Harry Potter & The Door of Dimensions.

Chapter 5:
In Which Markl Prays and Nobody Remembers The Headmaster

Harry stared at the ceiling as he was forced to sit through the feast for twenty agonizing minutes. The clouds above were massive mountains of gold and blue, cascading light over their breadth. Pools of iridescent light dappled the Great Hall's floor, and the students had to avert their eyes from above because of the brightness, of course, Harry, the most observant of them all, was too distracted by his thoughts to notice. However, on the off chance that he did gaze heavward, he could have sworn that he saw a castle drift in and out of the clouds lazily.

'Castle's shouldn't be lazy...' he thought absently, '... They should be respectful, hold themselves up... with dignity... or something...' Once more he found himself staring at the staff table, as the thoughts of clouds made of castles loafed in his brain. He suddenly noticed with astonishing clarity, clarity being a rare sensation for him, that a few of the seats were empty. Dumbledore's, the Defense Against the Dark Arts, and History of Magic all were missing their professor.

Harry could understand the first two, but History of Magic? Professor Binns had been with Hogwarts since, for all Harry knew, the beginning of time. He was already dead which made him rather convenient in that he would never have to be replaced... or get sick... or have an accident...

Harry was a little thankful at the prospect of possibly not having to deal with the dead-beat ghost, but he reminded himself that now he was finished with his O.W.L.s, there was no need to worry about him being there or otherwise.

As the sorting hat was brought out, Harry drowned out the ever changing poem and rhyme, waiting and watching apprehensively while every first year was put into their new houses. He never realized how incredibly tedious this was.

His curiosity leapt back to the empty DADA seat, but it was interrupted when the name, "MARKL PENDRAGON" was shouted across the hall. Markl's back straightened and he nervously got to his feet. Harry looked at him, wondering why the more often than not, brave, brash boy was so nervous. Then Harry remembered that he didn't care and hoped Markl would be put into a different house, just so he didn't have to put up with him anymore.

Markl slowly walked towards the front. Being an older student it looked a little strange, but many of the students were whispering about his name, including Seventh years that Harry was sitting by. When he finally made it to the stool he sat on it uneasily, looking a bit oversized for the miniature seat. Harry remembered how large it had been when he first sat on it. It seemed so small now.

McGonagall placed the hat on top of Markl's fluffy bronze hair, and the hat wriggled into place, as if his head was particularly comfortable.

Harry watched Markl with apprehension. If he was put into Harry's House, he would have to put up with the insufferable whelp for the entire year. He knew that he shouldn't have been so friendly to him, now he would have another Colin Creevy, just as he suspected!

Harry continually checked the empty chairs.

When he looked back, the hat was on top of his head, still debating over what house to place the boy into. Harry saw Markl's mouth moving, his eyes closed in what looked like a silent prayer. Harry could have sworn he was whispering, 'not hufflepuff… not hufflepuff…"

The hat suddenly screamed in a belching sort of way, "GRIFFINDOR!"

Finally clapping and nervous hollers of approval echoed inside the hall. Some students leaned over and started asking questions furiously about the new guy, but Harry successfully ignored them, only giving half replies and shrugs of indifference. He was starting to loath being the center of attention.

Markl made it back to his seat in once piece, shaking all over. For a while he sat in silence, in which Harry could only think 'sweet… sweet relief' but sure enough, the reprieve didn't last long.

It was then that Markl decided to break his momentary reverie, "Harry! Lookit that bloke! He must be a giant or golem!" Markl spoke loud enough that even some of the Hufflepuff students heard him. Harry let his face sink into his hand.

When he looked up, sure enough, Hagrid was getting up from his seat along with the rest of the teachers. He waved one meaty hand at Harry enthusiastically, a goofy grin on his beaded face. Harry waved a little, a small half smile creeping over his lips. A few students laughed as he tripped over a bump in the carpet and sent Professor Trelawney into a spin and eventually falling on her face. Her frizzy hair seemed to grow with her agitation, like a puffer fish ready to unleash its fishy wrath. She turned on Hagrid, in an uproar, but McGonagall quickly turned her straight and walked her towards the door.

Harry shot out of his seat and made for the end of Great Hall. He could hear Markl trailing behind him, wondering why Harry was in such a rush and not wanting to be left alone in the mass of people. On his way, about halfway down the hall, someone caught his shirt and pulled him back. Harry looked down to see Hermione and Ron looking up at him. Markl bumped into Harry while looking the other way at some Ravenclaw girls who were consistently tittering like a flock of magpies about him ever since he was sorted.

"W-what is it? Hermione, let go!" Harry tried to pull away.

"Harry, can you at least wait for us to come with you? The Gryffindor room has moved... or so I've heard..." She sounded a little unsure, but who could blame her. It was odd news that the dorm would move after generations of remaining in the same place.

"Not now, I've got to find Dumbledore. He said he needed to see me."

Hermione gave him a blank look, and Ron squinted his eyes at Harry, "What..?"

"Harry," said Ron reasonably, "whoever you want to see can wait till after we get our timetables and --"

"Whoever! It's Dumbledore! It's got to be important!" Harry blurted, causing a few other Gryffindors to give him a weary once over. Perhaps Harry hadn't noticed until now, but many of the students were staring at him, and had been staring since the feast started. The rumors about the ministry incident the year before had apparently spread over the summer. Know doubt the Prophet was the culprit. At any rate, Harry was a genius at ignoring stares; after all, he had dealt with much worse and survived.

Hermione looked around uneasily, "Harry..."

"What! Hurry up and say what you're going to say, this is important!"

"I... I'm sorry, I just... I just wanted to know... Who is this Dumbledore character you keep talking about...?" Her voice was shaky, and for good reason. Harry's eyes had blazed the colour of fire again, their green depths shining dangerously.

"Hah. Hah. Very FUNNY. This is some sick joke you two are playing I'm not laughing." Harry pulled his arm from her grip, causing her wince in pain.

"Calm down!" Ron protested, looking at Hermione's hand before glaring back up at him, "We're just curious! You don't have to spaz! Sorry if we're not 'up to date' with all this secret business."

"Secret? What the hell are you talking about!" Harry roared, his shoulders slowly becoming more and more edgy. It was if a raging monster inside his chest was screaming and clawing to tear something, anything apart. He barely felt someone tugging on his sleeve and glanced to see Markl looking rather anxious.

"Harry... uh, people are staring."

"SO? What ELSE is new! People always stare at me! Get over it!" Harry turned on his two friends, who looking rather dumbstruck and horrified by now. Harry had commanded the attention from the entire Hall as usually. Harry's mouth twisted to form words but he finally gave up and whirled around, storming out of the room leaving Markl to trail behind.

"Wait till I talk to Dumbledore about this… Something is really... really...!" He left the sentence unfinished mostly out of frustration, but also because he really couldn't think of a word to fit the situation. Soon he arrived at the gargoyle which guarded Dumbledore's office. He stared up at the stony face, and it stared back down at him, cold and grey as ever.

"What are we waiting for...?" Markl asked with a tone of unease.

Unfortunately, Harry realized, he didn't know the password, "Nothing Markl! Just be quiet!"

Suddenly he burst into a string of rudely spoken names, all of which were in some sense related to candy, much to Markl's confusion. He continued for a full minute, in which Markl simply stood and stared at him like he had gone completely stark raving mad. He must have looked quite interesting, shouting the names of sweets at a gargoyle in the middle of the hall.

Finally, somewhere between 'acid pops' and 'love potion' the gargoyle sprung to life, it's hard stone skin becoming instantly pliable and full of life, giving Markl and near to heart-attack, and trotted aside quite purposeful, revealing a slowly ascending spiral staircase. Harry vaulted himself up the stairs, three at a time before arriving at the top. Finally, he could straighten out this business and tell Dumbledore what was going on, and about Markl and the Mist and the castle and everyone acting strangely.

He had stopped dead in his tracks. The office, which was most regularly covered in an assortment of paintings and colourful wall paper, off trinkets and baubles whirring and making puffs of smoke, a map of the stars, a model of the solar system, a massive telescope, all gleaming as if they had just been polished, was a dark mass of dust and debris now remained. Everything looked to have been decaying for a few years, the baubles, while they were still there, were smashed or broken, collecting dust. The paintings were all but destroyed, their paint chipping away and the people within the frames long gone. Tattered rags hung from the ceiling and the large window which usually featured an intricate stain glass panel was smashed and boarded up in a few places. Sun leaked through a the cracks, causing rays of light to splinter the cobwebs. The massive telescope hung askew from its holding and the wind rocked it with a groaning creak.

"I... don't believe...it... it's not possible..." Harry took a step into the decrepit room, and the boards beneath his feet moaned in complaint. He pushed aside a curtain and crept towards Dumbledore's desk. On it lay many magical trinkets, forlorn and rusty from disuse. There was a goblet which was toppled over onto some parchment, and small vile of dusty looking water with the consistency of syrup. He picked it up carefully, inspecting the contents, as if it would reveal some eternal secret to this disastor.

"Harry... what is this place?" Came Markl's somewhat quiet voice.

"...This is Dumbledore's office..." Harry mumbled breathlessly, looking over the wreckage again.

"...When did he work here?"

"DID he! He's ALWAYS worked here! He should be here. Now. Sitting at his table. Or pacing in his office! He doesn't just up and vanish like he was never here at all! Something has been changed! This place is usually a treasure trove of relics and finely kept items... and paintings!" Harry strode to the wall, setting the small vile on the table, "These paintings are all decayed! Where are the old head masters! Why is everything so messed up!" He tore one of the frames from the wall with the name 'Phineas Black' inscribed on its tarnished canvas. Harry threw it with all his might at the boarded window, causing the little remaining glass to shatter and fall. An explosion of dust and spiders flooded the room, causing them both to stifle coughs.

"...M-maybe he was... cursed... or hexed... or maybe everyone ELSE was." Gasped Markl in-between coughs, obviously just trying to make Harry feel better and not actually offer a plausible solution.

To Markl's somewhat disgruntled surprise, Harry turned to him with a half smile on his face, "Of course! Someone must have used a powerful spell!" Harry bounded across the room once more, every footstep accompanied by a cracking or creaking or snapping. He left small clouds of dust with every movement, and Markl fancied himself to faint from lack of oxygen.

"He must have left a clue, to whoever found this... He wouldn't just high tail it and leave without trying to leave some kind of warning behind! Not when Voldemort is so strong!" Harry shuffled through the papers and pens on the table top. He turned the goblet right side up and set it to one side, looking under it at the all but impossible to read parchment. Meanwhile, Markl was inspecting things himself, looking behind picture frames, under overturned chairs, through the cracks in the window, which he commented were too bright to see out of.

Harry tapped his chin thoughtfully, ebony locks falling into his face, now covered with a thin layer of silver dust. He blinked it out of his eyes and pulled his glasses off to clean them with the trim of his shirt. Just as he looked up, however, to replace his glasses, he happened to see the rough outline that looked like the Penseive. Without his glasses on, the blurry surroundings looked familiar and he could even recognize some of the objects around the room. He could almost see what they used to be.

He replaced the opticals and stood over the Penseive, which he quickly discovered, was the item he had mistaken for a goblet. He picked up the vial and held into one of the beams of light, in which the liquid inside appeared cloudy.

"Harry... what's that? It's dangerous to tamper with outdated potions... You don't know what will happen." Markl advised, peering over Harry's shoulder.

"Sh! I know what I'm doing." In all honesty, Harry had no bloody idea what he was doing. He could only hope it was something slightly correct. He poured the contents into the oval dish and instantly the gold luster of the antique was restored. Both the boy's eyes went wide, and Markl gasped a little.

"You stay here, Markl." Harry instructed, pushing the other wizard away with one hand.

"Harry! You can't go in there by yourself! You don't know what you'll see!"

"I'll be fine."

Harry leaned over and put his face close to the water, all at once feeling the vacuum of space around him as his thoughts and soul were pulled into the memory.