Chapter 9 – The Third Floor Corridor.
I pulled my dormitory door closed as quietly as I could, hoping to not wake my sleeping dorm mates as I listened for the click that would tell me it was shut. I'd left Iris asleep under my bed with a handful of cat treats in exchange for her silence. Mia had said she would stay up and join Draco and me on our adventure just to irritate him with her presence but almost as soon as we had gotten into bed, she had fallen into a deep slumber. I couldn't blame her, the day had been exciting and exhausting and even I had taken a brief nap in order to be able to commit to these midnight escapades. I tiptoed into the common room where the fire was smouldering, still emitting a warming glow. Draco was sat on the sofa already waiting, fully dressed also wearing his Slytherin cloak. I couldn't help but smirk.
"Did you actually do your hair to sneak out in the middle of the night?" He stood up and sighed, annoyance clearly displayed on his face. The rims of his eyes were pink and I figured he was probably exceptionally tired as well – maybe this wasn't such a good idea.
"Are we doing this or not?" He asked impatiently, and I simply replied with a nod.
"I want to know what's so deadly about that corridor." We left our common room, slowly and silently making our way up the steps and into the dimly lit main hall of the castle where the staircases still moved in the dead of night. Only ghosts remained to ascend and descend the stone steps. Some waited for the stairs to come round and meet them whilst others just carried on floating dozens of feet in the air with nothing underneath them.
"Where is it?" I questioned, squinting in the darkness, trying to find the small door we were all forbidden from. There were so many doors lining the walls of the main hall and I'd learnt over recent weeks that some of them didn't even go anywhere. Draco drew his wand and pointed it upward.
"Lumos." A bright white light illuminated all the entrances the staircases led. I pointed to each door on each floor and counted until I found the one I was looking for.
"Look, there it is." I pointed before turning to him. "I didn't know you knew that spell." Draco shrugged as if it meant nothing at all but I doubted even Hermione had taught herself that spell yet. It wasn't a charm that was outlined in our charms books for this year at all.
Sensing that he wasn't about the respond to my statement, we quickly jumped onto the first staircase as it began to rotate around to the second floor where we slipped past a lost, forlorn looking ghost and onto another flight of stairs that took us onto the left hand side of the third floor. Another ghost that I was sure was the Bloody Baron caused us both to quickly slip out of sight until he passed. As soon as we were sure that it was out of sight, we ran across the bridge and onto the right-hand side, just as the staircase slipped away and we were left on a small ledge with nowhere to go but through the door.
"Come on." I muttered as I lifted the heavy lock and pushed the door open. Its hinges creaked loudly as we slipped through and as it swung partially closed behind us. We were in pitch black for a moment until a concrete pillar ignited, making me jump slightly and we were thrown into firelight, exposing a ghoulish statue that loomed over us both. It was draped in cobwebs and looked as though it had remained untouched for years. Its long claw-like fingers almost seemed to move in the flickering torchlight.
"Ok, granted it's creepy. But I don't see how it's dangerous." I said, not feeling quite as confident as I might have been letting on. The smouldering fire of our common room seemed incredibly comforting in that moment. Suddenly, there was a harsh, almost screeching meow from behind us and we both turned to face a dishevelled looking tabby cat with large, red eyes.
"It's that Squib's cat!" Draco exclaimed as it meowed again and took a few steps towards us. It was a scrawny thing but it evoked fear none the less, we had all quickly learnt that where that cat went, Filch was soon behind ready and willing to have us expelled for the most minor infractions.
"Come on!" I said, tugging harshly on Draco's sleeve. I had no doubt that if he got caught, he would rat me out too and given how recently I had been in trouble, I was not eager to repeat that process. We began to briskly walk away and broke out into a run, our shoes pounding on the concrete, as the cat continued to follow us.
"Mrs Norris?" We heard Filch call, his voice echoing in the empty corridor. Torches along the wall continued to light by themselves, exposing statue after statue, each one seeming to reach out to grab us. At the end of the hall were two more, both with huge stone wings and their hands covering their faces, they looked distinctly different to the others and despite their angelic features, I felt incredibly uneasy in their presence. Draco yanked on the handle of the door between them.
"It's locked!" He cursed, panic clear on his face and it I hadn't also been scared I may have gloated.
"Move!" I took out my own wand and recalled one of the spells I had read up on earlier in the year.
"Alohamora." I whispered, I felt the magic move down my arm and through my wand, watching as the latch lifted itself allowing us both inside the room. We swiftly closed the door behind us and I stepped back as Draco pressed his ear against the wood. The room was even darker than the hall and I couldn't help but notice an unusual warm breeze. I decided on the spot that there must be a window open before remembering that it was November and that there wouldn't be any warm air this time of year. It was a fleeting thought none the less as I was undeniably more concerned with Filch potentially coming through the door. I could see the shame on my parents faces already, expelled from Hogwarts before I'd even got to the Christmas holidays.
"I think he's gone." Draco said as he lifted his head from the wood, nodding in silent agreement to his own statement.
"Open the door." I said quietly as my eyes fell on the true source of the mysterious breeze in the room.
"Why?" He questioned as he turned to look at me, he was quickly silenced however, by the large three-headed dog that slowly lifted its heads and began to snarl at the two of us as we appeared to have woken it from its slumber. I turned on the spot and ripped the door handle up again and ran out, not caring if I came face to face with Filch on the other side – it would be better than being mauled to death by a hell hound. Draco followed closely behind me, both of us swinging the door back and leaning on it with all our force to shut it as the dog plunged its heads into the doorway, pushing it back open again.
"Close it!" Draco yelled, I rolled my eyes as I forced all my weight onto the old wood. His hand was pressed over mine, pushing on the door with as much force as I was as we both mentally willed it to close and eventually, we managed to catch the lock and Draco fired a spell to prevent it from slipping open. As we both took a step back – my blood hammering in my ears – to make sure the door would hold, I looked at the statues on either side once again and furrowed my eyebrows.
"Weren't those statues covering their faces before?" I questioned, the hands now lower than before – exposing a pair of expressionless faces. I was sure they'd been covered before…the now common unsettling feeling in my stomach once again returned.
"What? I don't know – I didn't even notice them." Draco stated, as he tried to catch his own breath. Without another word we both turned and made our way from the corridor and hurried back down into the dungeons – only stopping to look over our shoulders once we were back inside the Slytherin Common Room.
"What do they think they're doing?! Keeping that…that thing locked up in a school?!" Draco exclaimed as the door closed behind us and he knew we were safe. "Wait until my Father hears about this."
The remnants of adrenalin were still flowing through my veins and my temple was damp with what I was sure was dog spit.
"Who knows? Or cares? We went to the corridor, we found out that yes, it is banned and for very good reason because you will in fact most likely die a horrible death. Just like Dumbledore said." I replied.
"So are you happy now? We've been, we've seen it and almost died in the process." Draco grumbled before heading in the direction of the boy's dormitories.
"I'm going back to bed and you better hope none of the paintings rat us out." He marched off to his room and I ventured in the opposite direction.
There was nothing unfamiliar about the dimly lit hall leading to my room but for some reason I couldn't shake a feeling of being watched. I slipped inside my room and gently closed the door before yanking off my shoes. I jumped onto my bed, pulling the curtains closed around me and laying under the blankets. Pulling them up under my chin, exhaustion quickly claimed me.
