With help from Luna, Tori managed to get into the Thestral, and soon they were flying high in the sky.

Tori did not think she had ever moved so fast:
the Thestral streaked over the castle, its wide wings hardly beating; the cooling air was slapping Tori's face; she couldn't see her Thestral, so she was bent down low to protect herself from falling.

It was very odd to be flying without something she could see, but Tori kept an eye below.

They were over the Hogwarts grounds, they had passed Hogsmeade; she could see mountains and gullies below them. As the daylight began to fail, Tori saw small collections of lights as they passed over more villages, then a winding road on which a single car was beetling its way home through the hills.

Twilight fell: the sky was turning to a light, dusky purple littered with tiny silver stars, and soon only the lights of Muggle towns gave them any clue of how far from the ground they were, or how very fast they were traveling.

How much time had elapsed since Harry had seen Sirius lying on the Department of Mysteries floor? How much longer would Sirius be able to resist Voldemort?

Tori shut her eyes, begging her Thestral to ride faster. On they flew through the gathering darkness; Tori's face felt stiff and cold, her legs numb from gripping the Thestral's sides so tightly, but she did not dare shift her position...

If they were too late...

Tori's stomach gave a jolt but it wasn't from fear. They were descending at last... Tori let out a shriek as she shut her eyes tightly until she could feel herself on the ground.

''Never again," She said, struggling to her feet. She nearly fell over, feeling as if she was about to pass out. Neville and Luna touched down on both sides of her.

Neville jumped down, shaking; and Luna dismounted smoothly.

"Where do we go from here, then?" She asked Harry in a politely interested voice, as though this was all a rather interesting day-trip.

''Over here," He said. He gave his Thestral a quick, grateful pat, then led the way quickly to the battered telephone box and opened the door. "Come on!" he urged the others, as they hesitated.

Ron and Ginny marched in obediently; Hermione, Neville, and Luna squashed themselves in after them; Tori brought up the rear, making sure there were no unwanted eyes following.

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

Ron did it, his arm bent bizarrely to reach the dial; as it whirred back into place the 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, Victoria Silvers," Harry said very quickly, ''Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood... 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."

Half a dozen badges slid out of the metal chute where returned coins normally appeared. Hermione scooped them up and handed them mutely to the group. Tori glanced at hers, Victoria Silvers, Rescue Mission.

''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 said loudly. "Now can we move?"

The floor of the telephone box shuddered and the pavement rose up past its glass windows; blackness closed over their heads and with a dull grinding noise they sank down into the depths of the Ministry of Magic.

A chink of soft golden light hit their feet and, widening, rose up their bodies. Tori bent her knees and held her wand as ready as he could in such cramped conditions as she peered through the glass to see whether anybody was waiting for them in the Atrium, but it seemed, to be completely empty. The light was dimmer than it had been by day; there were no fires burning under the mantelpieces set into the walls, but as the lift slid smoothly to a halt he saw that golden symbols continued to twist sinuously in the dark blue ceiling.

''The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant evening," said the woman's voice.

The door of the telephone box burst open; Harry toppled out of it, closely followed by Neville and Luna. "Ow! Ronald!" Tori yelped, yanking her foot away. The only sound in the Atrium was the steady rush of water from the golden fountain, where jets from the wands of the witch and wizard, the point of the centaur's arrow, the tip of the goblin's hat, and the house-elf's ears continued to gush into the surrounding pool.

''Come on," said Harry quietly and the seven of them sprinted off down the hall, Harry in the lead, past the fountain towards the desk where the watchwizard was now deserted.

Tori felt sure there ought to be a security person there, sure their absence was an ominous sign, and her feeling of foreboding increased as they passed through the golden gates to the lifts. Harry pressed the nearest down button and a lift clattered into sight almost immediately, the golden grilles slid apart with a great, echoing clanking and they dashed inside.

Harry stabbed the number nine button; the grilles closed with a bang and the lift began to descend, jangling and rattling. Tori was sure the din would raise every security person within the building, yet when the lilt halted, the cool female voice said, ''Department of Mysteries," and the grilles slid open. They stepped out into the corridor where nothing was moving out but the nearest torches, flickering in the rush of air from the lift.

Harry turned towards the plain black door. "Let's go," He whispered, and he led the way down the corridor, Luna right behind him, gazing around with her mouth slightly open. Tori exchanged glances with Ginny before following him.

"OK, listen," said Harry, stopping again within six feet of the door. "Maybe... maybe a couple of people should stay here as a—as a lookout, and—"

''And how're we going to let you know something's coming?" asked Ginny, her eyebrows raised. "You could be miles away."

''We're coming with you, Harry," said Neville.

''Let's get on with it," Ron nodded firmly.

"But—"

"Harry Potter, I swear to Godric. We did not come this far to stand out here and look for something that's not coming. We are all going in there or so help me I will drag you all back to Hogwarts." Tori snapped, causing everyone to look at her in surprise.

Harry sighed, getting it through his head. He turned to face the door and walked forwards. The door swung open and he marched over the threshold, the others at his heels.

They were standing in a large, circular room. Everything in here was black including the floor and ceiling; identical, unmarked, handleless black doors were set at intervals all around the black walls, interspersed with branches of candles whose flames burned blue; their cool, shimmering light reflected in the shining marble floor made it look as though there was dark water underfoot.

''Someone shut the door," Harry muttered.

Without the long chink of light from the torchlit corridor behind them, the place became so dark that for a moment the only things they could see were the bunches of shivering blue flames on the walls and their ghostly reflections in the floor.

There were around a dozen doors here. Harry was gazing ahead at the doors opposite him, trying to decide which was the right one, there was a great rumbling noise and the candles began to move sideways. The circular wall was rotating.

Hermione grabbed Harry's arm as though frightened the floor might move, too, but it did not. For a few seconds, the blue flames around them were blurred to resemble neon lines as the wall sped around; then, quite as suddenly as it had started, the rumbling stopped and everything became stationary once again.

''What was that about?" whispered Ron fearfully.

''I think it was to stop us knowing which door we came in through," said Ginny in a hushed voice.

Tori realized at once she was right: they could no sooner identify the exit door than locate an ant on the jet-black floor; and the door through which they needed to proceed could be any one of the dozen surrounding them.

''How're we going to get back out?" Neville asked uncomfortably.

''Well, that doesn't matter now," said Harry forcefully, blinking to try to erase the blue lines from his vision, and clutching his wand tighter than ever, ''We won't need to get out till we've found Sirius—"

''Don't go calling for him, though!" Tori whispered urgently.

''Where do we go, then, Harry?" Ron asked.

''I don't—" Harry began. "In the dreams, I went through the door at the end of the corridor from the lifts into a dark room—that's this one—and then I went through another door into a room that kind of... glitters. We should try a few doors," He said hastily, ''I'll know the right way when I see it. C'mon."

He marched straight at the door now facing him, the others following close behind him, set his left hand against its cool, shining surface, raised his wand ready to strike the moment it opened and pushed.

It swung open easily.

After the darkness of the first room, the lamps hanging low on golden chains from this ceiling gave the impression that this long rectangular room was much brighter, though there were no glittering, shimmering lights.

The place was quite empty except for a few desks and, in the very middle of the room, an enormous glass tank of deep green liquid, big enough for all of them to swim in; a number of pearly-white objects were drifting around lazily in it.

''What're those things?" whispered Ron.

''Dunno," said Harry.

''Are they fish?'' breathed Ginny.

"Ugly ones." Tori grimaced.

''Aquavirius Maggots!" Luna chirped excitedly. "Dad said the Ministry were breeding—"

''No," said Hermione. She sounded odd. She moved forward to look through the side of the tank. "They're brains."

''Brains?"

''Yes... I wonder what they're doing with them?"

Tori joined her at the tank. Sure enough, there could be no mistake now she saw them at close quarters. Glimmering eerily, they drifted in and out of sight in the depths of the green liquid, looking something like slimy cauliflowers.

"That's your first question?" Tori asked, staring at them. "Not 'why the hell does the Ministry have a tank of brains?'"

''Let's get out of here," Harry shivered. "This isn't right, we need to try another door."

''There are doors here, too," said Ron, pointing around the walls. "Bloody hell, how big is this place?" Tori threw her arms up in the air.

''In my dream, I went through that dark room into the second one," Harry said. "I think we should go back and try from there."

So they hurried back into the dark, circular room; the ghostly shapes of the brains were now swimming before Tori's eyes instead of the blue candle flames.

''Wait!" said Hermione sharply, as Luna made to close the door of the brain room behind them. "Flagrate!"

She drew with her wand in midair and a fiery ''X" appeared on the door. No sooner had the door clicked shut behind them than there was a great rumbling, and once again the wall began to revolve very fast, but now there was a great red-gold blur in amongst the faint blue and, when all became still again, the fiery cross still burned, showing the door they had already tried.

''Good thinking," said Harry. "OK, let's try this one—"

Again, he strode directly at the door facing him and pushed it open, his wand still raised, the others at his heels.

This room was larger than the last, dimly lit and rectangular, and the center of it was sunken, forming a great stone pit some twenty feet deep.!They were standing on the topmost tier of what seemed to be stone benches running all around the room and descending in steep steps like an amphitheatre.

There was a raised stone dais in the center of the pit, on which stood a stone archway that looked so ancient, cracked, and crumbling that Tori was amazed the thing was still standing. Unsupported by any surrounding wall, the archway was hung with a tattered black curtain or veil which.

''Who's there?" said Harry, jumping down on to the bench below.

''Careful!" whispered Tori.

Harry scrambled down the benches one by one until he reached the stone bottom of the sunken pit. His footsteps echoed loudly as he walked slowly towards the dais.

''Sirius?'' Harry spoke again, but more quietly now that he was nearer.

''Let's go," called Hermione from halfway up the stone steps. "This isn't right, Harry, come on, let's go."

She sounded scared, much more scared than she had in the room where the brains swam.

''Harry, let's go, okay?" Hermione said more forcefully.

''OK," He nodded, but did not move.

''What are you saying?" He said, very loudly, so that his words echoed all around the stone benches. Tori couldn't hear anyone talking, but she could feel the pull of the veil. She wanted to know what was under there.

On the other side, Ginny and Neville were staring, apparently entranced, at the veil too. Without speaking, Hermione took hold of Ginny's arm,

Ron grabbed Neville's, Luna grabbed Tori's and they marched them firmly back to the lowest stone bench and clambered all the way back up to the door.

''What d'you reckon that arch was?" Harry asked Hermione as they regained the dark circular room.

''I don't know, but whatever it was, it was dangerous," She said firmly, again inscribing a fiery cross on the door.

"It was drawing us near it..." Tori trailed off, her mind was still. Once more, the wall span and became still again. Harry approached another door at random and pushed. It did not move.

''What's wrong?" Tori asked.

''It's... locked..." Harry replied, throwing his weight at the door, but it didn't budge.

"This is it, then, isn't it?" Ron asked excitedly, joining Harry in an attempt to force the door open. "Bound to be!"

''Get out of the way!" said Hermione sharply. She pointed her wand at the place where a lock would have been on an ordinary door and said, ''Alohomora!"

Nothing happened.

''Sirius's knife!" exclaimed Harry. He pulled it out from inside his robes and slid it into the crack between the door and the wall. The others all watched eagerly as he ran it from top to bottom, withdrew it, and then flung his shoulder again at the door. It remained as firmly shut as ever. What was more, when Harry looked down at the knife, he saw the blade had melted.

''Right, we're leaving that room," said Hermione decisively.

''But what if that's the one?'' said Ron, staring at it with a mixture of apprehension and longing that Tori could relate to.

''It can't be, Harry could get through all the doors in his dream,"' said Hermione, marking the door with another fiery cross as Harry replaced the now-useless handle of Sirius's knife in his pocket.

''You know what could be in there?" asked Luna eagerly, as the wall started to spin yet again.

''Something blibbering, no doubt," said Hermione under her breath and Neville gave a nervous little laugh.

The wall slid to a halt and Harry pushed the next door open. "This is it!"

As Tori's eyes became accustomed to the brilliant glare, she saw clocks gleaming from every surface, large and small, grandfather and carriage, hanging in spaces between the bookcases or standing on desks ranging the length of the room so that a busy, relentless ticking filled the place like thousands of minuscule, marching footsteps. The source of the dancing, diamond-bright light was a towering crystal bell jar that stood at the far end of the room.

''This way!"

Tori's heart was pumping frantically now that she knew they were on the right track; Harry led the way down the narrow space between the lines of desks, heading, as he had done in his dream, for the source of the light, the crystal bell jar quite as tall as he was that stood on a desk and appeared to be full of a billowing, glittering wind. Tori had her wand out, eyeing the things around her.

''Oh, took!" Ginny gasped, as they drew nearer, pointing at the very heart of the bell jar.

Drifting along in the sparkling current inside was a tiny, jewel-bright egg. As it rose in the jar, it cracked open and a hummingbird emerged, which was carried to the very top of the jar, but as it fell on the draught its feathers became bedraggled and damp again, and by the time it had been borne back to the bottom of the jar it had been enclosed once more in its egg.

''Keep going!" said Harry sharply, because Ginny showed signs of wanting to stop and watch the egg's progress back into a bird.

''You dawdled enough by that old arch!" She said crossly but followed him past the bell jar to the only door behind it. Tori held back a light chuckle, knowing this was not the time for laughter.

''This is it," Harry said again, "It's through here—"

He glanced around at them all; they had their wands out and looked suddenly serious and anxious. He looked back at the door and pushed. It swung open.

They were there, they had found the place: high as a church and full of nothing but towering shelves covered in small, dusty glass orbs. They glimmered dully in the light issuing from more candle-brackets set at intervals along the shelves.

Like those in the circular room behind them, their flames were burning blue. The room was very cold.

Harry edged forward and peered down one of the shadowy aisles between two rows of shelves. Tori could not hear anything or see the slightest sign of movement.

''You said it was row ninety-seven," whispered Hermione.

''Yeah," breathed Harry, looking up at the end of the closest row. Beneath the branch of blue-glowing candles protruding from it glimmered the silver figure fifty-three.

''We need to go right, I think," whispered Hermione, squinting to the next row. "Yes... that's fifty-four..."

''Keep your wands ready," Harry said softly.

"Way ahead of you. This rooms creepy." Tori scoffed. They crept forward, glancing behind them as they went on down the long alleys of shelves, the further ends of which were in near-total darkness. Tiny, yellowing labels had been stuck beneath each glass orb on the shelves. Some of them had a weird, liquid glow; others were as dull and dark within.

They passed row eighty-four... eighty-five... Tori was listening hard for the slightest sound of movement, staring around her. She could feel eyes upon them and a hot feeling in her robe pocket.

''Ninety-seven!" Tori whispered-shouted.

They stood grouped around the end of the row, gazing down the alley beside it. There was nobody there.

''He's right down at the end," said Harry. "You can't see properly from here."

And he led them between the towering rows of glass balls, some of which glowed softly as they passed...

''He should be near here," whispered Harry, convinced that every step was going to bring the ragged form of Sirius into view on the darkened floor. "Anywhere here... really close..."

''Harry?" Hermione said tentatively, but he did not want to respond.

''Somewhere about... here..." He said.

They had reached the end of the row and emerged into more dim candlelight, There was nobody there. All was echoing dusty silence.

''He might be..." Harry whispered hoarsely, peering down the next alley. "Or maybe..." He hurried to look down the one beyond that.

''Harry?" said Hermione again.

''What?" He snarled.

Hermione fell silent so Tori took a cautious step towards him. "Harry," She whispered. "I... I don't think Sirius is here."

Nobody spoke.

Harry ran up the space at the end of the rows, staring down at them. Empty aisle after empty aisle flickered past.

Tori stopped dead, listening. "I don't think we're alone." She said softly at the same time Ron called Harry over.

''Have you seen this?" Ron asked.

''What?" Harry demanded. He strode back to where they were all standing, a little way down row ninety-seven, but found nothing except Ron staring at one of the dusty glass spheres on the shelf.

''What?'' Harry repeated glumly.

''It's—it's got your name on," said Ron.

Harry moved a little closer. Ron was pointing at one of the small glass spheres that glowed with a dull inner light, though it was very dusty and appeared not to have been touched for many years.

''My name?"

He stepped forwards. Not as tall as Ron, he had to crane his neck to read the yellowish label affixed to the shelf right beneath the dusty glass ball. In spidery writing was written a date of some sixteen years previously, and below that:

S.P.T. to A.P.W.B.D.

Dark Lord

and

(?) Harry Potter

Tori stared at it.

''What is it?" Ron asked, sounding unnerved. "What's your name doing down here?"

He glanced along at the other labels on that stretch of a shelf.

''I'm not here," He said, sounding perplexed. "None of the rest of us are here."

''Harry, I don't think you should touch it," said Hermione sharply, as he stretched out his hand.

''Why not?" He said. "It's something to do with me, isn't it?"

''Don't, Harry," said Neville suddenly. Tori looked at him. Neville's round face was shining slightly with sweat. He looked as though he could not take much more suspense.

''It's got my name on," said Harry.

And feeling slightly reckless, he closed his fingers around the dusty ball's surface. Harry lifted the glass ball down from its shelf and stared at it.

"Ow!" Tori hissed automatically, she immediately dug through her pockets to pull out Sirius's pocket watch. It was scorching hot, yet it didn't look any different. "What?" Harry asked, turning around her face her.

"It's scalding!" Tori whispered as Ron reached to touch it. He winced in pain, jumping back. "Ow!"

And then, from right behind them, a drawling voice spoke.

''Very good, Potter. Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me."

i'm just going to tell you why the watch does that, tori will figure it out later.

the watch tells time (no really) and it turns very hot when it detects whoever owns it is in danger