Chapter 1 – The Return
In the early hours of Thursday morning, the Department of Mysteries was silent. The rectangular room was bare and hollow, except for an archway mounted upon a single rock situated in the large crevice in the centre of the room. The archway stood, cracked and ancient, its black veil fluttering inexplicably in the seemingly quiet room. As the ragged veil continued to move, voices began to sound from the depth behind the archway. The voices started out as murmurs, barely audible whispers, then as the veil moved faster and faster, those whispers grew into shouts and screams until finally – silence.
A blinding flash of light filled the room, rendering sight impossible, and a man fell to the floor. The light disappeared and the room was left in silence, the veil still once more. The man scrambled, his long black hair falling into his piercing grey eyes as he did so. With his wand held ready to duel, he slowly took in his empty surrounding. Confusion clouded his eyes and he spun around, as if expecting to find somebody there. He continued to turn sharply, taking in the darkness, growing more and more bewildered. Eventually, the man gave up and sat down on the rock, examining the room a final time.
"What the bloody hell is going on?" said Sirus Black.