As Mary saw the Minister leave her office for the day, she almost reconsidered. She would never have dared approaching the Minister herself this way. Well, this wasn't about her. It was about the Minister's family.
"Albus!" she said as they approached. "And James?" she saw the two women as well. "Miss Buller, Miss Piers. I just read about the arrest of Smythe. I'm glad we were able to get to the bottom of that."
Mary could only nod. She had almost forgotten that, in her newfound desire to help James.
"We need to talk to you about something." Albus said. Hermione blinked.
"Ok. Here or at home?"
"That doesn't really matter."
"Ok, let's meet at my house then. Less chance of being interrupted there. Ron's working the evening shift today."
Albus nodded and Hermione Disapparated.
"Uhm, isn't the Minister's house protected against strangers entering?" Sophia asked.
"It is. But just hold on to me, or James, and we can get you in. Same as if you come to the Potter house." Albus held on to Sophia, and James grabbed Mary, and before either of them knew it, they stood in front of the Minister's front door. Albus didn't even knock before entering. Hermione had made tea and was waiting for them.
"Okay," she said as they had all taken a cup of tea and sat down. "What is the favour you want to ask me?"
"Why do you think we want to ask for a favour?" James asked. Hermione laughed.
"You timed it so that I hadn't left work yet and didn't ask straight away. That indicates that you want me to agree to something, and that it may be something I disagree with. So, let's hear it. What is it you wanted to talk with me about? I promise I will listen."
Mary found she couldn't get a word out. It had been her idea, but now she didn't even know where to start. Albus saw her problem and presented it instead.
"You want to do what?" Hermione said as Albus finished.
"Break the statue. That may release the memories inside and James will be Healed."
"That's a big "may". It may also make him get worse. And who knows what releasing all that Dark energy will do to the surroundings. That is one of the main things the Unspeakables have been worried about."
"They haven't been able to do anything." James said. "The Healers have discovered more about it than they have, and they haven't had access to the statue at all."
"I know," Hermione sighed. "And while I agree that the theory can be viable, there are a lot of unknown variables."
Mary spoke up for the first time. "But what is there to gain from waiting? They have had years. I understand your fear of releasing the Dark energy inside, but all I ask for now is to be allowed to study it. If it makes you feel better, let Albus accompany me. He is an Auror, and one of the few that knows how the sensations from the statue felt like."
Hermione sighed. "Fine," she said. "You may study it with Albus. But please be careful not to activate it. We don't know how to turn it off, and I don't want another person to fall victim to it."
"I have no intention of falling victim to it either." Mary assured her. "Thank you, Minister."
"I'll have a talk with the Unspeakable in charge of it in the morning. Albus can tell you when they are ready for you."
Mary just nodded, though she worried that the Unspeakable might be territorial over her studying something they hadn't made any progress on for years. She was also worried about what would be meeting her if she got the access she wanted. Had she just made a promise she couldn't keep?
However, two days later, she stood ready at the welcome desk at the Ministry and Albus met her there. She had conferred with Greg, and he agreed that her theory might work, but things like this weren't his specialty. But he cautioned that the statue might still pulse out Dark magic, which was what the Minister was worried about.
As they took the lift down to the Department of Mysteries, she couldn't help but notice that Albus was a little worried too. That didn't make her feel better.
"I haven't actually seen this thing since I first encountered it," Albus murmured as the elevator came to a halt. "It was also in front of this thing that I had to pretend to be a Dark wizard for the first time and pretend to kill Dean Thomas."
Mary hadn't heard that particular detail but tried to not show the shock from it. Did that detail come out during the aftermath of the impostor Voldemort? She didn't remember. It hadn't meant much to her at the time.
"The Minister says it's deactivated."
"I know. That's the only reason we haven't already destroyed it. That, and a vain hope that James would profit from it being preserved. If what you say is true, we should have destroyed it a long time ago and saved my brother a lot of trouble."
"If I'm correct, it would only restore his memory if he were nearby to collect them. So, it is probably good that you didn't destroy it."
Albus didn't reply as they entered the fabled Department of Mysteries. The only thing Mary knew about it was what Harry Potter had described about it in his autobiography. How much had changed during that time?
A Ministry employee, probably an Unspeakable, met them in the second room they found. The infamous circular room that made it impossible to know which door was which. Seems they hadn't changed that.
"Welcome to the Department of Mysteries. I understand that you are here to study the Dark statue. I have to admit, I haven't made much study of it myself, it gives me a bad feeling. But you are welcome to see if you can make any sense of it."
"You haven't studied it? Where is the person who did?" Albus asked.
"He left a few years ago. Or, actually, he was arrested. He was taken in the raid of that Dark cult you shut down a few years ago. I thought you knew that."
Albus didn't know that. It took him a few moments to collect himself.
"I see. Can you lead the way to it then, please?"
"Of course. Considering its size, we placed it in the Death Chamber." The moment the Unspeakable said that one of the doors opened. The room they were in was unmistakable. The large, crumbling stone arch in the middle was described in detail in Potter's autobiography. Albus seemed rooted to the spot.
"Yes, this is where Sirius Black was murdered." The Unspeakable said behind them. "The statue is on the plinth to the side here."
They both tore their eyes away from the front plateau and saw a tall angel of death statue which somehow was even worse than the Veil in the archway.
"Are you sure this thing is deactivated?" Mary asked. "I definitely feel a Dark energy pulse from this thing."
"Oh, you feel it too? I was wondering if I felt it just from the sight of it. It's not quite as bad as it was that night, but there is definitely something awful here." He turned to the Unspeakable.
"How many of you have actually been near this, since it came here? Was it only your former colleague?"
"No, we've all been here a few times, but he was the only one who spent a significant time studying it. Most of the rest of us didn't like it much."
"Your colleague, would you say he changed during that time? Did he become moodier, have times when he was lost in thought, did he become forgetful? Or just angry, lashing out at everyone?"
"Well, yes, but it wasn't like he didn't always have a temper. It was worse towards the end, but that is also why most of us were rather relieved, when he was arrested. He wasn't an easy person to work with."
Mary had walked closer to the statue as Albus was talking. This thing was way worse than she had thought. And Albus said this wasn't even close to how bad it was when he encountered it. No wonder James had anger issues. She was surprised he hadn't given in to this darkness a long time ago.
"Don't touch that!" Albus yelled as she got closer. "Don't get closer!" Mary felt herself being moved two meters back. She glared at him.
"How do you expect me to study this if I can't even touch it?"
"Touch it if you must, but not right there. That is where James was trapped. Try from behind instead but be careful."
Mary looked at where she had almost been standing and realised that he was right. It was almost like a platform, with clear slots where feet could be placed. If someone had placed themselves right there… Maybe that was what the other Unspeakable had done?
She went around to the back of the statue, and the pulsing was completely different. Not only was it a lot less, but it didn't feel as threatening. She carefully stretched out her hand and probed into the stone. Just as she expected, there was a lot contained within it. James probably wasn't the only victim of this. Could she figure out how to turn it off temporarily? Or should she go straight to destroying it? James needed to be here for that to happen though.