| Jarvey
Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Orlando, FL
Posts: 666
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Melina Morninglory- "Glory"
Second Year
Ministry RPG Name:
Violet Downing
Minister's Office |  WizWorld Universal / Tom Felton for President
How are Hermione's parents handling her abduction? Hagrid seeks help.
Chapter Nineteen: The Ministry of Magic
Same day(several hours earlier)
It was killing Jean to wait outside; she knew every moment they lost was precious. She stood with Hagrid outside the Ministry and waited for Tom to arrive- come on, come on! While she stood there, she prayed. She begged God to save her little girl, to comfort her, to send angels to create a heavenly hedge of protection around her. A screech of tires caused her to look up. Tom’s silver Jaguar was racing toward them; it slid into a nearby parking space and barely missed the back end of another car. He hurried across the street and caught Jean as she flung herself into his arms. Fresh tears spilled from her eyes as she quickly explained everything she knew.
Hagrid politely interrupted them: “Mr. n’ Mrs. Granger, we’d best be goin’ in now- let’s see what we can find out.” He took them around the back of the building to a rusty, paint-spattered wall. Most Ministry workers didn’t even know that an enchanted door existed there, but Dumbledore had created it long ago. He loved to say, “One can find his way into any place so long as there are enough doors." It was a good thing, too, for Hagrid couldn’t fit into the telephone box visitor’s entrance.
He pulled out his pink umbrella and, using the tip, tapped repeatedly on the wall in the pattern of a capital letter D. Tom and Jean stepped back in amazement as three cracks appeared in the wall which looked very much like the outline of a door. Hagrid pushed and the door appeared. “Here we are,” he said, and led them through the back hallway leading to the Ministry Atrium.
Even in their haste, Jean and Tom gazed at the magnificence of the Atrium-the beautiful ceiling, the lines of workers appearing in the green fire of the floo’s, the glorious gilt statues surrounding an enormous fountain. Hagrid led them over to the security desk where a serious-looking wizard was depositing the wand of a young witch into his drawer. “He took her wand?” Tom asked. “Normal procedure fer visitors to the Ministry; she’ll get it back when ‘er business ‘ere is done,” replied Hagrid.
They arrived at the desk; “State your business and present your wands,” said the security wizard. Hagrid cleared his throat: “Uh, hullo. Rubeus Hagrid, and these are Mr. an' Mrs. Tom an' Jean Granger.” “We’re here to find out where my-” began Tom when Hagrid clamped his hand on Tom’s shoulder. “Here to find out where 'is, um, Muggle…things are bein' held. We’re here tah see Arthur Weasley in the Department for the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts.”
The security wizard eyed them skeptically. “Wands?” he repeated, gesturing to his desk. “Oh we don’ have wands; they’re Muggles and I’m just the groundskeeper at Hogwart’s.” The wizard snorted a “Hmph,” and led them to the side of the desk. A second wizard ran his wand around each of them and uttered “SpeRevelio”, looking for recent activity of any concealed wand. “They’re clean” he said, and the security wizard handed each of them a silver badge. “Department for the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts is part of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Level 2. Elevators are through those gates.”
Hagrid, Tom, and Jean walked quickly toward the golden gates. Hagrid paused for only a moment to retrieve the pink umbrella he’d hidden behind a bench. He ushered them into the first elevator: “Ya might wan’ tah hold on- the first dip’s a doozy!” Tom and Jean grabbed the overhead handles just before the elevator plummeted six floors.
Looking unnerved and slightly green, the Grangers stepped off the elevator and followed Hagrid down the hall to the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office. They entered the door and were greeted by a stumpy old witch with a bad temper. “What do you want?” she scowled. Tom and Jean looked at each other, a thousand questions between them. “We’re here tah see Arthur Weasley- he’s expectin’ us; tell ‘im Rubeus Hagrid is here.”
With a grunt and considerable effort, the old witch toddled over to the door behind her. “WEASLEY!” she bellowed, “Man named Ruby Haggis is here!” “WHO?!” Hagrid rolled his eyes and shouted “Arthur, it’s me. Hagrid. Need tah see ya right away!” Arthur appeared in the doorway, holding the dismantled pieces of a kitchen timer. He ushered them in immediately. “Please forgive my secretary- she’s the only temp we could find while my actual one is at St. Mungo’s, healing from a bad experience with a bubotuber.”
“Hagrid, shouldn’t we be where they hold…prisoners?” Tom asked impatiently. “Oh, I’m so sorry!” Arthur exclaimed, “Hello again Mr. and Mrs. Granger, lovely to- wait, holding prisoners?” Jean burst out, “Arthur, someone has abducted Hermione! We were told that perhaps those Snatcher people brought her here.” Arthur paled. “Hermione? Good Lord! Sit down and tell me everything.”
“Well, it certainly is a possibility,” remarked Arthur once he heard the whole story. Jean interrupted. “Please, I don’t mean to be rude, but how is it that you can help us, and why are we wasting time in this office when my baby could be somewhere…in this building…all alone,” Jean collapsed into heaving sobs. Tom held her tightly, throwing an anguished look at the two men.
Hagrid replied, “Ya see, Arthur knows everyone in the Ministry as well as wha’ goes on here, an’ he’s one o’ the few people here ya can truly trust.” “And I promise you that I’ll get to the bottom of this. I know the right people to talk to,” said Arthur. In a hushed tone he whispered to Hagrid, “We’d better alert the Order too- this may not be a simple case of snatching, I fear.” Hagrid nodded and excused himself from the group. “Arthur’ll take good care o’ ya from here- I’m goin’ tah pass the word along tah some other friends, alright?”
Arthur led them out of his office and down the hallway, stopping at the main office of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. “Let’s see who’s working today,” Arthur said brightly but quietly. He went up to the secretary’s desk. “Good morning, Virginia! Is Reggie in today?” “He’s in a meeting with Mr. Thicknesse at the moment, but they should be done in the next few minutes. You’re welcome to wait, Arthur. Oh, you have guests? Hello, I’m Virginia Cottonwood,” she replied sweetly. “Uh, Virginia, yes. These are my…cousins, from Surrey. Percy and Penelope Clearwater,” Arthur smiled nervously. “Pleasure to meet you,” chimed Virginia. Tom and Jean managed a week hello- “They’re just getting over the flu, poor things,” chuckled Arthur as sincerely as he could manage.
A far door opened and two men stepped out, obviously finishing their conversation. Sighing with relief, Arthur called out, “Reggie, old chap!” Reggie smiled broadly and strode over to his good friend. “Arthur! What brings you down the hall?” He looked past Arthur at the Grangers, and his smile faltered a little. “My cousins, yes, from Surrey- look, Reggie, can we find a place to all sit and chat a bit?” Arthur kept his tone light but Reggie caught the serious look in his eyes. Taking his cue, he replied brightly, “Of course, mate! Let’s all go and grab a bite to eat. Virginia, take messages for me, not sure when I’ll be back.”
He escorted Arthur and the Grangers out of the office. Tom opened his mouth to speak but Reggie quickly cut him off with a whispered “Not here, not yet” as he continued to smile at coworkers they passed. They followed him to a set of stairs in the back of the building. “Sorry about the climb, folks,” he said as he led them up six sizeable flights to the ground floor. They exited the Ministry and hurried down the street; across the way was a quiet lake lined with trees and park benches. “We can talk when we get there,” said Arthur.
Reggie listened intently at their story, his face grave. “Well, it should only take me a few minutes to find out if she’s been brought here yet.” “Yet, what do you mean ‘yet’? She was taken over three hours ago!” cried Jean. Reggie chose his words with care. “Sometimes, Snatchers will collect a few victims during the day and wait until the end of the day to turn them all in.” His words were true, but he couldn’t let on that the Snatchers may have other reasons for not immediately turning in a pretty teenage girl. He buried the thought quickly.
“Should you, or we, speak to your boss?” said Tom anxiously. Reggie and Arthur exchanged looks. “We have…reason to believe that Pius Thicknesse may not be a trustworthy source,” Arthur replied slowly. “In the last few months he’s been spending increasing amounts of time with Lucius Malfoy; in that time, we’ve noticed changes in his behavior, enough so that the Order is keeping a close watch on him now.”
“The Order?” said Tom, frowning. Arthur looked around and then leaned in close to the Grangers. “The Order of the Phoenix is a very special group of witches and wizards sworn to stop the advances of You-Know-Who and his followers. Dumbledore began it when You-Know-Who first came to power nearly 17 years ago.” Reggie reached over and clapped Arthur on the back. “If help is ever needed, there are no allies better to have on your side- Arthur and his wife Molly are members. That should tell you something about the character of the Order.”
Arthur smiled grimly: “Hagrid went to alert the Order about Hermione’s disappearance- finding her will be the top priority.” “But- finding her? Don’t you think she’s at the Ministry?” Jean asked, the pitch of her voice rising with fear. Reggie put his hand on hers. “She may very well be, and that’s the first place we’ll scour from top to bottom. But we’d like to set up a larger perimeter in which to search for her, just in case.” “You don’t really believe she’s here,” Tom said flatly. Arthur sighed heavily: “We can’t be sure, and we're taking no chances."
Last edited by steflegan; 04-04-2011 at 01:08 PM.
Reason: minor rewrite and font change
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