A/N: I do not own anything Harry Potter. Thank you all for the follows and the favorites! You guys rock! I really wanted to get this chapter done a bit early because I have a paper due on Tuesday that I still need to finish. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Happy reading! XO

Chapter 56

Annie walked back to Gryffindor tower from practice with Fred and George soaking wet and dripping all over the castle. Once they made it into the common room, Annie shook the water from her hair and went over to her backpack that she left sitting on a table. She pulled out her Muggle Studies book and threw it to George who just barely caught it by the spine.

"I've got a test tomorrow," she said, grabbing a box of Bertie Bott's and pouring a few out in her hand. "Can you test me on the vocabulary in chapter two?"

"Let me take a shower first, okay?" he said, handing the book back and kissing her on the forehead.

"Okay," Annie conceded. She walked back over to the fire where Hermione was busy knitting more elf hats. Annie sat down on one of the armchairs and stretched her feet so they rested on the coffee table.

"The house-elves have to clean that you know," Hermione commented, noticing Annie's muddy shoes on the table.

"Oh right, sorry. I forgot," Annie said. She took her feet down, yanked her shoes off, and set them back down. "Better?"

Hermione scrunched her nose and then looked over her friend and noticed her appearance for the first time. Annie's hair was soaked with rain and she was covered in dirt from head to foot.

"You should shower," Hermione answered at last. "You smell like a wet dog."

Annie lifted her arm and took a whiff of her armpit.

"I don't think I smell that bad," Annie said, putting her arm down and shrugging.

"Trust me. It would do me and everyone else in here a favor if you went and took a shower."

Annie sighed and stood up. She twisted her back a few times to stretch and walked over to the staircase that led to the girls' dormitories. She went up to the fifth-year dorm and stripped herself of her dirty clothes. Fifteen minutes later, she was wearing a fresh pair of sweatpants and an old t-shirt with a muggle band's name on it that had belonged to Sirius when he was still in school. She raced down the stairs and found Fred and George sitting in some armchairs talking to Lee Jordan. She tossed the book to George again, who caught it this time, and the box of Bertie Bott's to Fred.

"Chapter two you said?" George asked, opening the book to the page.

"Yup," she said, taking her stance in front of their chairs.

"Alright. What is the definition of a blender?" he asked, reading from the list.

"It's a kitchen appliance that you put food in and it mixes them together at, like, hyper speed," she responded hopefully.

"Correct!"

"Excellent! Fred, bean me!"

Fred reached into the box and pulled out a jelly bean. He tossed it up in the air and Annie dove to catch it in her mouth.

"Mmm. Peppermint," she said, chewing on the bean and swallowing. "Okay, what's next?"

Annie continued studying this way for the next hour with George reading off questions and Fred and Lee tossing the Bertie Bott's to her every time she got one correct. It became quite a spectacle when a small crowd of some of the younger kids formed around them.

"You're not going to stop them for disrupting the common room?" Harry asked jokingly when he came into the common room and took a seat next to her.

Hermione gave him a stern look as he and Ron laughed.

"Honestly, it's the only study technique that we've tried on her that works," she replied, craning her neck to watch Annie make a spectacular dive over the table. "I'm not interrupting this for anything."

"You're not worried she'll be bouncing off the walls all night?" Ron asked as he took out his Potions book to start on his homework.

"Not really," Hermione shrugged. "I switched out her Bertie Bott's for sugar-free ones."

"So the hype is all in her head?" Harry asked. Hermione nodded and went back to her knitting. "A galleon she'll be passed out on the floor in an hour."

"I'll take that bet," Ron said, extending his hand for Harry to shake.

They laughed and continued to watch Annie for a few more minutes until they had to start on their homework.

"Last one," George said as Annie stood up from the floor and returned to her spot. "What does a television do? I think I said that right."

"You did, babe," she said sweetly. "And a television provides entertainment to muggles. It shows pictures on a screen and the muggles move and talk. It's so weird. Do you remember when we went to see that movie over the summer, Georgie?"

"I do remember and that was correct. Fred?" he prompted.

Fred plucked a vomit-flavored bean from the box and tossed it up. Annie ran to her left and jumped on a chair and off again to catch it in her mouth. When she stood up straight, she was met with tremendous applause. Annie took a bow and went over to retrieve her book from George.

"Thank you," she said, picking the book off his lap and replacing it with herself. Annie grabbed his face and placed a big wet kiss on his cheek. "I'm so gonna ace that test!"

"Hey, what about us?" Fred said, indicating himself and Lee. "Don't we get kisses?"

"Oh, go snog your girlfriends," Annie retorted, turning back to George.

Fred and Lee laughed and got up to join Katie and Angelina who were huddled together over their homework. George hugged Annie around the waist and pulled her in for a kiss. The two stayed locked at the lips as the common room slowly started to empty. When they finally broke apart, they were the only ones left save for a dozing Harry by the fire.

"You should probably wake him and go to bed," George whispered, as he looked around Annie at Harry, who was nodding off in the armchair.

Annie gave George one final kiss before climbing off his lap and taking his hands to help him stand. George leaned in and kissed Annie on the cheek before heading up the staircase to the boys' dormitories. Annie walked over to Harry, picked up his book, and dropped it right on his lap. Harry woke up suddenly and looked around the common room for the source of his rude awakening. Annie stood in front of him, grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

"You are a terrible person," he groaned, leaning forward and picking up his book that fell to the floor. "You couldn't have just shaken me awake?"

"Nope," Annie said, popping the last syllable. "Anyway, it's like really late. You should go up to bed."

Harry looked down at his watch and noticed it was going on one in the morning.

"What were you doing up so late then?" he asked.

"Making out with George," she answered, shrugging. "What were you doing?"

"Trying to finish that essay," he said, standing up and starting to shove his work into his backpack.

"You can take a look at mine in the morning if you want. I finished mine yesterday," Annie offered, picking up one of Harry's books and handing it to him.

"Thanks that would be a real help."

"Yeah, no problem. Hey, what happened tonight in the locker room?"

Harry scratched the back of his neck.

"Uh, my scar hurt again," he answered, sheepishly. "It kind of felt like Voldemort was angry at something. Like something isn't happening fast enough."

"Whoa," Annie said, her mouth slightly agape. "You gonna tell anyone? Like Uncle James and Aunt Lily? Or you could tell my dad or Remus if you really want. Supposing you're still on about not going to Dumbledore that is."

"Nah, I'm not gonna go to them about this. They've got enough to worry about," Harry shrugged. "And I'm certainly not going to Dumbledore after the way he just avoids me."

"Dumbledore's a strange man."

"You're telling - Dobby!"

Annie turned around and saw the little house-elf standing behind her with Hedwig perched on top of his many hats. Annie recognized a few that Hermione had knit a few days ago. Hedwig flew off of Dobby and landed on Harry's shoulder and gave a playful nip on his ear.

"Hi-ya, Dobby!" Annie greeted. "What brings you here?"

"Dobby was returning Harry Potter's owl, Ms. Annie. Professor Grubbly-Plank says she is all better and Dobby volunteered to bring her back," he said, proudly puffing out his chest.

"Thanks, Dobby," Harry said.

"Anything for Harry Potter," Dobby squeaked. "If Dobby can do anything else, Dobby would be most pleased to do it."

"Nah, that's okay, Dobby. I think we're – hang on," Harry stopped in the middle of his sentence as a thought popped into his head. "You don't know of anywhere in this castle that a group of people could meet secretly do you?"

Annie furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and looked from Harry to Dobby who was doing a little jig, his tower of hats threatening to fall over.

"Dobby does, sir! Dobby knows a place called the Room of Requirement!" Dobby looked up hopefully at Harry as he passed along his information.

"The Room of Requirement?" Harry questioned, his brow now furrowing in confusion. "I've never heard of it."

"Wait, Dobby," Annie said as Dobby turned his attention to her. "Is that the room across from that painting of Barnabas the Barmy?"

"'Tis the one, Ms. Annie," Dobby said, grinning from ear to ear.

"You know this place?" Harry asked, completely stunned by Annie's description.

"Yeah, I do. Don't know why I didn't think of it before," she said, running a hand through her hair. "I've hidden there a couple times when I wanted to be alone back in Third Year."

"So that's where you always ran off to. Just always thought you were hanging out with Remus when you weren't here," Harry realized. "So how do you get into this place anyway?"

"Dobby can take you there if you wish," Dobby answered, dancing on his tiptoes.

Annie looked to Harry, ready for an adventure. Harry was about to get up and get his invisibility cloak but decided against it.

"We really shouldn't," he said, hoisting his backpack over his shoulder as Dobby stopped his little jig. "It's already really late and we've got class in the morning."

"Oh, come on," Annie begged. "When has that ever stopped us before?"

Harry thought for a moment while Annie bounced from one foot to the other impatiently.

"Alright, alright, we'll go," he conceded. "I'll go upstairs and get the cloak. I'm sorry, Dobby, but I don't think it would be a good idea for you to just be wandering around the castle seemingly by yourself. If Filch finds you, he might get suspicious and go to Umbridge or something."

"Dobby understands, Harry Potter," he said, bowing so low that his nose touched the floor. "Dobby is just pleased he could help."

"Thanks, Dobby," Harry said as Dobby turned to leave. "Right, I'll go get the cloak and I guess you'll wait here."

"I'll just meet you down here," Annie said, following him to the staircases. "I've got to get some socks. The floors are cold at night."

Annie rushed up the stairs to her dorm and opened the door slowly. She padded across the room to her trunk and knelt beside it. She fished around for a pair of socks and pulled them out. She looked back down into the trunk and saw the Marauder's Map sitting under a pile of t-shirts. Annie grabbed it and snuck out of the room as quietly as she could. When she returned to the common room, Harry was waiting for her at the portrait hole.

"Just in case," she said, brandishing the Map.

Harry pushed the portrait open and let Annie through ahead of him. Once they were both out, he threw the cloak over them as Annie uttered the lines to access the Map.

"I hope you don't expect me to be waiting up for you two," the Fat Lady chastised from her portrait.

"Half-hour tops," Annie said, from under the cloak. "You know I'm your favorite."

The Fat Lady harrumphed and turned back to her late night chat with her friend.

Annie and Harry scanned the Map for Filch, Umbridge, and Snape before deeming it safe to walk to their destination. Annie led them down the corridor to the stretch of wall across from the portrait Annie had described earlier.

"So this is it," she said, shrugging and looking sideways at Harry.

"There's no door or any entrance," he said, looking confused.

"That's because you have to ask for it."

"What do you mean?"

"You've got to walk back and forth in front of this wall three times, concentrating really hard on what you want this room to become," Annie said proudly. "You can set up a whole mess of protections like anti-Filch ones or anti-Umbridge ones or ones that exclude all people that aren't members."

Harry was impressed. Annie really knew how to work this room.

"So, should we start?" he suggested.

"Sure."

The two of them walked back and forth, each concentrating on turning the room into a secret place for the members of their organization to practice Defense Against the Dark Arts. After their third time around, a door appeared in the wall and Harry looked to Annie with surprise. Annie grinned and led them to the door. When they stepped inside, a large spacious room greeted them with mannequins and bookshelves lining the walls. Harry pulled the cloak off of them and started to walk around.

"This is really insane," he said, taking one of the books off the shelf and leafing through it. "How did you even find this place?"

Annie sat down on one of the squashy armchairs in the corner of the room and pulled her feet up to sit Indian style.

"Don't know really. I was just really upset one day and I went for a walk around the castle and the door just appeared. Fred and George reckon they've hidden from Filch here and it became a broom closet for them," Annie answered, watching Harry walk around the room.

"What did it become for you?"

"Just a room," Annie answered, getting up to inspect the mannequins. "It was a lot smaller than this though. It always had a bed or a couch I could lay on and sometimes a desk I could sit at and do work. Other times there were quidditch magazines or Transfiguration Today or comic books and I would sit here and read them until I calmed down enough."

"Huh," Harry answered, taking in what Annie had just told him. "And you came here because of Sirius?"

Annie nodded. The two were silent for a few moments as Annie walked around the room, looking at all of the Dark Detectors and the rest of the books. Harry went over and picked up the discarded cloak and waited for her to be done. When she came back over, he threw the cloak over them once more and went back to Gryffindor Tower where the Fat Lady was still waiting up for them just as Annie had predicted.