The Write Stuff
Disclaimer: I do not own or gain any financial profit from the characters in this story. All recognizable characters are the work of JKR and the Harry Potter Universe.
Greg Goyle was not dumb despite what he let everyone else believe. He was smart. Not Granger smart or Ravenclaw smart, but he wasn't dumb either. He just preferred to keep things simple and straightforward. He never understood why Malfoy made such convoluted plans for everything or why Pansy used such demented logic for some of her schemes.
Honestly, when Malfoy decided he wanted to be with Granger, the things he talked about doing to gain her attention were unimaginable. For some reason beyond Greg's understanding, people went along with Malfoy and his strange plans! Greg once suggested Malfoy just talk to her, ask her out; the look he received right before an eye roll and a 'leave the planning to us, mate' made Greg feel like shite. He kept his mouth closed from that point on and just sat back to watch the show. Greg would, for the rest of his life, wonder what Malfoy was thinking when he tried to ask Granger out the first time and they both ended up in the hospital wing for three days. It took Malfoy another two weeks before he wouldn't blush every time he saw Granger. Schemes number two and three didn't go much better.
In the end, Malfoy talked to Granger and asked her out. Well, if you can call getting into a shouting match in the Great Hall 'talking,' that's what he did. After all, having someone shout that they like you and have been trying to ask you out and having it shouted back at you is a great way to bring an end to a confrontation. Shockingly to most, it worked! It would have been nice if someone had remembered that he'd made that suggestion in the beginning, but no one ever did. And after so many years, he was used to it.
So he watched her...not stalking-watching, because that was creepy. But he watched her in class, listening when she answered a question or made a point. As he watched and listened, he started to form a plan. It took three more days, loads of snide comments directed at his intelligence and another 'Poor' on his latest essay for Herbology to get him to act.
He approached her in the library but stopped before he got to her. There was Blaise Zabini chatting her up. Before Greg could decide what to do, she got up and gathered her study materials. She was quietly listening to what Zabini was saying, some shite about how rich he was, before turning to him with a brilliant smile and verbally tearing him to shreds. The look on Zabini's face was priceless. Smug git, Greg thought, he deserved it. But who knew she held such acid as that? Before he could do anything else, she calmly walked out the library door. He had to ask her today, so he quickly turned and walked after her.
He finally caught up to her at the stairs to the Ravenclaw tower. He looked around and didn't see anyone, so he called out to her, "Chang, wait a moment?"
She turned and looked at him. No malice or joy or anything else on her face. She just stood there watching him approach. She seemed...calm. "Goyle. What can I do for you?"
"I...I…" he cleared this throat, "I need to talk to you."
She waited a beat, then two and then watched the slow spread of red that covered Greg's face. "About what?"
"I need you," he blurted out. She jerked her head backwards as if she'd been slapped.
She dropped her arms to her sides and looked up towards the ceiling in the universal 'someone help me gesture'. "Listen, Greg, I'm flattered and all but…"
"No...not like a date or anything, I need your brain. I mean, I need some *mumble*."
"What was that? I didn't quite catch it."
He took a deep breath, "Look, I know everyone thinks I'm dumb. They tell me so every day, and I'm sick of it. No one expects me to be more than Malfoy's grunt. I want more. I want to be something, someone. I can't do that without some help...studying."
Cho was taken aback a little. "Oh. Ok. Sure, I'd love to help you." She smiled at him.
He exhaled a sigh of relief with a small smile of his own. "Thank you. I keep up with my studies, I mean to turn in assignments but...but it's hard. Draco, he….well, I've been able to keep him from noticing that I actually study."
Cho sat down on the stairs; she was intrigued, "Why does it matter if he knows or not?"
Greg shrugged, "I don't know if he'd care or not, but I don't want to be hassled about it. 'Greg, you're too dumb to do...' or 'Greg you know you suck at...' or if I say something or make a suggestion, they look at me like I committed a crime. I just don't need it."
"I understand." Cho smiled at him. "I have time in the evenings. Do you want to meet in the library?"
"Um...Granger in there then?" Greg asked.
"Usually. Why? Oh. I see."
"Yep, where you find Granger, you find Malfoy." Greg thought for a second. "How about a classroom?"
She smiled and nodded her head in agreement. "What classes do you have? I know one is DADA, since we have that together, and Care of Magical Creatures," she pointed to the textbook in his hand, "I don't know how much help I can be in that one, but we'll figure that out."
"Besides Creatures and DADA there's Muggle Studies, Herbology, Charms and Transfiguration." At her astounded expression, he continued, "but I'm only planning to take four N.E. ."
"Six classes? I didn't think…" she cut herself off with a blush, realizing what she was about to say might be hurtful to him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean..." She was truly embarrassed.
Greg just looked at her with the blank face he used when someone was telling him how dumb he was. It was his camouflage; it allowed him to listen and watch without anyone worrying about him being in the room. It was a trick he learned during the first year at Hogwarts and he'd been able to glean a lot of information over the years.
At least she seems really sorry. That's more than the other sods ever felt. His thoughts were interrupted by Cho clearing her throat.
*cough* "It's just that no one but Hermione is taking six classes this term! I can't imagine studying for six classes and trying for four N.E. on top of that. I'm trying for four myself, but I'm only taking those four classes. Wow! Which classes are you taking the N.E.W.T. in?"
He accepted her apology with a smile, "Creatures, DADA, Herbology and Muggle Studies. I really stink at Charms and Transfiguration, but I want to get better so I'm taking extra classes." He mumbled, "Even though it doesn't seem to be helping."
"All six of those are hard subjects. I see how keeping up with that many would be difficult to do." She looked at him in understanding but not in pity. "Ok, how about tonight? What classes do you have tomorrow? We can work on those."
"Oh, um...Creatures, Charms & Herbology. I've finished most of what needs to be done for tomorrow, but I'd really appreciate you looking them over to make sure." He tried to sound sure, but it came off a little on the weak side.
"I can do that." She smiled at him. "How about after dinner in the room across from DADA?"
"I'll be there. Right after dinner." Greg smiled, and it caught Cho off guard. He had a great smile that caused hers to grow bigger.
Later that night they sat in the classroom and Cho read what Greg had written for an essay in Creatures. He was revising an assignment for Herbology that Cho had already looked over. There were a lot of corrections to make. She had asked to see some of his previous assignments so she could tell what they needed to work on, when something about the writing of the assignments caught her attention. She didn't say anything, but it made her think.
It was a comfortable silence when Greg broke it, "What do you want to do when you leave here?"
Cho stopped marking another sentence structure error before answering, "I'm not sure what I want to do has ever been done." He looked the question at her, so she continued, "I was thinking about a being a teacher but not for Hogwarts or anything like that. I want to teach younger kids; like, before they go off to Hogwarts or Durmstrang or what-not, but wizarding families don't send their kids to school until then. They're taught at home." She kept going, "I don't want to tie myself to a family and only teach one or two kids. I want to teach kids whose families can't afford private tutors. If we put, say, ten or so kids together when they are really young - five or six years old - and teach them together until they go off to Hogwarts...that has to be better for them, right? And the families share the cost of a single teacher. They'd have to pay for books and supplies like here, but still - it has to be better." She looked at Greg waiting for a response.
He didn't respond but instead started to shuffle some parchment around in his bag. Cho thought she was being dismissed for her radical idea and lowered her eyes back to what she was correcting. She was obviously sad that he...what? Thought it was a dumb idea? That most families would never do it? Well, someday she would prove him and everyone else wrong. She really wanted to do this, and nobody was going to stop her. Stupid boy can't even write a decent sentence; what does he know? She was more than a little put out at his reaction to her idea.
Greg continued to look through his bag until he found what he was looking for. Merlin, her eyes sparkle when she's talking. He placed a small roll of parchment in front of her. She looked at it, then at him. "Open it," he told her.
She did and started to read. Despite all the errors in the writing, she was able to get the gist of what the assignment was about. "Greg? Is this…" she looked up at him.
He nodded his head, "For Muggle Studies about a week ago. It's on the Muggle Education System. They do exactly what you were just talking about. It's called Primary School." She turned back to the parchment and kept reading, so he continued to revise the assignment he had to turn in the next day.
She was blushing because of her uncharitable thoughts about the boy sitting next to her. He wasn't stupid, and she knew it. He got the material well enough after all. "Muggles do this? They all do this?"
"Not all, probably. The rich ones probably have private tutors, but the majority of them do. Maybe you could model your idea after what they do." She was just looking at him with a blank face. Greg recognized the look as the one he regularly got from Malfoy. Shite. I thought she was different. I guess not. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Maybe I am too dumb to do anything other than be a flunky. He was strangely bothered by her reaction.
"GREG!" She practically yelled, which made him jump in his seat. "That's a brilliant idea! They've done the groundwork for me. All I have to do is adapt it to us. This is wonderful!"
Greg looked at her with a surprised expression. No one had ever said he was brilliant or an idea he had was brilliant. He felt something that, if he were pressed to say what it was, would be pride - not something he was used to having. "Really?"
"Yes!" She was bouncing in her seat, "Don't you see? My idea has already been proven! All I have to do is get wizarding families to agree to do it. This is a big help, honest." She smiled at him. "Can I keep this?"
His face fell, "I...um…" he mumbled, "I don't think it will be as helpful as you think it might. Look," he pointed to his grade on the assignment, "I got a Troll on it. It's probably some false Muggle information plant or something."
"False Muggle information...What?"
"You know, how someone gives you false or misleading information so you do something wrong. I bet this idea is exactly that since I got a T on it."
She looked at the assignment again and immediately saw why he got a T. "Greg you didn't get a T because the information was wrong. You got a T because the writing sucks."
"Huh?" Great, she calls you brilliant earlier and the best you come back with is 'huh'. Snape was right; you are a dunderhead.
"Greg, in all the assignments I've looked through, including this one," she held up the parchment about Primary School, "and all these others, I can see you get the material but you suck at writing."
"I do?"
She laughed, "Yes, you do." She pointed to the Herbology assigned he was re-writing, "do you see any marks about incorrect information on here?"
He looked closely at it, "No." He paused, "Do you mean I've been getting T, P or D on all my assignments because of writing?"
"Looks that way. Greg who taught you at home...before Hogwarts, I mean."
"My mum when she had time."
"How did she do in school?"
"According to dad, neither of them did well. That's why he works for Malfoy's dad as a guard. He wanted to be a healer but he sucked in school. I don't think they ever got as far as taking N.E. in any class."
She decided to be brutally honest, "Greg you're not dumb, you're uneducated and it seems no one cared." She saw the hurt in his eyes, "I've only read about half a dozen of your assignments and it's always the same: mistakes being marked, but not one teacher has done anything about it. Like work with you on your writing. Writing is a skill like any other. Some have an easy time with it; others have to work really hard at it."
Greg dropped his head into his hands, "I might as well drop out. I'll never do better."
"WHAT!?" She screeched. She was getting really angry, "This...this right here is why I want to start a Primary School! You didn't stand a chance of doing well here because your parents didn't do well. How were you expected to learn from parents who probably barely got by in school? I bet they had the same experiences at home AND in school that you did. And you're absolutely not dropping out! I'm going to help you, and you're going to learn and do better! Starting with this!" She poked the assignment he was working on. "Get to it, mister!" She smiled at him.
A week later they were sitting in the same classroom; faces drawn and sad as they looked over his latest DADA test. He had his head down on his folded arms, and it was obvious that he was depressed. "I should just drop out. This is hopeless!" He mumbled, "I'm hopeless." He got up and picked up his bag. "Thank you, Cho. I appreciate the help. I'm sorry I wasted your time." And he walked away.
"Greg...wait...Greg…" She tried to stop him, but he was already out the door. She slumped in her seat as she looked over the test in her hands, the big "T" in red mocking her. "Damn." She could tell he got the information, but the writing was the problem again. After all his hard work. SHITE! She grabbed her bag and headed for the library. She was lost in thought while looking at the test in her hand; trying to figure out why he just couldn't get it correct! Why?
When she arrived at the library she automatically turned toward her normal spot, but someone had moved one of the tables and she walked directly into it. It shocked her so much that the parchments in her hand went flying toward the person sitting at the table. "Ooof" was the sound that came out of her mouth before "Sorry." She straightened herself up and started to gather the three scattered pages.
The person, a younger Hufflepuff, started to hand her one of the pages when she stopped and looked closer at it. "Huh, I didn't know the wizarding world had Dyslexia. How does that affect your wand work?"
"I'm sorry?" Cho responded.
"I was wondering how Dyslexia affects wand work, is all." At Cho's confused look, she continued, "Well, it affects how you see things; how you write things, like this, right?" She pointed to the parchment, "so I was wondering how learning the wand movements for spells was working?"
Cho looked at the paper. "You know what this all is?" She handed the failed test back to the Hufflepuff.
"It looks like Dyslexia." Her brow was pinched together in confusion.
"I don't know what that is," Cho said. "Can you explain it to me?"
The Huffs eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Oh, sure. WOW. Ok. Well, first, I'm Maggie. Maggie Henry." She moved some of her stuff off the chair next to her, "Won't you sit down?"
"Cho Chang." And she sat.
"See how these letters are written backwards and in some cases out of order?" Cho nodded her head. "Well, in the Muggle world - I'm Muggle born, by the way - some people have learning disabilities such as Dyslexia. Their brains don't process information the way everyone else's does. My cousin has it; he has extra help in school so, even though it never goes away, he can cope with it."
Cho still looked confused, "You mean, this is common?"
"Well, I wouldn't call it common, but it's not rare either." Maggie looked at Cho then back at the paper. The writing looked distinctly male to her. "This isn't your paper, is it?"
"No. It's a...friend's. I've been trying to help him but...can you tell me more about this lexy thing?" Cho was normally more articulate than this, but she was too surprised.
"Dyslexia affects the brain and how it processes information. I'm afraid I don't know much more than I've already said." Maggie paused for a moment in thought. "I can send a letter home and ask my mum about it, but I'm sure there are books here you could look at." Maggie raised her wand, "Accio Dyslexia books." Nothing. "Accio learning disabilities books."
They waited, and when nothing appeared, Cho turned to Maggie. "Would you please owl your mum and ask her for information? It's really important."
"Sure. Happy to help." Maggie smiled at her.
"Thanks. If I can convince this boy to come talk with you, will you talk with him? Tell him what you told me?"
"Of course. I can't image how hard this world is for someone with Dyslexia. If I can help, I will."
"Thank you so much! If this is what he has, he needs to know there's hope." Cho looked at the test again, "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to see if I can find him." She got up without waiting for a response.
Maggie smiled as she watched the Ravenclaw leave the library before pulling out a piece of parchment to write a letter to her mother, mumbling, "this place needs the internet."
Cho was getting worried. She'd looked everywhere she could think of for Greg, all to no avail. She realized that, after only a week, she didn't know him well enough to know where he'd go to deal with emotional things. Finally, she had had enough. She knew Greg didn't want Malfoy to know about the tutoring, but she had to find him, so she walked up to a group of Slytherin students, "Hi. I need to find Greg Goyle. Have any of you seen him?"
They looked at her like she'd lost her mind. Finally one spoke. "No."
Cho's face fell. "Oh, ok." She turned to leave and, in what was becoming a habit, walked squarely into something. This time it was a brick wall of human. She looked up and into the eyes of Blaise Zabini. Oh, how in that moment she wished she had the courage of a Gryffindor! As it turned out, she didn't need it.
"Hey Blaise, she's looking for Greg Goyle," was heard from behind her.
Blaise raised an eyebrow. "He went to his dorm; something about how it was all hopeless so why bother."
"Damn. I need...can you...I need to talk to him. Can you please tell him I'm looking for him?"
Blaise crossed his arms over his chest. "What's in it for me?" He was still stung by her previous acid-tongued rejection.
Cho did her best to glare at him, but it really didn't affect him in the least. "Fine. I'll talk to him tomorrow." She tried to glare at him again but it was still useless, so she stalked away.
While Cho was looking for Greg all over the school, he was already headed to his room. Unfortunately, he had to pass through the Slytherin common room first.
"Greg!" Blaise greeted him. Greg looked at him, and the look made Blaise take a step back. "What's the matter, Mate?"
"I hate school," was his only answer.
"You always hate school. Don't worry about it so much; soon it will be over. Come on, you just had dinner. That always makes you feel better."
Greg glared at Zabini before turning away. "It's hopeless, so why bother?" Then he headed for the stairs and the small privacy of his curtained bed.
He lay down and thought about everything that had happened to him over the last week. He'd had the courage to ask for help and then, after a week of the extra help, he'd realized that he was, in fact, stupid. Everyone was right; he was dumb. These thoughts circled around in his head for the next couple of hours before he finally fell asleep.
The next morning, Cho approached him while he was attempting to eat. She was able to see that he was just pushing the food around on his plate. "Greg?"
"Cho."
Deadpan. Damn, this is worse than I thought. "Can we talk?" He looked at her with those blank eyes. "In private?" He still pushed the food around but didn't say anything. "Please? It's really important. Please."
He sighed but got up and followed as she walked away. She stepped into an empty classroom. After he had sat down, she pulled some parchments from her bag and handed them to him. It was his last test. Before she could say anything, he wadded the parchments into a ball and launched them into the rubbish bin.
"Greg!" She stalked over to the bin, pulled out the test, and started to flatten it out. "Greg, I think I know why you're having trouble."
"Yeah, I'm stupid."
"No, you're not. You might have what Muggles call a learning disability."
"A what?"
"I met this Muggleborn Hufflepuff, and she said that it looked like Dyslexia. It means that your brain doesn't register things the way the rest of ours do."
"I don't understand."
"I don't really understand it all either, but this is what I understand." She went on to explain to the best of her ability what Maggie had told her.
After she finished with what she knew, Greg spoke. "So, my brain doesn't work. Great. If I didn't have proof of that before, I do now. Thanks."
"It's not that your brain doesn't work. It works fine; it just works differently. Maggie said that her cousin was doing just fine with some special help. She's going to owl her mum and ask what her cousin does."
Greg didn't look convinced. "Honestly, I'm not sure I care anymore."
"Please just give it some more time. I think we might be on to something that could really help." Greg just shrugged. Cho decided to try some trickery, "It might help me out, too." He looked at her in confusion, so she continued, "I mean if this is what you have, just think of the help I'll be able to give younger kids at my Primary School. This is exactly the kind of thing that needs to be identified early so no one else would have to go through what you have." He still didn't say anything. "Please?"
Greg sighed, "Fine. I don't think this will help, but ok."
"Brilliant!" Cho's smiled was so infectious, all he could do was smile back at her.
It was lunch when Maggie approached Cho. "Cho!" She was so excited she didn't know what to do first. "I have it! Mum sent me loads of information this morning. I haven't been able to concentrate on anything else! I didn't know where to find you, so I had to wait until now."
Cho smiled, "Maggie, calm down. What's got you all riled up?"
"This!" She dropped a parcel on the table before making her way to sit next to Cho. She turned to the person she basically pushed out of the way. "Thanks!" She turned back to Cho. "Ok, here's the letter from Mum. She said by what I described to her, he doesn't have Dyslexia. He has Dysgraphia."
"Now what's that?"
"Here, this explains it better than I could." She handed her a printout from the internet. "Read; I'm going to eat." Maggie took some food and started.
"What is this?" Cho asked.
"Information on Dysgraphia."
"No. This." She held up the sheaf of papers.
"Oh, it's a printout from the internet on what Dysgraphia is. Mum printed it out and sent it back right away. According to her letter, she stayed up all night researching what it most likely was."
"The what?"
"The internet. Never mind. Will you just read it?" Maggie went back to eating. Cho was a Ravenclaw; of course she was reading it.
"Maggie, this sounds exactly like what Greg has. Oh, he said he would talk with you. He's really down. I don't think he sees any hope."
"Jeez, I can imagine. This place is so backwards sometimes. Wand movements, potion instructions; 'stir clockwise three times, then counterclockwise in a figure-eight motion for seven turns.' I can't imagine the nightmare this place has been for him."
Cho hadn't been listening too closely because she saw Greg leaving the Great Hall. She grabbed Maggie by the robe and pulled her up, "Come on. We need to talk to him now."
"But...lunch!" Maggie grabbed a couple of rolls and her bag and followed Cho.
Cho raced to catch up to Greg. "Greg! Wait, will you?"
Greg stopped and waited until Cho caught up with him. "What are you doing? I thought we were keeping this quiet. I don't need the hassle."
"Stop, ok? I asked Zabini where you were last night so they know we're hanging out. That's all." Maggie arrived. "This is Maggie Henry. She's the one I told you about this morning." Cho smiled at him in a conspiratorial way. "She has information. Let's find a place to talk."
Greg was all for ditching class but was surprised she made the suggestion. "Don't you have class right now? Both of you?"
"Class smash. This is more important," Maggie answered. The hallway had cleared out, so she pulled the older students to a bench in the hallway. She started to talk about what Dysgraphia was. "It affects how your brain registers information. Let's do an experiment. I'm going to show you a wand movement. It's a simple one, but then I want you to do it after me." She moved her wand hand in a simple 'g' shape. Greg watched her, but when he went to do it, it was a 'q' shape. "You did the last movement backwards. Watch." She did the motion again, and he watched then repeated the 'q' motion, not the 'g' motion.
"You did it backwards again. Put your hand on my hand." He hesitated, so she grabbed his hand, "Like this," and proceeded to do the 'g' shape.
"That's not how you did it before," Greg stated.
"Yes it was," Cho answered. "This is what she was talking about. Your brain sees things differently."
Greg was interested but still dejected. "Now what? You can't hold my hand all the time." Maggie chuckled, and Greg glared at her. "What?"
"It's just the image of someone always holding hands...it's funny."
Cho got them back on track. "So Maggie, does your mum make any suggestions on how to help him?"
"Yes, basically what we just did. Start over at the beginning and have him follow the hand motions and trace things so his brain recognizes the shapes. At least, that's what I got from the reading."
Cho and Greg just looked at her. "What do you mean at the beginning?" Greg asked.
"Just what it sounds like. Right back to the alphabet." Greg groaned. "Hey, you have to relearn everything. It's going to be hard, but you can do it. There really is nothing you can't do." Maggie's Hufflepuff was showing like a bright light.
Greg rolled his eyes, but Cho jumped on the Huffle-excitement wagon. "You can do this! We're going to help you, aren't we Maggie?"
"Oh, yeah! You have a chance most people including your parents never got." At his look of inquiry she added, "You have people who know what's wrong and how to help. What do you have to lose?"
Greg thought for a moment. Really, what did he have to lose? "Nothing. When shall we start?"
At that point, Cho stepped in with logic. "I think we need to do this in two ways because they both have to happen at the same time. One: we have to start over; that's obvious. Two: you need to keep up with current work. I think if we split it between the two of us, we can help you out the most. Maggie, you take the beginning and I'll take the current stuff. Can you make copies of all the stuff so I can read it?"
"ummm…." Maggie hesitated. "No. I don't know how to do that one yet."
Greg laughed, "What year are you in?"
"Fifth."
Greg let out a loud bark of a laugh. "Terrific! I'm being taught by a fifth-year. What's next? Send me back to first-year potions?" The silence that followed his comments had him looking at his companions. "I was just surprised is all, honest." He humbled. Do they give girls lessons to get that gorgon look? But again, he wasn't dumb and knew to keep his mouth shut.
Cho's expression softened. "Greg, that's exactly what we're talking about. You need to relearn the alphabet, numbers, wand motions, even how to read. It's complete retraining, according what Maggie has said." She looked to Maggie for confirmation.
Maggie agree with what had to be done. "It's basically re-training your brain." She turned to Cho, "Where and when?"
Greg was shocked. I have to learn the alphabet again?!
Cho and Maggie were thinking hard about where to have lessons, but Greg needed to understand something first. "Um...I'm...You're both going to help me? Why?" The look of puzzlement on his face stopped the girls in their conversation.
Cho smiled at him. "Yes, we're going to help you. Why? Because you asked for help."
Maggie added her two knuts. "I'm a Hufflepuff. If someone needs help, I help. I can't help it. I'm beginning to think it might be genetic." When it became obvious Cho and Greg didn't understand, she rolled her eyes and added, "Fine; I help because I can."
Cho nodded her head. "AND helping you will help me with wizarding primary school. I get to make sure I'll be a good teacher."
"As if you didn't know you're a good teacher," Greg chuckled.
"Thanks!" Cho grinned as she was struck by a lightning bolt of an idea. "I know where we can go. Complete privacy and all the resources we'll need. Come on!"
Even though it was the middle of the day and all three were missing classes, not one of the three cared. They followed Cho as she raced up staircases, turned corners and finally skidded to stop in front of an ugly tapestry. Cho started walking back and forth while muttering to herself.
"Cho?" Maggie asked. Greg just looked at her as though she'd lost her mind.
After her third pass, a door appeared in the wall behind them. Cho pointed to the door they didn't notice since they were watching her.
They looked behind them, "I know there wasn't a door there before." Greg commented.
"In a way." Cho smiled and moved to open the door. She stepped through and stopped in amazement. "wow." She was looking all around as the other two joined her. All three stopped and looked around, open mouthed with surprise.
The room was filled with everything they could possibly need. On one side of the room there were three large work tables with chairs, a large black board complete with chalk and plenty of light. The other side of the room appeared to have all the equipment needed for potions work: cauldrons, burners and stirring rods. The only thing missing were ingredients.
"What is this place?" Maggie asked.
"The Room of Requirement. I remember my grandfather talking about this room when he came here. If it's to be believed, this room can be anything we need it to be," Cho answered with a huge smile. "You just walk back and forth in front of it and ask for what you need. I asked for a place for Greg to relearn everything; this is what it gave us. Shall we get to work?"
"No. I'm not going to let you all fall behind in classes because of me. We all have classes to attend," Greg said with a straight face.
"Greg, it sounds like you want to go to class," Maggie said.
He just smiled and shrug a shoulder. "Come on, you two. We can meet back here after dinner." He ushered them both out of the room feeling like he almost had a chance. What an odd feeling it was; definitely nothing he had ever felt before. If he had to define it, it felt like HOPE.