'That makes, thirty-two different runes thirty-three, if you include the rune inside the red ball thing.
'The seventh rune will always be the same, I guess, because you have to press the red ball 'thingy' last. So, how many combinations would that make?'
Almost as soon as he began to try and calculate it he realised he had no hope of doing so. He knew Hermione could. She could probably do it in her head. But, to what purpose?
With a sigh, he realised he was wasting time. His first priority should be figuring out where he was so he could get back to the Ministry. If not there, then Hogwarts.
Taking his wand into his left hand he then held his right hand out flat with his palm up, then placed the wand across it. Firmly, he incanted, "Point me, Ministry of Magic."
The wand didn't move. It didn't even twitch.
Frowning, he tried, "Point me, Hogwarts."
Again, the wand didn't even twitch.
"Merlin, damn it," he muttered.
Lofting the wand a little into the air he re-caught it by the grip and began to look around. Once he saw what he thought was the highest point of land nearby, he headed for it.
Back at the Department of Mysteries within the wizarding Britain Ministry of Magic underground 'complex' beneath Whitehall, Harry's disappearance through what was known as the Veil of Death had not yet had a deleterious effect on the morale of the witches and wizards who had rushed to to the Ministry, that night, to 'rescue' Harry or the five friends who accompanied him. At least, not straight away.
While the other five teenage witches and wizards who'd accompanied Harry had either been injured sufficiently to cause them to lose consciousness, such as Hermione Granger, or were sufficiently injured the pain kept their minds sharpened, such as Neville Longbottom, at least two of them realised Harry had 'died' that night. Only one of them knew differently, Luna Lovegood. She knew through her kept-hidden abilities as a Seer that Harry would return. However, she could not openly share that information with wizarding Britain without outing herself as a Seer.
Within a few moments of Harry disappearing through what they thought of as the Veil of Death, the anger that went through the adults that had come to rescue him and the others drove them to powerful feats of emotional magic. Of the twelve Death Eaters who fought the six Hogwarts school students: Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood and Ginny Weasley - in order, four fifth years and two fourth years. The six students held their own.
Of those, Harry Potter was missing (presumed dead), Hermione Granger was hit with a slashing curse in an angle down her chest and was unconscious, Ron Weasley was entangled with what were known as Cognivors and was as good as unconscious at the end of the battle, Neville Longbottom suffered a broken nose and some fingers on his wand hand, Luna Lovegood was suffering from severe broad bruising on her chest and Ginny Weasley had a sprained ankle.
The entire cadre, bar one, of the Death Eaters were also severely hurt or just stunned unconscious before being captured. They were Lucius Malfoy, Caracticus Nott, Vindicus Crabbe, Conrad Jugson, Walden MacNair, Quentin Avery, Harfang Mulciber, Augustus Rookwood, Rodolphus LeStrange, Rabastan LeStrange, and Antonin Dolohov. Of those, the last six were all escapees from Azkaban just five months previous.
The only Death Eater there that night who managed to, apparently, escape was Bellatrix LeStrange. She left by being side-along apparated away by the self-titled Dark Lord Voldemort, secretly true-named Tom Marvolo Riddle. Voldemort had duelled the so-called right hand man of himself, Sirius Black, in the atrium of the Ministry of Magic mere minutes after Harry had disappeared through the Veil of Death. The duel was 'won' by Black, when Voldemort apparated out of the atrium while taking the LeStrange witch with him. Through a portkey created on the spot that night by Albus Dumbledore and handed off to retired Master Auror Alastair 'Mad-Eye' Moody, the six remaining Hogwarts students were portkeyed back to Hogwarts, directly into the Infirmary, accompanied by Remus Lupin.
After Dumbledore had apparated away, Bones had not been idle.
After once again demanding Fudge, Minister or not, stay the hell out of her investigation or be arrested, she personally escorted Sirius back to the DMLE and into an interview room, rather than a holding cell. As soon as she got him there and safe, she ordered the duty Master Auror to personally see to his safety and protection.
"If I so much as see a wisp of a dementor anywhere near his 'cell', now that I've placed him under my personal protection, I will personally hunt you down and challenge you to a duel to the death for the dishonour it will have brought to the House of Bones. Got me?" she'd snapped at the man.
The auror, terrified his boss was quite willing to do just that, was about to swear on his magic he would make Sirius's safety his only duty until she returned. She'd had to stop him doing that.
She then left the interview room in which she'd stashed him and went to the holding cells. The eleven Death Eaters were put, two each with Malfoy on his own, into six holding cells. All she did was check to ensure they were there and had been properly processed.
Then she went to her office and called into her presence four aurors and two qualified auror healers - a master healer wizard and a journeyman healer witch. She had to contact them at home and order them in. Once she had them, plus a heap more aurors she'd had called in to replace the ones that would be going to Hogwarts with her, she took them via the floo in her office to the Three Broomsticks. They then walked to the school and to the gates.
There, she found the gates locked.
"Blast them open," she ordered.
When none of her aurors moved - they were, instead, looking at her in surprise - she raised her wand, pointing it at the gates. "Any auror who does not cast a Bombarda Curse at the gates on my command to cast after the count of three, is immediately fired!
"One... two... three! Cast!" she called, and then firmly incanted, "Bombarda!" All four aurors, plus the journey-witch healer, joined her in the cast. As the gates, blasted out of their stone frames and cartwheeled away into the grounds, she glared at the Master Healer.
He calmly returned, "I'm not an auror and I daresay I'm going to need all my magic once we reach the infirmary. An extra wand was not needed here."
She scowled, but gave a firm nod back. Then she led the way in through the busted gates and towards the school.
As they arrived at the doors, Flitwick was standing there waiting for them.
"Did you have to blast the gates off their hinges?" he asked.
"This is a school; not a prison," she returned. "They shouldn't have been closed."
The little charms master sighed, "The Headmaster awaits you in his office." "Good," she said. Then she turned to one of her Master Aurors and ordered, "Hammer. Take Peterson with you to the Headmaster's office and 'sit' on him. If he puts up a fuss, arrest him and take him back to the DMLE."
"Yes, Ma'am," replied Hammer, leading Senior Auror Peterson off towards the Headmaster's office.