The hallways were a lot quieter this afternoon; it had been a couple days after the army had their first meeting, and their first job was to find a safe space to practice their combat and defence. Hazel had just finished a little research and, as she left the library, she noticed Neville on his own, with his head hung low.
"Hey, Neville", Hazel called out as she dashed to the boy.
His eyes seemed sad and his posture was frail and poor.
"What's wrong?", Hazel asked, softly rubbing his arm and locking eyes with him.
"Just tired, that's all", Neville responded, though he seemed a little more glum to be 'just tired'.
They two walked down the empty hallways, chattering amongst themselves. Unexpectedly, they encountered two, darkly-dressed boys who were much taller than Hazel. They purposefully bashed into Neville, making him ever so slightly lose his balance.
"Watch where you're going, Longbottom", the snarky voice called out, as he and his friend playfully slapped each other's hands and laughed.
"Hey, bash into him again and you won't have the strength to laugh", Hazel snapped back.
Neville softly grabbed Hazel's hand and tried pulling her away to avoid any sort of conflict, but he was too late. The leader of the duo, Goyle, seemed to have been provoked by Hazel's reply and, naturally, approached Hazel with a devilish look in his eyes. His shorter, though still tall, friend followed behind.
"You think I'm scared of a little girl?", Goyle scoffed, looking down on Hazel with a mischievous smirk.
Hazel bit the inside of her bottom lip and subtly clenched her fists, though she hid them behind her back and tried to restrain the urge to punch Goyle in the face. Neville, once again, pulled Hazel away, this time doing so successfully. The two Gryffindor's stormed off as Goyle and Crabbe's snide chuckles echoed through the walls.
"If we weren't in school, I would've seriously made them pay-", Hazel began to say whilst tightening the grip on her fists, walking straight ahead and walking off without Neville as he had stopped in his tracks.
"Hazel, quickly! Look!", Neville whispered, waving his hand to guide Hazel.
She quietly dashed back to Neville, who was stood in front of a great, empty wall. Hazel's face grew in confusion, there was nothing there.
"Listen", Neville suggested, hushing their voices.
The wall suddenly transformed; it cracked and ruptured until an ebony, and beautifully intricate detailed door, appeared in front of them.
"The Room of Requirement", Hazel exclaimed quietly.
"What's that?", Neville asked with uncertainty.
Hazel froze, she somehow had no idea what the Room of Requirement actually was, but she was so familiar with the name and existence of it.
"I don't quite know", she admitted.
"We have to tell the others, now!", Hazel explained, grabbing Neville gently and pulling him along as they raced down the hallway to their common room to, first and foremost, inform Harry, Ron and Hermione.
As they did, Umbridge's spiteful voice consumed the entire school through the hidden megaphones dotted around the place.
"All student organizations are henceforth disbanded. Any student in noncompliance will be expelled", she spoke condescendingly.
Hazel shut her voice out of her mind and focused on the task ahead. When they reached the Gryffindor common room, they were almost entirely out of breath.
"What happened?", Harry asked, immediately leaving his seat and dashing towards Hazel and Neville as they stood at the entrance of the room.
They waited to catch their breath back as they walked over to the cosy fire, regaining some warmth. Hermione and Ron hurried towards them with intrigued expressions.
"Neville's found us a place, it's perfect", Hazel said, softly budging Neville as an act of praise, in which he took graciously and smiled timidly.
"We'll show you, come on", Neville suggested.
The five secretly made their way back to the ebony-printed door and opened it before them, ensuring that they were all completely alone. When they were sure no one was about, they entered.
Everyone examined the room. It was warm, and almost entirely empty. There was a fire place at the very back, it's orange flames contrasting with the cerulean lights and fog appearing from the windows and ground. Holding the high ceiling were curved, cedar pillars that were tall and large.
"You've done it, Neville. You found the Room of Requirement", Hermione quietly applauded with utter amazement.
"The what?", Ron burst out with puzzlement.
"It's also known as the Come and Go Room. The Room of Requirement only appears when a person has real need of it. And it's always equipped for-", Hermione explained before being interrupted by Hazel's whispering voice under her breath.
"The seeker's needs", Hazel said to herself softly, finishing Hermione's sentence.
"So say you really needed the toilet...", Ron implied, with an embarrassing look on his face.
Hazel and Hermione chuckled.
"Charming, Ronald. But, yes, that is the general idea", she finished.
Harry's face grew into a hopeful smile as his earthy eyes glistened with optimism.
"It's brilliant. It's like Hogwarts wants us to fight back", he said greatly.
"Good work, you two", he spoke, smiling at Neville behind him and playfully elbowing Hazel.
YOU ARE READING
Shifted: Book Two
Fanfiction"You know, Hazel, we can really do this", Harry said, turning his attention back onto Hazel's hopeful smile. "Even though we've got a fight ahead of us, we've got one thing that Voldemort doesn't have". - It's Hazel's second year in her desired rea...
