Chương 30: The Room of Requirement
"Neville, have I ever told you how much I despise Rita Skeeter?" Harry looked up from the article in the the Daily Prophet that he was reading. Neville had shown him the article during breakfast, deciding that his friend would be interested in seeing what was printed about him. The angry look on Harry's face made it clear he was not happy with what he read.
"Only once or twice, Harry." Neville laughed.
"If I ever do go dark, it may just be so I can get back at her." Harry said. "I wonder what Daphne is going to say about it."
"They were actually harsher on her than you." Neville pointed out. "But I don't think she has a temper quite like yours.
"I'm curious Neville, what do you think of Daphne?" Harry asked, hoping that his other good friend would not have any issues with her. He had decided that Hermione was not going to be a problem after seeing the two girls interact with each other the previous night. They were polite to each other, though not exactly friendly. Maybe one day that would change, it would certainly be easier on him if it did.
"I don't have any problems with her. We're actually distantly related, but that isn't surprising considering we are both from pureblood families. My great grandmother was her great grandfather's sister, I guess that makes us third cousins." Neville explained with a small shrug. Neville, like Daphne, had also been taught not only their own family's history but about the other pureblood families. He found the customs and traditions to be mostly annoying and outdated, but his grandmother insisted he learn them and Neville rarely said no to his grandmother.
"I see. So do you show up at each other's family reunions or something?"
"No, we're not closely related enough to do that. The Greengrasses and the Longbottoms have gone their separate ways. I don't think I've ever talked to her to be honest. She's never tried to insult me like most of the other Slytherins, so that counts for something. Plus, you seem to like her so she can't be all that bad." Harry smiled, happy that he would probably not have to worry about Daphne and Neville not getting along with each other. He started to go back to his meal when he someone suddenly sat down in the seat next to him. Harry immediately recognized the younger brown haired girl.
"Hello Harry Potter." she said, "I'm Astoria Greengrass." Daphne's younger sister sat looking at him confidently while the others sitting at the long table looked at her with a mixture of surprise and amusement. Harry briefly thought that it would have been nice if the Slytherins had reacted that way when he sat at their table.
"Hi, can I help you?" Harry asked, unsure of what to say to the girl.
"Sure, you can tell me what your intentions are with my big sister." she said seriously. Harry had definitely not been expecting her to say that.
"Isn't that something a girl's dad normally asks a guy, not her little sister?" Harry said with a small laugh.
"Usually, but if you want her to be your Dark Lady I need to approve that you are a good Dark Lord." Astoria answered, her efforts to hold back her smile now starting to falter. Harry and Neville looked at each other when they heard this and both started laughing.
"Sorry, but I thought you were trying to be serious when you came over here." Harry replied.
"I do care about my sister, but she has answered all of my questions and vouched for you. I would give you the 'hurt her and die' speech but you're Harry freakin' Potter, so I'll just have to go with the 'hurt her and I will be a huge pain in your ass' speech."
"Fair enough." Harry said with a nod. Astoria looked at him seriously for a moment, as if trying to judge his reaction. Finally she seemed satisfied and got up to head back to her table. She only got a few steps before she turned back around with an odd grin on her face.
"You may have thought it was funny now, but we'll see how much you laugh when it is my dad asking the questions." Astoria said before turning back and continuing towards her table. Harry's laughter seemed to die in his throat, realizing the young girl might have a point.
...
Hours later Harry was sitting in the library reading Hermione's favorite book Hogwarts: A History . He was hoping to find some reference to creatures living in the lake but had found nothing. He had first asked Daphne then Hermione if they wanted to help him with the research but they had both been forced to say no for the same reason. Classes would be beginning again in a few days and for them that meant a huge Ancient Runes project coming due that would count for a large chunk of their grades. Harry, having not taken Ancient Runes, did not share that problem.
After an hour of flipping through the book Harry slammed it shut with a frustrated grunt. 'I should have known there was nothing in there,' he thought 'Because Hermione would have mentioned it if there was. She has that book practically memorized.' Harry was walking down the aisles and looking at the titles of the books, hoping to find one that looked promising, when he heard the soft popping noise that occurs when house elves use their version of Apparition. Looking down he saw Dobby, smiling and bouncing with excitement.
"Harry Potter sir! Dobby is finding masters new room!" the little elf yelled.
"That's great Dobby! Where is it?" he asked.
"Seventh floor, sir. Follow me, Dobby will explain on the way." Dobby began jumping up and down waiting for Harry to follow him, and when Harry did start to walk towards the door he saw Dobby hopping instead of walking. The house elf seemed very pleased with himself.
"Dobby, I've been all over the seventh floor and I can't think of anywhere better than the classroom I am using now. And there my map doesn't show any large rooms either."
"Does Harry Potter's map know all the secrets of Hogwarts sir?" Dobby asked with a grin.
"Well, now that you mention it the Chamber of Secrets isn't on there. Are you saying that this room is a hidden room like that?" Harry asked as they began climbing the stairs up towards the upper levels of the castle. Thankfully the moving staircases were all aligned properly so they did not have to take a detour.
"Oh yes sir. The Come and Go room can be many things, all the Hogwarts house elves know that."
"Come and Go Room?" Harry asked curiously.
"You wizards call it the Room of Requirement, Dobby thinks. Come Harry Potter sir! We are getting close!" Dobby grew more excited the closer they got, hopping faster than ever. Harry was practically running in order to keep up with him. Finally Dobby hopped, tripped, and tumbled to a stop in front of a blank stretch of wall. "We're here!" he yelled happily.
"Dobby, there's no room here. There isn't even a painting hiding a door." Harry said skeptically.
"Not yet, sir. You need to think of what room you want and walk past this wall three times then POP! Your room will be there." Dobby explained.
"So if I wanted a bedroom, that is what would appear? Or a bathroom, or a library, or whatever else I could think of?" Harry asked, starting to realize the potential such a room would have.
"Yes!" Dobby said, nodding vigorously. Harry decided to try it and the first room that came to mind was an image of the Gryffindor common room. Walking past the wall once he looked up, hoping to see something but the wall remained unchanged. After his second pass still nothing had happened. Then, on his third time past the wall, a door began to appear. The wall around it seemed to melt away as if it were mad of wax and the door had been hidden beneath it. When the changes finally stopped Harry grabbed the knob and threw the door open.
The room inside was an exact replica of the common room he had pictured in his mind. It even included Ron's chess set on a table in the corner, with the pieces arranged and ready to play. A fire was lit in the fireplace and gave a little warmth and light to the room. Harry rushed in, staring in awe at what seemed to be a perfect copy of the room he knew so well. Smiling, he walked up the stairs to the door that led to his bedroom and opened it only to be met with a wall instead of an entrance.
"I wonder why that happened?" Harry said. He then realized that he had only asked to see the common room, not all of the dorms attached to the common room as well. So when he used the room he would have to be very specific in what he asked for. "Dobby, you are the best elf ever."
Dobby gasped at Harry's praise and tears of joys began to leak from his eyes. The tiny elf rushed towards Harry and grabbed his leg in a tight hug. "Harry Potter is too kind!" he began repeating, only stopping after Harry spent several minutes calming him down. Harry didn't think he was being too kind though, this room had almost endless potential. And it seemed he was the only person who knew about it.
"Thank you, Dobby. You did great." Harry said seriously. The elf hugged him again and then popped away, explaining that he had to get back to work. Harry spent the next few hours experimenting with the room, quickly realizing that it would be the perfect place to move his training to.
....
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