The Orb of Odenis

2. Owl from the Ministry

The morning sun streamed through the window into the bedroom. It was the first time in over a week that the rain had stopped and the birds were singing loudly. Below in the street, the rumble of traffic told Ron that the day was well under way. He lay beside Hermione looking through the window at the clear blue sky. A single airplane was making its way to some unknown destination, leaving behind a white con-trail marking the path the aircraft had taken. It hadn't stopped raining for very long as there was still water dripping from the window frame onto a small pot containing a single green plant that looked like a caveman's club - slim at the bottom, getting fatter towards the top, with a dark green skin that was covered in small lumps. Ron remembered that Hagrid had given some of his favourite pupils a going away present in the form of a carnivorous plant and that his own one had grown to immense proportions before his mum made him put it out in the yard after it had tried to eat Ginny.

The plant on the windowsill kept shaking itself each time a drip landed on its stout head, until eventually an insect landed on the plant and it immediately snapped open its mouth and swallowed the unfortunate creature. Beside him, Hermione rolled over onto her back and the sheet moved off her to expose her shoulder. He saw that she was painfully thin with her bones showing through her pale skin. Careful not to wake the sleeping girl, he moved the sheet to cover her up and she rolled over to put her arm around Ron's bare chest. The room was bright as the sun did its job, and the drip, drip of the water was starting to get on Ron's nerves a little. He turned to face the window to see that it was not water dripping, but an owl, tapping lightly on the window. It was having problems keeping his wings away from the pot plant, which was trying to take a piece out of him.

Ron got out of bed and pulled on his trousers before going over to the window. As soon as the window was open, the owl sped into the room like a bullet, obviously keen to get away from the chomping plant, which spat out a couple of owl feathers. The owl came in, and Crookshanks went straight out the window. Ron tried to stop him, but the cat jumped out before he could react. Even the plant was too slow to catch the cat. He looked out the window to see the cat falling with all four legs spread out, tail flailing wildly. Crookshanks landed straight on the top of a parked car four floors below, setting off the alarm. Amazingly, the cat bounced off the roof and raced across the road into the empty warehouse.

Done that before then, Ron thought.

The plant next to him had bent down and had opened its mouth, ready to give Ron's arm a quick chew, so he pulled himself back into the room and started to chase the owl around the floor. It was quite difficult to get the letter from the owl as he was hopping around the floor on one foot, obviously upset at being bitten by a plant. But after a couple of seconds, the letter had been removed and Ron started to read it.

For the attention of Miss Hermione Granger and Mr Ronald Weasley,

Front Bedroom,

Flat 42,

12 Forth Street,

West Ham

"How the hell did they know I was here, and in this room," Ron muttered, anxiously looking round, then continuing to read the note.

From the Ministry of Magic,

It is becoming evident that there are parts of the country that are losing their magical powers. You are both summoned to an emergency meeting today at 2pm at the Ministry of Magic to discuss a special mission to recover an ancient artefact that could possibly repair the damage. You have both been chosen due to your outstanding talents. Report directly to the Minister for Magic, Mr Stanton Poges, as soon as you arrive.

Yours,

Arthur Weasley

PS. I am writing this from in front of the Sphinx in Egypt after getting a request from Stanton about the note sounding better if it came from me, and to warn me about not Apparating, or something. Anyway, we all hope you are okay and give our love to Hermione. Mum says 'hello' and Ginny has gotten sunburnt something terrible.

It didn't make Ron feel any more comfortable knowing that not only did the Ministry know that he was in the same bedroom as Hermione, but that it was his dad who knew.

"Blimey," Ron gasped. "Hermione, wake up! We've got to go to town, NOW!"

"Wh-what is it. What are you taking about?" she said, rubbing her eyes and yawning.

"Here, read this." He handed the note to her.

She sat up to read the note and her eyes became very wide as she looked around the room.

"Your dad knew you were in here! With me! In the morning," she whispered and pulled the sheet up to her chin.

"Yeah, but its half-past twelve now, so we have to get a move on. What do you think they want us to find?" he asked and rubbed his head.

"I have no idea," she replied. "Anyway, we will find out when we get there. Where did I leave my wand?"

"Oh, I found that last night in the draw with the pictures in it," Ron answered, sniffing a sock and deciding it didn't smell too bad to wear again.

"Good. Well, I need to get dressed now, so if you don't mind?"

"Oh, yes, sorry."

Ron was already half dressed, so he went out to the bathroom to freshen up a little. Hermione looked at the note as the owl flew out the window leaving several feathers behind in the mouth of the plant again. Wrapping herself in a sheet, she got out of bed and pulled open a draw in the dressing table. She got dressed as quickly as she could and sitting down in front of the dressing table, she started to brush her hair. In the mirror she could see her eyes had a strange sparkle in them and she had a bloom about her face for some reason. She started to hum a tune that she heard whilst at a play once. Things can only get better, I know they can, she thought as she got up to go to the bathroom. It hadn't taken Ron long to wash and he bumped into Hermione on his way out of the bathroom.

"Morning, dear," she said in a sarcastic way.

"Good morning, my darling," Ron equally sarcastically replied, and he kissed her on her cheek.

"Oi, we're not married. Yet," she laughed, and shut herself in the bathroom.

Hermione could hear Ron clanking about in the kitchen again as she splashed cold water on her face. She looked at herself in the mirror again and she felt really excited about something, but she couldn't figure out just what it was at the moment. It wasn't the letter, or maybe it was the fact that they had spent their first night together.

Ron had made a little breakfast and sat in relative silence as they eat. The only sound was Ron munching loudly on a slice of toast, or gulping down some orange juice. Very soon they were ready to make their journey to the Ministry of Magic.

"How are we going to get there?" Ron asked as he slurped the last of his coffee.

He knew that the Ministry was somewhere in the city centre, but he had no idea of the address.

"Floo powder, silly," Hermione giggled and pointed at the fireplace. "I attached it to the network as soon as I moved in."

"Does it work what with all the strange stuff that's going on?"

She could see the worried look on his face.

"I don't know, actually," she admitted. "I did send something through the network soon after I got it working, but it did go a little astray."

"Astray? What do you mean? Are you saying that I could end up is someone cooking pot?"

"Erm, possibly. It was a vase, and I am not sure where it went."

Ron looked very nervous as he got up and wrapped his cloak around him before helping Hermione on with hers. She picked up her wand and put it in her belt.

"Okay, I shall go first," he said nervously and stepped onto the front of the fireplace. "Where's the powder?"

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes, just hand me some powder please."

"Here you go." She offered him up a small metal box containing the Floo powder.

Taking a handful, he stuffed it into his pocket.

"Just in case," he muttered.

He took another handful and looked straight ahead. Throwing the powder into the flames, he shouted, "THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC!"

Poof! Ron disappeared in a flash of green flames. Hermione stepped onto the front of the fireplace and put the box on the floor. Before she could pick up the powder, there was a whoosh and Ron reappeared from the fireplace and bowled her over.

"What the-" she said, trying to push the stunned Ron off her legs.

"Why, what, why am I here? This isn't the Ministry," he stuttered.

He was covered in ashes, and his hair was smouldering again.

"What happened? You said the right words, I'm sure." Hermione sounded a little confused.

"When I went into the network, it didn't feel right somehow," he began, dropping cinders from his cloak.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"You know it feels like you are spinning, well, its now like you are just falling."

Hermione was starting to feel a little worried.

"Maybe the network is suffering the same problems as the rest of the magical world," she said. "I know. Lets try somewhere else."

She got up, picked up a handful of powder and put it in the pocket of her cloak. Standing in front of the fireplace, she took another handful and threw it in the flames shouting, "DIAGON ALLEY!"

Poof! Hermione disappeared. Ron waited nervously for her to reappear. One minute, two minutes. The waiting was becoming unbearable. He started pacing up and down, chewing his knuckles. But after five minutes, a whoosh announced her return. She coughed and lumps of ash fell from her hair.

"Where did you end up?" Ron asked.

"I don't know," came the reply along with a little sneeze. "I fell through a fireplace into the kitchen of a large house somewhere in Ireland. The cook was very kind if not a little surprised, and she gave me a cup of tea and a biscuit. I got back using the extra powder in my cloak." She sneezed again.

"I've been sitting here frantic and you were having tea!"

Ron had a shocked look on his face.

"Sorry. Anyway, I think we should walk to the Ministry," she said, getting up and brushing ash from her cloak.

"Good idea," Ron replied. "I don't want to end up sliding across the floor of a bakery. I might be there all day. Do you know where it is?"

"Erm, I think so. Wait a minute."

She went over to the chest of drawers and searched through some pieces of parchment, eventually finding a small scrap with some writing on it.

"I got this when I wanted to go and see Harry's wand," she said.

She pocketed the piece of parchment and they made their way to the front door. Ron collected some money from his bag, and followed Hermione to the landing. When he had closed the door, she pointed her wand at the door and locked it. When they finally reached the street the sunshine was even brighter now but the wind was blowing quite cold.

"Oh, hang on. I know how we can get there. Watch this," Ron exclaimed.

He stuck out his wand and yelled, 'TAXI' at the top of his voice. Suddenly, a taxi appeared at the end of the street and started to swerve all over the road before coming to a halt in front of them.

"'Ello, 'Ermione, Ronald," said Arioch. "'Op in then and where would you like to go?"

"Who on Earth is this?" Hermione was looking at the tatty cab, then at the driver who was giving her a big cheesy grin.

Just then, the Knight Bus turned up. The conductor jumped out and ran up to the taxi.

"Frith, you git. I might have known," Stan Shunpike shouted. "I shall report you for this. Its in contravention of law forty five, sub-section nine, paragraph-"

"Its sub-section eight, actually," Arioch announced in a sort of know-it-all voice. "The Inappropriate Use of Bewitched Vehicles in the Pursuit of Personal Gain. Anyway, since when do YOU worry about that law, Shunpike?" He began to cough again.

"Don't know what you mean." Stan blushed and looked at his watch. "I wont forget this, Frith."

He ran back to the bus and with a crack, it vanished.

"What was all that about?" Hermione asked, trying not to giggle.

"Oh, nothing," Arioch replied, taking another swig from his bottle of custard.

Ron could smell rotting eggs and he would have bet anything it was coming from the bottle.

"Come on, we don't have all day," Arioch said as the door opened.

"You'd better hang on tight," Ron whispered while climbing in the back of the cab after Hermione. "This can get a little rough."

"To the Ministry of Magic, please," Hermione said politely.

Without warning, the cab screeched away from the side of the street and nearly collided with an oncoming bus. Ron fell straight onto Hermione, who was trying to fasten the seat belt. All through the journey Arioch hung out of the window, giving other drivers verbal abuse, and cutting up anything that was moving.

"Wh-where d-did y-you m-m-meet t-this ch-chap th-then?" Hermione had given up trying to do the seat belt up and was hanging on to a handle next to the door.

Ron was rolling around the floor trying to grab onto something and grabbed her leg. This he decided was a good place to stay so he wrapped his arm tighter.

"O-outside W-Waterlooooooo s-station," he shrieked as he was spun round when the taxi rounded a sharp corner.

"I-I've never h-heard of h-him," she stuttered and the cab gave a particularly nasty jolt as it hit a large pothole.

"N-nor m-m-me," Ron spun round a bit more. "H-he used to hunt Der-Death Eaters, y-you know."

"Oh, don"t l-look much l-like an Aur ... Ooof." She fell off the seat and onto Ron's neck as the taxi screeched to a halt.

Ron fought to untangle himself from her skirt and fell over, knocking his head on the floor of the cab.

"'Ere we are then," came a voice from the front of the taxi. "Ministry of Magic. That's two Galleons, then please."

Hermione handed the two gold coins to Arioch and opened the door. Ron was still rubbing the back of his head when he got out, and turned to thank the driver. But the cab had vanished.

"Where's he gone?" Hermione asked.

"That's funny," Ron muttered. "He did that before when he dropped me off outside your place. Look!"

He pointed down the street where a large puddle suddenly lifted out of the road to soak a group of young women. Ron and Hermione looked at each other for a moment in disbelief, before starting to straighten them selves out. In front of them was a shabby looking building and outside a red telephone box stood. A drunk wandered up towards them, swigging out of a bottle wrapped in a brown paper bag. He was singing loudly at the top of his voice about a dog that used to bite him, until he had all its teeth removed.

Upon entering the telephone box, Hermione screwed her face up and held her nose.

"What is dat sbell?" she said.

"I dunno," Ron replied. "Smells like a toilet. Anyway, what's the number?"

She pulled the piece of parchment from her cloak.

"Erm, zix, do, four, erm, five, no four, erm, ah, er, do. That's it, do. Sorry, I cant read by writing."

Ron looked at the apparatus, which was hanging at an angle, its receiver cable cut. He started to dial the numbers in and as the dial returned to its resting position for the last time, a woman's voice boomed at them. Hermione took her hands off her nose and put them over her ears.

"WELCOME TO THE MINISSTRRRRYYYYYY OOOOOOOOFFFFFFF."

The voice slowed down until it went quiet. They looked at each other for a second and Ron gave the side of the apparatus a slap, making it hang off the wall a bit more.

"magicpleasestateyournameandbusiness."

The voice was now very quiet and spoke very fast.

"Er, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger to see the Minister for Magic," Ron announced.

The apparatus gave a quick shudder and two things fell out of the coin return slot: a badge and a red jelly baby. Hermione picked them up and looked at the badge. It read:

A MOANING CRINGER

"Argh, that's just not funny," she said and dropped the badge on the floor. "And I suppose this is your badge?"

Ron took the jelly baby he had been offered and put it in his mouth.

"Ooh, I like the red one ... ARRGH! ARRGH! GET IT OFF," he cried and opened his mouth.

The jelly baby had started to bite his tongue and was drawing blood. Hermione put her fingers in his mouth and grabbed the jelly baby.

"Keep still, will your," she said as Ron bit her fingers. "OW!"

"GERRITOFFAEE!" Ron yelped.

She gave it one last tug and the little creature came out, returning to an innocent jelly baby once more. Ron stuck a handkerchief in his mouth to stop the bleeding.

"Looks like there is something not quite right here as well," Hermione said and she decided to place the jelly baby back into the coin return slot where it ran back into the apparatus, sniggering.

"Yrellinee," Ron mumbled, and took the bloodstained handkerchief out of his mouth. "Sorry, you're telling me!"

The telephone box started to move down, descending into the offices of the Ministry of Magic. The drunk in the street had been watching the strange display in the telephone box from the side of a skip. When the telephone box started to descend, he looked at the bottle he was holding then looked back at the shrinking telephone box. Giving a shrug, he threw the bottle into the skip and passed out.

As the lift slowly descended, Hermione tapped her foot on the floor. Her arms were folded across her chest and she gave an indignant huff.

"This lift's not going very fast," she grunted.

"Maybe it could do with a bit of help," Ron replied and jumped up and down a couple of times.

The result took them by surprise as the bottom of the lift suddenly disappeared from beneath them, leaving them falling at a fantastic pace.

"AAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH WHAT DID YOU DO!" Hermione screamed.

"I DIDN"T DO ANYTHING," Ron retorted.

They knew that the bottom of the shaft was going to be hard, so Hermione drew her wand.

"SPONGIFY," she shouted, and the bottom of the lift shaft turned into a large piece of rubber.

It didn't take them long to reach the bottom of the lift shaft. They bounced straight into the main atrium, and into someone carrying a stack of cardboard boxes. Immediately, the boxes burst open and a load of memos folded in the shape of airplanes shot out and started to attack the office workers. Ron and Hermione tried to catch as many of the offending memos as possible, shoving them back into the boxes. The wizard in the meantime was muttering curses under his breath as he fought to repackage the rogue memos.

"What is going on here? Ouch! Why you little ..." Not only did the memos fly, they could bite as well as Hermione found out.

"Looks like we are in for a real treat then," Ron said. "It is going to be some strong magic needed to repair his lot."

He stuffed a particularly vicious memo in dark green back into a box. From down the hall, they could hear screams and the occasional blast from a wand as the memos attacked anyone who came within biting distance. Ron folded the top of his box and stood up. Hermione whacked another memo that had just bitten her and it unfolded itself into a normal piece of paper again. She got up and apologised to the injured wizard.

"There's the reason why the Floo powder didn't work," Ron whispered and pointed to the right of the hall where the main fireplaces stood.

Across each fireplace were lengths of Spellotape, with the words 'KEEP OUT - OUT OF ORDER' printed across each strip. As they watched, an unsuspecting wizard strayed too close to the fireplaces whilst reading a large piece of parchment. One of the pieces of Spellotape detached itself at one end and bit the wizard on his leg.

"Come on, lets find the Minister," Hermione said, looking anxiously around.

As they walked up the length of the room, they noticed that the room appeared to be much larger for some reason.

"Of course!" exclaimed Hermione. "The statue, that's what's missing."

"Oh yeah," Ron replied. "That bloody awful thing right in the middle of the room. You could have tripped over it and done your self some real damage."

Hermione giggled. "Trip over it! It was over fifteen feet tall! You would have to have ridiculously long legs, or something to trip over that!"

"Yeah, I suppose so. Ugly though, wasn't it?"

"I don't know. I liked it. Anyway, we should register our wands before we go any further."

They took out their wands and walked over to a sleeping security guard behind a small desk.

"Ahem, ahem," Hermione coughed politely.

The sleeping guard woke with a start and saw two people, pointing wands at him,

"HELP, HELP, ATTACK, ATTACK," he shouted as he pulled on a long ornate bell-pull and fell off his chair backwards.

From nowhere, rope appeared and bound them from head to foot like living cotton reels. A piece of Spellotape covered their mouths and they fell over backwards. When they thought it couldn't possibly get any worse, eight large security wizards leapt onto them, pinning them to the floor.

Ron moved his head to one side slightly and saw Hermione struggling to free herself. She let out a muffled yelp of surprise as someone sat on her fairly firmly.

"Oh my, oh dear, LET THEM UP AT ONCE," came a voice from above them. "GET OFF THEM! DON"T YOU KNOW WHO THEY ARE, YOU IMBECILES!"

The wizard sitting on Hermione's face got up first, and the source of the voice appeared above her in the shape of a tall, handsome, official looking man.

"Oh, I am so sorry, I don't know how it could have happened," said the tall official looking worriedly at her. "And YOU! GET OUT FROM UNDER THERE!"

He was pointing at the security guard who was trying to get further under his desk.

"S-sorry, sir," the guard stuttered. "I thought they were some Death Eaters, or something."

The guard put his arms over his head as the tall official whacked him round the head a few times. He finished with guard and reached down to tear the Spellotape off Hermione's mouth, leaving some skin on the back of the tape.

"OW! And who the hell are YOU!" she shouted. "AND GET THIS BLOODY ROPE OFF ME!"

Her top lip started to bleed a little and she struggled to get her arms free. The man helped Hermione to her feet and took out his wand.

"I shall have you out of there in a jiffy," he said pointing his wand at Hermione.

Ron in the meantime had been helped out of his ropes by one of the security wizards and had managed to pull the Spellotape off his mouth carefully. Hermione suddenly started to spin in the spot like a demented spinning top and the ropes flew off her and into a box next to the security guard. She finally slowed down to drop back onto the floor again, swaying wildly.

"This day gets worse and worse," Ron said after getting rid of the rope.

"Tell me about it!" Hermione snapped and swayed a little.

Her eyes were still not able to lock on to any steady spot, so she closed them for a few seconds, which also stopped her feeling sick.

"Oh, I am so sorry," said the tall man and handed her a paper tissue.

Hermione opened her eyes and could see the man more clearly now. She realised it was the Minister for Magic, Stanton Poges, himself. Well according to his name badge that is. She took the tissue and dabbed at the sore spot on her top lip.

"Please, forgive me," he said, handing their wands back, and they swapped them after being given the wrong ones.

"Mr. Poges," Hermione snapped, "I would have expected a better welcome than this one."

"I know, but as you are possibly aware-" he ducked a large memo that flew into a wall and fluttered to the ground, "we are having a few problems. Please, lets not talk out here, lets go to my office."

He held out his hand for Hermione, but she got up herself, throwing him a nasty look. Ron looked at Poges, and thought he looked too handsome for his own good, so he went over to Hermione and put his arm around her.

As they made their way to the lift at the end of the hall, they passed the place where the gold statue of the wizard, witch, centaur, and several house-elves used to stand. In its place was a hole. The hole was very black and even though it was quite large, the walls of the hole were not visible. To stop people from falling down the hole, four small pillars had been placed in a square around the hole, with a length of Spellotape linking them to form a sort of fence. Hermione stopped next to the fence a peered over into the hole.

"What is that?" she asked and picked up a small piece of rubble that appeared to be what was left of the fountain.

"We don't know," replied Poges. "We didn't know it was there until the statue disappeared down it one morning. We believe it appeared beneath the statue when Voldemort died."

Hermione threw the stone into the hole and listened for it to hit the bottom. After a few seconds, all that happened is that the hole grew a little larger.

"We sent down an explorer who volunteered to take a look," Poges said darkly. "His rope snapped when it got to about two miles, and we have not heard from him since."

He turned away from the hole and walked off towards the lifts. Ron took Hermione's hand and they followed him. As they approached the lift, Hermione's eye was caught by a small glass case, embedded in the wall. She walked over to it and saw that it contained a thin piece of wood, with a feather poking out the end.

"Harry's wand," Ron stated as he stood next to her.

Below the case was a gold plaque, with black letters upon it.

THIS WAND BELONGED TO HARRY POTTER (b.1980 - d.1997), DEFEATER OF LORD VOLDEMORT.

Harry fought bravely against Voldemort for a whole day, before he was able to destroy the Dark Lord with one final curse. Unfortunately, Harry was caught up in the resulting blast and was also killed. His remains rest in the nearby cemetery.

Fighting alongside Harry were his two most faithful companions - Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger - who both survived the battle, and who were instrumental in enabling Harry to destroy the Dark Lord.

Albus Dumbledore (Hogwarts Headmaster) recovered the remains of Harry's wand from the scene of the battle for us to display here.

She reached out and touched the glass like she had wanted to do so many times. As she touched the case, the memories of that fateful day came rushing back to her: the argument she and Ron had had with Harry about going with him to fight Voldemort, the battle itself, her injuries. Ron watched her closely, fearing she would drop back into the melancholy state he had just lifted her from.

"You okay?" he whispered.

She stood looking at the wand for a few more seconds before turning her smiling face towards him.

"I am now, thank you," she said, letting her hand drop to her side. "I feared what I would feel when I saw the wand, but I feel glad now that I have laid that ghost to rest."

She turned to look at the wand again. "Good bye, Harry," she whispered.

Ron took her hand and turned to walk towards the lifts. After a few moments, a lift arrived and the gates clattered open. A goblin squeezed into the lift with them holding a large leather bag, which was rustling quite noisily and squawking. The goblin looked at the two strangers over and stuck his nose in the air. Poges shut the door and the lift descended a floor.

"Eighth floor, main ministry offices, office for the abolition of goblin persecution, lingerie, soap powder, large infested boils ..." the voice in the lift said.

"Stupid thing," Poges muttered as he opened the door. "I will really be glad when everything is put right."

They stepped out of the lift, leaving the goblin to struggle with the bag, which had started to shoot water at his face. The office they had walked into contained a large array of desks: some small and very tidy, while others were piled high with parchment. In the middle of the office was an elderly wizard standing on his desk, wielding a hefty cricket bat.

"C'mon then," he cried. "Come over here and get some of this then!"

A memo zoomed from behind a filing cabinet straight at the wizard, who struck the flying parchment with a mighty whack. The memo unfolded and floated gracefully to the top of his desk.

"YES! YES! ANOTHER FIFTY POINTS TO US," and a number of witches started to clap loudly from under their desks while the wizard danced a victory jig.

"I don't know who let out all these rogue memos," Poges said, sounding a little angry. "But I bet their having a great laugh."

Ron and Hermione exchanged a nervous glance.

"Here we are then," Poges announced when they reached the far end of the office and opened a large door.

The room was quite spacious, with a crescent-shaped desk in the middle, and lots of filing cabinets round the outside. On the walls, there were pictures of previous Ministers for Magic and Hermione scanned them all looking for the previous Minster, Cornellius Fudge. There was one empty painting with his name on a brass plate, and it looked like the chair he had been sitting in had been set on fire. As they entered the room, the lighting became very bright, and seemed to be getting brighter then it dimmed a lot so that it now looked more like moonlight.

"Sorry about the mess," Poges went on as he shifted a pile of paper off a chair so that Hermione could sit down. "Here, Mr Weasly, please sit down on this chair, AND WILL YOU PACK IT IN!"

The lighting stopped going up and down and rested at a more acceptable brightness. Ron sat on an uncomfortable leather swivel chair, which had the nasty habit of spinning round every now and then. Poges stood at the other side of his desk, and he clearly looked very nervous. He was sweating, and he had gone very red in the face.

"Okay," he began. "I have called you both here-"

He was interrupted by a knock at the door, and a very old witch stuck her head into the office. She had a bandage round one hand, and a sticking plaster over a cut on her head.

"S-sorry minister," she spluttered, "but the toilets on the third floor have had to be shut because they are trying to suck people down into the sewers again. Is there anything you would like me to try?"

"OWZAT!" The wizard on the desk got another memo.

"Yes, please put a security wizard on the door, and don't let anyone in," Poges replied.

"Very well," and the witch closed the door behind her.

"LOOK OUT!" the wizard on the desk shouted.

Through the gap at the bottom of the door, Hermione could see the shadow of the witch fall up the door and slither down to the floor as a flock of flying memos pelted her.

"Ahem, ahem." Poges cleared his throat and they both looked back in his direction. "As I was saying. You have been called here to go on a special mission to recover an ancient artefact. You have been chosen, Miss Granger, for your amazing powers in witchcraft ..."

Hermione beamed. Poges looked at Ron.

"And you, Mr Weasley, because of your ability to think in a very strategic manner, and also because you are so very close to Miss Granger and form a good team."

Ron's ears went the colour of his hair.

"The mission will be hard, dangerous, and should you fail," he sweated even more now and took out a handkerchief to wipe his brow. "Well, failure is not something that we can think about right now. What you are about to seek will restore the magical power to our world."

He sat down heavily on his chair, and Ron's chair spun round again.

Hermione was a little alarmed. "What sort of, thing, will restore this amount of lost power? I mean it must be very powerful."

"Lots of dark maaaaaagic, no doubt," Ron said as he did another spin, so he decided to stand.

"No, no dark magic, I can assure you," Poges said. "But a lot of magic, that's for sure."

"Okay, let me get this straight." Ron had started pacing up and down behind Hermione. "You want us to find something so powerful that it will return a load of lost magic?"

"That's about the size of it," Poges was getting to his feet when a memo started to squeeze itself under the door.

Ron took a brass pot from the top of a filing cabinet and bashed the memo with it. The memo unfolded so he picked it up and read it. It contained a message about the torches on the wall in the Department of Mysteries that were emitting black flames. He dropped the memo onto the desk while Poges opened the top drawer of a filing cabinet behind his desk, which took some time, as the drawer didn't seem to want to be opened. Eventually, Poges got into it took out several rolled up pieces of parchment. Placing them on the desk, he opened the largest of them. On the parchment was a very old map of Europe. On it was a series of lines marking the path of ley lines. On one of the ley lines someone had added a letter X with a circle round it.

"Have either of you heard of the Orb of Odenis?" Poges asked.

Ron and Hermione looked at each other for a moment.

"I have read something about this in the restricted section of the Hogwarts library," Hermione said quietly. "But it's only a legend. No one has ever really believed it actually exists. Or have they?"

She looked straight into the eyes of the Minister.

"What is the Orb of Odenis?" asked Ron..

Poges opened up another roll of parchment, and on this one was an ancient drawing of what looked like an army. In the front of the army stood a rather tall looking man, carrying a spherical object. The man also had a large number of arrows and spears stuck in him. It appeared to Ron and Hermione that the sphere had made him invincible.

"Anyone carrying the orb would not be killed," Poges started. "Not so much immortal, but its magic acts like some sort of armour."

Looking at the picture made Hermione's blood run cold.

"So, what exactly was in the orb," Ron asked.

"In the first century AD, a powerful lord called Odenis discovered he could perform magical tricks. It was about this time that many witches and wizards were appearing all over the world, and that they all seemed to know about each other's powers.

"However, Odenis had a dark side. He stumbled across a group of six, ruby coloured stones in a mountain close to his castle in the Carpathian Mountains. He sent his servant into the cave to collect the stones, but the servant dropped down dead as soon as he touched them. He marked the location of where the stones had been discovered on this map," and he rolled the parchment back to show the old map of Europe, and he pointed at the mark.

Hermione pulled the picture of the army from the pile and stared at it.

"Odenis had a great library in his castle, and he discovered that the location of the stones were exactly in the middle of a ley line that was connected in some way or another to every other lay-line across the world. He also worked out that the magic he was able to perform stemmed from these stones and a thought crossed his mind."

"I have heard about this," Hermione interrupted.

Poges ignored her.

"He encased the stones in a glass orb and moved it to his home. How he did this is just one of the mysteries surrounding the orb. He was able to tap into its power and became more evil as time progressed. Before long, a war broke out and after many months of fighting, and winning, he was becoming richer and more powerful. However, his personal guard were getting tired of all this fighting and wanted to go home. The leader of the guard and Odenis fought for about a week, before Odenis was killed by a lucky blow."

"So what happened to the orb then," Ron asked as he stamped on another memo advertising ear trumpets as it squeezed itself under the door.

"The orb was taken back to the mountains and the cave sealed forever," Hermione whispered, staring at the picture of the man carrying the orb.

"That's correct, Miss Granger," Poges continued. "But it seems that another powerful wizard discovered the orb a few years ago and used it to his own advantage."

"Voldemort!" Ron shuddered at saying his name.

"How come he managed to find it? It was only supposed to be a legend," Hermione asked.

"That's another strange story," the Minister replied. "Apparently it was the only mistake that the old headmaster of Hogwarts ever did, and that was to let Voldemort into the restricted part of the library unaccompanied and unrestricted. It was he that marked this ancient map with the original location of the orb."

It was Hermione's turn to shudder as Dumbledore had let her have the same access to the same part of the library.

"What has this got to do with the magic being lost to our world?" Ron enquired.

"When Voldemort had the orb, he was able to connect its power to the ley line through him. This made him more powerful, and it also allowed him to tap into the power of other wizards and witches at the same time. Upon his death, the link was severed, and even though it has been some months since his death, it has taken up till now for us to see the effect."

"So if we were to find the orb, and replace it, the power would return and everything would be normal again?" Ron sounded more sarcastic than realistic.

"That's right. Its as simple as that."

"Well, how do you know that Voldemort had discovered the orb and was using it?" Hermione asked.

"We found these rolls of parchment at his home in Wiltshire when we raided it soon after his death. Many people died getting the information back to us as to where his lair was. We had a group of wizards approaching the castle when he was killed. Voldemort had set destructive curses on his home that were kept at bay while he lived. When he died, his home was razed to the ground, and took several of our people with it."

Both Ron and Hermione shuddered. Ron stopped pacing and stood behind Hermione and placed his hands on her shoulders. She put a hand on his.

Poges went on. "What did happen was that the cellar to the house was not destroyed for some reason. When we did a search, we found these rolls of parchment," he gesticulated to the rolls he had removed from the filing cabinet, "in a secret hole in the cellar wall. The orb was not at his house, but this recent map was found."

He opened another roll of parchment. The map detailed the locations of trees, mountains, roads, and another castle. Another X in a circle was marked above the castle. "We have never been able to ascertain where this is exactly, but we believe this to be the location of another house owned by Voldemort. Find the house and you find the orb."

Ron looked at the map. "It could be anywhere," he whispered.

"No, not anywhere," Hermione said excitedly. "I think I know where this could be. If it isn't, it is a very similar place. I will need some time to look into this."

"Time is not something we have on our side, Miss Granger." The Minister sat down again, and Ron rubbed the front of his head. "We have discovered something else. When a wizard or witch starts to lose their powers, several things start to happen. Firstly, they become weaker. Then their magic seems to work, but it does not actually come out the way they intended. Next, there are pains in the head. Apparently this is the Earth sucking back the power it gave them. Finally, the magic stops working altogether, leaving them as normal human beings. Are you alright Mr Weasley?"

"Yes, no problem. I just had a little too much to drink last night."

Hermione looked at Ron. Her mouth opened slightly and her eyes went very wide as a horrible thought struck her.

"As I said," the Minister continued. "Time is not on our side. You noticed the hole in the middle of the atrium as we entered?" Both of them nodded. "The hole has been growing ever larger as time has gone on, and we believe we have about twenty days before the whole building disappears. But then, I don't know if it will stop with this building."

"How long is it between the first symptoms of a wizard," Hermione said, looking sideways at Ron, "or witch, losing their powers, and their powers actually being lost?"

"About six to eight days as far as we know. We have been getting new patients all the time at St. Mungo's so we have been watching them and doing tests on them," was the reply.

"And do we know if the orb is replaced, will their own powers return?"

"At this moment in time, we just do not know."

"Well, we had better get a move on," Hermione said as she sprang to her feet, nearly knocking her head up Ron's chin. "Come on Ron, we have to go to Hogwarts. Minister, can you send a message to the Headmaster asking if we can use the library please?"

"Yes of course," replied the Minister. "At least the owl post is still working, but for how long, I have no idea. Oh, and one more thing. You cannot Apparate to any of the locations."

"Why not," asked Ron.

"Apparation is becoming dangerous, and two cases so far have been fatal. What is happening is that the magic required to make you Disapparate is working, however, it is what happens at the other end that causes the problems. I hope you are not upset easily," and he handed over three wizard pictures, taken of patients at St Mungo's hospital.

They were of people who had Apparated recently. One was of a wizard, and he was missing both his legs. Another had his legs, but they were where his arms should be. Another picture was of a fatality and what was left of the wizard could have been placed in a small bucket.

"That's why we need you to use Muggle transport. Mr Weasley, your family have been informed, as I know you all Apparate to move about, so they should be safe. All I have to say now, is good luck, and may Merlin watch over you."

With that, they closed the meeting. Ron picked up the various rolls of parchment and the Minister opened the door for them. The witch who had fallen up the door earlier had gone but the wizard was still on the desk hitting memos. A flock of them rounded the corner and pelted him from the front, pushing him off the desk where he got his backside stuck in the top of a waste paper basket. The basket seemed to take offence to this and started to bite the wizard. The wizard jumped up and started to run around the office screaming for someone to pull the basket off him, while the flock of memos flew after him.

"This place is turning into a zoo," Ron whispered to Hermione as he ducked another memo.

"Come on," she said, "we have to find a way of getting to Hogwarts. The only way I know is the Hogwarts Express, but that does not run into Hogwarts until after Christmas. We need to get there now."

"What about Frith's taxi?" Ron suggested.

"Well, he's a nice enough chap, but I don't think I could use him to go all the way to Scotland, do you?"

"I suppose not. Maybe we should try the Knight Bus."

Hermione beamed. "Ron, sometimes I wonder why I went out with you, but on occasions, I know why I did."

"You do?" Ron sounded perplexed. Sometimes he didn't understand women at all.

The Minister went as far as the lift with them before wishing them good luck once more and turned back into the office. The gates closed on the lift and they ascended back to the atrium. Upon opening the gates, there seemed to be more people in the hall than before. As they passed the hole in the floor, it was visibly larger and some of the large floor tiles had disappeared into it. When they reached the far end of the hall, the lift from the telephone box appeared and a witch in bright yellow robes got out.

"I know," Hermione said as Ron squeezed in beside her.

"Know what?" Ron closed the door and the lift started to move upwards.

"I know that you are losing your powers."

"Rubbish," Ron snorted. "I've got a little headache, that's all."

"What about the burnt carpet? I found the scrubbing brush in the bathroom with all the bristles missing, and there is the mop bucket with holes in it."

Ron's ears burned.

"The bucket was a mistake and I am sure that I didn't pronounce the spells properly, that's all."

The lift came to a halt and they opened the door.

"Please tell me if anything starts to happen, won't you."

"Of course, but nothing is happening to ... Oh damn!" Ron grabbed the front of his head and collapsed on the floor.

"RON!" Hermione cried and she knelt down beside him. "RON, WAKE UP!"

She shook him for a few seconds and he opened his eyes.

"Wh-what happened?" he whispered.

"I don't know. You just suddenly collapsed. Come on. Let's get you to Hogwarts. Madame Pomphrey will soon get you sorted," she said as she cradled his head on her lap, stroking his hair.

She helped him up and gathered up the parchment. They staggered to the edge of the pavement and she stuck out her wand. Almost immediately, the Knight Bus appeared. It didn't look the same as last time, though, as it was covered in dents, some of the windows were broken, and some of the lights were not working.

"Evenin'," the conductor said. "Oh look here Ernie, it's that Weasel chap. Remember me do you? I'm old toad face."

"Stop messing around and help us will you," snapped Hermione.

"Don't think I want to," replied the conductor, looking at the fingernails on his right hand. "Right mean to me he was last time."

"Oh, for pities sake, can't you see he's ill! We need to get to Hogwarts NOW!" Hermione snapped as she was in no mood for backchat.

"Okay, okay, keep your warts on," the conductor said, backing away a little. "Take him upstairs. If he's gonna be sick, make sure he does it in a bowl. I hate the smell of that stuff. All goo and carrots ..."

"Yes, thank you," Hermione panted as she helped Ron onto the bus. "I don't need a description thank you very much."

After a few minutes of struggling up the stairs with a semi-conscious Ron, the rolls of parchment, and getting thrown about every time the bus rounded a corner, she threw him onto an empty bed and sat down beside him; he was sweating and gibbering something about spiders. She looked at him affectionately, but then remembered what they had to do. They had five days, maybe six at the most (as she didn't know how long he had been getting the headaches) to find a lost artefact from an unknown location, and return it to a slightly less unknown location and seal a cave.

"You've had more difficult things to do, like Snape's potions exams," she said, and then started to giggle.

Ron had stopped gibbering and opened his eyes. She could see they were full of pain. There was a loud bang from somewhere at the front of the bus.

"Are you okay now?" she asked.

Ron looked at her and she felt her heart sink.

"Yes, I think so. Phew! I don't know what that was, but it didn't half hurt."

He sat up looking out the window at the scenery leaping out of the way of the bus.

"Can you try something for me please," and she handed him a small glass that was rolling around the floor. "I want you to levitate this for me."

Still looking groggy, he took out his wand and drew a deep breath.

"Wingardium Leviosa," he said, and the glass shot across the room and went straight out one of the broken windows.

He looked at her, and she tried to look hopeful, but all she could manage was a terrified look.

"Ron," she said in a worried voice, "I-I think it's started."

Ron looked straight at her and screamed at the top of his voice. "NNNOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Stan came running up the stairs. "If he's bin sick all over me bed, I'll commit murder."

A horrible scraping sound ran all the way down the side of the bus as the branch of a tree smashed another window.

"Oh, get stuffed, toad face," Hermione snapped, and turned back to put her arms round Ron, who had started to sob. "Shh, don't worry, we'll find the orb and everything will be back to normal, you'll see."

She felt her eyes prickle as the tears started.

"But, what if I don't get my powers back? What if I am not, well, like you?"

"Ronald Weasley. I am shocked and appalled. I love you for who you are, not what you are. We will get through this, no matter what."

"But what if we don't find the orb?"

"We will."

Hermione stared out of the newly broken window and the draught blowing in through the hole blew her hair out a little. But her attention was on another thing: what if they don't find the orb? What if they don't get it back in place in time? She kissed the top of his head and a tear fell into his hair. Now it's her turn to save the one she loves.