The Empty Chamber (Harry Potter Next Generation Fanfiction)

Chapter Nineteen: Alice

Before Alice had even known what Genevieve was up to, she had been itching to follow her and her sister to the fifth floor. Now that she did know what they were up to, she was dying to have Genevieve take her back to the library.

"Veev, aren't you getting the implications of this?" Alice pressed, productively using her evening in the Ravenclaw common room to beg Genevieve to let her explore. Lorcan and Lysander were missing on this particular Wednesday night, because they were in the Owlery sending a letter to their parents. Otherwise, they too would have been sure to harass Genevieve. Harassing Genevieve was a rather enjoyable pastime. "Every book from the Restricted Section is in there, with no one to stop us!"

"Alice!" Genevieve said with a dramatic sigh, sending the her friend a reprimanding glance. "Why do you need to see those books? They're too dangerous."

"I won't actually attempt the spells," Alice said hurriedly, "it's more the principle of the thing."

"I'll never let you in the library if you're just going to end up burning it down."

Alice paused for a second, considering. "Did I say Restricted Books?" she asked, giving the most cheeky of smiles. "I meant the second year potion textbook. That's some real exciting stuff."

"Ha, very funny," Genevieve rolled her eyes, closing her book. "But... fine. Maybe tomorrow I can take you back."

"Perfect!" Alice exclaimed, jumping up from her armchair.

"Shhh!" Genevieve frantically shushed her friend. "Don't let anyone hear us! And you can't invite all your friends from Hufflepuff and Slytherin and all that nonsense. I have to keep some of my dignity."

"Right, whatever you say," Alice said, clearly already zoned out from whatever Genevieve was now saying. Her mind was buzzing with the excitement of the news: she could go back to the library! After spending the entire first half of the year agonizing over Genevieve's big secret, she was finally at the heart of it. That, of course, brought about a thousand more questions. These ranged from: "How do all new books just appear in the library? Don't the laws of magic state that it's impossible to make something out of nothing? Does this mean the library is conjuring the books from other places, effectively stealing millions of Galleons worth of books over the course of the past thousand years?" to perhaps the more immediately concerning question: "Why do Genevieve and her sister have magic wings that unlock a secret library?" Alice, however, elected to ignore all of these questions for the time being in favor of cheering excitedly at the prospect of a library with infinite magical knowledge. This must be love, Alice thought with a rather goofy smile.
"Stop smiling like that," Genevieve said. "You're making me uncomfortable."

"What, like this?" Alice said, widening her grin as much as humanly possible. "Secret..." she began to stage whisper, "library... Ouch!" She flinched as Genevieve slapped her arm harder than was entirely necessary. "Alright, alright, I'm going to go to bed. My job here is done."

"But you didn't do anything," Genevieve interjected as Alice stood up from her loveseat. Alice stopped, looking into the other Ravenclaw's eyes for a split second, and then dramatically swished her robes and walked away.

******

"The big day," Alice said in a voice she probably deemed announcer-like. "The night we've all been waiting for..."

"Why are you like this?" Genevieve asked, her voice almost pleading.

"Why aren't you like this? It's a secret library. As a Ravenclaw, it's basically your job to be excited."

"Yeah, but remember? I've been here before. It's my library."

"It's not your library, knowledge belongs to the people!" Alice said, flinging her arms out dramatically as she followed Genevieve down an empty fifth floor corridor.