𝑈𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 ☾ 𝐷𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑜 𝑀𝑎𝑙𝑓𝑜𝑦

Room of Requirement ☾ 5-06

As I left another agonizing detention session with Umbridge, I spotted Neville Longbottom staring at a large door in the hallway. Come to think of it, I don't remember seeing that door there on my way here.

"Hey Neville, what are you doing?" I asked, coming up to him. He turned to me startled, like he was doing something he wasn't supposed to.

"I-I was just thinking of a place to meet, you know, and this door just appeared!" My eyes widened. We opened the door, and inside was a room of mirrors, a large space in the middle, and a couple of practice dummies. I grinned. It was everything we needed.

"Neville, you've found the Room of Requirement!" I turned to him, still looking ashamed. His face picked up when I named the room.

"What's that?"

-

"It's also known as the Come and Go room." Hermione explained. As soon as Neville and I walked in, I ran to find the others. "The Room of Requirement only appears when a person has real need of it, and is always equipped for the seeker's needs."

"So, say you really needed the toilet..." Ron started. Harry and Neville turned to look at him, and the twins shared a raised eyebrow.

"Charming, Ronald. But yes, that is the general idea."

"It's brilliant." Harry stated. I nodded. It was the perfect place to practice! "It's like Hogwarts wants us to fight back."

-

We gathered all of the students who had signed up, and scheduled the first Dumbledore's Army practice session for later this evening. I was seated in the Great hall for dinner, a frown dropping over my face.

"She's done what?!"

"Cancelled the whole bloody season. No more Quidditch." Stretton fumed from beside me, a box of his Quidditch things seated between us. Davies had his across the table, and was folding his uniform into his own box. The two boys finished packing, tied up their boxes, and sent them away.

"That's ridiculous! How are we going to play?!"

"We can't."

"She can't do this! Quidditch isn't even a student organization!" Davies complained, picking up another helping of potatoes. I was honestly at a loss for words. Our last season of Quidditch together, and the Gargoyle had obliterated it. All the possible memories destroyed.

"Apparently she can." Jeremy replied, stirring his soup sadly. I had now lost any and all appetite I had built up. I stood up from the table angrily, only to be pulled right back down. My wrist jerked from the motion, but I hid my hands underneath the table.

"Don't you dare go have another row with her, or she'll start scarring up your face too." Roger eyed me warily. I couldn't contain my frustration as I laid my head on the table. No more quidditch... two whole years without quidditch... I was going mad. Last year was reasonable, but this was an outrage. I felt my eyes well up with tears.

"Aw, please don't cry Whitethorn... you're gonna make us all cry, and then the teachers will have to send the whole team back to the common room." Stretton wiped the tears from my face as they spilled down my cheeks. Roger glanced at me from across the table, the two boys sharing in my sad emotion. She's ruined everything.

I stood up from the table again, and this time nobody stopped me. I quickly walked out of the room and to my favourite spot in an empty corridor. It happened to be the same spot where I met Draco. I slid down the wall, my head in my hands. I rolled up my sleeves as a sting of pain jolted up my arm. I could still feel the burn of my latest detention, the cuts deep and brutal. I had gone into her office so many times that the scars now ran down both hands and up my forearms.