Chapter twenty-six: Harry Potter

On a grey Thursday morning while Alicia was grading essays in her office, there was a knock at the door. She looked up while saying: 'Come in.'

'Hey professor,' said the student with the messy black hair and round spectacles as he poked his head through the door opening. 'Are you busy?'

Alicia leaned back in her chair and gestured towards another one standing in front of her desk. 'I always have time for you Harry. Please, sit.'

The fifth-year Gryffindor closed the door behind him and crossed her office. He had been in here before on a couple of occasions where she helped him talk to Sirius freely. Harry petted Charles as he walked past the dog who was sleeping in his corner.

Harry sat down and looked at his professor. She noticed that he looked tired.

'What can I help you with, Harry?' Alicia asked.

He fidgeted with his sleeve as he responded. 'Well, I really enjoyed your presence at the last DA meeting. You taught us a lot. But it was a bit…awkward for me.'

Alicia chuckled. 'I made you feel awkward? Because of my marriage?'

'No! No, I don't care about that. I mean because I realised there are so many spells I don't know yet that could be very useful. I thought that maybe we could have a private duelling session, so that I can pass on that knowledge to the rest? I mean, also after you are gone…'

Harry's voice drifted off towards the end. He hardly looked at her as he spoke.

Alicia nodded slowly. 'That makes sense. I can teach one person a lot faster than a whole group. Good thinking, Harry.'

Now he did look at her. He attempted a smile, but it was clear that something was bothering him. He looked angry again. But this was no time to push him.

'Maybe, we could do it now? I have a free period,' Harry said quickly.

'Sure. I can do this later. Do you want to go to the Room of Requirement?'

Harry nodded. Both of them got out of their seats. Harry pulled out the Marauders map to make sure no one would see them walking together. He found them a shortcut and they set off.

As they were walking, Harry kept his eyes on the map and his surroundings. Alicia walked behind him. She studied the boy and tried to dissect what his problem was, but she quickly realised it could be one of hundreds. What wasn't bothering him? He had told her before that he felt angry all the time. Just pick a reason for today, she supposed.

'Alright. We are here,' Harry stated as he stowed the map in his pocket.

The two of them stared at the wall until a door appeared. It was a bit smaller than Alicia remembered it to be, but she hadn't paid a lot of attention to it last time. She could be wrong.

When they stepped through the doors however, it was clear that she had been right. The door had been different, because the room was different.

'What the…' Harry said as he whirled around. But he wasn't fast enough. Before they had realised the room was entirely different, the door behind them had disappeared.

'No! What is this?' Harry shouted.

Alicia looked around. It looked like a dungeon. They were in a tall, round room with three big doors. The room was lit by torches. There were no windows. The wall behind them was completely solid. It looked like their way out was gone. There was only forward, through one of the three other doors.

'As far as I understand it,' Alicia spoke as she walked further into the room, 'this room changes to whatever you need. Do you desperately need a dark dungeon, Harry?'

Harry groaned. 'Of course not! I think this is you. For me, the door always goes to the DA practice room.'

'Well I can't figure it out either. But I see three doors. Let's try one,' she replied.

They walked towards the left door. They couldn't open it.

'Alohomora!' Harry tried.

Still the door remained closed.

'Let's try the others.'

They tried, but none of the doors seemed willing to open. Not with the unlocking spell, not while trying to blow it up.

Harry banged his fists on the door. 'Why won't you open! We don't have time for this!'

'Calm down Harry,' Alicia said calmly. 'I'm sure something will happen soon. This room is designed with a purpose. Let's figure out what it is.'

Harry glared at her. 'Alright then. What is it you want?'

'Beg your pardon?' Alicia asked, confused.

'I still think you created this room. So tell me, what do you want? To lock me up? To annoy me? To waste my time? Tell me, Professor. What do you want from me?' Harry fumed. He turned quite red in the face. His hands were clenched in fists at his side.

Alicia was about to reply when the room rumbled. She turned around to see that the door on the right was opening.

'Get back!' Alicia shouted as she pushed her student behind her.

The door lifted like those doors in gladiator arena's did. Ominous fog was spreading out from the dark space behind the door. The room was giving them a movie cliché.

'ROOOOOAAAARRR.'

'That's not good,' Alicia stated.

Out of the shadows loomed a big figure. It was much taller than a human, and much greener. It had an ugly head and was covered in warts.

'Troll,' Harry said what they were both thinking.

It was indeed a big, ugly troll. In his hand he was holding a wooden club.

'Didn't you take one down in your first year, Harry?' Alicia said over her shoulder.

'That was a lot of luck.'

'ROAAAAAAARRR!'

The troll advanced at once. He sprinted forward on his big lumpy legs and swung the club high so he could strike it down and smash them like bugs. They jumped out of the way just in time, but they fell over by the impact the weapon had on the floor.

Harry started crawling forward while Alicia turned around. She stared up as the troll was grabbing her.

'No!' Alicia screamed. The troll had ceased her and was now crushing her between his fingers.

'Let's try this again. Wingardium leviosa!' Harry shouted from somewhere below her. The club was gone from the troll his hand and was suspended mid-air.

'Great Harry,' Alicia wheezed. 'But it isn't really fixing the imminent problem of me getting crushed!'

Then Harry moved his wand and the club his the troll in the head. It wasn't enough to take him down but he did open his hand. Alicia slipped out and fell down.

'Arresto Momentum!' Harry cried right before Alicia could hit the stone floor. She slowed down and hit the floor gently.

'Thanks. Now let us sing him a lullaby. Ready?'

'Stupify!' they both shouted.

Two stunning spells hitting his face at once was enough to make him topple over to the floor. The witch and wizard jumped out of the way.

It was quiet after that. The troll wasn't moving. All Alicia could hear was her own heartbeat and their erratic breathing.

'I think we should-,'

The door rattled and clashed closed again. The moment the door hit the floor, the troll disappeared into a puff of dust.

'What the bloody hell is going on?' Harry breathed. He was sitting on the floor and pushing his glasses straight.

'Good question. Maybe it has something to do with your past?' Alicia considered, checking the door that had slammed closed again.

'Or it's about you. A troll is a magical creature, isn't it?' Harry sneered.

Alicia whirled around. 'Why are you so angry with me?'

Harry got up and dusted his robe off. 'Oh I don't know. Enough reasons.'

She threw her hands up. 'Okay, name one.'

'How about you leaving us!' He suddenly shouted. 'How about you running away from this school and Umbridge? Do you think you are the only one that is having a hard time? Do you think you aren't a COWARD for running away? I wish I could! But the DA is counting on me to be their leader. If I didn't have that, I would have begged Sirius to keep me in Grimmauld Place!'

He was breathing hard, his chest heaved quickly. Alicia could only stare at him.

'You walk in on a meeting, pretending to be some kind of bad-ass. You fear people disrespect you because you married a werewolf twice your age. No Alicia, we disrespect you because you are abandoning us.'

'H-Harry…'

Their voices were drowned by the sound of another door opening. It was the one on the left this time. Harry lazily walked over to Alicia's side. They stood ready to attack whatever would come out.

This time it was a gigantic snake. It sort of resembled a basilisk, but Alicia had already made the mistake of looking in its eyes and she was still alive.

'It's not a real basilisk,' Alicia told her companion.

Harry made a loud noise of dissatisfaction. 'Oh come on! What is a snake going to teach me about duelling? What does this stupid room want?!'

They rolled away from each other as the snake tried to bite them. Both did stunning spells but it didn't penetrate the scaly hide of the snake.

'Well a big part of fighting is to be creative. I don't think I have to tell you that Harry! You have more experience than me!' Alicia yelled as they kept moving around.

'Creative how? We don't have a weapon!' he yelled as he jumped away from the snake his deadly fangs.

'Oh Harry stop thinking like a muggle. Everything is a weapon when you have magic!'

The snake turned around to Alicia, who fired a couple of Confundus charms at its head. It didn't do anything, but at least it was distracted.

Harry picked up a piece of straw from the ground. With a transfiguration charm he turned it into a big sword.

'Go! Kill it!' Alicia shouted as she was cornered.

Harry ran up to them and cut the sword right through the neck of the beast. When he sliced through it the snake exploded into dust like the troll had done.

They both fell to the floor, exhausted and covered in dust.

'See,' Alicia panted. 'You don't need me.'

Harry looked away. They were both leaning with their backs against the wall as the second door shut. Their eyes were on the third door.

Harry sniffed. 'Just because I can do it alone doesn't mean I want to.'

Alicia looked around to see that he had tears in his eyes. He looked up at her with a desperate expression. Right then and there she realised how much he had come to mean to her. How badly she wanted the pain to stop. How badly she wanted to tell him 'It's okay Harry. You can rest now. We'll take it from here.'

But that was not going to happen. Not as long as Voldemort was alive.

She drew an arm around him and pulled his face in her shoulder. Harry cried silently. 'Alicia…can I say something…kind of weird?'

'Go ahead,' she assured him quietly. Her hand was stroking his arm and her head rested against his.

'You…sort of remind me of my mother.'

Her hand stopped stroking him abruptly. Harry raised his head so they could look at each other again.

'I know it's weird. I never really knew my mother. I have some faint memory, more like a feeling of warmth. And I feel that same warmth with you, when I talk to you. You make me feel safe,' he confessed.

Alicia let out a big gulp of air. 'I…I had no idea Harry.'

'I asked Sirius about her. He told me that my mother was kind and very intelligent. That she didn't always shy away from a joke and that she was fierce and that people respected her. That also sounds a lot like you,' he continued. Harry was no longer crying. He gave her a look full of love, and it melted her heart.

'I am flattered by that,' she told him earnestly, 'But it is important to me that you know the difference. Otherwise you might be really disappointed in me.'

He chuckled softly. 'Yeah. I guess that is why I felt so betrayed when you said you were leaving. I understand why you want to go. I remember that day in class when Umbridge put you on the spot and asked you what you thought of werewolves. I remember how sick you looked.'

Alicia nodded. 'I…guess I can stay a little longer. But all of this here…it's driving me insane. I can't even wear my wedding ring.'

Harry sighed deeply. 'I can't understand that, but I see how much it pains you. I'm sorry for shouting at you earlier. I didn't mean it.'

'You were right to shout at me. I kept forgetting what I stayed here for. And now you helped me to remember,' Alicia told him. She pushed herself up from the wall and offered a hand to the boy next to her.

'I have an idea,' she said with a grin. 'How about we take this third beast down together?'

Harry smiled. 'I guess the room really knew what we needed, huh?'

The door groaned. This time, it was no enormous monster. It was an ugly, oversized toad. It rabbited into the room, flicking its tongue out.

'Do you know who that toad reminds me of?' Alicia said with a grin.

Harry laughed. In unison they said: 'Umbridge!'

'This one is going to give me so much satisfaction,' Alicia said as she twirled her wand around in her hand.

The toad sprung forward and darted his tongue out. Alicia was hit on her leg before she could move away. Her leg was paralyzed.

'Harry, what fun pranking spells do you remember?' Alicia said calmly as she was for the moment rooted to her spot.

Harry smiled. 'Anteoculatia!'

Now the toad had antlers. Alicia clutched her stomach as she doubled over with laughter.

'How ridiculous! And still prettier than Umbridge! Melofors!' Alicia laughed. The spell caused a large pumpkin to grow around the toad's head. It shook it's head around in confusion, which only made it funnier.

Harry laughed heartedly. 'I must remember that one. Alright, Tarantallegra!'

Now the toad was dancing around uncontrollably. His floppy legs got tangled up in each other and then it was on the floor.

'Alright I think we can finish this now,' Alicia said in between giggles. 'Shall we levitate and drop it?'

'Sure. On three. Wingardium leviosa!'

The toad soared up, turned over a couple of times while his head was still stuck in a pumpkin and his feet were still spasming around, and then crashed back to the floor where it exploded into dust.

Harry walked over to Alicia, his giggles dying down slowly. 'Are you still stuck?'

She performed a quick spell and could move again. 'I'm fine. You?'

Harry nodded. The third door crashed close too, and now the exit door had reappeared behind them.

'I guess our adventure is over,' Harry said as they exited the room.

The door to the Room of Requirement vanished again. In the hall they found a stone bench and sat down together. Both witch and wizard were covered in white dust.

'We both learned something from that, I guess,' Alicia stated. 'Harry, I'm sorry for letting you down. I have been trying to protect you and help you. And I want to still do that, if I can.'

Harry scratched behind his ear. 'It's okay. I'm sorry for yelling. And sorry for…well I know you aren't my mother. I just meant you resemble her, I guess.'

Alicia nodded and hugged him. 'You don't have to apologize for that.'

After the hug he stood up. 'I'm not sure I can use any of what we learned today in the DA, but I have learned a lot. Will you be there tomorrow?'

'You can count on it,' she assured him.

'Cool. I'll see you then professor,' he said as he waved her goodbye.

Alicia took a deep breath as she watched him go. She had already made her decision. She knew she wasn't going to stay here much longer. And it hurt her to have to leave Harry behind in a toxic environment, but there was no other choice.

One day, he would have to face it all alone.