Post by phee on Aug 24, 2007 21:57:35 GMT -5
After leaving the Headmistress's office, Phoenix and Libby Albion walked arm in arm about the castle together.
"Where's the North Tower?" Libby asked, and Phoenix smiled.
"Only in about the most inaccessible part of the castle imaginable," he told her. "I'd been at Hogwarts two years and thought I knew my way around, but I'd never had any reason to go to the North Tower until I was enrolled in the Divination class. There were six or seven long staircases before you got to a landing with a large painting of a pasture or field of grass on it."
He smiled, remembering. "There were a few other Third Years wandering around near the painting, all of us looking for the Divination classroom, so we just kept going, figuring if we were late at least we'd all be late together. Eventually we came to another painting of these women in crinolines -- you know, those long, old fashioned dresses -- and this tiny landing that led to more stairs, and eventually the Divination classroom, way at the top of the North Tower."
Phoenix shook his head. "We always used the paintings as landmarks since the stairways liked to change -- you'll have to watch them," he cautioned her, smiling at the skeptical look she gave him. He chuckled. "I climbed those stairs for a whole term," he said, "out of breath, my legs trembling like jelly, dreading it every day. And then in my fifth year, someone took pity on me and showed me a shortcut."
"Dumbledore?" she guessed, and he smiled.
"No, Snape, of all people. Well, I guess it wasn't exactly pity," he corrected himself. "We were on our way to the Divination classroom -- I can't remember why for the life of me, and he was certainly no friend of Professor Trelawney's, but there we were, and I was headed for the usual round of endless stairways when Snape snorted down that incredible nose of his and drawled, 'You cannot be serious,' turned on his heel and headed off down the fourth floor hallway. Well, of course I had to follow him, and just past the fifth or sixth doorway there was this spot."
"What kind of spot?" Libby asked.
"A shortcut," Phoenix said. "A passageway concealed by a spell. Or, if you like, a passageway created by a spell. Yes," he said. He'd stopped before what was, as far as she could tell, a perfectly ordinary section of brick wall, and was running his hands over the surface. "Yes, here it is," he said. "Hold out your hand," he told her, and she did so, palm to the brick.
For a moment she felt nothing. Then, there was something, though she couldn't have said exactly what; her face brightened, and he chuckled.
"Feel it?" he asked, and she nodded. "And so," he said. He pulled out his wand, reversed it, and rapped twice on one of the bricks with its handle, murmuring, "Patesco ostium."
There was a . . . shift . . . of some sort--she couldn't describe it any other way--and Phoenix put his hand over Libby's eyes. "Best close your eyes for this one," he said, and with one hand over her eyes and his arm about her shoulders, he guided her forward one, two steps. There was another shift, this one like a cool breeze on sweat, and in the next breath he uncovered her eyes, saying, "There we are."
Libby blinked, realizing she was seeing not the brick wall in front of her that had been there a second ago, but a round room of some sort. "How--?" ahe asked, turning automatically to look behind her, but the corridor they had been walking down had completely disappeared. "But--" Exasperated, she turned back to him. "Phoenix!"
He laughed. "What?" he asked. "Don't tell me you actually wanted to climb all those stairs!"
Libby Albion
"Where's the North Tower?" Libby asked, and Phoenix smiled.
"Only in about the most inaccessible part of the castle imaginable," he told her. "I'd been at Hogwarts two years and thought I knew my way around, but I'd never had any reason to go to the North Tower until I was enrolled in the Divination class. There were six or seven long staircases before you got to a landing with a large painting of a pasture or field of grass on it."
He smiled, remembering. "There were a few other Third Years wandering around near the painting, all of us looking for the Divination classroom, so we just kept going, figuring if we were late at least we'd all be late together. Eventually we came to another painting of these women in crinolines -- you know, those long, old fashioned dresses -- and this tiny landing that led to more stairs, and eventually the Divination classroom, way at the top of the North Tower."
Phoenix shook his head. "We always used the paintings as landmarks since the stairways liked to change -- you'll have to watch them," he cautioned her, smiling at the skeptical look she gave him. He chuckled. "I climbed those stairs for a whole term," he said, "out of breath, my legs trembling like jelly, dreading it every day. And then in my fifth year, someone took pity on me and showed me a shortcut."
"Dumbledore?" she guessed, and he smiled.
"No, Snape, of all people. Well, I guess it wasn't exactly pity," he corrected himself. "We were on our way to the Divination classroom -- I can't remember why for the life of me, and he was certainly no friend of Professor Trelawney's, but there we were, and I was headed for the usual round of endless stairways when Snape snorted down that incredible nose of his and drawled, 'You cannot be serious,' turned on his heel and headed off down the fourth floor hallway. Well, of course I had to follow him, and just past the fifth or sixth doorway there was this spot."
"What kind of spot?" Libby asked.
"A shortcut," Phoenix said. "A passageway concealed by a spell. Or, if you like, a passageway created by a spell. Yes," he said. He'd stopped before what was, as far as she could tell, a perfectly ordinary section of brick wall, and was running his hands over the surface. "Yes, here it is," he said. "Hold out your hand," he told her, and she did so, palm to the brick.
For a moment she felt nothing. Then, there was something, though she couldn't have said exactly what; her face brightened, and he chuckled.
"Feel it?" he asked, and she nodded. "And so," he said. He pulled out his wand, reversed it, and rapped twice on one of the bricks with its handle, murmuring, "Patesco ostium."
There was a . . . shift . . . of some sort--she couldn't describe it any other way--and Phoenix put his hand over Libby's eyes. "Best close your eyes for this one," he said, and with one hand over her eyes and his arm about her shoulders, he guided her forward one, two steps. There was another shift, this one like a cool breeze on sweat, and in the next breath he uncovered her eyes, saying, "There we are."
Libby blinked, realizing she was seeing not the brick wall in front of her that had been there a second ago, but a round room of some sort. "How--?" ahe asked, turning automatically to look behind her, but the corridor they had been walking down had completely disappeared. "But--" Exasperated, she turned back to him. "Phoenix!"
He laughed. "What?" he asked. "Don't tell me you actually wanted to climb all those stairs!"
Libby Albion