The Hope beneath the Dark - Sebastian Sallow

22. Vivariums

Maude's POV

I waited for Poppy about 15 minutes while in the stairs leading to the corridor, before seeing her arrive. I left the Great Hall earlier, as I wanted to get there before her.

"Poppy! Glad you could make it!" I shouted as she climbed the stairs until she reached my side.

"Why are you waiting in the stairs?" Poppy asked as she noticed it was rather odd, considering I could've just wait in the hallway a few stairs up.

"You'll see. I was waiting for you!" I exclaimed. "Come!"

I grabbed her arm and pulled her with me, taking her to stand in front of where the door would shortly appear. I let go of my grasp on her.

"What are we supposed to look at?" Poppy asked.

Not allowing me the time to answer, the door have started to appear before our eyes, leaving an even more intrigued look on Poppy's face. Without further ado, I opened the door and waved my hand, instructing Poppy to go in.

"No way!" She exclaimed, as she proceeded into the room.

I followed Poppy, letting her walk the small corridor leading to the first room. I knew she would be coming so I had Deek changing the lightning to a warmer and more natural look.

"Wow, I can't believe it! It's so huge. Is it really the room of requirement?! Your room of requirement?" She asked excitedly.

"Well, I guess it is, yes." I replied cheerfully.

"What is that?" Poppy pointed towards the forest vivarium in front of us.

"That is amongst the few things I wanted to show you but let me show you the other inside rooms before we get to that!" I explained.

Poppy and I headed down the stairs to our left, leading down to the biggest area of the room of requirement. I showed her all my potion stations and all the plants that I was growing there. She was amazed even though the gothic high ceiling style was not really her style.

"It really reminds us that you're a Slytherin! We're far up in the astronomy tower, yet I somehow feel like I'm in the dungeons." She stated.

"I know, but now let me show you the real reason I brought you here..." I grabbed her wrist and took her to that first vivarium she noticed. "Come on, go on in."

Poppy looked at me hesitantly but then entered the vivarium. She looked around and I could tell by her expression that she was mesmerised.

Immediately, three Puffskeins gathered close to her, almost begging the be pet. She was a natural, of course creatures could sense her soft and caring side.

"I can't believe you've been hiding that here all this time!"

We spent almost an hour in that vivarium, but then I quickly showed her the Swamp vivarium, where she was able to see the thestrals. She was amazed by them, as she always was with pretty much any magical creatures.

"Now I get what you meant when you said you captured the unicorn in the forbidden forest. You were right to do so, all the creatures are all clearly happy here. It is an amazing place for them!" She told me.

"How can you see the thestrals? You never said." I asked.

"As you know, my parents were poachers. On the last time I had to go with them on one of their raids, there was a group of rescuers who were warned that my parents and their gang would be there. There was a massive fight, but my parents ended up mercilessly killing the rescuers. That was horrific. I was already hating them and what they were doing, but that was the last straw. It took some time to sink in, so it was only later, when I went to live with my grandmother that I fully processed that terrible event, and she brought me to a spot where we could see thestrals, where I found out I was able to see them too." She explained.