 Re: prompted, prompting
He answered through the locked door.
Correct. It means that he replied, but either didn't open the door, or couldn't because it was locked and he didn't have the key, so he had to be heard from the other side of the closed door.
He answered through the locking door.
Incorrect. One could say,
He answered as he/they locked the door
He answered as he was locking the door
He answered through the sound of the locking door (that is, his voice had to penetrate, be heard above,to be heard over, the sound of the door being locked) |