Locked doors PV Lilith Westlocke Closed

Dinah attempted to ignore the girls obvious sarcasm but it was proving difficult when every sentence dripped with it. Still, she was excited to have actually found the mysterious door. She couldn’t deny, as the chilling breeze blew over them, she was glad to have another person with her. It would have required a lot more bravery to disappear down some unknown tunnel by herself. 

Dinah nodded at the girls statement. It seemed like they had opened the door to a giant freezer. 
She glanced nervously up at the many cobwebs that all seemed to be decorated heavily with frost. She could only hope they reached whatever was at the end of the tunnel before they freezed. 

Looking at the stone walls that made up the tunnel, Dinah noticed little streams of water running down the stone, like the walls were leaking. It made the floor of the tunnel damp, the other girls footsteps echoing a little as she took the first few steps into the tunnel. 

“Are you coming? You don’t have to be scared of some frozen spiders. I think I can manage to protect both of us from those beasts.” The girl called over her shoulder as she ventured further into the tunnel. 

Dinah scoffed, rolling her eyes and running to catch up to the girl. “Who says I need protecting? Think I’ll manage, thanks.” 

She smiled sarcastically at the girl and hastened her steps, pulling ahead several strides. 

The tunnel carried on straight for at least another two minutes and then they were met with a junction. One passage winded off to the left, the stone walls continuing and the chilly breeze still blowing up it. The other passage turned abruptly right and it seemed that there was no water running down those walls and the wind had somehow disappeared. 

Dinah paused a moment, chewing her bottom lip. “Hmm...Come on, this way.” She called to the other girl, making sure her voice carried down the tunnel and that she heard the confident edge. See how the girl liked being told what to do for a change. 

She marched down the right passage, her footsteps altering slightly as she left the dampened ground and the floor became dry. 

Lilith ignored the girl's quip as she continued to walk down the dank passageway until they came to two tunnels. A choice. Lilith was about to say the second one, as that would most likely lead them to another spot in the castle, but she was too late as the other Gryffindor started walking down the right smugly.

"We're going deeper underground. I can't hear the wind anymore and it's less damp. We're probably in a newer part of the tunnel. Newer by a few decades at least. I wonder of the Headmaster knows about this place. Or if anyone does. Think about it, we could be the first to walk this tunnel since the school was built."

Lilith tilted her head in thought a little bit more. "But considering Hogwarts, there was probably a reason this place was forgotten. A monstrous beast perhaps? A spell that kills you instantly? Ah, this will surely be a quick adventure if that is true, won't it?" Lilith asked rhetorically.

"I don't believe I introduced myself. My name's Westlocke, Lilith Westlocke. Pleasure." Lilith didn't put her hand out for a handshake.

A light started to appear from in front of them. It was small, signaling there was a long distance to go yet still. Lilith started to walk faster despite her short legs. "Well hurry up then. I don't have all day to mill around in a dark tunnel like some people."

Dinah hoped that nobody else knew about this place. How cool would it be to be the only ones who know about some secret tunnel through the school? Of course, this was a very unlikely prospect. Hundreds of thousands of students had come and gone before themselves and it was only common sense to know that someone else had discovered this place. After all, someone had to have built it. 

“I think it’s unlikely we’re the first...but I bet we’re the only ones in our year.” Dinah commented. Her pace had now slowed so that she walked side by side with the other girl. She thought she’d adequately made her point earlier that she wouldn’t be pushed around. Now she wanted to get to know the girl. 

As she heard the girls suggestions on what might be hidden in the tunnel, a shiver ran down Dinahs back but she didn’t let it faze her. Dangerous beast or life threatening spell, she was ready for some adventure. 

“I’m Dinah Dragensail.” She introduced herself cooly. Lilith had introduced herself using her surname first and Dinah wondered if she was from one of those big wizarding families everyone seemed to know. Everyone except Dinah. She hoped that if Lilith had said the name hoping for a reaction, she wouldn’t be too put out when there wasn’t one. “Sorry I -”

She was cut off as they began to near the end of the tunnel and a bright light shon in the distance, indicating they had almost reached the other side. 

Dinah increased her speed to match Liliths so that they were almost running side by side. 

“Oh please, what exactly do you have to be doing that’s more exciting than this?” Dinah asked Lilith sarcastically, looking over at her and shaking her head. 

Their footsteps echoed noisily on the ground as they moved further and further along the tunnel. 
“What do you think will be down here? Really?”

Dinah wasn’t even sure why she asked. She knew that in reply all she was going to get was a sarcastic comment or a quick quip. 

"Oh please, what exactly do you have to be doing that’s more exciting than this?"

"Well, Dinah Dragensail," Lilith tested the name on her tongue. "I'd much rather be examining whatever treasure that could be at the end of this blasted hallway than the tunnel itself and I'd think you would agree with me on that one." Lilith swiftly walked closer to the light, doing a speed walk.

"Dragon eggs, gold, and all the treasure of your deepest, darkest desires. I don't know. Probably the end of the tunnel or another door. Maybe nothing at all. My best guess that this is just a shortcut from where we were to somewhere else. Don't get too excited on me. I doubt we'll be fighting any Chimaera down here or the Chamber of Secrets," Lilith rolled her eyes as she spoke.

The tunnel came to a close, but Lilith was partially right on her predictions. There was, in fact, a door, but not just one. There were three doors. The one of the far left, closest to Lilith, was a dark purple wooden door with a silver knocker. The middle door was made of oak, with was looked to be vines of gold being etched into the door along with a golden doorknob. Lastly, the door farthest to the right, nearest to Dinah, was a stained glass door. It looked jagged and was smokey to the point Lilith could not see through to the other side. There was only a keyhole.

"Looks like we have yet another choice to make," Lilith said as she ran her hands up and down every door. "I'm going to take back what I may have said before. There must be something down these tunnels. Just a path from one way to another would be too much challenge and work for such little reward as that. Maybe there is treasure on the other side," Lilith exclaimed, shooting Dinah a wolfish grin.

Sweeping off more dust with her hands, signaling that no one has touched the door in ages, Lilith saw some words etched into the purple door. She moved to the other two doors, revealing words etched in the center of them as well. It was quite shocking to find out the glass door was actually smooth and that the words were white against the colored glass.

Glancing above, Lilith placed one foot on the doorframe and grabbed the top of the middle one, using her muscles to lift herself up. One-handed, she held herself up and wiped some of the dust off the wooden plank above the doors. Her muscles shook and she dropped herself back down, whipping the dust onto her robes.

The plank read:


Above the doors read:





Lilith took in a deep breath. "Looks like we have another choice on our hands."

She examined each of the doors and what they said. Treasure, glory, or strength? Each seemed like a challenge. Lilith knew she barely knew any spells to fight off a beast and knew that she could probably solve a puzzle, but she couldn't deny being attracted to the third door.

As they continued down the corridor, Dinah wondered what on Earth a Chimaera was. And what were the so called Chamber of Secrets? Another mystery of the Hogwarts castle to be discovered? 
Dinah didn’t let her companion know of her lack of knowledge. She already seemed to think her somewhat dim witted and Dinah definitely did not need to give her anymore reason to. She was sure she would discover what the terms meant eventually. 

She desperately hoped this tunnel wasn’t just a shortcut to the other side of the castle. That would be terribly boring. 

“I think I’d rather find a dragon than just the eggs...” Dinah pondered over Liliths words, images of the dragons from her books at home running through her mind. “Don’t you think that would be cool? I mean totally dangerous and life threatening but really cool.” 

Her thoughts of dragons were quickly removed from Dinahs head as the two girls finally approached the end of the tunnel. 

They faced the three doors, Dinah feeling a little stumped. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the middle door and the gold vines that decorated it. Yet she was next intrigued by the door to the right. It was glass but you were unable to see through it making it very appealing. 

“Maybe there is treasure on the other side.” Lilith said, grinning. 

While Dinah wondered what could possibly be waiting for them on the other side she watched Lilith uncover the words both on and above the doors. 

She was rather impressed by Liliths enthusiasm to get into the job at hand. She didn’t seem to have a problem lifting herself up the doorframe to wipe away yet more dust. 

Dinah coughed as the dust from Liliths robes flew through the air. When she had finished working clean air through her lungs, Dinah noticed the words that had become clear above the doors. 

A puzzle, a fight or a nightmare?
Treasure, glory or strength?

It was all very mysterious and Dinah nerves buzzed with excitement. This was what she had hoped from the wizarding world, a quest with challenges and moral issues and whatnot. 

“Well...I don’t know about you but I don’t think I’ve had enough lessons to be able to fight anything. I guess I could try to solve a puzzle- not sure how well that’d go though. I’m kind of thinking...the glass door?” She ended the sentence like it was a question, wanting to know what Lilith thought. 

Admittedly Dinahs nightmares weren’t something she’d particularly like to experience in real life but at this moment in time she felt strong enough to take it on. 

"You must survive a nightmare and come out stronger," Lilith read off the door. She tapped her foot with her arms crossed, thinking. Treasure would be quite nice and glory didn't sound half bad either, but there was something about the mystery shrouding the door that made Lilith curious. Not to mention, facing a nightmare sounded very interesting. What did stronger mean, exactly?

"I'm interested," Lilith agreed. She crouched down at the door and wiggled her finger into the keyhole. Nothing happened. "But it looks like we're going to need a key to get in. Let's look around and see if there's one hidden."

Lilith searched around the tunnel, running her hands over the door frame and around the walls. After a strenuous search, she came up with nothing. "Nothing. How about you? Find anything?" Lilith asked Dinah. She set her hands on her hips. "If not, we will be needing another way in. Our wands perhaps?"

Taking out her aspen wand from her pocket, Lilith shoved the head of it into the door. She moved it around some and nothing happened. "Hmm," Lilith hummed. She took her quill out of her bag that was laying on her hip. She waved it as Dinah. "Looks like school equipment really can come in handy."

First, Lilith tried to pick the keyhole with the quill, and when that failed, she slid it up and down the door, trying to find a lock that she could potentially move out of the way. She felt nothing. "Odd. The door must be protected by magic of some kind."

Lilith threw her shoulder against the door. The door didn't budge. Some dirt fell from the ceiling. She began to realize how dangerous this little adventure was turning out to be. "We shouldn't be trying that again. The tunnel isn't stable. We have to get through these doors. Who knows how long the walls will last. Maybe we have all the time in the world or only a few hours. Worst comes to worst and we can just exit the way we came."

Lilith spun her wand in her hand. It was a method for her thoughts to turn faster. "What type of wand do you have? Maybe that's it. Or maybe the key lies behind one of the other doors? The treasure could very well be the key. Oh but what a poor treasure that would be." Lilith rubbed her chin. "So, what is your thoughts?"

Dinah watched Liliths failed attempts to open the door, hesitantly. She wanted to know what was behind the door but she was apprehensive as to the danger it might pose. 

“My wands Chesnut.” Dinah pulled her wand from her robes and held it out to Lilith to see. She moved over to the door and waved her wand by the keyhole, hoping there would be a click or something to indicate the opening of the door but there was nothing. “Well wands won’t work.”

When Lilith banged her shoulder against the door and the small sprinkling of dust fell onto their heads, Dinah looked at Lilith, her eyes wide. 

They were possibly moments away from the entire tunnel collapsing on top of them. 

Dinah brushed the specks of dust from her robes, trying to ignore the way her pulse had seemed to speed up and was beating hard in her ears. “It won’t collapse, surely? I bet it’s probably held up with magic or something.”

The possibility that the key for the door was held behind one of the other doors had crossed Dinahs mind also. She ran her hand down the first door...
you will solve a puzzle to win your treasure...

“I think the key for that door might be behind one of the other doors. Maybe this one. I can’t see it anywhere else.” Dinah shrugged, looking round helplessly at the blank walls and the stone ground. “Shall we try it?”

"The castle might be magic but the foundations certainly are not. Maybe a long time ago the tunnels were new and much more stable. People don't usually tend to think ahead," Lilith said, glaring up at the top of the tunnel.

"I figure we have no other choice, but I don't think it would be as easy as that. Why would one door include the other by not the middle door? It's odd, don't you think? Plus, if one was to choose treasure in the first place, they would just get a musty old key and would half to go through the glass door. Hmm, I think there is a puzzle here already." Lilith shrugged beside her small monologue. "But we have no other option but to try. The puzzle here we come."

Lilith took the silver knocker and knocked three times on the purple door. Three is one of the numbers of power. In Greek mythology, three was the lucky number for an adventure, while every other number was certain to end in death. Lilith believed it was always smart to go by three's.

She took a step back, and the door slowly crept open.

"Quite ominous, don't you think? It would seem we are walking to our deaths," Lilith added in a short laugh as she pushed the rest of the door open. Another tunnel was revealed, this one with a stone walkway and purple flaming torches, which cast the whole tunnel in a plum color. "They are one for theatrics, no?"

Lilith began her descent in the tunnel. The door above slammed shut behind them, causing Lilith to turn around sharply. "Welp, looks like we dug our graves. Now it is time to lay in them. Let's carry on." The sloop was slightly steep, leading them deeper into the ground. The path twisted among the walls, turning back and forth like a snake struggling violently to shed its skin.

Once again, another door stood, blocking their path. This time, a singular round knob with twelve little tick marks decorated the door with long tubes surrounding it. Lilith tested the knob. A line of steam came out from one of the tubes, knicking her arm and causing Lilith to yelp, jolting back her arm as the steam went out. "This puzzle may be a little more dangerous than we previously thought."

The steam went into the air, taking some of the dust with it and revealing a small riddle. "Ah, if only you were a Ravenclaw. We would be done in seconds."

Lilith read off the riddle,



"We must get it right or risk being blown to bits by that cursed steam. Any ideas?" Lilith asked, rubbing her hand. Why was it always her who got harmed by some door?

Listening carefully to what Lilith was saying, Dinah folded her arms and gazed at the three doors. “I bet they’re all linked. You have to go through them all at some point to get to whatever your supposed to find.”

It seemed logical. After all, Lilith was right. Why would the puzzle make you go through the first and the third but not the second? Dinah was sure there was more to it than they were seeing. 

The Gryffindor held her breath as Lilith took the initiative and knocked three times on the door. Dinah watched the door wistfully for any signs of it opening and as Lilith stepped back from the door, it swung open. 

“I like your optimism.” Dinah commented sarcastically as Lilith suggested their ultimate demise. She was smirking to show she wasn’t serious and went on through the now open door. 

The corridor that followed was indeed very theatrical. The lighting suggested something very dramatic. Had Dinah not been aware that she was in a very real magical castle that held very real magic dangers, she wound have thought they were in a low budget movie or something. 

As the door slammed behind them, Dinah couldn’t help but jump a little. “Well if we get stuck down here, we’ll be stuck together. We won’t die a boring death at least.”

The pair had reached the end of the corridor and yet another door. Just as Lilith reached out for the door handle, Dinah had opened her mouth to warn her to be careful but it was too late. 
Steam was issued from the doors surrounding tubes and Lilith pulled back her hand as it caught her. 

“Are you alright? That was rather stupid of you. Didn’t you learn from the other door that there’s probably a hidden danger?” Dinah laughed lightly but reached out a hand to the fellow Gryffindor regardless, genuinely concerned. 

At the reveal of the riddle, Dinah felt herself deflate internally. Although she praised herself on her academic abilities, riddles had never been her strong suit. Give her a crossword, word search anything but a riddle. It was one of the saving graces she’d seen of not becoming a Ravenclaw. 

“Uh...I’m not very good at riddles.” Dinah confessed, rubbing her hand down the back of her neck, slightly embarrassed. “But uh...maybe we can work it out together?”

Lilith had her chin rested between her thumb and index finger. She blinked, looking over at Dinah as if she just came out of deep thought. "Oh, I've already figured it out. I just wanted to give you the chance to try and guess it. Well, hopefully, you will be useful in fighting that beast if it comes down to it."

The Gryffindor took a step forward with purpose. She had a smug look on her face that she always gets when she shared things that others don't know. She prided herself on being the smartest in the room and loved to show it off.

"First off, the door has twelve ticks on it. Those can be for nothing. Maybe levels of something like a Muggle oven or a clock. Then, we have the riddle. The first line basically gives you the answer, so I'll skip that to some that need more thought. It is obviously a figment of our imagination that we have no effect over. It does not have a physical body and is said only threw words and cannot be affected by worldly doings. It is obviously time. That would explain the tick makes on the knob. Alas, the beginning and end to every day? Midnight of course."

Lilith looked to Dinah with an analyzing look on her face. She waited for the brunette's reaction. Lilith hopped to see looks of awe and shock. Was it too much for Dinah to fall to her knees and cry at the brilliantness that was just shone before her? Probably.

Being aware of the hot steam, Lilith carefully moved the knob to twelve little ticks and slowly moved away from the door, glad not to get her face burned off. The door shook before sliding open painfully.

Stepping through the door, a dome room cut out from the stone of the underground stretched out. On the floor, were many pieces of thin, light material spread out in odd ways.

"No!" Lilith shouted in anguish. "A blasted puzzle! An actual puzzle! I hate those! The pieces never fit and it takes ages. Plus, how is it a puzzle? Anyone can do one of these. It proves nothing!" Lilith growled deep in her throat. "The door must have just been a test to make sure you are worthy. After this, we are more certainly going to be getting out the prize."

Lilith began to pace around the wide room. "We don't even know what the picture is going to be. This is pure guesswork. Awful!" Lilith swore up to the skies. "Absolutely awful. Look at all the pieces, this is bound to take ages. The clock riddle was more clever than this!"