Lollies and Loki- CH22

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CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO:

Anticipation began to build between Hermione, Helena and Sylvianne as the day of King Arthur's feast approached. Due to his association with Merlin, King Arthur of Camelot was well respected amongst magical folk, and Rowena, Aldwyn, Salazar, and Viviane all seemed pleased by their daughters' invitations to the royal feast.

On the day in question, Hermione found herself quite unable to concentrate on the morning lessons and Sylvianne and Helena were the same, so rather then try to make them sit downing pay attention, an exasperated but amused Rowena took them all up to the seventh floor of the castle to show them what appeared at first to be a stretch of blank wall; there was nothing out of ordinary about the plain grey stones which matched the rest of the corridor perfectly. However, when Rowena paced back and forth in front of the wall whilst saying "I require a room for the children to practice their dancing", a door appeared– and when she opened the door, much to their shock and amazement it was to the sight of a magnificent looking ballroom.

Large mirrors with golden frames lined the walls and a magnificent sparkling chandelier cast rainbows across the marble floor. Hermione could hear the sounds of instruments playing a lively tune, and an examination of the room had her locate said instruments hovering in the air while playing themselves.

"What is this place?" Helena asked, her eyes wide with amazement, and her mother smiled fondly down at her– Helena and Rowena didn't agree on a lot of things; Helena was fiercely independent, determined, argumentative and had very little patience for societal expectations and ladylike behaviour, and her attitude constantly drove Rowena to despair, but both mother and daughter did share a love of magic and learning. Sitting down for lessons was one of the only times that Helena was actually quiet and studious, eagerly devouring whatever learning materials given to her, soaking in the lectures and practicing spells over and over. She was determined to become a spell inventor, just like Rowena, and Hermione had no doubt that with her sheer passion Helena just had to succeed.

"This room," Rowena explained to her quite enraptured daughter, a fond smile on her face, "is a place I have decided to call the Room of Requirement. If one thrice paces before the wall I showed you, the room will shape itself into whatever it is you require, within reason of course– it cannot provide food or living things, such as plant-life, nor can it provide infinite space and any objects removed from its walls will vanish back into non-existence, but there is very little else that it cannot do."

"This is the most impressive magic that I have ever heard of!" Helena said delightedly, her eyes shining. "It is– oh mama, it is brilliant! How long has it taken you?"

"Over a year," Rowena said with a light laugh. "Though that was just to enchant the room, all the spellwork was the result of a lifetime of study. But I have not just shown it in order to impress you– you all have too much energy, so considering that you are attending a King's feast tonight, we shall spend up some of that energy by practicing your dancing."

Hermione found herself grateful for Rowena's idea, for while both Sylvianne and Helena already knew the dances the older witch was making them practice, it was all new for Hermione. Fortunately, her jujitsu training meant Hermione was quick and light on her feet as well as graceful, and all the time she'd spent memorising different, complicated fighting sequences enabled her to swiftly pick up the much simpler different dance formations and steps.

After Rowena dismissed them for the day, the three girls picked up some fresh bread rolls from the kitchen for lunch (technically called "dinner") and a bucket of trout then passed the remainder of the day first feeding and then playing fetch with Bertramus before it was time to start preparing for the evening ahead.

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