Ok, the next few chapters will be short and sweet, but they'll be updated in rapid succession probably...

Chapter 20 - The secret door

The week seemed to pass very slowly to Harry. He was willing the weekend on, with the lack of Quidditch or worries about Voldemort, Godric's Hollow had become his primary concern.

He had spoken to Ron straight away about the door, but Ron had insisted upon not telling Hermione, saying that he wasn't still back on old terms again with her. This threw Harry a little bit, who thought they had been getting on better, but he didn't raise the issue.

Harry and Ron had immediately decided to go and find the door at Godric's Hollow on the Valentines Day Hogsmeade weekend that was coming up. Harry also decided to bring with him the diary itself, but not his invisibility cloak. When Ron asked about this on the way downstairs to the entrance hall, Harry was quick to respond.

"Because I don't think we're doing anything wrong," Harry answered, "and I don't want to be dragging the cloak around all day."

"But how will we avoid Hermione?" Ron asked. Harry looked up at him quizzically.

"We're not trying to avoid Hermione are we?" he asked. Ron just looked at the floor and evaded the question. They walked down to where Filch was signing off the long lists of names, and Harry saw Cho Chang. He remembered vividly the events of a year ago, when he and Cho had gone to Hogsmeade together, which had culminated with Cho storming off in a mood. He smiled sadly to himself, but quickly hid this from Ron as the two of them exited the castle.

Harry and Ron were both eager to get to Godric's Hollow, and they walked quickly up the high street towards Harry's house. Harry exchanged a glance with Hermione, who was leaving The Three Broomsticks with Parvati, but he didn't mention it to Ron, who hadn't spotted her.

Upon reaching Godric's Hollow, Harry and Ron headed straight upstairs, only stopping briefly for Harry to say hello to the portrait of his parents. They reached the top landing and Harry open the diary to the required page.

"It says that we need to line up the eye of the lion with the tree at the bottom of the garden," he told Ron allowed. Harry squatted down and lined himself up. He glanced back over the final words to that diary entry, and then he looked through the end of the tail of the lion, which was arched over the lion's back like a scorpion's tale.

And there it was. Harry could see it clearly now, it was hidden behind one of the trees Harry was sure he had searched behind. He laughed with relief and, after marking the spot exactly with his eyes, he let Ron have a look.

"See it?" Harry asked, grinning. Ron frowned for a moment, and then his face broke into a smile and he nodded at Harry. They both quickly went downstairs, through the kitchen, and out the door into the back garden. The day was a clear one, with no wind to speak of, and Harry and Ron took very little time in locating the door now they knew where it was.

The door itself looked very old. It was made of wood, (which Harry suspected had some sort of anti-decay charm on it), and had an imposing metal frame. The frame was a dull, grim grey colour, and was made of the same metal that made the handle on the door. Behind the door was a slope of mud that reached up from the floor to the top of the door. Harry reached out a hand, turned the handle and pulled.

Instantly he and Ron recoiled, so great was the musty smell that emerged out of the tunnel. It had obviously not been opened in many years, and Harry doubted whether even Dumbledore knew of its existence. Lowering his hand from his nose, Harry sniffed the air gingerly, before stepping towards the door again. Pushing the door wider open, Harry could see what was behind it.

Directly in front of him was a long tunnel, which was sloping steeply downwards. The tunnel sides were held up by old wooden beams that looked very frail to Harry, but the thick packed mud on either side of tunnel was held firmly in place.

"Lumos," Harry muttered, and his wand tip sent a narrow beam of light down the tunnel. "C'mon," he muttered to Ron, before setting off down the tunnel.

It was a fairly long tunnel. Every now and again it would veer off to one side, or plunge ever deeper into the ground, before levelling off again. After what felt like hours, the tunnel levelled off completely, and Harry could see ahead of him another door. It was exactly the same as the first door. With a glance at Ron, Harry turned the knob, pushed the door open, and entered the room.

His mother had obviously won. Harry looked around him as the entire walls were covered with baby photos. Harry watched as he, (as a baby), was held by his mother, waved at the camera and walked for the first time.

There was a table and chair on one side of the small chamber, and Harry sank down into it. He looked at the pictures of himself, and somehow was shocked by the lack of scar on all of them. Of course he knew that there wouldn't be one, but he had never really thought about it. Ron made his excuses, ("It's too hot in here,") so he could leave Harry to himself, and Harry was grateful for this.

So this was what it looked like to belong to his family. There were some other pictures without Harry in one, and Harry spent a lot of time looking particularly at these.

He watched in one as his father zoomed around a field on a broomstick. He truly was a great player, ducking and diving around the field and around the trees surrounding it. Harry watched in astonishment as his father actually traced the line of one of the longer branches at top speed on his broom, and not dislodge a single pine cone.

In another, Harry watched his father, Sirius and Remus sitting around in the living room playing what Harry recognised as Gobstones, and Sirius especially was covered in the inky substance that came from the objects in this game.

He spent about ten or so minutes looking at these photos. It truly felt very strange to be amongst something created solely by his parents, (the house had been restored by Dumbledore so still didn't feel the same), and he wasn't sure quite how he was going to react. But then, as he turned towards to the door to go and find Ron, he noticed something.

Hidden behind the door, which Ron had closed behind him, were some ancient looking markings. Harry couldn't quite make out what they were, and so he used the sleeve of his robe to brush off the cobwebs. A few moments later, he looked back to admire what was beneath the cobwebs, and he gasped.

On the walls were some runes. The twisted and snaked up and down the wall, but they were unmistakably familiar to Harry. He had seen them only once before, and he knew exactly what they were. They were the runes he had seen in a book called "The Four Founders" in Dumbledore's office, each representing a number. He got out that book and found the page, before pressing each of the runes in order. He stepped back, as the wall behind the door slid sideways into a gap, leaving before it a thin opening. Harry stood staring at it. The creation of Godric Gryffindor. The entrance to the chasm of life.