If he hadn't suddenly felt guilty for sneaking out of England to visit this place, Harry would have been amazed at the ceiling that rose as high as the underground cave itself and the crystal statue hanging in midair of a wizard with the name Laurence Patrick Hayden on its feet. Floating a hundred feet above him were small balls of flame lighting up the entrance.
"Ron and Hermione said they were in Lodi Hall," said Harry, spinning around on the marble floor as if a sign was going to tell him exactly where they were.
"Why do you want to find them and why don't you just use Foresight --" Raides suggested casually.
"No," Harry cut her off sharply. "Dumbledore said all the dormitories are connected to this building," he went on, trying to reason his way around.
"And aren't they going to be horrified you snuck out of England? I mean..."
Harry didn't think Hermione would tell anyone what he did but thought she would have a strong urge to even though she'd never do it. As for Ron, Harry had a feeling he would see things his way. But he didn't respond to Raides, who was anxiously awaiting an answer.
"You might want to get yourself a Hand of Glory," Raides told Harry.
"A hand of what?"
"Stick a candle in it and only you can see its light."
Harry stared.
"You're not supposed to remember anything."
Raides shrugged.
"It was in one of those books I was reading. You're going to need it if you plan to sneak around here at night. You don't want anyone -- or anything -- seeing a floating lantern or wand with its tip lit. Besides, wand light is horrible and lanterns burn out. You can just conjure a new candle."
"Fine, but not until I've found them."
Hopelessly spinning around some more, Harry noticed that, high above him, like all of the several corridors leading out of Whitewonder Tower, one of the signs read Torr Lounge. Feeling dumb, Harry walked along the corridor and was now standing in a circular room that looked like a mere extension of Whitewonder Tower with its pearly white marble floor and walls. Here there were six more corridors leading out, five of them reading Lodi, Bagatelle, Jericho, Nicolls and Sagtikos. He walked along the corridor with the name Lodi, written in black opals, above it.
The sides of the corridor were one big window, with its top and bottom still made of marble and he could see how the dormitories were arranged in a pentagon around Torr Lounge. There were only really five corridors, the last one being just a staircase going up.
At the end of the corridor leading into Lodi Hall was a golden carpet (he was now in a building with a ceiling that wasn't towering so high above him that his footsteps echoed darkly) with floating torches on either side of the corridor's exit and a magnificent chandelier above him holding more torches. The walls were of a dark blue. On one side of the room he was now in was a burning fireplace beneath an ornamental carving -- seemingly made out of ice except that it was the same golden color of the carpet beneath him -- of an equally magnificent ten foot long sword. It was extremely cold to the touch.
There were round tables and high-backed armchairs spread around the room and Harry was somewhat reminded of the Gryffindor common room. It was about as big as the entire house the Dursleys owned which was already bigger than his common room back in Hogwarts. Above a painting of simply the word Lodi done up all fancy, was a postboard with notices posted on it. He read one of them.
All final year ungraduate students in Halls Lodi and Bagatelle report to the Bayonne Complex Saturday to speak to a graduate advisor should you choose to continue your magical education. No pun intended.
Harry noted that this school was all about bigness. Even the glassless window high above him carved out of the wall most likely for owls to soar in and out of was big. He also had to wonder why it wasn't stiflingly hot or cold but then he read another note on the postboard.
All interested graduate students report to Professor Gale to learn how to care for your House's Owl Hole Temperature Charm.
"Harry," said Raides, grinning broadly, who's head was stuck between Harry's legs, reading another note, "read this one."
All Houses please note: No, for the last stupid time. Harry Potter will not be arriving.
Harry proceeded to tear that note off the postboard and toss it into the fire where -- it didn't burn but instead flew right out of the fire and right back to where it was while another new note accompanied it. This note flew right into his hand and read, "Please do note toss notices into the fire, thank you." It disintegrated as soon as he finished reading it.
Just then, a humongous bird resembling Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes, though he knew it wasn't Fawkes by the the differently arranged plumage, flew into the common room from the House Owl Hole high above him. It landed on a perch at the top of the room and went right to sleep, its golden and scarlet tail rising and sinking slowly. He noticed that there were many birds of all kinds up there, all sitting on perches and even spotted Ron's owl, Pigwigdeon stuck between an eagle owl and what was unmistakably a dodo bird, a bird that he knew couldn't fly.
"Enough sightseeing," Harry said soundlessly to himself as a barn glared an amber eye at him.
"Where is everyone, anyway?" Raides asked. "Shouldn't we have run into someone by now? It all seems empty."
Harry pointed to another note which said everyone was currently in Torr Lounge, watching another presentation. He tried to walk along another corridor leading out of the common room (there several aside from the one he walked in from) but found that he couldn't. Every time he tried, he found that his legs were walking him backwards. Raides asked why he was dancing and Harry told her to try...
"Dumbledore say something about this?" she asked after trying to jump into the deep blue-carpeted corridor; she then had an uncontrollable urge to walk back and say, "How dare me," slapping herself with her tail, "only bats, owl, cats, toads, rats or snakes allowed!" She gave up, walking back to Harry who had taken a seat on one of the armchairs, a really squashy black one. "Someone's trying to be funny..." There was a disappointed and sulky twinkle in her eyes. "And I still say they're going to be horrified. What are you going --"
"I'm not staying at Hogwarts, Raides!" Harry snapped, clearly vexed, angrily banging his fists on the armchair and standing up. "They have no right to stop me coming here! I didn't kill anyone!" he squeaked indignantly.
"Didn't you do something like this before when you couldn't go to Hogsmeade because you magically inflated your aunt, ran away from home and didn't get your form signed?" Raides asked calmly and Harry could tell she was waiting to get to a point like she always was when she was talking in a suspicious tone like that.
"But that was different!" Harry lied desperately, knowing she would see through it.
"No it wasn't," said Raides firmly and dismissively, "and besides, the only reason you didn't get in trouble for going to Hogsmeade illegally was because you are 'famous Harry Potter,' wasn't it?" She was eyeing Harry like an angry mother.
"I hate your memory," said Harry bitterly.
"I just have your best interests in mind," Raides assured him, dropping her gaze and instead getting lost in the dazzling fire.
Harry sank into his armchair, keeping quiet. She did have his bests interests in mind, he thought to himself and since he was her master, if something happened to him, she would have to either change masters or... get locked in that book for another ten thousand years. Or far worse, serve Lord Voldemort. As much as he liked her less and less, he would have to stick her out...
"So d'you wanna go back to Torr Lounge then?" Raides suggested -- but she didn't have to.
At that moment, Harry heard Hermione's voice sounding irritated.
"Yes, but, honestly... Harry would never use it like Lord Voldemort has," came her voice ("Don't say the name!" hissed someone he didn't recognize).
"Y'know the story about that chamber Slytherin built in our school, right?" said Ron's voice.
"Of course," said a second voice Harry didn't recognize, "but... no one... in history --"
"Not Harry," said Hermione and Harry, for a split second thought they were talking about Harry being able to possess people.
But he took comfort -- or at least dearly hoped -- that she wouldn't spill that... ?
Harry saw Hermione's hand first which was carrying a small white pamphlet with the title Parseltongues Permeating Our Past and was horrified when he saw the owner of the second voice he didn't recognize.
"So he's really not a Dark wizard?" asked Jeff Uder curiously.
Hermione stepped dead, disgusted Jeff would say something like that and Ron bumped into her.
"Who told you that?" she asked Jeff crossly.
Harry glanced at Raides; she, too, was listening intently.
Jeff looked confused and he stopped walking as well.
"N-no one," he spluttered, "th-that's what everyone here thinks."
Was that why the United States Fire Quidditch team had been so mean? They thought he was a Dark wizard? On a side note, Harry noticed that Jeff looked much more likeable when his clothing didn't resemble Swiss cheese.
"Oh give me a break," said Hermione irritably, shaking her head and starting to walk again.
Raides moved out of the way to avoid being trampled on by Neville Longbottom. Jeff answered Harry's question.
"Really? Well, that's why we were all so horrible to England's team. Our team manager suggested it. I disagreed but, La Grange... By the way, I think you should know she's hated by most everyone in every Hall except Sagtikos and a few in Nicolls -- and Samuel and Lara are on the team. Mike Jacobs is in Jericho, Aidan is in Lodi with me and" -- he went slightly red -- "Zoe is in Bagatelle."
"Right," said Ron in an off-hand voice. "So, what are we doing now?"
Jeff took a seat on an armchair by the postboard. He was staring right through Harry at the fire while Raides eyed him suspiciously.
"Well, it's only just lunchtime and I have to go outside to check up on the Fire Turrets with someone, he's already outside now --"
With one glance at Raides, Harry entered a panic. Could they have possibly have done something at the Fire Turret that would tip someone off? He hoped not, but at that precise moment, someone whose face was very white came running into the common room. He was looking paler than Malfoy. Harry also noticed that most of the students were dressed more like Muggles than wizards. A few students wore cloaks but many were dressed in jeans.
"Jeff," he said, his voice shaking slightly, "you have got to come and see this."
He grabbed Jeff by the arm and ran flat out towards Whitewonder Tower.
"Just great," Harry muttered soundlessly to himself. He would have taken a seat on an armchair but someone would notice so he stayed standing, moving around so no one would walk into him.
"Well, what d'you suppose we do, Ron?" Hermione asked, sitting down on an armchair which was incidentally right next to Harry while Ron sat on one that was next to Raides.
"Lunch isn't for another hour or so," Ron said thoughtfully, "and seeing as how we still don't know our way around this place, we ought to just go upstairs. Maybe send Harry another letter?"
Hermione laughed shortly. "I'm not too sure he'll be interested in hearing how this entire school thinks he's a Dark wizard and that we saw another presentation about him being able to speak Parseltongue and what it means." She bent closer to Ron and Harry leaned closer, too, to listen. "I'd almost like to see what they'd say if they knew he could possess people."
Harry disagreed; he didn't want to know nor did he ever want to think about it.
"Hermione that's insane," said Ron as a few of the people got curious as to why they were talking in hushed voices. Ron leaned back in his chair and spoke normally again. "I wish he was here, though. There's a few graduate students right now in the Bayonne Complex dueling. They're going for their Paladin degrees. I know he'd just love to see it." He leaned in closer again. "What would the harm have been if, you know, Harry --?"
"Lots of harm," Hermione said through gritted teeth, barely moving her lips.
Ron leaned back again as if he had said too much and Hermione was giving him a pair of McGonagall eyes, her lips as thin as the pamphlet in her hand.
"Let's go back upstairs," she said suddenly without the slightest change of expression. Then she dropped her gaze and added, "I want to read that book I took out of the library."
Ron tutted loudly, rising after Hermione and said, shaking his head deeply, "Honestly, Hermione, reading? I think you've read the entire library at Hogwarts but this one is much bigger, you'll have a much harder time. And besides, you're supposed to be on Christmas vacation!"
Harry let out a snigger that was barely audible. He saw Ron's head whip in his direction but then, Ron thinking it was his imagination, continued after Hermione. It was a very close call... That was the corridor Harry and Raides couldn't pass and then he understood; that one most likely led to the dormitories. He really wanted to see them after all he had heard about how superb they were but, remember Ron mentioning the Graduate students in the Bayonne Complex, gave Raides a meaningful nod and set off again.
They crossed Torr Lounge and entered Whitewonder Tower. None of the corridors read Bayonne Complex and he had absolutely no idea where he was going. The only corridors leading out read Taconic Intersect, Greenhouse Complex and Council's Tower. Harry looked at Raides who looked back, shrugged and pointed her scarlet tail at the corridor that lead to the Taconic Intersect.
This was lucky, because a sign in the middle of the small pearly-white marble tower, rising just as high as Whitewonder Tower had a sign in it that said if they went west through the next building then north at the split, they'd end up at the Bayonne Complex.
The fight between two Graduates, one from Jericho the other from Bagatelle, wasn't very fascinating. Harry thought he'd had a much more interesting swordfight when he had gone up against that basilisk. It culminated when one student found a five foot sword sticking out of his chest and his robes were shining a deep crimson.
But the next second, a phoenix shot off a nearby perch and closed his wound while a nearby teacher gave the other student a detention which involved using his broom, but not for flying. He had gone to sweep the Quidditch field which rested on the top floor of Torr Lounge.
It was later that night after Harry had snuck some food out of the Lodi dining hall when Ron and Hermione were sitting alone in the Lodi common room. They were talking to each other about how Whitewonder Tower, Torr Lounge and the Taconic Intersect could have possibly been built.
"Ron, all of them rise up about seven thousand feet," Hermione was saying while giving Ron a madly superior look.
She had settled herself in an armchair after the last student had gone up to bed. Dennis Creevey had been talking to a first year animatedly about some plants they'd seen in the Greenhouse Complex, more specifically one with an eye about the size of his entire head. Hermione was holding a book named Hayden's, A History. Harry recalled a similar book Hermione had been reading at Hogwarts which was called Hogwarts, A History.
"Some of the skyscrapers in New York only rise about three thousand feet. These are twice as tall!" she said, hardly daring to believe it. Harry saw her mouth, slowly, form the words seven thousand four hundred and eighty-two as if the number in the book was incorrect.
"Hermione," said Ron in a droning sort of voice, like Hermione was being stupid, "my house is held up by magic. I doubt they wouldn't have thought of that. I highly doubt any Muggle building is going to be able to go up seven thousand feet and not fall down. It would weigh too much!" he added as if the idea were ludicrous.
There was a silence in which Ron stared at some space to the left of Hermione and Hermione stared through Harry. Should he go for it now? Raides was curled up by the fire. They hadn't made themselves visible so far. For some reason, Harry thought just speaking would cause a right panic. But what choice did he have? Would he just walk in through the corridor, completely visible -- and if someone saw him, get caught and be sent to Azkaban?
With one desperate look at the Order of Merlin plaque hanging from his neck, and truly hoping they wouldn't de-friend him --
"Ron, Hermione," whispered Harry.
Ron went rigid. Hermione dropped the book.
"Did you hear something?" said Ron.
"No," said Hermione stiffly.
"You did hear something," Harry whispered again.
"This is going to be great," said Raides, making no effort to stifle the note of amusement in her voice.
Hermione's head did several one-eighties while she got to her feet and spun her body around several times, looking for Harry.
"Where are you?" she hissed through the crackle of the fire.
"I'm invisible," Harry told her.
"How could you?" she hissed again. "How dare you! What if someone finds you? How? Won't someone notice you're not at Hogwarts?"
"Er -- I've got that covered --"
Hermione opened her mouth in horror but then Ron voiced what Harry had been hoping he would say.
"Oh come off it, Hermione," he said, standing up and not bothering to look around for Harry, though Hermione, who was at least seated by now, was still swiveling her head as though Harry was going to pop out of thin air.
"Come off it?" said Hermione fiercely. "He illegally snuck out of Hogwarts -- out of England! -- and he's -- Harry -- here! What's anyone going to say when they've found out?"
"Look," said Ron in a matter-of-fact tone, "I'm not saying people should regularly smuggle themselves out of a country --"
"You're making me feel bad, Ron," said Harry, who didn't like Ron's use of the word "smuggle."
"-- just to go someplace where they -- but I mean, come on, can't you see it Harry's --"
"No," said Hermione sharply, "I can't! How did you do it, anyway?" she asked Harry, her head still looking around as she picked up her book.
"A spell called Animus Speculum," Harry informed her. "It makes a living, breathing copy of yourself, exactly like you are."
Ron looked somewhat impressed but Hermione didn't.
"Please tell me you didn't," she said, her voice shaking so much that Harry's heart dropped with a thud as loud as the one Hermione's book made again.
"How do you know --" Harry began but Hermione cut him off before he had a chance to finish.
"I read about a bunch of spells from the ancients over the summer, curious to see if I could find out how the Mark of Ancients can basically cast spells for you." Harry had a sudden urge to ask Hermione why she had to be an insuferable know it all but resisted the temptation, though with great difficulty. "Animus Speculum was banned a long, long time ago, Harry, because it was so easily abused. It was decided that anyone caught using it when it was banned was immediately sentenced to death. They wanted the spell forgotten and all books with it destroyed! It is forbidden magic and I'm very sure it's along the lines of how possibly dangerous that magic Raides is capable of! How did you find it?"
Harry blinked.
"I didn't find it," he said hotly but then he felt sweat breaking out over his forehead and his tone became much less angry and a lot more fearful, "I held out Raides, thought about what I wanted and the words for it just -- just came out of my mouth."
"He's here, Hermione," Ron interrupted quickly. "What's the point?"
"What's the point?" Hermione repeated squeakily. "What's the point? Harry's going to be sentenced to death, Ron -- death! -- once someone finds out what he's done!"
Harry felt like disappearing back on Privet Drive again, locked up in his bedroom on the second floor with nothing but Hedwig and no spellbooks, no wand, no robes -- but remembered it was all pointless because, well, he didn't want to remember why.
He tried to come to his senses. He didn't want to go back to Hogwarts while the entire school, save three students, were across the planet but he didn't want to die, either... !
"H-how's anyone going to find out?" he asked cautiously. Ron, looking hopeful, turned to Hermione.
"Can anyone find out?" Ron asked. "I mean, if it's an exact copy..."
"And we're connected by Foresight," said Harry hastily. "If anything goes wrong, and, well, he does everything exactly like I do."
"That would be because he -- IS you," said Hermione reprovingly though she was slightly less angry and seemed to be casting her mind around for ways to catch the spell in action.
Even if she highly disapproved of Harry smuggling himself out of Hogwarts -- as Ron so unkindly put it -- the look on Ron's face of utter pity which, for once, Harry didn't mind, seemed to hit a soft spot in her.
"It takes a near-perfectly trained wizard," said Hermione after a terrible silence, taking a deep breath in a I'm-trying-to-calm-myself-down-but-having-a-hard-time-of-it sort of way. "Not even Dumbledore can detect it. There's a way to tell if something is enchanted or not and, while your clone is enchanted, the real you isn't. How could you, Harry!" ended Hermione on a shriek, standing up and looking downright furious again.
Harry pretended like he wasn't in the room, letting Ron and Hermione duke it out.
"Hermione, it's not going to do him any good to sit in Hogwarts. Can't you see it his way?" Ron asked again.
"No, Ron, I can't," Hermione said again, more seriously than last time. "What's he going to do while he's here? We can't get him a Lodi Charm, they're regulated by the Dormitory Hall staff and somehow I don't think they're going to agree to it even IF this entire school wants to meet him!" she hissed.
The problem was what Raides had been telling Harry, that being they would be slightly horrified. Harry himself had to think long and hard about this one. While Ron and Hermione continued arguing, Harry disappeared in the middle of it, thinking they wouldn't miss him anyway. It looked like he had two options and neither were very appealing: stay at Hogwarts and be miserable while everyone was in New York, or stay in New York and be miserable because he couldn't do much of anything.
Harry, wandering somewhere around the Camden Library on the one hundred and thirty-third floor, decided on option number two. It was Christmas, after all, and he didn't expect much in the way of presents anyway. And besides, if he got anything interesting, he would have wanted to tell his clone, so his clone would want to tell him, right?
Harry had wandered around the entire school and by dinner, was dead on his feet and really hungry. He had managed to follow Crabbe and Goyle from the upper floors of the Moonstone Complex all the way to the Sagtikos Dining Hall. The rest was Raides' idea.
If they made the food invisible, they could see it, but no one else could, which was perfect. Stealing some pudding, a goblet of pumpkin juice and a huge steak off a table no one was sitting at and hoping no one noticed it disappearing, he and Raides went to the upper floors of Torr Lounge to the main dining hall which was devoid of anyone except what were probably some teachers. Among them was Dumbledore and Harry went as white as his plate when he noticed this. But Dumbledore, who Harry knew could see right through invisibility cloaks, seemed to not notice him.
"He can't see through this, can he?" a worried Harry asked a very calm Raides, referring to the Invisibility Charm that he had still not yet removed.
"Doesn't look like it, now, does it? You might have noticed that some spells act differently when you cast them with me, you know," Raides reminded him.
"What d'you suppose we do later? I mean, we have the entire Christmas vacation to spend here..."
"Go spy on night classes? Better yet, where are we going to sleep? I daresay you don't want to sleep under the stars -- er -- rocks."
"Go back to Hogwarts? What if I get splinched, though... Halfway across the planet, that's pretty far even for you."
"Could always just possess Crabbe and --"
"No," said Harry flatly.
"But, they --"
"No."
There was a disappointed droop to Raides' tail.
Instead of using plates, Harry decided on just making their dinner float. The two of them ate in silence and when they were finished -- or rather when Harry had finished eating and Raides wanted more -- he gave his leftovers to her. With one last worried glance at Dumbledore, Harry, not knowing where to go or what to do, decided on following Raides. Not knowing herself where to go, she wandered back to the Lodi common room where Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Craig, Jeff and Parvati Patil were all talking.
"Yeah," Jeff was saying, "Lodi Hall is the biggest of all five of them. Rises up just over the size of Whitewonder Tower, about seven thousand seven hundred and two feet. All of the dormitory halls have their own dining hall but you already know that. They also all have a guest wing, built just a few years ago. You're allowed into it if you hold onto the hands -- or shoulders, whatever -- of two people who've got that Hall's Charm but you have to be holding on until you reach it."
Harry noticed Ron's head casually swiveling around as if they were going to find him there but noticed that Hermione did no such thing, rather she was giving Ron a subtle cold look as if she didn't want him to do it for Harry.
"It's a lot bigger than the next tallest one, Bagatelle, by almost two thousand feet," Jeff continued while Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Parvati were listening very attentatively. "It touches the sky of Nightfall's Crescent. Don't know why it's so big, though. It was only built like two hundred years ago. Well, I guess... The school is really old, about four hundred years."
Hermione and Parvati snorted.
"Hogwarts is over one thousand," Hermione told Jeff haughtily, a superior sort of look on her face.
Harry suspected Jeff to take this as an insult but he did no such thing. Instead, he made Hermione jump into the story of how Hogwarts was founded. Hermione, as expected, coughed up Hogwarts, A History and Harry left her to it after about an hour. He went with Raides and took to wandering the corridors again.
After an hour's worth of wandering -- and making himself hover a foot above the ground because his feet hurt -- Harry suddenly saw all the torches for as far as he could see go out. A voice echoed magically through the corridors.
"After hours!" it said. "All students return to your dormitory hall. Lights out at one A.M.! New students -- and those of you forget -- the word is 'Lumos!'"
"Can't see a damn thing," said Raides, pointing out the obvious. "Make a fireball with your bracelet or something. Or conjure that big dragon made of light."
"So anyone can come by and find out someone's sneaking around invisible?" Harry snapped. "And I'm not using my wand to do it, either. As dim as it is, who knows what they have sneaking around here."
"Do this sort of thing a lot, don't you? You have a good mind for not getting caught," said Raides, grinning.
This made Harry feel uncomfortable again but he didn't say anything. He was going to have to either Disapparate to Knockturn Alley and buy a Hand of Glory or use some other source of light and risk getting caught. Between a splinch and Azkaban, he'd take a splinch; he'd have to take his chances at Disapparating again. But what was he so worried about? If Raides couldn't Disapparate that far, who -- or what -- could?
To his great surprise, upon entering Lodi Hall, Ron and Hermione were sitting, alone. He didn't want to ask them to let him into the Lodi Guest Room, expecting Hermione to flat out refuse, citing that he shouldn't be there to begin with. When he began to tell them he was going back to Hogwarts to spend the night, Hermione cut in.
"We've been talking," she said, "and we've come to our own decision."
Puzzled, Harry stayed silent.
"Hermione still hates the idea," said Ron, grinning at her in his squashy armchair, "but I talked her into it. For a long time after we realized you left, she --"
"She wanted you to go -- straight -- back -- to Hogwarts," said Hermione in a would-be sharp tone except it was a bad impression of her own self. "I still don't like it, mind you," she said her eyes darting around the room for a sign of Harry, "but I've come to accept it, however grudgingly."
"That and she can see that Fudge had no right in stopping you from coming here --"
"That still doesn't make it right, Ron," Hermione snapped, staring coldly at him. "If he's not allowed to be here, he's not allowed to be here and he shouldn't."
"Are you two finished yet?" said Harry, shaking his head and wishing he could let them see without risking getting caught. "I'm quite tired..."
"We're gonna let you into the Lodi Guest Hall," said Ron. "We've been to see it. These dormitories are sure bigger than the ones at Hogwarts but, well, you'll see for yourself."
And, grabbing onto Ron's left hand and Hermione's right while Raides wrapped her tail around Hermione's left and Ron grabbed onto her right ear, the party of four looking like bad entrants in a ten-legged race awkwardly walked across the deep-blue carpeted corridor. At the end was a Gate which, by some method Harry didn't know, brought them to the upper floors instantly. The second floor, Harry knew, was the dining hall; Crabbe and Goyle had said that the second floor of every Hall was for eating but you could get to the dining hall from another corridor, one that didn't make you walk back. But he still couldn't get to the upper floors of Sagtikos Hall.
They had risen up many, many more feet than Harry was comfortable with to reach the really large Lodi Guest Hall. White sparkles formed into words floated ten feet above him telling him this was it. In fact, all the Lodi Guest Hall was was the upper five floors of Lodi Hall, two hundred and twenty to two hundred twenty-five.
There was a sign telling him that if he went below the two hundred and twentieth floor, he'd find himself taking the Gate back down to the common room.
"It works by thought," Hermione explained. "Just think of where you want to go and the Gate will put you on that floor when you walk into it. Even Neville doesn't have any trouble. And these are exactly like the other floors so we don't have anything in our room you don't have up here."
"Except if you count the fact that you're probably more likely to get a nosebleed," said Ron. "But they have a Charm for that, too."
"What don't they have a Charm for?" Harry asked.
"I'm not sure, exactly," Hermione told him, "I've been asking."
"I'm sure," said Harry in an off-hand voice. "Look," he went on gratefully, and then he paused before finishing lamely with just "thanks."
"Don't mention it," said Hermione. "I'd tell you what to do if you need anything but if you go below the two hundred and twentieth floor... You won't need to, though. Well, good night." She made a motion with her hand as if to wave but didn't know where Harry was since after he let go of her hand and gave up.
Holding hands, she and Ron and left.
Harry took a minute to look around him and was in awe. Raides was drooling on the deep-blue carpet.
The room was circular, reminding him of his dormitory at Hogwarts but that's where the similarities stopped. There was a round wooden something running down the center of the room, from ceiling to floor, where there was a sky light above each bed, all six of them. It would have been fascinating, except all he could see was a few feet before his eyes met the rocky ceiling of the underground. The beds were four-posters, very similar to the ones at Hogwarts except that their hangings were of a deep blue and the sheets a deep gold.
The walls of the room were made of a homey rosewood and the wooden thing in the center, about three feet wide, had a black postboard wrapped around it with no notes on it. A fire blazed at the bottom of this thing in a very strange looking circular fireplace, if it could be called that.
There were two bathrooms, Harry saw (which was a nice departure from having to walk far to get to one at Hogwarts), one directly opposite the other. Each bed had two night tables, one on either side and there would have been room to fit his clothing in a dresser, one floating eerily above each bed.
He would have gone to look inside one of them but his eyes met a part of the floor that circled the entire room, letting him see down, all seven thousand feet and felt his heart stop. There was nothing scary, it was just that he didn't want to have such a reminder that he was so high up.
For a moment, he decided on how he should sleep. If he was to just sleep normally, someone would notice a great big lump lying in one of the beds and that was certain to raise questions. But then he had to ask, why was he worried about that? It wasn't as if anyone at Hogwarts ever invaded the dormitories to make announcements and the house-elves, if there were any here, always came when the students were in classes and there was no one -- or at least there wasn't supposed to be anyone -- in here, so they wouldn't even need to.
And so dropping the thought of having to float in midair, he took a deep breath and put his Order of Merlin necklace and Phoenix Bracelet on the nearest bedside table then lifted his glasses up to rub his heavy eyes. Looking around for Raides, Harry saw that she had already hoisted herself up on the one next to him and was looking ready for a good night's sleep.
The deep-blue sheets raised into the air as Harry's invisible hand moved them so he could get in. Lying there, his eyes wandering around the absolutely-huge-for-just-six-beds circular room, he felt slightly guilty. He had snuck out of Hogwarts to be in, not just a different part of England, but on a completely different continent. But a little voice in the back of his head, like it kept doing, yelled that Fudge had no right to keep Harry from coming here! Didn't he?
"Raides," Harry called through the darkness and a soft growl told him Raides was listening, "can you see it Fudge's way?"
"You're not going to stop thinking about that until someone gives you their opinion, are you?" she said in a monotone, slightly annoyed voice.
"No," said Harry, "not really."
"I don't think you can blame him," she said truthfully. "It does look pretty suspicious --"
"Do they really think I meant to kill anyone?" Harry interrupted desperately.
"Did you?"
"Oh shut up," said Harry, scowling and throwing the covers over himself.
"Everyone knows you hate both Dudley and Lucius. It just looked real bad. You need Sirius or someone to die so they can't pin it on you," she said and Harry was horrified, as usual, to see that she was smiling.
"How can you say that?"
"Well it would help, wouldn't it?"
Harry's answer came in a stammer of rage.
"Yes, but -- still, I don't -- can't possibly -- just don't say that," he said when he could stop talking in fragments.
"But still, great way you found out to get us in here without anyone noticing. Couldn't have found something better myself."
Harry was going to reply but the last bit made him stay silent. There she went again, making him feel guilty; she certainly had a knack for doing that, Harry thought.
Raides seemed to be waiting for him to say something because after a moment's pause, she said, "Harry? Still awake?"
And still, Harry stayed silent. He took off his glasses and put them on the other night table while his stomach gave a guilty squirm. Should he have? He didn't know what to think anymore and it was perhaps all this uncertainty that gave him that weird dream.
Harry was trying to watch television in the Dursley living room but he found that he couldn't because someone was muttering non-stop very fast in his ear.
"Pain is everywhere, it surrounds us as a false fantasy of friends and jokes but slowly draws us in further and further towards what we thought were our friends but turn out to be what we hate and it can also smudge our thoughts, shatter our reason and tear apart those dreams that we were hoping for but you can't let it get to you because it's this that it wants, it wants you to stop trying, to just give up, to just simply go and die and you can't do that because you're stronger than that, you have to try and if you don't, the pain will have succeeded and it's then that you really have died, died on the inside and it will spread, possibly to your friends who will hopelessly watch you lie there, twitching until you're dead."