Severus's Pensieve

Disclaimer: Weasleys are red, Ravenclaws are blue, I don't own Harry Potter, and neither do you.

Chapter 2: Adventure in the Dungeons

1971 ---

Marci and Jeanne sat at the Hufflepuff table in the Great Hall, devouring the pudding and sweets that had been served after dinner. They had both been fascinated with how the food magically appeared and disappeared with each course. There had been roast beef, fried chicken and mashed potatoes. For dessert there was pudding, banofee pie, and hot apple pie. The girls were just licking the last of the cream off their fingers when it all disappeared again, leaving the table clean and shinny.

"Whoa," Marci whispered. Jeanne giggled.

"Marc, it's not that impressive, you've seen Aunt Winnie banish stuff all the time!" Jeanne giggled again at Marci's amazement.

"Yea, but I've never seen her banish a whole hall full of food!" she exclaimed, spreading her arms wide, to encompass all the tables. "Can you imagine? Never doing dishes again!?" Marci said loudly, just as the headmaster stood up and the hall fell silent. Heads all over the hall turned to stare at her. Marci just grinned at the other students and focused on the headmaster.

"Welcome back, everyone," Headmaster Dumbledore said, raising his hands in welcome. "It is wonderful to see all of your smiling faces again. This is promising to be an exciting year! I am sure you are all ready for a good night's sleep before classes start in the morning so I will try and make this short and sweet. I would like to introduce you to our new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, Emmett Woods. Professor Woods joins us all the way from America. I'm sure you will all make him feel very welcome." A husky man, dressed in an open black teaching robe with jeans and a t-shirt underneath, stood up and gave a little bow.

Jeanne leaned over and whispered, "Marci, he's absolutely HUGE! Can you see his arms? They're bigger than my head!" Jeanne sat there gawking at the man. "What was he? A professional wrestler? I wonder where he's from." Jeanne turned around to face Marci again. "The headmaster said he was from America. Do you think he knows my mom and dad or my aunt?" Jeanne's eyes got wide at the thought.

"Probably, doesn't your aunt know everyone in the wizarding world in America? I mean, from what you've told me, there's a small wizarding population in the United States. We should ask her."

"Yea," Jeanne replied. "I'll owl her tonight! Then we can tell her about the sorting!" With that Jeanne gave Marci's arm a squeeze and squealed. It was obvious she was proud to be a Hufflepuff.

"Jeanne, Hufflepuff isn't exactly the best house to be in." Marci felt her cheeks flush; embarrassed she lowered her voice, hoping no one had heard. "Didn't your cousin call it the 'charity house'?" Marci made quotation marks with her fingers. "Didn't he say kids who don't belong anywhere else end up in Hufflepuff?"

"Yea, but that doesn't really matter does it? We're at Hogwarts! Who cares what house we're in." A couple students sitting around the girls turned their heads and glared; they were obviously upset the two first years were talking through the headmaster's speech. Jeanne lowered her voice. "Plus, didn't you hear the sorting hat? Hufflepuffs are kind and just and loyal. Those aren't bad qualities."

Marci wasn't convinced she wouldn't be laughed out of class tomorrow morning. "Yeah, I guess." Facing the front again, Marci just caught the end of the headmaster's speech.

"...and remember, the Forbidden Forest is strictly off limits unless you want a very untimely death. Now I'm sure you are all ready for a nice early night, so off you go. First years, please follow your prefects to the common room and goodnight!" With a flourish of his robes Professor Dumbledore left the Great Hall through a side door.

Marci and Jeanne sat up and followed the hoard of students towards the Entrance Hall, trying not to get separated. Marci just managed to grab hold of Jeanne's hand before another hoard of students from Ravenclaw cut them off from the rest of the Hufflepuffs.

As the girls reached the Entrance Hall the students started to taper off. The Ravenclaws and Gryffindors were slipping up the stairs and another mass of students were heading towards the dungeons and basement. Marci saw a fleeting yellow sweater and pulled Jeanne along in the crowd of students heading downward. She couldn't see anyone with any yellow on, it seemed she was being rushed through a river of green. Jeanne stopped dead and angry students pushed around them, telling her to get out of their way and to move. When the last of the students had passed Jeanne looked over at Marci, her face pale. "Marc, where'd all the Hufflepuffs go?" she whispered. "All I could see were Slytherins, all around us." Jeanne looked around, hoping to find a sign pointing her in the right direction but of course the locations of the common rooms were secret; only the members of each house knew where their common room was.

Marci furrowed her brows. "Well, someone said the Hufflepuff common room was called the Hufflepuff basement...so it's probably not too far down into the dungeons. Let's just keep walking and try not to go down any more flights of stairs. I'm sure we'll find it eventually." Marci began walking, never letting go of Jeanne's hand. The girls strolled down a corridor that was lined with green and yellow tapestries. "See Jeanne, the tapestries are yellow, I'm sure we're on the right track." The girls stopped to admire the tapestries for a moment. They each depicted a different wooded scene, some at twilight, some bright as mid-day. The more the girls watched, the more Marci felt like she was being sucked into the forest itself. "Can you feel it Jeanne?" Marci asked, reaching out her hand as if to touch the tapestries.

"Yea, the wind, it smells..."Jeanne trailed off.

"Sweet, like spring," Marci said, finishing her sentence.

The girls stood in awe of the tapestries as the wind began to pick up more and more. They watched the trees wave in the breeze and birds take flight. Marci felt the top of high grass tickling her knee.

"It's beautiful," Jeanne whispered.

They sat, staring at the trees as the wind began to blow around them harder and harder, Jeanne's long blonde hair whipped in her eyes and Marci's short spiky A-line was tousled. Jeanne took a step back, dragging Marci with her. "Come on, Marc, the wind, it's getting really strong. I feel like...I feel like I'm going to get pushed over." She tugged and tugged on Marci's hand but the other girl wouldn't move.

"No Jeanne, let's step into the tapestries. We could live in the spring and the field forever." Marci took a step towards the forest scene. The only thing stopping her from touching it was Jeanne's hand tugging on her own.

"Marci, these are bad pictures, they are trapping us, trying to get us stuck here, come on!" With the fear of being stuck in a picture forever, Jeanne tugged on Marci's hand toppling them both to the floor. "Come on! Marci! Now! Let's go!" Jeanne screamed. With an unusual strength and courage, Jeanne pulled Marci to her feet and began to run as fast as she could. As she ran down the hall, the wind became stronger until it was a full on storm. The tapestries billowed out from the wall, reaching for the girls, trying to trip them, trying to stop them from getting away. Finally Jeanne saw a small, dark corridor to the left. She dove in, toppling down a flight of stairs with Marci right behind her.

The girls landed at the bottom, one on top of the others. They sat there in silence, listening to one another catch their breath. Finally Marci spoke. "Thanks...thanks for saving me Jeanne. I just couldn't look away. I felt...like I couldn't control my own feet...like the meadow and forest were calling me."

Jeanne gave a gruff laugh. "Yeah, because those were enchanted tapestries. They enchanted you. That's what you were feeling. What is something like that doing in a school?" Jeanne finished, standing up and dusting off her robes. "Great, now we're down another flight of stairs and there is now way I'm going back up there," Jeanne said, pointing up the stair case.

Marci shivered thinking about walking back up that particular stair case. "No, we better find another way upstairs but I don't really want to walk down there either. It's dark and I don't think I like exploring the dungeons anymore. At least not until I know more about magic."

"Well, at least growing up with Aunt Winnie taught me something," Jeanne replied, lifting her wand. "Lumos," she said, giving it a little shake. The tip of her wand illuminated the dark passage. "Well, at least the walls are bare here."

"Whatever, let's get out of here." Marci jumped up and picked a cob web off her shoulder hoping there weren't any spiders crawling around on her. "Let's just keep walking until we find a staircase and just keep heading up until we get to the Entrance Hall, then we can find a teacher."

The girls grabbed hands again and continued to walk through the hall way. It seemed this corridor stretched on forever, curving around the castle. Eventually the girls came to an alcove with a bronze statue of a knight in it. The knight was holding his sword high, ready for battle. The girls didn't dare stay long to investigate. They continued on down the passageway. It wasn't long before they came across another statue of the knight with his sword in both hands, lunging forward. It startled the girls and they jumped back.

"It's only a statue, come on let's keep going," Marci said. The next statue they found the knight's helmet had been knocked off and he looked terrified; his sword lay limp in his hand. "This is weird," Marci whispered. Jeanne just shook her head. The girls still hadn't passed any new corridors or stair cases but the farther into the corridor they walked, the more gruesome the knight statues got. One showed the knight gripping his hand, his fingers sawed off. In another he had his own sword in his gut and finally they came to one where he was decapitated. As they passed the last alcove Jeanne held her hands over her eyes and Marci stared down. The knight was crumpled on the floor with a pool of bronze blood leaking from his neck.

"Gross," Marci said, scrunching up her nose. Around the next corner the girls finally found a passage way that was semi lit with floating lanterns. They welcomed the light and slipped into the new hallway. The walls started to close in and the hallway got narrower and narrower until the girls were walking single file. When Marci didn't think she could take the narrow hallway any longer, it opened up. The girls were standing in a wide, high ceilings corridor that was filled with greenish light. Marci pointed up and the girls just stared. There right below the curved ceiling was a round port hole and outside of it was green water: the lake.

Marci gasped as a few grindylows swam by. These port holes lined the entire length of the hallway. "I think we're under the lake," Jeanne said, mouth open. "That's it. I'm staying here," she said abruptly, dropping Marci's hand and sitting cross legged on the floor. "I'm waiting here until someone comes and finds us. The dungeons are too scary." A single tear rolled down her cheek and Marci fell to the floor beside her best friend.

She put an arm around Jeanne and in her most courageous voice said, "Don't worry, someone will find us. They'll notice we're gone...eventually."

Jeanne was sobbing quietly now. "What if they never find us?" she whispered. "Hogwarts is huge."

"No, someone will find us. We're not that far down into the castle. Plus, Slytherin is down here so someone will come along soon. Probably that big fat potions professor we saw. He's the head of Slytherin, right?"

"Yup."

"I'm sure he'll come along soon."

The girls hunkered down against a wall and leaned on one another. They sat in silence for a good hour before Jeanne sat up bolt straight. "What is it?" Marci said, scared out of her wits.

"Shhh, I hear...something," Jeanne replied. "It sounds like...footsteps."

"Footsteps!" Marci exclaimed, jumping to her feet. "Which way?"

"I'm...not sure....I think....they're coming from the right."

Marci took off down the corridor with Jeanne right on her heels. "Hello!" Marci yelled. "We're down here! Please! We're down this way!"

Suddenly a blinding hot pain hit the side of Marci's face. Jeanne had hit her. "Shh! It could be a ghost, or goblins, or a werewolf!"

Marci glared at her friend. "Well, how else are we supposed to find out who it is? Plus, there aren't any werewolves inside Hogwarts. Now come on." She grabbed Jeanne's hand and continued to run. She turned a corner, Jeanne in tow, and saw someone walking towards them. It was a boy, about sixteen years old, with dark hair and deep set eyes. "Hello, please help us," Marci said loudly.

The boy walked over to them and Marci noticed he was a Slytherin. She gulped, hoping he was nice. She had heard stories, from Jeanne and her aunt, about Slytherins and how they were mean and cruel. "Well, hello there," the boy said, friendly as can be. "What are you two doing all the way down here?" He looked from Marci to Jeanne.

"We, well, you see, we got lost. We got separated from the other Hufflepuffs," Marci stated.

"And we tried to find our own way to the common room," Jeanne replied.

"We got lost, and found these horrible tapestries and statues," Marci cried.

"And then we were under the lake and we saw the grindylows and they were baring their teeth at us-," Jeanne said and was cut off.

"Alright, alright. It sounds like you two had quite the adventure. You'll be a handful in the next seven years. Let's go. I'll take you back to your common room."

Jeanne and Marci let out identical sighs of relief. This boy seemed nice and he wasn't mad at them for getting lost.

"I'm John, sixth year Slytherin prefect. And who are you?" he asked.

"I'm Marci and this is Jeanne," Marci said, throwing her thumb towards her best friend.

"Well, you guys are lucky I found you. It's really easy to get lost in the dungeons if you don't know where you're going. Plus, it's dangerous. There's a reason Hogwarts has a curfew you know," he said, pausing for a moment. "Well, I guess you don't really know. You've probably missed your house meeting. I'd fill you in on all the rules but they're different for each common room; although, Hogwarts does have a cover curfew. All students must be in their common room by midnight. No exceptions. Sometimes, on certain nights, the headmaster will change curfew to earlier, or later. I'd also suggest that you don't go wondering around the dungeons by yourself. Take an older student with you; better yet, just don't do it. You can explore the upper levels of the castle. They're much less dangerous." He smiled at the girls and they grinned back. His golden eyes radiated trust and the girls felt safe with him.

"What about you, what were you doing down here?" Marci asked, hoping she wasn't pushing some kind of limit.

John laughed. "It's part of being a prefect. We do rounds of the castle at night before curfew to make sure no one is doing things they aren't supposed to be doing and tonight was my duty night. Plus, I was on my way to sneak some food from the kitchens." He grinned manically. "I never can seem to get enough food."

Marci looked over at John, he didn't seem particularly fat. He was just tall and lanky. "So, can we go to the kitchen too?" Marci asked, craving more of the Banofee pie.

"Nope, that's a secret you're going to have to figure out on your own. I'm going to drop you two off before I get my little snack. Although I will tell you, your common room is very close to the kitchens. That's all I'm going to say though. You'll have to find it on your own."

"But you just said not to explore the dungeons on our own!" Jeanne said, indignantly.

"Ah, but the kitchen isn't in the dungeons. It's in the basement. There's a difference. They're two different levels to the castle."

"How do you tell the difference?" Jeanne asked, interested.

"The basement only consists of the first flight underground. If you go down another staircase after the first one, you're entering the dungeons and uncharted territory unless you're a Slytherin or you make a Slytherin friend."

"Well, aren't you our friend?" Marci asked.

"Sure, but I'm also five years older than you. You should find some friends your own age. Try and make some friends from every house. This school could use more unity."

Marci wasn't sure but she thought he was talking about the different stereotypes she'd heard about the houses. Gryffindors were the heroes, Slytherins were the villains, Ravenclaws were the brainiacs that didn't take sides, and Hufflepuff was the charity case that took everyone who didn't belong elsewhere.

As the trio climbed the last stair case John said, "Now, don't believe everything you hear about other houses. Most of it's not true; although most rumors always carry a grain of truth. Now here you go," he said, stopping in front of a wall lined with huge wooden vinegar caskets. "This, my dear ladies, is where I leave you."

Marci looked around at the barrels. They were bigger than she was, by three or four times. They were eight feet high and probably eight feet wide too. She tried to see if there was a door behind one of them.

"So, where's the common room?" Marci asked, looking around for a door.

John laughed. "You're standing right in front of it. I happen to know the password because my girlfriend is in Hufflepuff, but I'm not supposed to know it, so don't tell anyone." He winked down at the girls. They grinned back and giggled.

John took out his wand and said, "Watch carefully, now, and memorize the pattern I tap on the wood here." He laid the tip of his wand against one of the wooden caskets. "Memorize what barrel I'm tapping too, because bad things will happen if you tap the wrong one or tap the wrong pattern, okay?"

The girls watched in delighted silence, memorizing the barrel he had his wand on. Then he slowly tapped out a rhythm with his wand.

When he was done, he took a step back and the front of the casket swung open; the makeshift door was tall enough to allow an eight foot half giant to walk through and it was perfectly round. The barrel continued back for another six feet or so before it ended in a round staircase that headed down. Marci and Jeanne could see the soft glow of a fire reflecting in the stairwell. It looked very welcoming.

Warmth rushed through Marci as she remembered the books her mother use to read her: The Lord of the Rings. The books had these wonderful little creatures called Hobbits who lived in round hobbit holes. Marci was instantly reminded of this when she saw the round door and passageway. Maybe there are hobbits at Hogwarts, Marci thought absently as she grabbed Jeanne's hand in excitement.

"Now, don't go forgetting the way in you two. Off you go." John lightly pushed the girls forward and started off down the corridor back to his common room.

Footnote:

The Lord of the Rings does not belong to me, it was written by a literary genius named J.R.R. Tolkien.