In the Melancholy Moonlight

Chapter XXVII: Where Did Everyone Go?

LUCY:

I awoke at sunrise the morning of my first Quidditch match. Hermione, for once, was still asleep. All of the late nights seemed to have been taking their toll on her, too, but unlike me, she didn't have Quidditch to worry about on top of everything else. I felt quite sick to my stomach with nerves, and, knowing I wouldn't be able to fall back asleep, I pulled robes on over my head with shaking hands and made my way down to the common room, grabbing my ancient runes book so hopefully I would be able to distract myself while I waited for the team to head down for breakfast.

I had completed the section on Godric Gryffindor. Being in alphabetical order, Helga Hufflepuff was next. I admittedly wasn't paying too much attention at first, my mind consumed with worried thoughts about Quidditch, but something on the third page caught my attention.

"Helga Hufflepuff's primary concern was student well-being. As such, she created a room in the castle that would open only when someone desperately in need walked by. This room will provide whatever the user needs most, aside from anything excluded by the five Principal Exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration. This room is generally found completely by accident, and only the very fortunate --- or very desperate --- are able to find it twice. As such, it is rarely documented in other books, and remains to this day one of the best-kept secrets of Hogwarts castle."

I snapped the book shut, head spinning. Could it be the Chamber of Secrets?

I immediately banished the thought from my mind. Helga Hufflepuff would never. Even then, this room sounded far less sinister.

Did all of the founders have their own secret rooms? Salazar Slytherin his chamber with the monster, Helga Hufflepuff her special need-meeting room? The book had said nothing of Godric Gryffindor having such a room.

My heart raced as I stared at the book in my hands. Perhaps it contained more information on the Chamber of Secrets. I was about to open it again and skip to the section on Salazar Slytherin when a very-sleepy Ginny Weasley stumbled down the stairs still in her pajamas. I shoved the book under my leg and smiled. "Morning, Ginny. What're you doing up so early?"

She came over to the couch and sat beside me, resting her head against my shoulder. "I couldn't sleep."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She shook her head. "Why are you awake?"

"I couldn't sleep either."

"Are you nervous for the match?"

"A little," I admitted.

"Don't be, Cub, you'll be great!" came a chipper voice from the boys' dormitory stairs. Ginny and I both jumped as the twins swooped to sit on either side of us.

"Did you wake up early just to wish us luck, Ginny?" Fred asked.

She seemed to come a little more awake and rolled her eyes as she shifted her head from my shoulder to Fred's. "Of course not," she said through a yawn. "Why would I do that?"

George gasped in mock offense. "Because we are your brothers, and your support would mean the world to us!"

"I would wish you luck if I really thought you needed it," she said, pushing herself off the couch and rubbing her eyes. She smiled. "Lucy and I are going to play together for the Holyhead Harpies one day. She doesn't need luck, either. See you all after the match at the post-win party. Percy told me that they're obnoxiously loud and unnecessarily rambunctious, so I know I'm in for a good time. Bye!"

"Bye, Ginny!" we called after her.

"So Cub, Holyhead Harpies?" Fred asked.

I laughed. "Well, after I let her ride my broom to cheer her up on Sunday, she asked what I wanted to do after Hogwarts. When I said I didn't know, she said she was going to play Quidditch professionally, and I figured that sounded like fun so I nonchalantly agreed to play with her."