บท 15: Getting Rich with The Room of Requirements

The next morning, Kevin's internal clock woke him from his slumber. Before leaving the dormitory, Kevin checked his class schedule. This semester, he had a total of eight courses: Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, History of Magic, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Astronomy, Herbology, and Flying. Most of them were in the morning, with one in the afternoon. Astronomy was the exception, as it was held at night, given that studying stars during the day wouldn't work. The best part was that the first class each morning started at 9 o'clock, allowing for a relaxed breakfast.

Lunch was from 11 to 12, and dinner extended from 4 to 7, making it convenient with a maximum of two classes in the afternoon. Additionally, there were no classes on Friday afternoons, and students had weekends off, providing a schedule that would make Muggle middle school students jealous.

Hogwarts operated on a three-term system, with holidays for Christmas, Easter, and summer. Kevin got dressed and headed to the Ravenclaw Tower, his textbook in hand. Instead of rushing to breakfast, he was on a mission to find the most anticipated place in all of Hogwarts, the Room of Requirement, also known as the "Come and Go Room." Legend had it that the room appeared only when someone truly needed it. It was always equipped with exactly what the seeker required. Moreover, the Marauder's Map couldn't display the Room of Requirement or anyone inside it. Finding it meant having access to a private room for personal studies, free from prying eyes.

Hogwarts had a total of 142 staircases, some wide and grand, while others were narrow and rickety. Some staircases led to different places at specific times, even more reliably than Aunt Flo. A few of them had steps that vanished halfway, and if you didn't react in time, you'd fall through. Special magic ensured that young witches and wizards landed safely, but it also meant having to climb back up from the first floor if you missed a step.

Hogwarts had numerous doors, and they wouldn't open unless you asked politely or poked the right spot. Some doors weren't real doors at all; they were just solid walls made to look like doors. Remembering which was which wasn't easy since everything seemed to move continuously. Even the people in the portraits visited each other, and even the armour walked around. The design was rumoured to be the handiwork of Rowena Ravenclaw herself, intended to discourage less intelligent students.

Kevin arrived at the Defence Against the Dark Arts Tower, walked up to the eighth floor, and found the Tapestry of Troll Fencing that marked the entrance to the Room of Requirement. In front of the tapestry, he cleared his mind and focused on his need for a place to hide things. After three passes in front of the tapestry, a very smooth door appeared abruptly on the wall.

Kevin quickly went inside and closed the door, peeking through the crack. All he saw was darkness; it seemed that the Room of Requirement had disconnected from the corridor after he closed the door. Kevin believed that the Room of Requirement was not in the same phase as Hogwarts. Instead, it was more like a true alternate space, which connected to Hogwarts only through the user's intent. The principles behind this space went beyond Kevin's understanding, but he could tell that it had nothing to do with the Undetectable Extension Charm. It was more akin to various quasi-planes created through arcane magic.

The place was as big as a cathedral, and it looked like a city. The high walls surrounding him consisted of thousands of items hidden by students who were no longer in this world: bottles, hats, boxes, chairs, books, weapons, broomsticks, batons, and more. Everything that had been cleared by Vanishing Charms over the millennia was stored here. Kevin knew that one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem, was hidden somewhere in this room. Legend had it that wearing the diadem would grant the wearer Rowena Ravenclaw's wisdom.

However, Kevin didn't come here to search for the diadem. He wouldn't do so until he had the means to protect himself. His main goal for today was to explore the room. After his observation, he realized that most of the old items were in poor condition but could be fixed with the Reparo charm.

"Indeed, my previous idea is feasible!"

"In the future, I can take some suitable old items here, repair them with the Reparo charm, collect them, and then sell them in Diagon Alley."

"After all, there's no point in leaving all these things here unused. Nobody will take care of them, so I might as well make good use of them."

"In that case, I won't need to work for that bit of money anymore!

Although I could learn quite a bit while working, Kevin wasn't a masochist. Since he could learn magic through studying and experimentation, there was no need to exhaust himself.

With a plan in mind, Kevin emerged from the room. This place was nowhere near the classrooms or common rooms of the four houses, so he wasn't worried about being seen.

He made his way to the Great Hall, where breakfast was already underway.

"Kevin, come over here!" He saw Harry waving at him, but Kevin pointed to the Ravenclaw emblem on his robes, reluctantly declining the invitation, and headed to the Ravenclaw table.

His roommates, Stephen, and Kevin Entwhistle were already feasting at the table. "What's the first lesson for the Gryffindors?" Stephen asked while munching on a German sausage.

"The first class is Transfiguration taught by Professor McGonagall, a two-hour class, and we have it together with Gryffindor," Kevin replied as he sandwiched bacon into his toast.

In the first-year curriculum, Herbology class had three periods per week to facilitate the observation of the different growth stages of plants, while Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, History of Magic, and Defence Against the Dark Arts had two periods per week. Flying and Astronomy only had one class period.

At that moment, there was a flurry of "hoot-hoot" sounds overhead in the Great Hall. Many owls were flying in; it was the time for delivering mail. Kevin's owl, Hemer, soared over to him, a brown tawny owl, but it didn't bring any letters—nobody sent Kevin letters. It seemed to be just tagging along with the others.

Kevin waved his wand and caught it before it landed in his cream soup. Then he tore off a few pieces of bacon and fed them to Hemer. The little owl, full and content, hopped onto Kevin's shoulder and affectionately used its oily beak to groom his hair.

At that moment, cries of students on the other side of the Great Hall caught their attention. "Oh my! Someone attempted to rob Gringotts?! What's happening? What's happening?" Several young wizards immediately gathered around.

It turned out that someone had subscribed to the Daily Prophet, and according to the reports, the Gringotts in Diagon Alley had been robbed. A dark wizard broke into the underground vault of Gringotts, but the goblins claimed the thief didn't manage to steal anything and was almost caught.

However, they ultimately failed to capture the thief, causing quite a stir.

Kevin quickly connected the dots: this had to be about the Philosopher's Stone. Fairies were indeed unreliable. The commotion soon ended, and Kevin and his roommates got up and headed in the direction of the Transfiguration classroom.