AN: This is my entry to NeverBeenDarkMarked's Room of Requirement competition. I got Katie Bell (obviously).
Disclaimer: I wish I had invented the Room of Requirement. It's pretty awesome. I haven't, which is why I write fanfiction instead.
Katie Bell was walking aimlessly around the school.
If one more person asked her about the cursed necklace, she was going to break into Dumbledore's office, take the necklace back and put it around their necks.
Seriously.
She could understand Harry asking her – he was Hogwarts's mini Auror in training after all. And Leanne had been honestly concerned after almost seeing her die. And she might just have blushed with pleasure after receiving that worried letter from Oliver. And alright, the care package from Fred and George had been pretty brilliant.
But still.
Cormac McLaggen had barely ever talked to her before, and they'd been sharing classes for seven years! Suddenly, he was all over her (though to be fair, he didn't have many friends these days), and she was considering using a beater bat to hit something else than a bludger.
And Merlin, if Romilda Vane babbled on anymore about how amazing it was that Harry Potter saved her life, she'd find what hex Hermione had used to give pimples to Marietta Edgecombe and test it on the annoying fourth year.
And Dennis Creevey was possibly the most annoying person on the planet, and if he asked her one more time how it felt to be cursed, his brother's camera was bound to end up shoved up his...
Deep breath.
Another deep breath.
The Healers had warned her that possible side effects of the curse would be violent tendencies and lack of patience. They weren't kidding.
Her seventh year was thoroughly ruined, and she had missed so many classes that McGonagall had approached her about waiting one more year to take her NEWTs.
She hadn't decided yet. It wasn't as if NEWTs were required for her carrier choice, but just in case, she'd wait for the letter from Puddlemere United before refusing McGonagall's offer.
There was just too much going on.
The necklace.
The war starting.
NEWTs.
Puddlemere.
Katie wanted air. Just some air, some freedom, something away from the pressure.
She stopped, suddenly breathless, and she realised she'd been running.
The corridor looked familiar. Trolls dancing the ballet.
Of course.
She'd spent half of the previous year sneaking around this corridor with the rest of Hogwarts's own underground army. She walked back and forth in the corridor, thinking of air, fresh air, and freedom, wondering what would happen. She knew what the Room of Requirement was supposed to do, but she'd never have the chance to test it on her own.
The door appeared, and she opened it almost fearfully. The Room took her breath away.
She was standing in the middle of a meadow. The sun was shining; the sky was a perfect shade of blue. And at her feet was a broom, almost identical to Harry's Firebolt.
She let out a scream of joy, leapt on the broom, and took off.
Feeling the sun on her face, speeding in the wind, and laughing as she flew, Katie felt free for the first time in months.
Just what she required.