"Something like that," he answered with a smile while they descended the steps into the dark. A few times over the years he had gotten into trouble with intruders. He suspected that one of his clients supplied them with information about his whereabouts and about the valuable loot that was to be had in this place. With time, those problems took care of themselves. He held her hand and veered left off the steps through the wall and into the dark. It was a dizzying feeling, walking into nothing. At one point they turned and found themselves back on the stairs. He held out his arms to help her skip the last step that was indeed trapped. He did not want to let go of her. They arrived in his old laboratory, which seemed to belong to a different world than the narrow rooms upstairs. It was dark and sprawling and seemed to carry the weight of the earth, as if it was thousands of feet deep under the surface. It was not, but it was a place of magic with dimensions that made little sense. His offices in Hogwarts were hardly comparable. Surprisingly, it was not cold down here. It was temperate.
In the center of the room the floor lowered into a pit where the remnants of a massive circle lay in the dark, painted on the floor with a dark substance. With a move of his hand, lights across the room ignited themselves, as did the fireplace. For a moment, a metallic smell was in his nose, but it might be a memory. Samuel's gaze drifted across the stone tables and shelves. "I sold quite a bit of it," he said to Themis. "But this is where I spent most of the past decade."
In its heyday, this laboratory ran like a well-oiled machine producing unspeakable things. He thoughtfully looked at the circle and tried to remember what the last of his work here entailed. He could barely recall. The time spent in this laboratory seemed like one uniform, endless night. He never even got the idea to miss it since entering his new position—although he sometimes missed the possibilities this place held. As a teacher it was unlikely he would need them.
In the center of the room the floor lowered into a pit where the remnants of a massive circle lay in the dark, painted on the floor with a dark substance. With a move of his hand, lights across the room ignited themselves, as did the fireplace. For a moment, a metallic smell was in his nose, but it might be a memory. Samuel's gaze drifted across the stone tables and shelves. "I sold quite a bit of it," he said to Themis. "But this is where I spent most of the past decade."
In its heyday, this laboratory ran like a well-oiled machine producing unspeakable things. He thoughtfully looked at the circle and tried to remember what the last of his work here entailed. He could barely recall. The time spent in this laboratory seemed like one uniform, endless night. He never even got the idea to miss it since entering his new position—although he sometimes missed the possibilities this place held. As a teacher it was unlikely he would need them.
