Chapter Twelve:
The sun was rising later and later these days, now that we were deep into a bitter winter. I got up to watch the sun rise. I cast beautiful rays of orange, red and yellow, and wherever the drops of gold touched land, the land would turn a gorgeous, more vibrant version of itself. Today was the last day before the holidays.
I then remembered that I actually had a purpose today. I was going to find the Room of Requirement. Slipping into my robes, I padded down the stairs into the common room, and then snuck out of the portrait hole. The Fat Lady was a bit disgruntled about missing out on her lie-in, but soon students would be flooding through her anyway, desperate to get to lessons on the last day of term. I had a free period this morning, so I could do what I liked. And what I liked was finding new secrets about Hogwarts.
I had seen the tapestry of Barnabas many times, of course. I'd never liked it very much, always too...well, to be perfectly honest, weird. I knew that obviously everything in Hogwarts could most likely be catagorised as weird, but for me Barnabas was a bit too much. That said, I had no problem about the tapestry of the goblin wearing a santa uniform sitting in a pink classroom surrounded by Cornish Pixies being taught algebra, so maybe that thing about Barnabas really was just my personal opinion.
When I arrived in the corridor, I stood for a minute, shuffling form foot to foot, feeling slightly foolish. What should I be thinking? I wondered. Looking from side to side, assuring myself that nobody was there, I began walking.
I want to find the place that's perfect for a party, I want the place that's perfect for a party, I want the place that's perfect for a party.
I stopped to look at the wall. Is that my imagination...oh Merlin what's happening to the wall?
An enormous door was emerging in the wall. It must have been very grand and ornate once, however now it looked as if it had been caught in the centre of a fire. The door was solid now, so before entering I touched the handle, to ensure that there wasn't a fire inside now. Judging by the icy temperature of the door, I deemed it fire-free and safe to enter. I pulled on the door, and the rusting metal scraped against the cold floor, making my spine tremble and quiver.
The moment the door was open, the stench of burn hit my nose like a battering ram, and instantly I was coughing and holding my robes up to my face. I looked inside, yet could see only darkness.
"Lumos," I coughed, taking a step inside. My robes weren't going to be enough to keep the smoke away from my lungs, and with a stroke of inspiration I performed the bubblehead charm on myself. At least I can breathe now. The light revealed that the room was packed dense with smoke. Thick, unnatural smoke. I wonder what happened in here. The must have been a fire, judging by the door and the layers upon layers of smoke. I raised my wand, and through the haze of fog I saw a window. I rushed over to open it. Slowly, the smoke poured out, and the strange thing was that the instant the light touched it, it vanished into nothing. In a spur of the moment decision, I decided to bottle some of it, to investigate. Reaching inside a robe pocket, I withdrew a crystal phial and allowed an amount of the smoke to leach it's way inside. The strangest thing was, that once inside the phial, the smoke seemed to morph into the shape and appearance of a miniature grey snake, that almost seemed to hiss at me...it must be my imagination. Stowing the phial away in another pocket, I turned to look at the window. Sure enough, there was smoke pouring out of it, but only in dribs and drabs. I needed more windows. Looking around the room, I couldn't see any other windows, so I rushed out of the Room and allowed it to close itself off. Then I walked past it three times again.
I need a place with lots of windows, I need a place with lots of windows, I need a place with lots of windows.
I waited for the door to reappear, and then hurried back inside. Illuminating the room again, I could see that every wall was plastered with windows, and I darted around the room, opening every single one of them. The repellant gas gradually snaked its way out into the air, where it would vanish. After a few, long minutes, I could see the room around me. It wasn't a particularly good view. Every inch of the room was coated in an inch of soot and tar, and even though the windows were new additions, a thin layer of grime was already settling on them. There must have been a bad fire here one day.
"Tergeo," I whispered, pointing my wand to the room in general. A layer of the dirt was siphoned off everything in the room, and at this point I realised how small the room I was standing in was. We can't have a prom here, it's much too small! I sighed, and retreated from the room. Just as I turned to leave the corridor leading out from the Room of Requirement, I remembered that I needed to ask for the party room, like I had in the beginning, only this time maybe I could see something. Ambling back in front of the Room, I walked, then began to run, three times in front of it. I need the place that's perfect for a prom. I need the place that's perfect for a prom. I need the place that's perfect for a prom. The door reappeared and, making sure a new bubblehead charm was in place, I opened it. The air was still hazy, and I couldn't yet see clearly, however what I could see was incredible!
The entire area had multiplied in size, and a floor ideal for dancing was in place. Around the room four banners were hung, one on each wall, each with a House symbol emblazoned upon it. The ceiling was higher now than it had been with the windows, and had streamers draped from the rafters. There was a small stage at the front for something - maybe a band to play the music? Mum was right. This is the perfect place.
Trouble was, even though it seemed as if the prom was already set up, the fire in here - or something very similar - had left its mark. Everything I could see was blackened, even the House banners - the colours were only distinguishable by their shades of grey - and the gas still lurked in every corner, every inch of the room. If we have the prom here, I'm going to need to clear this place out. Yet this was the perfect place - it even, I thought, had trees sprouting along the walls, with fairy lights and ribbon stung high amid leaves and branches. Just like I'd always dreamed of at a prom like this one could be. But it all had to go if I was going to get rid of the stench and the grime.
I stayed in the Room of Requirement a of couple of minutes longer, before realising, with a jerk, that I would most likely be late for class unless I left right that second. Thankfully, Hagrid wouldn't mind. Dashing down the stairs, two at a time, someone caught my eye.
"Sam!" I called out. Sam turned in my direction. He waved stiffly at me, then walked away again. Why is he being so cool towards me all of a sudden? I jogged forwards to catch up with him, eventually breaking into a sprint - he was four floors below me. Unfortunately, I got caught on a moving staircase which only lead higher than I currently was, which slowed my descent down considerably.
"Sam, wait!" I panted, tired out from running down from the seventh floor to the first, accounting for interruptions. Sam did stop, but it seemed almost unwillingly. He stood awkwardly whilst I jogged the final few feet up to him. He ran a hand through his hair, looking agitated.
"What's wrong?" I whispered, now that he was right in front of me.
"Rose, do you actually like me?" he blurted out, as if the words had been building in his throat for ages, and they had just spilled out through his mouth like vomit. Indeed, he did curse under his breath the moment the words had passed his lips, as if irritated with himself. As for me, I was stunned. And not in the stupefy sense.
"What do you mean?" I stammered, taking a step closer to him.
Sam closed his eyes. "I mean, do you honestly want to be together?" he muttered, slumping against a cold stone wall of the castle.
Bewildered, I replied. "Yes, of course I do. Why do you think that I don't?"
Sam opened his eyes, a lock of his dark hair drifting in front of them. "I like you, Rose - jeez, I don't think I've liked anyone this much before! But I just need to know if you like me, too. And I know how whiny, and pathetic this sounds, but sometimes I just feel like..."
Before he could continue, I leaned up and kissed him, my eyes open. Sam's around wrapped themselves around my back eagerly, pressing me into him, and his eyes closed. I twisted my fingers into his hair, wrapping them around the chocolate-coloured curls. A lot of things were right, but something was wrong. I couldn't quite name it. At this moment I closed my eyes, and I saw the missing piece of the puzzle. Finally, I got that warm feeling in the pit of my stomach. However, my imagination ran wild, and, unbidden, another face drifted into my mind. Their features were blurred, so I'd no idea who it was, but all I knew was that it felt so much nicer to dream I was kissing them than it really was kissing Sam...
My eyes snapped open. My lips were still pressed to Sam's, so slowly I disentangled myself from him. What do I do? I can not think that again. And what about the warm feeling? I finally got it with Sam - am I really going to throw that away for the sake of...a fantasy?
I leaned my forehead into Sam's. "I do like you. Never forget that," I murmured. I then speedily backed away, and hastened my way over the Care of Magical Creatures. By the time I arrived, Hagrid had already assembled the group around the creature of today's lesson. I think I must have been the only one who noticed how red and bloodshot his eyes were...
I couldn't concentrate on the lesson that day, or any of the lessons that followed. In Arithmancy, Professor Broentwight took away a house point for my apparent disregard to whatever she was saying. Shame. I used to like her. Professor Jollieminda also took away yet another point for me blowing up my cauldron in Potions, as I accidentally stirred my concoction in the wrong direction. I suppose I kind of deserved that one.
Why do I have to feel so conflicted about this? I chose Sam. I want Sam.
