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Chapter 9: Rooms
Alice was dumbfounded. She didn't know what to do or what to say. As she surveyed all the doors wordlesly, she became very frustrated that she and Jeff had allowed those boys to drag both of them into a trap like this. But she supposed, since they were here, she might as well try her hardest to help them get out this labyrinth.
"Which door should we try?" she asked Jeff.
He looked quizzically around the room, at the fifteen or so doors. "Well, I doubt the right one is behind us," he said. "Come on, let's try the one directly across from us."
Alice walked toward it and frowned. "How are we going to remember we've been in this room?" she asked. "This whole room is a square, and there are four doors on each wall." She looked behind her. "Except for that wall, because we can't go back out the way we came."
Jeff frowned. "Well, it is the second door from its wall At least that tells us something."
"What if the room spins again?"
"That's a fair point." Jeff ran his hand through his streaked hair in concentration. "Well, let's just try it and see what we find," he said at last. "If nothing else, it will give us some idea of what to expect behind other doors."
The two Gryffindors walked through the door. It was illuminated by a brilliant chandelier and had a pretty patterned floor. "Hey, look, a trapdoor!" cried Jeff excitedly, pointing.
Alice looked at it. "But Jeff, that can't be right," she said. "We don't want to go down into the dungeons. And see, there's a door there."
"What if it's a dead end?" asked Jeff.
"What if it's not?" asked Alice. "What if the trap door leads to a dead end?"
"Or what if," said Jeff, suddenly having an epiphany, "there's not one single door that leads out of the maze? What if there are several that lead to locations all over the castle?"
Alice had to admit, that sounded amazing, and if they had time to explore the maze that might prove quite useful. However, now was not the time for adventure. Now was the time to get out of this maze as quickly as possible and try to make it to Professor McGonagall's class.
"Well, if that's the case," she said, "we'd better hope that we can find one of them, and quickly."
With that, she marched toward the door and opened it. But Jeff was right; it was a dead end. Alice started to turn around, but Jeff said, "Wait. I want to try something."
He walked around the room, feeling the wall. He must have found what he was looking for, because suddenly his face lit up with triumph. "Yep, you can walk through this wall. Come on, Wallace."
They walked through the accessible part of the wall and Alice closed her eyes and re-open them to make sure what she saw was truly there.
She and Jeff were standing outside somewhere, in a beautiful meadow. The sun was shining brilliantly, and she could see a beautiful brook with a waterfall just a little distance away. Alice looked behind her and saw that the wall from which they had just emerged had vanished. Then she looked at Jeff, to see that he was searching around the meadow in confusion.
Alice started to walk toward the brook in curiosity-and let out a shriek as she ran headlong into an invisible wall.
Jeff hurried over to where she stood, winded. "Are you all right?" he asked. He felt the unseen wall in amazement. "Brilliant," he said.
Alice looked around the meadow, which must actually be a room. Getting out was going to be a bit of a challenge, but one they could manage. "All right, let's feel along the wall," she suggested. "Perhaps we'll find a way out."
They felt along the wall until Alice's hand grasped an invisible doorhandle. She grabbed it and pulled the door open. Once open, the door became visible, and they could glimpse the next room: a room full of doors.
At this point, Alice slumped against the wall. "This is ridiculous," she said. "What if this maze goes on forever and there's no way out?" Tears began to form.
"That's rubbish," said Jeff. "This is the whole point of mazes, Wallace: to present a challenge that people have to overcome in order to find a way out. Think of it like Frodo in Lord of the Rings. He never gave up, and he was finally able to destroy the ring."
Alice gave him a half-smile, trying not to entirely lose her composure. "That's true, I guess," she said. "But which door should we pick?"
Jeff scrutinized the different doors. "We'll start on the one directly to the left," he said at last. "That way, if it's a dead end, we can proceed to the door directly on the left and continue that way."
They opened the door, and had to climb up a flight of stairs to reach the next room. This room was a huge closet. Alice saw clothes of all kinds; men's and women's work, play, and dress robes. There was a rack of hats, and along one wall a mountain of shoes. "Wow," she said. "If the girls in my dorm could see this room they would freak."
Jeff laughed. Then he became solemn. "Well, do you see any way out of this room?"
Alice squeezed through several layers of cloaks and spotted a door. "Yes, through here," she called. Jeff found her. Alice sighed as she opened the door and spotted, to her dismay, three more doors to choose from. Jeff wordlessly led her into the first room that looked like a simple classroom and that had no visible way out other than the way they had entered. They felt along the wall, but were finally resigned to the fact that this was a dead end.
The second room was similar to the first. However, Jeff and Alice were pleasantly surprised when a ghost, namely Nearly-Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, glided in through a wall. He grabbed his head so that it would not come off of his head in his surprise.
"Why, hello," he said. "I am not accustomed to seeing young students in this part of the castle often. Particularly not on the first day of school."
"Nick!" cried Jeff. "I don't know if you remember me from the feast last night, but I'm a new Gryffindor. Do you think you could help us out of here so we can get to class?"
Nick pondered their request, and replied, "Well, children, I regret to tell you that the existence of a ghost differs greatly from a mortal in even the most basic ways. I could certainly find my own way out of this maze by floating through the walls. But I'm afraid I do not know how to get around this maze by using the doors."
Jeff's face fell, and Alice was sure hers probably had too. She had been hoping that Sir Nicholas would be able to help them. However, Jeff and she thanked him all the same and returned to the previous room to try the third door.
This room was different. It had an elegent mahogany desk on which sat an ancient book that must have been written in an obsolete version of English. Along one wall was a bookshelf lined with many different books that looked very old yet must have served their purposes at one time. The other walls were lined with several portriats.
In one of them, a kind-looking older woman was sitting in a quaint chair surrounded by magical plants. "Oh! You are students at Hogwarts, are you not?" she asked, not unkindly.
"Yes," they replied together.
At this, the woman's face softened, and she said, "Poor dears. Students have been known to become trapped in this maze for days without finding a way out. I am Helga Hufflepuff, by the way."
Alice looked at the portrait in amazement. This was Helga Hufflepuff?! She had never imagined getting the opportunity to speak with someone so legendary, even in portrait form.
"It's a pleasure meeting you, Professor Hufflepuff," she said.
"The pleasure is all mine," replied the Founder kindly.
"What is this place?" asked Jeff, quite randomly in Alice's opinion.
The woman smiled. "Well, this room is my office," she said. "It has not been put to any use for hundreds of years." Alice wondered if the woman was going to elaborate on the maze or this room any more, but she left the explanation there. When Alice and Jeff said nothing else, she said, "Now, do I assume correctly that you would like me to tell you how to exit this maze?"
"Yes," Jeff and Alice said together once more.
"Just behind that curtain over there, what looks like a window is actually a door. Walk through it, and you should appear on the sixth floor in the main castle."
The children thanked her profusely and walked through the door that looked like a solid window, just as Helga Hufflepuff had directed. Alice breathed a sigh of relief when she realized that they were, indeed, back in the main part of Hogwarts.
"Where is everyone?" she asked when she saw that the corridor was empty.
Jeff looked at his watch. "Probably at dinner," he said as Alice's stomach growled.
She groaned. "I'm going to kill those Marauders," she proclaimed in dismay. "Now we have to find the Great Hall."