this story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Word Count: 1753
Title: Behind The Door
Note: The fireworks comes from the music video about the song Fireworks
Warnings: hallucinations
Beta: MournfulSeverity
International Wizarding School Competition:
[School]: Ivernmony
[Year] 1
[Prompts]:
[First Line] 'This was not a good idea. In fact, it was possibly their worst idea yet.'
[Emotion] Fear
[Quote] "It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up" - V Lombardi
[Theme]: Artefact Incidents- This round you will be looking at Magical Artefacts and how they are used or can affect the user or the victim.
Hogwarts
Assignment 3: Culinary Arts: Pasta: Task #9 - Penne: Write about a secret passage/door
Yearly:
Prompt 455 [Platonic Relationship] Marauders
[60] Coward
This was not a good idea. In fact, it was possibly their worst idea yet. Of course they wanted to find the secret of the door; their curiosity wouldn't allow them to just walk away.
They had been up and down the east side of the castle on the seventh floor, this was the only curious thing they spotted. A thrill of adrenaline ran through Sirius, they had found the door. But what lay behind it? His curiosity threatened to overwhelm him.
"We must find a way inside," Sirius said eagerly.
"But, Professor Dumbledore said—" Peter argued, he was stuttering violently, and he was standing as far away from the door as he could. "You said it was just about finding whatever curious object the teachers wanted to hide from us, why do you think Professor Dumbledore would have insisted everyone stay away from here? We really shouldn't go inside there."
Dumbledore's words rang through his ears, but he couldn't hear them over the pounding of his heart. "The area is strictly forbidden, to anyone who doesn't wish to die a most painful death…"
"Don't be a coward, Wormtail," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "I'm sure it was an exaggeration."
"He has a point, you know," Remus replied reluctantly, agreeing with Peter's assessment that they should leave the door alone.
"Come on, Moony," Sirius said.
He knew he would be able to convince them all eventually, and that after their fight blew over they would end up seeing it his way in the end after all.
"James wants to see it, don't you James?" he turned to their unofficial leader.
"It does look very interesting," James admitted, his eyes transfixed on the door. The announcement that morning over breakfast that they needed to stay clear of the seventh floor on the east side, just made them all the more eager to find out what the teachers had discovered.
Of course, they used the excuse that their map needed to be completed, and it wouldn't be perfect without knowing what lay behind the door. It could be a passageway somewhere, a secret hidden in the heart of the castle, a room bursting with magic. The possibilities were endless.
"I do suggest we find out more," Remus said, "None of the spells are working."
Sirius nodded in agreement, as soon as all his friends were on-board, he was fine with letting the door wait patiently for them to figure out its secrets.
It took them weeks before they managed to open the door. The door had resisted their magic, the spells they had cast at it dying uselessly against the wood. Once, Sirius had been tempted to beat the door down with his fists. Sirius was shivering with anticipation of what was about to happen. As James spoke the incantation and the door swung open, a strange fear overcame Sirius, freezing his insides.
They couldn't see anything, it was pitch-black, and even when Sirius muttered "Lumos," no light penetrated the darkness of the room.
"Sirius, we shouldn't go in there," Peter argued fiercely, it was clear from the look on his face something was frightening him. Sirius ignored him, and walked towards the open doorway eagerly, curious to explore the other side.
"Come on," Sirius said, looking at the rest of his friends with disbelief. "We didn't go through all this for nothing."
"I'm in," James said, steeling himself. The other two knew they had no choice in the matter, either go in with them, or let them go alone, and although Sirius knew Remus would never admit it, both Remus and James were surely curious about the mysterious door as well.
As they stepped through the door, suddenly there was light, and Sirius saw they were on a field of pansies, and the sky overhead looked clear. "How did we get outside? Where are we?" Sirius asked, but no response came.
Sirius looked around, seeing nobody around him. He was all alone. Where did his friends go? And where was he? The air was icy cold, and he felt himself shivering although the sun was bright. He imagined seeing Remus, and suddenly the figure of his friend appeared before his eyes.
"Oh thank goodness!" Sirius said relieved. "I thought I was alone."
"Stupid Sirius," the voice of his friend said. "You are alone."
"But, Remus," he attempted, trying to touch Remus's arm; Sirius's hand went right through him. It was simply an illusion conjured by his mind to taunt him. Sirius swung around, trying to see the open door, but it seemed to have disappeared, there was no way out of this place. He ran, feeling desperation inside him, a guilt as well as the freezing cold although there was no breeze to speak off.
Suddenly, he stopped, he seemed to be looking into his reflection, reaching out, it seemed like his hands hit glass. "What is this?" he spoke, watching the mouth of his reflection imitate him.
At least there were no ghosts of his friends here, and although the guilt and fear for them was threatening to overwhelm him, he was glad they weren't here, if they weren't with him, perhaps they were okay. The glass seemed to be going up to the ceiling, and he pressed his nose against it, trying to see if there was anything on the other side.
When he spotted another pane of glass, his fear grew, and he realised that it held James. The landscape surrounding James wasn't akin to his own; James had snowy hills and a storm painting the area white.
"James!" Sirius tried to cry out, but James couldn't hear him, he didn't even seem to realise he was there at all.
It seemed like reality and fantasy had blurred, and he wasn't sure what was real anymore. Perhaps this was merely a dream that he would wake from and they would all be back in the Gryffindor dormitories.
He felt a light exploding from within himself; the fireworks that had come from inside him lit the sky. At least, it appeared to be the sky, but when the fireworks ricocheted amongst the clouds, seeming to hit a glass dome above him, he realised he was enclosed in glass. It appeared to be a glass dome, and Sirius started walking to the other side, merely puzzled by the sudden explosion from within him.
It felt like years had passed before he reached the other end. "Oh come on Sirius," he heard the voice of Peter. He swirled around, yet saw nobody.
"You know this is all your fault, and now we are trapped in here, forever, and there is nothing you can do about it," Peter seemed to say.
"No! It wasn't like that! I didn't mean to," Sirius said, and he stopped short. "I'm talking to myself again."
"Now we are trapped in a giant snow globe," Peter's image spoke.
"A what?" Sirius said, looking around, it appeared to be the case. Nothing was real- it was all fake, even the grass felt like plastic when he took off his shoes and felt it beneath his feet. No wonder the sun didn't give any heat, and he shivered again as another cold chill went through him.
He wondered if that image was really James, but judging from the change in mannerisms between his hallucinations and the one behind the glass, he suspected it was. He looked around again, and Peter had disappeared, replaced with another James.
"I don't blame you for this, you know," he said, and Sirius felt an odd peace although he knew it wasn't real. He knew his friend would forgive him, they all would. If they ever escaped this place.
Sirius walked around aimlessly, searching for the missing door, the door that brought him here. There had to be a way out, there simply had to. Sirius tried transforming into his animagus form, yet all that happened was random sparks coming from his chest.
"Bugger," Sirius said. Clearly something was preventing any magic; he didn't even manage to conjure a patronus.
"I wish Remus was here," he muttered, flopping down onto the fake grass. "He would know what to do."
"I think you do too," a voice spoke, it sounded familiar to him, and he was met with his own image.
"Now I really am talking to myself," Sirius muttered sarcastically. "At least I won't judge myself."
"You judge yourself worst of all," his reflection spoke. "Isn't that why you push your friends? You want them to be like you. You need the reassurance of your own ideas, but you've always known what's to do, what's possible." The voice of his own image spoke.
"I don't understand." Sirius said. His reflection had been more judgemental than helpful.
There was a pause, as if his reflection was waiting for him to figure it out on his own. He didn't.
*Sometimes it's magic that can't be harnessed by a wand, but one within our soul."
Sirius tumbled through his own memories, landing on one from when he was just a young boy, of when he had cast magic for the first time, the glee in his family that was now so distant.
And that was what he wanted. He wanted the brother back that he had known, before he had been swallowed by the dark. He wanted parents that supported him, that loved him.
"I want to go home," Sirius choked, closing his eyes
He was answered by silence, by the disappearing of the grass beneath him and the sky above. Suddenly, he felt stone pressing through his robes, a place that was marginally warmer. When he opened his eyes, his friends stood in front of him once again. They were the home he had been given when his family — his blood — could not.
"Blimey, Sirius." Peter spoke, offering a hand to help him up. "You were only gone for a second, but you look as if you might cry."
Sirius accepted the hand, standing once more, but he shook his head. He didn't want to talk about what he had seen, what images had plagued him and said only "you were right. Let's go back."
Peter nodded his head and James looked at him with wondering eyes, but none of the Marauders said a word. Instead, they walked back to Gryffindor tower, where it was safe, and silently vowed that they would never ignore Dumbledore's words again. At least, that is, until the next exciting opportunity presented itself.