Wizard

The Ministry Of Magic

They had driven through town to a part of London where there were warehouses and rundown buildings. They were stationed near a wall, covered in graffiti, facing a broken phone booth. Before they had left they had decided, instead of splitting up in their usual teams, tonight they would stay together. All of them felt the tension in the air and they wondered what could possibly be going on inside of the Ministry of Magic.
No communications tonight anyway, Claudia thought. For Severus had told her long ago the muggle devices do not work inside of magical buildings and grounds. For that reason they decided to stay together.
“So…how are we going to know what we are going to do Moore? I mean, you’re the only one with one of them there pretty necklaces.” Bones said to her. Claudia had been thinking about it and decided to tell them.
“None of you are going in. When the time comes, I go. You stay here.” She said. They all cast her dirty looks.
“Right. That’s not happening this time Claudia. Where you are, we are. There is no debate or argument about it.” Nick spat at her. She rolled her eyes. I tried, she thought. And they waited.
“What’s that?” Chester said and they all followed his gaze to a group of people approaching the telephone booth. The people crammed themselves in and picked up the phone. Then, the floor began to move down like an elevator and they disappeared.
“Holy Hell.” Rod said to himself. They all nodded agreement. This was too weird.
Claudia was thinking about Severus and silently praying for his safety. As well as everyone else she knew was, at that moment, inside of the building. Once or twice, she and the guys exchanged looks of annoyance. They all, at different times, considered just going in anyway. But they waited. Perhaps if they charged in, they would put Severus in danger. Or perhaps Harry. So they waited. The night wore on and they just sat on. Some smoked, others hummed a song under their breath. No one relaxed.
“Hey Moore…what’s that?” Rod asked her and they all looked at Claudia’s amulet. It had turned gray. Her heart beat loudly in her ears and she jumped up.
“Severus, he’s in trouble.” She said feeling like vomiting again. For in fact, the whole world seemed to spin around her. She closed her eyes and steadied herself.
“Let’s roll.” Bones said in a matter of fact way and they sprinted from their hiding places and into the phone booth. Here they realized, they would not fit. Only two at a time could get in.
“Alright, Claudia and myself first. Then Bones and Rod, After that, Antonio and Zulu…Chester…my friend…what do you wish to do?” They glanced back at Chester who had always stayed in the safety of the transport. He was not a fighter, but he was one of them. He also had fell in love with the wizarding world faster than any of them.
“I’m going.” He said
“Alright. Here…the instructions to get in. Just dial the number and it says here to say where you are going. Just tell them you are going on a tour, it says. Let’s go!” So Claudia and Nick squeezed inside and picked up the phone. Claudia dialed two…four…four…two…And she heard a female voice on the other end.
“Welcome to the Ministry of magic. Please state your name and your business.” Claudia was close to laughing if it weren’t for Severus being in such peril.
“Claudia Moore and Nicholai Ivanovich. Here to…take a tour.” She said.
“Thank you,” said the female voice. “Visitor, please take the badge and attach it to the front of your robes. You are required to submit to a search and submit your wand for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium.”
While the lady was talking, they were slowly moving down, down, down under the city and the doors opened into an enormous room.
“The Ministry of magic wishes you a pleasant day.” The lift door closed and Claudia and Nick stood, guns drawn, circling each other. The room was huge. Hard wood floors and walls and, Claudia noticed, fireplaces lined all of the walls. No doubt, the Floo Network, she thought. Interesting. My house is connected here. She shook her head to get back to the game at hand and they heard the lift coming again. The doors opened and out stumbled Bones and Rod. Now there were four of them, and they spread out. From somewhere, deep in the bowels of this building, they heard noises. They could not decipher the source, but they were there. Claudia glanced back at her amulet and saw it still was shining gray. She looked back impatiently at the lift, waiting for the next group.
At that moment, one of the fires to their left sprung to life and emitted green flames. A figure stepped out. It was Shackelbot.
“Kingsley! Claudia said.” He turned quickly and pointed his wand at her. But upon seeing who she was, he lowered it.
“What are you doing here?” He asked, his usual deep therapeutic voice was troubled.
“Here to help. No time to explain. Can you help us get where everyone is? I can’t waste any time trying to locate him…” her voice was drowned out by the lift returning for the third time carrying the three remaining team members.
“All here.” Nick said as he joined her and Shackelbot with a nod.
“Follow me.” He said and they took off down a hall, at another time, would have caused Claudia to pause and admire the architecture. However, they ran down a long hall, past an enormous fountain, that looked as if it had been broken and stopped at the desk. No one was there, so they passed it and walked through a set of golden gates.
Here they ran down a slightly smaller hall filled with elevators.
“Which one?” Chester cried as they all crashed into one another.
“Here. Everyone in. Quickly.” Everyone piled into an elevator and Kingsley pushed the down button.
“How far down does this go?” Nick asked. Claudia was wondering the same thing. They had taken one elevator under the city itself. Now they were in another.
In but a moment, the elevator jolted to a stop and the door opened. There were no windows or doors. Just a long hallway, and at the end a large black door. Kingsley produced his wand and held a finger to his lips. They approached the door and he tapped it with his wand. It opened.
What they saw made Claudia’s heart catch in her throat. Oh God…

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A/N: How do you like that cliffie??? *lol* So, here we are. The final chapters of this. Please review and let me know what you think, ok? Thank you to all of you who have. It is so very much appreciated! More to come...