The Ministry of Magic
The Ministry of Magic
We appeared next to a rather beat up looking red telephone box, which I recognised to be the visitors entrance to the Ministry. I remembered my first ever visit, years ago with Mum and Dad as they sought answers about what had happened to Jacob when he'd first disappeared.
Barnaby and I stepped into the box together and closed the door. Having my body pressed against him felt good and I had a moment of pause about going in, thinking I might prefer to just take this handsome man home and have my way with him. But he'd already started dialing the access code '62442', darn, I thought half-heartedly.
"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business." A loud voice seemingly right above us announced. Barnaby looked up to the top of the box and replied, "Er, Barnaby Lee and Samhain Strixx, we're here to see Alastar Moody of the Auror office."
"Thank you. Visitors, please take the badges and attach them to the front of your robes" instructed the voice again. Two small badges with the forementioned information slid out of the coin return slot, Barnaby grabbed them and hung up the receiver.
"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." The voice told us.
As we pinned the badges to the fronts of our jackets the telephone box vibrated slightly and started to sink slowly into the ground below. A few moments later we opened the doors and stepped out into the brightly lit Atrium and the magical voice announced finally, "The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day."
Barnaby and I wove our way through a sea of busy witches and wizards until we reached the security desk to hand over our wands for inspection. It took several minutes for the security wizard to search us and confirm who we were. Then he gave us back our wands and pointed us towards the bank of some twenty lifts.
We joined one of the lesser crowded ones, checked to see the number two had already been pushed and waited for our turn to get out.
Finally, "Level 2, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters and Wizengamot Administration Services" was announced and we stepped out.
We rounded the first corner and proceeded through a pair of heavy oak doors and found ourselves in front of a messy looking row of cubicles with a crookedly hung sign which read 'Auror Headquarters'.
Visible at the far end of the room was a very familiar head with pink, spiky hair. She saw us come in and grinned at us before coming over. "Wotcher you two! Don't tell me you've already landed yourselves in trouble with the Aurors Office? Blimey, I won't even be able to pull any strings to help, couldn't even for myself if I had to" she laughed heartily.
We assured her we weren't in any trouble but had come to speak with her mentor about something.
"Mad Eye? Yeah he's still here, just through that door there" she pointed it out for us. "You'll fill me in later won't you Samhain? I'm studying stealth charms today but it's dead boring, I could use a bit of mystery." She added slyly as we headed over to Moody's office door. I promised Tonks I'd let her know more when I could and took a deep breath to calm my nerves before knocking on the door.
"Aye, come in come in, what do you want?" Growled someone from the back of the room.
I couldn't speak for a beat because what I'd originally taken to be a very frightening statue or possibly a coat rack had just turned to look at us. His appearance had changed drastically in the time since I'd met him. He looked many years older, more grizzled than ever and definitely more than a bit mad. I was shocked into complete silence.
Moody had more scars than anyone I'd ever seen in my life, combined. His most bizarre feature was a bright blue artificial eye that kept turning round of its own accord. I hadn't forgotten the way it seemed to look right through you. Barnaby however, clearly hadn't been prepared for this, but he was able to use his words still.
"Mr Moody, hello. I hope we're not disturbing you? My name is Barnaby Lee and this is my fiancé Samhain Strixx. We were told you're the authority on curses and I wondered if you might be able to help us out with a rather unique one" Barnaby explained.
Moody looked vaguely bored up until the word curse, at which he gave us his full attention, at least from his normal eye. The magical one continued to rocket around surveying everything and kept returning to me.
"Well curses aren't as interesting as catching dark wizards are they? But it's been a slow week, too much training for my liking. Whaddya got kid?"
Barnaby produced the ring box and started to explain about our trip to Knockturn Alley. However, he didn't explain the exact origin of the ring or how his grandmother had given it to him and his suspicion that she was the one who had cursed it. He skated by how he'd come into possession of it vaguely, only asserting that it was a family heirloom he intended to give to me.
"Hmm. This one wants thinking about. Leave it here with me for a couple of days and I'll see what I can find out" Moody offered gruffly.
Barnaby hesitated, looking at the ring apprehensively. For some reason he seemed reluctant to leave it in Moody's possession, even temporarily. Moody noticed as well. "Don't worry lad, I'm not about to steal it!" He barked out a laugh. "Although it would look right nice on me, I'll admit that" he said, wiggling his heavily scarred fingers at us. Barnaby was still hesitating so I took over and agreed, reaching out without thinking first, I shook Moody's mutilated hand and thanked him very much for helping us and said we'd be back in a few days to collect it.
Barnaby followed me out of the office but he did glance back at the ring just once. We met Tonks again on our way out and gave her a heavily condensed version of the story. Basically just that we'd asked Moody to check out a cursed ring we'd acquired in the hopes that it could be uncursed and I'd be able to wear it. Tonks seemed a bit skeptical, probably assuming there was more we didn't say, but I followed Barnaby's lead on staying quiet about his family. Until we'd left the Ministry and returned to our home on Amethyst Avenue, that is. Then I grilled him.
"I'd like you to explain why you didn't tell Moody everything we know about that ring. He's helping us Barnaby. Wouldn't it have been diligent to tell him the whole story, the more information the better, I'd think anyway." He was very quiet as he went about making dinner. I wasn't sure if he hadn't heard me or was purposely ignoring me but I didn't drop it.
"Barnaby. Hello?" He looked up. "Yeah, I heard you Samhain. I'm sorry, I was thinking" he replied. I waited, trying to give him time to collect his thoughts and held my wards up so I wouldn't intrude on his privacy.
"Okay. So something bothered me as soon as we got up to the Aurors Office" he started. "Why didn't the probity probes detect the rings curse at the security desk? I've never tried to do so, but it seems like I shouldn't have been able to just walk a heavily cursed object through the Ministry like that" he explained.
"I hadn't thought of that at all" I admitted. "Okay, yeah that is strange. But it doesn't really explain how you acted in Moody's office." "Well that's the thing. By the time it occurred to me, I'd started thinking about what Borgin said, about my rings being imbued with powerful magic and I started wondering if there might be more to your ring. Like maybe it's not so black and white, maybe it isn't really a curse, just really old or really powerful magic, or both. Maybe Borgin couldn't tell or didn't know what he was talking about, heck maybe he even lied. I dunno" he finished, looking lost in his thoughts again.
I went over to Barnaby, wrapping my arms around his waist and laying my head against his chest before I said, "You could be right. Your grandmother didn't give you cursed rings, yours are powerful but not dangerous. We saw how badly Borgin wanted them too. Maybe he did lie about mine so we'd be more inclined to sell it."
Barnaby placed his chin on the top on my head and hugged me to him. "I guess I didn't want to leave it after I'd had that thought, that it could be extremely powerful or something. And I'll be honest, I didn't say anything about Grandmother because I don't want to do anything that could get me or us on her bad side. Something like alerting the Aurors to her interest in the dark arts, I'm worried she'd retaliate against us if we got them interested enough to pay her a visit. Growing up like I did, I was always taught that family came first, even if they got into trouble like my parents. She never disowned them or cut them out of the family even after they went to Azkaban" Barnaby concluded thoughtfully.
I turned it all over in my mind during dinner, which was very quiet and subdued. As we were cleaning up I gave Barnaby my suggestion. "Maybe after we get the ring back, if Moody hasn't figured it out, we should just ask your grandmother. Rather than ask everyone else and possibly get her into trouble. The fact is, we're not completely sure it's cursed and we're not sure if it is, that she'd have been the one to curse it. We need more information. For now, what if I sent a letter to Bill? He's impartial enough, he works for Gringots not the Ministry, and it's possible he's come across cursed rings in Egypt" I asked.
"Okay. After we get the ring back and hear what Moody says we can decide what to do next. If needed I'll take it to Grandmother and ask. And in the meantime Bill seems like our best shot, I trust him." Barnaby agreed hugging me tight.