The Tale Of The Two Rings

𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐃𝐨𝐨𝐫

The door swung open and the sudden daylight made them blink. Then, with a great shock, they saw that they were looking, not into a deserted attic, but into a furnished room. But it seemed empty enough. It was dead silent. Lily's curiosity got the better of her. She blew out her candle and stepped out into the strange room, making no more noise than a mouse.
 It was shaped, of course, like an attic, but furnished as a sitting room. Every bit of the walls was lined with shelves and every bit of the shelves was full of books. A fire was burning in the grate (you remember that it was a very cold wet summer that year) and in front of the fire-place with its back towards them was a high-backed armchair. Between the chair and Lily, and filling most of the middle of the room, was a big table piled with all sorts of printed books, books of the sort you write in, ink bottles and pens, sealing wax, and a microscope. But she first noticed a bright little red box with"The Noble House of Prince" written on it. two rings — a yellow one and a green one together were in it.  They were no bigger than ordinary rings, and no one could help noticing them because they were so bright. They were the most beautiful shiny little things you can imagine. If Lily had been a very little younger she would have wanted to put one in her mouth.

                   The room was so quiet that you noticed the ticking of the clock at once. And yet, as she now found, it was not absolutely quiet either. There was a faint — a very, very faint — humming sound.  But it was a nicer sound than that, a more musical tone: only so faint that you could hardly hear it.

"It's alright; there's no one here," said Lily over her shoulder to Severus. She was speaking above a whisper now. And Severus came out, blinking and looking extremely dirty — as indeed Lily was too.
"This is no good," he said.
"It's not an empty house at all. We'd better bunk before anyone comes."
"What do you think those are?" said Lily, pointing at the coloured rings.'
"Oh come on," said Sev.
"The sooner-" He never finished what he was going to say for at that moment something happened. The high-backed chair in front of the fire moved suddenly and there rose up out of it — like a pantomime demon coming up out of a trapdoor the alarming form of Tobias Snape. They were not in the empty house at all; they were in Severus's house and in the forbidden study! Both children said "O-o-oh" and realised their terrible mistake. They felt they ought to have known all along that they hadn't gone nearly far enough. Tobias Snape was tall and very thin. He had a long clean-shaven face with a sharply-pointed nose and extremely bright eyes and Oily looking Black hair. Severus was quite speechless, for His father looked a thousand times more alarming than he had ever looked before. Lily was not so frightened yet; but she soon was. The very first thing Mr. Snape did was to walk across to the door of the room, shut it, and turn the key in the lock. Then he turned round, fixed the children with his bright eyes, and smiled, showing all his teeth.
"There!" he said. "Now my fool of a Wife can't get at you!" It was dreadfully unlike anything a grown-up would be expected to do.Lily's heart came into her mouth, and she and Severus started backing towards the little door they had come in by. But Mr. Snape was too quick for them. He got behind them and shut that door too and stood in front of it. Then he rubbed his hands and made his knuckles crack. He had very long, beautifully white, fingers.
 "I am delighted to see you," he said. "Two children are just what I wanted."
"Please, Mr.Snape" said Lily. "It's nearly my dinner time and I've got to go home. Will you let us out, please?"
"Not just yet," saidSverus's Father. "This is too good an opportunity to miss. I wanted two children. You see, I'm in the middle of a great experiment. I've tried it on a guinea-pig and it seemed to work. But then a guinea-pig can't tell you anything. And you can't explain to it how to come back."
 "Look here, Father," said Sev "it really is dinner time and they'll be looking for us in a moment. You must let us out."
"Must?" said Tobias. Sev and Lily glanced at one another. They dared not say anything, but the glances meant "Isn't this dreadful?" and "We must humour him."
"If you let us go for our dinner now," said Lily, "we could come back after dinner."
"Ah, but how do I know that you would?" said Tobias with a cunning smile. Then he seemed to change his mind.
"Well, well," he said, "if you really must go, I suppose you must. I can't expect two youngsters like you to find it much fun talking to an old buffer like me." He sighed and went on. "You've no idea how lonely I sometimes am. But no matter. Go to your dinner. But I must give you a present before you go. It's not every day that I see a little girl in my dingy old study; especially, if I may say so, such a very attractive young lady as yourself."
Polly began to think he might not really be mad after all.
 "Wouldn't you like a ring, my dear? These two rings are Heirlooms of your Mother's Family, Severus 'The Princes'. I hope She doesn't mind." said Mr. Snape to Lily eyeing Sev in the Last part.
"Do you mean those yellow or green ones?" said Lily. "How lovely!"
"Not the green one," said Tobias. "I'm afraid I can't give the green one away. But I'd be delighted to give you the yellow one: with my love. Come and try one on."
Lily had now quite got over her fright and felt sure that the gentleman was not mad; and there was certainly something strangely attractive about those bright rings. She moved over to the tray.
"Why! I declare," she said. "That humming noise gets louder here. It's almost as if the rings were making it."
"What a funny fancy, my dear," said Mr. Snape with a laugh. It sounded a very natural laugh, but Severus had seen an eager, almost greedy, look on his face.
"Lily! Don't be a fool!" he shouted. "Don't touch them."
It was too late. Exactly as he spoke, Lily's hand went out to touch one of the rings. And immediately, without a flash or a noise or a warning of any sort, there was no Lily. Severus and his Father were alone in the room.