PRINCESS ➳ harry potter , draco malfoy (OLD VERSION)

80 || The Department of Mysteries

It was the most peculiar sensation, riding on the back of a creature that you could not even see. Katie's arms were tightly wrapped around her Thesteral's silky neck, as they had been for what must have been hours as they flew over Great Britain, all the way from Scotland to London. When she glanced down, it appeared that she was gliding freely through thin air, though she did avoid looking down too often because the thought of how high up they were terrified her.

Katie's stomach gave a jolt; the Thesteral's head was suddenly pointing towards the ground. They were descending at last and bright orange lights were glowing larger and rounder on all sides; they could see the tops of buildings, headlights, squares of pale yellow that were windows. With a very gentle thump, the Thesteral touched the ground, and Katie gracefully slid off onto the pavement, as did everyone else.

"That was mad!" Chris exclaimed as he pat what he assumed was the Thesteral's back. He too could not see them.

"Where do we go from here, then?" Luna asked Harry in a politely interested voice. They were in a very run-down back alleyway. Nearby stood an overflowing skip and a short way from that was a vandalised red box with the word 'TELEPHONE' written in bold letters.

"What's a telephone?" Katie whispered to Chris, who shrugged unknowingly and appeared to be just as confused by the red box as she.

"Over here." Harry said and he waved everyone over to the battered red box, opening the door when he got there. Everybody hesitated, unsure of how nine people were going to fit inside. "Come on!"

Ron and Ginny marched in obediently, followed by Katie, Niall andChris; Hermione, Neville and Luna squashed themselves in after them, then Harry forced himself inside the box after Luna.

"Whoever's nearest the receiver, dial six two four four two!" Harry ordered.

Ron did it, his arm bent bizarrely to reach the dial; as it whirred back into place a cool female voice sounded inside the box.

"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."

"Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger," Harry said very quickly, "Ginny Weasley, Katerina Blair, Christian Blair, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, Niall Murray... we're here to save someone, unless your Ministry can do it first!"

"Thank you," said the cool female voice. "Visitors, please take the badges and attach them to the front of your robes."

Nine badges slid out of a metal chute. Hermione scooped them up and handed them mutely to Harry over Ginny's head.

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

"Fine!" Harry shouted. "Now can we move!"

The floor of the box shuddered and the pavement rose up past it's glass windows, and with a dull grinding noise they sank down to the depths of the Ministry of Magic.

"Does anybody know what a telephone is?" Katie asked to the group at large. Her question was left unanswered because the cool female voice rang through the box once again.

"The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant evening."

The door of the telephone box burst open and everyone tumbled out. Quickly scrambling back to their feet, they found themselves at the end of the Atrium. It was eerily vacant — not a single other person was in sight, not even the security wizard, which Katie thought was a very bad sign indeed. The only sound in the Atrium was the steady rush of water from the golden fountain ahead.