The Dark Lord, The Witch and The Time-Portal

II - The Time-Portal and The Gatekeeper

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet"

Holly finds herself in front of a large structure, it appeared to be a dusty old mirror, its borders ornamented with hourglasses, lemniscates, Celtic symbols and other patterns she didn't recognize.

The little witch stood up from her couch and walked near the strange object that suddenly appeared in front of her, studying it for a few seconds. It looked like a mirror but at the same time could be some sort of gate or a door. She remembered reading about ancient magic technologies and this one reminded her an example of magic portals, the same ones wizards from the past used to travel long distances, before the invention of Portkeys. She also read about portals capable to transport people to other worlds or dimensions, however no living person had ever proven their existence and registers about them were never found, so they were considered only as fairy tale material, fed by people's imagination.

Holly used her wand to make some detection spells for curses or jinxes on the object. Nothing happened, so she decided to examine it closer. She could see her reflex but it was blurry. Maybe it was just dusty, so she put her left hand on the surface of the mirror to clean it. It was warm and oddly elastic. She pressed gently her fingertips on it and they sank, for her surprise. It was like a dense mud, if mud was silvery and viscous. The witch pressed more and her fingers dug until their base. Her magic core resonated with the object, a tingly current flowing all through her body. She still could felt her fingers and decided to close them, trying to grab the mud, but she couldn't hold anything. She decided to pull her hand away.

She couldn't.

The witch pulled with more strength. Her hand didn't budge.

Holly was trapped however she felt strangely calm, as if subconsciously she was aware no harm would come to her. She took a deep breath and pushed her palm a little.

Yes, she was capable of moving her hand forward.

Holly inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, trying to keep her cool to analyze better the situation. She couldn't pull away from the strange mirror-object but apparently she could move towards its inside.

If she wanted to escape, it would be needed to cut her arm off. If she was pulled inside it, anything else could happen. She could be trapped, die, lost her mind or even a limb or two...

Or maybe go to another world or another dimension.

She could even be transported to the Fairy Realm, so long lost from the humans view...

She could be devoured, burned, tortured or killed.

She could be free... free from pain, from losses and from a world without Sirius.

Of course Holly still had Hermione, Ron, Hagrid, Lupin... but with Voldemort lurking around, it was plausible to lost them too in the future.

If her tears weren't already dry, she would be crying from this prospect. Her friends could be tortured or killed. She wished Voldemort never existed!

The mirror's surface flickered, waves forming around her buried hand. A golden light glowed all over her skin, clothes and hair, it was warm and comforting. She felt herself being pulled inside of it, the semisolid surface engulfing her. Holly shut her eyes close and decided to welcome whatever had on he other side, walking straight into it.

The witch felt dizziness and an annoying buzz filled her ears, thankfully it lasted just two or three seconds. When Holly opened her eyes again, she saw herself in a room with a lot of doors, gates, mirrors and holes, all of them set out on different positions, sizes, shapes and colors. The walls and the floor were pure white and somehow that place made her feel serene and in peace.