Chapter 13: Room of Requirement

Janieve's jaw dropped as she surveyed the room. It was dimly lit with four burning torches at each corner of the room. Sitting in the middle of the room was an oak square table with dining ware carefully laid out on top. A burning candle stood brightly on the centre of the table. Two matching oak chairs, with red cushioning, were placed adjacent to the table. Rose petals were scattered across the parquet floor and the room smell of perfume. It was like a scene out of a romantic movie.

"This is beautiful!" Janieve said breathlessly.

"Well, yeah, this is better than I had hoped for," said Harry sheepishly.

Janieve tilted her head sideways so she was looking at Harry. "Didn't you decorate this?"

Harry laughed lightly. "No, this is the room of requirement. It gives you a place to fulfil your purpose as long as you think hard of your purpose before you enter."

"I see… Well, what are we waiting for? I'm famished!" she declared.

Harry followed as Janieve skipped up to their seats.

When they were both seated, they stared at the empty space on the table in front of them. Harry looked at Janieve awkwardly. "This should work," he said. "I would like a…"

A plate of sirloin steak appeared before Harry. Soon, food began appearing on their table as they each thought up of all the delicacies they would like to have. Two hours later, they were polishing up their dessert in contentment.

"Mmm hmm…" Janieve said.

"Mmm hmm is the word," Harry said and they both laughed.

"Look Janny, I want to apologise for what happened yesterday," Harry began. "I should have told you how I felt first before throwing that question at you."

Janieve looked down at her hands, which were clasped and placed atop the table.

"But that does not mean I did not mean what I ask," he continued, "I just… I didn't know how to explain what I really feel for you. I…"

Janieve placed a finger on his lips and said, "It's okay."

"No, it's not," he said firmly but she placed a hand on top of his and cut him out.

"Yes, it is. And I don't need you to say it. I just needed to know you feel it. And I already know you do."

Their eyes locked for a moment before Harry broke the spell. "What shall we do now?" he wondered aloud.

"I'm feeling kind of sleepy after all the stuffing –" she trailed off when a gigantic couch appeared in the corner of the room. "This room is amazing!" she exclaimed excitedly.

Harry chuckled as they threw themselves on top of the soft, fluffy couch which enveloped them upon contact.

"Indeed it is," he replied. Then, he started telling her all about the story of Umbridge, their last DATDA teacher and her evil doings and how they came up with their own DATDA class in the room of requirement without Umbridge's knowledge, and how Harry was appointed the leader of the group. He told her how it had been one of the happiest moments in his life and Janieve commented on how easy it was to please Harry.

They moved on to talk about Janieve's life when she was a muggle, the things that made her happy and the things she used to do. Janieve was disgusted when Harry told her about how the Dursley had treated him the past fifteen years.

"Harry, how did your parents die?" Janieve asked. Harry blinked at her. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked that," she said.

"It's okay," Harry said, "Voldermort killed them while he was trying to kill me."

To Harry's surprise, Janieve merely nodded. "I guessed as much," she said. Then, upon seeing Harry's puzzled face, she added, "Remember what you told me the night after my parents were killed? I sort of figured it out from there."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, our life story is so alike it frightened me at that time."

"Were you rescued by the Order too?" she asked.

"No. No one knows how but the spell that Voldermort wanted to kill me with kind of rebounded back on him. The only harm he managed to inflict on me was this scar on my forehead.

Janieve reached up and traced his scar tenderly. She snuggled up closer to him and he could smell her intoxicating shampoo. They laid there quietly, both lost in their thoughts.

Finally, at a little past midnight, Harry heard Janieve's first soft snoring as her head lolled sideways and fell onto Harry's lap. Harry positioned himself gently so that he was more comfortable before he too, fell into a deep peaceful sleep.

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"Look what we've got here?" came a drawling voice. "A mudblood, a scarhead, a weaselby, and… Merlin's, another mudblood!"

Harry, Ron, Janieve and Hermione spun around and came face to face with Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle.

"Malfoy," Harry spat.

"Scarhead, your scar throbbing again?" sneered Malfoy. "Ouch, they're pricking me again. Everyone please look at me! Please give me all the attention or the scar will never stop pricking!"

Janieve felt a hatred she had never felt before towards this Draco Malfoy. She pulled her wand out of her robe but Malfoy was quicker than her. In a blink of an eye, she was flung three feet down the corridor.

"Jan!" Harry, Hermione and Ron ran towards her as she tried to pick herself up. The tail of her spine hurt from the impact of the fall. Harry took out his wand and made to charge towards Malfoy but Hermione held him back.

"No Harry! He's not worth it!" she shouted.

"Now tell me Potter, why aren't you revenging your little girlfriend?" Malfoy smirked. "Are you afraid of me, now that my father is out of Azkaban?" He, Crabbe and Goyle cackled loudly.

It was the most awful laughter Janieve had ever heard. It sounded almost forceful. Thankfully their laughter did not last as Hermione, Ron and Harry started jinxing them with a spell each.

Draco Malfoy was flung a good ten feet away and hit the end of the wall. Crabbe fell to the ground with his legs split opened. Goyle was dancing around in circles, on tiptoes.

The four of them hi-five each other and as they walked away, Janieve called back over her shoulder, "This should teach you not to mess with a mudblood, scarhead, weaselby and, oh, another mudblood." This ignited more laughter from Ron, Hermione and Harry.

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"I wished Malfoy would provoke us everyday," Janieve said to them over dinner that night. "It would be good fun."

"Doesn't your butt hurt?" Harry asked.

"It was worth it," Janieve said with a grin. "Anyway, what are you guys doing tonight? Since Quidditch practise has been called off." She asked.

Ron, Hermione and Harry suddenly looked uneasy. They shot each other furtive looks but none of them answered her. Janieve caught on immediately.

"You guys are going somewhere that you can't tell me, much less include me?" Janieve guessed.

"Janny…" Harry began but one look at their faces and she knew she was right.

"It's okay," she said, and forced a smile to her face. "I think I need to work on my Dark Arts essay anyway." Professor Snape had made her write a five feet long essay when every one else is writing a two feet long one all because she had groaned aloud when Snape announced the homework.

Janieve was walking alone back to the Gryffindor common room after dinner. Her head was down as she wondered what the trio could be up to. She had bit back a longing to call after them, to beg them to take her along as she watched their retreating figures after they bid her goodbye.

Janieve had too much pride in her. She knew when she was not wanted. But she couldn't help feeling a little disappointed, and perhaps a little hurt too. She had thought they had accepted her friendship but apparently she had been wrong.

"They had been friends for five years. What do you expect? You only knew them less than four months including those at Grimmauld Place," she chided herself softly.

But she thought she had grown closer to Harry more than anyone else over this period of time. Harry, she thought suddenly, he is my boyfriend now isn't he? So what does it that he had not want her to be there?

Janieve shook her head as she turned yet another corner. Harry and she had spent nearly every night in the room of requirement chatting until they fell asleep. Although he had told her a great deal about his past, she still felt that there was so much more to Harry that she did not know of. And that was one of the factors that drew Janieve to him. She could tell he had been through a lot more than most people his age yet he had not wallowed in self-pity or scorned the world. On the other hand, he had embraced all that had been thrown his way and remained strong.

Janieve looked up and found herself in an unfamiliar stairway. Great, now I've lost my way. She turned around and found herself in a small circular room of foreign object, panic rising from the pit of her stomach. She realised that she had never walked around Hogwarts without any of her friends. There were two exits – two long stretch of corridors laid in front of her, one on the left and the other on the right. Which way did I come from? She racked her brain and finally she chose the one on the right.