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"AN UNSUSPECTED GUEST"

After attending some classes for the day, Alana seemed to be more bored and exhausted than she ever had before during her entire schooling at Hogwarts School. Her instincts told her that Professor Umbridge somehow played a major role in the cause for her discomfort.

She arrived at the classroom for her Defense Against the Dark Arts, and she noted how her fellow classmates seemed to be unenthusiastic for the future duration of the class.

Erise had already arrived, as she had laid out her materials on her desk. However, it seemed as though her mind was preoccupied. From across the room, the new Jayden Brooks sat, and Erise seemed to be captivated entirely.

Alana tapped her shoulder, "Fancy what you see?"

"Very much," she whispered back.

"I'm not stopping yo—"

A tapping noise interrupted the end of Alana's sentence, which was promptly followed by the shrill croaking of a certain Professor: Umbridge's, "Please turn your page to page twenty-three. The topic of ..."

Alana tuned out Professor Umbridge's monotone speech, practically tired of it. Beside her, Erise was still continuing to stare at Jayden who doodled of a piece of parchment paper. The situation continued like this until the end of class. Erise stayed behind, and Alana wanted to talk to her about the bore of a class that the Defense Against the Dark Arts had become.

But before she could say anything: Erise turned to Alana, and pulled her into a quiet corridor out of the classroom. Careful for no one else to hear, she leaned forward to whisper into the other Hufflepuff's ear: "I thought you'd like to know: there's an alternative for the class we just had. Except, of course, it's not during the same time — instead after class hours. I'll tell you when we should go, if you'd like to, of course."

Alana nodded and whispered back, struggling to prevent her expression of exhaustion, "You think I like that class? Of course, I'd like to." She pulled back from Erise, nodding.

And so as the school day ended, both Hufflepuffs pretended to be asleep during the hours of when they should have been. Alana had trouble staying awake, then later fell asleep then woke up in a cold sweat when Erise lightly shook her awake, "Cmon! It's time."

The two Hufflepuffs were careful not to be caught as they lurked swiftly along the walls of Hogwarts' corridors. Alana knew that they would be in deep trouble if caught, but she knew not why Erise had been leading her through these dark corridors, or what alternative there had been to Defense Against the Dark Arts, especially this late at night.

Erise appeared at the door and the room appeared, other Hogwarts students, who were previously huddled turned to look at the two. Erise rushed to join the crowd which had been huddled around a certain Gryffindor, Harry Potter. The crowd turned back to Harry, while Alana stood astonished at the doorway of the room.

All of these students at Hogwarts were unified after class hours in the dead of the night for an alternative to the Defense Against the Dark Arts. She walked slowly to the crowd. Harry had continued speaking, who she had promptly drowned out as she was surprised by the unification of the students at the rule of the Ministry seemed to be taking over Hogwarts School.

All of a sudden someone spoke out, interrupting the unannounced leader of the group, "What are you doing here?"

It had been Neville, who stood just beside the crowd, looking at the wall of the room, which Alana had discovered had been the previous Room of Requirement. The entire crowd turned to look at the wall, curious as to what had been there. The room had been poorly lit, so that the discovery of group would be less likely.

Out of the shadows, a Slytherin student stepped out — revealing themselves.

It was Jayden Brooks.

Alana noted the contrast of the number red, yellow, and blue cloaks that the rest of the Hogwarts students wore versus the only green cloak which he wore, as he was the only one there who had been affiliated with the Slytherin house.

Neville continued speaking after he had pointed out the Slytherin presence to the rest of the crowd, "You weren't formally invited, Brooks."

"As far as I'm concerned, Wallace wasn't formally invited either. She was only invited by her friend, and the rest of your group didn't exactly seem to mind," Jayden retorted slyly. "What difference would allowing another student make?"

"The difference between allowing you or not: is that if you were to join then we would have a increased risk in being caught."

A murmur echoed throughout the Room of Requirement, as if the crowd had a mutual agreement to what the Gryffindor had answered to Jayden's question. Alana noted how different Neville spoke to Jayden as compared to if he were talking to her. It was almost as if he were defensive against her secretive guard, ever since he had arrived suddenly at Hogwarts' castle.

"Fine," Jayden nodded. He looked at all of the faces of the crowd, leaving after staring at her for a second, "I'll leave since I seem to be interrupting your ... solitude."

Erise was surprised by this to say the least as she seemed confused, she walked to the side of Alana, who had whispered to Erise: encouraging her to go after the Slytherin, who had disappeared from the room as abruptly as he had appeared in the room.

"Go. This is your chance to speak to him. "

Erise's eyes moved toward the doorway of the room, listening to the fading footsteps of the Slytherin as he walked down the corridor and as the door of the room closed. She slowly walked over to the doorway, looking back to Alana, then left after Jayden. Erise did not care for what the rest of the crowd would think of her. It was clear that she did not fear that the rest of the crowd would think that she would be betraying them for rushing after a Slytherin.