The Dark Gates

Rahul woke up from his dormitory in the morning and met Ben. He told him about Sam Martinez sneaking into Restricted Section. Ben was so shocked when he heard that Rahul is in detention. "I told you!" said Ben and continued, "You should be careful with that, Professor." Rahul is so sad about this because it's the first time he ended up in detention. "Don't worry Rahul," said Lily packing her books in her bag and coming towards him. "we should check over Sophia; it's a huge dose. She's in the hospital wing the whole night," said Sophia.

They went to the Hospital wing and met Sophia. She became very pale, and her eyes bulged out from her eye orbits. Rahul is unable to see her in this condition. He saw that Madam Poppy is coming towards her bringing nearly five potions labeled as Strengthing Potion. "What's wrong with her Madam Poppy?" questioned Rahul. She looked furiously towards him. "What happened? SHE'S NOT DRINKING ANY POTION FROM YESTERDAY, AND HER TOTAL ENERGY IS CONTINUOUSLY DRAINING. SHE NEEDS TO TAKE THIS..." shouted Madame Poppy. Rahul remembered what he did yesterday. He shouted over Sophia about eating those Fainting Fancies. "Please give it to me Madam Poppy. I will make her drink this" Rahul took the bottle and sat near Sophia. She opened her eyes slowly and looked at him. "I am so sorry, Sophia, I didn't mean to hurt you, but we are so scared," said Rahul. She suddenly rose from her bed and hugged him. "I am so sorry, Rahul, I will not do this again," said Sophia. Rahul gave a small smile on his face and made her drink the potion.

He went to Madam Poppy to get his magic producing potion. "I am so sorry Madam Poppy; I shouldn't shout at her, she felt so sad," told Rahul sitting near her desk. "It's ok, Rahul! Here's your potion," said Madam Poppy. Rahul looked around and confirmed that nobody is watching him. He drank the potion, but this time it tasted sour. "Do you know anything about Sam Martinez Madam Poppy?" asked Rahul. She gave him an unusual look and said, " I heard that you ended up detention with that Hufflepuff girl. She has a noble background. Her family treated her like royals. Her dad is a great Hypothetist. He made many assumptions on the ancient magical monuments and legends. Her great-granddad wrote a book named MYSTERIOUS PLACES AT HOGWARTS. But when Professor Albus Dumbledore is the Headmaster, he kept that book in the Restricted section. But this girl said that it's all rubbish and wanted to prove that her great-granddad is wrong. That way she's after that book." She rose from her desk and started giving more potions to Sophia.

Rahul went to the great hall and saw Sam Martinez waiting for him holding a piece of Parchment. "Mr. Rahul this is for you," she said politely and gave that Parchment to him. Rahul looked at it.

Mr.Jones, You need to go with Sam Martinez along with Professor Hagrid for collecting some resources. Meet him at night. Make sure that you need to show this letter to him ~Professor Alexander.

"Oh no! Into the forest? This is crazy Rahul" said Ben gazing at his note. "No problem Ben, we can handle this," said Rahul moving near to the Gryffindor table. " Meet Professor Hagrid," said a harsh tone. Rahul looked around and saw a student standing beside him. His white hair is shining in the daylight and his robes with a green badge on it shining. "Who are you?" asked Rahul looking seriously towards him. "I am Richard, Richard Flint from Slytherin," said Richard sitting beside him. Everyone is so surprised that a Slytherin student sat near the Gryffindor table. According to school history, Slytherins are the favorite rivals for Gryffindor. But here something is different. His smile shows that he's evil, but his words aren't. "I am Rahul, Rahul Jones, Nice to meet you, Richard," said Rahul poking Ben to give him a seat and continued "How may I help you?". Richard laughed, looking at him. This time his laughter turned everyone's attention towards Gryffindor's table. "I think I helped you, Mr. Jones. So I want a small favor from you. Participate in Quidditch trails for Chaser position," He said.

Richard rose from the chair and continued "I heard that your mom played for the world cup, so I want to give you a great competition." He went away, looking at his eyes furiously.

"Blimey Rahul! Your mom's a quidditch player" said Lily patting at his back. Rahul was so confused. He doesn't know what Quidditch is, and he even doesn't know that his mother is a Quidditch player. The whole Gryffindor is talking about this. "Oh come on, Lily. I don't know what's Quidditch is" whispered Rahul to her and went to the potions class.

There was quite murmuring about Rahul in Potions class. But Rahul didn't care about it. He wanted to meet Professor Hagrid. But how to meet him? It is the primary question in front of him. "Don't worry, Rahul; I know what are you thinking. I am sure we will meet Professor Hagrid and talk to him."

During lunch, they wanted to meet Professor Hagrid in his hut. So Ben, Lily, and Rahul ran into school grounds without getting noticed. "Call his name Rahul" hissed Ben standing in front of a big brown colored door. But he hesitated. "Let's wait he'll check us out," said Rahul staring at the window. Then they heard a sound—a vast sound which signifies that something huge was coming towards them. The door opened, and a big guy nearly a nine feet old man with a long white beard came out and yelled "Rahul! How lovely! Professor Dumbledore said that you would come and meet me. Hello, I am Hagrid. Your care for magical creatures Professor. I think I saw you in my classes, but I never spoke to you. Come in, let's have some tea. Who are these? Your friends?" He welcomed Ben, Lily, and Rahul into his tiny cozy little hut.

Hagrid gave them a cup of tea and his special recipe Rock cakes. Rahul noticed that Professor Hagrid was so happy about his visit. But still, he's confused about Dumbledore information. "You guys remembering me the most famous iconic trio in this Hogwarts castle," said Hagrid taking out his hand handkerchief and wiping his eyes. "Who are they?" asked Lily curiously drinking the whole tea in one gulp. "You don't know them? Well, they are Ron Weasely, Hermione Granger and Harry Potter. These guys are also known as the iconic trio according to me. My language becomes fluent and understandable, so I became a worthy professor here, because of them. You remember me those golden moments." He said, keeping his hand handkerchief in his pocket.

"Professor Hagrid, We are four, Sophia is missing she's in the hospital wing," said Ben and sat beside him. He explained what happened to Sophia and why she's in the hospital wing to Hagrid. "Poor girl" he exclaimed. "I want to talk with Rahul in Private, so will you please excuse us?" said Hagrid with a sudden change in his voice. Ben and Lily exchanged their looks and nodded. After a while, they left the hut. " C' mon sit here Rahul; I need to talk with you," he said. Rahul sat beside him and began "Professor- Hagrid- I am...". Hagrid interrupted him and said " Professor? You can call me Hagrid, Rahul. I know that you've ended up with detention with Miss Martinez. Don't worry; I will take care of this. Just meet me after the last class, and we will complete this Detention work. It's time for your class. Come on, let's go" He rose from his desk and took Rahul to his class.

Hagrid's teaching is excellent. But the main problem is he's beyond the textbooks. He'll handle some scary creatures too. Even the next period handled by the transfiguration Professor Amy Green is also. Rahul is feeling happy about his friendship with Hagrid. But still, he's thinking about why Dumbledore wants to help him. Even Hagrid says that he will have a cause that we should not know it.

After the whole busy schedule, Rahul went to his standard room, changed his dress, and went to meet Hagrid. When he reached Hagrid's hut, he saw Sam Martinez is waiting for them. "Sorry I am Late, by the way, I am Rahul Jones From Gryffindor," said Rahul looking at his muggle watch.

"Hello I am Sam Martinez from Hufflepuff," she said with a small giggle.

She continued " I heard that you are participating in Quidditch tryouts, aren't you?" Listening to this Rahul face turned pale. He understood that this girl might belong to Slytherin. He checked her badge twice and thrice. He confirmed that she's from Hufflepuff. "Let's go !" Shouted Hagrid with a crossbow in his hand.

They walked into the forest for a long time. Sam Martinez was looking at the old trees and rotten shrubs. Her looks were fascinating, but her words are quite hurting. Rahul wanted to make her a friend, but she's not even looking at him. "Rahul go to the east side and find unicorn hair, that's your objective and you Miss Sam come with me," said Hagrid taking her to the west side.

Rahul went to search for some unicorn hair. But he didn't get one. Rahul went into the dark forest and found that thick moist fog is covering up his surroundings. He took out his wand and cried "Lumous!" a white light appeared at his wand's end. Rahul began to search for unicorn hair. He went on till the woods on the trees became dark.

At last, he found one. He shouted "Hagrid I got it! Please check this", but there's no answer from him.

He began to feel something, which is quite bad, some strong force. Rahul pushed those bushes to find out what's going on. He saw a big gate nearly twenty-five feet tall with some demon faces on it. Something is happening to his mind. He closed his eyes and felt that it was just his dream. But he saw a figure when he closed his eyes. It has some dark eyes. It was saying that to come to join with it and open these gates. He went near to those gates and wanted to look at what's behind them. He felt that there is a force that was pulling him through the gate. He wanted to keep his hand on it. But then Hagrid came shouting towards him.

"Hagrid, what are these gates?" He asked. He explained everything about the figure when he closed his eyes. Hagrid was astonished by this question. "Rahul, there's no gate, you tried to kill yourself, there's a big pond with some wizard eating creatures they might attract you, that's it."

They went back to meet Sam Martinez and reached the castle. This time Rahul didn't even look at her face. He was thinking about the figure and those gates. He went to his dormitory and met Ben.

"Let's talk about this in Great hall Rahul, I'm starving," said Ben interrupting him. "But this is important, Ben! Ok I will explain to you in the great hall" said Rahul with a fierce look. They went to the great hall and sat at an end along with Lily. Rahul began his story about seeing the gates and the mysterious figure he saw during his experience with the gates. After fifteen minutes, he stopped and said: "What do you think about this?" But none of them replied.

There's a sudden silence in the great hall. "Guys, what's wrong with you?" said Rahul with a frightened face. "They can't hear you. Come to my room it's urgent now" said a voice grimly. He looked around and found that it was Headmistress Tiffany Weasely.

"Professor, what's wrong with them?" asked Rahul when they are walking towards her office. " It's just a time freeze Mr. Jones, Hurry up now," she said.

They went into her office and saw a white-haired man was waiting for them. "Please wait here, Mr. Jones; I need to talk with this person" she went in and shook her hands with him. They nearly talked for five minutes and ordered Rahul to come near her desk.

He saw that man's face now. He's having round spectacles and a high-class dress. That white-haired man came towards him, patted his back, and said: " I am Harry James Potter, nice to meet you, Mr. Jones". He recognized him looking at his thin lightning bolt-shaped scar.