As the weather grew warm and the lack of violence led to a loosening of their bonds once more, Albus was occasionally able to convince Scorpius to spend time on the grounds, often under the same tree that they'd grown fond of during their first year.

It took more than a few trips, but over time, Scorpius grew less worried about being exposed to members of the other houses. They'd reached the point where Albus didn't need to keep his wand in his hand at all times in order to ease Scorpius's anxiety.

Of course, Albus had a lot of help from the nature that surrounded the castle. The grounds were more vibrant than they'd been during winter. Leaves were appearing on their tree once again, and though he couldn't understand it, Albus loved the way Scorpius inspected the tree every day to catalogue the changes.

There was even a squirrel (Scorpius insisted it was the same squirrel) that Scorpius spotted and had a one-sided conversation with every time they sat beneath the tree. Albus found it endlessly endearing, embarrassingly so.

He was watching Scorpius ask the squirrel what his favorite type of nut was, explaining that his were walnuts, while the squirrel nibbled on a green hazelnut.

Scorpius was so enthralled by the squirrel and Albus so enthralled by Scorpius that neither boy noticed Rose approaching until she came to a halt in front of them, bent over at the side and panting.

"Is something wrong?" Albus asked.

Rose shook her head, but it took a few more deep breaths before she could straighten up and speak.

"Come with me," she said, turning around and heading straight back towards the castle.

Albus and Scorpius shared a look. Albus was annoyed, as he was every time Rose shot off demands and expected them to be followed, but he was also curious. Both boys hurriedly got to their feet, thankful that they hadn't brought anything outside with them except the one book that Scorpius was currently reading.

Rose was already far ahead of them, and though she wasn't running anymore, they weren't able to catch up with her until she was ascending the Grand Staircase.

"Rose," Albus called, hoping to slow her down as well as get her attention, "where is it that we're going?"

She didn't glance back at him, but she did slow her pace.

"The seventh floor," she said before hurrying off again.

Albus groaned. While he would have liked to think of himself as being in shape, he wasn't an athlete like Rose, the star Quidditch player, and hurrying up multiple flights of stairs was easier for her than it was him. Scorpius was panting beside him, but his longer legs gave him an advantage and had Albus pushing himself even further not to be left behind.

"So," Albus tried again, struggling to make it sound as if he wasn't breathing heavily, "the Gryffindor common room?"

It was the only thing he knew of on the seventh floor other than the stairwell that led to Professor Trelawney's classroom. Considering Rose's distaste for that particular subject, he couldn't imagine she was leading them there.

"Not the common room," Rose replied.

Albus silently cursed the fact that she didn't sound winded. How quickly had she travelled coming to see them if this was an easily sustainable pace for her?

"Is it the room?" Scorpius asked. "Did you find it?"

Rose nodded her head frantically as if, now that she'd been asked, she couldn't contain her excitement.

"Really‽" Albus exclaimed before she could speak.

"I did. I found it," Rose replied, sounding breathless for the first time as they hurried up the stairs from the fourth to the fifth floor corridor. "It was right there all along. Remember when I said that it felt like it was right under my nose? Well, it was. Right there next to the common room."

None of them said anything else until they'd reached the seventh floor. Rose was intent on getting to their destination, and both of the boys felt stunned. The Room of Requirement was a Hogwarts legend, especially since the war, and as far as they knew, only a select few had ever found it.

The corridor the staircase deposited them in wasn't the corridor that housed the Fat Lady. This one appeared to be less travelled, though Rose checked carefully for other students before she began pacing the length of the hall.

Albus and Scorpius stood at the top of the stairs, with Scorpius rocking back and forth in anticipation.

The wall Rose paced in front of was nothing but a blank expanse of stone, just like Rose had always guessed the wall that hid the room would be, but across from it hung a tapestry depicting trolls doing ballet, which, incredibly, was not the strangest image that could be found hanging on a Hogwarts wall.

Once she'd paced the requisite three times, Rose took several steps back, and the boys moved to join her, all three of them staring in awe as a door appeared where there had been only stone before.

"The Room of Requirement," Rose murmured as if she were presenting something holy.

"It's real," Scorpius said in a similar tone.

Albus couldn't stop himself from taking a step forward, grasping the handle, and turning it.

"What did you ask it for?" he heard Scorpius ask Rose behind him, but he was already pushing it open to see for himself.

Before him was a large room separated into different sections that were each designed for a different purpose. Before he could analyze it more than that, Scorpius and Rose were pushing him out of the way.

"This is what I asked for," Rose declared.

She was as stunned by the inner contents of the room as the boys.

"It's exactly what I pictured," she said with a bright smile.

She hurried towards one of the couches that sat around a fireplace larger than the one in the Slytherin common room and flung herself upon it. With a giggle, Scorpius followed after her at a similar pace.

Albus remained in the doorway where he was able to take in the entirety of the space. The room felt remarkably like a common room except in house-neutral colours like browns, tans, and greys. Somehow, the colour scheme didn't make the room appear dark. Everything was in light tones, and the fireplace, despite a low fire burning, wasn't the primary source of light. Albus looked around but couldn't detect where the light was coming from. There was enough of it that the space was well lit, far better lit than the Slytherin common room.

He began to walk towards the fireplace, but he did it slower than his friends, still inspecting the room. Rose had her eyes closed as she laid back on the couch, a small smile on her lips as she basked in the glory of her creation.

"There are a lot of seats in here," Scorpius said, voicing the same thought that Albus had been having.

He took a seat beside Scorpius as Rose opened her eyes to smirk at them.

Scorpius continued, "Surely we don't need this many couches for just the three of us."

Rose shook her head and sat up, giving the room a once over before speaking.

"We don't, no, but this is a prototype."

Scorpius mouthed the word, "prototype," and then asked out loud, "Prototype for what?"

Albus's eyes narrowed as he watched Rose.

He repeated his earlier observation for their benefit. "It looks like a common room."

When Rose's smile grew larger, he knew that he was on to something.

"You want to use it like a common room," he said.

"But even if we use it like a common room, why would we need this many seats?" Scorpius asked before Rose could speak.

"Because we're not the only ones who are going to use it," Rose said.

She stood and began walking around the room and stopping here or there to inspect something. Every so often, she'd nod approvingly. The bookshelf that lined one wall particularly pleased her, and she ran a finger along the spines of the books on a shelf at her eye level, reading the titles.

"Who else is going to use it?" Scorpius asked. "The rest of the Weasleys?"

"Hopefully them, but I don't want to stop there."

She was still walking around the room and was giving off the air of someone showing off.

"Over the summer I started thinking about how this place could be somewhere where people hang out. Think about it. It can be whatever we want it to be. Is that not the perfect place for people to spend time? We could change it up to be whatever we want, whenever we want."

Albus had to turn so that he was looking over the back of the couch, arm draped over it, to see Rose. Scorpius made to turn too, but once he was looking at Albus, he stopped there, not looking at Rose. There was a hint of uneasiness in his eyes.

It was Albus who spoke next.

"You're going to turn this place into the room that you always wanted," he said. "You want all the houses to hang out here."

"It's a good idea, isn't it?" Rose asked instead of directly answering. "Hogwarts needs a place like that, I've always said, and this is better than any other room we could find for it. Think about how many people would want to see the Room of Requirement. That alone would get them to come no matter what they think of my idea, and once they see that the room can easily transform into what they want, they'll stay."

"I don't know that that will make them stay," Albus said. "I think it's just as likely that they'd come back later and use the room on their own. It can be hidden too, right? If someone asks the room for it? Who's to say someone wouldn't take the room and do that?"

Rose walked back over to where Albus and Scorpius sat. She reclaimed the couch she had been lying on before, but this time she remained sitting. Her arms were crossed against her chest, but she sat upright and proud.

"That's much harder to do if everyone knows where the room is. It could be hidden, but we'd know it was there. We'd know that someone had 'taken' it, so to speak."

"Rose," Albus said, "you're doing that thing again where you're caught up in an idea, so you're throwing out all the possible things that could go wrong without thinking about them."

Rose rolled her eyes. "My mum was exaggerating when she said I do that. She was just mad that I'd broken Hugo's arm because I never thought that Muggle trampoline would break. Aren't they built not to?"

"Are Muggle trampolines built to withstand magically induced jumps of over twenty feet in the air?"

There was no response from Rose, who had gone momentarily deaf and been unable to hear the question.

"People will want to hang out here," she said. "They will. It's the Room of Requirement for Merlin's sake. Besides, I'll have plenty of help getting people here. I have a bigger family than anyone else in this school, and they all either owe me a favour or are kind enough to help me without expecting anything."

"Do I fall into either of those categories?" Albus asked.

"The latter," Rose said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Kind of. You'll show up no matter how much you complain about it. Under other circumstances you might not, but Scorpius would convince you. He's your conscience."

Her last statement startled Scorpius, who looked at her with wide eyes.

"I had a conscience before I met Scorpius," Albus asserted, glaring at his cousin. "Not wanting to help with every single plan you come up with doesn't mean I don't have a conscience."

"Whatever," Rose said. She fell against the back of the couch, stretching out with her arms folded behind her head. "I'll get people to start hanging out here."

XXX

All of Albus's cousins and siblings were more popular than he was. Each of them had plenty of people who they could drag to the room if needed, but the seventh years among them had spent the entirety of their Hogwarts careers achieving notoriety that, these days, gave them a level of influence that Albus couldn't dream of having.

They knew it, too, and used it to its full advantage. Albus knew that his brother considered himself part of Hogwarts' elite, matched only by his twin cousins and the two other members of their little group: Felicia and Malcolm.

The latter two were newer additions to their group. Felicia and Malcolm, who had always been each other's best friends, had shared a dorm with James and Fred for years, and they'd been friendly, if not extremely close. In their fifth year, Felicia had informed everyone that she didn't feel comfortable in the boys' dormitories, and Professor McGonagall had granted her permission to switch.

It had caused an uproar with some around the castle, and James's love of controversy was second only to his love of attention. He'd told Albus several months later that he'd been impressed by how Felicia had handled people being terrible to her. Fast forward a year and James was dating her and all five of them were inseparable.

Perhaps due to their popularity, they were also the last of group to arrive at the Room of Requirement. They gathered around one couch, ignoring Rose as she stood in front of the group and tapped her foot impatiently.

"I said to be here ten minutes ago," she said. Though her anger was supposedly towards the whole group, her glare was directed at James.

James looked at her for the first time and raised an eyebrow, shrugging as he leaned against the couch.

They faced off silently for several moments before Rose broke and said, "Whatever. We have things to attend to."

Most of the family were still looking around the room, seemingly impressed. This pleased Rose, who brightened instantaneously as she began her prepared remarks.

"Welcome to the Room of Requirement."

She opened her arms, which caused a few of their cousins to laugh. Albus groaned and dropped his head to rest of the back of the couch.

"Can this be over?" he muttered to Scorpius, earning himself a grin.

Rose, thankfully, hadn't noticed that he'd said anything as she continued.

"You're looking at the new All Houses Common Room."

There was an immediate reaction from everyone. Some, like James and Roxanne, openly laughed. Others, like Albus, merely cringed.

"Is that really what you're calling it?" Lucy asked.

Rose narrowed her eyes.

"Yes," she replied firmly.

They stared each other down. Albus sighed and sank further down on the couch. If there was a Weasley cousin who was anywhere near as controlling as Rose, it was Lucy, who would undoubtedly weasel her way into being Rose's second-in-command for this project now that she'd been let in on it. And then they'd argue for the next three years over something that no one else cared about.

"What would you recommend it be called, Luce?"

Rose glared at Fred for daring to ask such a question.

"I don't have any ideas presently," Lucy said. "But I could write up a list if given time. Something catchy, something that people would want to say."

Rose's answer was spoken slowly and with emphasis. "'All Houses Common Room' is practical and lets everyone know what it is without an explanation."

"Practical, sure," Lucy said with a shrug. "Everyone will know what it is anyway though. Word spreads. What we really need is something catchy that they'll have fun saying. It'll make them want to visit."

Several of the cousins were struggling to contain their laughter. With another groan, Albus let his head fall onto Scorpius's shoulder. He heard the sharp intake of breath that Scorpius took and tried not to dwell on it for long. After a second, Scorpius reached for his hand, gripping it in his own.

"You okay?" Scorpius whispered.

Albus hoped the shiver he'd felt travel down his spine hadn't been noticeable to the other boy.

"Fine," he said in a petulant voice. "I just wish they'd shut up. Who cares what it's called?"

He felt Scorpius shrug as his own head bobbed up and down with it.

"Besides," Lucy continued, "All Houses Common Room is too long. It's a mouthful. We need something shorter, probably one or two words."

Lily raised her hand as if requesting permission to speak but then went ahead and did so anyway.

"Is there a reason we can't call it the Room of Requirement? That's what it is anyway."

Rose's cheeks were red, and her eyes looked liable to shoot fire at the next person who said something she didn't approve of.

"We can worry about the name later," she conceded. "What's important is that we promote the All Houses Common Room and get people to use it. We need to spread word and sell it as the best spot in the castle to hang out, to study, anything really."

"You sure you want to tell the entire school where the Room of Requirement is?" James asked. "Why not use it for ourselves? Think about what we could do with it."

Rose didn't like the looks that James and his friends shared, ones that hinted their use of the room wouldn't follow school rules. Even Lily giggled as if she, too, would like to use the room for something. Only Louis looked like he disapproved of the idea as much as Rose did.

"No," Rose stated firmly. "If everyone knows about the room, people are far less likely to use it for nefarious purposes."

James mouthed 'nefarious' mockingly, but Rose ignored him.

"I've also spoken to Neville about helping. He's appealing to the teachers, including McGonagall. He thinks it's a great idea and said that he's sure the rest of the staff will too, so we don't have to worry about anyone getting in trouble for being here."

"Where's the fun in that?" Roxanne asked, prompting snickering.

Rose exhaled loudly but didn't answer.

"Are you going to help or not?" she asked, crossing her arms against her chest.

"Of course we are," James said, holding his hand to his chest in mock offense. "We're family, dear Rosie. Remember how we helped you bake that cake for Uncle Ron's birthday. We knew that would be a disaster, but we did it anyway."

"It was only a disaster because you wouldn't measure any of the ingredients," Rose shot back.

She looked at each of them, getting nods and words of agreement.

"Great," she said, clapping her hands together. "Then all we need to do is start spreading the word. We've got Gryffindor covered." She motioned to herself and many of the others. "Lucy has Ravenclaw, and Albus and Scorpius can talk to Slytherins."

Albus felt Scorpius stiffen, and he squeezed his hand, whispering, "I'll do it," and feeling him relax.

"What we need to think about is Hufflepuff," Rose continued. "With Victoire gone, none of us are in that House, but we need to make sure that we get the word to them anyway. The idea should appeal to them, so hopefully, once we tell a few people, they'll spread the word themselves."

"My sister's a Hufflepuff," Malcolm informed the others. "I can talk to her."

"Awesome. That would be very helpful. Thank you."

Malcolm offered her a slight nod of the head.

"So," Rose said, "everyone knows what they're going to do?"

There was a series of nods. Albus got the feeling that he wasn't the only one who wanted Rose's lecture to be over.

"Make sure you explain how to get into the room. I'll be spending as much time here as possible, and hopefully you guys will be too. There may be professors here sometimes. I'm not sure on that yet. But I'd like for people to start showing up as soon as possible."

"We've got this, Rose," Roxanne reassured her. "This place will be packed in no time."

XXX

Scorpius twirled the quill between his fingers, making it blur.

"I still don't think they'll want to go," he said quietly. "They know as well as we do that the other houses won't want us there."

"I don't think they will either, but I told Rose I'd do it. If she's going to accuse me of not properly getting the word out when no Slytherins show up, then I'd like to have the truth as back up."

Scorpius glanced over his shoulder at the rest of the common room. It was the busiest time of day, with almost every seat taken.

His eyes roved over the room, trying to decide who the easiest target would be.

"Rachel," he said as soon as he saw her.

"You should definitely talk to her," Scorpius said. "She's always nice, so there's no chance she'll laugh at you."

Scorpius was right that Rachel would be nice. She'd grown fond of the two of them since the first time she'd spoken to them in their first year, and she'd become the closest thing they had to a friend who was older than them. She'd looked after them at times, when she thought they needed it.

"She's also a seventh year," Albus said. "That would give her more sway, right?"

Scorpius shrugged. "Maybe. Either way, she'd probably go at least once if you asked, and that would make Rose happy."

Rachel was popular, so it wasn't a surprise to see six other students with her. That was why Albus and Scorpius didn't speak to her often.

If he went up to her now, they'd all hear his speech, and he couldn't be sure that most of them would be as kind as Rachel. He dreaded the thought of having to put up with any nonsense, but catching Rachel alone was nearly impossible.

"I'm going for it," he said decisively, standing up from the table.

Scorpius tilted his head to watch him, looking sympathetic.

"Good luck," he said as Albus left him.

Rachel noticed him coming before any of her friends did, and her smile remained as bright as it had been when she was laughing with her friends. She was perched in an armchair and gave off the impression of being the leader of the group.

"Albus, hi," she greeted brightly.

The others turned to look at Albus as he raised a hand in a short wave.

"Hi."

"What have you been up to lately?" Rachel asked before Albus could get into the reason why he'd come over.

"Oh." He was thrown off, not having expected to talk about anything other than his request. "Not much except, well… See, Rose found the Room of Requirement, and she wants to make it into a common room for all the houses to hang out in together. So she's asked a bunch of us to spread the word."

Two of the girls were sniggering quietly behind their hands, and all of them appeared amused. Rachel was the only one who had a smile that Albus didn't think was supposed to be insulting.

"That sounds like an interesting idea," she said as brightly as before.

Albus exhaled at the small success.

"It's kind of cringe-worthy to be honest," he said. "But Rose is my cousin, so I agreed to help her to get her off my back. I'd totally understand if you didn't come, but at least I can tell her that I tried."

"I wouldn't mind going actually."

Several of Rachel's friends rolled their eyes. One of them groaned.

"I wouldn't," she said, this time directly to her friends. "You know how I feel about those stupid rivalries. I think it's cool that Granger-Weasley is trying to do something about it. What harm can going and looking around do?"

The boy on the rug spoke up, an arm slung over his face.

"We might have to listen to Granger-Weasley drone on about inter-house unity."

Everyone but Rachel and Albus laughed. Despite agreeing with the boy's depiction of Rose, Albus felt offended on her behalf.

"I doubt it," Albus said. "She just wants people to spend time there, not to make speeches."

"Does she know how to not do that?" one of the girls asked.

Albus felt his cheeks heating up. While he'd known there were a number of ways this could go wrong, he hadn't expected himself to get so worked up defending Rose.

"Sometimes," he said shortly. "Actually, I'm sure she'll reserve the speeches for whoever she doesn't see in the room."

"I'll be there," Rachel told him. Her smile was gentler, as if she felt the need to compensate for her friends' reactions. "I'm sure a few of these guys will be too, whatever they're saying now. They like being difficult."

None of them had a response to that other than a few amused smirks and shared looks.

"Thanks," Albus told Rachel, ignoring the others.

He waved goodbye and made his way back over to Scorpius, hearing the group start talking and laughing behind him.

Scorpius was watching him as he returned. His eyes lingered on the group that Albus had left, and Albus was sure that he'd been able to see how they'd been acting as Albus had tried to talk to them.

"How'd it go?" he asked as Albus sat down.

Albus shrugged.

"It could have been worse. Rachel will go at least, so Rose gets that. I'm not sure about the others even though Rachel said some of them would."

Scorpius glanced over his shoulder.

"They don't look like they agreed to that."

"No," Albus agreed. "Rachel just thinks the best of people, but maybe she'll drag them along when she goes."

Scorpius shifted in his seat, fiddling with the pages of the book that was open in front of him.

"You don't think they'll start an argument with Rose or anything, do you? If Rachel drags them along?"

"I don't know," Albus admitted. "Maybe, but Rose can handle herself. It'll be fine."

He offered Scorpius a smile, and Scorpius smiled back even though the worry hadn't faded from his eyes.

"Are you going to say anything to any other Slytherins?" he asked.

Albus glanced around the room.

"Maybe later," he decided, "not today."

Tension drained from Scorpius's shoulders, and he turned back to his book with a relieved smile on his lips. Albus watched him for a bit too long before he could shake himself out of it and get back to his work.