When Hermione Fights

Room of Requirement

Room of Requirement

Sitting by myself once again at breakfast the next day, drinking my hot cup of coffee, my good mood was untouchable. I had had looked at myself in the mirror some time ago, while changing clothes after my run, and I had seen that I seemed to glow today. Even my normally brown eyes had a slight golden glint, which gave them an elegant touch. I was quite glad to have found a friend who understood me so well in Draco. When he entered the Great Hall with his clique right after me, one could see the aftereffects of the relaxed, enjoyed night together on him as well. He seemed both satisfied and as though he felt really good today.

Yes, that night had been good for the pair of us.

While we communicated with each other across the tables without arousing suspicion, I felt the weight of two hands on my shoulders and saw dark brown hair move into my field of view. A mouth got close to my ear and warm breath was tickling my skin. I could see how Draco's mood fell, courtesy of Harry's intimate action and how his lips, his so very soft, warm lips narrowed into a dangerously thin line. He didn't like this at all. Did I mention how very possessive Malfoys were, but never jealous?

"Good morning, Hermione. Are you better today?" Harry said into my ear, clearly worried.

"Yes, thank you Harry. A good morning to you too. What's up?" I whispered back.

"Good news," he replied. "Last night I was up very late, and so I saw Dobby when he came to clean our Common Room. I told him about my, well our, problem concerning the practice room and he mentioned something interesting. He told me about a place called the Room of Requirement, which is supposedly on the seventh floor opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. One has to walk up and down the corridor three times, thinking about what the room should look like. I wanted to ask you when we ought to go and take a look?" Harry explained in a conspiratorial whisper.

"Where is Ron?" I asked curiously, looking around.

"He's still asleep, I couldn't get him to wake up. The twins gave us a bit too much of their butterbeer yesterday. Probably spiked? They were very generous to Ron, Neville and myself. Was that your doing?" he asked, looking at me questioningly. Again he was seeing more than I had expected.

"Why do you think that?" I said innocently, as he sat down next to me and took a sandwich.

"Mh-hm... I'm sure you told them about Neville yesterday in front of the Great Hall, right?" he stated with a grin. Puh, lucky me. This wasn't nearly the whole truth, but his assumption wasn't entirely wrong either. He was still thinking the best of me and not the worst, I was lucky indeed.

"Yes, I did do that. Wasn't it nice of them?" I said, deflecting his line of questions by changing the subject quickly to something more harmless. "And I think we should have a look at the room before dinner, together with Ron of course!"

We spent the rest of our day hoping the boring lessons would pass quickly so that we could finally go and visit the room. It was very exciting, and extremely fascinating, discovering hidden secrets of the school! Once the bell signalling dinner finally rang, the three of us couldn't run fast enough up to the seventh floor, where we stopped at the tapestry in question, attentively looking at the bare stone wall opposite it.

"And you really think, Harry, that Dobby knows what he is talking about?" Ron asked quizzically, scratching his arm. He was giving the wall a dubious look. I was starting to question the theory as well and turned to Harry.

"Well then, walk up and down the corridor. You were the one to talk to Dobby!" I ordered and watched as Harry did what I asked. After looking up and down the corridor once more to make absolutely sure we were alone, he started walking. Luckily, all the other students were down in the Great Hall, like a starving horde, eating their dinner happily, without any knowledge of what we were up to. After his third pass in front of the wall, an inconspicuous wooden door appeared directly across from the tapestry, as if by magic, and well, I forgot that of course it was magic. We looked at each other, positively surprised.