The Forgotten House

Down in the Dungeons

The food pops up onto the table in front of me and the smell of a Sunday roast dinner fills my lungs and I suddenly begin to miss home. We eat and feast until we can eat no longer and Willow turns around to talk to her brother: "Remember to stay with your prefect and don't run off or do anything stupid. I will ask Jacob to keep an eye on you so watch it."

Professor McGonagall warns us about a few things such as the Forbidden Forest and the teachers quarters and then we are dismissed and follow our prefects to our dormitories. Our common room is in the west wing so we have quite a way to go but we get there in the end. The prefect starts to go on and on a bit about Ravenclaw's history but I'm a bit too preoccupied by how beautiful the common room was. The blue tapestries, the portraits, the warm fire. Everything is just so perfect!
"Ashley. Ashley!" Willow whispers while tugging at my arm.
"What is it?"
"We get to go up to our dormitories now!!"
So we head through to the next room and up the stairs to the first year girls dormitories. There are 5 beds in a circle, each with white and blue bed sheets neatly put onto them. There are 2 windows letting in the setting sun and 5 small cabinets for each of us. It feels so homely.
"Ashley."
"What is it now Willow?"
"I left my diary downstairs." She spoke with so much nerve in her voice.
"Really? I told you to leave it in your trunk!"
"We have to go and get it!! What if someone reads it?"
"That's what you're worried about? Willow we might get caught!"
"Well that's a risk I'm willing to take."

We tiptoed quietly out of our dormitory once the other girls were asleep and we check the common room for anyone else still up on our way out. No one is there thank goodness and the last embers of the fire are still crackling. The portrait door creaks open and we make our way along the corridor and down the stairs. We hear a few whispers and murmurs along the way and panic. So we jump behind a knight. It was Mrs Norris.
"Mrs Norris!! No Willow that's not good at all. We have to get our of here!" I whisper nervously.
"There is no way Filch is still up. We'll be fine! Just wait for her to go." So we wait and Filch was nowhere in sight. We carry on our journey and reach the Great Hall a few minutes later. Luckily for us the doors are already ajar so we creep in and see it is empty. The tables have gone and all that's left is a few chairs and benches.
"Ashleyyy!! What do we do now!!" Willow starts to panic and so do I.
"Umm what about... The kitchen!! If the tables go anywhere it'll be there!" So... once again we set off on our trek to find Willow's Diary.

"The dungeons are scary at night."
"Ya think?" We arrive at the kitchens trembling in fear. A friendly house elf is just behind the door.
"What are you girls doing down here at this hour?" It squeaks questioningly.
"I... I've lost my diary," Willow stutters, "and the last place I had it was in the Great Hall at supper. We thought it might be here."
"Ah yes. We did find a glittering something amongst one of the tables. Your name wouldn't happen to be Willow Malfoy would it?"
"Yes. Yes that's me."
"Follow me then." We follow the little house elf into the kitchen and see all the food being prepared for breakfast tomorrow. As we get deeper into the kitchen I see the tables lying on top of one another and there is Willow's glittering gold diary.
"Ah thank gosh!! Thank you so much sir!" Willow perks excitedly shaking the little elf's hand.
Just before we head out I notice something. There is a 5th table. It sits on the opposite end of the room and is cleaner... newer than the others yet covered in dust and grime. It's probably nothing. I say to myself.

We are almost at our common room once again and the corridors are silent. But my mind is still loud. I can't get that table out of my head. "Willow when we were in the kitchens did you see that table?"
"Ash there were 4 of them yes," She chuckles and rolls her eyes.
"No I know that. But there was another one. A fifth one on the other side of the kitchen."
"I didn't notice no. But did you notice the amount of cutlery they had. Like I know hogwarts is big but it isn't the size of an entire country."
"That's strange. I'm sure its nothing though. Cutlery breaks all the time."
"So do tables."
We tried to forget all about our kitchen experience and went to bed. Before a got into my new bed, I wrote a quick letter to Mum and Dad, sent Lyra away with it, and settled down for the night.