"It's not nearly as bad from this side," Albus said. "Maybe we should turn it around?"
"I doubt it matters, considering how few people have access to this room in the first place," Mary replied. "But we should definitely try to figure out who else has been affected by this statue. Where did the Death Eaters get it from?"
"You mean there might be other victims?"
"I'm almost certain of it. I can sense a lot of… essence maybe, contained in this. If we go ahead with my suggestion, we should try to have as many victims of this as close as possible." She didn't dare to suggest breaking it where anyone else, even the Unspeakable, could hear.
"Is there a way to deactivate it?"
"That would be a question better asked to those who placed it here. I hope that they didn't place this here with it pulsing like this."
"I think it was off when they arrived. Otherwise, they would have destroyed it on sight. I need to tell Hermione about this. Please be careful and don't stand in front of it." Albus said as he went to write a paper plane message to Hermione and Harry.
Mary went back to studying the statue. It was even worse than she had imagined. She definitely felt the memories trapped inside, but some of them had… decayed. Like they had been in there for so long that they were without hope. Or was it because the owner of the memories had died? She looked over to the Unspeakable.
"Do you have much experience with memories?"
"Memories?"
"I feel that there are memories trapped inside here, but they are not all preserved the same. Can it be that they have been in there for so long that they have decayed?"
"I have never heard of that happening. But then, I am used to memories being preserved in a Pensieve or a similar container. And they were given up voluntarily. Maybe this happens when the memories are taken, not given?"
"Maybe. Have you touched this?"
"Only briefly, as I've said. I felt the same hollow thing you probably refer to. But I didn't find any way to extract anything from it, short of breaking the thing. Doing that risks contaminating everything in its vicinity. Certainly not something we want to do here, where the line between life and death is so narrow."
"It probably shouldn't be in here at all, and definitely not activated like this. If any Auror or Healer had been near, they would probably have noticed earlier."
"Yes, though it was also placed here precisely so that it wouldn't be available to a larger group of people. That is what this Department is for, in a way. To study things that most wizards shouldn't be party to. And Aurors brought it here."
"I don't mean it as a rebuke. Merely an observation. I'm used to talking about hypotheses as I study, you don't need to reply if you don't want to."
"Pardon if I overstep, but are you a hidden Dragon?"
Mary was surprised. Did everyone know about them now?
"Yes, though I am surprised that you know that."
"Oh, I have heard of you before this month. Some of your projects have ended up here, believe it or not. Tell me, is Fred Roth still with you?"
Mary smiled. "Yes, he is. He and Greg are a duo to be reckoned with."
The man laughed. "I can imagine. Fred used to work here; did you know?"
"I didn't, but it doesn't surprise me. Most of what he does is beyond me."
"We were all sad to see him go. But he felt that as he got older, he couldn't keep up with some parts of what we do here. But he may have come over and shown us some experiments after work anyway."
"That sounds just like him. But he must have been a hidden Dragon while working here then? He is our resident historian; he has been a member since before the war."
"Oh yes, but we didn't know that until he quit. But what we do on our own time is up to us."
Before Mary could continue, the Minister came running, with Albus right behind her. She also gasped as she felt the pulses from the statue.
"It was certainly not like that when we placed it here. If it was, I would never have had it near anyone. And you claim this isn't even as bad as it was when James was on it?"
"Not even close. Though it may be that I remember it as worse than it was, since it was my first exposure to such Dark magic."
"Albus, can you show me how it looked when James was on it? How was he placed, what is the difference between then and now?" Mary asked. Albus hesitated, but then he moved his wand and made a shadow outline of a person appear. The feet were indeed placed perfectly on the step they had noticed earlier.
"The scythe on the statue was lowered, trapping him there as well. And it was like he was drawn into it, as if the statue wanted to consume him." Albus' voice shivered, like he didn't like to remember that night.
"Harry did say that it felt almost like a Dementor," Hermione said. "He was right. I shudder to think what would have happened to James if he had been left on this… thing any longer. Do you know how long it was?"
"No. I don't know how long I was unconscious or, how much earlier he was placed there. But it was several hours at least."
"Do you know if anyone else has been submitted to this, Minister?" Mary asked. "I think I feel several people's memories trapped in there. And some of them feel… decayed in a way."
"Show me," the Minister said, and Mary led her to the back and told her what she had felt.
"I see what you mean," Hermione said as she touched the back of the statue as well. "It is indeed like some of the memories have been trapped so long that they have almost given up. I think we need to do this as soon as possible. This cannot remain here like this in either case."
"I don't know of any way to determine whose memories it is, but maybe we can try to capture some of the memories which are unknown. We may not have a Pensieve, but there are other ways to preserve memories."
"I'll get someone from the Charms department on that right away. But we shouldn't wait. I would honestly prefer to do it today."
"We can't do it here." Mary protested. She agreed with the Unspeakable that this chamber was not the best place to try an experimental technique. She didn't know what was behind that Veil, but she knew enough to not want to mess with it.
"Let's take it back where we found it," Albus said. Mary had almost forgotten he was there.
"What, the graveyard?" the Minister said. She didn't seem to think that was a good idea.
"I can't think of a better place. It is relatively isolated, and maybe it will help if it is destroyed in the same place it was created. And have as many of the people present as possible, at least the victims."
"The Death Eaters are unavailable. Most of them are in prison in Norway."
"But can you get the former Unspeakable who studied this, the one caught in the raid of the dark dungeon? I suspect he has been subjected to this as well."
"I don't know the details, but let's get Harry on that. He will probably want to be part of this, even though he hasn't been in here since Sirius died."
The two of them ratted out details, seemingly forgetting the others present.
"I'll go and confer with Greg," Mary said when there was a break in the conversation. "How long do you need?"
"Three hours," Hermione said. "Maybe four, depending on how cooperative Azkaban is. I agree that we should give a chance to that Unspeakable. Though I'm not sure if all of his actions can be blamed on this. He can't have been more exposed to it than James was."
"That's a problem for later," Albus said. "I'll get James and my father."
"And Rose and Scorpius. They were there too."
Albus seemed more reluctant to agree to that, but he nodded. Mary didn't have time to dwell on why Albus was reluctant to ask the Malfoys to join. She needed to talk to Greg.