If I Fall for You [Harry Potter: Next Generation]

8. The Room of Requirement

A/N: sorry, that was another longish wait. I'm currently working on five fanfics and school is CRAZY
~
Lily Potter cornered Rose after Potions that day. The perky little Gryffindor redhead had started at Hogwarts two years after Rose, and was now in her third year.

"Hi, Rose." Lily came up behind her and tugged at Rose's sleeve, causing Rose to jump.

"Oh, hi, Lily," said Rose. "What's up?"

"I need to talk to you," Lily replied, dropping her voice. She seemed really nervous about something, fidgeting with the strap of her book bag, startling green eyes flitting back and forth.

"Why? What's the matter?" Rose glanced around. Cynthia had slipped off somewhere.

"I have to tell you something."

"Okay," said Rose, nonplussed. "What is it?"

"Come on." Lily grabbed Rose's hand and started off, moving with the flow of people, dragging the older girl after her.

"Woah, woah, woah," Rose protested. "What's the idea?"

Lily didn't reply, nor did she loosen her grip around Rose's wrist. Rose was towed down the hall and into a deserted corridor just off the main passage. She pulled her hand out of Lily's.

"I just don't want anyone else to hear," Lily explained, hopping from foot to foot and twirling one of her red curls around and around her finger in a nervous sort of way. She gestured at the steady, noisy stream of students pouring past their little corridor.

Rose crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows. "Fine," she said. "Spill."

Lily hesitated, dropping her gaze. "Something's going on with Al," she admitted. "I'm worried about him, and he won't tell me anything."

Rose blinked. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. See, this is the thing," Lily continued. "You know the Room of Requirement?"

"Yeah." Everyone knew about the Room, and the role it had played back when Uncle Harry went to Hogwarts. It was the stuff of legend.

"Okay. Well, I think someone is blackmailing Albus."

"W - what?"

Lily sighed. "It's a long story. But I'll tell you."

"Let's hear it," said Rose, pulse quickening.

"Well," Lily sighed again. "It all started when James stole Dad's Invisibility Cloak a few years ago. I don't think Dad missed it, because he doesn't usually use it. Or maybe he knew who took it and just didn't say anything, James being the next heir and all. Anyway, one night I was sitting in the common room studying, and it was really late, and then all of a sudden Albus came down from the boy's dorms."

"Wait," Rose interrupted. "This happened about a week before Beauxbatons and Durmstrang arrived, right?"

"Yeah. So Albus came down, and he was carrying something silvery under his arm. He saw me, and he practically jumped out of his shoes in fright. I asked him what he was doing, and then I asked him if the silvery thing was Dad's Invisibility Cloak, and if Albus had stolen it from James.

"He didn't answer right away, just kind of looked at me. Then he said that yes, it was Dad's Cloak, and yes, he had stolen it from James. I said, 'Where are you going?' And he said, 'None of your business. Go to bed. It's late.' And he put on the Cloak and walked out.

"Of course I followed him, but it was pretty hard, and I think he knew I was there because after a while I couldn't hear his footsteps anymore. By then I was in a part of Hogwarts I'd never really been in before, and I just kind of wandered around until I found myself in the hallway where the Room of Requirement usually is."