Sleeping in the Room of Requirement

You had accidentally stumbled upon the Room of Requirement once before, in your first year, when Harry had mentioned the Mirror of Erised. Now the room had taken a totally different form. It seemed to house plenty of lost or out of use items and you felt, depressing as it was, at home. You had no intention of sleeping in the Dormitory with the other girls tonight, so perhaps this was your best bet. You had your lantern and blanket, and you set yourself up next to a shabby looking cabinet with several chairs stacked on top of it. The room was somewhat a storage cupboard really, there were a few items you recognised from previous Hogwarts years.

‘You killed my mother. Why... why would I go with you?’ You poise your wand towards Aunt Bellatrix, your other hand feeling for the wall behind you. Bellatrix stood, shadowed by Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, who looked about ready to draw their wands on you.
‘I had no choice!’ She snarled, her head tilted down, but her black eyes focused on yours.
‘Yes, you did, and you murdered her.’
You looked to where your wand was - but it was no more. You tried to move for the door, but you could only move in excruciatingly slow motion. You couldn’t scream. You couldn’t even talk.
‘There’s no point... in trying to struggle.’ Lucius snarled, as you pushed with all your might. Narcissa avoided your desperate gaze, whilst Bellatrix took no notice, and Lucius seemed to be finding it all somewhat enjoyable. You clawed at your throat.
‘Funny...’ he croaked, the cold, metal end of his cane pressed against the side of your neck,
‘You look just like your blood-traitor mother when you do that.’

Your eyes snapped open, and you jumped before realising you were still in the Room of Requirement. Someone cleared their throat, and you were so startled that you banged your head on the cupboard behind you.
‘Sorry, I-‘ Your head snapped around, and emerging from the darkness, hands tangled together, slightly wincing, was,
‘Neville?’
He gave a tentative wave. You force a smile.
‘What are you doing down here? It’s freezing.’ He said in a half-whispered voice.
‘I was just-‘ You started to feel a lump in your throat and knew you wouldn’t be able to keep talking. You never got choked up like this, and Neville was scrambling around for something to say. But he didn’t say anything; he hesitated, and then sat down against the cupboard too. He didn’t dare look at you though, he stared straight ahead.
After a while of sitting quietly, you managed to speak again.
‘How’d you find me here, Nev?’
‘I went downstairs to refill the jug of water for the boys room, and Hermione was up.. sh-she said you hadn’t gone back to the dorm room, that you weren’t as sneaky as you thought. So I said I’d look for you. A-and then- this is gonna’ sound really weird, but this door just appeared. And then I heard you sniffing. N-not in a weird way, just, knew it was you.’
He hadn’t looked at you the whole time, but you had your eyes fixed on him, and he knew.
‘I’m sorry... um- about- um, the d- the dance.’
You gave a small shrug and tried to stay composed.
‘Why?’
‘I wa....’ He mumbled something inadible, screwing up his brow as he realised he was going to have to say it again.
‘Nev.’ You edged him on.
‘I wanted to ask you.’ He said, squeezing his eyes shut. Your heart skipped what felt like several beats, and you smiled. You swallowed your giddiness, and shuffled closer. Neville’s eyes remained shut, and you gently laid your head against his shoulder. His eyes were still closed, but his expression softened - then hardened again as he slowly moved his hand over yours, not daring to move anymore, and just enough to be able to pass it off as an accident.

Comments for "Room of Requirement, 2:10am"

License details for "Room of Requirement, 2:10am"

This atmosphere sound has been released under the
Creative Commons Sampling Plus 1.0 License.