CHAPTER 6: THE WORLD BEHIND THE WORLD
That day I had the mother of all hangovers and once or twice I was on the verge of telling Professor Riddick, the DADA teacher, in a rather rough manner to stop talking so bloody loud but thankfully, my better judgment held me from doing just that.
Instead, I settled for just trying to forget about the headache and the buzzing.
'The Minimus spell allows one to successfully reduce a chimera into something less than harmless. It is said that Martzio Mabruk, known in his trade as "The Magician's Magician", managed to diminish a Chimera into nothingness. ' Riddick paused.
'Of course,' he started again 'Chimeras are known to never die, so, as powerful as the Great Mabruk may have been, I doubt he ever could get rid of the damned thing so as not to harm anyone else ever again. '
The whole time I had listened with great effort to remember at least an ounce of that lesson but if I had learned anything or not was yet to be confirmed.
Sometime during the lesson, my vision had blurred or darkened or something similar and at first I had blamed it all on the hangover, though it was only when I could hear my reality no more that my wolf senses told me there was something wrong. Soon, my World was gone and I found myself in that indescribable place I had been to only once in my life, a World where no immortal should ever step in. The Borderline.
It looked like the classroom, only that the roof was half gone, the atmosphere was colored in a sickly bloody shade and a hot, unhealthy wind blew harshly. At first I thought I would be affected by it, as all the other spirits trapped there were, but I noticed I remained unmoved. I figured it was because I was still flesh, while the others were ethereal.
'Go back! You don't belong!' a banshee screamed at me. Soon, other creatures joined in and they all chorused "go back!", demons and harpies, gremlins and…and…
Suddenly, it happened again, like it had a long time ago…I came back.
'Mr. Lupin… Mr. Lupin!' Riddick shook me.
With my eyes still closed I sense the people standing around me. To my right, Sirius held my hand and gently slapped me on the face to wake me up. Right next to him, James and Peter stood horrified. I could smell the fear on all of them, that distinct odor of cataclysm that the air has whenever an earthquake shakes or before a thunderstorm. I was made aware of how I probably got back by the drumming pain I had in my legs and tailbone.
I open my eyes and I find myself in the infirmary, lying in bed.
'What happened?' I asked, though there was no trace of surprise in my voice.
'Remus, you disappeared!...like you had evaporated…don't you remember?' Sirius said in an alarmed tone.
'And then you fell back in class from thin air…' said professor Riddick musingly. I could tell he had some theory brewing.
'Yeah, my back remembers…'
'I believe I shall have to talk to Lupin in private, if you don't mind. There are a few personal things I'd like to ask.' said Riddick and left no room to argue.
When my friends had all left, he finally turned and looked at me sternly. I didn't like it…there was catastrophe in his wrinkled face and now it was leaking on to his grey beard.
'Remus, you are the best student I've had in years. I feel it's right to ask you firstly, if you've experienced something…strange lately. Or, rather, if you've done something to cause certain…things.' He was choosing his words carefully now.
'I…don't know what you're talking about, professor.'
He got up and started pacing.
'Mr. Lupin, I've been researching about the other dimensions for over five decades and what happened today in class was obviously a fissure into the space-time continuum, which caused a loop or "wormhole" to appear, thus sending you, the one who probably caused this disruption, into another dimension.'
'Well, I don't mean to offend you, professor but that sounds a little far-fetched, I mean…the space-time continuum! I thought that was just something Muggles used in movies to explain…far-fetched things.' I say, scratching my head in disbelief.
'But where do you think they got it from? You're the smart one, boy, use your head!'
'I don't know…I guess I'll have to take your word for it, though I don't know what I've done to open up doorways to other worlds.' I lie! Liar! Liar! Liar!
Riddick shook his head and smiled. As he motioned towards the door, he turned once more.
'Usually, only those who possess certain predispositions can cause such loops. And usually, they pay with their lives for it. I don't know what you did but somehow, you came back. That means you're either very lucky or very powerful. I let you decide which you are.' And with that he walked out.