Chapter 25: The Veil Again

“Okay,” said Harry, gulping, “So, I guess I’d better get going then, shouldn’t I?”

Malfoy nodded and stepped out of the way. Without glancing at Draco, Harry slowly crept towards the plain, black door. It seemed like years or even centuries away. His heart was thumping faster and faster.

Once Harry reached the doorknob, he looked back to Draco: but he wasn’t there. Was it a trick? Was Draco behind it all? He shook his head to clear his mind and pushed the black door. It opened, and he was standing in a remarkably familiar circular room. The door shut by itself, and the walls started to rotate as usual.

After a few moments, everything came to a halt. However, the vision in front of Harry's eyes were still rotating. As he looked up, he saw hundreds of doors waiting to be opened. Harry eyes searched for the one he had seen in his dreams, but something else caught his attention: the door in front of him stood ajar. Without thinking, he strode towards the door. As he pulled it open, his eyes widened in shock.

Beyond the stone archway, Harry had just seen someone disappearing beside the Veil. Could it be his godfather? Or was it just an illusion? Whatever it was, he had certainly seen someone go behind it.

Harry slowly climbed down the stone steps and reached the Veil. It was still flickering feebly. As Harry bent towards it, he muttered, “Sirius?”

There was a loud howling noise: the whole room started shaking madly. Harry fell, hitting his head hard on firm ground. As he got up, rubbing his head, he felt something hot trickling down his forehead. As he touched it, he realized that it was blood. He hastily wiped off as much blood as he could.

After most of the blood was wiped off, Harry stared at the Veil. He couldn't understand what had just happened: all he said was his godfather's name. Harry yelled, “Sirius Black!”

There was a ghostly roar; the walls around the room started to collapse. And then Harry gasped: he saw a head emerge from the Veil. It was the most horrific sight he had ever seen. Face badly scarred, blood oozing out of the cuts of its bald head, it opened his mouth. About fifty slimy tongues came out of it, stretching toward Harry.

Harry turned around and sprinted towards the door. But it was too late. One of the longest tongues got hold of his leg and started to wrap itself around Harry, pulled him closer.

The creature was too strong. Harry tried to free his leg from its grip, but it was no use. He pulled out his wand with immense difficultly. As he tried to flick his wand, it almost slipped out of his hand. 

However, Harry gripped it firmly and yelled, “Relashio!”

Thankfully, the grip of the tongue loosened, but still it didn't let go. Harry took advantage and poked his wand hard inside the tongue. Quite suddenly, there was a loud howl of pain, and the room trembled even more.

Loose rocks had started falling from above. One of them came and fell hard on one of the tongues. Harry's leg was free of the tongue’s grip. 

Harry simply yelled, with his wand at the creature, “Sectusempra!”

Blood spurted out everywhere, but the creature still didn’t let go. Instead, it let out a horrific roar and started pulling Harry backwards. In the process, Harry’s wand slipped out of his hand, while a rock crushed it in ease. Harry heard the dreaded noise of breaking splinter, and his wand was divided into two.