Percy Jackson and the Department of Mysteries

156) Yeah She Has Brass Knuckles, What Of It?

"Never again," Ron gasped, breaking Harry and I out of our shared worries. He toddled on his feet like they weren't his own, and attempted to step away from his thestral, only to slam into it. "Never, ever again... that was the worst —"

"Where do we go from here, then?" Luna asked us.

"Over here," Harry said, marching toward the phone box. He opened the door, and, rather impatiently, hissed, "Come on."

"No need to be rude, Hare-bear," I said, though I knew he was only being harsh because he was scared. I was scared, too. "We're coming."

Harry stepped in first, and we all crammed ourselves in after that. I've got to say, cramming eight people into a phone booth sounds a lot better on paper. Unless your phone booth is a time-traveling, physics defying alien spaceship, I would not recommend attempting this, as odds are good that you'll end up with an elbow in your gut and someone's hand squashed a little too close for comfort.

"Whoever's nearest the receiver, dial six two four four two," I said, hoping I didn't sound too much like Neville's knee was slowly squeezing the air from my lungs.

Ron, apparently double-jointed, twisted his arm bizarrely and twisted the rotator. A cool, female voice echoed out into our little box of discomfort, "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."

"Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnegan, Luna Lovegood... We're here to save someone, unless your Ministry can do it first!"

"Thank you," said the voice, and I thought she sounded a bit colder than before. To be fair, I had beef with the bitch. "Visitors, please take the badges and attach them to the front of your robes."

"What if I wear multiple visitors badges, as I am representing them on behalf of, um, themselves?" I asked, because I had thought about how I would be able to get to wear another person's badge. Life was stressful, and I had a lot to worry about, but bothering the stupid disembodied voice was at the top of my list.

"Visitors may not wear another's badge," the voice sounded out, and this time, it seemed hotter, more angry than anything.

"What about finders keepers?" I questioned, accepting my own badge from Hermione, and quickly snatching Seamus', too. "It's my badge, now, not his."

"Give it to him," the voice bit as we all pinned our badges to our clothes, with the exception of Seamus, who had a mouthful of Ginny's hair.

"Finders keepers," I said. "You can't make me, I know my rights!"

"Percy!" Harry snapped, eyes narrowed.

Right. There was a time to try for happiness, and it wasn't right then. I silently passed the badge to Seamus, who silently pinned it to his chest, though that might have just been because he had hair in his mouth. Glancing at him, though, I could see he was still holding tightly on to Dean's robes, and I couldn't help but hope we made it out of this, so Seamus could finally share everything with Dean. They deserved it.

The badge was plain, but, after a moment's struggle to make out the words, I could see that it said 'PERCY JACKSON — RESCUE MISSION', which is just about the coolest visitor's badge a person could wear. It fit me much more than my Prefect's badge, but I think it looked best when they sat uncomfortably beside each other.

"Visitors to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the atrium."

"Fine!" Harry rubbed harshly at his scar. "Now can we move?"

The disembodied voice must of liked Harry more than it did me, as we slowly started descending, the world sliding out of sight. Almost like another sign, but I didn't heed that one, either. I didn't think things would go as wrong as they did, so I just watched the pavement rise up and away, and thought a silent prayer to no one in particular.