"Your nose is really sharp..."
No wonder, considering a dog's your Animagus form.
Watching Sirius sniffing around in the air, William couldn't help but comment.
"Tsk."
Sirius clearly caught onto William's subtle jab, but he didn't get mad—or rather, he didn't dare to. Even now, every time he sees William, he occasionally shivers a couple of times, the memory of William's grin after kicking down the door that night left too deep a shadow on his psyche.
The two of them stood at one end of a long, luxurious hall, with dark wood floors polished so bright they could almost serve as a mirror.
The peacock blue ceiling was inlaid with many golden symbols that were sparkling, constantly moving and changing, like one giant bulletin board in the sky.
The walls were all lined with dark, glossy wood paneling, with many gilded fireplaces set into them. They had just come out of one of those fireplaces, and at this moment, many eyes were on Sirius. Recently a fugitive, now a "hero," he was kind of a celebrity.
The name, however, not so great.
According to Sirius, a few days ago he took a walk through a Muggle community and almost got apprehended by a few well-meaning old men who were about to drag him to the police station.
Even to this day, Sirius finds it odd—he's evidently unaware that his face once appeared on Muggle TV.
In the center of the entrance hall was a golden fountain.
In the center of a circular pool stood a group of statues cast in pure gold, larger than life—among them, standing tallest was a dignified wizard, holding a wand aloft, its tip pointing towards the sky, while surrounding him were a beautiful witch, a centaur, a goblin, and a house-elf.
The centaur, goblin, and house-elf were gazing up in adoration at the two standing wizards.
"What a narcissistic statue."
William commented sharply—never mind the house-elf, centaurs would never look at a wizard like that. If a regular wizard wandered into centaur territory, he'd be lucky to avoid a couple of arrows to the backside, and don't even mention goblins, who have a history of rebelling at every turn.
If it weren't for the old moneylenders at Gringotts being absent from the Ministry, some goblin would've taken this thing down in no time from sheer indignation.
Sirius said nothing, instead leading William around the crowd of lifeless people, heading to another part of the hall.
"Signed in, Sirius Black and William Richard."
"...!"
At security, a previously lethargic wizard suddenly seemed like he'd been doused with a bucket of ice water in the dead of winter, immediately snapping to attention. He straightened up, eyes wary and fixated on the smiling Sirius, even grabbing his wand—
"..."
Finally, the man realized, remembering that Sirius was no longer a fugitive.
He muttered something under his breath that Sirius didn't catch. Before he could ask, the man already held out a long golden rod, "Come over here," he said quietly, then began to use the slender, antenna-like, but very flexible golden rod to scan them from head to toe, back and front.
"Beep beep beep—"
When it reached William's right pocket, the golden rod suddenly started beeping wildly.
"..."
William paused for a moment, then fished out a dozing Niffler from his pocket, placing it on the table.
"Beep beep beep—"
He then pulled out a "model" of a Fire Dragon flapping its wings.
"Beep beep beep—"
"That's it!"
"..."
Fine, William once again pulled out a pot of curled up Poisonous Tentacles.
"Beep beep beep—"
"This time I swear that's all!"
William widened his eyes, baffled at why the thing was still beeping. He fumbled for a moment and then sternly declared.
"..."
The security wizard paused too, then after receiving permission, reached into the pocket lining of William's wizard robe, his expression changing. He silently withdrew his hand, revealing Fluffy wriggling out in front of William, two heads nibbling on the security wizard's fingers, while another stuck its tongue out at William.
His little black tail was wagging like a propeller.
"I thought it was with Hagrid..."
"Apart from the Niffler and the Poisonous Tentacles, are they all models?"
The security wizard laid out William's contraband items one by one, glaring, while Norbert and Fluffy, catching William's cue, promptly started feigning obliviousness, mechanically repeating their motions. And so, Kabuda, utterly baffled, was left outside, glancing from William entering the Ministry to the nearby crowd, and its eyes sparkled—
Niffler raises its hands: I am free!
...
...
"Second floor, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Office of Misuse of Magic, Auror Command Center, and the Wizengamot Administrative Body."
A cold female voice echoed as the golden grille door opened. Sirius followed William as they easily walked out of the elevator. Even in the once-crowded elevator, a blank space appeared around Sirius.
Sirius was quite happy with the ease, not feeling any sense of exclusion.
"Arthur?"
The two stepped out of the elevator, entering a corridor lined with doors, and noticed a man walking toward them holding a box. Sirius greeted him, and William also looked at the red-haired middle-aged man, who had a visibly weary expression, clearly showing he hadn't slept well the previous night.
"Oh, Mr. Black? Ah—good morning."
Arthur Weasley gave a heavy yawn, mustering the energy to widen his eyes as he greeted the two.
"Is the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office really this busy?"
Sirius was taken aback and instinctively glanced at the pile of parchment in Arthur's box. "Malfoy Manor attack... Oh, and such things too? Is that Malfoy Senior dead yet?"
"No."
Arthur grinned, clearly a bit disappointed. "The Auror Office doesn't have enough staff, so they have to temporarily pull us idle folks." As he spoke, he nodded towards William. "Hey, William, long time no see, I often hear Ron and the others mention you—"
The two had only met once, on the night Ron and Filch were attacked last Halloween, when almost the entire Weasley family came to the school.
They had only a brief encounter.
"I won't say more, I have to get to the Auror Office, you both take care—"
After saying goodbye to Arthur, the two continued down the corridor until they couldn't go any farther. William and Sirius stopped in front of a door with "Office of Misuse of Magic" on it, knocked on the door, and soon a female voice came from inside, "Come in."
The room wasn't very large, with only five or six desks. The woman at the front stopped them. She wore a purplish-red suit and looked at Sirius with some nervousness. "Professor McGonagall told me that you're here to register as Animagus?"
"Yes, Ms. Hopkirk."
William nodded, signaling Sirius not to speak. He could see that the woman wearing a name tag was about to die of nerves, and it seemed like if Sirius said a few more words, she might just drop dead on the spot.
"Oh, okay, let's get you registered first."
The woman shuffled through her desk for a moment, then retrieved two pieces of parchment from a messy pile of books and handed them to the two.
Originally, there was a specific office for registering Animagi, but because so few people ever mastered the magic, the original office had been dismantled, transferring its powers to the Office of Misuse of Magic. And the woman in front of them was an assistant there.
The two quickly completed the information on the parchment. When she took the parchment from Sirius, the woman visibly sighed in relief and continued speaking rapidly, "Then please perform a transformation so I can take your picture for the official record—" With that, she pulled out a magical camera from a drawer at her feet.
"Alright."
Sirius acted quickly, and soon, a large black dog appeared in the center of the room, striking various poses until the woman called him to stop three times. Only then, reluctantly, did Sirius transform back. He looked at William with curiosity.
He still didn't know William's Animagus form. When he asked Lupin the previous night, Lupin wouldn't say, only teasing that he'd see for himself and that it was definitely outrageous.
At the moment, Sirius was naturally very curious.
"Here?" William hesitated, glancing around, "Isn't the space a bit too small?"
"Are you going to turn into an elephant or something?"
Sirius asked exaggeratedly, while Mafalda Hopkirk nodded, indicating that William should proceed as she only needed to take a photo.
In the next moment, the clear and sunny skies outside the window suddenly darkened. The rumbling thunder cut through several meters of earth and reached the ears of the people inside.
William had disappeared, replaced by a bright yellow bird in the center of the room. And as William had pointed out, the space was indeed too small. He could only tilt his head and squat there, quietly gazing at them with his light blue eyes.
"!"
"Thunderbird! No, even for a Thunderbird, this is ridiculously large, isn't it?"
Sirius's mouth dropped open in surprise, and beside him, Mafalda also looked at William in bewilderment, even forgetting to raise her camera.
"Chirp?"
William chirped, accompanied by a dull thunder that jolted everyone in the room awake. Mafalda looked at the window behind her filled with dark clouds, aware that the Ministry of Magic was built underground. Those were actually magic-enhanced windows, with the Magical Maintenance determining the daily weather conditions.
So, what was going on now?
Could Thunderbirds actually do this?
Despite this, with Sirius's urging, she mechanically raised the camera and snapped a shot of William. Seeing that the important task was completed, William flapped his wings and prepared to transform back into human form, but in the next moment, a thudding sound was heard. William instinctively turned around—
"Splat."
He felt his tail had swept something and had to transform back.
"Director!"
Looking at Umbridge, who had been knocked against the wall and appeared "half-dead," Mafalda instinctively exclaimed.