Neville

I covered my ears.

The Room on Requirement was full to the brim with Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs. Nearly everyone from the DA was here, plus a lot of people who hadn't been, either because they weren't coming here two years ago, or just hadn't been in the DA. Lavender sure could spread word fast.

Anyway, since there were so many people crammed into such a small space, the noise was unbelievable. The Creevey brothers were yelling at each other at the top of their lungs, which didn't help. I ignored them.

Suddenly, there was a faint pop. Instantly, the room started expanding. Bricks were growing right in front of my eyes. Then, with a shudder, the walls came to a rumbling halt. It seemed the Room of Requirement was making room for its new inhabitants.

I looked around. Almost everyone had crouched down in fear, arms over their heads for protection. One by one, they looked up and continued what they were doing. I started to pace around the room, taking in the changes.

The room had almost tripled in size, so everyone now had room to breathe. Girls' and boys' bathrooms had been added, as well as more banners on the walls. There were scarlet and gold Gryffindor ones, each one emblazoned with a majestic, roaring lion. There were Hufflepuff ones, black and yellow with a sinuous black and white badger on every one. And the Ravenclaw ones were navy and bronze, with proud-looking eagles that seemed to look right at you. I noticed that there were no Slytherin ones. I knew this was probably because none were in the room, but I couldn't help wondering: were all the Slytherins against us, or were there some who longed to join us, but had too much peer pressure put on them to show it?

I weaved among all the students, looking at each face. I noticed Seamus and Lavender in the corner, entwined in each other's arms, kissing passionately. I turned away hastily and moved on.

I approached the one portrait in the room: The one of the girl in the fancy dress smiling happily at me. I still thought she seemed familiar, but I was pretty sure she wasn't a student here. I stood in front of her portrait. She smiled at me in a friendly way and beckoned to me. She turned and walked away from me. Instead of walking sideways out of her portrait, she seemed to walk farther into it. Her slight figure got smaller and smaller. She stopped, turned, and beckoned to me again. It seemed like she wanted me to follow her. How was that possible? I put my hand out tentatively, expecting to touch rough canvas. But it didn't. I found that my hand was actually inside the portrait. I carefully hoisted myself up and into the girl's picture. She smiled, turned around again, and started to walk once more.

There was a long tunnel before me. I could see the girl at the other end. She didn't step down, however, she stayed put. If I squinted, I saw what looked like someone's kitchen at the other end. Curious, I walked on.

Without warning, I tumbled out of the portrait and onto the floor. Standing up, I recognized that the room I was now in wasn't anyone's kitchen. It was the Hog's Head bar.

"What are you doing here?" said an angry voice.

I looked up into the angry, bright blue eyes of the bartender.

Luna

"Luna, wake up," said Hermione's voice.

I sat bolt upright. "Hermione?" I asked. I looked around. I was in the guest bedroom I was now sharing with Hermione. It had been two weeks since Dobby died. Hermione sat on her bed, watching me. "Harry, what is it? Is something wrong?" I asked. She shook her head.

"No, no, everything's fine; don't worry. Your uncle wants to see you," she explained.

"Why?"

"I have no idea." She shrugged. "By the way, Luna…thanks for making that speech about Dobby. Harry is so grateful. He says he could never have said anything like it." She smiled at me.

I was taken aback. "Oh…no problem, Hermione." I didn't like talking about Dobby with anyone. Every time someone mentioned Dobby's name, Harry got this strange, puckered look on his face. It was awful to watch.

I got out of bed. "Really, Hermione, it was nothing," I assured her as she continued to watch me. "I just wanted to give him a proper funeral, that's all."

Hermione nodded. "All right." She gave me a quick hug in thanks. "Well…you'd better not keep your uncle waiting. He seemed sort of impatient." I nodded and left.

Tentatively, I entered Uncle Ollivander's room. He and Griphook were sharing the other guest bedroom. "Did you want to see me, Uncle Charles?" I asked.

He looked up. "Yes, yes, my dear. Come here; I want to give you something." His voice was almost a whisper. He was still weak from being stuck in the basement of Malfoy manor. (Griphook was fine, but he was pretending to be as weak and fragile as a cobweb.) I went to Uncle Ollivander's side. With shaking hands, he held out a long, thin box. I took it from him and opened it slowly.

Inside was a new wand. I had lost my old one when the Death Eaters had captured me. The really big, fat blond one named Rowle had accidentally sat on it, breaking it into many small pieces and getting a lot of splinters up his backside.

I looked at my new one with awe. It was made of a beautiful wood, and had a glossy finish. I ran my finger over the intricate carvings. "Where did you get this?" I asked.

Uncle just looked at me.

"Oh, right," I mumbled, turning pink. "You're a wandmaker."

He nodded gravely. "Cedar. Unicorn tail-hair. 12 ½ inches long, 3/8 inch diameter, 0.58875 inches in circumference. And, it's flexible."

My jaw dropped. He chuckled.

I looked at it more closely. Uncle had carved it with amazing detail. I knew it had taken a long time to make, even with magic. There was a thin, delicate vine that twined and twisted its way up the wand. Uncle had even carved little leaves. I turned it, watching the way it caught the light. I noticed that there was a tiny, tiny emerald set at the tip of each minuscule wooden leaf. My eyes widened. "Oh, Uncle Charles," I breathed, "it's beautiful…."

He smiled at me, his silvery eyes twinkling with joy. "I'm glad you like it, my little Plimpy."

Carefully, I put it back in its box. "Thank you, uncle Ollivander," I said. I picked up the box and carried t out of the room.

I almost ran into Harry, who was passing. "Sorry," I said.

"What's that you've got there, Luna?" he asked. I showed it to him.

"Uncle made me a new, wand, look."

He whistled softly. "Wow, that's something. He must be really fond of you," he said, looking just as awestruck as I had been. I nodded.

"See you later, Luna."

"See you, Harry."