Stigmata

Chapter Two: Ravenclaw

The stairway curved down into a darkness that Harry found himself lost in. "Lumos," Harry whispered, and a pale light was cast upon the stone walls of the small hallway that opened out from the circular stairwell.

Harry's footsteps seemed to undulate around him as he walked and the walls seemed to close in almost protectively around him. It was as if they knew him, but they were just stone... so how could they want to protect him? But then again... this was Hogwarts, and it was not the first time he'd felt that the castle was somehow... sentient.

A small door of black wood was all that the solemn hallway led to, and Harry paused slightly as the doorknob seemed to warm as his hand neared it.

The room he entered was lit by a faint cerulean light that brightened as he entered. Hedwig cooed from her position on Harry's shoulder and flew to a perch that was placed on a table in the middle of the room. Harry looked around in wonder at the room. The lofty rafters were decorated with detailed carvings of birds in flight, more birds than Harry had ever seen or even known existed. The walls of the room were covered in books of every shape and size, leather-bound volumes that held no dust, even though not a soul had entered the room for countless years. There was no fireplace in the room, but the floor seemed to radiate warmth upwards. Harry placed his wand back in his pocket and stepped further into the room.

There was a desk pushed up against the back of the room, with a plush chair placed in front of it, as if the occupant of the room had just left and was going to return. Harry felt a longing from the room, as if the room had waited for its creator to return... waited, but nothing had happened.

Hedwig squawked, and Harry's eyes were drawn back to the center of the room. Next to her perch was a stand, the top carved in the image of a phoenix in flight. Held between its outstretched wings was a blue orb that swirled with an electricity that seemed to boil within it. Suddenly, a small lightning bolt flashed out against its surface; the action then repeated itself a few seconds later.

Harry stepped closer to it so he could peer into its depths. Hedwig cooed impatiently.

"What?" he asked her.

She brought her beak down to peck at the orb's surface.

Harry again looked at the orb, and then tentatively brought a finger up to touch it. A bolt of lighting struck out at his finger, and curled itself around the point where his skin touched the surface. He added finger after finger, and, each time, a bolt from inside of the orb lashed out to the new point of contact and continued to stream towards him as his fingers stayed on the orb. Harry carefully added his other hand's fingers, and then slowly brought his palms to touch the surface, as well.

Lightning slashed out at him and coiled around his body. The orb flashed, and Harry could almost feel it speak.

Ravenclaw.

Harry's vision filled with the blue depths of the orb, and he seemed to fall in the churning shadowy depths. There was an incredible jolt of something and the orb cracked down its center. Harry's vision swam, and he lost all connection with the world as everything went black.

"Harry. Wake up, please. They will start to wonder if you do not. Wake up, Harry. It's almost breakfast."

What?

"Harry, you need to go to breakfast. If you do not, questions will be asked that we cannot have asked."

Harry's eyes blinked, and he looked up into the frantic eyes of Hedwig. "What?'

You must get down to breakfast, Harry."

Hedwig was talking. Harry bolted upright and immediately regretted the action.