The room of requirement could fulfil any student's wishes. More than a few times I'd stumbled upon it before, and more than a few times, I'd learned a little bit about myself from it. With all that was going on in my sixth year at Hogwarts, I'd found sanctuary in the room. There were few people that would ever find the room, if only because nobody knew to look. It was a place where I could be alone with my thoughts.
Before then, I'd never thought about looking around. I wasn't thinking of looking around then, either; I just was. Not for any particular reason. I was lost in my own thoughts, wandering through row upon row of books. Hermione would have loved this. Any person could have spent their life here, and never have been miserable, I felt. A person can't feel whole when they're completely alone, however.
It felt like mere chance that Sunday afternoon, when a book flew off the top shelf and thumped to the ground before me. Startled, I stumbled a couple steps back, then focused on the book. It was an old book of spells and hexes. I should have known by then that nothing happens by chance at Hogwarts.
Chance couldn't have made me decide to pick up the book instead of leave it where it was, or sit down with it and begin to flip through pages. I'm not much of a reader. Ron isn't either. That's always been more of Hermione's thing. Yet there I was, flipping through various spells and reading their descriptions.
My eyes settled on one in particular. My interest was peaked. A spell that could apparently switch a life with another, if only I could think of a life I wanted. This book had to be fake. I laughed at it, but curiosity overcame me, and before long I was reading the spell aloud, searching for someone, anyone who might come to mind. Was there anyone I would have liked to switch lives with? I didn't think so. I didn't think it would work, either.
I recited the incantation slowly, waving my wand about. A bright light shone from the book, and I squeezed my eyes shut. Then I passed out.
Yes, the first chapter is short. It's a bit of a teaser, hm?