Disclaimer: I don't own anything that has anything even remotely to do with Harry Potter except a few books and a poster.

Chapter 8

The Room of Requirement

Mandy spent a few minutes in the Ravenclaw common room that night writing up notes for her fellow knights, so they would be ready to be sent the following morning. But where to meet? She had no idea where this room of requirement was. Only Neville and Professor Dumbledore did. Assuming that Neville would be able to lead them, she finished writing.

Outside the Great Hall after dinner. Neville will lead the way.

Draco read his note. It had a leaf with it that he assumed was Chamomile. They hadn't done very much with it in Herbology, because it was a Muggle plant. Wondering where the Room of Requirement was, not to mention what it was, he meandered to Transfiguration.

Hermione read her note silently and tucked the leaf into her pocket. She would have to read a bit, but she was almost certain that she could grow her own Chamomile plant from the leaf. Lots of plants had leaves that contained their seeds. She hoped that Chamomile was one of them. It would be useful if she had to send notes to her fellow knights.

Neville squirmed nervously during dinner. It took a few looks from Hermione to keep him from running out of the Great Hall. He was worried about leading the others to the Room of Requirement. What if he forgot where it was? What if it didn't show up this time? What if he got them lost on the way? What if . . .? He tried not to worry. He tried to concentrate on what he was doing. He could barely eat, which was very strange for Neville. He looked up. Dinner was over. He took a deep breath and left the Great Hall.

Crabbe and Goyle were still hungry after eating about fifty drum sticks and a few pies. They decided that they could leave the young Malfoy to his own devices for an hour or so while they stayed and ate.

The knights met outside the Great Hall, where they pretended not to notice each other. Mandy gestured to Neville to lead the way. The others followed him through a maze of hallways and corridors, over stairs that shifted at odd times, until they finally arrived in a hallway with no doors. "This is the spot," said Neville nervously. "But you have to think of what you want. The Room of Requirement only shows up when somebody really wants or needs something."

Draco nodded. "So we just think of a safe place where we can talk without anybody hearing."

"With secret passageways to our dormitories," added Mandy. "So we don't get caught wandering the school in the middle of the night." The others nodded and thought.

"We should probably walk past this spot a few times," said Neville. "So it has enough time to change." The others nodded and started walking. The first time past, there was nothing. The same for the second and third times, but the fourth time, they saw a door that almost blended into the wall.

"Perfect," said Mandy, smiling as she pushed on the door (There was no doorknob.). Unlike the door in Dumbledore's office, this one didn't talk. Inside the room was a large chalkboard that took up an entire wall, a table with several chairs, an enormous bookshelf with books on all sorts of useful things (including a book on the history of King Arthur and his knights), a padded area that looked like a martial arts practice area, four doors with pictures of each house's animal, and in a dark corner, a sheaved sword for each of them engraved with their names and a picture of a leaf.

"Whoa," said Neville as he picked up his sword. It was made to be just the right weight for someone who had never used a sword before. He tested it out, attempting to lunge at an invisible opponent.

Hermione was busy staring at the books. "Look at all this! There are books about everything! The Complete Unabridged Guide to Healing; Swordplay for the Young Witch or Wizard; Hexes for the Cursed; How to Become a Black Belt in Less Than a Year! This is perfect!"

Mandy looked around in awe. "There's space for everything we would need to do! Battle planning, learning to fight, probably healing, too!"

Draco had been examining the board. He tried to pick up a piece of chalk. It evaded him. Apparently this was one of those boards that you only needed to dictate to. The chalk began writing at the top of the board: The Knights of the Chamomile Leaf. "Whoa." Luckily the board was smart enough not to write what everyone was saying. That would be pointless. Draco tried to get everybody's attention. "Hey, are we going to start this meeting or not?" The others ignored him. "Hello?" The chalkboard made a sound like someone scratching it with fingernails. Everyone stared at Draco. "Are we going to start this meeting or not?"

Mandy was the first to recover from her previous awe. "Right. Everyone take a seat." Hermione and Neville hurried to sit down. Draco had sat down when Mandy began speaking. "Well, first off, do any of you have any ideas to solve anyone's problems?"

Draco raised his hand. "Well, Neville could study here, and we could help him with his school work. But eventually, you're going to end up in a fight with Terry Boot, Neville."

"I know," answered Neville.

"And we could all learn self defense from the books here," said Mandy.

"Along with healing," added Hermione. "But we would need a teacher to learn how to fight."

At that moment, Nearly Headless Nick walked through a wall into the room. "Sorry I'm late."

"W-what are you doing here?" asked Neville. He was rather afraid of ghosts.

"You mentioned a teacher?" The knights nodded. "Well, I was a knight. I can teach you swordplay, and this—" He pulled out a ghost that looked like a thief. "—Can teach you how to fight like a common criminal." He gave the thief a disgusted look.

"Will Smithies at your service," the thief said with a mocking bow. "I doubt ya know much 'bout fightin' then?"

"Hardly anything," answered Mandy sadly.

"Then, ya haven't learned any bad habits," replied the thief, still maintaining his good mood. "I hope none of ya are 'fraid of ghosts," he continued. "Cuz if ya are, yer out of luck. I ain't gettin' any more alive." Neville gulped. "I s'pose yer the one with bully trouble?" he asked Neville. Not waiting for an answer, he continued, "I can see why. Ya don' look very tough." Neville looked embarrassed. "An' I'm guessin' ya ain't." Looking at the others, he said, "The rest of ya could use a lesson er two 'bout fightin' as well. So when'm I gonna start teachin' ya?"

"Well, it's too late to start tonight," answered Draco. "So how about next week?" Looking at the others he said, "We can have meetings three times a week. First meeting of the week, Sir Nicholas can teach us how to use our swords." Nearly Headless Nick puffed up at being called Sir Nicholas. He was so used to the jokes about his head.

"Don' worry," muttered Will Smithies. "Ye'll always be Nearly Headless ta me." Nick glared at the thief.

"Second meeting of the week, Mr. Smithies can teach us how to fight."

"Oy! Call me Will. I ain't goin' fer any of that 'Mr. Smithies' hogwash," interjected the thief.

"Then, the third meeting, we can study. We can do our planning at the beginning of each meeting. Sound good?"

The others nodded. "Which days of the week are good for everybody?" asked Mandy. "We'll keep the time at 8 o'clock, so everybody has time to get here."

"I have special help sessions on Thursdays," said Neville.

"How about Mondays, Wednesdays, and Sundays?" replied Mandy. "That way, everybody has Friday and Saturday free to do whatever, and there's enough time to get all of our homework done."

"Sounds good to me," answered Hermione. "Now, we had better get going. Do all of you remember the way here?" The others nodded. "Then, we'll meet here starting next week every Monday, Wednesday, and Sunday. Send a note if you can't come."

The knights said their goodbyes to each other and the ghosts as they exited the Room of Requirement. It seemed as though everything would go well for their new group.