It was mid-October, and winter holiday seemed like it would never come. Small droplets of rain tapped the stained glass windows on the side of the corridor. It was pathetic, really, to miss home so much, but after you received your letter in July, things had gone by so quickly… As you approached the large ornate doors of the seventh floor, you thought to yourself, desperately, "I need to see home" You pushed open the doors hesitantly, and gasped. In front of you was a very large, open room, with some kind of metallic floor. Some twenty feet in front of the door stood an elevated floor covered in natural, flowing grass. Stepping stones stood amid the green waves to form a curvy path to… Your house. That was your house. Your jaw dropped and for a moment the world of magic all at once consumed you and melted away. This was home, where the kitchen smelled like apple pecan pies and dish soap; where the lounge chair sat in a bit of a limp after years of loyal service; where your little brother had his first tantrum (and where he was likely having one right now.) As you took it all in, you sighed and released a breath of relief. Taking a few quiet steps forward, you stepped onto the elevated floor and laid down in the grass. It felt the same, as if you were truly back home, which was ridiculous really, since grass is grass and tends to feel the same anywhere. Still, imagined or not, it certainly felt peaceful and familiar. You cast a Hot Air Charm and suddenly the space around you was warm and cozy. This certainly was not like home, as the weather in the U.K. was always dismal and perpetually gloomy. Still, you were willing to look over this slight derail from the truth as you slowly and comfortable dozed off.
You awoke to the sound of birds singing. With a bit of a worried gasp you jolted upright and looked around, thinking you'd somehow left Hogwarts and really gone home. As you turned you began to notice the walls of the Room of Requirement around you, and sighed, relieved.
"Sorry about the birds," a dreamy voice echoed from behind her. You whirled around to see Luna Lovegood, smiling sweetly. You smiled too. "I didn't mean to wake you. I thought they would brighten the room a bit." She grinned as she watched the enchanted, winged flock fly around the room.
"They're brilliant!" You said, and took down your Hot Air Charm. It was getting too hot in here. Luna joined you on the lawn, taking care to step only on the stepping stones, as if worried about damaging the actual grass.
"Have you gone inside?" Luna asked.
"No," you responded, feeling a little odd.
"Why not?" she pressed. You frowned, not having considered it yet.
"I guess… I'm not sure what it'll look like, maybe?" Luna nodded, seemingly very satisfied with this answer, and replied.
"My father always says that it's not really home unless our loved ones are inside. Without that it might as well be an empty Warblurdles's hive." Although you had no idea what a Warblurdles's hive was, you smiled for the comfort.
"Yeah, I guess it would feel weird… and sad… being in there alone." You frowned again. Luna, on the other hand, got up and was smiling broadly. She reached out her hand to you.
"Well, you're not alone now." She said. "Let's go in!" You smiled nervously, but decided to take her hand. You walked a bit cautiously to the front door, without knowing exactly why. Luna skipped up to the front porch and rang the doorbell. A loud, hollow "dennnnggg" echoed through the otherwise silent room. Stepping forward, you reached ahead and opened the door.
The furniture in the house was gone, stuck in the muggle world. The walls were bare, and the floors clear. The hardwood floor in the living room to their right glistened in some unseen light, dust seen floating in the air in the rays of what you could only conclude to be sunlight, though they were inside the castle. The house smelled….empty. It was eerie. Cautiously the two of you walked around the rooms.
"Well!" Luna said at a normal tone, the sound of her voice suddenly breaking the silence frightening you and making you jump. You resisted the urge to glare at her a bit.
"Jesus, Luna, you almost scared me to death!" you said in a panicked voice, but Luna was already moving on.
"Are you going to show me your room?" She asked. You raised an eyebrow in the air, but conceded.
"I suppose I don't see why not. It'll just be walls in there, though." Luna followed you up the stairs and to the right, and into a middle-sized bedroom. The walls were a light blue all the way around. The hardwood floor slightly dusty but comfortable. Luna smiled happily and sat down in front of one of the walls, leaning up against it. You joined her, and for a moment the two of you enjoyed a minute or two of comfortable silence. The eerie feeling was gone, replaced with content.
After a short time, Luna spoke softly.
"I suppose we can do whatever we want to this room, right?" You considered it for a moment.
"Yeah, I guess so! What did you have in mind?" Luna opened her bag, sewn together with squares of a quilt, and produced a set of paints and brushes. You smiled mischievously, and the two of you set to work, bewitching the brushes to do their work (as you'd never been able to get it onto paper quite as you saw it in your head: the eternal struggle of an artist, you supposed.) A beautiful arch of color whirred it's way into being on the walls. Vines covered the corner of the room reaching to the ceiling where clouds magically rolled by overhead. You and Luna signed your work with your signatures, and soon the whole room was covered in small, glittering works of art, some bewitched to move, some a standing testament of their time in your room that day. Quotes wrote themselves on the wall, a waterfall on the wall by your closet appearing to genuinely cascade to the floor, though no water appeared on the hardwood. A hare, Luna's patronus, leapt about the room, followed by your own patronus, through meadows and past cherry blossom trees. You thought to yourself, as you watched Luna laugh with glee, that maybe you wouldn't miss home so much after all.
A few days later a letter arrived from your parents, asking how school was, saying how they couldn't wait to see you, and how difficult all this wizard mail was to figure out. Towards the end, though, as a ps, was a question that made you positively beam.
"Where did all these drawings on your walls come from?"
[fin]