mirrorball

chapter nineteen

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Harry joined her at the tank. Sure enough, there could be no mistake now that they saw them at close quarters. Glimmering eerily they drifted in and out of sight in the depths of the green water, looking something like slimy cauliflowers. 

"Let's get out of here," said Harry. "This isn't right, we need to try another door —" 

"There are doors here too," said Ron, pointing around the walls. Clara's heart sank; how big was this place? There wouldn't be enough time to try every door. 

"In my dream I went through that dark room into the second one,"he said. "I think we should go back and try from there." So they hurried back into the dark, circular room; the ghostly shapes of the brains were now swimming before Clara's eyes instead of the blue candle flames. 

"Wait!" said Hermione sharply, as Luna made to close the door of the brain room behind them. "Flagrate!" She drew with her wand in midair and a fiery X appeared on the door. No sooner had the door clicked shut behind them than there was a great rumbling, and once again the wall began to revolve very fast, but now there was a great red-gold blur in amongst the faint blue, and when all became still again, the fiery cross still burned, showing the door they had already tried. 

"Good thinking," said Harry. "Okay, let's try this one —"Again he strode directly at the door facing him and pushed it open, his wand still raised, the others at his heels.

 This room was larger than the last, dimly lit and rectangular, and the center of it was sunken, forming a great stone pit some twenty feet below them. They were standing on the topmost tier of what seemed to be stone benches running all around the room and descending in steep steps like an amphitheater, or a courtroom. Instead of a chained chair, however, there was a raised stone dais in the center of the lowered floor, and upon this dais stood a stone archway that looked so ancient, cracked, and crumbling that Clara was amazed the thing was still standing. Unsupported by any surrounding wall, the archway was hung with a tattered black curtain or veil which, despite the complete stillness of the cold surrounding air, was fluttering very slightly as though it had just been touched. 

"Who's there?" said Harry, jumping down onto the bench below. There was no answering voice, but the veil continued to flutter and sway. 

"Careful!" whispered Hermione.

Harry scrambled down the benches one by one until he reached the stone bottom of the sunken pit. His footsteps echoed loudly as he walked slowly toward the dais. Still the veil swayed gently, as though somebody had just passed through it. 

"Sirius?" Harry spoke again, but much more quietly now that he was nearer. Gripping his wand very tightly, he edged around the dais, but there was nobody there. All that could be seen was the other side of the tattered black veil. 

"Let's go," called Hermione from halfway up the stone steps. "This isn't right, Harry, come on, let's go. . . ." She sounded scared, much more scared than she had in the room where the brains swam, yet Clara thought the archway had a kind of beauty about it, old though it was. 

"Harry, let's go, okay?" said Hermione more forcefully.

 "Okay," he said, but he did not move. There were faint whispering, murmuring noises coming from the other side of the veil. 

"What are you saying?" he said very loudly, so that the words echoed all around the surrounding stone benches. 

"Nobody's talking, Harry!" said Clara, moving over to him. 

"Someone's whispering behind there," he said, moving out of her reach and continuing to frown at the veil. 

"Is that you, Ron?"