Chapter 13: The Room of Requirement
Sheldor and Bernadette Hermione both start to cry along with Howard when they see poor Diggory is dead. But, Stuart goes straight into survival mode as his beloved magical comic book store quickly burns away around them. He punches Draco in the nose one last time knocking him out cold. Then he yells at his friends to escape before the building collapses on top of them all.
"GET OUT! GO… GET OUT NOW!"
Several Hogwarts teachers including Professor Snape stand outside Stuart's store using their magic wands to conjure up large amounts of water and sand to dump on the flames. Professor Snape snaps at the young students standing around them concerned they will get hit by falling debris from the burning building.
"GET BACK YOU IMBECILES! MOVE!"
The terrified students do as their told by Professor Snape while Sheldor and his friends run out of the building coughing and hacking up smoke. Ron Howard falls on the ground outside of the store devastated so Bernadette Hermione wraps her arms around his back and hugs him. They both cry again over the lost of their dear friend while praying Stuart doesn't die as well. Sheldor nearly passes out from all the smoke, but a kindhearted Gryffindor teacher brings some water in a goblet to help him.
Stuart finally comes out of the store last dragging Draco out with him. He considered leaving the bastard in there to die too, but he just couldn't bring himself to do that to a former classmate. As soon as Draco wakes up from his unconsciousness he pulls some floo powder from his pocket and disappears altogether in a green cloud of smoke and dust. Stuart screams in anger that the coward has escaped.
"DAMN IT!"
He falls down on his knees as his store burns to the ground with Cedric Diggory, Ka-el and a few other trampled students deceased bodies still trapped inside. Their magical green, red and purple auras float out of the building headed for the heavens. Everyone else left in the town of Hogsmeade comes outside to see the aftermath of this catastrophe. They all stand around staring in shock at the smoky remains of Stuart's shop.
The town nerds start crying right away and the Hogwarts teachers bow their heads sadly in mourning because the comic shop had been a part of the town for so long and a few of them also happen to be closet comic book lovers. Stuart can't even bring himself to grieve over his losses or deal with this awful mess. Instead, he turns to Sheldor and Ron Howard ready to help them escape before it's too late.
"The Death-eaters will be back any minute. We have to go before it's too late! COME ON!
Tears stream down Ron Howard's face he can barely imagine moving right now much less running for safety or fighting off Death-eaters, but his wife realizes quickly that Stuart is right. So she pulls open her purse, takes out a magical cleaning rag to wipe away her husband's dreadful tears and clean his soot stained faced. Bernadette Hermione looks into his big brown depressed eyes and speaks to him with a dead serious tone.
"It's what Cedric would have wanted. We have to keep going!"
Ron Howard nods his head slowly in reply then pulls out his invisibility cloak which has been badly burned by the fire, but his wife uses her wand to magically repair it for him. Then Bernadette Hermione stands up again with a very serious expression on her face and does her best to choke back tears. She turns towards Sheldor.
"Get up! We can't stay here."
Sheldor is also too upset to move, but when Ron Howard holds out his hand for his friend to grab he looks up at him and finally takes his hand. Sheldor stands back up on his feet ready to get the hell out of here. Ron Howard takes one more look at the burning building. He knows there is no way to save Cedric now that his body has turned to ash and his spirit has flown away. He absolutely hates the idea of continuing on without his very best friend, but Ron Howard also knows that he has no other choice. He finds the courage to cough out two words to his remaining family and friends.
"Let's go!"
They stand in a circle holding hands while the teachers use their magic wands to whisk them out of Hogsmeade and back inside of the school. As soon as they reappear in the middle of the Great Hall Stuart takes the lead.
"Follow me!"
Sheldor, Stuart and Bernadette Hermione nod at him and put on their cloaks to help shield themselves from being seen by evil. He runs towards the door and opens it for them.
"We must find the Room of Requirement. HURRY!"
They all quietly make their way through the hallways until they reach a stone wall with no doors or windows on the east side of the castle. Then they remove their cloaks again. Bernadette Hermione waves her wand in the air and speaks the magical password which creates a door leading to the Room of Requirement. But, as soon as the door appears Death eaters break into the school to stop them from leaving it. The Death eaters whip out their wands and start shooting at them. Stuart pushes Sheldor inside the room first.
"GO! We'll hold them off!"
"STUPEFY!"
Stuart knocks a flying Death eater backwards down hall off his broom sending him crashing through a window. Sheldor starts to panic again!
"WHAT?! No, I…I can't leave ya'll here. I can't do this by myself!"
Ron Howard pulls out his wand angrily and holds it right at Sheldor's face like he will harm him if he doesn't do what he's told.
"We don't have time to argue! NOW GO! Get the ring from Frodo! Save your princess. DO IT FOR US! DO…IT…FOR …CEDRIC!"
Bernadette Hermione suddenly hugs Sheldor for first time because she knows they may never see him again.
"Be brave okay! Don't worry about us. We'll be fine."
Lovey Dovey, Sheldor's feathery friend bursts through a broken window down the hall and flies towards Sheldor. The bird steals one of the Death eater's wands right out of his hand to help protect them from the evil spell. He lands on Sheldor's left shoulder just in time as Stuart begins to push the heavy door closed to the secret room. A black Death-eater makes one last attempt to stop him and hits Sheldor with a powerful blast of magic.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Sheldor screams as he flies backward into the dark room. Bernadette Hermione rushes to seal up the entrance so the Death eaters can't follow him inside. Sheldor falls to floor with a loud, painful thud as the disappearing door splinters around him and Lovey Dovey. The scared blue jay squawks loudly as they fall.
Ron Howard kisses his wife on the lips quickly just in case they don't survive this battle then he starts fighting them Death eaters off again along with his wife and Stuart. They pray that Sheldor makes it out of the castle before it's too late. Sheldor gets up and tries to beat against the wall yelling to be let out of the room so that he can help them. He tries to use magic to conjure up another doorway out, but it does not work this time.
Sheldor soon realizes that he is now all on his own and that the only way he is getting out of this room is through the portal Ka-el told him about. Sheldor wipes the remaining tears off his face with the side of his palm then he pulls out his wand to illuminate the dark cold room he is in. A small bright light appears on the end of his wand which allows him to see all the old junk that's been piling up for centuries in this massive magical room.
He has absolutely no idea where to even start looking for the portal so he slowly roams around looking for any sign of it. Lovey Dovey flies a short distance ahead of him eating tiny gnats and mosquitoes in the air along the way as he searches the room.
Sheldor gets more and more frustrated and upset as he wanders around the Room of Requirement. He is about ready to give up searching just to rest awhile when he remembers that his Vulcan-like hearing maybe able to help him out in this situation. He blows out the light on his wand so that he is standing in almost total darkness. Sheldor closes his eyes and listens for any sounds.
Soon he does hear something; so Sheldor follows the buzzing sound in the dark until it leads him to a magical wardrobe closet in middle of the room. He opens his eyes and smiles when he sees it knowing that this old wardrobe must be the entrance to the portal. Sheldor takes a big deep breath.
"Okay Lovey Dovey, Here goes nothing!"
He nervously reaches out his hand and opens the closet doors up.
Author's Note: Thanks for reading.