MJs Hogwarts Journal Chapter 37

Wednesday 22^nd January

This was it. Today was the day that the three of us agreed to go and hunt of the Room of Requirement. After our Flying lesson (that ended early, because Seamus and Trevor got into a fight flying and ended out sending one another to the infirmary) Jed and I found Josie in the library. It was actually quite lucky that Seamus and Trevor ended out in the Hospital Wing really, because it meant that most of Slytherin would be visiting Trevor. So, it would be less likely that anyone would notice if Jed and I disappeared for a while.

As Jed and I approached Josie, the first thing that I noticed was that she was reading ‘Hogwarts a History’. The second was that she had tied her hair up. She looked different. Thinner – if that is even possible. Placing my hands on her shoulder, I looked down at her and asked, “You ready?” Spinning her head towards me, Josie nodded. Closing the book, Josie twisted herself over the edge of the chair.

“Actually… before we go, I want to confess something,” Josie admitted. She looked up and Jed and I and waited for us to look at her before shooting her sight to the floor. Gripping her stomach with one hand, Josie ran the other along her collar bone. Frowning, she said, “I… I may have asked Fabian whether he knows about the Room of Requirement.” She glanced up at us, but before Jed or I could respond, she quickly added, “I didn’t tell him anything. I just wondered had he heard of it.”

“And…?” I asked.

“Kind of,” Josie said with a shrug. “He told me that he’d heard of it. He knows it’s a room that you can only find when you’re in desperate need of it. He has no idea if it’s real or not though. He said he thinks it’s plausible, but he’d never given it much thought.”

“Why’d you ask him?” Jed snarled. “He’s not gonna grass on us, is he, if we get caught?”

“Jed,” I scolded. “Fabian’s not like that. He’s Josie’s friend and she was only trying to find out more.” Before I said anything more, I turned to Josie. “You didn’t tell him, did you?” I asked her.

“Of course not,” she replied. “I’m not stupid.” This was meant for Jed. I could see it was going to be one of them days.

Leaving the library, the three of us made our way down the corridor. This is the point where you realise just how huge the school really is. We had to pass the Great Hall and through the courtyard towards the Astronomy tower. That sounds rather easy, but in actual fact it takes nearly ten minutes to accomplish this sort of trek. Reaching the other side of the school, we were stood in the same entrance way that leads up to the Astronomy tower. This was the only part of Hogwarts that went up seven floors – I already knew that from all of the ‘Hogwarts a History’ reading that we had been doing whilst looking for information on the key. See it’s like I said before, we were learning, just without the actual homework.

The staircase began in the turret. Spiralling upwards, we climbed around and around and around. There were a few occasions where a few of the steps widened and a corridor opened off to the right. I never noticed that before when we were walking to Astronomy. That’s probably because it was lighter, at this time, than what it is at midnight. The castle walls looked similar to that of the winding staircase that leads to the dungeons: they were old and crumbling. I tried not to press my hands against the walls too often.

Spiralling round and round made me feel a little sick. Again, this is not something that I notice when climbing up the stairs at midnight on Thursdays. We had to be approaching the top when Josie asked us, “Do you think we need to turn off soon?” At first, I frowned at her, but she was right. We did need the highest corridor in the school, but at the same time, we didn’t need the Astronomy classroom, which is the only room at the very top of the stairs. However, we didn’t know which turn off we needed. It should have been logical – we needed the seventh floor, so it was the seventh one, but none of us had really paid that much attention as to how many corridor openings we had passed along the way. “Why don’t you listen to me?” Josie had cried when Jed and I agreed to keep walking up.

“‘Cause,” Jed said over his shoulder. “You could be wrong.”

“So could you,” she retorted folding her arms. I swear, it was a good job that I was in between them.

Of course, Josie was right. The three of us had climbed all of the way to the top of the tower, only to find ourselves faced with the door to the Astronomy classroom and nothing else. No corridor, no passageway, nothing. So, we climbed back down a few stairs, until we found the first corridor leading off the stairs on the way down. Josie muttered an, “I told you so,” under her breath. I don’t think Jed heard her – luckily, but I did.

The corridor was empty. Just a brick wall and a dusty floor. Was I expecting something more – maybe. To our left, a small staircase appeared. Before I could let the two of them argue, I decided straight away that we would climb it. There were only seven stairs, before we reached a wall and the stairs continued to our right. There were seven again, then we were stood in another corridor. It was dark up here. Very dark. The corridor in front of us was long, but there appeared to be something at the end of it. We walked along it in silence. I have no idea what Jed and Josie were thinking, but at this point, my stomach started doing cartwheels. I had to hold a hand to it, as I felt my insides swirl. My palms grew sweaty and I rolled up my sleeves. Beside me, Jed fiddled with the knot of his tie. Josie pulled her sleeves around her wrists, but this has become such a common trait of hers, I have no idea if this is actually significant or not – I guess she’s just always nervous.

As the end of the corridor got nearer, it became a little brighter. I think there was a window nearby, somewhere to the far-off right. As the light reflected off a shining surface, I squealed. Jed and Josie both stopped. I turned around to face them. “What?” I asked.

“Are you okay?” they said in unison.

“I’m fine,” I beamed. Spinning on my heels, I turned back around. “We’ve found it,” I told them. “We’ve found the Room of Requirement.” Jed and Josie both rushed to my sides as I quickened my pace.

There they were. Two suits of armour standing either side of a blank wall. My smile stretched across my face as I stared at the suit of armour on the left. “Sir Knight was right,” I cheered, turning to Jed. “He said we’d find it here and we did.”

 “Don’t go celebrating yet,” Jed warned, placing a hand on my shoulder. With his face so serious, my smile drained. “We don’t know yet whether this is the right place.”

“Or if the room really exists,” I added, as my eyes dropped to the floor.

“The room only opens to someone who needs it,” Josie said as she took a step towards the wall and stroked her hand across it. “But no one ever finds it again.” Turning to face us she said, “It’s because when they come back they aren’t desperate for what they wanted the first time… they just want to find the room again – we need to make sure that we think carefully about what we’re after. If we just want to find the room, we’ll never find it.”

“Right,” Jed agreed. What? He followed that? To me that was just confusing. How was it that he understood her, yet they spend most of the time bickering?

Curling her fingers over the edge of her blouse, Josie pulled out the key. Holding it tight in her palm, Josie closed her eyes. “I want to find what this key unlocks,” she breathed. Nothing happened.

“Don’t you need to walk past the room three times?” I reminded her – I’m sure that’s what it said in the book.

“Yeah,” she replied, looking over at me. “But I need to really need the room, like desperately.” She turned to Jed. “Go down the corridor and act like Mister Filch,” she told him.

“What?” he laughed. “Are ya mad?”

“Jed,” she sighed with a pout. “I need you to pretend that you’re Mister Filch and that you’re going to get me for snooping around the castle or something. That way I’ll scared enough to desperately need to find the room and it should be an easy emotion to remember if we ever need to come back.”

Okay, it’s official; Josie’s completely mad. How on Earth…? Why would she…? I have no words for this. No words at all. Why can’t she just wish to find the thing that the key unlocks? That’s easy enough for me to remember. And why get Jed to do it? Does she not think I’m capable of imitating Filch? Well I guess Jed has gotten into trouble with Filch a lot. But why does she need to feel scared? Can’t she just wish hard enough to want to find the room? Surely, she more than any of us could just wish to find the room so badly, that it will just appear. On top of all that: How would her consciously knowing that Jed was pretending to do something help her to feel a real emotion of fear?

Surprisingly, Jed agreed. Again, no words. I’m not even going to go there. Jed raced down the corridor and Josie spun her back to him and faced the suits of armour. “Are yer ready?” Jed called to her, cupping his hands around his mouth. Closing her eyes, Josie inhaled a slow breath. Holding it for a few seconds, she puckered her lips and breathed out slow and steady. Gripping the key all the while, she opened her eyes and stared at the wall.

“Ready,” she whispered. I waved a hand over to Jed, signalling him to do whatever it was he was going to do.

Jed jumped. A bang echoed, as his shoes hit the floor. Josie flinched. “Blasted kids,” Jed croaked – I have to admit, he sounded just like the school caretaker. I wonder if Josie knew that. Stomping his feet on the ground, Jed began pacing towards us. Josie’s chest shook as her wrist, gripping the key at her neck, trembled. “Out a bed, are yer? Out a bounds too,” Jed boomed. “That’ll be double detention when I catch ya – Ravenclaw scum.” For me, this was anything but scary. It was absolutely hysterical. Stomping his feet about and swinging his arms in the air, Jed looked like a wild monkey staggering towards us. And the way he spoke… it was a golden performance. I had no idea he could even imitate Filch, let along act so well.

I had to step away from Josie, in fear of putting her off. With my arms around my stomach, I let out silent giggles. Muttering under her breath, Josie pinched her eyes tight as she paced back and forth before the suits of armour. On her fourth turn, the floor vibrated. Throwing a hand to my mouth, I hid a gasp, as a doorway appeared in the wall. Its outline was so faint to begin with, but it became clearer and deeper within seconds. When the vibration stopped, Josie stood in front of the door and opened her eyes. I ran over to join her. Letting go of her necklace, Josie’s hand trembled as she stretched out for the door handle. “Gotcha!” Jed shouted throwing his hands on Josie’s shoulders from behind. She screamed. I jumped.

“Jed,” she cried, spinning around. He smirked at her. Pressing her hands to her chest, Josie began breathing deeply.

“Sorry,” Jed laughed. “I couldn’t help it.” I smiled at him. It was kind of funny. Josie turned back to face the door. She stood staring at it. “Well…?” said Jed, leaning over Josie’s shoulder. “This is it.” She nodded and reached for the door handle.

The door creaked as it opened, and we all stepped inside. Jed closed the door behind us. It latched, locking us inside. Looking around, I have to admit, I was kind of disappointed. We stood in a dimly lit room, about the same size as my bedroom back home. Two wooden clubs hung on the walls, opposite one another, with burning flames. Looking up, I couldn’t make out anything. The ceiling was black. The floor wasn’t much different. The room was empty. Nothing stood inside it, but the three of us. “Well at least ya found a good place to hide from Filch,” Jed said, as he nudged Josie with his elbow.

“It’s not right,” she muttered, gazing down at the ground. “I asked for the door for this key…” I placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Josie, don’t worry,” I told her with a smile. “We’ve found this ultra-cool, secret room. We could hide in here whenever we want.” She didn’t seem to be listening, staring at the floor the whole time.

Walking around to face her, something caught my eye. There was a small rectangular shadow on the ground. Dust and pieces of straw littered the floor beneath us (why straw I’ll never know, this was, after all, Josie’s thought-processed room). Crouching down, I swept the patch of floor, where I saw the shadow, with my hand. There was a ridge. Stroking the floor, my fingers found some sort of handle. I gasped. “Guys!” I breathed. “Look at this.” Placing both hands over the handle, I heaved it up.

“Whoa,” Jed said as Josie gasped. Jed stood over me and Josie knelt at my side, as the three of us stared down into a hole.

“Where does it go?” I asked, knowing that neither of them knew the answer. The only way to find out would be to drop down and investigate. “How deep d’you think the drop is?” asked Jed. I shrugged. Peering further over the trapdoor, Josie squeezed my arm as she looked over.

“Do you reckon the door is down there?” I asked, again knowing that neither of them knew.

“There’s only one way to find out,” muttered Jed. “One of us needs to drop down… if anything happens to them, the others have to run and get help – agreed?” Josie and I nodded at him. Dropping to his knees, Jed sat on the floor and pushed his legs over the edge.

“What d’you think you’re doing?” I shrieked.

“Promise me you’ll get help,” Jed said, as he stared at Josie. I have never seen Jed so serious. Even when he was threatening Blondie, there was never that look in his eyes. Was it fear? “Promise me.” We nodded. “You won’t come after me… find Snape.” Again, we nodded.

Closing his eyes, Jed took in slow, deep breaths. “Alright,” he said as he opened his eyes. Pressing his hands onto the ground behind him, he pushed himself forwards. “Here goes nothing,” he murmured. My heart slowed. It beat loudened. Bump… bump… bump. Watching Jed, shimmy over the edge, time slowed. Josie’s nails dug deeper and deeper into me. I had to clench my teeth to mask the pain. I wasn’t going to make her stop. She needed me and I needed her. If anything happened to Jed, not that I could bear to even think about it… it would be all our fault. Twisting himself around onto his front, Jed lowered himself down, until only his hands remained. “MJ… José…” Jed muttered, trying to stretch his head up to see us. Josie hugged my arm and I held her tight. “Thanks… for everything.” He let go.

Silence. Josie buried her head in my shoulder. She whimpered. It was my turn to dig my nails into her. I sniffed, feeling my eyes water. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. I felt her chest shake against me.

“Don’t be,” I told her. “Don’t be.”

“Hey!” came a distant call. We both jumped. Josie stared at me, wide eyed. I mirrored her. “I’m okay.” We threw our heads over the trap door. “I landed on some strange plant thing!” Jed called up to us. “It’s a soft landing. You can jump.” Turning to each other, Josie and I broke into smiles. Jed was okay. He had made it. Although the trap door was small, Josie and I agreed to drop down together. Taking each other’s hand tight, we closed our eyes and on the count of three, jumped together.

We bounced. The landing was sort of springy, like a trampoline. “Are you girls okay?” asked Jed. I could hear him, but I couldn’t see him. It was too dark.

“I think so,” Josie muttered.

“What is this stuff?” I asked, feeling whatever I had landed on creep around me. I know Jed had said it was plant, but seemed to tighten around my limbs.

“I think it’s here to break the fall,” said Jed. “But,” he added. “It’s pulling on me.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. Whatever it was had wrapped itself around my ankles. It tightened and began creeping up my legs. Whimpering, I began to wriggle.

“Get offa me,” Jed growled. I could hear him fighting against the plant too.

“Stop!” Josie cried. “Stop moving the both of you.” Trying hard not to pull at the plant as it wrapped itself around me, I turned in the direction of Josie’s voice. “I think it’s Devil’s Snare.”

“So what?” yelled Jed. “Who cares what it’s called. It’s gonna swallow us.” Jed had the same sinking feeling that I did. As the plant crept further and further up us, soon we wouldn’t be able to breathe.

“Didn’t the two of you pay attention in Herbology this morning?” she screamed. “It strangles anything that moves,” she warned. “So, stay still.”

“Well what in Merlin’s name do we do?” exclaimed Jed. I could hear the scream of panic in his voice. I swallowed.

“Hold on, hold on,” Josie cried. “Devil’s Snare… hates light and warmth… Incentutum!” A wave of blue flames danced around us. The vines at my legs loosened. They slithered underneath me. I dropped. The blue flames faded. “Incentutum,” Josie exclaimed again. Sparks of blue flashed before me. The vines swept apart below me. I felt myself fall again. Josie repeated the spell. The vines wriggled. We fell once more.

My back hit the ground. Wincing I ran a hand across the back of my head. “Lumos,” said Josie. A sparkle of light appeared at the end of her wand. “Are you both okay?” she asked, shining her wand towards us. I held a hand in front of my face as Jed groaned.

“Apart from a bruised butt I’m fine,” he groaned as he clambered to his feet. He held a hand out towards me. Taking it, I thanked him as he hauled me up. Slipping a hand up his jumped, Jed pulled out his wand. I did too. We both performed the Lumos charm that Josie did, producing a beam of light from our wands’ tips.

Shining my wand in one direction, there was a brick wall. Turning the other way, Jed and Josie were already taking steps in the other direction. I raced after them. The three of us remained silent as we walked down the dark path. The corridor appeared very much like the room that we appeared in in the Room of Requirement. The walls were dark, crumbly and covered in cobwebs. At one point, I pressed my hand against the wall and a spider crept over my fingers. Shuddering, I jerked my hand away.

The further we walked, the corridor narrowed. At first, the three of us had been walking side by side, but now Jed led the way, with Josie behind him and me following up behind. I liked being at the back. I was able to keep an eye on both of them, making sure that they were safe. Had I been leading, I would have to keep turning back every few seconds to make sure that they were both alright.

“Whoa,” Jed gasped as he stood still. He held a hand back, stopping Josie or I from getting closer. “Stairs,” he said turning to face us. “Look.” Jed shone his wand down and Josie and I peered over his shoulder. A spiralling staircase crept lower below the castle. As if we hadn’t fallen low enough already. “Careful,” Jed muttered, as he led the way. I’m not sure what made these stairs so scary. They weren’t any different from the spiral staircase that leads down into the Slytherin dungeons. I guess it was the not knowing. Anything could be down there. My stomach grew heavy. I hadn’t eaten since lunch, yet it felt like I’d been feasting all afternoon. My heart raged inside of me. Each step, my legs shook. Pressing a hand to the inside wall of the spiral, I leant against it.

There was a glow. Light appeared to emerge from the end of the stairs. Jed urged us to put out the lights on our wands, in case someone was lurking about and noticed the extra light. At the bottom of the stairs, Jed peered his head out to glance around. Josie and I held out breath and leant back against the wall. “Come on,” Jed hissed, waving an arm for us to follow onwards. “I think it’s safe.”

Stepping out of the stairway, we appeared to be in a corridor somewhere in the school. The walls were well lit by candle light, just like in the corridors around the castle. The bricks had returned to their yellowing brown of the main castle, as opposed to the greying colour that we had seen since our travels began. “Are we back in the school?” I whispered, although now part of me realises that we never actually left the school. I meant were we back in the main building. Neither of them answered me. We carried on following the corridor. There was still only one way to go.

Pointing up ahead, Jed whispered, “Look, a door.” It looked a lot like the rest of the doors in the school. The only difference was, there was a small window-like hole just above my eye-line that have vertical bars through it. Standing on his toes, Jed peered into the window. Pressing himself against the door, he held a breath. He exhaled has he lowered himself down. “I can’t see anything,” he told us. “The room looks empty.” Pushing his weight against the door, he gave it a push. Nothing happened.

Getting out my wand I pointed it towards the door, waved my wrist in an ‘s’ shape and said, “Alohomora.” Jed pushed the door again. It still wouldn’t budge.

“Bet it’s locked by key,” Jed mumbled. My eyes widened. I looked at Jed. His mouth parted as he stared at me. I smiled at him and the two of us turned to Josie. Seeing us smile, the corner of her mouth turned up too. Reaching her hands behind the back of her neck, Josie untied her necklace. Looking down at the key in her hands, her eyes sparkled.

“This is it,” she whispered. This was the moment that we had all been waiting for since Josie first found the key, on Hallowe’en night.

Holding the key out in front of her, Josie’s arm hesitated towards the lock. The metal scraped the surface. She lowered her hand. Turning towards us, Josie said, “What if it’s not the right key?” I frowned at her. “What if it doesn’t open this door? What if it-”

“José,” Jed laughed. Gripping her shoulders, he shook her. “This is it. It has to be.” She looked over at me and I smiled back. Pinching her lips in, she nodded, before turning back towards the door. “At a girl,” said Jed as he patted her on the back. Sliding the key i to the lock, Josie twisted her wrist to the right. There was a click, followed by a rhythmical scrape. We gasped. Josie pulled the key out of the lock. She looked over her shoulder at me then Jed. Leaning against the door, together we heaved it open.

Metal screeched as the hinges creaked. We slipped inside, pushing the door to behind us. At least with its noise, we would know if someone was coming. Stepping further inside the room, I noticed that there were several wooden clubs, burning with flames dotted around the room. Unlike the corridor that we had just come from though, the walls were black and slimed with moss. Cobwebs drooped from the wooden beams above. I had to duck my head, as we ventured through an archway and into the next room. Straw littered the floor. It was piled up in heaps all around the room. I clasped my hand to my nose. Turning to Jed and Josie, I noticed that they had done the same. My eyes watered as my stomach heaved. I held my breath. A thick odour of dung and decay hung in the air. I pressed my teeth down against my tongue.

Squealing behind her hand pressed against her mouth and nose, Josie’s eyes widened in alarm as she pointed. I spun my head to the wall closest to my right. Staggering back, I felt my voice-box squeak against my will. A huge lump of greeny flesh, dressed in a brown toga-like sack lay face-up on the ground. It was larger than the giant, Hagrid – much larger. Its ankles were chained to posts on the ground. Its arms hung from the wall where its wrists were also chained. Its belly rose and contracted as we stared. A snore sounded from its throat as saliva drooled from his mouth. “Troll!” Jed hissed. Pulling Josie’s arm, Jed led us along the outskirts of the room and through the next archway.

I was hoping that the smell would disappear. It was weaker, but it still felt my stomach try to push its way into my throat. My eyes flickered. All this holding my breath was making my head spin. We needed to get out of here. Gripping my forehead, I prodded my thumb and forefinger to my temples. Josie stroked a hand against my arm. “You okay?” she whispered. I nodded. A breeze swept into the room. Josie and I frowned at one another. A fresh, woodland scent wafted its way into our nostrils. We turned to Jed. He could smell it too. There were no windows down here or a door to lead outside. My eyes danced around the room, trying to find out where the fresh air was coming from. The only thing in the room, besides more shackles in the walls and glowing lanterns, was a crate pushed up against the wall. It was pretty huge – about waist high. Approaching it, me and Jed dragged it away from the wall. I expected it to be heavy, but it pulled back with ease. We gasped. There was a hole in the wall. Needing desperately to get away from the smell of the troll, without giving the adventure ahead a single thought, we crawled through.

We were outside. Thick bushes lay against the castle walls, where we had just crawled from. Masses of trees surrounded us. On all sides of us lay a dark path and masses of trees and bushes. The sky was getting dark. “Don’t light your wands,” Jed warned, holding up a hand. Looking around, I held onto Jed’s arm, and Josie hugged herself onto mine. “I’m guessing we’re in the Forbidden Forest,” Jed whispered. “But we could be close to Hagrid’s.” Looking up at the sky, Jed appeared to be searching for a particular star. He looked left, then right, before deciding to lead us down the path on our left. Logic told me to go right, but I didn’t want to interfere, after all, Jed had done alright leading us so far.

“Jed,” Josie whispered, pointing at the ground a little ahead of us, something seemed to shimmer. “What’s that?” As we neared it, I let go of Jed’s arm. He crouched down on the ground to examine it.

“Not sure,” he mumbled. Sliding his wand out of his pocket, Jed muttered, “Lumos.” Josie and I crouched down beside him as he hovered the glow of his wand over the shimmer. In the light it shone bright silver, twinkling. Brushing two fingers across it, Jed brought them up towards himself and rubbed them between his thumb. “Still not sure…” he told us. “But it’s warm.”

Standing back up, Jed aimed the glow of his wand over the shimmers trail. We followed it. It led straight on, towards some bushes. The silver was splattered all over leaves and branches. Bushing the branches out of the way, the three of us clambered through them. As the shimmering trail continued it grew thicker. “Jed,” Josie squeaked, pulling my arm back, as I took a step further. Turning to her, she stood pointing ahead. Her bottom lip trembled, as her eyebrows narrowed. Turning to where she pointed, I gasped. Lying on the ground was a white unicorn. An actual unicorn – you know, like a horse, but with a horn in the centre of its head. It was dripping with the silver sparking liquid. Something black shimmied across it. We screamed. It threw its head towards us. I turned back before I could see it.

“Run!” Jed yelled. I already was. My cheeks stung. I threw my legs one in front of the other. My heart raced, crashing against my ribcage. Something growled. We screamed again. “Faster!” Jed roared. I followed the silver splatters. It was the only way I knew the way back. Branches scratched at my face. Leaves stuck in my hair. Still we ran.

Reaching the wall of the castle, Jed yelled, “In, in, in!” rolling his wrist towards the crack that we had crawled from. Grabbing Josie’s arm, I pushed her towards it. She scurried though. I followed her. On the other side, Jed’s head appeared. I threw a hand towards him and yanked him forwards by his sweatshirt. Running to the crate, we shoved it back in front of the hole. Leaning back against the wall, Josie panted. “That won’t hold it,” Jed warned. Following him, we ran back through the room of the troll. Darting through the door, Josie locked it behind us.

I threw my head back and pinched my eyes shut. Breathing heavily, I clawed a hand threw my hair. “What the heck was that?” I gasped. Moving my legs in front of me, I slid my back down the wall. Josie flopped at my left side and Jed my right.

“No idea,” said Jed. “But that… that oh my go-”

“It killed the unicorn…” Josie said, her voice shaking. “It takes a lot to slay a unicorn.” She looked up at us.

“I know,” Jed muttered.

We sat there in silence. How long had passed, I don’t know. I lost all sense of time. As my chest slowed down, I dragged my hands across my face. My hands trembled. My cheeks were damp. I rubbed my eyes. They stung. Inhaling, I let out a shaky breath. “We should keep going,” Jed mumbled. I turned to him and nodded. Clambering to my feet, I held a hand out for Josie. She took it and I heaved her up. She staggered back. I gasped.

“José!” I cried. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she murmured, gripping one hand to her head, as she leant against the wall. She seeped a deep breath. “I’m fine.” She gripped an arm around her stomach and pushed herself off from the wall. Jed and I stared at her. “I’m fine,” she said again, this time irritated. “Jed’s right. We need to get back.”

As we made our way back along the corridor, I offered Josie my shoulder to lean against. She refused, still insisting that she was fine. She wasn’t, but I had to pretend that I accepted it. She walked behind me too, which I didn’t like. As Jed led the way, he kept turning back to make sure that the two of us were okay. Climbing the stairs was an effort. After all the running that we did my knees refused to cooperate. Gripping my nails into the wall, my arms trembled as I continued to push myself up. Soon the light from the corridor behind us faded and we got our wands out, casting the Lumos spell.

The stairs went on forever. We climbed and climbed and climbed. Reaching the top of the spiral staircase, another staircase appeared before us. This definitely wasn’t there before. We fell from the Devil’s Snare and followed the only path. “Where in Merlin’s name did they come from?” exclaimed Jed.

“It’s Wednesday,” said Josie plainly. I turned to her. “The stairs move on a Wednesday.” That’s true, but did this mean that the stairs were there before, they were just facing a different way and we didn’t see them? Or does it mean that whilst we were down in the troll dungeon the entire corridor turned around? This castle just gets weirder and weirder.

“Well we’re not climbing up through that plant,” I declared. “Not if it strangles you the more you move. We’ll get killed. It’s stairs or nothing.”

Josie was right. The stairs did move. Whilst we were climbing them, we were all flung to the left as the staircase spiralled around. It was like being on a rollercoaster, only without the seats or seatbelts. I fell into Jed and Josie tumbled into me. As the staircase steadied itself, we continued to climb. Reaching the top, we were in a corridor full of light. Well it wasn’t as bright as the main corridor leading to the Great Hall, but it was fairly close. The walls looked more familiar too. Lanterns and the occasional flamed club lined the walls. There were doors too – only a few. They were wooden and arched up to a point. We didn’t dare go near any of them though.

Turning the corner, Jed spotted a balcony edge. We ran over to it. Looking down we could see other staircases leading to other corridors. We were back in the main part of the school. My shoulders relaxed as we all let out a breath. None of us recognised the corridor that we were on, but seeing a set of stairs going down, we knew that it was only a matter of time before we were on more familiar ground.

Walking down the staircase, someone called over to us from another. It was Fabian. Running down the steps of the staircase he was on, he rushed towards us. “What are you doing?” he gasped. “That’s the out-of-bounds corridor.” Josie ran towards him. Pressing her head into his chest, she hugged him. “What’s going on?” he demanded looked from me to Jed.

“We got lost,” Jed confessed with a shrug, as we neared him. “The staircase moved.” I nodded.

“That’s okay,” replied Fabian, as his expression softened. He rubbed a hand up and down Josie’s back, before resting his chin on her head. As Josie loosened her grip around Fabian, he led us all down the nearest corridor. The ground vibrated. I turned around. The staircase that we had just came from began moving back. “How’s about we get something to eat,” Fabian suggested. I couldn’t agree more. I was starving. I hadn’t realised it until Fabian mentioned food though, but I really was. My stomach growled – Jed’s did too.

“Great idea,” Jed agreed and the four of us walked towards the Great Hall.

*

I was so thankful that we made it back in time for dinner. All of that running about and screaming had made me feel so weak. Luckily for us, no one had realised that we were gone either. “Just say library,” Jed had said, “If anyone asks.” We spend a lot of our time in the library anyway, because of wanting to hang out with Josie, so there isn’t any reason for someone not to buy it.

This food had never tasted so good. I piled my plate with roast potatoes, a nice chunk of chicken and two ladle scoops of vegetables. I had a huge goblet full of berry flavoured squash too. Throughout dinner, I kept mostly to myself. It was lovely to hear the chatter of everyone else. To hear voices of laughter, petty arguments over the salt and pepper shakers and elaborated stories about how Trevor and Seamus ended out in the Hospital Wing. I looked up towards the teachers’ table and smiled as Professor Dumbledore caught my glance. He grinned back, raising his goblet towards me. Nothing bad could happen whilst Dumbledore was here. I’d heard that a fair few times. Seeing the Headmaster smile at me I giggled, but at the same time a spot of fear shivered up my spine. What if he knew? What if Professor Dumbledore knows what the three of us did… and what happened out there with that, that, that thing?

Jed nudged me. “Ya know what, MJ?” he asked.

“What?” I replied with a shrug.

“Notice how Fabian always shows up t’ save her,” he said pointing his fork, with a potato on the end, in Josie’s direction. I let out a nervous laugh, not really sure what Jed meant by that remark.

“You’re the one who said they’re like brother and sister,” I told him.

“I know,” said Jed. “But it’ll be fun t’ teaser her ‘bout it later,” he sniggered.

At least Jed didn’t seem too fazed by our little adventure earlier. I did want to make some sort of retort that he should leave Josie alone, but a bit of playful banter between the two of them shouldn’t hurt. If anything, it should take Josie’s mind of it all – mine too. Whatever we saw out there was really scary. I just hope that it stays outside.

- Josie -