"A broom cupboard?" Harry repeated his voice showing a little bit of his disappointment "I was expecting something a bit more" he paused to shrug "I don't know, something a bit more useful. A training room or something"

Daphne turned back to him, she had cast a lumos was examining the walls in case there was some hidden door that they had missed. "Broom cupboards can be very useful" she widened her eyes at Harry and got the expected blush from him before she continued "A private library would have been nice. Somewhere we can study and not get kicked out when our discussion gets a bit lively." Librarian Pince had been especially strict about noise this year, due mainly to the fact that a lot more students were trying to find approved places to gather and deciding that her library would be a good place. The number of students she had kicked out had broken all records.

"We must be missing something" Harry said as he walked out the door and looked up and down the corridor again.

Daphne followed him into the corridor, she too looking around.

BANG

The door had slammed shut after Daphne had stepped through it. They both spun around at the noise, just in time to see the door disappear, becoming a solid wall again.

"And now we don't even have a broom cupboard" Harry said "Should I call Dobby back?"

"I don't think you should" Daphne said quickly "Dobby was obviously trying to help without doing anything that would get him in trouble later. Plausible deniability. Which is why he didn't say anything to us, if asked he can honestly answer that he didn't speak to us. But he is a clever elf, he must have left a clue"

Harry thought back to what Dobby had done, the walking up and down was a little strange even for Dobby.

"That's it" Harry exclaimed "Dobby had walked up and down this spot"

"Yes" Daphne was excited too "Three times, he did it three times" She stepped back to give Harry room.

Harry positioned himself where he had seen Dobby, and repeating Dobby's actions walked purposefully along the wall three times. Nothing happened.

He tried again, trying his best to re-enact what Dobby had done, giving a fair impression of Dobby that had Daphne laughing.

"Sorry" she said "It's just you looked so much like Dobby just then"

"Yes, but still no door" Harry looked disappointed

"Wait a minute" Daphne said excitedly "You were looking at me while you were walking up and down"

"Yes, that is what Dobby did" Harry replied "He was staring at us as he walked up and down"

"But what were you thinking? You know what Dobby is like, he would have been thinking about what was best for us, he always does. That is why he was staring at us." Daphne was excited now "Do it again, think about what is best for us"

Harry repeated his actions, but this time he was thinking about what they needed, what the study group needed.

A door appeared in the wall.

Harry looked at Daphne, opened the door and took Daphne's proffered hand as they stepped through.

"Wow" they exclaimed in unison.

"A broom cupboard, you say?" Dumbledore asked "And what were they doing in that broom cupboard?"

Dobby looked horrified "Dobby would never be spying on students in a broom cupboard. That would not be right" he shook his head so vigorously that his ears flapped from side to side. "Anyway, the Hogwarts' House Elf charter be saying that we house elves can only be reporting who goes into broom cupboards, not be spying on what they be doing."

Dumbledore sighed "Very well then"

"And I be entering it into the broom cupboard registers as is required" Dobby continued "Dobby be knowing his duties. Dobby always be doing the right thing"

"The what?" Dumbledore asked surprised, he had never heard of this broom cupboard register.

"The registers, Headmaster" Dobby looked surprised "They be going back to befores the Headmaster was a student. They be registering everyone who be going into a broom cupboard and with whoms" Dobby face took on a dark, serious look "In case of troubles, bad things happening, or baby wizards, or other things"

This was indeed news to Albus, he never really bothered much with the day-to-day comings and goings of the house elves, that is why there was a head elf. His mind drifted back to when he was a student, there was always speculation around who was doing what with who.

He suddenly sat up straight in his chair, a worrying thought crossing his mind "When you say everyone, you mean every one the house elves see?"

"But of course, sirs. You cannot be recordings things you don't see" Dobby answered much to Dumbledore's relief.

Albus had visited a broom cupboard or two himself in his day with various friends, but was always careful. Being an exceptionally gifted wizard, he ensured that they were never seen. Things were different back in his day, reputations and lives had been ruined by the slightest bit of gossip, with many a duel being fought in defence of one's reputation. He relaxed back into his chair, such a start was never good for a weak heart. He reached for his bowl of sherbet lemons, popping one in his mouth.

"But then again, we house elves be seeing everythings" Dobby smiled innocently at the Headmaster, watching as he choked on his sherbet lemon.

"A broom cupboard?" Tracey asked Harry at breakfast the next morning, not having to worry about being overheard, the great hall was as noisy as ever after the excitement of the previous night's duelling. Everyone had an opinion that they were eager to expound. "You mean you actually were in a broom cupboard?"

"Well, isn't that what you were telling everyone in the common room last night?" Harry asked

"But you told me to cover for you two" Tracey reasoned "Although to be trueful, for once you were hardly missed. Draco was holding court. It was sickening to watch"

They both looked to the head of the table where Draco had been sitting since the start of term, but his seat was still empty.

"It was a very interesting experience" Harry said with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Eww, I don't want to hear any details.' Tracey screwed up her face "Well not from you, I am sure Daphne will give me the true version of events."

She looked along the other tables "Where is Daphne anyway?"

She turned back to Harry, her eyes narrowed "You didn't do anything to upset her did you? She was not in bed this morning when I got up, I expected to see her here with you"

"I wouldn't be sitting here in one piece if I had upset her" Harry said watching Tracey nod at the truth of that statement "No, she had something to do this morning" Harry added "But back to the broom cupboard, would you like to find out firsthand what we got up to?" Harry added with a challenging grin on his face.

For once Tracey was lost for words. What was Harry playing at? As if she would be in interested in him, he knew her better than that.

"Yeah, ok" she responded, calling his bluff. He must be up to something, so she played along for the benefit of anyone watching. And she knew well enough, that there was always someone watching.

But for once she needn't worry about anyone noticing, for just then there was a commotion at the entrance to the Great Hall as Draco marched in with Pansy looking like he owned the place. They were accompanied by Professor Snape whose presence was the only thing stopping the Gryffindors leaping up from the table to confront Draco. As it was, they were on their feet yelling out exactly what they thought of him. Draco just walked on without deigning to look in their direction.

The Hufflepuffs didn't even turn to look at him and just continued with their breakfast, having decided that they would not give him the satisfaction of knowing how upset they were. Draco's smirked at them as he walked past, testing their resolve.

The Ravenclaws did not look up either, siding with the Hufflepuffs on this, not bothering with the cheating little snake.

The Slytherins were a completely different story. A few were on their feet, cheering or clapping his arrival. Draco took his seat at the head of the table, like some conquering hero.

In all the commotion, nobody noticed Harry and Tracey slip out of the doors. Upon reaching the entrance hall, Harry looked around to make sure they were unobserved, and lead her into the broom cupboard located just off the hall.

Locking the door from the inside so no one would disturb them, Harry cast a lumos, lighting up the cosy space.

"Wow" Tracey exclaimed a moment later.

"A broom cupboard?" Hermione asked looking around the small space that Harry had led her into.

"Whilst I am flattered of course, I mean you are quite good looking, I guess" Hermione was blushing brightly as she backed away from Harry. She had also started to stutter a bit.

Harry just stood with his back against the door. They were in the broom cupboard just down the corridor from the library where he had found Hermione studying alone. He had interrupted her studies and invited her to follow him.

"But you are not really my type" Hermione continued, not noticing that she had backed all the way through the rear wall of the cupboard.

"Oh yes Hermione, and what would your type be?" Tracey asked with more than a hint of amusement in her voice. After all, Harry had played this trick on her as well, so she did have some sympathy for her friend.

Hermione spun around at the sound of the voice, wand in hand and a shield already formed. She stopped dead. The back wall of the broom cupboard had given way to a huge room with a soaring ceiling.

The most perfect room Hermione realised as she looked around her eyes fell on the small but obviously well stocked library in the corner. Even from where she stood, she recognised a few titles that she had only ever seen referred to in other books. Hannah, Theo, and Luna were sitting in the library at a sturdy wooden table scattered with books.

Luna had a very large book open in front of her with Trixie frantically flipping through the pages. Obviously having found what she was looking for, Trixie jumped up and down on the page pointing to a particular paragraph. Luna leaned forward to read what Trixie had found, she looked up smiling at the small pixie who found exactly what they had been looking for.

Hannah meanwhile was in her own world, trying out a new charm she had found in a very old and tatty looking book in front of her. A line of five wooden soldiers, about three inches high, rose out of the table in front of her, constructed from the very wood of the table itself. As one they marched along the table in formation before sinking back into the table to become part of it again, much to Hannah's obvious pleasure.

Theo sat there silently, leaning forward over a small black book, his hair falling over his face. The cover of which was covered in runic writing. The name on the spine of the book gave away its contents, "The Curse Breakers Code". Theo was so engrossed in his book, he seemed oblivious to the other two at the table.

Stopping herself from heading towards the books, Hermione looked around the rest of the room. In the opposite corner to the library there appeared to be a very good copy of the interior of the Leaky Cauldron. The two walls facing the room were missing allowing Hermione to look in, but the shimmer in the air indicated that there were protective wards stopping any stray spells from escaping whilst giving the other occupants of the room a clear view of the action.

And what action there was.

Standing on the bar were three training dummies firing spells at an overturned table from behind which Neville appeared with an incredibly strong shield protecting him from any spell damage. Upon regaining his feet, he dropped the shield and proceeded to drop the three dummies on the bar with a powerful blasting spell to each of their chests. All of this he did in the blink of an eye. He may not be the fastest on his feet due to his height and every growing muscle mass, but he had worked hard on the speed and power of his casting over the summer break. It seemed to have paid off.

Susan on the other hand only had one dummy against her and it was a complete mismatch. She had backed it up against one of the open walls, the wards stopping it from retreating further, and she was proceeding to take it to pieces. Literally. As limbs were removed, the gushing blood and dummy's screams of pain were very realistic, all in clear sight of Hermione whose stomach quailed a bit at the gore.

And then there was Colin, cheeky grin on face as he was running rings around the two dummies against him. Dodging spells coming from all directions, shielding when necessary, he was weaving around the overturned tables, chairs, and the dummies themselves, all the while laying spell after spell on them. What he lacked in spell knowledge he certainly made up for in accuracy, taking out both eyes of one dummy and finishing him with a stunner, before breaking every bone in the wand hand of the other dummy, an impressive move for one so young, the moving target of a wand hand notoriously hard to hit.

By this time Hermione had stopped trying to figure out where they were and how they got there, instead she was in awe at the skills shown by her friends. She eagerly looked around to the next corner of the room where she saw Millicent was holding a masterclass in duelling for her three Gryffindor friends, especially Dean who was still concerned about a possible match against Malfoy if the future and was eager to take any advice from Millicent who displayed a prodigious talent for duelling. Millicent was having him practice dodging spells without moving his feet, refining his natural athleticism to sway his bean pole shaped body out of the path of oncoming spells while keeping his wand pointed at his opponent. Lavender and Parvati, always eager to help out their friend, were assisting by gleefully firing spells down each side of him. Dean quickly realised the advantage of not having to move unless absolutely necessary and always having your wand ready, and used that advantage to retaliate just as eagerly firing spells back at them.

So, this is where they had all disappeared to Hermione thought. She had wondered why no one had turned up in the library for their usual Sunday session. Re-holstering her wand, she put her hands on her hips as she rounded on Harry who had been joined by Daphne. "Mr Potter, you have some explaining to do"

"Well mainly it was a matter of logistics" Harry started "The room requires that one of us stay in here to retain its configuration, so that meant that only one of us could leave at any time to go and get one of our group. So, Daphne came here alone to set the room up while I started bringing the others in."

"But it's the broom cupboard register that is the main problem" Daphne continued "With the house elves updating the register with the entry and exit times, we couldn't just bring someone in and then leave immediately, it would have looked suspicious"

Hermione looked from Harry to Daphne, totally confused.

"But once I had brought Tracey in, it got exponentially easier" Harry took over again "Because then after a suitable period of time, we could both leave again to get another person each, the register would have tallied and the time spent in the cupboard would have seemed believable. And then of course they could get someone each."

Hermione had started nodding, not sure what the hell Daphne and Harry were talking about, but the math making sense.

"And once the room was told to, it could connect to any of the broom cupboards in the castle, it is the perfect cover" Daphne said before adding "Of course it won't do any of our reputations much good if other students see you heading into a broom cupboard, but if you are careful, you shouldn't be noticed."

"But from now on, Daphne and I can set the room up and the rest of you can head into one of the designated broom cupboards with your study partner of choice" Harry explained further "That way we are not all seen gathering in the same place."

"And when you emerge a couple of hours later, all hot and sweaty and ruffled from training, well that is to be expected after a session in a broom cupboard" Daphne was almost laughing at the look on Hermione's face.

"Enough!" Hermione practically shouted, and actually stamped her foot in frustration at the antics of the pair. "What the hell is this place?"

"Oh, didn't we say?" Harry asked innocently.

"This, is the Room of Requirement"