Exploring

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Rose Landers

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Rose wandered around the sixth floor corridor, exploring her new surroundings. There was a crimson carpet lining the center of the hall and there were of course pictures all around. The people in the pictures chatted happily while she walked further down the hallway. As she kept walking she noticed that the pictures were turning into darker ones...scenes of naked trees against an inky black sky, a still lake with a dark figure moving smoothly under it's surface. These pictures along with the dimmer lights sent a shiver down Rose's spine as she felt a very cold draft coming from behind a nearby suit of armor. She walked over to it with some trepidation and found out that the draft was coming from a small crack in the wall. Upon closer inspection she saw that it was a tiny door. Rose glanced up and down the hallway, debating on whether or not she should enter. On one hand, she thought, this could be exciting. Yet, on the other more frightening hand, no one would know where she was if something should happen to her, and she had no idea what was on the other side of the door. Taking a deep breath, Rose made up her mind and grabbed hold of the tiny door and pulled it open. It was completely dark in the small corridor. Thank goodness Dad taught me this spell, she thought as she pulled her wand from her robe. "Lumos!" she shouted and a pale green light appeared on the tip of her wand, casting an eerie glow on the otherwise dark crawlspace. She leaned in further to get a better look and saw that just past the crawlspace was a larger room. The crawlspace was blanketed with thick cobwebs, which announced that no one had been through there in a long time.

Taking a deep breath, Rose knelt down and began to crawl through, but she stopped when she thought she heard someone walking behind her. As quickly as she could, Rose backed out of the tiny door and closed it behind her.
 
"BOO!" the stranger yowled as the frightened Rose turned around, her face white with shock. After laughing quite heartily, Estrella giggled with a mischievious grin, "It's only me. I was looking all over for you. Man, this place is so huge. Just exploring?" As Rose nodded, Estrella exclaimed, "If you're looking for trouble, make sure I'm with you! You surely wouldn't let your friend miss out on the fun! Hey, that place you just found," Estrella whispered, keeping her voice low, "We should both check it out together. But maybe," she added bubbily, "you could wipe the cobwebs from your hair." Estrella waited expectantly for a retort from her wandering and awestruck friend.
 
Rose grasped her chest and tried to catch her breath as the smiling face of Estrella stood in front of her. Rose started to laugh in spite of herself and reached up and pulled cobwebs from her brown hair. "You scared me to death!! What are you doing here? I was just getting ready to go in that little crawlspace, but I don't know what's on the other side. Are you sure you want to go with me? It could be really dangerous." Rose hoped that her friend would want to go anyway; the thought of going alone was really scary to Rose.
 
“Hey!” shouted Alex down the sixth floor corridor. “Hey there, hold up!” He ran down to two young girls about his age. “Hello, I’m Alex Mosier,” then held out his hand in a welcome, “Your names would be? Well, I see you found one of the many hidden passages around here. These old magical places always have plenty of them. I’ve never been all the way through, after 45 minutes to an hour I usually stop and hang out to read something. You mind if I join you, it would be a change to not be alone in this castle for once?”
 
"I don't mind if Rose doesn't!" Estrella said with a smile. "I'm Estrella Drage. We're both Ravenclaws. What house are you from?" She waited patiently upon the new boy's answer.
 
“Oh, I’m a Gryffindor. Like I said, I’ve been here a few times, but never quite reached the end. So, what are you into?” said Alex, at last, he met someone from Hogwarts.
 
"Well, I'm not sure what I'm into yet, we haven't had any classes yet. But Charms and Transfiguration do sound like they're going to be interesting," Estrella replied. "I say we go into the tunnel to figure out what's on the other side. Classes aren't starting yet anyway!"
 
"Fine by me. Shall I lead, or is it 'Ladies first'? Ha, 'Lumos'"
 
Estrella repeated the spell Alex had muttered, and sure enough, her wand glowed with light. All three stepped into the little tunnel. "I think I'm getting the hang of it. Magic, I mean." The space was cramped, and they had to crouch as they walked in single file, their hair and robes collecting threads upon threads of gossamer cobwebs.
"Ugh," Estrella muttered. She shrieked, however, as she heard a loud bang behind her, and she looked behind Alex to see that the door to the crawlspace had closed behind them.
Pointing her wand at the closed portal, she muttered, "I think I remember one my dad used to use." Scrunching her face up comically, she blurted, "Ahloh, mora, um, Alohomora!" Nothing happened. The three new friends were trapped.
 
Rose began to panic. She wasn't really claustrophobic, but she wanted out as quickly as possible. She squeezed past Estrella and started scratching against the doorway out. "Please, why won't it open!! OPEN!!!" And the door swung open easily on its hinges, squeaking angrily as it did. Gasping for breath, Rose dove into the dark room, Estrella and Alex following. The room was completely dark, not even a bit of sunlight came through. "Lumos" Rose said in a shaky voice and gasped at what she saw.
 
"Yeah... thats never happened. I guess we have to go all the way through this time. What do you think this place is? Everyone, feel around for a door, there used to be one right here, but... Calm down Rose, everything is going to be fine, we're going to find a way out, just be calm. Come here," said Alex, reaching his arms out to get a loose grip on the two girls. He was always told to make sure everyone else was ok before himself.
 
Estrella gasped with Rose as she saw what was revealed under the glow of her friend's wand. Treasures of all sorts littered the room, odd things of every sort coated with dust and littered with cobwebs. She shrieked as she saw what looked like a rat creep under a rusted statue of armor, unmistakeably medieval. Magic hung about the place in a thick cloud, making their heads heavy.
 
"Whoa, look at all this. What do you say, before finding a way out, we all take one, just one, piece of our surroundings, you know, as a little momentum of this place." said Alex in his normal enthusiastic voice. "Do you know what kind of Dark magic could lay within these hidden rooms?"
 
Rose smiled at Alex's suggestion and cautiously walked over and picked up a small golden goblet. As soon as her hand closed on it, a burning sensation shot up her arm and into her chest. She dropped the goblet and spun around just as a loud crash came from her left and the room went completely dark again. She couldn't see what the sound was but reached out in the dark for her friends.
 
In the excitement Estrella had dropped her wand. "Lumos, somebody?" she pleaded. "I lost my wand." When someone responded, a light appeared, and she saw that her wand had rolled a few feet away to the shoes of the armor suit. She picked it up waveringly, and when her light fell upon Rose, she screamed as she saw the dark figure that was to the side of her friend. "Petrificus Totalus!" she screamed, using a spell that she had learned from "Self-Defensive Spellwork." The thing was a mass of darkness, a creature that was not human. They must have awoken it from its slumber. The ugly thing, only slowed like a zombie from the spell, raised a wavering hand, pointing at the frightened kids and hissing, "I want blood."
"Oh, my god, it's a vampire!" Estrella screamed. "Run!" Find some way outta here!"
 
Alex held his wand high, and in the clearest voice he could make at the moment, he shouted "Incarcerous!" The spell didn't work the first time, so he tried again. The third time he tried, "Incarcerous!" a seris of thick ropes sprang from no where and held the vampire in his place. "Lets get out of here!" he shouted as he grabbed the two girls arms and ran to the other side of the dark room. "Lumos!"
 
But there was not a door to be seen. "Maybe it's hidden," Estrella shrieked impatiently. She did not exactly relish the idea of being bit by a vampire. "Only if we had a spell for passageways to reveal themselves," she muttered. Frantically, they all beat their hands against the wall, all the while keeping their hands on the approaching monster. All of a sudden, Estrella heard a click, and a tiny door opened, just big enough for all of them to squeeze through, light pouring through the opening.
 
Rose pushed through the doorway with her friends and fell into a room bathed in light. It was warm in this room, a little too warm. Rose looked around and saw giant pieces of glass lining the walls. The glass burned hot and created an inferno in the room. Rose turned around and looked at her friends, wondering what they should do. Do they stay in the orange, hot room, or go back to the room with the Vampire?
 
"Holy man!" Estrella exclaimed. "It is too hot in here!" Her face immediately was coated with pearls of sweat. "How are we going to get out of this one?" They had slammed the door on the bound vampire; hopefully it would not find a way through.
 
Rose started feeling around the edges of the burning room. "Hey, Estrella! What was that charm you said out at the lake? It made water come out of your wand. Maybe it would cool down the wall enough for me to feel for a door."
 
Pointing her wand at the door, Estrella muttered quietly, "Aguamenti!" The door hissed and steamed as the water hit its scalding surface.
 
With the wall still steaming, Rose pushed her fingertips into the groove of the door. She felt a lever poking our and took a chance; she pulled the lever. A loud wooshing sound filled the room and all the fires went out. "Come on! Let's get out of here!" She shouted over the din. They could hear the vampire trying to break through into the room they were in.
 
They reached a winding staircase, and slamming the door behind them, they ran as they ascended, and the air became much cooler. "I hope we're outta here soon," Estrella murmured. Even though she enjoyed going on adventures, this one had really unsettled her. She became alarmed when she saw the shimmery veil that was her only escape, but she could see people behind it from far off. Chancing it, she stepped out of the seeming barrier, and found herself on the fifth floor, right next to a statue. The passage she had just entered through was a giant mirror, and when she pushed on it from the outside, it did not budge. The others followed through. "You think we should tell the headmistress?" Estrella asked worriedly. "About the vamp and everything?"
 
Alex looked at the two girls. His face suddenly streacked with a smirk. "Naw"
 
"All right," Estrella sighed worriedly. "I don't think he'll be able to get out, at least I hope so. We really should block that small entrance, so nobody else gets hurt."
She gave a gasp of horror however as she saw the blood pouring over her hands. "I should probably go to the hospital wing, just to fix this." With an attempt at a knowing smile, she reminded them, "Remember, try to meet me in the Forbidden Forest sometime this week!" She winked, but her eyes were gaunt.
 
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