Arcadia is a reference to a Twilight Zone episode from 2002 where one of the characters (Jenna, played by Amber Tamblyn) is sent to a place known as Arcadia as punishment for being a noncomformist. I just wanted to let you readers know.
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The room eerily resembled the courtroom that she had just left. There were row upon row of stone seats lining the walls of the rectangular room. Only, something was different. The stones were a lighter shade of grey. The lighting was dimmer. The special chairs where important members of the Wizengamot would sit were positioned at the opposite wall. And at the very bottom of the room was not a chained chair, but a raised stone dais, upon which stood a crumbling stone archway that was unsupported by any sort of buttress or wall. A ragged black veil fluttered gently from the archway in which it was hung. It was the dreaded Veil Room.
A shiver of fear ran down Cho’s spine as she walked along the topmost tier of the room. She heard stories about it. About how people would go into the Veil Room and were never seen again. About how the Veil led those unfortunate enough to fall through the ragged material into another dimension. About how the Veil meant instant death for those who dare enter it.
“Cho? Cho? Is that you, Cho?”
A voice echoed through out the room. It came from the Veil.
Before she even realized it, Cho started to walk down the steep granite steps. The feeling while walking down those stairs was like someone had cast an Imperious curse upon her to make her go to the Veil and to vanish within its ghostly material.
Go to the Veil, go to the Veil, a low, deep voice chimed in her ears, compelling her towards the Veil. Meanwhile, the ghostly voice continued to call out her name. Shadows were darting across the room, gently whispering incoherent words. As Cho descended to the depths of the room, the stones started to shimmer, as if it was submerged in an underwater chamber. When she reached level ground the voice seemed to be stronger. It was a male voice, and it sounded so familiar to Cho’s ears. She almost broke down in tears when she realized who it belonged to. It was Cedric’s voice that was calling out from the Veil.
“Cho, is that you?” Cedric’s voice called out from the Veil.
Cho bit her lip and held back her tears. “Yes, Cedric. It’s me. I missed you so much.”
Cho was ready to jump into the Veil to join her long lost love when Cedric yelled, “Stop! You can’t go through this Veil.”
“Why not? Can’t you see that I love you and that I miss you so much? I cried so much after you died. I still think about you every day. Why can’t I go in to see you?”
“Because, if you go through this Veil, you will die and you’ll enter the purgatory known as Arcadia.”
“What is Arcadia?”
“Arcadia is purgatory, an afterworld dimension for those who were murdered and for those who fell through the Veil,” Cedric whispered. Cho strained her ears to his voice. Tears were rolling down her cheeks. “It is so dark and lonely in here. I miss you so much, Cho, but I need to warn you to not jump into the Veil. If you do, you will die and you will never return to the living world. All you can do is just watch and see their grief.”
“But I want to be with you!”
“I know, but I do not want to kill you. I’d feel bloody guilty if I did. But you need to get out of this room. Non-Unspeakables aren’t allowed to be in here. A whole group of Unspeakables are going to enter this room in just a few minutes. I don’t know why, though. But you need to get out of this room. If they catch you and find out where you work, then you’re going to be fired.”
“Then I’ll go through where I came from and retrace my steps again.”
“NO! Cho, listen to me. You can’t retrace your steps because it is bloody impossible to do it. You need to use a different door.”
“But there is just one! And that’s the one the Unspeakables will be going through.”
“There is a revolving door fifteen paces to the left of where you are standing. When you get there, touch the gold flecked stone and it will take you to the next room.”
“What will I find there?”
“I don’t know. I just know about this trap door because I can see it right now and I have seen people use it before. I can’t remember where it leads to because I could never see where it went to.”
Cho nodded. She trusted Cedric with all of her heart. There were voices high above her, nearing the doorway.
“I love you, Cedric,” she whispered. Tears continued to stream down her face.
“I love you too, Cho,” the voice of Cedric murmured.
She turned from the Veil and ran fifteen paces to the left. She slammed her hand against the gold-flecked stone and the next thing she knew, the wall was turning and leading her into a dark opening.
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The wall spun into a totally new room.
Or did it lead to the outdoors? Cho wondered. She found herself floating in the azure sky, several yards above a field of tall grass and wildflowers encrusted with jewels. It was so peaceful just to be up in the heavens, to feel the soft bucolic breeze on her face and to dart across the clouds. Cho looked down to see the beautiful pastoral setting that was spread out like a patchwork quilt. Two things caught her eye. One was a lone stone wall that looked like it had once been part of an ancient stone cottage. The other was a petite figure lying in the grass, as if she was asleep.
“What the heck,” Cho muttered as she made her way to the ground. “OW!”
She crashed right into what looked like a shield of glass that separated the heavens from the ground. While she rubbed a sore spot on her nose where it hit the glass, the other hand frantically searched for an open hole for her to slip through. There was none.
Even though Cho was a good fifty feet above the ground, she got a good look at the figure lying spread eagled in the grass. It was herself.
“Oh, Merlin,” Cho shouted. She crawled across the glass, hoping that there was some way to get out.
An idea clicked inside of her mind, and she pulled out her wand and aimed it over the glass.
“Reducto,” she shouted before being hurdled several yards away from the boundary. When she opened her eyes again, she could see that the glass remained unbroken.
“Wait what about that spell you learned in Charms in fifth year,” a tiny voice in her head inquired, “the spell to reverse an out-of-body experience.”
Of course, Cho thought. The idea was so obvious, she could have smacked herself in the head with the palm of her hand for being so ignorant. But I can’t remember how the spell went. All I can remember was that it consisted of two words, but that was it.
“Now what,” she asked out loud to no one in particular.
She stepped off of the glass and began to rise into the atmosphere. A gentle wind softly caressed her skin as she continued higher up.
It’s a strange and yet fascinating experience to be hovering up in the clouds and to be watching your own body lying miles below, Cho thought, I wonder who Jenna and the others would react when I tell them about where I’ve been. But what was the name of that blasted spell?
She leaned backwards and fell onto her back. For several minutes, she floated on her back, chewing her pointer finger as she contemplated the name of the spell that could end an out-of-body experience. But the only thing that even came close was an old friend.
Klutzy little Tina Somerhalder, Cho thought, a grin spreading across her lips. Klutzy, ditzy Tina Somerhalder. Her mind went blank as she recalled the misadventures of her friend.
“Merlin, how does Professor Flitwick even expect us to remember these spells by tomorrow?” Tina moaned to Cho.
They were alone in the girl’s dormitory. A rainstorm was raging outside during that April night. Tina was standing in the center of the room, screwing her eyes tightly as she tried to memorize the spells that she was having trouble with. She was constantly running her hand through her thick brown hair highlighted with blonde streaks. Cho was sitting on her bed and reading a back issue of Witch Weekly, trying her best not to burst out into laughing.
“I mean, I totally get the first part about inducing the out-of-body thingy,” Tina said, fingering her wand as she spoke, “but it’s the last part that gets me. You wanna see?”
Before Cho could say anything, Tina pointed her want over her heart and shouted “Ex somes usus.”
A second later, Cho could see two Tina’s. One was lying on the floor while the other was standing over the body.
“I bet I could ace the first part of that quiz tomorrow, but I will really flunk the reversal spell,” Tina explained. She sounded extremely nervous when she said that. Charms were never her best subject. “I wonder why I am even in Ravenclaw if I suck at Charms.”
Cho set aside her magazine and walked up to the standing Tina.
“Here, let me show you how to reverse an out-of-body,” Cho said softly. She pointed her wand at Tina and shouted, “Tenus terra.”
“Tenus terra,” Cho murmured. “Tenus terra. Merlin, how that spell reminded me of Tina."
Cho sat bolt upright. “That’s it! That’s the name of the reversal charm!”
Cho gleefully reached for her wand from her pocket and pointed it at her head and then recited the incantation.
A second later, she awoke to find herself lying on the ground. A bit of grass was tickling her cheek. She got up from the field and brushed the dirt and grass off of her clothes, but not before plucking a small flower out of the ground. It was a daisy iced with tiny diamonds and topazes. It was perfect to show Jenna, Charlie, and Paul when she got back. She started to walk around the field when she noticed a small stone hut standing amid the grass The door was open and becoming her to come inside. She stood there for several minutes, contemplating whether or not she should go through it.