Twenty-Four: The Room of Requirement
Disclaimers: I do not own any D. Gray-Man or Harry Potter characters/settings. They rightfully belong to Mr. Hoshino (D. Gray-Man) and Ms. Rowling (Harry Potter). Also, some conversations between the Harry Potter characters are direct quotes from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and that also does not belong to me!
The next morning, the Exorcists were gathered by the Whomping Willow under the dark, gray, cloudy sky. The wind blew crisp and hard, and needle-like droplets of water splattered on the surface of everything it could reach.
All of them were drenched from head to toe in the never-ceasing rain. They all wondered why such place was chosen for their meeting place on such a day, but they, figuring that all six of them had seen worst circumstances, took it as a bit of 'training' and settled to complaining about it amongst themselves while discussing the current situation of their mission.
"I swear, Allen," Lavi said heatedly, wiping water out of his eyes, "Umbridge knew about last night because the Ministry is keeping watch over communications!"
"I know, I know, Lavi," Allen said back irritably as he dodged getting hit by a large branch that was swinging itself wildly. He gripped tightly to another branch when his feet slipped on the wet bark, cursing the weather and getting more irritated by the second. The older boy had said the same thing five minutes ago, and five minutes before that as well, and five minutes before that... "They're not just reading letters anymore, I'm sure any and every way of Hogwarts communicating with the outside world is being watched by the Ministry.""But why?" Lenalee asked, jumping onto another branch to keep within hearing range of the others.
"I think it is because the Ministry thinks Dumbledore is forming his own private army," Arystar Krory answered, balancing himself on a moving branch, and Miranda Lotto, gripping tightly onto his coat, nodded her pale face in agreement.
"These- are- so- annoying!" Lavi yelled suddenly, blocking a hit with his hammer. "Why, and who the hell, chose this place for a meeting?"
Kanda clicked his tongue loudly, a murderous look on his face.
"It's definitely dangerous," Lenalee and Allen said in unison.
"Honestly, the Whomping Willow of all places," Allen sighed, and gasped in pain as a sharp twig scratched his arm.
"Ouch!""Stupid plant," Lavi whined, "Krorykins, do you think you can find a way to calm this damn thing down?"
"No, unfortunately," the man said with a disappointed look. "I'm sorry."
"At least we won't be overheard," Lenalee said, trying to find a bright side to their near- lethal meeting place.
"We can't even hear ourselves- ah!" Allen cried out as he was knocked off a branch. He landed painfully on a root. "Gosh, darn it!" he said angrily, grabbing a small twig and stabbing the oddly knotted root with it. To everyone's shock, the Whomping Willow immediately stopped it's rampage and came to an abrupt halt. "Oh."
Kanda and Lavi, who were apparently in the midst of jumping off their branches, were so stunned by the sudden lack of movement that fell off, landing on the ground beside Allen. Both of them grunted, rubbing their heads. Krory and Miranda both swayed on the spot but didn't fall, and Lenalee gripped the tree trunk tight to stop herself from slipping.
"Owwwie," Lavi said. "That was mean, Allen."
"Stupid Moyashi," Kanda grumbled.
"It's my fault?" Allen demanded to the grumpy samurai. "I was the one knocked off by a branch!"
"Guys!" Lenalee snapped. "Quit arguing!"
"Cheh," Kanda tsked, folding his arms and sitting heavily on a root. Lavi fell back against the ground and fell silent while Allen leaned on the root he'd fallen on.
"Anyway," Allen said, "getting back to the topic, I guess it's obvious that communications are being monitored by the Ministry, and Umbridge must have found out that Sirius Black was talking to Harry Potter last night because of it."
"Agreed," Lavi and Lenalee said together.
"I don't think there was any other way she could have been so accurate," Miranda said, fiddling with her fingers. "You said she seemed to know exactly where Black was, didn't you?"
"Precisely," Lavi said. "As if she was right there, watching him, waiting for the right time to catch him."
"Besides that," Kanda cut in, "how did she find the connection between Black and the Gryffindor common room?"
Krory swooped down from the tree. "Kanda is right, is he not? She couldn't have been watching a single fireplace in the midst of all the fireplaces at Hogwarts."
"That-" Lenalee began.
"Is a good question," Lavi finished. "She always did seem to suspect Harry, of course, seeing as the Ministry of Magic is so dead-set that he'd a loony. But if that's the case, she could have also been watching Dumbledore's fire as well. How did she single it out?"
"Harry's letter from Sirius," Allen said suddenly, a look of surprised on his face.
"What?" Kanda and Krory said.
"Umbridge must have read Sirius's letter," Allen said, mostly muttering to himself.
"You mean, when she attacked Harry's owl?" Lavi asked, appalled.
"Owl post is a way of communication," Kanda mumbled.
"But attacking an owl?" Lenalee said.
"I know it sounds insane," Allen replied bitterly to the samurai's obvious disbelief, "but that seems like the only way she could pinpoint Gryffindor Tower as the place Sirius would appear. Whether she knew if it was Sirius or not is a different story," he added. "She might have, but she might have not either."
"Either way, it's obvious Harry's in deep trouble," Lenalee said worriedly.
"Yeah, well- gah!" Kanda exclaimed, and nobody asked him why, for it was obvious. The Whomping Willow had come back to life and, with a large branch wound tightly around Kanda's stomach, was swinging him back and forth in a circle.
"Allen!" Lavi cried, his face torn between terror, annoyance, and amusement as the Whomping Willow's branches twisted around him and began to swing him through the air. "Allen! Stab the root again!"
"I would if I can!" Allen called back as a branch grabbed him around the ankle, dragging him violently across the ground.
"Immobulus!" Lenalee yelled, pointing her wand at the tree. Allen felt his head spinning as the Willow came to a violent halt, making him dangle upside-down in midair. He could see Lavi looking green in the face as he hung from one of the higher branches, and Kanda was livid, slamming his fist against the tree as if it was offensive. In a way, it was...
"Are you okay, Allen?" Krory asked, untwisting the branch from around Allen's ankle. With a yelp, the boy fell to the ground. "Allen!"
"I'm fine," Allen answered, sounding quite delirious, his words slurred. His head was hurting badly, having landed on it. Above, Lavi was going hysterical, choking on his own laughter. "Don't laugh, Lavi," he said, and sneezed violently.
"We might want to go inside now," Miranda suggested as she and Krory climbed down to the ground.
"Right," Kanda said and jumped down, grabbing Lavi by his collar on the way down, ripping him out of the branch's hold. The latter crashed onto the soppy grass, and when he stood upright, his face was covered with mud. Lenalee joined them as well, and said,
"Let's go."
The Exorcists, dripping wet, sprinted into the entrance hall, grumbling and whining about the cold, the weather, and their own sogginess. With a shiver and a sniff, Lavi and Krory bid them all good-bye and left for their respective dormitories, followed by Lenalee and Miranda, and Kanda disappeared down the corridor, leaving Allen to stand alone in the hall, a puddle forming around his feet.
The boy felt another gush of wind pass through his clothes, and with a violent shake of his shoulders, he rushed up to Gryffindor Tower, hoping he might find nice, dry clothes in his trunk upstairs.
He was halfway up the staircase when he heard a voice calling him: "Allen, hey Allen."
It was Ron and Harry, dressed in their soaked robes, gripping their brooms and squishing-squashing up the stairs. Harry seemed deep in thought, not even aware of Allen's presence, so the boy reasoned that it was Ron who called him.
"Hi," they said to each other.
"Where've you been all day?" Ron asked as the threesome resumed their climb up the stairs.
"Meeting," Allen quietly, eying the paintings hanging along the wall., "but we're not supposed to say too much about it, you see. How was practice?"
Ron's face clouded to a point where it matched the sky outside. He grumbled, "Lousy again. The weather was bad, and we couldn't see anything."
"Ah, that's too bad," Allen said.
Ron grimaced, and said to the portrait of the Fat Lady, "Mimbulus Mimbletonia."
"I think I'll go grab some dry clothes," Allen said, and left for the boys' dormitories. Inside, he found Lavi waiting for him. "Hi."
"Hey," Lavi greeted cheerfully, and continued reading as Allen took of his water-heavy coat. "Is Ron and Harry back?" he asked.
"Yes, and they're working on their homework right now," Allen answered and poked his head through the collar of his new shirt, which was another of the things he'd borrowed from Johnny. He laid his wet clothes on a bedside table and flicked his wand in a complicated pattern. Steam came out of the tip of it, effectively drying the fabric. Once it was completely dry, Allen bid good-night to a yawning Lavi and returned to the common room just as Ron retired to bed. They merely nodded at each other before the door closed between them.
Harry was sitting by the fireplace reading, although Allen was more than sure that he was most likely reading and rereading a single paragraph over and over without taking anything in. The dazed, thoughtful look on the black haired boy's face was proof of that. He kept rubbing at his scar as well, as if it were itching, hurting. Allen didn't know, but he decided not to bother Harry's thoughts and merely sat down across from him, grabbed a scrap of parchment off the ground, and began doodling absentmindedly. He noted that Harry fell asleep after a while, and his own fatigue was seeping into his consciousness as well when-
"Good evening, Allen Walker, sir," a voice squeaked, and Allen awoke with a start. He blinked once, twice, and found himself staring into large, tennis ball sized eyes that shone brightly in the faint light from outside.
"Who are you?" Allen asked sitting up straight again.
"Dobby, sir, Dobby the house elf," the voice said, and as moonlight fell on the tiny creature, Allen immediately recognized the elf from his first day at Hogwarts. Something hooted softly, and Harry's snow white owl Hedwig gazed down affectionately at Allen from her perch on Dobby's head. Was it his imagination? Dobby's body seemed strangely larger than he remembered, and he was a lot taller as well...Behind him, Harry gave a soft groan in his sleep and stretched his arm forward, as if reaching for something...he nearly knocked over a candle...
"Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby squeaked.
Harry awoke with a jump and looked around frantically. Because his glasses were slightly askew, and the common room was significantly dark, he probably couldn't see Dobby at all. "Whozair?" he called sleepily.
"Dobby has your owl, sir!" Dobby said to Harry and turned to face the boy.
"Dobby?" Harry repeated thickly, squinting in Dobby's general direction. Moonlight fell on the elf again, and Allen finally saw the reason behind Dobby's strangely enlarged body: He was wearing what looked like all the hats Hermione and he'd ever knitted, stacked up on top of another so that his head seemed at least two or three feet taller than it really was. Hedwig was balanced on top of that pile, hooting happily at the sight of her master.
"Dobby has volunteered to return Harry Potter's owl!" Dobby said cheerfully, his small face bright with happiness. "Professor Grubby-Plank says she is all well now, sir!"
He bowed, then, so deeply that his long nose brushed the surface of the carpeted floor, and Hedwig hopped off the hats onto the arm of Harry's chair. Harry thanked him , stroking the owl's head and smiling at both of them. "Er...have you been talking all the clothes Hermione's been leaving out?" he asked.
Allen recognized, at once, a pair of socks that Dobby was wearing (along with another dozen pairs, of course) as one he had made during one of the rare times when he joined Hermione in knitting elf clothes. With a nervous feeling, he also recognized the design on a scarf around the elf's neck. Dobby patted it happily and said, "Oh no, sir. Dobby has been taking some for Winky, too, sir."
"Who's Winky?" Allen asked, and Harry looked up at him as if he'd just noticed him. "Hello to you too, Harry."
"Hi," Harry mumbled, and said, "Winky's a house elf I met last summer. So, Dobby, how is Winky?"
Dobby's ears drooped, and a cloudy look crossed his face. "Winky is drinking lots, sir," he said sadly, and launched into a long story about how Winky the house elf didn't care for clothes and how all the other house elves refused to clean Gryffindor Tower because (Allen felt a sinking feeling of guilt in his stomach) of all the hats and clothes lying around and how it was insulting to them. But Dobby cheered up at the moment and finished happily, "Dobby does it all himself, sir, but Dobby does not mind, sir, for he always hopes to meet Harry Potter and Allen Walker"- Harry sent Allen a confused look, and Allen shrugged- "and tonight, sir he has got his wish!" He sank into another deep bow and smiled at the both of them. "But Harry Potter does not seem happy. Dobby heard him muttering in his sleep. Was Harry Potter having bad dreams?"
"Not really bad," Harry said, sending another look to Allen, this one pointed and with the message, I'll tell you later. "I've had worse," he told Dobby.
The elf peered at Harry curiously, his large orblike eyes questioning. Then he said, seriously, ears drooping once more, "Dobby wishes he could help Harry Potter, for Harry Potter set Dobby free and Dobby is much, much happier now..."
Harry smiled at him. "You can't help me, Dobby, that thanks for the offer..." He bent down to pick up his Potions book, and the pearly scar on the back of his hand flew into both his and Allen's eyes.
"Wait a moment-" Allen began.
"-there is something you can do for me, Dobby," Harry said slowly.
"Name it, Harry Potter, sir!"
"I need to fine a place where twenty-eight people can practice Defense Against the Dark Arts without being discovered by any of the teachers. Especially," Harry said.
"Professor Umbridge," Allen said firmly.
Both boys expected Dobby's smile to vanish, to say it was impossible or that he would try, but Dobby gave a skip, his ears waggled, and he clapped his hands together.
"Dobby knows the perfect place, sir!" he told them happily. "Dobby heard it from the other house elves when he came to Hogwarts, sir. It is known by us as the Come and Go Room, sir, or else as the Room of Requirement!"
"Why?" Allen asked.
"Because it is a room that a person can only enter when they have real need of it," Dobby explained. "Sometimes it is there, and sometimes is is not, but when it appears, it is always equipped for the seeker's needs. Dobby has used it, sir, when Winky has been very drunk. He has hidden her in the Room of Requirement and he has dound antidotes to butterbeer there, and and a nice elf-sized bed to settle her on while she sleeps it off, sir...And Dobby knows Mr. Filch has found extra cleaning materials there when he has run short, sir, and-"
"-and if you really need a bathroom," Harry said, "would it fill itself with chamber pots?"
"Dobby expects so, sir," Dobby said, nodding eagerly. "It is a most amazing room, sir."
"How many people know about it?" Allen asked again.
"Ver few, sir," Dobby answered, turning to him now. "Most people sumble across it when they needs it, sir, but often they never finds it agai, for they do not know that it is always there waiting to be called into service, sir."
"It sounds brilliant," Harry nearly exclaimed. "It sounds perfect, Dobby. When can you show me where it is?"
"Anytime, Harry Potter, sir," Dobby answered, his face shining with delight at seeing Harry's excitement. "We could go now, if you like!"
Harry made as if to get out of his chair to go upstairs and grab his Invisibility Cloak, but Allen sent him a glare and whispered, "Reckless," in an imitation of Hermione. Harry blinked, sat down, and said to Dobby with a stifled yawn,
"Not tonight, Dobby. This is really important...I don't want to blow it, it'll need proper planning...Listen, can you just tell me exactly where this is Room of Requirement is and how to get in there?"