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The white blanket of snow, even in the night, flickered quickly beneath me as I moved to the edge of the Hogwarts anti-apparation charms. As soon as I reached them, I immediately landed and apparated to London on Whitehall Street. Appearing across the street from one of the entrances to the Ministry of Magic, I accidentally pushed a person with my shoulder and immediately checked for the presence of concealment charms on myself — Muggle-Repelling Charms worked. Ignoring the bewildered man, I headed in the direction of the sensations from Hermione’s ring. Not the Ministry, but close by.

Just in case, pulling out my wand and checking, as far as possible, the space around with the help of the Architect’s abilities, I got to the alley between the buildings that stood across the street from the ministry — it was here that I felt Hermione. Actually, here, out of the reach of street lighting, she was standing, holding her wand at the ready.

“Miona,” I called out to the girl, stepping closer. “Is everything okay?”

“I’m fine,” she sounded like she was looking for someone on the other side. “There’s another problem.”

“Tell me.”

“I’ve been sitting in the common room, like I planned, doing various calculations on the magic storage. By the way, it turns out quite interesting there… But that’s not the point. The excited and worried guys from the “army” came over and asked if I could make a portkey to the ministry. It wasn’t hard for me, so I did it. While I was doing it, I could hear that they wanted to break into the Department of Mysteries. It’s a terrible crime, but I’ve been thinking for a long time where to get a Time-Turner to study…”

Hermione told quickly, and there was excitement on her face, despite the occlumency.

“…Figured I could secretly follow them and, under the guise of their con, get the Time-Turner, and maybe something else unique. Following the guys in stealth, I apparated after activating their portal. However, while they were getting ready to enter, I heard a few important things. Max. According to Potter, the Dark Lord has kidnapped Sirius Black and is torturing him in the Department of Mysteries. Harry claims to have seen it in person.”

“Let’s say,” I looked at the girl, simultaneously feeling the space with the help of the Architect.

“Max, it’s an obvious trap!” quietly exclaimed Hermione. “There’s no way I’d believe a wizard that powerful would allow himself to be peeped on. I mean, he might be crazy, deranged, inconsiderate, or whatever, but as a wizard, he’s definitely skilled, strong, and experienced. Potter is being deliberately taken to the Department of Mysteries for some reason, and I can guess why. Prophecy — I don’t see any other reason. You could just lure them to any other place. But, then why doesn’t he come for it himself?”

Hermione thought for a moment, but after a couple of seconds, she brushed the thought aside – perhaps she wrote off such behavior by the Dark Lord as some kind of whim, a fad, or his insanity.

“Okay. Things happen. A trap,” I nodded. “And then what?”

“And then – the most interesting. I decided it was too dangerous to go with them. When their group infiltrated the ministry…” Hermione shook her head, smiling sadly. “Through the elevator in the booth. In general, as soon as they got inside, access to the ministry was closed.”

“What do you mean?”

“There. I’ve already listened to a few wizards trying to get in. The fireplaces are blocked. The elevators are not responding. The guest passageways and the ones for staff don’t work. Above the ministry’s dungeon itself is the dome of the prohibition of apparation and short apparation. You can’t get there by conventional methods. No one has entered the ministry in the last twenty minutes. They just went out, but there was no way back. Look over there…”

Hermione nodded behind me. When I turned around, I saw four people in slightly strange casual clothes swarming around the gray wall of a large administration building. They pretended to just stand and talk to each other, but now and then, I could see the movements of the wands in their hands and the bewilderment on the faces of the wizards.

“They’ve been trying for the last fifteen minutes, it seems, to crack the defenses, and there, in the wall, is one of the entrances – I saw wizards walking through it.”

“Okay. I got you. Adventures, intrigues, investigations. Why am I here?”

“Something has to be done. Someone has to be informed. I’m sure that the fact that the Ministry building is isolated for at least another hour will be considered a simple technical malfunction. The working day is over, and there are only the occasional duty officers inside, and the same duty Aurors, and the DMLE. There’s only hope for them if the Dark Lord himself has really set a trap there.”

“They’re not there…” I shook my head, arousing Hermione’s surprise.

“But they’re supposed to…”

“All the squads on duty are called in for defense… or assault, I still don’t get it. Anyway, everyone’s busy….”