She quickly approached the other door that was a little bit down the hallway as she wandered further.
Only to realize that it was locked the second she reached for the handle and tried to open it.
After checking it to make sure no one was inside by placing her ears against the door, that is.
When she realized the door was locked and she couldn't get in— she clicked her tongue softly in annoyance.
If the door was locked then that meant it no most likely had a lot of important stuff inside, or it had something that was worth locking.
Especially since not even the office room was locked— and that room was filled with paperwork and even some interesting books about magic.
But there was nothing she could do about that— she couldn't open the door, so she decided to leave.
Yet as she was about to continue on forward without wasting any more time on the door an idea struck her mind.
An idea on a way to unlock the door.
'What if I used my abilities to unlock it?'
She thought to herself as she looked at the keyhole in the door handle.
It was a random thought, but if it worked it could be rather useful not only now but also in the future for whenever she needed to enter a place that was locked— without breaking anything or using too much energy.
Plus it would allow her to put the idea she had from reading the theory about making illusions physical; letting her test if the theory was possible for her in her current state or not.
Just on a much smaller scale. With nothing to lose and all to gain.
So with that thought in mind, she smiled— moving her hand over to the door handle she held out an extended pointer finger at the lock.
She imagined the darkness that coated her body extending out and entering the hole— wiggling around inside of it like a worm making a new hole.
That was the easy part— the hole was small enough to not require a lot of darkness in it, and thanks to how small the piece of darkness was, moving it wasn't an issue.
The harder part came with trying to make it so the darkness would be able to interact with the object like a solid thing— something she had never tried before.
All of her creations with the darkness so far— be it the illusions, the cloak, or even the storage space— were all in a corporal form that didn't interact with solid objects.
She had never made anything physical before— nor tried to because she never assumed it would be easy.
She had originally planned to go to Hogwarts before attempting to do it because there she would have access to the knowledge to do so.
But she got access to the knowledge a lot earlier than she had planned— which was a good thing— and now she had to test it.
If she could get this working properly before even going to Hogwarts, then it would be a massive bonus for her.
A large power boost she would need in order to deal with the matters of the first movie— especially with the first movie literally having her father in it.
Granted in a weird— face on the back of a head— form.
So— with those thoughts in her mind— she poured energy into the shadow that took the form of a key to match the keyhole.
She could feel the energy taking shape inside of the darkness. She could feel each and every part of the key slowly changing, hardening.
It required her concentration to do it since this was the first time she ever did it, her undivided attention.
Almost causing the cloaking around her to fail. But thankfully she fixed it before it did.
Making the key solid wasn't as simple as it sound. She had to picture every bit of the key in the way that she wanted it.
She had to have a clear picture in her head of how the key should be. Meaning her imagination needed to be up to par, and thankfully it was.
Being rather young before she died, at the tender age of 16, and now being 9 again— her mind was already in the prime state to be creative.
Combining that with all the shows, movies, novels, and other forms of media she consumed throughout her 16 years of life, she had a solid base for her creativity.
So as the crystal clear image of the key stayed firm in her mind, she poured it all into the darkness on her finger to change the key.
Until finally, it worked.
The darkness had become completely solid, so solid in fact that she could easily unlock the door without having to worry about it breaking.
She was surprised, but above all else, she was happy.
This meant that her theory was right— she could make darkness solid as long as she had the energy and a clear image of what she wanted to make.
This alone was more than she could hope for, and it could prove to be extremely useful in her future plans.
Plans of which she will have to rethink and replan once she was back in the room— and had a chance to focus on them.
Right now, however, she had a new room to explore. One that was locked behind a key— which could only mean it would be interesting.
She hoped.
As such, she opened the door quickly and peeked into the room to be safe.
She had to make sure that the room didn't have any other security measures that might injure her or give her away.
Thankfully she didn't spot anything, so she stepped into the room, looking around.
At first, she was somewhat disappointed— it was another office, but after giving it a good glance she got excited once more.
'A locked office! Must be for someone with a high position in here. Plus those cabinets on the wall seem like they could be interesting.'
She thought to herself as she glanced over to the wall of cabinet draws— the type that was made to hold paperwork and files.
If she could go through them— she was sure she would be able to find something of use.
But that was for after she checked out the desk, which she made her way to quickly.
After all, she only had around 15 more minutes before her ability started to strain her.
As she got to the desk and opened it, she looked inside.
It was surprisingly orderly, which she added to the notes in her mind about whose office this could possibly be.
'An orderly person is a dangerous person.'
She thought to herself as she remembered an old saying she overheard from one of her foster homes.
The saying was simple— an orderly person is a dangerous person— which basically means if someone has the time and energy to be orderly— and cares so much about it that they put it into everything they do— they are most likely going to be very observant.
And an overly observant person was rather dangerous because they could pick up on small matters— especially if she moved something out of place and they noticed.
They would know that someone was here— and that their door was unlocked— which would lead to them trying to figure out the cause.
In the worse case, it might lead them to her— in the best case they might just assume they did it without remembering and move on.
But it was a risk either way.
A risk she would have to take— and be careful about— if she really wanted to know what the room had in it.
So trying her best to remember the positions of the items in the draw— she picked up the first thing she saw.
A notebook that one would use to write findings or observations in— leading her to believe this person was a researcher of some kind.
Opening the book to the first page she found an entry in the form of a journal note, one of which she read in her mind quickly.
'June 10th, 1980.
We've found and been tasked with taking care of the recently born child of the Dark Lord after she was found left at one of the secret hideouts of the Death Eaters.
We know of her origins thanks to the note that was laid beside her, along with the charm that was originally placed on her by the Dark Lord himself to keep her safe.
How she was born we aren't sure, however, we do know that she isn't a pureblood— as signs of animalistic traits have already started to appear.
The child remains in an unconscious state— and we are attempting to wake her up at this very moment.
Further progress will be added at appointed times.
Signed, Doctor Richard William.'
The first entry was a surprise in itself— but as she finished reading it, she gave the book a quick skim through to see if it had any more.
And to her surprise, the entire book was filled with entries about her— stuff they did to her as a child, ways they tried to wake her, the tests they ran on her, and even theories about her.
It was honestly quite vexing to skim through because they did all this to her when she was merely a child— unwillingly— without her even knowing.
But there was nothing she could do about that right now— and nothing she planned to do about it until she was strong enough to deal with anything that might come her way from dealing with it.
Plus, as vexing as it may be, it was a great way for her to get to know about herself, the abilities she was born with, and more about her origins.
They after all never told her much— so with that thought in mind, she kept reading.