Ultraviolence

Chapter 36: Wonderland

Song: Alice's Theme - Danny Elfman

I'm looking for a place where things gather. Relics, antiquities, anything. Where Hepzibah Smith found the Hufflepuff cup. I'm looking for a place where things gather...

Three times I paced up and down in front of the stretch of blank wall. When I opened my eyes, a dark door appeared on the blank wall. It looked significantly different from the one that guarded the DA meetings. It was very small and far more Victorian in its architecture.

Going through the tiny door, I felt like Alice. Then I was in total awe and felt more like I was in Wonderland. Draco looked utterly transfixed. We were standing in what seemed to be a grand and majestic cathedral, its high windows sent shafts of golden light down upon stacks and stacks of objects, hidden by or belonging to thousands of past Hogwartians.

Despite the bloody axe on the far right corner and the skull of a creature that looked like it came straight out of the pages of one of Vesta's books, the scene was oddly beautiful. It was an eerily silent city made up of all sorts of things. There were a few wands and silver arrows scattered on the white marble grounds, Gothic cabinets; an abnormally large book labeled "The Muggle Way of Magick: From Wicca to Greek Mythology," crystals, gems, jewels, Persian rugs, dolls; an olive green egg that had been hatched, more cabinets, sculptures, ancient tablets; a grand harp that played feebly as though its enchantment was fading, stacks of gold, endless maps, swords, murals, and a painting of a young dark woman with a single pearl earring. At least, that was all I could see near me.

"Let's split up," he said, holding a pretty ring with a single emerald gem. "Oh and, Vestigium! There, now we'll leave footprints so that we know where we've already looked." I nodded and headed towards the left. When I turned around I saw that he had sneaked the ring into his pocket.

"What?" He smirked. "Better on my finger than in this mess."

I rolled my eyes and began to search. More maps, the bones of a peculiar insect on top of yet another cabinet (I yelled when it took flight; Draco laughed), the answer key to an Arithmancy exam dated 1962, tarot cards whose paint was beginning to fade, but no Pensieve.

Time rushed by and Draco's silence, apart from his footsteps, revealed he had had no luck either. The golden light issuing from the tall windows above transformed into a coolish hue typical of the end of winter. Everything felt colder.

"Have you found anything yet?" My yell echoed across the cathedral of objects.

"You'll be the first to hear if I do!" He exclaimed back, sounding far more irritable than when I last saw him. His yell dragged across the room so I knew he was heading closer.

I grunted at his sarcastic response. For a slight second, the whole search felt quite impossible. The room was enormous and there was no certainty that there was even a Pensieve in here. But I didn't want to be wrong, and least of all admit to it, so I brushed it off and continued looking. This was one of those rare cases where being this stubborn had its perks.

After minutes of going through Greek bowls under the impression that it may be a Pensieve, I came across an object that caught my eye. It was a sweet music box, it opened immediately after my hand brushed past it. The miniature statue of a fairy swirled and swirled to the weak dying music. It was probably not made in this century.

Next to it lay a bronze tiara. It was made of blue Sapphire stones shaped like ovals and etched upon its surface a quote was written:

"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure."

I had the silly desire to put it on. The bronze felt cold against the roots of my hair, and when it lay delicately on top of my head, I felt... different. Like I was more sure of my thoughts and intuitions.