MidReal Story
sherlock holmes fall in love with harry potter
Scenario: sherlock holmes fall in love with harry potter
Create my version of this story
I was sitting at my club, the Diogenes, enjoying a rare lunch with my brother.
It was nice to have him around, even if he complained about the food.
The older man was just so busy all the time, running the British government for all intents and purposes.
Though I didn’t ask, I knew his presence meant there was a lull in the chaos of the world—my brother never took a day off.
So when he showed up at the Diogenes on a Wednesday afternoon and asked if he could join me for lunch, I agreed without question.
“I just don’t understand his methods,” I was telling Mycroft.
I took another bite of my salad and chewed thoughtfully.
“He’s an expert in criminology, astronomy, chemistry, and botany.
He speaks eight languages and has an extraordinary memory.
Yet he refuses to leave his house and rarely sees clients, preferring to have them come to him.
Even then, he only sees one or two clients a month.
His eccentricities seem to know no bounds.”
My brother raised an eyebrow at me.
“And what about you, Sherlock?
How many clients have you turned down just because they wouldn’t come to you?
You’re not one to talk about eccentricities, brother.”
I shrugged, conceding his point.
In the grand scheme of things, I had no room to judge others for their eccentricities.
I was well-aware of that fact.
Before our conversation could continue, however, we were interrupted by a man walking into the dining room.
His dark hair and glasses were unmistakable, as was the lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead that marked him as The Boy Who Lived or some such nonsense.
Mycroft gave me a small smile before excusing himself so I could speak with my visitor in private.
I nodded my thanks, watching as he left before turning to Harry Potter.
“Mr Potter,” I said.
“Please, have a seat.”
He hesitated for a moment before coming over to sit across from me.
“I’m sorry for intruding,” he said quickly.
“Not at all.
How can I help you?”
Typically, when people showed up at the Diogenes to see me, they were in need of my help.
After all, it wasn’t easy to come by an invitation to the club.
Which meant that Harry Potter had sought me out, which piqued my curiosity.
It wasn’t as if he knew me, after all.
He frowned, looking uncomfortable.
“I was told that you might be able to help me find someone.”
“And who is it that you’re looking for?”
I asked, steepling my fingers together.
Harry Potter looked uncomfortable.
“It’s an Auror named John Dawlish.”
Harry Potter had been holding onto his emotions since he left Grimmauld Place.
Now that the adrenaline of the situation had passed, he felt a little foolish for getting so worked up.
John was a big boy.
He could take care of himself.
But at the same time, Harry couldn’t help but worry.
He didn’t trust the Ministry at all.
“Are you sure he’s missing?”
Harry nodded, feeling uncertain.
John was probably fine.
He could have just been reassigned as one of the new Aurors to protect Harry.
But he’d looked into it anyway and discovered that wasn’t the case.
John Dawlish was missing.
“Why don’t you tell me everything?”
Harry did as he was told, explaining that John had been gone for more than two weeks and that he wasn’t answering any of his owls.
He also mentioned that it was strange because John was supposed to be one of the Aurors protecting him while he was staying in London.
I listened intently as he spoke, my mind whirling with possibilities.
This was a unique situation, as it required Harry to come to me for help.
I couldn’t simply show up at his home and offer my services—Harry would know something was up if I did that.
No, I needed Harry to come to me of his own free will.
To seek out my assistance, no matter how much he might resent doing so.
And so I came up with a plan—a cunning plan to ensure Harry sought me out.
I’d convinced several of our friends to help me—including Mycroft and Anthea.
Harry was already lost in thought about Nero Wolfe and the past when he received the note from me.
He’d been surprised by the summons but decided to come along anyway.
And I didn’t have to do much to convince him that he’d actually come to me.
After all, he was already thinking about stopping by 221B Baker Street.
In the end, it was quite easy to persuade Harry through subtle suggestions and mental manipulation that he’d come to me with an issue.
I didn’t feel great about it, but there was no other choice.
The end justified the means, as the saying went.
When Harry finished telling me about John Dawlish, I nodded.
I knew enough to make sure he stayed on the right track for my plan to work.
“Thank you for coming to me,” I said.
“I’ll do my best to help you find him.”
He gave me a grateful smile.
Now that’s settled,” I said after a moment.
“Would you like some tea?”
Harry gave me an odd look before shaking his head.
“No thank you,” he said.
I stood up, adjusting my coat.
“In that case, I think it’s time we left.”
He gave me another odd look, clearly confused.
His expression reminded me of a lost puppy.
I could see the wheels turning in his head as he tried to figure out what was going on.
And then he understood.
I could see it in his eyes.
I’m so glad you came to me, Harry,” I murmured.
“I promise this is for the best.”
He stood up slowly, looking regretful.
“I’m sorry, Sherlock.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“For what, Harry?”
He didn’t answer, but I didn’t need him to.
Instead, I turned and headed toward the door, leading him out of the dining room and toward the entrance of the club.
When I reached the doorway, I paused and looked over at Mycroft, who was standing nearby.
“I’ll be taking him to the Prime Minister’s Office,” I said quietly.
I knew Mycroft would understand what that meant.
He gave me a nod, his expression unreadable.
When we stepped outside, I knew Harry was going to ask me why we were going there.
But I beat him to it.
“Harry, you may be wondering why I’m taking you to the Prime Minister’s Office,” I said.
He nodded slowly.
I gave him a small smile.
“The truth is, that wasn’t my plan at all.”
He frowned, looking confused.
“Then why did I come here?”
“Because there’s something I need your help with,” I said.
“What do you mean?”
My frown deepened.
“When I met you on the street, I was actually on my way somewhere.”
Harry gave me an odd look.
“I don’t understand.”
“After you left, I continued on my way,” I said.
“And that’s when I met Mycroft.”
Something told me that Harry was no longer confused by my words.
He knew exactly what I was saying.
I nodded, relieved that he understood.
“Would you like to know where I was going?”
Harry nodded slowly, looking curious.
If only he knew about the note.
We started walking down the street, heading toward the Prime Minister’s Office.
I knew we were being watched, but there wasn’t anything I could do about that now.
There was no turning back.
And even if there was, I wouldn’t have wanted to go back anyway.
Not now that Harry had already come to me.
It was too late for that.
As we walked, I thought about what I wanted to tell him next.
It wasn’t easy for me to admit it, but this was the only way.
Even if it meant revealing more than I was comfortable with.
I couldn’t afford not to tell him the truth now.
“The truth is, I didn’t come here because of John Dawlish,” I said after a moment.
Harry gave me an odd look, clearly surprised by my words.
“That wasn’t the case at all.”
He frowned, looking confused once again.
Why did you come here then?”
“Because of another disappearance,” I said simply.
Now it was his turn to look surprised.
“What do you mean?”
I hesitated before answering.
This wasn’t something I wanted to say out loud, but it was necessary for him to know.
And so, after taking a deep breath to prepare myself, I spoke again.
I came here because of a case of impossible disappearance.”
Harry was quiet for a long moment.
I could see him thinking about what I’d just said.
And then he looked over at me with a serious expression.
“Do you think it could be related to dark magic?”
he asked in a low voice.
I felt a shiver run down my spine.
His words weren’t far from the truth.
But he didn’t need to know that yet.
And so, after giving him a reassuring smile to hide my unease, I answered his question with one of my own.
“Do you have any experience with dark magic?”
I asked in an equally low voice.
He gave me a small nod.
“Enough to know that it can be very dangerous,” he said.
“And difficult to deal with.”
I returned his nod.
It was all too true.
Harry’s words had been a good enough answer for me.
I knew what was happening, and now he knew as well.
What was happening was that John Dawlish had disappeared without a trace.
And not only had he disappeared, but he’d done so in a way that was impossible to explain.
It was as if he’d simply vanished into thin air.
In London, of all places.
It was no wonder they’d come to me for help.
But now, after learning more about what was going on, I realized that we were dealing with a much deeper mystery than I’d first thought.
For one thing, it was no longer accurate to say that John Dawlish had disappeared.
Because as Mycroft Holmes had revealed to us in a private meeting at the Diogenes Club, John Dawlish hadn’t merely disappeared.
He’d been made to disappear.
It had all been part of an elaborate ruse to lure out corrupt officials within the Ministry of Magic.
A sting operation, if you will.
One that had been authorized by the Prime Minister himself.
To expose those who were abusing their power and making deals with dark wizards.
It was almost too much to take in at once.
But as soon as Mycroft had told us about it, my mind had started racing, trying to make sense of everything he’d said.
What the Prime Minister’s involvement meant.
And most importantly, how this sting operation had gone wrong.
Because according to Mycroft Holmes, it had indeed gone wrong.
John Dawlish hadn’t returned as planned.
He’d actually disappeared for real.
And now the Prime Minister needed someone to find him.
And that someone was me.
Or rather, it was me and Harry Potter.
My mind wandered back to the present as we walked along the street.
I turned to look at Harry, who was still looking at me with an odd expression on his face.
I knew what he was thinking.
He wanted to know why they hadn’t asked him for help instead of me.
And honestly, I couldn’t blame him for feeling that way.
If our positions were reversed, I would be wondering the same thing myself.
But this wasn’t about me or him.
It was about finding John Dawlish.
And so, after giving Harry a reassuring smile, I said, “I’m sorry they didn’t ask you for help.”
He shook his head, giving me a dismissive look.
“It’s not your fault.”
“I know,” I said.
“But if there’s anything you want to know or ask me about, feel free to do so.”
“Don’t hesitate,” he said with a small smile.
I returned his smile with one of my own and then we continued on our way.
We were almost at the Prime Minister’s Office, which meant we didn’t have much time left.
I hoped we would be able to find some concrete leads soon.
“So where is he?”
I asked after a long moment of silence passed between us.
The question felt heavy on my tongue, but it needed to be asked.
Harry turned to look at me, his eyes dark and serious once again.
“That’s the problem,” he said.
“We went to see Mr.Granger yesterday, but he doesn’t seem to know anything about it.”
“Have you been back since then?”
I shook my head, feeling a sense of unease settling in the pit of my stomach.
“No, not yet.”
“Then perhaps we should go back and take another look around,” Harry suggested, his eyes fixed on mine.
“I have a feeling that there’s something there that we might have missed.”
I nodded in agreement, feeling a sense of relief washing over me that Harry was thinking along the same lines as me for once.
“Let’s do that,” I said, my voice strong and determined.
We hurried back to Mr.Granger’s estate right away, where Harry took out the Marauder’s Map from his pocket and activated it with a single tap of his wand, checking all the rooms on the map one by one until he reached the end of the list and confirmed that there were no unauthorized individuals in the house, not even a ghost or a house elf present at the scene.
After making sure that the house was empty, he rolled up the map and put it back in his pocket before turning around to face me with a raised eyebrow.
“So, what do you think?”
“Dawlish wasn’t abducted from the premises,” I said.
“If he was, then the kidnapper must have taken him through the Floo Network or a Portkey, which would have left a trace behind in the fireplace or at the exact spot where he disappeared.
But as you can see, there’s nothing here at all.”
Harry listened quietly to my words before finally nodding in agreement.
“You’re right,” he said.
“I suppose we should take another look around then.
Start from the study maybe?”
I couldn’t help but feel slightly surprised by his suggestion, but I didn’t show it on my face.
Instead, I only gave him a small nod before leading the way inside the study.
I knew that we had already searched the room pretty thoroughly yesterday.
But if Harry thought there was something here we had missed, then it was worth checking again.
He might be able to see something that I couldn’t after all.
But as we looked around the room one more time, we still didn’t find anything unusual.
I frowned slightly at this development.
It wasn’t like Harry to make a mistake like this.
But before I could give him a questioning look, he suddenly stopped in front of the bookshelf and squatted down in front of it, running his fingers along the books for a moment before pulling out a thin volume.
After flipping through a few pages, he gave me an excited smile.
“It’s right here, Sherlock.
There’s a hidden passage behind this bookshelf.”
I frowned slightly as I watched him stand up and carefully push the bookshelf to the side, revealing a narrow passageway behind it.
It was hard to tell where it led to from this angle, but I could clearly see footsteps and drag marks on the floor, which meant that someone had indeed gone through this passage recently.
And judging by the direction of the footprints, they were headed towards the door.
Or possibly away from it.
My eyes narrowed slightly at the thought as I followed Harry inside the passage and observed our surroundings carefully.
It was dark and cramped, but we weren’t far from the end of it now.
Suddenly, my foot bumped into something hard, and I looked down to find a body lying on the ground in front of me.
Upon closer examination, I found that it was the same man I had met at the Diogenes Club a few days ago.
John Dawlish, the missing Auror.
And judging by the pool of blood around his head, he was already dead.
Harry yelped in shock when he saw the body and quickly ran over, kneeling down beside him and checking for a pulse.
“He’s dead,” he said after a moment, his voice tinged with sadness.
I nodded in agreement before bending down to inspect the body myself.
There were no other injuries on him aside from the head wound, which seemed to have been caused by a blunt object being struck against his skull.
And judging by how dry the blood was, I would guess that he had been dead for at least a day or two by now.
“It looks like he was knocked out from behind,” I said as I stood back up.
“And whoever did this probably killed him somewhere else before moving the body here.”
Harry frowned slightly at my words before nodding in agreement.
“And if that’s the case, then he wasn’t involved in his own disappearance,” he said.
“Which means we were right about him being kidnapped and murdered.”
I gave him an approving smile at his observation, but my mind was elsewhere now.
If Dawlish wasn’t involved in his own disappearance, then how did his kidnapper manage to get him out of the house without leaving any trace behind?
And why did they choose to kill him now, instead of doing it before?
The only explanation I could think of was that the kidnapper didn’t know that we were looking for Dawlish yet.
And when they found out, they decided to kill him so that we wouldn’t be able to interrogate him and find out who was behind this.
But that didn’t make any sense.
If the kidnapper knew we were looking for Dawlish, wouldn’t they take him away and hide him somewhere instead of killing him?
There was clearly something we were missing here.
But what was it?
I turned to look back at the study, lost in thought for a moment before Harry’s voice broke me out of my reverie.
“Sherlock, have you found anything yet?”
I shook my head at his question before carefully walking over to the bookshelf and examining the books he had taken out earlier.
Aside from the hidden passage behind the shelf, there didn’t seem to be anything else unusual about them.
But if Dawlish wasn’t involved in his own disappearance, then our kidnapper must have come from somewhere inside this house.
Which meant there had to be something hidden here that we didn’t find yesterday.
I frowned slightly at this thought before pulling out the other books on the shelf and studying them one by one.
None of them seemed to be out of place at first glance, but the more I looked at them, the more I realized how odd their selection was.
The first book Harry had pulled out was on herbology, while the second one was about ancient runes.
And after quickly flipping through a few pages, I found that the third book was on arithmancy.
It seemed like there was a pattern here, but what could it be?
Feeling frustrated, I turned back to the bookshelf and began examining the other books on it.
Harry raised an eyebrow at my sudden change of behavior, but he wisely chose not to comment on it.
Instead, he walked over to me and began pulling books off the shelf and studying them just like I had.
It didn’t take long for us to finish the entire bookshelf, but we still couldn’t figure out what the pattern was.
I let out a huff of annoyance at this, and Harry gave me an amused smile before leaning down to study the books more closely.
And that was when he spotted it.
“Look at the spines of the books,” he said softly, pointing at each book as he spoke.
“They all have numbers on them.”
I frowned slightly at this before looking at the numbers he was pointing at.
The first book was 57, while the second one was 48.
The third one was 33, and so on.
But what did these numbers mean?
I turned back to the bookshelf and began flipping through the pages of each book, hoping that it would tell me what the numbers were supposed to signify.
But after looking through a few books, I realized that it wasn’t going to help.
This was a dead end.
I let out a frustrated sigh before turning back to face Harry and shaking my head.
“I can’t figure it out,” I said, feeling annoyed at my own incompetence.
“There has to be something here,” Harry replied, looking back at the bookshelf with a frown.
“But what?”
I shook my head at his question, feeling completely stumped by this bookshelf.
If there was a clue here, I couldn’t see it.
But I knew that there had to be something hidden here.
And if I couldn’t find it, then…
My eyes widened at this thought.
Of course.
Why didn’t I think of this earlier?
I quickly turned back to the bookshelf and ran my hands along the spines of the books, feeling for any hidden seams or buttons.
It didn’t take long for me to find one.
I reached out and pressed down on the spine of the book with the number 57 on it, and I heard a soft click as the bookshelf began to swing open, revealing a dark passageway behind it.
I turned back to Harry and gave him a triumphant smile, and he returned it before stepping inside the passageway and waiting for me to follow after him.
The passageway was pitch black, but I could see Harry’s wand glowing softly in the darkness as he led the way.
We walked in silence for a few minutes before we finally reached the end of the passageway, where we found several stone steps leading down into a dimly lit underground maze.
We followed the steps down, and as we made our way through the maze, I couldn’t help but notice how eerily quiet it was.
There was no sound of birds chirping or wind rustling through the trees.
It was almost as if the entire maze was enchanted to be completely silent.
And that was when it hit me.
If this maze was enchanted, then maybe it was magically enlarged too.
But how did Dawlish’s kidnapper manage to do that?
And what were they hiding in here?
My thoughts were interrupted by Harry’s voice, and I quickly turned to look at him as he pointed towards a partially blocked tunnel on our right.
“It looks like there’s been someone here recently,” he said, frowning slightly as he examined the tunnel more closely.
“Should we check it out?”
I nodded at his question, and we quickly made our way over to the blocked tunnel.
I crouched down in front of the pile of rocks and debris and reached out to brush some of the dirt away, revealing a small opening in the wall.
I pressed my face against the hole and peered inside, but all I could see was darkness.
“It looks like this tunnel has been blocked off,” Harry said, frowning at the pile of rocks and debris in front of him.
“But why?”
I shook my head at his question, feeling completely stumped by this mystery.
But there was one thing that I did know for sure.
We needed to find a way to solve this case fast before something terrible happened.
Harry and I made our way back to the study, feeling unsettled by our discovery in the underground maze.
When we stepped inside the study, Mycroft and Mr.
Granger were still examining the criminology books, their heads bent close together as they whispered to each other with worried expressions on their faces.
They both looked up when we entered the room, and I could see the questions in their eyes as they stared at us expectantly.
“What did you find?”
Mycroft asked, his voice soft and strained.
“We found something,” I replied, giving him a small nod.
“But we’re not ready to share it with you yet.”
Mycroft’s eyes widened in surprise at my words, and he opened his mouth to protest, but Mr.
Granger placed a gentle hand on his arm and gave him a comforting smile before turning back to us.
“That’s alright,” Mr.
Granger said, his voice calm and understanding.
“We trust you both to do what’s right.”
I gave him a small nod, feeling relieved that he wasn’t upset with us for keeping secrets from him, and then I motioned towards the door with my head.
“Shall we go back to the dining room?”
Mycroft asked, giving me a pointed look.
I nodded at his question, and we all got up from our seats and made our way out of the study, leaving the criminology books behind us.
But as we walked out of the room, something caught my eye and made me stop in my tracks.
I turned back to the study and saw a map hanging on the wall that hadn’t been there before, and my eyes widened in surprise when I saw what was on it.
Harry followed my gaze and walked back into the study, frowning slightly as he looked at the map on the wall.
“What is this?”
he asked, reaching out to run his fingers over the yellowed paper.
“Is this a topographical survey?”
I shook my head at his words and stepped closer to the wall, studying the map more closely as the pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place in my mind.
This wasn’t just a topographical survey.
It was something far more significant than that.
It was a map of a network of tunnels beneath the estate, extending all the way to the Thames and dating back to the 17th century.
And what was even more surprising was that these tunnels had remained hidden for centuries without anyone noticing them until now.
But how was that even possible?
And why would someone build a network of tunnels like this?
Harry and I stood side by side in Mr.
Granger’s study, staring at the ancient map on the wall and trying to make sense of what we were seeing.
It was a network of tunnels beneath the estate, with several of them leading all the way to the Thames, and judging by some of the notations on the map, it had been used for smuggling.
“Do you think this is what Dawlish was investigating?”
Harry asked, his voice low and uncertain.
I shook my head at his question.
“I don’t think so,” I said slowly.
“I think he might have been looking for a way to escape.”
“And you think he used these tunnels to get away?”
Harry asked, frowning slightly as he looked at the map.
“It’s possible,” I said, my mind already working through the implications of what we’d found.
“But these tunnels are too complicated to navigate without a map or some kind of guide.
There’s no way he could’ve done it on his own.”
“Unless he left something behind for us to find,” Harry said, his eyes narrowing as he stared at the map on the wall.
“And that’s why we found that book in his apartment.
I nodded at his words and reached out to trace one of the lines leading from the estate to the Thames.
“The question is, what was he trying to escape from?”
I said slowly.
“And who helped him?”
Harry asked, looking down at me as he spoke.
“I don’t think we’ll find that answer here,” I said, shaking my head.
“But maybe we’ll find something else.”
“What do you mean?”
Harry asked, furrowing his brow in confusion.
“If these tunnels were used for smuggling in the past, then they might be connected to whatever it is that Newt is trying to stop,” I said slowly.
“And if that’s true, then they might be connected to whatever happened to Dawlish as well.”
Harry frowned at my words and looked down at the map again, studying it more closely as he thought about what I’d said.
I watched him for a moment, waiting for him to come to the same conclusion that I had, and then I saw his eyes widen in surprise as he finally put all the pieces together in his mind.
“But if that’s true,” Harry said slowly, “then that means…”
“…that we need to find out where these tunnels lead,” I finished, turning to look up at him with a small smile on my face.
Harry just shook his head at my words and let out a soft sigh.
“Why am I not surprised?”
he muttered under his breath, but there was a fond smile on his face as he spoke.
I just grinned back at him in response and felt my heart swell with affection for him all over again.
But then I let out a small sigh of my own as I turned back to look at the map on the wall, feeling a surge of excitement wash over me as I thought about what we might find if we could just figure out how to get into those tunnels and explore them further.
But as tempting as it was to rush into things right away and start trying to uncover the truth, I knew that it would be far too dangerous to do so without a proper plan in place first.
If those tunnels really did lead all the way to the Thames like it looked like they did, then there was no telling how far they stretched underground or how many twists and turns there were along the way.
And that meant that there were an infinite number of ways that we could get lost in the dark and never find our way back out again.
And so I forced myself to take a step back and think the situation through carefully instead of just rushing in blindly like I so often did.
I stared up at the map on the wall for a moment longer and tried to commit the layout of the tunnels and the surrounding area to memory before I finally tore my gaze away from the map and turned back to look up at Harry.
“We need a plan,” I said firmly, meeting his gaze with a serious expression on my face.
“We don’t know what’s down there or who might be waiting for us.”
Harry just nodded at my words and reached out to squeeze my shoulder gently as he gave me a warm smile in response.
“You’re right,” he said simply.
“And we’ll figure out a plan too – together.”
I felt my heart flutter in my chest at his words and couldn’t stop myself from smiling back at him before I leaned up on my tiptoes and pressed a soft kiss against his cheek.
“Together,” I repeated with a small nod of my head.
But then I sighed and stepped back again as I looked up at him once more.
“Now we just need to figure out what that plan is.”
I trailed off and let out a soft sigh that was filled with frustration as I realized that I still had no idea what we should do next or how we should do it.
But then Harry reached out to place a hand on my back and gave me a reassuring smile before he turned to look at the map on the wall once again.
“We’ll start by checking out the rest of the house to see if there are any other hidden entrances or exits that we might have missed,” he said slowly.
“There has to be one somewhere, or else Dawlish wouldn’t have been able to disappear so easily.”
I nodded at his words and turned to look at the map on the wall as well.
“I agree,” I said after a moment.
“There’s probably another entrance somewhere around here, and if we can find it then we’ll be able to get a better sense of where those tunnels might lead and how we can explore them safely without getting lost.”
I trailed off again and let out a soft sigh that was filled with frustration as I realized once again how little we actually knew about what was going on.
But then I shook my head and forced myself to focus on the task at hand instead of getting overwhelmed by everything that we still had left to do.
Because no matter how much we might not know right now, I knew that we would be able to figure it all out eventually as long as we kept working together the way that we always did.
And that was all that really mattered in the end.
I stared up at the map on the wall for another moment before I finally tore my gaze away from it and gave Harry a small smile before I turned and headed for the door so that we could get started on figuring out what our next steps should be.
The hidden entrance that we found in Mr.
Granger’s study led us straight into a narrow tunnel that spiraled down into the darkness below the estate for what felt like hours before it finally opened up into a larger chamber that was big enough for us to stand up in without bumping our heads on the ceiling.
The walls on both sides stretched off into the darkness so far that I couldn’t even see where the tunnel might end, and the way that they curved and twisted in different directions made it impossible for me to tell how big this chamber actually was or how much open space there might be to explore.
As a detective, I had been in more than enough underground spaces to know how to make a rough guess about what the construction of a building or tunnel might have looked like based on the way the space felt and the echoes that I heard when I spoke.
But as soon as I stepped inside this chamber, I realized that nothing about the way these tunnels were made actually made any sense to me at all.
Because even though they felt like normal stone walls when I reached out to touch them, there was no way that they could have been constructed in the way that I thought they should have been based on the size and layout of this chamber.
The long, straight tunnels that we had been following to get here had been narrow and claustrophobic because they were so small, but this chamber was so big and so open that it would have been impossible for any human hands to have built it without a lot of magic or a whole team of people working together.
And as far as Harry and I could tell, there were only two sets of footprints leading in and out, which meant that this chamber and the tunnels leading to it were at least partially magical in origin.
“Alright,” I said slowly as I stepped away from the wall and looked back at Harry to see what he thought we should do next.
“This way, I suppose.”
The tunnels stretched out in front of us in two different directions that were both so straight and so narrow that I couldn’t even see a hint of a curve or a turn that might help me figure out where we were or which direction we should go in.
But then I felt a sudden chill run up my spine and I let out a soft gasp as I realized that the walls in front of us were slowly closing in and curving together into a new tunnel that hadn’t been there before.
“No, wait,” Harry said urgently as he reached out to grab my arm and stop me from moving any closer to the walls as they continued to close in on us.
“It’s moving and changing too much.
We’ll never be able to make a map if it keeps shifting like this.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but then I fell silent and simply nodded at his words because I knew that he was right.
There was no way that either of us would ever be able to map this space out if it kept changing and shifting like this, and there was no point in even trying if we knew we were going to fail.
“Alright,” I said after a moment.
“But what should we do instead?”
I trailed off and let out a soft sigh that was filled with frustration as I realized that I still had no idea what we should do or how we should do it.
But then I reached out to Harry and grabbed his arm so that I could look him in the eye without getting distracted by the way the walls were moving around us.
“What now?”
I asked him slowly.
And then he let out a low, frustrated growl before he reached out and slammed his hand against the wall beside us in a burst of magic that would have destroyed the whole tunnel if it had been made by human hands.
“But it’s so heavily warded,” he said in an exasperated tone.
“It’s blocking me from using any magic at all, other than what it takes for me to stay alive and breathing.
I fell silent at his words and simply stared at him for a moment, unsure what to say or how to respond to what he had just told me, but then I let out a short breath and reached out to rest my hand on his arm so that I could try to comfort him with my touch even though I didn’t know what else to say or do.
And then I pulled away from him and turned to look past him at the walls around us, only to realize that they had stopped moving and shifting and changing now that Harry had tried to use magic to destroy them or change them or figure out how to escape from them.
But then I felt my breath catch in my throat as I realized that all of the walls around us really were made of magic, which meant that there was no way that Harry could ever destroy them or escape from them by using his magic to fight against them.
“These walls are made of magic,” I said softly as I turned back to Harry and looked him in the eye to see if he agreed with me, but then he simply nodded in response to my words because he already knew that this must be true, and there was no point in pretending that it wasn’t.
“But what does that mean?”
I asked him after a moment, even though I already had some idea of what it might mean and how it might affect us.
“I think it means that this underground maze is much more magical than you ever thought,” Harry said slowly as he turned to look around at the walls and the tunnels around us so that he could try to figure out what we should do next or where we should go now that we knew more about what we were dealing with.
“But what does that really mean?”
I asked him in response to his words because I still didn’t understand what he was trying to tell me, or why it mattered that these walls were made of magic instead of brick or wood like other walls might be.
“What does it mean for us?”
I trailed off and then let out a short breath before I could force myself to say anything else, but then I simply stood there in silence and looked at Harry so that he would know that I was waiting for him to answer my question, even though I didn’t know what else to say or do to make sure that he understood how important his answer really was to me.
“This maze isn’t just designed to keep people out,” Harry said slowly after a moment, once he knew that I wasn’t going to say anything else right away.
“It’s also meant to keep people in.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I think that this maze was probably made for criminals who were sentenced to the Dementor’s Kiss,” Harry said as he turned to look around at all of the tunnels and walls around us so that he could try to decide which way we should go now that he knew more about what kind of place we were dealing with.
“The people who were sent here were probably kept in one of those cells that we saw, and then they had to wait for their sentence to be carried out.”
“But that’s so cruel,” I said softly as I remembered all of the things that I had read about how a criminal was sentenced to the Dementor’s Kiss, only to realize that they had been given a much more merciful sentence than I had thought at the time.
And then I let out a short breath as I felt my face grow pale with fear as I realized that I might have been right about where we were when I had first seen those cells.
And now that I knew more about what kind of place we were dealing with, I had no idea how we were ever going to be able to get out of it, especially if someone really was waiting for us to escape so that they could make sure that we got caught.
“Well, it’s not like there’s anything we can do about it now,” Harry said after a moment, once he had decided that it was best for him to focus on what we were doing now instead of trying to worry about all of the things that might or could happen to us later on.
“And it doesn’t matter anyway,” Harry said after another moment, once he had decided that it was best for him to focus on what we were doing now instead of trying to worry about all of the things that might or could happen to us later on.
“Because we have to get out of here before anyone else tries to keep us here forever.”
“But how are we supposed to do that?”
I asked him in response to his words, once I finally decided that it was time for me to say something now that he was done talking so that I could try to explain why I was asking this question, even if it was obvious why I was worried about what might happen next.
“I mean, we can’t just walk back through those tunnels again until we find our way outside,” I said as I turned to look at all of the walls around us again so that I could try to decide what we should do now that we knew how dangerous this maze was and what kinds of things might happen to us if we didn’t get out of it soon.
“But we could try to walk through them until we find our way outside,” Harry suggested in response to my words, but then he let out a short breath as he realized that this probably wasn’t going to work, and then he shook his head to show that he didn’t know what we should do next either.
“And if you have any other ideas about how we should go about escaping from this place, now is definitely not the time to keep them to yourself.”
“I don’t know,” I said after a moment, once I had decided that it was best for me to answer his question as honestly as I could so that he would know that I didn’t have any better ideas than he did about what we should do next.
“But we can try to figure something out.”
“Yeah, we can,” Harry agreed with me after a moment, once he had decided that we weren’t going to be able to come up with a better idea than just trying to walk around until we found our way outside again.
“But we don’t have much time,” Harry said after another moment, once he had realized that we didn’t have much time left to try to figure out what we should do next before someone came to make sure we didn’t escape from this place after all.
“And we don’t have much of anything else either,” Harry said after another moment, once he had realized that there wasn’t much else for him to say or do right now except try to make sure that we weren’t caught before we had a chance to escape from this place and go home again so that we could rest and relax after everything we had been through.
“Let’s just go,” Harry suggested in response to my words after another moment, once he had decided that it was best for him to try to come up with a better plan later if he could so that he wouldn’t have to worry about all of the things that were happening right now.
