Part 2
[1972/9/1, 5 p.m.]
It was the start of a new year. James, Sirius, Remus and Jane were sitting at the Gryffindor Table and the Sorting Ceremony had just begun. Everyone waited patiently for the feast to begin, while Sirius watched the sorting ceremony with a stern look on his face. Jane followed his gaze and saw his younger brother Regulus sitting on the stool with the Sorting Hat on his head.
A minute passed but the Hat just couldn't make up its mind. It wasn't until the third minute that it finally shouted, "Slytherin!"
Jane looked worriedly at Sirius, and was surprised to see that he wasn't angry at all. "The Hat hesitated. Well done, my brother!"
[9 p.m.]
The Gryffindors decided to continue their exploration. After everyone had gone to bed, they set out to look for the hidden room on the eighth floor of the castle, which always arranged itself to meet your requirements.
After climbing up a few flights of stairs, they stood on the eighth floor in front of an ugly tapestry.
"Does anyone know where the door to the room is?" Remus asked.
"Since it is hidden, it is certainly not so easy for us to see. " Sirius said. "Maybe it is hidden behind the wall."
"Maybe we should put a bomb here and set fire to it." James suggested. "It would be very effective."
Jane looked at him as if he was an idiot. Then she walked over to the wall and pulled out her wand.
"Alohomora." she said. Nothing happened.
"You once used this spell to help us escape from Filch, but this time it seems to be quite useless." James said with a grin.
Sirius laughed. Jane turned and glared at both of them.
"At least I have tried! Now it's your turn." she said and walked away angrily.
James had an idea. "Aparecium!" he shouted as he pointed his wand at the wall.
"I don't think we can find the room with a simple spell." Remus said with a sigh.
"Then what am I supposed to do?" James cried with his hands over his face. "Ahhhhh-!"
"Who's there?" came a hoarse voice from below.
"Filch!" The four children looked at each other in horror. "Run!"
They ran off in different directions. James ran into a dead end. Sirius, Jane and Remus took the route down the stairs, but they were no luckier than James. In fact, they nearly bumped into Filch at a corner. They turned around in an instant and headed back to the eighth floor.
The distance between the four people gradually shortened.
"You naughty students who wander around the castle at night, rule-breakers, misbehavers-"
James panicked. He paced up and down by the wall and shouted, "We are done for! Oh Merlin, just let us get away from here-"
Suddenly, a door appeared behind him, and Sirius saw it. Kicking the door open, he dragged Jane and Remus inside without hesitation, leaving his best friend outside. Jane once told him a famous Chinese saying: "Trouble won't come to you if you don't look for it," and he totally agreed. It was all James' fault that they were almost caught today!
James heard the noise and looked around. He realized in deep sorrow that his friends had escaped without him. After casting a curse on their caretaker, he fled into the room and locked the door. Before he turned around, however, he received a heavy blow on the back. Completely taken by surprise, he yelled, "Ouch!"
"Why couldn't you be quiet?" Sirius said angrily. "We were almost caught!"
"I thought you would thank me instead of hitting me!" James said. "I'm the one who cursed Filch in the corridor!"
Sirius patted him on the shoulder. "What a great achievement." he said scornfully.
Looking at his childish friends, Remus felt helpless. "This is the room we have been looking for all night. Why don't you have a look at it?"
"Good point." Jane said as she walked towards a painting in the corner.
It was a simple living room with a sofa, a chair and a table.
"This room was randomly arranged, wasn't it?" Sirius asked quietly.
"Well, it appeared when I wished to get away from Filch." James said with a shrug.
At the end of the room, Jane was staring at the painting. It was a picture of a ship—a ship sailing straight towards you. Her prow was gilded and shaped like the head of a dragon with its mouth wide open. She had only one mast and a large, square sail which was painted in rich purple. The sides of the ship—the gilded wings of a dragon—were green. She had just run up to the top of a glorious blue wave, which came down towards her with streaks and bubbles on it. She was obviously running fast before a strong wind, listing over a little on her port side. All the sunlight fell on her on that side, and the water there was full of greens and purples. On the other side, however, it was darker blue in the shadows of the ship.
The painting is so lively that the ship looks as if it's really moving, the water looks as if it's really wet, and the waves look as if they are really going up and down, Jane thought. Maybe it is a talking portrait.
She stepped forwards, and called, "Hello? Anyone there?"
Her voice was carried away by the wind, and no echo came back. Jane shook her head and decided to leave. Suddenly, some water landed on her head and she yelled in surprise. Turning around, she saw that the portrait was shaking violently. Seawater rushed out of the frame and splashed onto her robes.
"Oh! I didn't see that coming. " She said, moving away quickly. "Everyone, come and have a look!"
The others quickly came and stared at the painting in amazement.
"Its background can move!" James said, excited.
Down went the prow of the ship into the wave and up went a great shower of spray. At the same moment, a book which had been lying on the table flapped, rose and sailed through the air to the wall behind them. Jane felt her hair whipping round her face as it does on a windy day, but this time, the wind was blowing out of the picture towards them. And suddenly with the wind came the noises—the swishing of waves, the slap of water against the ship's sides, the creaking and the steady roar of air and water.
"It's not just a moving portrait. You'll see," she said, pushing Sirius near the painting. Just a few seconds later, a powerful wave broke through the frame and drenched him from head to foot. Before he could complain about anything, however, another wave in the distance rushed towards them like a flood, broke through the frame again and swallowed up the whole room. Jane's smile froze as water came into her nose and mouth. Fortunately, she kept her mind clear and reacted quickly. Flipping over, she turned into a dolphin.
James, Sirius and Remus were good swimmers. With a few kicks, they reached the surface and gasped for air. But as they looked around, they panicked. What caught their eye was the vast sea stretching out before them. The sky was blue and cloudless. It stretched far away, almost connecting with the distant horizon.
"Oh Merlin, where are we!" James said in panic.
Behind him, the head of a dolphin popped out of the water and turned into a girl's.
"I guess we're in the painting." Jane said. "Look there. Isn't that the ship we just saw in the picture?"
Indeed, it was. The magnificent ship was slowly approaching them. However, Jane felt quite embarrassed when she realized that the people on the ship were craning their necks and looking at them curiously.
"We have to swim away from this ship as fast as we can. It might be a pirate ship." Sirius said.
They began to swim, but the ship moved much faster than them. Soon, they felt too tired to swim, and the cold water stiffened their legs. The ship caught up with them in a minute.
Jane felt hopeless. Is it too late for me to become a dolphin now? she thought.
Just then, a white figure dived into the water from the ship, and ropes were also lowered.
"They are trying to help us!" Remus said with a smile. "We are saved!"
"The sailors on board are just kind muggles." James added.
The person who jumped into the water tied the rope around their waists, and the people on board waited for the right moment to pull the children safely onto the deck so that they would not be scraped by the ship's side. Soon, they all stepped onto the deck. The last person to come up was the stranger who dived off the ship to save them. The sailors called him "King Caspian" but in fact he was very young.
Gradually, the people on board went away, and they were left alone. James was quite curious about the magnificent ship and wanted to find out more about it.
"Why not have a look at the cabin over there?" he asked.
"Of course." Remus said calmly. "But firstly, let's find out where we are."
"We're on a ship, obviously." Sirius replied. "I think the people here are extraordinary. Their designs are brilliant." (For the designs, he refers to the ship's solid construction and unique shape - the shape of a dragon.)
"Look!" James said suddenly. He pointed to the prow of the ship, which was shaped as the dragon's head. A mouse was sitting in its mouth beside the fangs. Fully dressed and holding a miniature sword in his hands, it was looking carefully at the sea ahead like a competent lookout.
"Oh Merlin." Jane said in amazement as she walked towards the prow. The others followed.
"The Room of Requirement never leads to boring places." Sirius said. "Let's explore the whole ship, shall we?"
"Well, of course!" James shouted in excitement, jumping up and down. "The journey begins. Let's go!"
The noise successfully got the attention of the mouse, who looked around in surprise.
"Uh-oh." Remus said. For the second time that day, James was hit hard on his back.
The mouse looked curiously at them. "Ladies and Gentlemen-"
"There is only one lady here." Sirius interrupted.
The mouse stared at him resentfully. Then it continued, "Lady and Gentlemen, welcome aboard. You can call me Reepicheep."
"Who's the owner of this ship?" Remus asked.
"King Caspian." Reepicheep answered. "Are you friends with King Edmund and Queen Lucy?"
The children looked at the mouse in confusion.
"Who's King Edmund and Queen Lucy, please?" Jane asked politely.
"They are the ancient rulers of Narnia. Don't you know about them?" the mouse asked.
"No, we don't." Remus said after a pause. "Are they also on this ship?"
Noticing the curious look on Reepicheep's face, he added, "We would like to have a meeting with them if they have spare time."
"Sure." the mouse said, and led them to a cabin.
The cabin was small but bright, and there were many paintings on the walls. Birds, dragons, herbs and ugly-looking creatures had been drawn out in great detail.
To their surprise, however, the king and the queen were nowhere to be seen. There were only two children sitting beside a table in the room, eating snacks leisurely and chatting with each other. Jane was confused. She wanted to ask Reepicheep a few more questions, but he was not there.
The six children looked at each other in silence.
"Where are Your Majesties?" Remus asked.
The girl chuckled. "You might not believe it, but I'm Queen Lucy." she said.
"And I'm King Edmund, her elder brother," said the boy.
What a surprise, Jane thought. Two children, wearing shirts and eating snacks, were the king and queen here. How could that be possible?
Sirius thought the same way. "You must be joking!" he said, making a face at his friends. "Your Majesty, excuse me, but you seem to be a few inches shorter than me." he said to Edmund with a deep bow, then straightened up and laughed.
"Be quiet, Sirius. It was very rude of you to say so." Remus said.
Sirius ignored him. What was worse, James thought it was funny too, and before long, both of them began to make fun of Edmund.
Through constant joking and their impolite behavior, they finally angered the King. In fact, Lucy and Edmund had been telling the truth, for they were indeed the ancient rulers of an old kingdom called Narnia. Since they looked much younger than they really were, they quite understood Sirius who didn't believe them, but he was so fond of asking for trouble that Edmund had to take action.
"I was already kind enough not to ask you to kneel. Don't look down on me just because I look young. I'm Edmund the Just!" he said boldly.
"What a nice title you have given yourself!" James sniggered.
Just then, Reepicheep the mouse came in.
"I think I heard - raised voices." he said, bowing to Edmund and looking suspiciously at James and Sirius.
"So, are they really King Edmund and Queen Lucy?" asked Remus cautiously.
Reepicheep looked at him as if he was the most foolish person in the world, then nodded.
James and Sirius looked as if they had been struck by lightning. However, instead of apologizing immediately, they stood firmly with their heads up and looked at Edmund suspiciously. "We won't leave until you prove it." they said together.
The mouse ignored them. "Get out and find yourself a place to stay. Don't force me to use my sword."
"What will you do to us with your sword?" James asked innocently.
Remus glared at him, and pushed the others out of the cabin.