CHAPTER 2: THE VANISHING CABINET

The first week of class was horrible. While, I did study and watch Hermione a lot, it was clear that I didn't know what I was doing. And I still had some mission that I had to do. All of this left me a nervous wreck and an insomniac.

In Potions, Snape would stare at me and I was afraid that he was looking into my mind and would find out that I wasn't Draco Malfoy. So, I stared at my cauldron and tried not to mess up. Luckily, I was near people who were great at Potions and I didn't mess up often.

Transfiguration and Charms wasn't too bad. I knew basic spells, but not the advanced ones. I studied those in my free time and soon I started to enjoy those classes. Herbology and Alchemy were okay, but a little challenging at times.

The two worst classes were Dark Arts and Muggle Studies. Both were required and taught by Death Eaters. Muggle Studies was mostly about how bad Muggles were and hopefully the disgust on my face was interpreted as disgust for Muggles.

Dark Arts was the worst thing ever. It felt like how I imagined it would to be standing in the middle of a battlefield, invisible, but forced to see everything. I watched as they tortured other students and how evil was taught. It was hard to keep the horrified look off of my face. The only good part was that because of my Death Eater status, I wasn't called on a lot. If I was, it was just to give a snide remark and tease another student. I could feel the war in that classroom.

I could feel my heart growing heavy and breaking. I could feel my eyes watering. I could feel it crawling under my skin. I could feel it taking the air from my lungs. It was all so awful and I couldn't think of a thing to do. What kind of person did that make me? Cowardly? Smart? Stupid? A failure?

How was I supposed to save the entire world if I couldn't help a few kids? Was I supposed to fight in this war? Was I supposed to fix the cabinet and let monsters into the school? All of it seemed hopeless.

As I walked down the hall, I stared at the kid I knew wouldn't make it through the war. Kids like Zachariah Smith and Lavender Brown. I thought of the people that weren't here. I thought of the Weasley family. They were going to lose one of their own and it was going to rip a whole that couldn't be fixed.

While I did learn magic, I also learned about war.

Saturday morning, I decided to go on a walk despite the fact that I didn't really know my way around the castle. As a walked, my mind started to wander and I stopped paying attention to where I was going. Suddenly, I realized that I must be horrible lost. Looking around, I saw a tapestry. Was that the tapestry of Barnabas of Barmy? I prayed that it was. That meant that the Room of Requirement was across from it. Maybe there would be a solution to my magical problems in there.

"Maybe this could be an adventure," I mumbled to myself. "Wonder what I will find in there. It is a room of the past. A room that changes. A room of secrets. A room of hidden things."

I walked in front of it three times and it opened. I stepped in and saw things piled up to the ceiling.

"So this is Hogwarts Lost and Found," I smiled.

I looked everywhere and found a lot of cool things. Then, I saw it. I saw the Vanishing Cabinet. The Cabinet that Draco is supposed to fix. The Cabinet that lets the Death Eaters in the school. The Cabinet that changes everything.