HARRY POTTER

AND THE WORLD WITHIN

-Prologue-

The Cave Of Rocks

All was quiet on the beach. The only sound for miles around was the sound the sea as it threw itself at the rocks time and time again. It was not a beach that could be ventured across easily, with many craggy rocks, some of which tilted with the slightest addition of weight. Once dark, the beach was a big no-no.

The silence was suddenly broken by the sound of a loud crash, and a triple-decker bus broke from the clouds less than gracefully. It flew through the air and began to descend towards the beach at an erratic rate. Just as it seemed that it would be dashed to pieces on the rocks, all of the ones in its path suddenly leapt out of the way, leaving a clear surface for the bus to land on. The bus landed with a bump and came gently to a halt.

For a moment the beach was still once more as the bus idled. Then there was the sound of screams from within, which were abruptly cut off with two loud bangs, accompanied by two green flashes of light. The engine then clicked off and the doors opened. Two cloaked figures, their faces obscured by their hoods, descended. They looked around to get their bearings and then set off across the beach. They moved in silence, until they came across a break in the rocks, where water flowed out of a large fissure in the cliff. Without even hesitating, the two figures jumped into the water, swimming up into the fissure.

Inside was a dark cavern, an apparent dead-end. Ignoring their now soaking clothes, the two figures went into action. One of them, a woman, pulled out a surprisingly dry parchment and unrolled it, studying it intensely and occasionally reading from it out loud. The other figure, a man, followed her instructions until he was in front of a particular part of the wall. 'There, it's there!' Said the woman.

The man nodded and drew his sleeve back as she stepped forward. She reached within the cloak and pulled out a knife. The man pulled his sleeve back and winced as the woman plunged the knife in. Blood seeped out of the wound, and he allowed it to run across the ground. A bright archway appeared and the rock behind it vanished, allowing the two figures to pass through. They continued to walk in silence until they came across a huge cavern. It was mostly occupied by a huge lake, in the middle of which sat a small island, a single basin sat glinting through the gloom.

"So it's true… the location of the one of the Dark Lord's mysterious artefacts is located here" whispered the man reverently.

"Yes, but that is not why we are here!" replied the woman testily. She pulled out the parchment again and read it intently. Then she looked around the cavern. Finally she pointed at a seemingly random sheet of rock. "There!"

The man pulled out his wand and pointed at the wall.

"EXPLOSIVO!" (1)

A jet of blue light shot out of the wand and flew into the wall. It exploded instantly, allowing the two of them to proceed down a new opening. For several minutes they walked down a long corridor in silence, eventually coming to a long staircase that spiralled upwards. Neither of the two figures showed any sign of fear as to where they could be heading, as if they already knew.

The top of the staircase finally came into view and they progressed up into a large cavern decorated with various furnishings and dominated by a huge pit in the centre of the room filled with a thick black substance. Impossibly, a small writing desk sat overlooking the pit. Sat at the desk was a middle-aged woman with long blonde hair, writing on a piece of paper intently. At the sound of their entering she spun round, a look of utter outrage and horror on her face. "What is this? How dare y-"

"Stupefy!" yelled the man. A jet of red light hit the blond writer, striking her so hard that she was thrown backwards over the desk, plunging over the edge and into the pit.

"NO!" bellowed the woman "What were you thinking?"

For amount the man too was frozen, horrified at what he had done. "It... it doesn't matter, we can fix it! Just like everything else!"

The woman took a moment to compose herself and nodded. She crossed over to the desk and slowly, almost reverently, picked up the quill on the desk. "At last!" she breathed. "The answer to everything!" She beckoned the man over. "Come, there is much to be done." A faraway look entered her eyes. "Evil to be defeated, lives to be restored…"

APPENDIX

(1) This is one of many culture references I like to slip in here and there. If you can spot all of them then reward yourself with a huge pat on the back! But not too hard!