CHAPTER NINE: DISCOVERY

Pan, for the first time in his life, was glad he could go far from Lyra. She had come to appreciate it too. Because of this ability, both were able to explore the castle without seeming conspicuous. Currently, Lyra was in potions, a class that she had grown to like. For one thing, Professor Snape seemed to be the only teacher who didn't boast about the "Great Boy Who Lived", and she'd always had a liking for deceiving people, as many potions did.

Pan decided to snoop around Dumbledore's office today. It was a pretty interesting place to look at. There were millions of gadgets and mysterious objects all around the room, and Lyra had given him more of a liking for exploring, especially now that they had learned so many ways to cover their tracks in charms.

Just as Pan had scaled the picture of a very snobbish looking Headmistress, he noticed the swirling pool of mist inside the unusually large basin on the table below him. They had spotted it on the way in, and it had always interested him. Because of this momentary distraction, his hands began to slip, and he fell down into the depths of the basin, instantly regretting his visit here.

Harry was growing sick of Umbridge's constant detentions. His hands were already beginning to scar, and it hurt like hell. Even more than that he was sick of Umbridge denying anything was wrong while making sure they FORGOT as much defense against the dark arts as possible. The first week of school seemed to never end, and he just hoped he would make it out alive.

Lyra had just begun another boring Defense Against the Dark Arts class when a sudden urge came to her. She had heard from Pan before about the incident involving the Potter boy, and wanted to get to the bottom of this. She also hadn't had a laugh in a while and wanted to see how the class would react, so she did the unthinkable and raised her hand.

"Yes," Umbrige said in an annoyingly feminine voice.

"Who's Lord Voldemort"

She heard the thudding sound of someone fainting in the back of the room and several whimpers and gasps.

"That is a name we don't say in the classroom. Now, why would you ask that?" she said.

Lyra put on the most innocent voice possible and said "Well, everyone seems to be making a huge fuss over him and I was just wondering…"

"Lord Voldemort is long gone, and there's no use learning about it now"

At the moment a small boy raised his hand in the back of the class.

"That's not what Dumbledore says, he says…"

"Dumbledore is a very old man who does not have the sense that he used to have."

A girl with freckles and black hair raised her hand,

"But what about Harry Potter, he says that…"

"Enough about that; Twenty points from Griffindor" she said too sweetly, "Now turn to page 8 if you haven't already…. Now."

Pan was walking through a misty haze until he abruptly crashed down onto a short grey staircase. A homely young woman who was very pregnant walked into a frightful looking shop. There were statues, and gadgets, and even severed body parts, all looking rather grim and eerie.

She walked up to the counter and handed the man a gold necklace with a serpentine S etched into the metal. Her face was one of the saddest he had seen since the land of the dead.

"Five galleons"

"Ten"

"Six"

"Eight"

"Deal," the man said after that brief period of haggling. He handed the woman eight shiny gold coins. She took them greedily and walked out of the room, a faint half smile on her face. He had seen Lyra with that same look on her face after they left Will and Kirjava. It was a look of heartbreak. He immediately felt deep sympathy for the woman, whoever she may have been, and followed her out in silence. No one had seemed to notice him. He quickly realized what that basin was. It was a portal to other worlds, at least, he thought it was.

His sadness quickly turned to joy. They might be able to see Will again. If they had gotten this far, they could get further. He was in the misty pool again. He swam up to the surface and scampered away, too joyful to notice that he wasn't wet, and didn't know how they would find the right world again.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was over at long last, and Lyra was off to her first flying lesson.

"Up!" she said. The broom immediately flew into her hands. She felt an electricity flowing through her as she held the broom. A feeling of bravery and daring she had not felt in a long time flowed through her. She felt as if she could do anything she wanted at that exact moment.

"Now," Hooch said "Mount your brooms and slowly rise slightly above the ground."

She quickly mounted the broom and soared up to the sky, not thinking what the consequences would be. She felt amazing. The witches of the north said she would never fly, but she had more witch in her than she thought.

Only a shout of " BROOKS!" brought her literally down to earth.

"Oh *$%&" she thought, "Now you're really gonna get it"

She had just wasted whatever chances she had of safety. She was going to have to hide or worse: go back to where she came from.

End of chapter nine