After taking control of the man, Arthur placed his hand on the man's head and activated Legilimency.
Strictly speaking, what Arthur was using could no longer be called Legilimency at all. That spell had long since been modified beyond recognition by him.
Originally, Legilimency required the caster to stand close to the target and make eye contact.
Moreover, the caster needed to verbally guide the target, stir their emotions, and awaken corresponding memories before being able to glimpse them.
If the target was unguarded, relaxed, or emotionally vulnerable, Legilimency would be much easier to use.
However, after Arthur's improvements, all of those prerequisites had been discarded.
As long as he supplemented it with mental power—and as long as the target did not resist—Arthur could freely browse through their memories.
Browse.
Meaning he could look at any segment he wanted.
So rather than Legilimency, what Arthur was using now was closer to a soul-searching technique.
Arthur quickly sifted through the man's memories and learned his identity.
He was Augustus Rookwood.
(In the original timeline, this man would only escape from Azkaban three years later. In this story's setting, he was never captured and has been lying low inside the Ministry of Magic.)
Arthur had just felt a trace of guilt toward him. Now that he knew Rookwood was one of Voldemort's hidden agents, that guilt vanished instantly.
From Rookwood's memories, Arthur learned that tonight was his night shift. After sensing unusual activity above the Ministry, he had come up to investigate.
At present, most Ministry employees had already gone home. Only Rookwood and one other Unspeakable were on night duty—perfect conditions for Arthur's plan.
After gathering all the information he needed, Arthur extracted a rough layout of the Ministry from Rookwood's memories. Then he cast a Memory Charm to erase everything that had happened tonight, followed by a Sleep Charm, granting Rookwood an early night's rest.
As for what awaited him in the morning—perhaps a nightmare called termination.
After finishing all this, Arthur Apparated into the Ministry of Magic with Hermione in his arms.
Apparition required either having been to a place before or possessing a clear impression of it. Arthur had just seen the Ministry through Rookwood's memories, so he could Apparate directly inside instead of flushing himself down a toilet.
The Ministry of Magic had evolved from the old Wizard's Council. After its reformation, it was led by the Minister and divided into seven departments, its primary role being to maintain balance between the wizarding and Muggle worlds and to protect wizards and magical creatures from being exposed.
In Arthur's view, this so-called "balance" was essentially wizards constantly hiding themselves.
Possessing miraculous powers yet forced into secrecy due to low population—Arthur didn't particularly object to that. Lying low wasn't a bad strategy.
But centuries of hiding had produced little besides modest population growth.
With no external enemies, the wizarding world's progress had slowed to a crawl. Geniuses still emerged, but at best they brought about minor spell innovations. In many fields, wizarding society had simply stagnated.
For example, Hogwarts' Potions textbook One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi was written by Phyllida Spore—a renowned herbologist from the fifteenth century.
That meant the textbook had been in use for at least five or six hundred years.
That span of time was enough for magical plants themselves to change under environmental influences—something Arthur could already tell from Snape's potion notes.
Many herbs' properties had subtly shifted.
The wizarding world had been stagnant for a very long time.
Ironically, in modern times, the only two people who tried to change it were both branded as Dark Lords.
The first, Grindelwald, wasn't entirely bad—his ideas were radical, but his intentions weren't malicious. His biggest mistake was choosing the wrong methods.
The second, Voldemort, was simply a paranoid lunatic. Once he started slicing his soul apart to make Horcruxes, his mind was doomed.
He dreamed of immortality, of becoming the strongest wizard alive, of ruling the wizarding world—and even the entire world.
A grand ambition.
Unfortunately, humanity had failed to achieve world unification after thousands of years. Voldemort believing he could do it was nothing short of delusional.
Arthur shook his head, clearing these thoughts, and continued toward his destination.
The Ministry's seven departments were:
Department of Magical Law Enforcement
Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes
Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures
Department of International Magical Cooperation
Department of Magical Transportation
Department of Magical Games and Sports
Department of Mysteries
Arthur was heading for the last one.
Located on Level Nine underground, the Department of Mysteries was the Ministry's most secretive division.
Its staff were known as Unspeakables. Their work was classified at the highest level—no one truly knew what they did. Even the Minister only had a vague understanding.
It was said that the department housed several rooms containing sealed, incomprehensible forces—mysteries that defied logic and resisted control.
The Unspeakables studied and experimented on these phenomena, essentially functioning as a mystical research institute.
Judging by appearances, they weren't well liked by Fudge. Otherwise, they wouldn't be stuck handling night shifts themselves. Perhaps after all these years of research with no tangible results, Fudge had written them off as an expensive money sink.
On the way to the Department of Mysteries, Arthur encountered the other Unspeakable on night duty—likely on patrol.
Arthur didn't waste words. One Stunning Spell and one Memory Charm later, the man was taken care of.
Using the lift, Arthur descended to Level Nine.
Beyond the lift's gate was a bare corridor, ending in a plain black door. The department's budget clearly wasn't generous—even basic decoration was absent.
Arthur opened the door and entered a circular chamber.
Everything inside was black—the ceiling, the floor, the walls. Twelve identical black doors stood evenly spaced around the chamber. They bore no markings, no handles.
Blue flames flickered along the walls. The black marble floor reflected the dim light like a pool of dark water.
"This place is creepy… is this really the Ministry of Magic?" Hermione shrank slightly in Arthur's arms.
"Mhm. That's the Department of Mysteries for you," Arthur replied.
"So why did you come here?" Hermione asked.
"To look for something. And to explore," Arthur said.
He pushed open one of the twelve doors.
Beyond it lay a long rectangular room, brightly lit and eerily empty.
There was only a single table—and at the center, a massive glass tank. Another door stood along one side of the room.
The tank was enormous, filled with dark green liquid like a small swimming pool.
Floating inside were white, jellyfish-like creatures.
Arthur stepped closer and realized they weren't jellyfish at all.
They were brains—human brains—with tentacles.
Their tentacles waved slowly in the liquid, making them look like jellyfish from afar.
The sight was deeply unsettling.
Yet Arthur felt no fear—if anything, he found it oddly amusing. The brains reminded him of the Flying Spaghetti Monster's iconography.
Hermione wasn't scared either. She even commented dryly,
"This place would be paradise for zombies."
She was referring to Plants vs. Zombies—after all, zombies loved brains.
"Don't underestimate them," Arthur warned. "In a way, they're extremely dangerous."
From Rookwood's memories, Arthur knew these brains could inflict devastating mental damage through their tentacles. They were also resistant to most magic—even spells like Diffindo might not work on them.
After Arthur explained this, Hermione's expression grew serious.
"In that case, we'd better not disturb them," she said.
Arthur nodded. They quietly moved to the other door in the room and passed through.
The next chamber was a pitch-black space filled with planets.
They weren't real celestial bodies, but illusions—far more vivid than holograms. Standing inside felt like drifting through outer space itself.
Arthur thought that if this room were placed in the Academy of Raya Lucaria, the astrologers there would lose their minds and sink into madness.
Still, after admiring it briefly, Arthur moved on.
What he was looking for… wasn't here.
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