He'd not managed to come up with a single way to get Harry out of detention with only three days warning. He'd come up with plenty of temporary options but nothing that wouldn't just delay it, so instead he'd just left the issue and tried to focus on his homework. An essay on the properties of moonstone was nothing particularly difficult, but he couldn't think straight with the noise coming from the corner and Harry kept tapping his quill against the bottom of his ink pot. Hermione had already finished and had started on their runes and he found her ability to block out the noise infuriating; almost as infuriating as the Weasley twins distributing 'vomiting bonbons' or whatever they were called.
He wondered if being one of Dumbledore's posse would let him get away with cursing them.
Hermione's eyes snapped up to glare at the group in the corner before returning to her homework. Gellert inwardly smiled; at least she was having as much difficulty as he was.
Finally she stood with a huff, sending parchment fluttering dangerously close to the fire. He summoned it to safety with a flick of his hand, catching sight of a completed care of magical creatures homework among the pieces with a bitter feeling. He hated nifflers.
The witch squared her shoulders and puffed out her chest so the prefect badge glinted, then she stormed across the room to where the Weasleys stood with clipboards surrounded by unconscious first years. He stood wearily, judging that this was meant to be a prefect situation and followed her.
'That's enough.' Hermione said forcefully and the two sixth years looked up in surprise. Gellert stepped up behind her to act as backup.
'Yeah, you're right.' The twin on the left said, humour glinting in his eyes. 'The dosage seems strong enough doesn't it, eh Fred?'
'I told you this morning, you can't test your inventions on students.'
'We're paying them!' Fred argued indignantly.
'They're minors, so it's actually illegal, not to mention against school rules.' Gellert actually doubted that it had ever occurred to anyone to expressly forbid testing of inventions on minors, although there might be something about performing magic on other students.
'What are you going to do about it?' Their dreadlocked friend asked in a smug voice.
'Make us write lines?' The first twin sneered. Onlookers around the room were laughing, but Hermione drew herself up to her full height.
'No, I'll write to your mother.' For a moment there was dead silence as the colour drained from both Weasley's faces.
'You wouldn't.'
'Oh yes I would.' Hermione said grimly, 'I don't care what you do to yourselves, just don't give it to first years.'
She spun and flounced back to the fireplace, leaving Gellert facing the two thunderstruck twins. He discretely flicked his wand into his hand and the duo paled even more. They had been at the order base for long enough to know who he truly was. He waved it, wordlessly summoning the small bag of products and inspecting them through the plastic film. They were ugly at best but he supposed the aesthetics could be developed later, the magic meanwhile was rather simplistic but he'd seen other examples of their inventiveness that was far more promising.
'If you need any assistance, feel free to come to me.' He tossed the bag back to them. 'but if I see you testing products on juniors again, your mother will be the least of your worries.' He fixed them with a glare that had made older, stronger wizards quail before following Hermione back to their seats.
He managed to stare at his blank parchment for a couple of moments longer, listening to the occasional double tap of Harry's quill. After his gaze shifted for the fifth time to the stiflingly hot fireplace, he finally gave up, sweeping his books into his bag.
'I'm going out.' He said shortly at their questioning glares, sweeping out the portrait and into the blissfully cool hall.
It was dark, the portraits snoring in their frames. It was well past curfew so he cast a disillusionment charm over himself and hurried back to his most recent project – the mystery room.
The wall was as blank as ever, just as it had been the last two times he'd given up studying to visit it. He conjured himself a chair with his back to the tapestry, then sat and pondered the wall. He'd tried repeating every word that had been spoken in the corridor, he'd revisited at exactly the same time of day (although it could also be sensitive to day of the week, or month.) He'd tried grasping his wand in the same way, tapping his feet as if he was coming up the stairs, he'd carried the same objects in his bag but nothing had been successful.
He stood abruptly and stalked over to the secret passage, then back to the stairs. When he drew level with the brazier, he turned and went back the way he'd come. At the other brazier he turned again and walked back towards the main staircase.
The door appeared with a grating sound and he eagerly spun towards it. So the trick was to walk past it three times.
He hefted his bag of books and yanked open the door, excited to have some peace finally, only to discover that the room was no longer a study room. It was so dark that even his spell barely lit the towering piles of objects around him. He slipped through the doorway and lit his wand in a more conventional lumos, peering at the mounds with blatant curiosity.
It seemed to be mostly junk, but occasionally his eyes land upon what could only be a treasure. His wandlight drifted over a nest of mismatched chairs, skulls peering from the nooks and what looked like an old set of lacy dress robes draped over a battered tabletop. He used a finger to brush the title of an ancient looking tome clean – Manipulation of Memories looked interesting so he carefully manoeuvred it out of the pile, then jumped as Enchanting Bodies appeared next to his foot. He picked it up, surprised to see that it was actually non-fiction and tucked that into his bag too, assuming that it was a recommendation from this strange room.
He found a broomstick next; dusty with peeling varnish but a quick check revealed that the enchantments were all still intact so he climbed aboard and gently took off, hovering up to the ceiling to get a better view of how far the room stretched. He conjured a ball of light, sending it shooting into the shadows. It faded from view before it hit a wall, which meant there must be some form of extension charm on the room, and he landed quickly.
He poked around for a little longer, borrowing a few more books and a nice crystal ball – his own had gone missing and he hadn't gotten around to buying a new one. Besides, it had a very nice set of Naava figurines supporting the globe above the base.
Finally, fearing that he would lose the door among the shifting piles, he left with his booty and returned to Gryffindor tower. He had made progress on the room, and tomorrow night he would try and work out how the room had changed.