“Finally,” I sigh as I reach the end. There is one plain, black door, and that is it. Nothing else. The simplicity of this door surprises me, and I reach out to open it, expecting no reaction. However, for the second time in thirty seconds, I am amazed. Easily it opens, and I hurry to step inside and close the door. Before I know what is happening, the new room I am in, which is filled with more doors, spins.
Looking carefully at every door, willing each to tell me their secrets, I finally choose one. It is exactly the same as the rest, black and simple, like the first door. But I know that this is the door that I want, and can feel it calling out to me.
I lurch towards it and frantically grab the handle, forcing it open. “Don’t worry, baby, I’m coming,” I whisper, and rush further into the Department of Mysteries.
I attempt to run forward into the Department and look for another room, but find myself in one. What I thought was another corridor actually is a lightless room, and before I can be happy with this discovery all happy thoughts are gone. There is no happiness, no hope, and no encouragement. Turning around, I look for the door that I came in but find it has already closed it’s self. Immediately my breath begins to hitch and quicken, and the ceiling and walls being to close in on me, although I can’t see them.
Ever since my sister and I were little we have both been claustrophobic, a result of when as toddlers a crazed aunt forgot to find us while playing hide-and-seek, and we were hiding in a closet. The familiar and unwelcome feelings that have plagued me in similar situations sense them begin to come back and uncontrollable panic overwhelms me. All thoughts of why I am here, specifically who I am here for, vanish from my brain and thoughts of darkness fill instead.
Luckily, before I can be too drawn into myself by the darkness that surrounds and fills me, something pulls my attention away from the darkness. There’s something else in here, I realise with a start as I turn towards what I think is a corner. Wherever it is, I turn to the left and try to find it. For an instant I think that I’ve imagined that something else is here, but then it happens again. What is that noise? I can’t help but ask myself, intrigued.
All thoughts of claustrophobia disappear from my head as I feel my way around with my hands, trying to keep myself from running into anything. Slowly my feet shuffle forward, and I focus intently on following the noise. Every few seconds it pauses before continuing, and sounds like a combination of a person crying and the sound a machine makes, like the old fashioned Muggle factories from earlier in the century. I don’t allow myself to dwell on what it is, afraid that my imagination will make it into something much worse than it actually is.
At last, after what must be five or ten minutes since I am moving so slowly, I feel a doorknob and a door with my hands. Tugging hard, I pull it open and continue shuffling through, and I cannot see what is in the room I enter due to the blinding effect the light has on me after being in pure darkness.
The light calls to me, makes me feel safe. It is the familiar feeling of light after a claustrophobic attack, and I welcome it with open arms. As I pull the door shut behind me, I don’t look back, unwilling to look into any place that causes overwhelming darkness.
Once my eyes adjust to the light, I am shocked. “No, not here!” I whisper, recognising the room I am in. Rows of benches end near my head and far below me is a chair with grisly chains lying limply on the arms “ I know that if a serious threat to the Wizarding community sat in the chair the chains would immediately activate and secure the person to the chair. Shuddering at the memories the room brings up, I am about to move when something moves into place.
“I’m upside down,” I whisper and with this sudden realisation all the blood rushes to my head. I shake it a little trying to clear the panicking thoughts, and the fact that my long plait is still on my back brings me back to Earth. “I love magic,” I whisper again, and slowly begin to move my feet. Even though I feel confident that if I were to move my feet I would not fall, I don’t want to risk endangering myself or my mission.
Moving so slowly, it’s as if I’m back in the dark room, I inch towards the door I see on the other side of the room. The only problem is that the door is on the floor “ or is it the ceiling? “ and by the time I reach it I have yet to decide how to reach the door itself.
“Think, Parvati!” I exclaim, louder than I mean to. My voice echoes around the room and it’s as if I can see the sound waves moving back and forth. But you can’t see sound waves, Parvati! a little voice in my head nags in a sing-song voice. Which means, I reply to myself, thoughts forming in my head faster than I can process it. “It’s a glamour,” I say, awed.
Memories of Defence classes in Hogwarts rush back to me, and I gather all my courage to me before jumping off the ceiling. In an instant, everything is the way it should be, although I’m most likely sporting a bruise or two from crashing to the ground. I hurry towards the door, and turn the handle.
I slam the door behind me and as soon as I do, the lights come on. It is similar to the previous room in the fact that the walls are navy blue, but I check quickly and note no moving walls. Instead, in the middle of the room is a black, leather armchair. It looks so soft and comfortable, that I just want to sit in it and relax.
“Well, it can’t hurt. I won’t be able to find Natalie any time soon if my feet hurt this bad!” I reason with myself out loud. Slowly my feet find their way to the chair, and as I relax into it, all sense of urgency leaves my body. I only feel the need to sleep, so I lean my head against one side and tuck my feet under my legs, like I used to at Hogwarts. Within moments I am asleep.
“Mum! Mum!” cries a little voice. Instantly my eyes fly open and there, in front of my face is little Natalie. Quickly I register my surroundings and look around, noticing that I’m in my own bed, in my own room, and Natalie is right in front of me.
“Oh, baby!” I whisper, and immediately crush my daughter into a hug. A chuckle sounds from the doorway, and upon looking up, I see my husband Harry.
Tears pour from my eyes, and Harry takes a few long strides to engulf Natalie and I in his arms. “I had a dream,” I manage to say in between gulps. “That Natalie was taken by those awful people at the Ministry, and she was being kept in the Department of Mysteries. I went to go find her, but I couldn’t! Oh, Harry!” I sob into his shoulder.
As Natalie struggles to get free of my vice-like grip, the memory of the dream slowly fades into the recesses of my mind, and soon all I know is that she is safe. We are a happy little family, Harry, Natalie, and I, and maybe one day soon there will be another member of the Potter family.