Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.

A/N: Thanks to MaeSilverpaws1, who is beta-ing this story.

Chapter Ninety-Nine

Breathing

Then next morning after figuring out the egg clue, Harry wrote a note in his map telling everyone to meet him in the Room of Requirement. Once everyone got there he told the group at large about having to find the merpeople in the lake and get something they had stolen from him within an hour. Naturally, the first concern was how he was going to survive, and mainly breathe in the lake that long. He looked at Hermione hopefully but she shook her head and he looked at the twins hoping they would know something as they were two years older than him.

"Hm … there's always the bubble head charm," Fred said thoughtfully.

"Not sure it works underwater though," George added. "We only use it after some of our more … er … toxic explosions."

"Toxic explosions!" Hermione gasped and the twins just shrugged nonchalantly at her.

"Anyways, it always helped us breathe clean air instead of smoke and gases," Fred said.

"It probably will work, but of course you'll have to find a way to make sure," George said thoughtfully. Indeed thinking hard about it because seconds later there was a pool in the room.

"Wow … cool, I didn't realize we could have an indoor pool!" Fred smiled.

"Our next party should be here!" George agreed.

"And let everyone know about our secret," Ron said, though he looked impressed by the pool all the same. "Nah, it's better we keep this all to ourselves."

"Um … not that the pool isn't cool and all, but I actually know of something that would be better than the bubble head charm," Neville said as the twins started wondering how they should test their charm.

"What is it?" Harry said, who seemed to be happy upon hearing about the bubble head charm because at least that was one way he could accomplish the tasked.

"I can't remember the name …" Neville grimaced, "my mum talked about it this summer … she said she almost wished that we lived on the Mediterranean so she could harvest … weed … GILLYWEED! That's it! You know how much mum likes her garden …" he said smiling, that was something they had in common and he enjoyed spending time taking care of it with her.

"Er … what does it do?" Harry said as Neville beamed at him as if he had just solved the problem. At Harry's comment, Neville blushed and then quickly explained.

"Oh right. Well it's supposed to let you breathe underwater," Neville said. "Depending how much you take will change how much time you'll have but I'm sure we could work that out. You see gillyweed makes you grow gills and sort of webs your hands and feet so you'll be able to swim faster."

"Brilliant!" Harry smiled.

"We didn't get a brilliant for our help," George pouted.

"It looks like our ideas aren't quite good enough for him," Fred grimaced. "We tried for the last two tasks to help and he turned to everyone else instead of us."

"Well, if you came up with a clever idea I would turn to you more," Harry shrugged and the twins glared when he smirked at them. "Besides, I'd still like to learn the Bubblehead Charm …"

"After you called us not clever enough," Fred snorted in mock irritation. "Never!"

"It's always good to have a backup plan," Harry finished what he was going to say and despite what Fred said he did show Harry the charm, which not only Harry, but the rest learned as well.

"You know … just in case Fred and George decided to do some kind of toxic explosion around us or something," Ginny had commented.

Harry didn't master the spell that night but he felt good knowing that he was working on that as Neville owled his mum and asked if she could get and send him gillyweed, which he would need before February 20, though that was a few days before the task it was best to get in then. If she wasn't able to get it, then they would just have to try and figure a different way to get it and if that didn't work either, at least Harry will have mastered the Bubblehead Charm by then.

It was the next week that Harry did master the charm, and yes he did use the pool the twins had summon to make sure it worked properly. Which had then turned into somewhat of a pool party as they others had joined in the swimming; some trying the spell as well as others just enjoyed swimming.

"Hey Nev, is something wrong?" Harry asked a little while later, most were in the pool enjoying themselves, but Neville had been frowning the last few minutes.

"Huh … on no, not really," Neville said.

"You do realize I know when you're lying, right?" Harry asked raising his eyebrow.

"I was just thinking that Hannah would like to be here," Neville then admitted.

"More like you were thinking about what Hannah would looked like in a bathing suit!" Fred said from the water grinning, but Neville ignored him.

"I sort of wish I could bring her here," Neville continued to say, looking nervous now. As if he was asking if it was alright if he could bring her.

"Are you talking as in a private rendezvous?" George asked waggling his eyebrows and now everyone was looking at Neville and Harry as they talked.

"NO!" Neville hissed as he glared at the now sniggering twins. "I meant, I would like if I could bring her here sometimes when we all meet up!"

That brought silence to the room and Harry wasn't sure what to think. He liked Hannah, and he knew Neville really liked her. The problem was that there was so much that they discussed in this room that he didn't want the rest of the school to know about. The seven other people in the room (plus Sirius and Remus) were the people he was closest to and he felt comfortable talking to them about anything. Most of the time it probably would be okay for others to come here, however, he thought about the fact that Neville, Ginny and Luna were still working on their final stage of their Animagus transformation or what happened last week when he told everyone about the second task. He wouldn't feel comfortable discussing that with anyone else around.

"I don't mean to say that we have to tell her our secrets or anything," Neville went on, though he looked sad about that. It probably didn't have much to do with the 'our' and more about his own secrets, but Harry didn't question this. "I just meant … you know like today. We're just having fun. I thought it would be nice if … well … you know, she could come, too."

"It seems to me that if she started coming around here, we'll likely forget that there are some things we might not what her to know," Harry said as neutrally as he could, because he didn't want to say no. It wasn't really his place to but he wasn't sure if he should have the say either. "Look this isn't really my decision … everyone should have a say in this matter."

"Well, I'm thinking if Neville is allowed to bring his girlfriend than we should be able to tell Lee about this place," George said. "I've felt bad about keeping it from all this time … but you know it's not really our secret to tell so we couldn't really say anything."

Neville nodded his head in agreement with that statement and Harry frowned.

"So the secret is mine?" Harry questioned the three and then looked at Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Luna. "Do you feel the same way about that?"

"No, I don't have anyone else I'm close to, well, besides Daddy, but he's not here," Luna said frankly and Ron and Hermione just shook their heads as Ginny grimaced.

"Gin?" Harry asked.

"No, I don't have anyone I want to tell," Ginny said, but she was thinking it was a little sad that she didn't have anyone her own age that she talked to enough that it was difficult not to tell them about this part of her life. It made sense of course that Ron and Hermione wouldn't have anyone to tell, Harry was their best friend and so the closest person to them. She on the other hand had separated herself in her first year from her fellow Gryffindors and now she spent most of her free time with Luna or here.

"Okay," Harry nodded and then turned back to Neville and the twins. "The secrets are mine, right?"

"Well, yeah mate, you're the one that's always having us doing illegal things," George said.

"Or telling us things that we probably aren't supposed to know and shouldn't spread around," Fred added. "Like about a certain werewolf that you live with."

"Right," Harry blushed, he wasn't supposed to tell anyone about being raise by Sirius and Remus but he had ended up telling a room full of people. Would he tell more people if he let Hannah, and now apparently Lee Jordan, in here?

"Never mind Harry, it's okay," Neville sighed, as he watched his friend think. He knew that this was Harry's sanctuary where he could be himself without having to worry about what he said.

"I can't just forget this," Harry frowned. "We can't really tell them everything … how far do you want to let them in on the secret?"

"Er … that's up to you," Neville said uncomfortable and Harry glared at him.

"No … it's not me! We're a group … I shouldn't get to dictate what I want," Harry grumbled.

"Okay, so as a group we'll let the newbies in on a trial basis," Ron said. "Why don't we just have them come to the Room of Requirement next Saturday and see what happens there. You don't have to plan everything out you know."

"I suppose," Harry smiled.

"After that, we'll have to make sure to tell everyone using the map if we are going to bring anyone that's not part of the founders of the noble group Infinite Light," Fred said pompously, much as Percy would have. "We can't have anyone stumbling onto any of our secrets."

"That's a good idea," Hermione agreed, taking Fred's suggestion seriously, though he might not have meant it that way. The discussion ended there as everyone went back to have fun in the pool or other things. Harry was now the one that was thoughtful, as he wondered what might happen next. Would they soon expand the people that will know about the Room of Requirement? For one thing he didn't think it would stop with just Hannah and Lee … he can easily see the Gryffindor Quidditch team being invited soon as Fred and George tell him that it would be so cool to celebrate their next victory here. Of course that wouldn't be until next year and there was a lot that Harry had to get through before he could worry about that.

"I'm sorry Harry," Neville sighed, "I shouldn't have said anything."

"Don't worry about it mate," Harry said. "I like Hannah and you should be able to bring her here."

"It's just that you like having your own place to think and not have to worry about others," Neville went on as if reading Harry's mind.

"It seems like I'll still be able to do that," Harry shrugged. "Besides, Hannah's always given me the benefit of a doubt even when others haven't so it's easier that it's her that you want to invite."

"Yeah, she is cool like that, isn't she," Neville said, his smile widening as he thought of his girlfriend.

"Harry," Hermione said, walking over to him and smiling apologetically that she was interrupting their conversation but neither one of them seemed to mind.

"What's up Hermione?"

"I was just thinking about the task," she said and Harry nodded his head.

"Well, now that we know you'll at least be able to breathe underwater," she said and then looked at Neville, "have you hear anything from your mum yet?"

"She sent be a letter saying she was going to Diagon Alley next week … that was about three days ago, and she will send me the gillyweed then," Neville said.

"Good," Hermione said smiling and then looked back to Harry. "I was thinking that it might be a good idea if we tried to figure out spells that might help you locate something that's missing … or maybe tell you where merpeople are."

"That's probably a good idea," Harry agreed. "I wish our maps show the lake … or more like under the surface of the water. That would be rather useful."

"Indeed," Hermione said thoughtfully and without another word turned to go to the book shelf that appeared not so far from her.

"What do you want to bet she's looking up if she could make a map of the lake?" Harry asked with a smile.

"Too easy," Neville said grinning too.