Inside and Outside the Archway (Please Subscribe)

Hermione drew in the air with her wand, and a fiery red X appeared on the door.

When the door clicked shut behind them, a deafening rumble immediately erupted, and the walls began spinning rapidly again.

But amid the faint blue light was a huge, blurry mass of gold and red. When everything came to a stop once more, the fiery red X was still burning, showing that they had already gone through that door.

"Nicely done," Harry praised her. "Now, let's try this one—"

He strode straight to the door in front of them and pushed it open with his wand raised. The others followed as before.

This room was larger than the last one, dimly lit and square-shaped. Its center sank down into a huge stone pit, roughly twenty feet deep.

Stone steps ran around the entire room like benches, descending level by level, each one steep.

It looked like a lecture hall, or the courtroom where Harry had once been interrogated by the Wizengamot.

They were standing on the highest tier.

But there was no chained chair at the center of the pit. Instead, there was a raised stone platform, upon which stood an archway. It looked ancient and dilapidated, and Harry wondered how it could still be standing without collapsing.

No walls supported the archway. A ragged black curtain, or perhaps a veil, hung from it. Though the air was cold and utterly still, without the slightest breeze, it swayed gently, as if someone had just touched it.

"Who's there?"

Harry said, jumping down to the next stone bench. No one answered, but the veil continued to flutter.

"Be careful!"

Hermione said in a low voice.

Harry quickly climbed down the tiers to the bottom of the stone pit, then slowly approached the platform. His footsteps