Chapter 398

A/N: Do you want to finish reading the book today? Do it! Now you can!

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May the magic be with you! Enjoy! :3

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Literally falling out of the wall in a low round hall with many elevators, we came out of the short apparation, and I turned off the "magic inverter".

" Nonsense," Hermione shook her head. "I thought it wasn't like that."

"Yeah... I was also expecting not fields in any way, but an outgoing flow of magic."

"It will need to be redesigned for a different form. But did you notice? The smoke of the short apparation was green, like Avada."

"And this leads to interesting thoughts — won't Protego, based on phase-inverted magic, stop Avada?"

We looked at each other stupidly for a couple of seconds, after which Hermione shook her head and with it a lush ponytail of hair as if driving away stupid thoughts. Waving her wand in the direction of one of the elevators, Hermione, judging by the devastating explosive effect that occurred, launched Bombarda Maxima into the elevator, tearing the doors and the cabin to shreds. The meaning is clear — it is extremely difficult and incredibly costly to apparate through matter with a rigid crystal lattice — even for water, there is its own special, somewhat more costly modification.

Without wasting any more time talking, we went into short apparation, descending down the elevator shaft in black clouds of smoke. The absolute darkness did not prevent us from moving.

"All the first elevators lead to the Atrium," Hermione's distorted voice came to me, laced with metallic notes.

The various pamphlets did not gather dust in bookstores for nothing, and the information in them could come in handy at the most unexpected moment. Very soon, a bright spot appeared at the end of the shaft.

I flew out into the Atrium of the Ministry and quickly looked around. Even with the overview vision in short apparation, it is impossible to pay attention to the entire field of vision at the same time — consciousness is not immediately ready to rebuild and process a completely different amount of data.

The light in the atrium was much dimmer than at normal times, and the hall was in semi-darkness. There was no fire burning in the fireplaces, but the golden symbols on the ceiling continued their unknown dance, filling the space with very weak light. We flew under the atrium ceiling towards the fountain and then to the hall with elevators. There was no one where the wizard on duty was supposed to be sitting at the inspection point, and this is a 24-hour post.

Another Bombarda, performed by Hermione, blew the hell out of one of the elevator booths, scattering large shards of stone, iron, and other material aside, along with a dense cloud of dust. We flew down the elevator shaft again, and I asked Rowena to participate as fully as possible in the whole thing - no time to test my own abilities. If I were alone — I would try out my skills without her help, but right now, I'm too worried about Hermione, even though I'm suppressing this feeling. Ideally, I'm worried about the others, even though I don't know who went with Potter. It's funny how long coexistence in childhood affects this. I probably wouldn't even be able to kill the jerk and scoundrel Malfoy in cold blood. But Selwyn, whom I saw only occasionally, I could easily. Hmm…

How cunning the Founders were! I'm willing to bet that it wasn't just for the sake of unified and versatile basic education that they built Hogwarts. You live like that and see someone almost every day for seven years, and then it's hard to kill them. Intrigue, plotting, you're welcome. But to kill... Of course, that doesn't stop some people or even vice versa, but still.

The elevator shaft didn't want to end.

"Miona, wait," I shouted into space, stopping.

"Yes?" came Hermione's voice nearby.

We were hovering in this completely black space. Only through sensitivity to magic did we retain the ability to sense each other.

"I need to answer."

It didn't take me long to realize that the slight discomfort of being in short apparation was caused by the communication mirror. As I pulled it out and brought my hand with it out of the apparation, I saw Tonks' face in the reflection, with the bustling members of the Order of the Phoenix in the background, but far from in its entirety. Tonks was about to say something, but all she saw was darkness, of that I was sure.

"Max?"

"I'm in the dark and in short apparation," my voice was distorted but recognizable.

"Where are you... It doesn't matter, though," Nymphadora's face read slight tiredness and relief.

"At the Ministry."

"In the Ministry?!"

Moody flashed in the background. He immediately turned in our direction, walked briskly to Tonks, and snatched the mirror from her hands.

"Listen carefully, rookie," Moody was now looking at me with his new prosthetic, and his voice was quiet and judicious. "The Ministry is surrounded by a bunch of blocking barriers, and we, like other wizards, have an extreme need to get there. We need to find whoever's putting up those barriers, which is definitely human, and he must be as garlanded with artifacts as a Christmas tree. What are you even doing there?"

"Here Potter went with the company to rescue Sirius. Apparently, I will have to save him ..."

"Ugh..." spat Moody angrily. "Dragon shit! So that's it..."

Moody allocated a couple of seconds of his life to tricky swearing, after which he looked in the mirror again.

"Look for this wizard, rookie. Every second counts! It's only a matter of time before we break down the barriers here. But we may not have it. Most likely, there are several Death Eaters, and most likely, the barrier holder is among them. And if I were the leader of the group, I wouldn't entrust this matter to anyone. Yes. Exactly. Look for that idiot Potter. If you find him — you'll find the others."

Without saying goodbye, Moody gave the mirror to Nymphadora.

"Hang in there," Tonks smiled not very confidently and ended the communication session.