They ascended the spiral staircase, behind them. The staircase ended at the beginning of a large hall.
"I'll take this one!" Alexandra exclaimed, seeing through a crack in one of the doors a large wardrobe. She waved her wand, and it swung open.
"Classic," Benjamin muttered to Justin, but quiet enough so that Alexandra, standing a few feet away, wouldn't hear him.
"Oh, do be quiet," Alexandra said crossly, waving her wand in a sort of jabbing movement at Benjamin, who made to speak again, but found his lips locked together.
Justin quickly freed him from the jinx, and the boys moved on down the hall. Benjamin quickly selected a large, spacious bedroom, leaving Justin to go down the hall alone, before selecting a bedroom. As he passed, it occurred to him that there had only been six bedrooms in the corridor before. Yet there clearly was a seventh now. Justin turned around and walked to the new bedroom. As he walked, the door disappeared. Puzzled, he started to walk to Alexandra's door, hoping that she could find out what had happened.
Alexandra came to the door, a book most uncharacteristically in her hand. "What?" She asked.
"C'mon, there's something I want to show you."
She followed him to the space in the hall where he had seen the door. Then, he explained how it had disappeared when he moved.
"It must be an Angleview Charm!" she said. Justin stared at her, incredulous. He knew that she was not the most studious of people, her specialty was dueling.
"I read about it for a Defense class. We were doing concealment. Didn't say anything about accessing the hidden object, though."
"I'll try," Justin said. He stood where he could see the door, pointed his wand at it, and said, "Alohomora." Nothing happened.
"I wouldn't have expected it to work, Alexandra said. Justin looked at her askance.
"Why?" he asked.
"If the person would go to the trouble of putting an Angleview Charm on it, I wouldn't expect him to allow it to be opened that easily."
"So how do we get it open?" Justin asked.
"I'm not sure, but I can try," Alexandra said. "No enchantment is infallible," she explained. "Once you know what enchantments are on it, you can find out how to break them." She pointed her wand at the door. "Specialis Revelio!"
The door glowed faintly blue for a moment, then faded. In the glow, Justin was able to see more clearly, and he realized that the door had no knob.
"Oh, that won't be a problem," Alexandra said. She consulted the book in her hand for a moment, then strode over to the space where the door should be, and tapped once with her wand.
There was a loud BANG, and Alexandra was hurled across the hall.
"Arresto Momentum!" Justin shouted, and Alexandra slowed down.
"Spongify!" Benjamin had cast the spell, coming out of his room to see what the noise had been. Alexandra came to rest on the ground at the end of the hall.
"Hurling Hex," she muttered. "Hate them. Porta Aperio," she muttered, pointing her wand at the door. It started to swing open, then appeared to think better of the idea and shut itself.
"Damn," Alexandra muttered. "Justin, you've found yourself one stubborn door."
"Thank you. Here, let me try. Confringo!" The spell hit the door, which seemed to have plated itself with metal, and bounced off.
Benjamin sighed. "Let me. Decerpo!" Instantly, the metal peeled itself off the door. "And now, DEHISCUS!" The door split into two, then started to seal itself up again.
"Damn!" Alexandra said again.
"Diccatero," Justin muttered under his breath, pointing his wand at Alexandra.
In the meantime, Benjamin was still attempting to open the door. "Fictilius! Flipendo! Futilius! Everberus!" This last spell promptly rebounded and punched Alexandra in the stomach.
"Chicken nuggets!"
"Excuse me?" Benjamin said, distracted.
"I jinxed her," Justin explained in a whisper.
"I have it!" Alexandra yelled. She pointes her wand at the door. "Sirtis!" The door began to sink into the ground. However, it stretched as it went, so the room inside was still inaccessible.
"Didn't work," Justin pointed out.
"Of course it did! It can't stretch forever, you know."
And indeed, it took two minutes for the door to snap, raining splinters, sawdust, and, oddly, small chunks of ice on the three.
"Shall we," Justin said, motioning toward the door.
"Oh, OK," Alexandra said. "But wands out. Lumos."
The room inside was dark, other than the wandlight. As Ben stepped in, bringing up the rear, however, a light on the ceiling went on.