Acceptance: Hogwarts Legacy Continued

Chapter 63: Garreth- room of requirements

Garreth was using a corner of the Gryffindor common room to do his potion work. It wasn't the ideal location, but he was running out of places to work. Professor Sharp had banned him from the potions workroom last year after a concoction turned his equipment to rust, and his roommates refused to let him use their dormitory after they had to replace all their beds. He had made attempts in other places, but for one reason or another he was left without a lab.

Technically he wasn't supposed to be using the common room either, nothing had gone wrong (yet) but Natty had refused to risk it. Almost everyone was at dinner now though and he had convinced Leander to stand watch outside the portrait. So as long as nothing went terribly wrong with his brew it was all good.

He carefully added the cured ague, mixing three times counterclockwise and waiting to see the color change. He was trying to perfect the antidote to Veritaserum; a very difficult potion to master. Had been working through his list of antidotes to add to his resume. Before school ended he wanted to be able to say he could accurately create at least 50 remedies. He wanted to apply for the Potions Association at graduation, so he was doing all he could to prepare.

He focussed again on his potion and was about to move onto adding the crushed ashwinder eggs when the portrait opened.

"Hey Garreth!" His friend called out

"Leander! You're supposed to be keeping watch!"

"Okay well, one- it's boring, and two- you have a visitor." It was then that he noticed there were two sets of steps sounding into the room. He jerked up, afraid to see the prefect standing there, but instead it was-

"Diana! What are you doing here?"

She smiled at him, waving as she walked towards him.

"Hey, I was looking for you at dinner, and when I couldn't find you, I looked for Leander. When he was also missing I guessed something may have been going on so I decided to make my way up here- and it seems it was a good guess. I'm glad I didn't go to Natty, I think I would have spoiled some plan of yours."

Garreth felt his face get a little warm when he realized how quickly his plan had been figured out, and decided that maybe he wasn't being as sneaky as he thought he was. But that thought quickly faded away when he realized that she had been looking for him. He couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his face, heart racing as he watched her look around his common room.

"Is this your first time here?"

She nodded her head "it's actually the only one I have been to out of mine. It's different than I expected, much more charming and castle-like."

"Well we are in a castle" Leander countered.

She laughed, "you obviously haven't been to the Hufflepuff common room then."

"Is it very different?"

"It's like you walked into a large cottage in an enchanted forest. It's warm and bright and very cozy." She moved over to his bubbling cauldron in the corner "What are you working on? Is this one of your antidotes?"

"Yes!" his heart beat faster by the fact that she had remembered "It's the Veritaserum antidote."

"Impressive! But um, why are you working here, during dinner, in secret?"

"Because he's banned from working anywhere else." Leander chided with a smug face. Garreth shot him a look, but the boy just shrugged.

"You don't have anywhere else to work?" She asked, cocking her head at him.