"One day, you will be old enough to read fairytales again" - C. S. Lewis

.oOo.

Kingsley Shacklebolt, head of Aurors, was peacefully sipping his tea. He frowned. Quiet repose is overrated. Indeed these days, he seem to be always torn between enjoying his tea, and wanting to finish it in one go. Because it would not take an hour before someone opens his door to make him spill his drink.

Footsteps hurriedly stamped on the floor with such force and speed. Then his door banged open, and an out of breath Auror with pink hair appeared.

"Bloody hell," the coffee spilled.

"Kingsley! You must come at once. The whole DepMys is going ballistic." Tonks threw her hands up. "They want every Auror with two feet that are still breathing to move."

"Steady there. What happened?" Kingsley asked.

"The security had been breached."

And as if on cue, the alarm bells sounded. Tonks looked up as the lights danced red.

"All Auror, to arms, there has been a Security Breach in the Department of Mysteries. I repeat. Security breach on level 673. Code red."

At the sound of alarm bells, the whole building were already grabbing their wands, and hastily putting on their spell-repelling robes. Aurors playing exploding snaps, abandoned the cards for their wands. Aurors having their lunch dusted their laps from the crumbs of the bread were on their feet before you could cast a spell. They all sped to the hallways running.

Boots neatly piled by underlings were haphazardly pulled without mercy and stuffed into their impatient feet. Then the peaceful office people listened with dread as their spiked boots trodden through the hallways with hard stomps.

Kingsley grabbed his cloak.

"You," he said to Tonks as if everything happening was her fault. "Get your shins working."

Tonks scowled at him and they both went out of the room.

Tonks herself was running to reach her command unit and be ready to march into the room.

"What on earth..." Nymphadora looked up at the blazing fire above her when she reached the site herself. The Magical Fire Protection and Prevention were up in arms trying to salvage what was left from the wreck. But left and right, debris were already falling.

But amidst all the chaos, Tonks saw it: the shadow of a boy running away from all the pandemonium. Everyone was already occupied about the fire and saving the people who were still inside to notice his escape. No doubt, he must have made it to act as a distraction. His whole face was covered and his hands were gloved white, so no trace of his magic residue would cause any trouble.

She quickly followed suit.

"Stupefy!" Fire first and ask questions later. But her fire missed.

"Stop! In the name of the law!"

The boy opened a cupboard door and entered inside.

Violet smiled when the boy reached the end of the corridor. It was just the department's wall behind his back. "Your luck ends here."

But the boy opened the door to his right and smiled maliciously.

"Fool. That's nowhere to run." Tonks followed and yanked the cupboard door open expecting to see the back of a bleak cupboard, a couple of brooms twisted in the twigs, and some bent and snapped defective wands.

Then the door burst into the familiar emerald-green flames.

She was therefore surprised when it showed her a hallway of what seems like a long forgotten dream. She did not expect to see the familiar torches lit on the sides of a vast welcoming hallway probably leading to a more delightful view of the winding staircases. On the left sides the dark windows loomed black and foreboding when the wind whiffed the cold breeze of an untouched countryside, overlooking what would be a delightful view of the forest and beyond.

Room extensions were one thing, but this was going over the top it was stretched to bordering impossible. This must really be a very big extension charm.

Extendable charms this big? Or this could just be confundus charm and the moment she stepped in, she would be caught into a trap, when everything is shown for what it is.

If he reached to the left, he would reach the stairs, and then it would be too late for me, she thought warily. She was shocked when she heard herself think that. It was not as if the place was in Hogwarts, and not just a very big extension charm.

She was familiar with the geography of the place. It was Hogwarts! Or a very good imitation of the place.

Her hand went to hold the sides of the door. It was then that she noticed that it was licked with emerald green flames. Not much now. Then it finally hit her what it was all really about. He was using floo powder to keep two dimensions connected. It was a modified strain of magic. But was it stable? What it the boy had extra charms to keep only himself from passing? What if it split her into splinters the moment she stepped in. One does not simply walk into new frontiers. And stupidity is a virtue Aurors strive hard to not be an adjective of.

She had split-second to decide whether she would risk her life, when she saw the boy again. The passageway was now dissolving slowly as the powder fuel to the fire was nearly consumed. Her quick-decision skills had all but been thrown out of the window.

Abandoning all her inhibitions, she hurled herself into the embers of the dying emerald flames.