The deep hole

"...I thought that sudden grand gesture meant you were going to blast a huge hole straight through this place."

Brian withdrew his wand, somewhat speechless-when Dumbledore had raised his arm high just now, he had looked as though he was about to pitch a blistering fastball. Brian had jolted and instinctively cast a Nonverbal Spell over the room.

Who would have thought all that fanfare would amount to so little? Dumbledore had merely bent down in one smooth motion, aimed his wand at the Copper Faucet, and begun murmuring an incantation, his low voice humming through the bathroom.

"Excellent reflexes, Chet. Your spellwork is even better than I imagined." Dumbledore held up his wand with a smile, finding a moment between incantations to compliment Brian. "Could you cast a Shield Charm in front of me?"

"Protego!" Brian stepped beside Dumbledore and raised an invisible barrier. "Is this strong enough?"

"If you were a student, I would award you at least twenty points," Dumbledore said approvingly. "Get ready. Every wizard who builds a password-operated magical mechanism leaves a nasty little gift-for whoever comes along and forcibly dismantles their hard work."

"Let's hope this gift isn't too nasty." Brian increased his magical output again, and the invisible barrier took on a distinct shape in the warm yellow candlelight. "I'm ready."

As Dumbledore resumed his incantation, the Copper Faucet engraved with a small snake began to give off a piercing creak. Then a faint puff of black smoke emerged, quickly thickening enough to obscure part of their view.

But that was not the end. Dumbledore's incantation continued, and Brian watched the Copper Faucet tensely for further changes. At one point, the little snake that had been nothing more than an engraving suddenly vanished, and a long, slender creature appeared in the black mist-

It coiled up, then shot straight at Dumbledore's crooked nose!

Bang!

A small snake covered in glossy green scales smashed its head against Brian's Shield Charm, became dazed, and lost consciousness. It fell to the floor with a soft thud, belly up, looking dead.

"This mechanism is a little more interesting than I expected." Dumbledore stopped chanting and swept his robes. The black smoke in the bathroom gathered into a ball, pushed the window open, and flew out into the wide world, silently dispersing.

"This little fellow can't be a basilisk, can it?"

Brian cast a Shield Charm over his arm, then quickly reached down and pinched the snake behind its head. It was half a palm long and about as thick as an index finger. He heard it give a feeble "gak."

"It can even play dead. Clever little thing."

"Of course not. This is an alchemical creation-not cheap to make, and quite rare these days."

Dumbledore leaned closer with interest, brought his fingers together, and flicked the head of the little snake in Brian's grip. The snake stuck out a little of its pink tongue and lay motionless, continuing to play dead.

"No feeding, no shedding, no need for company. For a time, they were popular as convenient pets. I never expected someone to use one as a marker-a rather extravagant approach."

"Another addition to your office collection." Smiling, Brian plucked a button from his wizard's robes, transfigured it into a glass jar of just the right size, stuffed the little snake inside, screwed on the lid, and handed it to Dumbledore.

"Why not your office?" Dumbledore pushed the jar back with a troubled expression and shook his head. "Fawkes doesn't like snakes. If I took one back, he would certainly be unhappy and find an opportunity to peck at my beard."

"Then... thank you?" Brian blinked and put the jar in his other pocket-this was not a bad outcome. He had never got along particularly well with snakes, and spending more time with an alchemical snake might be a good way to improve that.

He took another look at the Copper Faucet, which remained unchanged except for the missing snake engraving. "Is that all there is to this magical mechanism?"

"Of course not." Dumbledore made room for Brian and said encouragingly,

"We still need to press that Copper Faucet. Not too hard."

Brian did as instructed-he pressed the Copper Faucet gently and heard a click-but the Copper Faucet seemed to think he had still used too much force. Like someone staging an accident, it tipped over and slid into the basin. Then something even more extraordinary happened-a white light flashed, and the basin and Copper Faucet both turned transparent. They began spinning rapidly with a swishing sound until they disappeared.

The bathroom's hidden secret was finally exposed to the light-a very large pipe, wide enough for a person to pass through, hollow and bottomlessly deep, carrying an air of unknown mystery and faint menace.

"Lumos!" Brian extended his brightly lit wand a little way into the pipe-it was too deep. The light from his wand had barely travelled downward before the vast darkness swallowed it completely. Yet, for some inexplicable reason, he felt an urge to jump in and try it.

"...Are you familiar with Hogwarts' sewer system?" Brian suppressed that absurd thought and asked Dumbledore, "I suspect this pipe is an express route to the Black Lake. If we shout down here, the Giant Squid might be able to hear us."

"Unfortunately, Chet, I must admit that the headmaster of Hogwarts often finds himself powerless, especially when faced with the mysteries of Hogwarts itself."

Dumbledore gazed into the pitch-black opening and joked,

"But I think the Giant Squid would be delighted to hear your voice-from its point of view, you're an important toy supplier."

"Three thousand pounds to buy food for feeding books-a very worthwhile trade." As Brian spoke, he raised his wand, aimed it at the opening, and cast, "Aguamenti!"

Several balls of water slid rapidly down the pipe. Brian listened with his full attention, and only after roughly two minutes did he hear a faint sound from inside that might have been the water balls striking the ground-thank goodness he had not jumped!

"Perhaps I could use a Levitation Charm on myself, then float slowly down the pipe?" Brian turned to seek Dumbledore's opinion-but the first person he saw was not Dumbledore. It was Moaning Myrtle, looking at him with tear-filled eyes.

"Myrtle? I'm sorry!" Brian apologized on reflex.

"We didn't mean to damage this place. Please let me explain!"

"No, there's no need to apologize-I should thank you, Mr. Brian."

Moaning Myrtle said sadly,

"Just now, that handsome little redhead suddenly started grinning foolishly in the bath and muttering a woman's name-some wretched woman from Ravenclaw! Now I've lost another fine specimen to peep at! I was just in need of a damp, gloomy corner where I could have a good cry!"

She grew more agitated as she spoke, and as soon as she finished, she plunged headfirst into the deep, dark pipe and vanished.