The Department of Mysteries (OP)
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The Department of Mysteries is the thirty-fourth chapter of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Contents |
The journey
Harry Potter and the other members of the D.A. who followed him out of the Hogwarts Castle (OP33) mount Thestrals in order to go to the Ministry of Magic.
Harry is the first to climb on the horse's silken back . The creature does not object, but continues trying to lick his robes. Neville follows suit. Luna is already sitting side-saddle, looking as though she does this often.
Ron, Hermione and Ginny, however, remain still, gaping at the others. They cannot see the Thestrals (OP10 and OP21), and don't know how they are supposed to climb. Luna slides off hers and helps them, winding their hands into each horse's mane.
Harry uncertainly tells his Thestral, "Ministry of Magic, visitors' entrance, London, then. Er...if you know...where to go..." After a moment, the creature spreads its wings, crouches, and bolts upwards extremely fast, almost throwing the boy off its back. He presses his face against the mane of the Thestral as they pass the highest trees in the Forbidden Forest, and so do the other students.
Harry has never moved this fast before. They leave the Hogwarts grounds, pass by Hogsmeade, and mountains, gullies, villages and a winding road. Twilight falls, and the sky becomes a starry purple. They fly over Muggle cities, and Harry deplores the fact that he has lost track of time. He cannot remember how long it has been since he saw Sirius in the Department of Mysteries, but he feels that he would sense it if his godfather had been murdered.
Suddenly, the Thestrals start descending, without reducing their speed. The teenagers brace themselves for the impact, but none comes; the creatures touch the ground lightly, allowing them to slide off unharmed. Ron appears positively nauseous, Neville is shaking, and they are all relieved that the journey is over. Nevertheless, Luna seems unaffected.
Harry looks around for the vandalised telephone box (OP7); finding it, he urges all the students to enter. They squish themselves inside, and the boy orders whoever's closer to the phone (Ron) to dial 62442. When asked for their business, Harry replies, "Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood...we're here to save someone, unless your Ministry can do it first!"
Badges with the teenagers' names and 'Rescue Mission' written underneath slide out of the metal chute for returned coins. "'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," says the cool voice on the phone.
Meanwhile, the Thestrals start foraging for scraps of rotten food.
The Ministry of Magic
The floor of the phone cabin trembles and the pavement suddenly rises up past it. They are welcomed by soft golden light, dimmer than it had been the last time Harry saw the place (OP7); he rises his wand for fear that Death Eaters would be expecting them at the Atrium, but there is no one.
The place is deserted. The only sound comes from the golden fountain: jets of water peacefully leave the tips of the centaur's arrow, the wands of the witch and wizard, the goblin's hat and the house-elf's ears.
The desk where Harry's wand had been weighted was empty as well, and the boy interprets this as a bad sign. He presses the nearest 'down' button and a lift appears. They descend to the Department of Mysteries, where torches flicker with the air current caused by the lift.
Still nothing moves, and they see no one. Harry turns to the black door of which he'd dreamed so often this year, and suggests that perhaps some of them ought to stay back as a lookout. Ginny coolly points out that they'd have no way of informing him of anything, and they all resolutely enter. The door swings open on its own.
The Department of Mysteries
They are all inside a large, circular and all-black room. Unmarked and handleless black doors are set at regular intervals around it, with branches of candles, burning blue, between them. There are about a dozen doors, and they unexpectedly start rotating fast.
Ginny guesses that the objective of that is so that they are unable to tell which door they used to enter. Neville worries about how they will be able to leave, and Harry dismisses this; he is far more concerned about his godfather. He suggests that they open all the doors; he'll know the right one when he sees it.
The first door
He easily opens the first door and, holding his wand, enters a rectangular room illuminated by low lamps hanging on golden chains. It is empty with the exception of a few desks and an enormous glass tank with deep green liquid. Inside this tank, several pearly-white objects drift.
Luna suggests that they might be Aquavirius Maggots (her father said the Ministry was breeding them), but Hermione states that they are brains.
Ron points out that there are doors in this room as well, and Harry's heart sinks, realising how huge the place is. Remembering his dream, however, he returns to the circular room, hoping to go straight from there to the glittery place where Sirius is being held.
Luckily, Hermione uses the Flagrate spell to draw a fiery 'X' on the door they had just left, because all the doors spin once more the moment they shut the entrance to the Brains room.
The second door
Once more, Harry enters the door directly in front of him. This room is larger and more dimly lit; its centre is sunken, forming a twenty-feet-deep pit, surrounded by stone benches.
There is a raised stone daïs in the middle of the pit, over which there is an ancient and cracked stone archway. A tattered black veil hangs from it, fluttering despite the absence of wind.
Harry is alarmed by the movement of the veil, but there is no one there. He approaches the archway, which seems much bigger from up close, with the odd feeling that there is someone beyond the veil. He circles it, but is able to see no one.
Hermione calls him away from it, and Harry muses that he feels a strong inclination to walk through the veil. She is nervous, and more scared than she had been before. Just then, he hears faint whispering sounds coming from the other side of the veil. Hermione nervously remarks that no one is talking, but Luna disagrees ("There are people in there!" she says).
Hermione is exasperated. She pulls Harry, who is staring, mesmerised, at the veil, away from the daïs, and he remembers his reason for being in the Ministry. She wordlessly pulls away Ginny, who appears entranced as well, and Ron does the same to Neville.
Inscribing the fiery cross on the door, she tells Harry that she doesn't know what that veil is—but, whatever it is, it's dangerous.
The third door
Harry attempts to push open another door at random, but it does not move. He and Ron throw their weight on it, to no avail. Hermione uselessly casts the Alohomora spell.
He tries to use Sirius' pocket knife on it, but the blade melts.
Hermione remarks that in his dream Harry was able to enter the door; this one, therefore, cannot be it.
The fourth door
Harry pushes the next door open, and recognizes the dancing sparking lights of his dreams at once. Clocks line every surface, filling the spaces between bookcases and standing on the desks that fill the length of the room; a constant ticking fills the air. The source of the twinkling light is a big crystal bell jar at the end of the room, which seems to be full of a somehow sparking wind.
The boy leads them in the direction of the bell jar. Ginny calls everyone's attention to a tiny egg inside it, from which a hummingbird emerges; by the time it reaches the top of the jar, it falls on the draught and its wings become damp once more; it reaches the bottom of the jar, enclosed in its egg. She stares at it, but Harry reproaches her for it.
Ginny accuses him of wasting time at the veil, but follows him through a door nonetheless.
The Hall of Prophecy
It leads the group to a high-ceilinged room full of shelves containing small, dusty glass orbs (some white, with a liquid glow, and others dull and dark) and chandeliers at regular intervals. These flames burn blue as well. Small, yellowing labels are stuck beneath each orb. The place is very cold and dead silent.
Hermione reminds Harry that they are looking for row ninety-seven (OP32). They follow the shelves' numbering, starting at fifty-three, to find that row. There is no one. Harry nervously tells them that they need to get to the end of it, which they cannot see properly from there. There still is no one, and Hermione softly points out that Sirius is probably not there.
Harry feels sick to his stomach—there is no sign of struggles, nothing. He doesn't understand what could have happened.
The Prophecy
Ron calls Harry's attention to something: a small glass sphere with Harry's name on its label. It was very dusty, and appeared not to have been touched for years. The label reads:
S.P.T. to A.P.W.B.D. Dark Lord and (?)Harry Potter
None of the others finds their names on the shelves. Harry moves to touch the sphere; Hermione and Neville instinctively try to prevent him from doing so, but he does not listen to their warnings, and grasps the orb. It feels warm.
Expecting something interesting to happen, he stares at is, but nothing occurs. He wipes some of the dirt off it.
A drawling voice suddenly speaks from behind them, "Very good, Potter. Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me."
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| Fight and Flight | The Department of Mysteries | Beyond the Veil |
