For those who are learning about the structure of the Ministry of Magic for the first time, it may be a little difficult to understand for a moment. The Atrium, the "face" of the Ministry of Magic, is located on the eighth floor underground, and the entire Ministry of Magic seems to have ten floors in total.
But if the entire first to eighth underground floors were "pulled out" from the ground, it wouldn't be much different from the layered concept of Muggle architecture.
After gradually adapting to the brightness around him, Harry found himself standing in the middle of a wide and winding passage.
Although the passage is actually very spacious, when there are more people, it becomes crowded.
On both sides of this arched passage made of unknown black bricks, countless gilded fireplaces are neatly arranged, extending to the front and back.
Every few seconds, with a soft "pop" sound and bright green flames rising suddenly, a wizard suddenly walked out of a fireplace on the left.
On the right, someone seemed to be getting in every moment, throwing down floo powder and leaving.
Being in such a busy scene, Harry intuitively felt that the Ministry of Magic was truly the central agency that governs a country's magical world.
"... No wonder Maka said something so convinced that 'Voldemort cannot completely infiltrate the Ministry of Magic.'" He looked at the dense crowd around him and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Walking on the polished dark wooden floor, above your head is a dome made of black bricks with glittering golden symbols inlaid on it.
Those symbols are constantly moving and changing, like a huge high-altitude bulletin board.
If you walk further, you will soon see a circular fountain with a group of huge pure gold statues standing in the middle of the pool.
The tallest among them was a noble wizard, who held his wand high and pointed it straight to the sky. Surrounding him were a beautiful witch, a goblin, a centaur, and a house elf.
The centaurs, goblins and house elves all looked up at the two wizards with expressions of great admiration. The shining water columns came from the tip of the wizard's wand, from the tip of the goblin's hat, from the arrowhead of the centaur's bow, and from the tip of the goblin's hat. Squirts came out of the house elf's ears.
Nearby, the sound of rushing water, the explosion of Apparition, and the chaotic footsteps of hundreds of witches and wizards blended together, making it sound a bit chaotic.
Many of those wizards were meticulously dressed, but their faces all had a lifeless look that was characteristic of waking up early in the morning, and they strode towards the row of golden doors at the other end.
"This way," said Mr. Weasley.
They were walking forward among the crowds of Ministry of Magic employees and various visitors. Some of them were holding a pile of crumbling parchments in their arms, some were carrying worn-out briefcases, and some were holding copies of "The Prophecy". I read "Jia Daily" while walking.
As he passed the fountain, Harry saw piles of sparkling silver Sickles and Copper Nuts at the bottom of the clear pool. Next to it was a stained small sign that read: All proceeds from the Magic Brothers Fountain are donated to St. Mungo's Magic Wounds. sick hospital.
"If the review can be successfully passed... No, I came with a mission this time. In the final analysis, it can be regarded as saving the Ministry of Magic... Probably?" Harry thought for a while, then changed his voice and said silently, "If today's mission can be successful, Once it's done, I'll put ten gold galleons in it... Oh, no—"
"What are you thinking about, Harry?" Seeing Harry slow down while looking at the coins in the pool, Mr. Weasley reached out and patted his shoulder and said, "Although the money in this pool has not been touched for a long time. But you can’t take advantage of them!”
"What?" Harry seemed to be in a trance and did not hear Mr. Weasley's words clearly. "I am wondering if I should have a greater wish, such as saving the world or something?"
"This way, Harry."
Mr. Weasley said, leading Harry away from the most concentrated crowd and towards the left.
Next to a table, there was a sign that read "Security Check", and sitting underneath it was a wizard in peacock blue robes and a clean shave.
When Harry and the others approached, he raised his head and put down the newspaper in his hand.
"I've brought a guest," Mr. Weasley said, pointing to Harry.
"Come this way," the wizard said listlessly.
Harry, who had just come back to his senses from the splendid atrium, was about to see the sign from his perspective, and he felt nervous for a while.
"Concentrate, concentrate!" Harry reminded himself secretly.
He took advantage of the wizard's yawn and gently shook his sleeves, and a very inconspicuous little thing immediately fell to his feet.
The next moment, the wizard raised a slender and flexible golden stick and swept it from top to bottom on Harry's chest and back.
"Wand."
The security wizard muttered to Harry, put down the golden thing, and opened his hand to him.
Harry secretly breathed a sigh of relief and immediately took out his wand and handed it over.
The wizard had just thrown it onto a strange brass machine that looked like a single-plate balance, when the machine began to vibrate slightly.
Soon, a narrow piece of parchment spit out from the opening at the bottom.
The wizard pulled off the note and read the words on it:
"Eleven inches, phoenix feather core, used for four years... right?"
"That's right," Harry replied nervously and uneasily.
"Keep this," the wizard said, and poked the parchment note on a brass spike on the table. "Take your wand back."
He thrust the wand back into Harry's hand.
"Thanks."
Harry finally let go of his clenched teeth. He lightly tapped his heels as Maka said. After pausing for two seconds, he raised his feet and planned to leave with Mr. Weasley.
"Wait a minute," the wizard said slowly.
What's wrong? Did he notice it? Obviously nothing went wrong
Harry came back to consciousness slightly stiffly and moved his shoulders unnaturally, because there was a burning sensation on his scalp and back.
The wizard's eyes held a hint of surprise, and he subconsciously looked up from the silver guest badge on Harry's chest to his forehead.
"Thank you, Eric."
Mr. Weasley said a decisive word, then grabbed Harry's arm and led him away from here and back into the crowd.
The further they went, the more crowded it became, as if the crowds were all concentrated in one place. They were almost "pushed" by the crowd through the gate and came to a smaller hall.
There are at least twenty elevators here, separated by golden fence doors with fine patterns carved into the walls.
Harry followed Mr. Weasley step by step and walked into the crowd in front of one of the elevators.
Next to them, stood a big unshaven wizard. He was holding a large cardboard box in his arms, and there were a few harsh friction sounds inside from time to time.
"Are you okay, Arthur?" the wizard said, nodding towards Mr. Weasley.
"What do you have in there, Bob?" Mr. Weasley stared at the cardboard box curiously.
"We're not sure yet." The wizard named Bob said seriously, "We thought it was just an ordinary chicken, but who would have thought that it actually breathed out fire! Let me tell you, it's probably It is a serious violation of the law "Prohibition of Animal Breeding Experiments"... "
With a clicking sound, the elevator car landed in front of them.
When the golden fence door slid open gently, a large group of people poured into the elevator. No one here cared about whether some thrilling accidents might occur due to being overweight.
When Harry found himself suffocated, he couldn't help but feel nostalgic for the "little bit" of crowding he had experienced in the phone booth.
Several wizards around him looked at him curiously.
Harry looked down at his toes. While avoiding eye contact with others, he was particularly careful to make some space for his legs, so much so that he didn't even have time to take care of his messy bangs.
The fence door slammed shut, the elevator slowly rose, and the chain rattled. Then, the cold female voice that Harry had heard in the phone booth rang here again.
"Seventh floor, Department of Magical Games and Sports."
"Contains the British and Irish Quidditch League Headquarters, the Official Gobstone Club, and the Comical Products Patent Office."
The golden grating door slid open, and Harry managed to catch a glimpse of a messy corridor, with various Quidditch posters staggered on the walls.
A wizard holding a broomstick struggled to squeeze out and disappeared around the corner of the corridor.
The fence door closed again, the elevator shook slightly and continued to rise, and the female voice continued to report:
"Sixth floor, Department of Magical Transportation."
"Including the Broomstick Administration and Control Bureau, the Floo Network Authority, the Portkey Office, and the Apparition Testing Center."
The fence door was opened again, and four or five wizards squeezed each other and walked out. At the same time, several lavender paper airplanes flew into the elevator and hovered slowly above the heads of the passengers.
Harry also saw what seemed to be the "Ministry of Magic" seal stamped on the side of the wing.
"Those are the notes used to send messages between departments," Mr. Weasley told him in a low voice. "Owls used to be the only ones used, and they were incredibly messy - there was poop all over the desks and in the hallways."
As the elevator continued to rise, a group of people would go out every time it stopped on the first floor, and the paper airplane notes became fewer and fewer. By the time the elevator reached the "Department of Magical Accidents and Disasters" on the third floor, almost everyone had already left.
Now only Mr. Weasley, Harry and one other witch were left in the elevator.
By the way, the witch was reading a scroll of parchment that was so long that it reached the ground.
"If Ron sees it, he will probably never choose to work in the Ministry of Magic in his life..." Harry couldn't help but think.
At this moment, with another vibration, the elevator stopped rising again.