THE DADA MANSION
CHAPTER FOUR – Into The Mansion
The crowd around Hannah parted to let Parvati, Millicent and Pansy through. Pansy stopped with millimeters to spare, her stature drawing Hannah's attention so that she looked up at her. Pansy was absolutely livid.
"How dare you run away. You filthy, worthless, idiot," she screamed. "How dare you just leave us there!"
Hannah looked at Parvati and Millicent for support, but to no avail. They were glaring at her unsympathetically while Pansy continued to rattle off abuse, which, being a Slytherin, was something that she could do well.
The few teachers that were left in the hall immediately rose and started running down to the end of the hall, wanting to end the dispute before it went any further.
Professor Snape, who had been waiting in a room off the Great Hall for exactly this reason, chose this moment to intervene.
"Silence!" he roared furiously. Pansy took heed of the angry note in his voice and stopped yelling at Hannah. "All of you, to my office now."
Based on his fury, the girls meekly followed him out of the hall.
Hermione's personal charm-alarm clock started whistling and beeping at her. Unenthusiastically, she turned over in her bed, sat up and turned off the alarm. Yawning, she stood up and slipped into her Hogwarts robes, then headed out of her dorm. Sleepily stumbling down the stairs until she arrived in the Gryffindor common room, she saw that Harry and Ron were already waiting for her, sitting in chairs, looking just as sleepy as she felt.
"Remind me again why we're awake at five in the morning," complained Ron.
Harry started to reply, but interrupted himself with a yawn, and this, in Ron's opinion, proved that they should all still be snug in bed.
Shaking her head and sitting down in the vacant chair next to Harry, Hermione decided to take control of the situation before both Harry and Ron fell fast asleep in their seats. "We're here so that we can go over what little we know about the DADA mansion," Looking forcefully at the boys, she continued, "Do I need to remind either of you that we have to go into the mansion Friday night? As in tomorrow night? I, for one, would like to be fully prepared."
Ron looked up, "Hermione, this isn't…"
"Yes, this isn't even an assessed trip into the mansion. I know that, Ron. I read our instruction parchment too. We need to be as serious about this as we can. Our N.E.W.Ts are going to be one of the hardest tests that we take in our life. You've heard the stories that I have, the stories we've all been told ever since before we even took our O.W.Ls. We need every possible bit of practice, knowledge and experience possible."
"'Mione, Ron was only being a sleepy, stubborn, ah…" Harry trailed off at the look Ron gave him. Hermione stifled a giggle. "Listen, my point is, we know how important this is, not only to you, but to all of us."
"Ok then, down to work," She opened her notebook, which she'd already filled with extensive notes about the mansion. Harry and Ron saw the number of pages and settled back in their chairs, knowing they'd be there for a long time.
"Hannah, Parvati, Millicent and Pansy's turn in the mansion didn't go quite as they'd planned. Of course, this could have been because they didn't study at all before they went in, but that's why we're here. The charms that they briefed our class on were only at about a fifth-year level, and probably any intelligent fourth-year could have overcome the obstacles that they faced. Their problem was that they were too busy arguing with each other most of the time to pay attention to what was going on around them. Snape said that just for the simple fact that Hannah got scared and ran away, out of the mansion, from the rest of her group, they would have failed. This brings me to my first main point to note: communication. It will be absolutely vital that we all listen to each other when we are in the mansion. Without taking into consideration each other's ideas on a situation, we could miss out on a vital piece of information to solve whatever the task is." She paused, "What do you two think about that? Harry! Open your eyes right this instant! Pay attention," Ron started sniggering. "Don't laugh, Ron. You were almost about to fall asleep too," He stopped. "Honestly, you two. I know neither of you worries about school as much as I do, but really, I would have thought you'd at least want to be prepared for this."
Harry and Ron looked almost sorry. Almost. They couldn't quite look sincere when they both wished they were still asleep.
Hermione shook her head, "Fine. We'll do this a different way. Harry, you take my notebook. Ron, you get a spare bit of parchment and start making notes of any ideas we come up with to improve what I've written."
Snape cleared his throat loudly, "Now, as we all know, our first group into the mansion did not get their 'pass'," he paused, glaring at Hannah, Parvati, Millicent and Pansy. "Regardless of this, the tasks have been renewed and will be at a sixth-year level. I have been asked that those of you going into the mansion this weekend take special notice of this. On that note, the school governors have asked me to send more students into the mansion at once." A ripple of fear (as common as parchment in Snape's classes) swept over the students. "In addition to Miss Granger, Mr. Potter, and Mr. Weasley, the following students will also be going into the mansion on Friday night: Mr. Longbottom, Mr. Finnigan and Miss Brown. Class dismissed."
Somewhat in shock, Neville, Seamus and Lavender rose with the rest of the class and left the classroom, heading for lunch. Hermione looked irate.
"I can't believe that! We now have one day to get Neville, Seamus and Lavender prepared to the same standard as we are. How can I possibly do that?" She started to run off, then stopped, turned, and said, "I'll be in the…"
"Library," chorused Harry and Ron.
The two boys watched Hermione run off, then once again started towards the Great Hall for lunch.
"We'd probably better warn Neville, Seamus and Lavender about her," said Ron.
They entered the hall and sat down opposite Neville, Seamus and Lavender, who still looked a bit dazed at the thought of going into the mansion in just one day. They all sat down at the Gryffindor table and began to eat their usual helpings of the wonderful house-elf prepared food.
"Well, I guess I'm going to have the dormitory to myself this weekend," said Dean cheerfully.
"Yeah, and whenever we get out of the mansion on Sunday, you'll probably have to put up with none of us ever speaking again, if that first trip into the mansion was anything to go by," said Seamus.
"That's if we get out at all," Neville added darkly.
Harry and Ron looked at each other.
"You two make it sound like we won't even come out alive! It's only an obstacle course," said Ron.
Neville and Seamus looked unconvinced.
Harry was looking at Lavender concernedly, for she had been very quiet ever since coming out of Defence Against the Dark Arts. "Are you all right, Lavender?" he asked.
She seemed to come out of a daze. "Yes, I'm fine. I just wasn't expecting to have to go into the mansion this weekend. I really don't think I'm ready for it yet."
Ron piped in, "Well, you've got no need to worry there. Hermione's been making us study almost non-stop ever since we were told about our turn in the mansion."
"Also, she ran straight to the library after class, so I think you can count on her making sure you're prepared to go in," said Harry.
"And you can count on her to not let you sleep tonight either," laughed Ron.
Neville, Lavender and Seamus did not look impressed.
Friday dinner was not a cheery affair for part of the Gryffindor table. Hermione was constantly looking over her notes, Ron was trying to forget his nerves by arranging his food into artistic piles on his plate, and Harry and Seamus were trying to keep a normal conversation going, while Neville and Lavender hadn't said a word since sitting down. Other Gryffindor's kept trying to attract one of the group's attention to wish them luck or to talk to them, but all of them kept their attention firmly on what they were doing, eager to forget what might be in store for them in only a short time.
All too soon, Professor Snape stood up. The noise in the Hall immediately dropped off to only a few whispers. Smirking slightly, he said, "Would Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, Mr. Longbottom, Mr. Finnigan and Miss Brown please follow Professor Dumbledore and myself down to the mansion."
Snape walked down the center of the hall, followed by Dumbledore. Looking extremely apprehensive, the small group of Gryffindors got up and followed the professors out of the Great Hall.
The wind was blowing quite fiercely as they all stepped out of the door and onto the grounds. There was a collective shudder (not only from the wind) as they started following Snape and Dumbledore down towards the mansion. The walk down the sloping grounds under the sparkling night sky seemed to take no time at all to Harry. There was an odd atmosphere in the air, one almost like déjà vu. The wind seemed to drop off suddenly as they approached the forest, making Harry feel vaguely spooked. Mentally shaking himself, he tried to take deep breaths to calm him and clear his mind for the tasks ahead.
Snape and Dumbledore stopped on the porch and allowed the students to catch up. Once they were all standing there, Dumbledore waved his wand, and the magical barriers sprung up, surrounding the mansion.
The other students from the Hall were quickly filtering down the hill now, huddled in small clusters to protect themselves against the wind, eager to see the second group of students enter the mansion.
Dumbledore began to speak, "Now, even though the difficulty of the tasks has been upgraded since the first group of students went in, you shouldn't have any trouble completing the tasks that have been set."
Snape took over, "This outing into the mansion has been designed as such so that you should have all tasks completed sometime around midday Sunday. You are all to stick together at all times. Is there anything you wish to add, Professor?"
Dumbledore smiled, "No, I think you've covered everything. Good luck to all of you."
Snape waved his wand at the front doors of the mansion, which swung open. The collection of students who had gathered to watch the entrance let out a collective gasp of anticipation. They stood there, craning their necks and pushing hard on the magical barriers in order to try and get a glimpse of the interior of the mansion. Dennis Creevey was sitting on his brother's shoulders, short and light as he was, to try and see in. People were alternating between looking at Dennis, to see if he could spot anything, and at the open mansion door.
Taking a deep breath, Hermione was the first of the group to take a step forward towards the open, looming door of the mansion. Briefly looking around, Harry followed her. This seemed to jolt the other four back to reality, and they followed. As soon as they'd crossed the threshold into the mansion, they seemed to disappear from sight. Dennis let out a sound of exclamation, and the students pressed even harder against the barriers.
The doors swung shut with a loud thud.
Snape and Dumbledore made a gap in the barriers, walked through, and headed up to the school without a backward glance. The students who had gathered around the mansion seemed unwilling to leave, although a few did drift back to the castle after the professors.
The mansion was warmer than Hermione had expected. From the outside, it looked like a damp, dreary building ready to be condemned.
Ron let out a shaky breath, "Well, that was painless."
"So far," said Seamus darkly.
"So where do we go from here?" asked Lavender.
"I guess we just walk until we see something," said Hermione suspiciously.
She looked around. The entrance doors to her back, she first looked left, to a closed door, then right, to a long, dark hallway with no visible doors or distinguishing features. Then, immediately in front of where they were huddled, a grand staircase, with another closed door just to the left of it.
"Anyone have a preference?" she asked.
Harry, Ron, Seamus and Lavender shook their heads.
"Neville?" Hermione asked.
"Er, ju-just as long as it's not the d-dark hallway," he stammered quickly.
Making up his mind, Harry crept forwards, towards the grand staircase. Just as he lifted his foot to the first step, he was blown backwards by something of a great force. Flying through the air, he fell onto Neville, knocked him over, then lay on the ground with his eyes closed. Hermione gasped and sidestepped over Neville, who was shaking his head and getting up, to reach Harry.
Kneeling down beside him, she exclaimed, "Harry! Harry! Are you all right? Come on, Harry, wake up," she gently squeezed his hand, trying to wake him.
Ron stepped over, visibly pale, and bent down next to Hermione. "Harry?" he said questioningly. When there was no response, he started slapping Harry's face lightly.
Harry suddenly turned over, almost squashing Hermione and Ron. Looking groggily at them, he said, "What happened?"
A look of intense relief washed over Hermione's face. "You tried to walk up the staircase and were thrown back onto the floor."
"And Neville," added Ron.
He slowly sat up, supported by Seamus and Ron. "Well, I wouldn't advise anyone else to try that," he said, "Ouch." Neville looked as though the shock was wearing off, and Lavender was standing with her back against the entrance doors, wide-eyed.
Hermione got up and looked curiously at the first step on the staircase.
"Careful, Hermione," warned Harry, "It hurts more than it looks like it would."
She heeded his warning and withdrew back to where everyone else was.
"Help me up, would you?" asked Harry.
Ron and Seamus each held one of Harry's arms and steadied him as he rose. Experimentally taking a step, he found that nothing was damaged, so he asked, "Where to now, then?"
Hermione looked cautiously around. "I think we should take that hallway," she said, pointing to her right, "I know it looks more threatening than the other options, but the stairs looked more welcoming, and look what happened."
They nodded their agreement.
No one moved.
In a small room adjacent to the teacher's common room, there were various types of magical monitors set up. Snape sat in the darkened room, watching the progression of his students. When Harry was thrown back onto the floor, a small smirk crept its way onto his lips; a smirk he only half tried to cover up when the door opened and Professor Dumbledore walked in.
"How are the students going, Severus?" he asked.
"There's no permanent damage done to them. Mr. Potter got himself projected back from the grand staircase and landed on Mr. Longbottom. Other than that, they've been dithering around."
Dumbledore nodded, "Continue to keep an eye on them. Minerva will take over from you in a few hours," He turned and left Snape alone with the magical monitors.
Hermione looked around to see if anyone else was going to take the first step down the hallway. Harry's nerve seemed a little damaged from his accident, and the rest of them didn't seem too confident, especially Neville, who was at the back of the group, not quite cowering, but she got the feeling that it wouldn't take long for him to start. Pursing her lips at the rest of the groups' lack of action, she held out her wand in front of her and proceeded very slowly towards the corridor. When she got to the open threshold, she paused and very gently poked her wand at it. Nothing. She tried again. Still nothing happened, so she stepped over. Looking behind her, she saw that Harry, Ron, Neville, Seamus and Lavender were watching her closely, standing out of the direct line to the hallway in case she flew back like Harry had.
"Come on then," she said. "There's nothing here to hurt you…"
Hermione disappeared from sight.
Lavender screamed. Harry and Ron stepped forward, as if to make sure that she wasn't there. Then, as they realised she had indeed disappeared, their jaws dropped open simultaneously.
"Gosh, she really has vanished," said Ron, dumbstruck.
Neville fainted.
"Oh bugger," said Seamus. "Now what are we going to do?"
Harry took a moment to collect himself, then replied, "It's simple. Ron and I will keep going and try to find Hermione, while you and Lavender stay here and try to wake Neville up. Once he's awake, move him to the entrance parlour, and wait for us there."
Lavender looked at Harry, "But we're supposed to stay together, Snape said so."
Ron came to Harry's defence, "Well, Snape can kiss my..."
"Ron!" said Harry reproachfully, "Lavender's right, we are supposed to stick together. We'll just wait until Neville wakes up, then go find Hermione."
There was a murmur from the floor, and Neville turned onto his side as if he were in bed.
"This mansion really seems to be over-rated," Harry muttered to himself. Then, louder, he said, "Poor Neville. Everything seems to happen to him."
"... Nothing here to hurt you, alri-" Hermione broke off in the middle of the word. She looked around. A window. That was the lone defining feature of the box-sized room she was in. She took a step over to the window and immediately stepped back in surprise. She was at the top of the mansion.
Neville stirred and opened his eyes. Seeing everyone sitting on the floor next to him, he groaned quietly, tried to prop himself up on his hands, then gave up and lay back on the floor.
"Hey mate," said Seamus, "You fainted."
Neville didn't say anything; he just rolled his eyes in an expression of 'Once again, it happened to me'.
Harry rose. "If you're feeling alright, Neville," Neville nodded. "Then I think we should get moving and try to find Hermione. Clearly, the hallway isn't the place for us to go at this time, so I say we try the closed door that was to the left of us as we came in."
They all got up, stretching and mumbling various comments, some polite, others not so polite, about the tasks of the mansion.
They all paused as Harry took a hold of the door handle. Ron, Seamus and Lavender drew out their wands and held them at the ready, while Neville stood well clear of all of them.
Harry took a deep breath, and suddenly turned pushed the door open with such as force that it hit the wall, and came flinging back at him, so hard that it slammed closed again. Harry let out a nervous giggle, "Oops."
Ron just looked at him reproachfully. "Ok, change of plans. I think I'll open the door, if that's alright with you, Harry?"
Harry shrugged and took Ron's place, holding his wand to the ready.
Ron gently slid the door open an inch. He paused, then, satisfied that he couldn't hear any monsters, pushed the door open all the way.
An odd scene was opened to their eyes. A large, old-fashioned sitting room, full of big, over-stuffed chairs, bookcases so full they looked like they would break, and, central to the chairs, an unlit fireplace.
Shaking, Hermione slid down the wall until she was sitting. She wrapped her arms around herself and tried saying "It's only an illusion, it's only an illusion," but it was no good. She was utterly terrified by the view from the window.
Ron stepped into the center of the room, followed by Harry, Seamus, Lavender, and Neville.
The room was entirely unremarkable, thought Harry. Sure, it was nicely designed; the chairs looked comfortable, but there were hundreds of houses like this all over England. They were all so busy looking around the room that none of them noticed the door had quietly shut itself behind Neville, then dissolved into the wall, unnoticeable. They all wandered around the room for a moment, bemused at the obvious partly from lack of actual challenges they'd had so far, and partly because there was nothing odd in the room.
Ron was turning slowly on the spot, in the center of the room. "I don't get it," he said, clearly mystified. "I thought this mansion was supposed to be a challenge, not just a house for us to wander around in."
Harry flopped down into one of the over-stuffed chairs, "Well, to tell you the truth, Ron, that's what I thought too. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. The less we have to do in here to pass, the better."
Seamus snorted as he too sat on one of the chairs, "You've got to be glad Hermione isn't here to hear you say that. She'd be at your throat."
Lavender and Neville were picking out books off one of the bookshelves, and flicking through them. "Why are you looking at books?" asked Ron.
"Yeah, I agree," said Seamus. "I mean, there are these chairs here for us to rest on, so why are you doing work?"
Lavender and Neville looked around. "I–I don't kn-know why I am," stuttered Neville, glancing at Lavender. She just shook her head.
"Well, I advise you pull up a chair," suggested Harry lazily, gesturing with his arm to the empty chairs in the room.
Ron still stood in the middle of the room, though now he was looking around vaguely, as if he were not quite sure of what he was looking at.
Harry noticed this, "What are you looking for, Ron?" he asked.
"Er, well, I'm not entirely sure. I-I think I was looking for some way out, so we can go and find Hermione, but I thought of a reason not to, I'm just not sure..." he trailed off as Seamus, Neville and Lavender all rose from their chairs at the same time and began walking in complicated patterns around the room.
Harry's jaw dropped. "Wh-what are they doing?" he exclaimed.
Ron just stood there for a moment, then turned his back on Harry and started following the others around the room.
Harry closed his eyes and shook his head hard, as if willing himself not to be seeing this scene. He opened his eyes again, cautiously. They were still walking in complicated patterns around the room, and they had started muttering to themselves. Harry couldn't quite make out the words, but it sounded like a chant being chanted in rounds, the way they did in Muggle primary schools where they force you to sing songs like "Row, row, row your boat". Harry could feel himself being pulled into the chant; the slow, steady, rhythmic sound of their voices made the patterns seem like elegant embroidered decorations. It was tempting, so, so tempting to just give in to the wonderful sensation that was sweeping over him. NO! He plugged his fingers in his ears to block out the sound. I will not listen, he thought. He forced himself to focus his mind on nothing. Think nothing, then it can't get to you. Surprisingly, it worked. All of a sudden, he felt himself snap back into reality, his mind perfectly clear. It was obvious, now. The room had a Confundus Charm on it; a subtle one, that took effect slowly so that no one would notice him or herself being bamboozled by it. Harry turned, and walked in front of Ron. "Stop," he said, in a loud and firm voice. Ron tried to keep walking, but Harry grabbed him by his shoulders and spun him around so that they were face-to-face. Ron blinked, then looked around at the others.
"Was I doing that?" he asked. Harry nodded grimly.
"I think all you need to do to stop them is to break their habit," Harry said, "I'll take Lavender, you take Seamus. We'll do Neville together," Ron nodded.
Hermione had no idea how long it had been since she'd arrived in the room at the top of the mansion. "It seemed like I Apparated," she muttered to herself. "But that can't be, no one can Apparate on Hogwart's grounds, everyone knows that." She dropped her hands to the floor, her fingers clearing away the dust that had collected. Then she paused. There seemed to be a minute crack in the floor, running in a straight line. She traced it absentmindedly with her fingers, seeing how far it went. To her amazement, she found another line, perpendicular to the one she had traced. Scrambling to the side, she let out a loud groan of frustration. "I am so stupid!" she said in annoyance. "It's a bloody trap door! Arrgh!"
Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Hermione reached into her robes and pulled out her wand. Cautiously, taking a few minutes, she creaked the trap door open, inch by slow, painstaking inch. Not daring to stand up, as she would have been face-to-face with the window, she lowered herself carefully into the black emptiness that had appeared below the trap door.
Harry, Ron, Seamus, Neville and Lavender all stumbled out of the sitting room, and into a kitchen. A modern kitchen, like they would have expected to find in the basement of a fancy Muggle hotel. Food, lavishly prepared food, was waiting on the benches for them.
Harry glanced at his watch, "Whoa!" he exclaimed. "How long were we stuck in that room for?"
Ron peeked at his watch too, "It's half past eleven already! Where did the time go?" he asked.
"Who knows," replied Seamus tiredly, "All I know is that I want some of this food and my comfy bed," He reached out to the food, then suddenly recoiled his hand as if he'd been bitten. "What the – it, it just, it's like..." he trailed off.
Harry slowly stretched his hand out to the table of food, and then his hand recoiled just as fast as Seamus' had. "It's like an electric shock," he sighed resignedly.
"A what? The stuff Muggles use?" asked Ron.
Harry was just opening his mouth to respond when they all heard a scuffling noise. Wordlessly, they all drew out their wands and pointed them to the corner where the noise was coming from. There was a thud, then part of the wall fell away, and a dusty person crawled out.
"Hermione!" Harry called out, dropping his wand and rushing over to help her to her feet. "Are you alright? What happened to you?"
He was interrupted by Professor McGonagall's voice echoing around the room. "Well done, sixth years. You have completed the tasks set for today. You will find the food is now de-charmed and ready for you to eat. Boys will sleep in one corner, girls in the other. You will receive no further communications from any member of staff. Tomorrow, you shall have to find your own places to rest, sleep and eat. Goodnight."
They turned around to see that camp beds had appeared, four on one side of the room and two on the other. Seamus gladly collapsed onto the one closest to him and fell asleep almost straight away, while the rest of them fell forwards to the food. There was little talk for a few minutes while they devoured the food, as they had all eaten very little at dinnertime.
"So what happened to you, Hermione?" Ron asked, "You just disappeared in that hallway, and now you crawl out of a wall."
Hermione shook her head, "I don't know much more than you do, Ron. I don't yet know what made me disappear. I ended up in a tiny room at, I mean, somewhere in the mansion. After a while I realised there was an exit, so I took it and ended up here," She shrugged. "I'll have to look it up after we get out of here. What did you four end up doing?"
Lavender groaned, "Look, you four are welcome to talk about this. Just keep it down, I'm going to bed," With that, she strode over to the other side of the room and lay down on a camp bed, her back to them. Neville yawned.
"I think I'll do the same."
Harry, Ron and Hermione were left standing in the middle of the room. Hermione shrugged again. "So what did happen to you?" she asked again.
Harry and Ron looked at each other. "Well, after you disappeared, we decided to try a different direction. We went into that closed door that was to our left when we entered, and..." Ron's voice trailed off, so Harry took over.
"Long story short, we were challenged by a Confundus Charm. It didn't seem like we were in the room for long, but we clearly were. It's odd, though. I think the charm took some time for it to have an effect on us, and it was broken fairly easily. That goes against everything I thought I knew about Confundus Charms."
Hermione nodded. "It is certainly odd. Perhaps it was a mixture of two charms; that could explain the effect it had on you. Remind me to look that up in the library."
Harry nodded his acknowledgment, but Ron snorted, "As if you'll need us to remind you to look it up. I would say you're going to need us to remind you to eat after this is over; you're going to be living in that library."
Hermione opened her mouth as if to respond, then closed it again when she realised Ron was probably going to be close to the truth.
It seemed like there was nothing else to say, so they turned and went to bed.