Harry Potter and the Desideratum Crusade [Harmione]

50. Reading of the Will

**Earlier**

"Something's wrong..."

"No!" Ginny cried. "I didn't tell him! We have to find him!"

"What?" Ron asked, dropping his fork before his first bite at the sound of his sister's fear.

"I was so angry at him," Ginny said, looking around frantically. "This is my fault."

"Ginny, what have you done?" Hermione asked, standing up. Her fear was squeezing her heart, making her chest hurt.

Suddenly there was a loud crash and Hermione whirled to look at the head table. Several of the teachers had collapsed. She saw Hagrid stagger to his feet and stumble backwards before sitting heavily on the floor. Hermione gaped at them in shock.

"There's going to be an attack on the Ministry," she heard Ginny sob, and turned to face her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry. I should have said something sooner..."

I think we have our own problems," Ron said as he stood up.

Hermione looked around as she saw students collapsing all over the Great Hall, and her heart lurched again. Harry had been right...

❾¾ ❾¾❾¾❾¾ ❾¾❾¾❾¾

Harry met up with Neville in the Atrium of the Ministry. After a quick wand check, they headed for the lift.

"I need to do a side trip first," Harry said as they got into the empty waiting car. "I need to go to the Department of Mysteries."

"What for?" Neville asked.

Harry pulled the feather out of his pocket and held it up.

"Mr. Ollivander is here," he explained.

"Is that one of Fawkes' feathers?" Neville asked.

"No, it came from another Phoenix. This is a wand feather. It's to be used as the magical core for a wand."

Harry ran his hand along the edge of the feather, and he could feel the magic responding to his touch.

"Wow," Neville said in awe.

They arrived at the ninth floor and Harry felt a chill settle over him as he remembered the last time he was here. They moved down the hallway in silence, and entered the rotating room. As soon as the door closed, the revolving walls began to move.

"Room of Enchantment," Harry said.

The walls slowed until one door was directly in front of them. Harry moved forward and tried the door. It was locked. He took the feather and slowly and carefully put the tip of it in the keyhole and gave it a little wiggle. With a 'click' the door unlocked and he pushed it open.

They found themselves in a room bathed in soft light with a bookshelf along one wall. There were five pedestals in the center of the room, each one holding an object. Harry could hear soothing music coming from somewhere, and he felt himself relax. Neville looked around the room in awe as Harry walked up to the first pedestal. There was a bottle with a stopper sitting in the middle of it, with a small plate hanging on a chain from the neck. Neville came up beside him and read the plate.

"Love Potion Number Nine. Huh. I didn't know that really existed," he said.

Harry moved to the next pedestal, which had a set of bow and arrows on it.

"Cupid's Bow and Arrows," he read.

"Don't touch it," Neville said. "That's dangerous magic."

"Juliette's Knife," Harry read on the next sign. "I didn't know she was a witch. That's not what I studied in school before Hogwarts."