Not for the first time, Albus was stuck in the armchair in the common room, thinking until his head hurt. All week, and there was nothing. The Room of Requirement, or the Come and Go Room, was only mentioned briefly in the biographies about all their parents, how it was burned down and restored, and how Harry had held the Dumbledore Army meetings there, but no location.
"I wish we could just ask someone…" Scorpius rambled. "Someone who was here since the time of the war, who's you know, not related to us…"
It was just one of Scorpius's mumblings. Albus, Rose and Tommy never paid any attention to him usually, but today didn't seem to be a very usual day.
Rose froze; her eyes were solid brown rocks as she stared into space. "My god." She barely whispered. "Merlin almighty! How could I not have seen this? How? Scorpius…" Rose was jumping around the couch, pulling at her hair.
"What? What are you doing? Stop running you bean!" Scorpius shouted as Rose galloped out of the common room. Scorpius, and a bewildered Tommy and Albus, followed her manic sprint. She finally skidded to a halt by the moving staircase, her eyes were crazy, and her hair very tousled. She waited for the boys to catch up with her, and she sank down to regain her breath, her head in her arms.
"Wha's wrong Rose? Tell us now, c'mon." Tommy patted her shoulder awkwardly.
"Don't you see? It was so obvious and I didn't even notice…" She seemed to be getting herself into another tizzy.
"Rose." Albus warned.
"Sorry! The ghosts. How long have they been in Hogwarts? They are bound to know where the room is!" She paused to let the effect of her words sink in, but mostly to catch her breath again.
"Like Peeves and Nearly Headless Nick?" asked Albus.
"You are a genius Rose Weasley." Scorpius shook his head with admiration. She blushed violently, her face now matching her hair.
"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's find him!" Tommy shouted. If anyone did see them tearing through the castle, they didn't question them. But it looked like the foursome were being chased by a pack of werewolves. They finally slowed down when a familiar white spirit drifted through the wall.
"NICK!" Albus shouted at the ghost.
"Shh!" Scorpius nudged Albus sharply in the ribs. A very startled Nearly Headless Nick floated over.
"What ever is the matter?" He said.
"We have- we have a question." Tommy panted.
"Let's go in here," Albus said, and he and the others slipped into an empty classroom. "Nick, could you please help us?"
"Depends on what the matter is?" His brow furrowed.
"We need to know where the Room of Requirement is." Rose finally let out in a whooshing breath.
"The Room of Requirement…" Nick's frown deepened and he passed through Tommy, who gave a giant shudder. He floated around the classroom, as if he was thinking, reminiscing…
"The Room is out of bounds, you all realise this?"
They all nodded eagerly.
"Hmmm… Nick pondered. "I shouldn't tell you. I shouldn't! But your father," He looked at Albus fondly. "What a brave, brave man. Such a great person, Harry Potter was." He stared at their desperate faces, and with a massive sigh, rolled his eyes.
"Fine! Merlin knows if Minerva found out… I'll give you a clue, alright? And then you are not to speak of it again to me. The Room contains some deeply dangerous, and dark magic. I don't know why you need it, but you're only young, it can't be that bad. But I warned you! I warned you." He said very sternly.
His voice dropped to a hissed whisper. "On the seventh floor. Did I ever tell you how much I hated Barnabas? Awful Barmy he was. Now, leave me be children." Nick looked like he'd broken into a cold sweat. He passed through Rose who fell to her knees, and left them alone in the classroom without a second glance.
This information lay on them like smoke in a closed room. They were so close, so very close, but they didn't seem to get the chance to even explore until Wednesday. During this time, Albus was left wondering why the Room of Requirement was kept so hidden, such a secret, that to even speak of it would cause an eruption of trouble.
"I can' understand why people are freakin' out about the room." Tommy once said.
"There must be something hidden in the room. Something really Dark, something that would make McGonagall quake in her boots." replied Rose. They'd discussed it over and over again, so much so that Albus was sick of discussing; he wanted to be looking. And on Wednesday, the eighth of February, they finally got their chance.
"Herbology is cancelled." Rose said with disappointment. "Professor Longbottom was hexed by some sixth years."
Albus stopped in his tracks, his heart beginning to beat faster than before. "This is the perfect opportunity!" he said with contained excitement.
"For what?" said Tommy.
"For what? To search for the Marauders Map you twat!" Albus shook him hard.
"That's not possible, Albus. Dubose would sniff us out in an instant. Or Filch…" Scorpius shook his head.
"But… But it is! There's something I haven't told you." Albus braced himself. "I happen to own a Cloak of Invisibility." He waited for a reaction; there was just silence.
"Ah sure, we knew that." Tommy grinned. "How'd you think the Slytherin bathroom was coated in red and gold goo last month?"
Albus stared at him, his mouth slightly open. "And you never told me?" he finally said, indignant and outraged.
"You never told us!" Rose snapped.
There was a long awkward silence; Scorpius finally broke it when they reached the portrait hole. "Why don't we put this pointless spat behind us for the time being, and let's go and have a look for the room. What do you say?"
"Good idea." Rose sighed, and the four of them clambered past the Fat Lady and into the common room.
"I'll go get it, there." Albus whispered quietly. They all nodded and waited by the dormitory door. Scorpius got quite a fright when a completely invisible being poked him harshly in the side.
"Shh!" Albus shushed. They all squashed into the Cloak of Invisibility. It took them a few floors to get used to the cramped feeling of walking simultaneously, but they were all small, so it wasn't too much of a push. They reached the seventh floor at an absolute snail's pace. Tommy held onto a bunch of Decoy Detonators from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes in case they ran into some company from teachers, or the sort.
There was a long, brightly lit corridor that seemed to be the main hallway on the seventh floor.
"Tommy and Scorpius, check around the classrooms, Rose and I will check this corridor." Albus ordered. The two other boys nodded with furtive grins, and jogged off in different directions.
"Albus, there's nothing even remotely like the Room of Requirement here!" Rose exclaimed, a note of panic in her voice after ten minutes of searching.
"Well no one said it was going to be easy, did they? It's a mystery Rose, not a picnic." Albus replied irritably. Rose scowled and continued to prowl around the empty floor.
She was right though, there was nothing like the Room of Requirement here. "You don't think Nick would give us false directions just to keep us quiet, do you?" said Albus with uncertainty.
"No, that's not like Nick. It is here… somewhere. What do you think he was on about Barnabas- Oh!" Rose stopped abruptly, and was studying a tapestry intently. Albus went to see what she was looking at, and his breath caught in his throat. There was Barnabas the Barmy trying to teach trolls ballet.
"Barnabas the Barmy!" both Albus and Rose exclaimed in unison.
"SCORPIUS! TOMMY!" Rose shouted. They came rushing around the two corners.
"Have yeh's found it? Have you?" Tommy said.
"No, but look at this." Replied Albus, pointing at the tapestry.
"Ah, that makes sense now." Scorpius nodded. And so they began trying to look behind the silky picture. They scoured for any clues, any at all, but found none. Their fingernails were bleeding with effort when they finally just gave up.
"Just wish we could find it," Tommy mumbled to himself, pacing the wall opposite the tapestry. "Room of Requirement, Room of Requirement." He was deep in thought, and therefore didn't notice the door form out of nothing until it was staring at him blatantly in the face.
"Umpf!" he spluttered. "Was that here before?" He turned around to the other three. They were staring at the door in wonder, and Albus stepped closer.
"I think," he said, a huge grin spreading across his face. "That Tommy has just found the Room of Requirement."
Albus took the door knob, and opened the door slowly. They crept inside, and took a good look around them. It was a room the size of a dozen Quidditch pitches. There were piles the size of buildings clustered irregularly around the room. It was full of dusty books and very burnt, what looked like, rubbish.
"Let's split up." Albus said. His voice echoed eerily. Rose's eyes were popping with excitement. Albus started to walk down the straight path, and he could feel Rose, Tommy and Rose going off into different directions.
He walked past horrible, gruesome things; there were blood stained axes, thousands of books; most of them alive or dormant and were scrawled with harsh graffiti. He passed many closets full of irregular shapes; some were growling, others shook with the urge to escape. Albus stared at them all wide eyed. He continued deeper into the room, and almost vomited when he saw a human skull roll out in front of him. A massive grand piano stood in the middle of the path now; its keys were burnt until it was a charcoal spot. But on it, laid a piece of parchment.
It was a very old looking piece of parchment, but Albus got a prickling in the back of his neck that he should not ignore this. He picked it up gingerly, and was just about to pocket it when a massive stuffed troll suddenly loomed above him. Albus started, and stumbled over the piano, clutching his chest. He suddenly felt very alone; like he was being cornered in a dark alley.
And then he heard the panting. Very, very slowly, Albus turned around, and saw a monstrosity curled into a pounce. He had heard the myths about this creature, but never, ever expected to see one. The Chimera glittered bronze like gold, but his eyes were a cruel red. He snarled at Albus.
For a very long and painful moment, nothing happened. Albus stayed frozen to the spot, locked in absolute fright. This beast had a long back, and a magnificent lion's head. Its mane was wavy and black. But the tail ended in a snake's head, and another terrifying head protruded from the lion's back. The other head mashed its teeth together, and bleated loudly.
That was probably around the time when Albus ran for his life. He had always been good at running, but this thing had four legs. It bounded after him, roaring massive waves of fire. Albus yelled for his life; he could feel little flames licking his ankles, singing his jeans.
In the distance, Scorpius, Rose and Tommy looked at the scene with confusion, then they too began to run. Albus screamed and shouted, and with a very brave and courageous move, he swivelled around to the beast and shot a spell at it.
"Confundus!"
The monster slowed down, and his eyes turned cross eyed; he stumbled, falling into a pile of rubbish, setting a cage of Cornish Pixies free who seemed to be frequently electrocuting it with their fingers. Scorpius had Rose's hand clasped in his, and Tommy's in Rose's other hand. Together, they collided with the door in a ball of ash and dust.
"What in the name of good Lord was that?" Rose screamed at Albus as they emerged into the near dark hallway, the door shut firmly behind them. She coughed and spluttered, until she was remained shaking. The door vanished.
"A Chimera." Albus panted.
"Oh, that's bloody super! We get chased by a mythical creature for just dropping by to say hello!" Tommy said, disbelieving. "He's not much of a looker, either."
"That's irrelevant. We got out. We're fine, well, mostly. Rose might be a bit mentally scarred, but physically we're hunky dory." Scorpius scowled at Tommy.
"What's that in your hand, Albus?" asked Rose, her shaking subsiding as curiosity took over. She had to be the most curious person Albus had ever met.
He'd actually completely forgotten about the piece of parchment, but it was there, creased in his clammy palm. "I found this. I think that's why the Chimera got a bit ticked off…"
"Nothing to do about it now. Go on, let's see it." Tommy said.
Albus opened his hand, to see the blank piece of parchment just like it was. A blank piece of parchment. Nothing exciting, or even their goal. Parchment.
But Albus knew, he just knew, that this was no ordinary piece of parchment. Something lay beneath the surface. It was a matter of finding it that was the next problem. But he had a hunch that in his hand, he held the Marauder's Map.