The Room
The door creaked as it swung open, sending tingles up Lavender's spine. It was pitch black inside, like an unopened tomb. She pulled out her wand and mumbled, "Lumos."
A thin streak of light lit the darkness, throwing several large objects into shadow. Something squeaked within the room, and Lavender faintly heard the flapping of leathery wings.
"This is creepy," mumbled Lavender softly, suddenly wishing she hadn't taken this silly dare. Pushing the thought out of her mind, she stepped inside. The door swung closed behind her
"You too, huh?"
Lavender stiffened. She whirled around to see several people huddled around a candle, which barely gave off any light or heat. Intrigued, she came closer.
"We've all been stuck here for a while," continued the same voice.
"Once the door closes, it won't open from the inside. You are very foolish, my friend."
One of the figures huddled around the candle stood. It was a boy, no older than fourteen years old. His shaggy, sandy brown hair fell into his eyes, which in the dim light looked as if they were pitch-black. Lavender shivered besides herself.
"Who are you?" asked Lavender, peering at the boy through the darkness. The boy grinned wryly.
"Ian Blackwater. You might as well introduce yourself, you're gonna be here for quite a while."
"Lavender Brown," said Lavender, craning her neck to inspect the other figures. She couldn't see their faces.
"Tell me, how did you come to arrive upon this place?" asked Ian, ignoring her attempts to see the others' faces.
"I was dared to spend the night here," said Lavender absently. She gave up on trying to see the people's faces and looked back at Ian. "What about you?"
Ian chuckled darkly. "I found this place when I was trying to find a secret passage out of the castle. I got more than I bargained for, I'm afraid."
"How's that?" asked Lavender, one eyebrow cocked.
"Like I told you, once the door closes no one inside can open it," said Ian, sounding exasperated. "Didn't I tell you that already? Well, that's part of it, anyway."
"What's the other part?"
"I've been here for several years," said Ian, sounding more like an old man than a fourteen-year-old boy. "Time stops here. Outside it still goes by.
"By the time you get out, everyone you cared for, everything familiar, is gone."
One of the people around the candle looked up. The hood over its face fell back, revealing a boy of eleven.
"Might as well make yourself comfortable," said the boy. Like Ian's, his eyes were pitch black, as if all the life had been sucked from his body.
"No," said Lavender, shaking her head. She backed away several steps, refusing to believe what her eyes were reporting. "This isn't real. It's all just some stupid dream."
"Is it?"
Another of the figures looked up. Lavender let out a strangled gasp. Her own face stared back at her, eyes no longer vivid blue but black, like empty tunnels deep underground. Lavender felt as if a dementor had just latched onto her face. Her insides froze in shock.
"You've been here since your first year," said her eerie doppelganger. "You just refuse to believe it. Everything you've gone through the past four years- they just happened in your head. This is the truth, Lavender."
Lavender squeezed her eyes shut, backing up until her back came in contact with the clammy stone wall.
"No," she said loudly. "This is all a bad dream. I fell asleep during the party and I've gone loo-loo."
"If that's what you want to think."
Lavender suddenly had an idea. "Nox," she said. Her wand instantly stopped glowing.
"Finite Incantem."
There was a loud, blood-curdling shriek. The scene around Lavender blurred, it starting whirling together, like it was in a blender.
"No!" shrieked a voice. "No, no, it wasn't supposed to happen this way! No!"
The room was shaking, the walls threatened to tumble down. Lavender slid down the trembling wall, shielding her head with her hands.
"No!"
Then, just as suddenly as it had started, the shaking and whirling stopped. There was silence.
Lavender looked up. She was floating in nothingness, the only thing here besides her was a ball of light. But instead of sending its rays outward, it seemed to be sucking light in. Like a black hole.
"Oh boy," whispered Lavender.
The ball exploded.
Then she was falling...falling...
"Ahhh!"
Lavender sat bolt upright, eyes darting about. She instantly recognized the Gryffindor common room. She calmed slightly but her heart was still thundering in her chest.
"Lavender?"
Lavender looked up to see Parvati looking at her oddly.
"Yeah?"
"Are you okay? You suddenly just keeled over, fast asleep during Truth or Dare. You kept talking in your sleep, something doppelgangers. Are you okay?"
Lavender nodded, though she wasn't quite sure herself. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just a nightmare."
Satisfied, Parvati continued gossiping with the other girls.
"It was just a dream," whispered Lavender. But it had seemed so real.
"Or was it?"