Chapter 2
"Go! Go!" The three stumbled after one another trying their quickest to get away. Behind them they could hear the feisty yells of the librarian making sure they knew that not only their transgressions but that when she caught them, their punishment would be swift.
Ben pushed Laertes, who ran into Faux. "Hey watch it!" He whispered grumpily turning his head to look at them.
"Sorry" Ben mouthed, Faux shrugged, accepting his apology. Ben smiled and went to really say something…
"There you hooligans are!" Pince yelled pointing at them with her wand. The boys gasped and broke out into another run.
Turning around weaving between shelves they finally found themselves facing an inside wall lined with books. They stopped to gasp for breath. "Do you think we've lost her?" Faux wheezed.
"I think so…" Ben replied, bending over, resting his hands on his knees.
"Did either of you see what happened to Gwyn and Tyler?" Laertes asked starting to lean against the bookshelf.
"N—" Just as Ben was replying the wall and entire shelf fell backwards causing Laertes to jump away in surprise. "What the—" The three boys looked into the empty space curiously.
Faux turned to them and smirked, "up for a real adventure?" He asked. Ben and Laertes looked at one another before turning back to their friend and nodded.
"I'll find you boys!" They suddenly heard and Laertes looked at them pointedly.
"Don't have any choice now…" He smiled and they smiled right back before walking into the black void.
Expecting solid ground they all let out a surprised gasp as they fell straight down, the shelf door closing behind them.
It was completely dark; the three pushed each other until they each had their own small area of personal space. Laertes dusted himself off and squinted in the dark trying to see his two friends.
"Everyone alright?" Faux's voice ran out to Laertes' left.
"Yah…" They both answered him, Ben coming from slightly in front of him. He heard Ben walk a bit forward and then trip over something. "Ow!" Ben yelled. There was silence then for a moment and Laertes took a step forward worried. "Hey!" Ben's voice rang, "there's steps!"
"What?" Faux's voice asked, also slightly ahead of where he'd last been.
"Steps! Right here."
"Hey, he's right! There are stairs here! Let's go, come on Laertes!"
Laertes bit the inside of his cheek, scanning the darkness. "Come on Lare!" Ben's voice called out. Laertes looked up at the doorway they'd come through, a slight ring of light around it. He couldn't go back out that way, and they did need to find Tyler and Gwyn.
"Yah, alright, I'm coming. He said pleasantly, walking foreword. Suddenly he heard running and stopped quickly on the first step. "Guys?" Laertes voice was slightly shaky.
"What?" Faux called then steps were heard coming toward him.
Laertes groped in the dark air for his friend; finding his arm he clung tightly. "Where's Ben?"
"Here!" He said and Laertes felt him grab the sleeve of his robe. "You know this would be so much easier if we knew that one spell…"
Laertes looked at the blank spot he assumed Ben was at, "no…what spell?"
"I think he's talking about 'lumos'." Suddenly a very short burst of light lit up their pale faces, but just as suddenly it was gone. Laertes faced where he'd just seen Faux's face.
"Did you do that?"
"Yea…" Faux sounded slightly embarrassed. "Wish it would've lasted longer."
"No, that was great!" Laertes said excitedly.
"Yah! Try again!" Ben replied, Laertes felt his hand clench tighter around his sleeve.
"Alright… Lumos!" He said authoritatively. Again light filled the stairwell but again it went out. "I'm—I'm sorry guys…Gwyn would—"
"No, you're doing fine. Try again! Come on Faux…"
"Yea! Me mum says that's its all about concentration…"
"Okay…" Laertes heard his friend take a deep breath. " Lumos!" He nearly yelled. The light exploded in the dark air again and Laertes saw that Faux had his eyes tightly closed a look of pure concentration on his face. The two of them waited with baited breath for it to go out. Seconds ticked by, it flickered but didn't go out; slowly Laertes let go of Faux's arm and patted him on the shoulder.
Eyes opening Laertes smiled brightly at him and almost immediately, realizing he could see, Faux smiled back. "I did it!"
"You did!"
"Now let's go!" Ben finished. The two boys nodded at one another and the three began to head up the stairs.
They walked for a long time in complete silence. Their faces were pale and flickering in the untamed wand light. They seemed to go on forever, just stone walls and stone steps; the only sound their own nervous breathing.
As Laertes' glanced between his two friends an odd thought ignited in his brain. "Hey guys?" He said stopping on the steps. They turned to him looking down with curious expressions. "Don't you think the librarian ought to know about this?" He tried to sound nonchalant but the idea frightened him.
Apparently it did for Faux and Ben as well. They looked at one another nervously before turning to Laertes again.
"Do you think we should run for it?" Faux asked anxiously under his breath. Ben had already tensed his body as if he were about too.
Laertes shot out a hand, "no, no. For one we don't even know where this leads to and two she might not be. Following us." He whispered stepping up the couple of steps between him and his friends. "Shhh…" he put a finger to his lips and they both stared at him seeming to even hold their breaths.
They seemed to stand there in absolute silence waiting for any sort of noise telling that she had followed them. None came.
Finally Laertes lowered his finger and exhaled. "I don't think she followed us."
"Maybe she really didn't know about this passageway?" Ben said knowingly, and yet still questioning. Laertes highly doubted she didn't but didn't say anything, instead he just shrugged.
"Well then!" Faux suddenly burst out as if they'd some how beaten the librarian even though they'd only stood in the flickering light, pale as ghost, sick with nerves; still he had a look of achievement and relief. "Let's get moving then!"
Laertes chuckled tensely glancing at his friend. Faux ignored them both and immediately began heading up the steps leading the way with his light. Ben rolled his eyes and quickly began following.
Watching their retreating backs for a moment; biting his cheek again he slowly began following them; somehow feeling that this was going to lead to an unpleasant situation.
Catching up to them, he walked quietly behind watching their flickering silhouettes. The two talked quietly, not quite leaving Laertes out, but at the same time, not really able to include him.
"So your Uncle Harry is the Harry Potter?"
"Yea, like I said Sirius, my cousin, is his son."
"Me da tells me all the time that he was in his year at Hogwarts."
"Wow. My mum and dad both were, best mates too. They prolly were in the same room. They'll die when they find out we've met."
"Is it true they killed You-know-who?"
"Lord Voldemort?"
Ben nodded.
"Yea, I guess…they don't really talk about it."
"Oh…" Ben seemed disappointed as if he'd hoped to hear some gory battle story. Laertes was dying to ask who Lord Voldemort was and why he was defeated but he was too embarrassed and they finally reached the end of the long staircase.
Faux and Ben stopped at the door staring for a long moment before both of them moved down to the same step as Laertes. There the three looked at one another with apprehension. As excited as they had been at the start, finally reaching the unknown end was entirely different.
"So, uh…who wants to go first?" Ben asked as he nervously played with the edge of his sleeve.
Laertes looked at Faux; he was pale and beads of sweat were clinging to his red brow. Swallowing his complete uneasiness he stepped up; "I'll do it."
He saw out of the corner of his eye the two glance at him as he reached for the handle. Laertes turned it but before opening the door he looked at his two pale friends. "I'll let you know if the coast is clear. No need for us all to get in trouble, yeah?"
Faux gave a weak smile and nodded. Feeling slightly heartened Laertes turned back to the door; with a deep breath he opened it.
The consistent bright light hurt his eyes and he quickly squinted against the streaming sunlight. Stepping further into the room, he left the door stand open just slightly so he could see Faux and Ben then he took in his new surroundings.
He knew it wasn't a classroom, but beyond that he had no idea where he was. There was a table, some chairs, something like a love seat, and a large wardrobe. No one was in the room with him so he turned to the propped door and just as he was about to gesture them in, from behind him came: "Hello Mr. Flaunting."
With a fearful expression he mouthed 'go' to his friends and making sure their faces disappeared he slowly turned around to the person behind him.