With Harry still crouching, as he watches Teddy, who is still attempting to grab the ducks. A soft smile comes onto his face as he watches his godson carefree and without fear, without that instinctive worry he couldn't quite forget.
"Accidental magic," George said. "Unpredictable. Technically unsupervised. And absolutely not regulated by Percy's paperwork."
Harry narrowed his eyes.
"George."
George grinned. "If Percy sealed the storage room for authorized personnel…" He nudged the duck. "…then I doubt the Ministry ever considered toddler-generated poultry."
One of the ducks flapped its tiny plastic wings.
HONK.
Angelina burst out laughing again. Daryl rubbed the bridge of his nose. "This plan is insane."
George shrugged cheerfully. "Most good ones are."
Teddy finally managed to grab one of the duck-buttons. It squeaked loudly. Teddy giggled. From downstairs, behind the Ministry-sealed storage door, something thudded, low and heavy, echoing faintly through the floorboards. This time, Harry heard it.
He stilled.
His gaze dropped toward the floor, the smile on his face fading as quickly as it had come. As the chaos around him continued, he focused on the sound, wondering if he'd imagined it or if something was actually moving in the storage room below. Harry's head tilted slightly, listening. There it was again. A dull, heavy thud from below. Another, softer shift echoed from beneath the floorboards- like something adjusting its weight. He straightened, the last trace of his smile gone. The ducks honked, bright, oblivious, and suddenly, the plan didn't feel quite as funny.
"George," he said quietly.
George didn't look up at first, still watching one of the ducks wobble across the table. "If this is about the ducks, I maintain they're brilliant-"
"George."
The edge in Harry's voice cut through the room.
George stilled. "…Yeah?"
Another thud rolled through the floorboards. Daryl pushed himself upright. "Okay… no, that one I heard."
Angelina's gaze snapped toward the floor. "That came from downstairs."
The room seemed to go quiet all at once. Even the ducks paused between honks. George's grin faded, something sharper taking its place.
"…that's the storage room."
Everyone shifted, preparing to head downstairs. Harry didn't move. "Winky." With a soft pop, Winky appeared, dressed in a carefully arranged set of tea towels pinned together like a proper uniform, though one corner hung slightly crooked. Her large eyes darted around the room before settling on him.
"Master Harry!" she squeaked, wringing her hands. "What can Winky be doing for you?"
Harry glanced toward Teddy, still sitting on the floor with the ducks. "I need you to watch Teddy for me while we check downstairs," he said. "Please-and thank you."
Winky's gaze snapped to Teddy at once. "Young Teddy must be kept safe," she said quickly. "Yes, safe- Winky will watch, Winky will not let anything happen-"
Another dull thud echoed from below. Winky flinched, hard. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "…Young masters should not be going down there."
"Lee would've told me if something new was placed into storage," George said under his breath.
Harry glanced at him but didn't speak. George let out a quiet, humorless breath. "He always did." A pause stretched between them. "… unless I never got the letters."
The words lingered longer than they should have. Harry's gaze shifted toward the stairs. "Stay behind me," he said quietly.
The shift in his voice was enough. No one argued. The stairs creaked under their weight as they descended, Harry a step ahead of the others. George followed close behind, eyes flicking over the walls and ceiling. Angelina was flinching at each sound, while Daryl brought up the rear, watching behind them. The air grew cooler the further down they went, carrying a faint, stale smell, like wood, dust… and something older. At the bottom, Harry stopped.
The door stood before them, the Ministry seal faintly shimmering across its surface. None of them moved closer.
"Percy would've set precautions," George muttered.
Harry nodded once, eyes scanning the room. "George. Anything look out of place?
George's gaze moved slowly across the storage room. "Everything looks the same," he said quietly. "…but I wouldn't trust that."
Harry exhaled once, then raised his wand.
"Expecto Patronum."
Prongs bursts into form, landing lightly beside him. "Find Lee Jordan," Harry said. "Tell him to come to the shop. Now. Storage room."
The stag held for a moment, as if acknowledging the command. Then it faded into silver light and was gone. While they waited, Harry shifted slightly, keeping the door in view as he turned towards George.
"Do you think a spell could help us?" he asked, not expecting a reassuring answer.
George gave a small shrug. "We could try," he said. "But there's no telling what Percy put in place to stop anyone getting in."
Harry nodded faintly. "Then we wait for Lee."
Silence settled over them. The only sounds were their breathing… and the low, steady thud from behind the sealed door. Harry's gaze didn't leave it.
"Angelina," he said after a moment, quieter now. "Anything new happening at the Ministry?"
Harry didn't take his eyes off the door. She shook her head slightly. "Nothing like this-"
The sound changed. Not a thud this time; a slow scrape dragged through the silence, like something shifting its weight against the wood or stone. All of them froze; it came again. Longer. Closer.
George's shoulders tensed. "That's new."
Harry continued to stare at the door, a sharp crack split the air behind them. They turned. Lee stood at the base of the stairs, slightly out of breath, eyes already scanning the room.
"You lot don't do subtle, do you?" he said, though his voice was tight. "Got your message. What's going-"
The scrape came again. Louder. Lee stopped mid-sentence, his expression shifting as he looked toward the sealed door.
"… you hear that?"
"Yeah," George said quietly. "We hear it."
Lee stepped closer, slower now. "That wasn't happening before."
Harry's grip tightened slightly on his wand. "Before when?"
Lee didn't answer right away. His eyes were fixed on the seal. "Before Percy locked it."
For a split second, everything went still. Then the seal flickered. Once. A faint ripple of magic ran across its surface, distorting the air like heat over glass. Another scrape sounded from behind the door, heavier this time. The glow dimmed.
"That's not supposed to happen," Lee said, sharper now.
The seal flickered again. This time, it didn't settle.
Harry lifted his wand. "Alright," he said. "Let's open it."
"Wait-" Lee stepped forward quickly.
"Percy didn't just seal the room," he said, words coming fast now. "He cleared half the shelves first. Anything he thought was unstable, he tagged it. But there was something in the back he wouldn't let me near."
George's expression darkened. "What kind of something?"
Lee shook his head. "Didn't say. Just kept asking about old prototypes. Stuff from before the war."
Another scrape sounded behind the door. Closer. Harry stepped forward anyway. The seal flickered. "Harry-"
"If it's reacting," Harry said quietly, "we don't have time to wait."
The glow across the door wavered again, thinner now. Something hit it from the inside. Not hard, but deliberate. The seal flickered violently. For a second, it held. Then it broke. Not with a bang, but with a soft, unraveling hiss, like something coming undone. The shimmer collapsed in on itself and vanished. No one moved. The door creaked inward on its own. The room didn't look like a storage space anymore.