(A/N: Alright! Longest chapter EVER! We are now in the Department of Mysteries. I'd just like to say thank you to all those who gave me ideas and those who reviewed. I really needed it for this chapter! As before, all you recognise is not mine but JK's and all that is new to you is a figment of my imagination. Read on! Wonderwhiterabbit hopping off)
In the Head of the Snake
Chapter 22: The Department of Mysteries: Part 1
"I was not expecting that," said Rookwood to his left. Snape could hear the other man's laboured breathing as adrenalin mounted inside of them. They were now in unchartered waters...literally.
"I was," said Snape as he strode into the middle of the room. He turned slowly, carefully extending his magic in tendrils to touch the air. To Rookwood, he looked like a man illuminated by the sun. Just as slowly as he had extended his magic, so did Snape pull it back in. Each flare carefully shrunk back into his skin. His shoulders slumped for a moment and Severus felt drained and pale. But the moment passed and the magic was within him once more, carrying with it a taste of the room that filled his veins with understanding.
"Is the room enchanted?" asked Rookwood who was now looking at Snape with renewed interest.
"Yes...and no..." said Snape and crossed his arms. He looked at the room with his naked eye, no longer trying to feel it out. Now he was just looking. Twelve doors. One was the exit. The other eleven held the secrets that he was about to unveil. He memorised every detail; the shape of the doors, the blue lights that sat in brackets between each door, the carefully rounded door knobs, the lack of light illuminating from underneath each slit in the doorway, the chequered pattern of the smooth and cool bricks lining the walls, the way the floor mirrored the roof...that last one was important.
"Yes and no? What is it with you that I can never get a clear answer out of you? Do you get turned on or something by making up riddles that have no meaning to anyone else?"
Snape's mouth twisted into a snarl; he hated dirty talk. It was crude and unnecessary and used only by people who didn't have a large enough vocabulary to come up with something better. But if Rookwood wanted to play games below the belt, so could he.
"At least to turn me on is a challenge," he smirked but moved on quickly as he saw Rookwood's face turn an angry splotchy red. "I say yes because it has been enchanted. But I say no because it has not been enchanted by Wizards. This magic feels...primitive. And I have no doubt that this room is the source of the rest of the Department's power. Everything happens in this room."
"So we could be stuck here forever? I don't look forward to that!"
"I wouldn't like spending the rest of forever with you either; however, as sweet as that invitation may be, we will not be stuck here. This magic...I have felt something akin to it before..." Snape thought quickly about his next words. This room was like the Room of Requirement. It had the same taste to it; a need that was so strong it was like a craving. Perhaps this was another Cradle like the Room, and it had fulfilled its craving by becoming the Department of Mysteries? "Ask and it will answer," said Snape eventually and after seeing Rookwood's still-blank face, he said, "Show me the exit!"
A door immediately opened opposite Rookwood. They both looked out the door and saw the way that they had come; the desolate corridor appeared very welcoming to Severus right now, but he had no choice but to turn his back on it. Rookwood slowly closed the door. Snape was ready for the weird sensation of the walls spinning in front of him, but instead of concentrating on the walls he looked to the roof. And then to the floor. And then to the roof again.
He was right. The roof and the floor had switched places. Could the Department really be that large? But if it was magic other than Wizards' creating the rooms then surely it was possible!
"Show me the exit!" said Snape again, and once again a door clicked open, this time behind him.
"What the hell are you doing asking for that again?" demanded Rookwood. "You're wasting time! Now the whole place is gonna go spinning again!"
"Shut up and use your eyes!" said Snape and clicked the door shut. The room spun once more, blue light dancing along Snape's retinas. Yes, the floor and the roof shifted back to how they had been when they had first entered. So that meant that on both Roof level and Floor level was a door to the exit. So that meant that on each level were eleven other doors that lead to various places – perhaps the same places but from a different perspective?
"I didn't see anything except bright blue," said Rookwood impatiently.
"Observe," indicated Snape and then said, "Roof level!"
The shift was more present now without the distraction of the travelling walls. Snape felt the pull of gravity as blood rushed quickly to his head and the sensation of hanging upside down struck him with an urge to gag, but a blink later and he was standing upright once more, his head a little dizzier than it was before.
"Ok, what the hell was that?" Rookwood's face was littered with more red patches than earlier and his hands were outstretched as if he were balancing on a thin wire. He stared from the floor to the roof and quickly repeated the action. "Are we on the roof? Are we upside down?"
"I think, rather, that the Department is upside down and we are right way up," drawled Snape, quite enjoying Rookwood's insecurities. "We were momentarily upside down, but I cannot be sure of anything as yet."
"What can you be sure of?"
"In this place...I think very little. When you worked here, what did you used to do?"
"I worked with Time Turners," replied Rookwood, still eyeing the floor as if it would shift again at any second. "It was a minor role, but one that allowed me access to many different resources."
"And what resources may those be?"
"Knowledgeable ones."
"Let me rephrase; what other rooms do you know of? Other than the Time Turner room."
"Well, let me think," Rookwood held out his hand and started to count them off on his fingers. "There's a room called the Planetarium. One of the guys who worked in the Time Turner room also worked with the Sun in that room and he took me there once to see everything. Weirdest place I've ever seen with my own two eyes! Then there's the Hall of Prophesies. But we know about that room already. There's the Office. In my day it was just a room with lots of doors on either side that lead into each person's personal office. And, er..." he paused for a moment, finger on finger as he thought of any more rooms that he might know of. "Oh, yes, a Room of Elements; lots of rocks and water all over the place in that room."
"Lots of rocks and water? That is the best description you can give me?"
"It was a long time ago and if you don't remember I was stuck in a prison for just as long!"
"I am glad the Dark Lord gave me a few memories of what others have seen who have worked here. Bode, for one."
Rookwood fumed.
"You mean that you've known the whole time how this place works and you've just been having me on?" the man spluttered.
"Not at all. I was given memories of rooms; not how to get to them. Your recollections match a few of the memories I have. They are very useful to me, if a bit...unrefined," Snape's lip curled upwards and he allowed his eyes to show his distaste of the man in front of him who was now all but swelling with withheld anger. "I suggest though, that we begin. We have three hours only and already precious moments have passed. Floor Level!" and once again they felt the weird shift as the roof was replaced by the floor. Snape strode forwards and grasped the door directly in front of him and opened.
Before them was a long corridor, bare of everything and anything. All Severus could see was red walls, ceiling and floor. He took a tentative step forwards. The floor felt bouncy beneath his feet, as if he were standing on that artificial grass that muggles used. Once more he gathered his magic about him and sent out cautious tendrils. It only took him a moment and he withdrew his magic with a mischievous smile.
"I think you will like this room," said Severus to his dawdling friend. Rookwood appeared not to want to go anywhere, even if the corridor appeared empty.
"Why? How do you know?" he demanded, his jaw set in an attempt to keep down his obvious fear.
"It is a room that will show you nothing unless you know what you want to find, and where to find it."
"You make no sense," growled Rookwood, but he stepped carefully into the room. The door clicked closed behind him. Snape raised an eyebrow; having a frightened companion was not going to do him any good at all. He would have to do something to calm the idiot down.
"When I was in school, we had group projects that we had to do," said Snape as he took a slow walk down the long corridor. He could see that the corridor turned a sharp left further down. There were no other doors along the way as far as he could see.
"I know this. Your year was not much behind than mine," snapped Rookwood, his hand gripped tightly around his wand as his eyes jumped from wall to wall.
"Of course I would not dream of doing any of my projects with gryffindores," continued Snape as he walked confidently down the red corridor, "and, unfortunately, hufflepuffs were not nearly smart enough to keep up with my thoughts. So I ended up with a Ravenclaw most of the time when my own house could not suffice."
Rookwood scoffed, but Snape ignored him. The guy was getting more and more twitchy the further down the corridor they got; he would let loose a spell any second now just to release himself of his tension and Snape could not allow that. It might set things off.
"I had to do some of the project in the Ravenclaw commonroom then. They have a very interesting way of allowing people into their territory. You are asked a question and must answer correctly. If you do not get the answer right, you wait until someone arrives who can answer the question. That way everyone learns from each other."
"Are you getting to the point of your story yet?" Rookwood was now yelling, although he seemed completely oblivious to his own level of voice. They had reached the corner and turned, only to be faced with more spongy floor, although this time a blue that would match Dumbledore's eyes.
"Yes. Once I was asked "Those that are hidden cannot be found by those who know not what to find. Where are those hidden things?" Granted the doorknocker asked me harder questions the more he saw me, and usually I could answer. But this time I was...stumped. Obviously if you don't know what you are looking for, you cannot find anything. But, if you are looking for anything, you will definitely find something. And then I understood; you can find hidden things everywhere."
As his explanation finished, they reached the end of the corridor and before them stood an empty room, the squishy floor now a bright yellow that was painful to the eyes. But the room did not stay empty for long. One by one, objects of various colours, shapes and sizes began to appear before them, as if each one was blurring slowly into focus. Snape could not stop his smile from spreading; there was so much to see here! Piles of items materialised, some moving, some stationery. Severus knew in the magical world that normal items were not normal; in Hogwarts often a chair would have feelings, or a bed would grant a good night's rest to its owner. But he didn't realise this much...The items had run away. He almost laughed when he saw a pile of socks reaching the roof of the room: they had obviously grown tired of being stepped on so much and needed a vacation away from their owners! A shabby flying carpet, long out of use, gingerly flew up to them and offered itself. Severus was tempted to take the offer but remembered what Dumbeldore had told him: Don't touch anything!
But he petted the carpet none the less and watched as it glided to a group of brooms who swept its fluff clean in a scolding manner. Then some keys on a large key chain appeared and started chasing the brooms around with a loud clatter.
"This room..." said Rookwood, still trying to comprehend it properly, "What exactly is it?"
A sign, long forgotten, floated towards them. On it, in curly writing, read "ROOM OF LOST THINGS".
"There is your answer, Mr Rookwood," sneered Snape, not at all surprised by the bluntness of Rookwood's magic. His magic had told him what this room was for from the very beginning! Ah, but he would not get cocky. No. Severus would be just as careful as he always was.
"Have you seen enough of this place?" asked Rookwood. He shifted uneasily from foot to foot as he watched the Lost Objects appear and disappear around him.
Snape looked about the room with keen eyes. There was nothing else in this room that was stable except for its luminous yellow walls. He remembered how many steps he had taken down each corridor, and mentally he measured the height of the walls and the width of the roof and floor. When he had seen all he could, he nodded his head to Rookwood who gratefully turned back the way they had come.
But Snape did not turn back. Instead he headed deeper into the room until he was walking along the back wall. Rookwood, realising quickly that Snape was not with him, yelled, "Oi! What do you think you're doing? Even you said we were on a tight schedule!"
"We were told to map the whole department," Snape pointed out in his cool logical voice. "There is another room beyond this one." And indeed there was a door, hidden by an ancient forgotten coffin that stood in front of it.
Rookwood walked towards the door and shivered by the closed coffin.
"If this thing is here, there must be a reason for it," he indicated the coffin and pointed out its position in front of the door.
"I doubt that," replied Snape, enjoying seeing the fear glint in the other man's eyes, "you see as soon as this door opens, I suspect everything will disappear again and the room will return to how it was before."
"Why? What makes you so sure?"
"We are no longer looking for objects, therefore we will find none unless they are looking for us," said Snape as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.
And he touched his hand to the square handle of the door. In a fuzzy blur, and with the sound of wind whispering secrets to them, the objects did indeed disappear. The coffin was the last to go and, maybe it was Severus' imagination, but he thought he heard a sigh of contentment come from somewhere inside the black case. He shook his head a little to clear it as the wind tried to return both him and Rookwood, and for a moment he had to grab Rookwood by the arm as his edges began to blur as well.
"You are not lost!" snapped Snape to the man. "You are in the Department of Mysteries and you are not lost, therefore this room has no power over you! You have a purpose! You cannot disappear with them!"
Rookwood clenched his hand around Snape's wrist to reassure himself of his surroundings. The wind slowly disappeared with a moan of longing. The room had let them free. Snape checked where along the wall the door could be found, his keen eyes measuring, noting, memorising. Then he turned to the new room before him and walked through, sure to drag Rookwood in behind him. As soon as the door closed behind him, Rookwood turned wide eyes to Snape.
"What just happened?" he blurted out in a whisper.
"You had some idea in your head that you were lost. The room acted on the thought. It wanted to help you like it helped all of the other Lost Objects. But I don't know where it would take you, or how I would get you back if you were lost. You need to keep your head!"
"Stop talking so loudly!" said Rookwood.
"I was not talking loudly," spat Snape, his patience now reaching its limit. Surely the Dark Lord knew how useless this idiot was?
"You are! You're talking so loudly I think my ears are going to burst!" and then Rookwood let out a scream of pain, his hands covering his ears in an attempt to keep some form of noise out that Severus could not hear. The man shrunk to his knees, his hands pressed hard over his head as his moans echoed around the new room. Snape was too shocked by this sudden reaction to think straight, but his instincts took over instead. He pulled Rookwood towards the door; better to have something solid at your back if you were being attacked. Then he turned his wild, instinct run eyes to the room. But whatever the room was, he could not tell. His eyes were not seeing as they usually did. He had murky eyes at best; long had he pondered over eye-glasses and turned them down simply because in a dungeon he needed to be accustomed to the dark and glasses would hurt his eyes when he returned to the light of outside. But now he could see every detail in the room as if he were looking under a magnifying glass. He felt his eyes begin to strain with this sudden ability. His eyes began to water and a pounding was beginning somewhere behind his temples. He tried to focus out, and the small muscles that controlled his retina shook with the attempt. But if he did not try, surely his eyes would not last. Surely they would be pushed past their limit. Surely he would go blind!
He did not know what he was doing now, only that the instinct that had made him act before was taking over again. His mind shut down and his magic flared out in a layer of white light around him. The white light covered his vision and a few splotches of black appeared. But the pain was gone. The strain was lessened. His magic brought forth a taste of the room, and understanding filled him and almost made him laugh. Then he heard the screams from his companion, now writhing on the floor as blood dripped slowly between his hands that still covered his ears. Snape did not roll his eyes at the man; he too had been taken in by the room. Carefully he laid a hand on Rookwood's shoulder and then with a deep breath sent out his magic to engulf the man as well. His magic did not like the touch of Rookwood's skin and burned a light yellow, but he suppressed the motions that conflicted with his will and the magic continued until both he and Rookwood were a fiery mass of Magic. Rookwood blinked upwards as he saw Snape standing over him, illuminated in light.
"Senses have always been a mystery to many. This room's sense is that of Sense. It recognises the weakest one may have and improves it."
"How did you know to counter with magic?" whispered Rookwood and cringed against the sound of his own voice.
"Any room acquainted with magic will recognise it again. How else do the Unspeakables work here if they are attacked every time?"
Rookwood shakily stood up by himself – Snape had helped the man enough and did not offer his hand. He was pleased to see Rookwood exert his own magic that appeared along his skin in a film of dark blue. He saw that the layer was thickest around the man's ears which were slowly dripping blood. He supposed his own eyes must be red with burst veins. Never say a Potions Master was caught unawares though. Snape ruffled in his bag and pulled out a vile of healing potion. This was going to sting, but he would rather have his eyes back to normal than the patchy vision he had now. He opened the vile and dropped just one drop into each eye. It did burn, but with his magic already shielding him from pain he could endure it. He turned to Rookwood.
"Let me put some of this into each of your ears. It may hurt a bit, but I suspect your eardrums are damaged."
Rookwood meekly complied and tilted his head carefully from side to side whilst holding tightly to the wall. Yes, his eardrums were far gone. Probably his balance too. Snape smirked at how little pain the other Death Eater could handle, but stopped quickly as he realised any punishment for lack of success in this mission would be given to both Rookwood and, probably twofold, to himself.
Rookwood grit his teeth as the drops of healing potion steamed in his ears, but no more wails or moans escaped him. Snape pretended to ignore the man's pain and turned to the room. It was covered in tiny wires that zigzagged, criss-crossed, intersected and forked over the floor, walls and ceiling. Each tiny wire was buzzing with activity carrying fast moving lights through each other. In the middle of the room were five pillars, each with a grossly enlarged fleshy piece on it. Severus, careful to keep his magic field around him, walked to the closest pillar and observed the flesh thing on it. His lip curled upwards but one could not tell if he were smiling or grimacing.
"It is an ear," Severus said aloud since Rookwood had not joined him. "I believe that this is the Room of Senses. Each of these pillars hosts a sense and these wires – or nerves as I believe they are – each travel to their respective sense. These pillars must act as receptors." He looked closer at the pillar in front of him. Yes, the wires disappeared into the pillar, not underneath it. Also, there were runes of a sort he had not encountered before curling in a spiral down the pillar. He walked to the Eye pillar. It had a bowl on it as well as the enlarged eye that matched the ear he had just observed. He stopped in his tracks as he recognised what was inside the bowl; fake eyes, not very unlike one that he had seen before on a certain Mad Auror. He smirked; so this was where Moody had gotten his Magical Eye from. Snape had no doubt about the abilities of that eye now after experiencing the power of this room on his own two. The next pillar held a tongue that still drooled saliva down its sides. Snape remembered that a tongue was not such a short thing nor very light, and was surprised that the thin pillar it lay on held it up so well. On the last two pillars were a nose and a finger respectively. Snape smirked at the long nose as he realised it mirrored his own hooked appendage.
"Please say you have had enough of this room?" said Rookwood who was still standing next to the door from the Room of Lost Things. "We're just here to map the place, not to explore."
"But exploration is what precedes mapping," Snape said idly, truly miffed that he had so little time in this marvellous department.
"Spare me the lecture, Professor," slighted Rookwood.
Snape did not rise to the bait, merely looked to the room again and once more recorded the measurements with his keen eyes. Yes, they may not see well from his years spent in the darkness of his dungeons brewing the more aggressive potions, but his eyes did not miss much nor forget much either.
He turned to the only other door in the room and opened. Rookwood was careful this time to look at the room that they entered before he stepped into it. It was a room separated by a long wide wall – possibly another room. In the part of the room that was clear to them were springy mats, a man wide and long, littered along the floor. At the far end of the wall was a slightly raised stage that held forever-burning essence. Snape felt his head immediately lull to the side as he inhaled the smells, and his body surged forwards towards a mat that called to him. All he wanted to do was to sit on this lovely spongy mat and ponder the world, ponder his life, ponder the universe and all the creatures in it.
"Where do you think you're going?"
That was an annoying voice, a part of Snape's mind noted.
But it was important he listen to that voice, wasn't it?
No, it was an annoying voice. Nothing worthy of pondering. Nothing worthy of meditating over.
Snape's mind clouded up quickly. Meditation. Meditation. This room was a Meditation Chamber. He had heard of them before! Think of the now! Think of the present! But his brain had now stopped, the tug-of-war between the Chamber of Meditation and his own thoughts taking over everything else. Part of him knew what needed to be done, but his head was not going to help that happen. And he was losing to the room. It's influence on him was too great. He already had a mind full of thoughts that wondered, and pondered, and thought, and now the Chamber was taking advantage of that.
He felt a splitting pain in his stomach. He doubled over, coughing for air. The taste of blood filled his mouth as he bit down on his own tongue. Pain. That was the now. That was the present. It filled him up. All straying thoughts concentrated on his stomach. His mouth. His ragged breathing.
He looked up. Rookwood was breathing hard too, his hand held gingerly in his other hand.
"You have bony ribs you know that? I think that punch hurt me more than it did you."
Snape gasped a bit more for breath.
"I doubt it," he spat out, but slowly righted himself. "A Meditation Chamber. I thought they were only found in the East? How did you know pain would bring me back?"
"I did work here you know. I might not have seen much, but Unspeakables gossip as bad as our opposite gender. I heard about someone who lost their thoughts in a place and that they had to hit her over the head to bring her back. Of course I wasn't about to hit you over the head..." he grinned an ugly array of teeth.
"No, but you thought a good sock in the stomach would do just as well," Snape let the venom enter his voice, although he was grateful the man had helped him. He shouldn't have let his guard down like that. His own head was not a safe place anywhere, never mind here. He turned and saw another door behind him, directly next to the Room of Senses entrance. He stepped forwards and opened the door without hesitation; he could not let Rookwood see how much this chamber had affected him.
Immediately the magic in the room warmed him. It was a thin room, not longer than his own classroom, and at the end of it sat a large statue with open arms.
Rookwood whistled.
"That's one awesome man," he whispered.
Snape frowned and looked at the statue. He did not see a man, but a woman with long curls, her naked body covered only with carved thin mother-of-pearl leaves, their veins glittering with a golden thread.
"You and I see differently," said Snape. His eyes opened a fraction wider as he saw magic begin to glow around the woman's outstretched arms. He walked a step forwards, unsure as to what he should do. But he recognised that magic. It was a white fire like his own, and she was holding it out to him to take it. He knew he could not touch her, although he did not know how he knew this. Instead, he once more let his magic out of him. The tendrils slowly extended towards the woman. Then he heard a voice in the back of his head: "Don't touch anything!"
He was not touching anything. Magic-to-magic was not considered touch. It was much more intimate than touch. And he desperately wanted that connection with this beautiful woman. Somehow, she reminded him of someone. The magic in her arms reached out for his and they met. A red light filled the room. Snape was dimly aware of Rookwood hastily stepping out of the room back into the meditation chamber. The light absorbed him. He heard a voice of a woman singing. It was a lullaby he had not heard in a long time, but the memory of a warm autumn sun slowly setting over him touched his mind. The statue, now a flesh and blood woman, stepped towards him. The light shone around them but he could see her clearly. Her curly hair was red. Her skin was a pale white. Her eyes were a deep maroon. She took his hands and warmth flowed into him. Life that he had not felt in years surged through him. She stepped closer yet, her warmth now burning into his flesh and she kissed him.
His mind did not think. In fact, his mind was a complete blank. Every thought he had was swept away by the contact of this woman's lips on his. She withdrew slowly and smiled at him.
"Who are you?" he whispered, his black eyes leaking tears of joy.
"I am your guardian, though you do not know me. I am sorry I have not been able to help you better over the years, but your heart has been closed to all."
"Why can I see you now?" he asked as she stepped back a step, though her hands were still holding his.
"Your heart has opened," she said simply.
"Opened? How? Why?"
She smiled a sad smile and stepped once more backwards. Their hands parted. The light faded. And Snape was left staring at a statue of a woman.
"Snape?" came a shallow voice from behind him.
Severus turned to see Rookwood cowering behind the door. All of a sudden he was intensely curious; what did Rookwood see in the room?
"What room is this one? I don't like it," Rookwood said with a shaky voice. "I get the feeling that I am in trouble when I step into it."
Snape smirked; at least Rookwood's Guardian knew how stupid the man was being. His smirk faded: what did his guardian know about him? He turned again to the woman whose face held a sad smile of knowing.
"This is The Shrine," explained Snape. "We should not stay too long." He turned and closed the door behind him, now back in the Meditation Chamber. The flare of power he had felt from his Guardian, however, did not disappear. She had strengthened him for what lay ahead.
He walked silently through the Meditation Chamber past the partitioning made by another room that they could not enter from here. In the far corner, past another stage with more essence issuing from it was another door. Snape gratefully opened it and stepped into the entrance room with its twelve different doors. They had gone in a circle.
"What now?" asked Rookwood, still holding the door open in case Snape didn't want the room to spin.
Snape frowned as he looked hard at the door. They had gone in a circle, but if his calculations were right they had probably done a corner of the Department. He had to know which door was which though.
"Hold the door as hard as you can," Snape told Rookwood. Then he said, "Show me the exit!" The door one down from the Meditation Chamber's door opened, showing the empty corridor behind. "Show me the Room of Lost Things," and the door that separated the Exit and the Meditation Chamber opened. Somehow they had managed to go through the two doors directly adjacent to the exit. That worked out perfectly in his head.
"Ok, I'm going to open this door now," and Snape opened the door next to Rookwood. He smelt something burning inside, but ignored that for now. Rookwood was right; he was here to map, not explore. "You can close the other doors now," nodded Snape.
Rookwood closed his door and then the two others. With the door that Snape held open, the room did not spin. He walked through and Rookwood closed the door behind them.
"Ah!" exclaimed Rookwood, clearly recognising the room. "The Room of Elements!"
"Yes," agreed Snape. He had memories of this room. It did not just have 'lots of rocks' as Rookwood had so delicately put it, but had all of the elements as well, including the Element of Magic. He carefully walked down the narrow hall until he came to a four-way crossing. The one side of this crossing must be the partition within the Meditation Chamber. He walked down the right and was overcome by water gushing at his feet. It was a miniature sea in a room, waves slowly lapping backwards and forwards. He could see the end of the corridor and no door above the waves. Perhaps at low tide a door would present itself but he doubted that very much. He turned and walked straight only to come face to face with a mountain spurting lava slowly out into an endless pit. That too was a dead end. He turned back and followed the crossing straight. Rocks grew out of the ground, their sides splintered with glistening precious stones. He climbed agilely up the rocks and reached another door, Rookwood panting behind him. He opened the door and was greeted by more steps that he carefully walked up. The floor levelled out and he saw a door along his left. Snape looked at the corridor he was in; it continued around a bend. He turned to the door and opened. Inside were rows upon rows of red cushioned chairs, set one slightly higher up than another. An aisle led down the centre of the rows. The chairs all faced a blank white wall. The room was dark.
Snape looked behind him; Rookwood was not too impressed by this new room, but shrugged his shoulder and pointed for Snape to do the honours.
Snape walked into the room and sat down on a chair. As if on cue, a static noise began somewhere above him and an image appeared on the white wall. The image was moving. With a shock, Snape realised what the image was showing: it was him! When he was little! But this was not right, this image. It showed him with four other boys as they threw snow at each other. They were spending Christmas together at Hogwarts and had the whole grounds to themselves. They laughed extra hard as a stray snowball flew through the air and landed in Hagrid's great beard, and then they ran for cover as Hagrid joined in the game.
"Is this your memory?" asked Rookwood who was still standing.
"No," whispered Snape as a tear slowly rolled down his face. He had not let himself dream of that reality for years after his third year. After that time he had known it would never come true. He stood up and the rolling sound above him halted with a scratchy noise. The screen showed him and his four friends at Hagrid's warming by the fire with tea and rock cakes. The screen blinked a few times then went white again. Snape looked at the room hard, not knowing whether it was the most wonderful thing ever, or the worst possible punishment one could endure. He left silently, Rookwood tailing after him.
"Before you ask, that was the Theatre of Dreams. Nothing in there could do us any good," and he stomped off down the corridor. They came to an arch with exquisite detail carved into it, as well as a Latin word that Snape translated: "Life".
They walked under the arch and found out why; the room was covered in flowers of various different sizes and colours. Their perfume littered the room with contrasting smells. And in each flower, Snape could see a small baby forming. In some, they were human babies, and in others were calves and ewes and kids and kittens and cubs and pups and everywhere he looked he was surrounded by the awakening of life! And as he watched, he saw a baby grow a little bit bigger and fall from the stem holding it to the flower. He reached forwards, scared for it to fall, but it landed on the ground before he could save it. The little baby cried a bit, but then the soft earthen ground slowly opened up for it and absorbed it. Snape watched as the form of the baby was sucked into the earth and then travelled up the stem of its flower, and its shape squeezed once more out through the petals which blossomed anew.
"And this?" asked Rookwood who stood at the centre of the room by a glistening pool. Snape stared into the pool and felt joy enter his heart.
"The Pool of Life," Snape said slowly, not daring to believe his own eyes. "For all those who must still join the world."
"I don't like it very much," commented Rookwood. "It gives me a bad feeling."
Snape wondered at this. He felt overjoyed when looking into the pool. Then again, his Guardian had also given him a good feeling but had left Rookwood feeling like a child about to be scolded. Best to move on, especially since they were running out of time.
"The Room of Life doesn't appear to have any doors that lead out of it. We must go back to the Entrance Room the way we came."
Rookwood didn't need telling twice and they walked quickly back under the Arch, passed the Theatre of Dreams, and through the Room of Elements.
Once back in the circular Entrance Room, Snape again asked Rookwood to hold the door open as he called out the various rooms he knew lead from doors. "Show me the Exit, the Room of Lost Things and the Meditation Chamber." The three doors next to the Room of Elements popped open. Snape nodded his head as he reassured his memory of each of the rooms and their shapes. Then he turned to the next door and opened it and commanded Rookwood to close all of the other doors again. They walked through the new door.
The corridor they were in sloped downwards, a few stone stairs littered their steps when the gradient was really steep. The corridor wound to the left. Then wound to the right. And still further down they walked. Snape began to worry about this new room. Only things very powerful were ever kept so far underground; that was why he did potions in the dungeons after all. Then Snape saw a doorway illuminated by a flickering torch. It was dark down the corridor so Snape gratefully picked it up. He walked into the awaiting room but turned quickly as Rookwood gave out a shriek of pain.
"Rookwood!" Snape turned and tried to run back to the Death Eater, but the doorway now held a barrier over it. He could not get through. He could see the Death Eater turn on his heal and sprint back towards the Entrance Room as if fire was eating at his legs. He breathed. The man would make it alive. What he had to worry about right now was himself.
He turned to the room before him only to be puzzled by what he saw. It was not a room. It was a cavern. The walls and floor dripped quietly with moisture, while large stalactites and stalagmites grew from the floor and ceiling, each one a wonder on its own. Snape walked carefully through the cavern, careful not to touch anything. Something was in here that was calling to him. Something that had been waiting for him for a long time. He walked to the centre of the room and saw a large chest of silver and gold. Once more there were runs on it that he could not discern, although they were not quite as harsh-looking as the runes he had seen on the Pillar.
All of a sudden he was immensely aware of his beating heart. In fact, with every step that he took, his heart beat one step faster. What was that around the chest? No, not around, but oozing out. The chest was holding something back. How could he let it loose? How could he free what was locked inside? He was standing over it now. How did he know he had to let it loose? How did he know what was inside this chest was the most magnificent treasure in the world? How did he know that he would not die if he opened this chest? Then again, he would probably die if he did not.
And so Snape stooped down and unlatched the chest. Carefully he opened it. The power that was inside swept out. It was as if a tide was free from the pull of the sea. As if the power rolled down stream, willing to fill the whole cave up with its embrace. He felt its burn. He felt its heat. He could feel himself greeting it, loving it, and he could feel his fear of it. It was so great! No one could stand up to this power! This magic! His heart was going to burst. All of the love he had ever had for anyone was, in this moment, multiplied. No, not even multiplied. It was as if every single person's love for anyone and everyone and anything and everything was inside him, flowing through him as this multitude of power flowed around him. It was love. Love. No power could beat this. No power could withstand this!
And then Snape had a frightening thought; what if someone could wield this? He had to close this room to everyone! There was a reason this power was locked in that chest, but he knew now that he had released it that he would not be able to get it back in. What could he do now?
Protect it. He could protect the world's love. Why had it not killed him yet, considering all the hate he had in him? Maybe because his love was so much more? He loved Lily totally and unconditionally. He loved Hogwarts, his only home. He loved the Headmaster and all of his intricacies. Yes, he was filled with hate, but that only made his love stronger. He loved his Slytherins and his ghastly Godson Draco. He loved making potions and the moment before the magic filled them. He loved watching children grow and learn, even if they were Insufferable-Know-It-Alls from the start. He loved red hair. He loved Ginny's smile.
And then it was not the power around him falling into him, but rather his love cascading out into the air around him. He never knew he could draw on his love like this. He never knew that love was even this powerful. And yet it kept on flowing from him in those flares of magic that he was so used to. He was full of love and that was why he was so strong. That was why he would prevail until the Dark Lord was destroyed. That was why he would give up his life ten times over. It was all for love.
And then the stalactite above him started to drip on him slowly, its salty water mixing with the tears that were flowing freely from his face. They were tears too; the tears saved from all of the loved ones around the world who have cried for those who they have lost, or found, or never had. These were the tears of love. His tears were probably in the mix already. This was the Love Cavern. And now, no one would be able to use the power of this place for any use at all. It would carry on collecting the love around the world and it would be protected forever.
He let his shoulders slump and then walked back out of the Cavern. This time, the doorway let him through. The Magic followed him in a red haze as he slowly trudged up the steps that had lead him down to the Cavern. Still the Magic followed him like a puppy following its master. He got to the door, opened it and closed it behind him before his own Love could make it back into him. Just because he had given it up did not mean he could not still love. It would take him some time, but he would fill himself up again with that warmth and that magic and that power. Love was endless. Boundless. It could not be let go unless the person stopped loving. He would never lose the Love that he had for others, nor would he ever give up on it.
The doors did not spin. Snape was grateful; he did not want to open the door that lead to the Love Cavern. He turned to the door and carefully traced his wand over it, muttering a Charm of Closing.
"What was that?" asked Rookwood. Snape jumped and turned around simultaneously. He had forgotten about the man completely.
"A room filled with magic of a type I have not encountered before," answered Snape.
"Why didn't it burn you like it burnt me?" he asked seriously.
"I don't know," Snape answered honestly.
"Well either way, while you were busy gallivanting with unknown substances, I did a bit of snooping myself. Look," and he held up a large sheaf of paper. Snape stumbled over to him, his body exhausted by its outpour, and shuffled through the papers. They were results of some kind.
"You said this place has both a floor and a roof level, right?" asked Rookwood. "Well I think that these papers refer to the roof level. Look at Section 12 point 1 – it's a report on Saved Things. That must be the opposite of the Room of Lost Things that we saw. And it goes onto Section 12 point 2; Senses Study. That matches with the Room of Senses."
"You've done well Rookwood. This means we only have to map out the bottom level of the Department. Where did you find these papers?"
"I did say that I worked here you know. There is a Head Office, I just couldn't remember how to get there. So I worked the other way around from the Exit and wound up in the Experimentation Lab. You don't want to go there; animals of all sorts in jars and even, I swear on my Death Eater Mask, a human. And I would not want to do that to a person, no matter how much I enjoy torture. Anyway, from the Experimentation Lab is the Head Office. It links to the Planetarium and I followed it back to here, just in time to see you drag your sorry rear-end through that door. I thought you were dead for sure."
"Thanks for your concern," said Snape sarcastically. But Rookwood had helped; his memory was good too and he just had to do a quick Legilimens to find out what the man had seen. "So we have seen the Exit, the Room of Lost Things, the Meditation Chamber, the Room of Elements, the Room I've Just Come Through (he would not mention its true name in front of Rookwood), the Experimentation Lab and the Planetarium. Show me the Exit!" and the Exit door sprung open. "You went through this door and came out through that one?" questioned Snape. Rookwood nodded. That meant they had missed a door in between. He walked towards it and opened.
This was a noisy room. It bustled with magical activity. Items kept dropping down from metal chutes to land along a conveyor belt. The belt travelled the dropped items in a maze of a circuit and then let them fall into various metal bins. The conveyor belts intersected every now and then and the item would go from the one to the next so that it was dropped into the right bin. Another conveyor ran along the roof, the items someone magicked not to listen to gravity and fall to the ground. This conveyor led right into a tall pipe that exuded heat. Every now and then a boom came from the inside of the pipe.
"The Dispensary," said Rookwood. "I remember talk of this place. All of the failed experiments or reports are sent here to be gotten rid of."
"And these two doors?" enquired Snape.
"I have a hunch," shrugged Rookwood but walked towards the door along the far wall in any case.
Snape followed and wound up in a room that smelt strongly of sick. Jars larger than he was lined the walls. A green gloop was inside each jar as well as a form of creature...he shivered as he saw a large bubble slowly rise through the gloop, the bubble's edge travelling along the torso and then the head of a human male. Rookwood was right; the Experimentation Lab was no joke. Snape quickly scanned the room for its measurements and then followed Rookwood into the Head Office room. It was a small office but Snape supposed there was more to it on the Roof Level. He walked through the other door in the office to the Planetarium. Now this was an experience! Weightlessness. How brilliant! He really should create a potion that allowed for this sensation! Or perhaps there was one already. It was not the same as a Levitation Charm, but perhaps a modification of that? He visited Saturn and stared at the huge planet before him. Oh how Firenze would love to be this close to the Stars and the Planets and the Moons! The Centaur could probably spend hours drifting through this copy of the real thing. Snape noticed a thin tube-like place to float through. There was a door here floating in the blackness. He used his momentum to drift towards it and grasped the handle. As soon as he had his hand on the brass, the weightlessness disappeared. He was back in the Dispensary. So the other doors, where did they go?
He went back into the Planetarium and followed the tube to the first door. He opened this one and saw the circular entrance room. So the ones along the side of the tube must go to another room. He counted four doors on this side. He would enter the first door and count how many were in the new room. That way he could discern whether there were any more rooms beyond that.
He opened the first door and stood in a long rectangular room. It appeared empty except for a few desks and, Snape had to look twice but he was quite certain of it, a large glass tank with brains in it. The tank was filled with green liquid not quite unlike the liquid in the Experimentation Lab. Snape very dearly wanted to poke one of the brains, but he noticed long tendrils floating eerily from each one. Thought. That's what these brains were for. This was all about thoughts. He walked to one of the desks that had papers on it and shuffled through them. Each one had the header and footer of the Department of Mysteries, but as he reached for a folder he saw the heading "Psycho-Magical Corridor: Amended Rules and Regulations". This was a Psycho-Magical Corridor? He'd never heard of such a thing, but then again this was the Department of Mysteries. He should not be so surprised. He looked again at the room. Four doors ran along the room. So the Planetarium had four doors that lead into this room and that was the end of it. But then Snape saw another four doors on the other side of the room. The door at the far end must lead back to the entrance. He checked none-the-less and was not surprised when he was right. He turned back to the other four doors. Apprehension dawned on him suddenly. He did not want to go through those doors. He did not want to see what they hid. This place did not just have mysteries. It had nightmares as well.
"What you waiting for?" Rookwood said as he stepped carefully into the room from the Planetarium. Snape had almost forgotten about him but was glad that he hadn't.
"I don't think I'll like what's behind these doors," said Snape truthfully.
"What? The great Bat scared of what's hidden in the Department of Mysteries?" scoffed Rookwood.
"You're a fool if you're not."
But he grabbed the handle and turned. Before him was a massive room, perhaps as large as half a quidditch pitch, and at the centre of it, down many stone steps and reaching up from its pit was a stone dais supporting a stone Arch. The veil covering the Arch flitted for a moment and Severus heard his name. He knew. There was no doubt about it. The Dead were calling him.
(A/N: So before I get yelled at, this is NOT the last of the Love Cavern. It will play a part in the next chapter. I had a bit of an internal struggle about which was more important in terms of Severus; the Death Chamber or the Love Cavern...Please review! I'm very nervous about this chapter. I might just take it down and do it all over. I have to admit I had fun mapping out the Department though and making up my own rooms. Anyway, WonderWhiteRabbit hopping off)