Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the stuff J.K. Rowling created.

Chapter Thirteen

Room of Requirement

According to Weasley we were farther behind then he would have liked. We were still studying shape-shifters, and yesterday we had just finished the learning defense against the Persone-shifters, which, along with all the other 'shifters, was quite easy. Since he couldn't teach us any way to fight off an Ankh-shifter, today, we were finally getting to the last shape-shifter we had to cover: the Boggart.

"We all remember the Boggarts, yes?" Weasley said, walking back and forth at the front of the classroom. He had cleared all of the tables and chairs away so that we had a lot of room.

"For safety precautions," he had told us when we had asked at the very first defense lesson. The Slytherins had class with us today, and I was pleased to see Malfoy wasn't there. But neither were Sirius and James. When Sirius hadn't shown up for Charms, James had gone to look for him. So it was just me and Remus.

"Today you're going to meet one because it just so happens I caught one last night lurking around the hallways." Some of the students didn't look too happy about that.

"Now it's quite simple to defeat the Boggart. When you see your worst fear or nightmare, picture in it in your head as something funny. When that is done, you raise your wand and say 'Ridiculous' and it will turn into what you pictured. Now you say it so I know you've got it right."

"Ridiculous," the class responded.

Weasley nodded. "Good. Now the Boggart will be confused for a moment because there's so many of us. So form a line that way it'll focus on one of you at a time. Hurry up! We haven't got all day!"

Remus and I were at the front of the classroom, which was soon the front of the line. "Can we move to the back?" Remus asked me. "I don't exactly want to share my fears. Especially since there's Slytherins in the room."

"I agree." We slipped to the back of the line and watched it begin.

Some of the fears that got changed were hilarious. I noticed some Gryffindors turned their fears into big crying babies throwing temper-tantrums. Those kids had humor. The Slytherins, however, were not so. Their idea of "funny" was their fears exploding and dying in other painful, gory ways. Like this one girl from Slytherin feared a wolf, and it turned into a wolf on fire. Its agonizing screams, howls, and whimpers having a deep affect on me, although I had no idea why. Wolves weren't important to me; they were equal with all the other animals that I had grown up with. It was probably because of Remus.

Remus seemed to sense this because he hugged me, muttering, "It's not real. They're just trying to be cruel, knowing it will affect any decent person." I nodded, knowing that he probably was closer to that pretend wolf than I was because of his "furry little problem". I glanced at Weasley, wanting to scream, "Why don't you stop this?" He looked slightly disgusted and nodded at me, getting the message.

"We're done here. One hundred points will be taken from Slytherin for unreasonable behavior. And I had hoped that you people would understand that the one and only thing that finishes a Boggart is the laughter, not the spell, nor the thoughts." The Slytherins got all ticked off and started to complain.

"Class dismissed," Weasley said, flinging them out. "That went on far too long. I'm sorry I didn't stop it sooner," he told us remaining Gryffindors. "Because we have such irresponsible twits in our class, don't expect to do much more until you're paired with a different House."

Weasley stopped Remus and I as we were walking out the door. "You might be getting a wand soon. It's taking so long because there's a huge debate against and for it. Tonight we're meeting again." I wasn't sure, but I think there was a message in his words.

Remus, understanding of course, nodded and said, "Thanks professor. It's nice to know someone's on her side. Is this meeting of yours a requirement?"

"For tonight, it is, my dear boy." They were losing me here, talking in riddles. "Enjoy the rest of your day," Weasley called cheerfully as we left his class.

"Care to explain?" I asked.

He smiled slightly. "Not yet."

"Ugh! I hate having to use my patience! I only have so much of it to spare you know!" I warned him.

"Your patience is just going to have to hold out for a little while longer. Think you can handle it?"

"Nope."

He sighed in mock sympathy. "Well then, that's too bad." Maybe he had some James and Sirius in him after all, I thought.

"Whatever you do, don't mention the Howler or Regulus to Sirius," Remus cautioned as we entered the Common Room.

"Why?" Neither Sirius nor James had shown up for dinner, but Remus and Peter didn't seem worried. This must've been a normal thing.

"I don't think it's really my place to tell you," Remus said sadly. "But he tends to be a bit…different. More moody and he plays more pranks than usual, and they're usually pretty violent, as is he."

"It's that bad?" I asked, grimacing.

"That's why Padfoot scares people! When you meet him like this, you'll swear he's completely mad!" Peter said, eyes darting back and forth, looking for something. You really could believe he turned into a rat.

"How often does this happen?" I wasn't sure I wanted to hear the answer; I was sure it was going to be bad.

"About once a week, sometimes more."

"That's horrible! What's he ever done?" I exclaimed. This lady had some serious issues. "He didn't get one last week though, did he?"

"He knew when it was coming last week and intercepted it before it came into the Great Hall." We walked up the stairs and went to the right.

I stopped. "Am I allowed to go in there?"

Peter kept walking, oblivious to the world as always, but Remus smiled knowingly and put an arm around my shoulders.

"Before curfew, yes, you're allowed." Peter opened the thirteenth door down and stepped inside. Remus and I followed him, but I stood in the doorway, still unsure.

I looked around and was surprised to find their room spotless except for one area by the door. Since rats were messy, I figured it was Peter's. Gryffindor banners were hung up on the walls and some pictures were on the bedside tables. I was impressed. Who knew guys like them were neat and organized?

James was sitting down at a rectangular table with four chairs doing homework and Sirius was laying down and appeared to be asleep. Peter sat on the edge of his bed, ready to bolt, and Remus just stood at my side, looking down at me as I took everything in.

There was an awkward silence (at least for me) and I felt like I was intruding. I took a step backwards, ready to leave.

"We don't bite you know," Remus said, grabbing my arm to stop me. James snorted and Remus seemed to realize what he said. "Well, not right now," he amended, glaring at James.

James looked up from his work. "You don't need to hide. You're welcome here." He gave me an encouraging smile. "It's just us."

"I'm not hiding," I said stubbornly. "I'm…" I trailed off. What was I doing?

"Hiding? Yeah," James said. He gestured to a chair next to his. "Have a seat." I walked over to him and sat down hesitantly on the edge of the chair.

"I hear Malfoy's still crying," he said, trying to start a conversation. "No one can figure out how to fix him."

"Those people are so ungrateful. I do them a favor and they hate it," I said, pretending to pout, relaxing back in my chair. I glanced over at Sirius, then back at James. "How is he?"

James shrugged. "This is normal. Don't worry about it. You won't be the victim of one of his pranks."

"Who will?"

"Usually Slytherins or whoever's made him mad. The usual."

"Hey James?" Remus asked. "Can we borrow your cloak in a little bit?"

James stared at him evenly. "You and who?"

"Nike." Remus, I could tell, was trying to evade having to explain.

"Why?"

I opened my mouth to ask if someone could explain things to me, but Remus cut in,

"I want to show Nike something."

I thought James was going to continue questioning us, but he shrugged and turned back to his work. "Sure."

"I'm gonna take the map too."

James hesitated. "Okay," he said finally.

Remus looked relieved. "Well, I've got some stuff to do, so I'll see you later."

"Can I come?" Peter asked, bolting up. I don't think he trusted James, Sirius, and I alone. Remus seemed to be his "favorite" and he trusted him more.

"If you must," Remus replied, and they left.

The only sound for awhile was the sound of Sirius' deep breathing and James' quill scratching on paper. I looked over James' shoulder and saw he was working on Transfiguration homework.

"What's a Howler?" I asked after a few more minutes of silence began to get to me.

"Sorry?" James seemed caught off guard.

"What's a Howler?" I repeated.

"It's like a letter, except when it comes it's literally yelling to express its anger. You usually will get one when you've done something wrong and your parents or whatever are really mad at you." James put away his homework, probably guessing more questions were coming.

"How is Regulus possibly Sirius' brother? He's a complete toerag."

"That Regulus is. Nike, I don't think we should talk about this. It's not—"

"Your place? Okay. But I just wanted to throw that out there."

"Your comment is appreciated," Sirius said. James and I both jumped guiltily and turned to face him. He was lounged back with his hands behind his head, and he had this mad look in his eye. "I'm sorry that you had to meet him. But I guess, being you, it was only a matter of time before you did," Sirius continued. "I pride myself being nothing like them."

"What's—" James cleared his throat, shaking his head slightly. Oh. Now's not the time to argue. "Maybe I should go," I told James. He nodded vaguely.

"Come back anytime," James said. "You're welcome here whenever ."

"I will." I looked back at Sirius, who was staring back at me like he wanted to tell me something. "You okay?" I asked after a minute, even though I knew he wasn't.

I thought he was going to make a smart-remark, but instead he said, "I've lived this long with it." He paused, then looked away. "Thanks."

I smiled, despite of myself. "For what?"

He smiled back sadly. "For more reasons then you know."

I met Remus outside his room at a quarter to midnight. He still hadn't told me why or where we were going.

I had almost told Lily and Tonks, but decided against it when I figured they would count that as them getting me into "too much trouble". Besides, I'd already had enough of them when they decided to question me about my "secret meeting" with Gary earlier today. They seemed to think we were—how did Tonks put it?—"hooking up".

Remus was dressed in normal clothes, blue jeans and a black t-shirt that was modest, unlike the ones that James and Sirius wore that showed off their muscles. He held the Marauder's Map and a silky material in his hands, as well as his wand.

"What's this?" I asked, touching the grayish silk.

"It's James' Invisibility Cloak. It's been in his family forever, so don't ask me where it came from." He put the cloak on and immediately disappeared.

"Wow, that's amazing!" I exclaimed in a hushed tone. "But…don't you have spells that make you invisible?"

"None that I know of; and I know a lot of spells and charms." We left the Common Room and he put the cloak over me so I disappeared too. He murmured the words that lit his wand and watched the map. He kept us away from teachers that were walking the hallways, but he was watching one spot in particular, seeing who all went in.

"What's the Room of Requirement?"

"It's where the meeting is being held. Professor Weasley wanted us to come to this particular one for some reason," Remus finally explained. Now I understood their earlier exchange.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I figured that was obvious. You would have told the others. Normally I would tell James, Sirius, and Peter everything, and I wouldn't stop you from telling your friends, but we both know what would happen. Lily and Tonks wouldn't allow you to go, or they'd want to come too, as would James, Sirius, and…well, never mind. Peter wouldn't want to go. My point is, Sirius isn't up for it right now, and James is the only one who can sorta control him. So if James came, there's no telling what Sirius would do. Besides, all of us wouldn't fit under the cloak; three's as much that it can hold now that we're all older and bigger, no offense. We aren't eleven anymore is what I mean." He looked past the cloak (which we could see out of without lifting it up) and stopped in front of a bare stone wall.

"A wall is the Room of Requirement?" I asked, looking at the map which showed us right outside of a room labeled Room of Requirement. "Is the map not working?"

"The map never lies. Just be quiet and clear your mind for a moment," Remus said, not bothering to explain. He sure was secretive. Or maybe he was used to keeping to himself. Whatever the case, I did as he said and seconds later a door appeared in front of us.

"What is the Room of Requirement exactly?"

"Now's not the time," he said as he opened the door silently. "The meeting's about to start." Just as we were about to step inside I heard a squeak and the sound of small feet hitting the wooden floor, running. I pulled Remus to a stop when I saw glowing red eyes. Seeing it had been spotted, the thing left, going who-knows-where.

"Was that P—"

"Shhh!" Remus whispered. He gestured around us and I froze. Inside the Room of Requirement was what I would expect a court or council to look like. There was this table that went in a circle around the room with adults sitting in chairs. There were two particular parts of the table that were raised higher than the rest. Sitting in one of the seats was Professor Vera, and in the other a man with gray hair, dull brown eyes, and ill colored skin that seemed to be in his sixties. I looked around and saw Weasley, Adda, Professor McGonagall, Luna, and many other professors I did and didn't recognize and couldn't name them. Remus and I happened to be in the center of the circle, which had several other people situated here too. There was a loner, and then…

"What are they doing here?" I hissed. I absolutely hated them. Didn't they have others to terrorize?

Remus looked over and saw them. He gripped my arm tightly, reminding me that we had to keep our presence unknown. The look in his eyes clearly said, Don't ruin this.

The man sitting next to the headmaster stood up, getting the attention of everyone in the room, including mine, which was planning on how to get some serious payback.

"We're here today to—" he started to say in a deep and powerful voice.

"We all know why we're here Minister," Adda snapped. "The cause is stupid, so let's just get this over with." So he was the reason I was here. Good to know. Now I had every single person that I needed to get even with in one room. Wonderful.

"Settle down Mrs. Weasley," the Minister replied. "We will continue our discussion about Miss Nike, but it seems our Aurors have found some new—"

"I would like to share what I have seen." Luna's quiet voice both hushed and captivated everyone. You could just tell she was the most respected person in this room.

The Minister looked at her with revere. "Go ahead Professor Lovegood."

Luna stood up so she was better seen. "In the last class on the first day of this school year, I received a vision of the darkness setting in again. The sides will be drawn, the hunt will begin. He has new tricks and new ways. He will gain more power. Our fate relies on Her and Her followers."

"Who're we talking about here?" some professor I didn't know asked, confused.

"Voldermort will rise again." There was a collective breath.

"You speak His name!" Professor Damant exclaimed, the first to speak.

"It's been over a hundred years since Voldemort was defeated, yet we still have those who live in fear of his name?" Weasley asked incredulously. He was the second most respected in the room, I could tell.

"You've never met him and you weren't alive in that time. If anyone should be fearful, it should be Miss Lovegood here. She's seen Voldemort and seen her friends and family die because of him!" Professor McGonagall agreed.

"Let's not forget our Minister was a Death Eater," scoffed a male Auror that I vaguely remembered. In fact, all the Aurors were looking at the Minister in disgust, which both surprised and confused me.

The Minister paled a little. "Yes, and it was the worst mistake of my life."

"It was our world's worst mistake voting a Death Eater in," muttered a female Auror, who's name I think was Zelka, muttered, standing next to us.

"The Dark Lord is to return?" Professor Vera asked Luna quizzically. I couldn't tell if he thought this was great news or a minor setback he would have to soon fix.

Luna nodded.

"When?" he asked.

Here she hesitated. "There is no set date, and I cannot see how. But Voldemort will return soon."

"But we have no Harry Potter this time!" exclaimed another professor.

"No, but I don't think Harry would've been able to defeat him this time even if he were alive and was still connected to him," Luna said quietly. The Aurors bowed their heads in remembrance. This Harry Potter must've been one of them.

"So we're all doomed?" a female Auror named René asked.

"No. There's someone out there. She will be the only one who is matched with Voldemort. She will lead his enemies…" Luna trailed off.

"What's the problem? Who is she? Nike?" a handsome Auror named Jack (who I had beaten up so many times I knew him quite well) asked.

Luna hesitated only for a second, something only Remus and I noticed.

"I don't think it is her, however she will have a part in this. The problem is…the only one who can lead us to victory and defeat Voldemort is the Ankh-shifter."

Everyone exploded.

"But the Ankh-shifters are extinct!"

"They're destined to be evil! It's in their family and blood!"

"We might as well turn to the Dark Lord and give him our full support." All eyes turned to the lone person in the center of the room. It was the loner, a woman who looked an awfully lot like Malfoy.

"Mrs. Malfoy, now is not your time to speak. You were permitted to come here only for the discussion of your son. If I had known this information would be revealed, you would not be here. So I suggest you hold your tongue," the Minister snapped. Malfoy's mom crossed her arms over her chest and sat back in her chair, glaring. The Minister of Magic turned back to Luna.

"You're sure he will return?"

"Yes. Soon."

"Very well." The Minister addressed the headmaster and professors, "Don't let word of this get to the students yet. I want more research done before we let word get out. Then we'll have to teach them even more defensive learning strategies so they can be protected. If it is anything like last time, he will come here. I don't want the students harmed. Most may not be involved…but some will."

"What's any of that going to do? We have no Ankh-shifter to lead us," a scared looking professor said.

"We will search for her," the lead Auror, Dubois, said.

"No! She will find us," Luna said.

"We're done discussing this. We don't have much time, and I'm tired of the endless meetings. If I had known the girl would be this much trouble, I would have left her alone." The Minister looked down at the table, reading something. "Why are we here tonight? Must she be sentenced already?"

There were exclamations for both sides. Surprisingly, I had gotten most of the professors on my side, but not enough that would convince anybody. But what really shocked me the most was the Aurors sticking up for me.

"That girl has too much talent and potential to be locked up!" one exclaimed.

"The Dementors will suck the life out of her on first sight!" another said.

"She'll find a way to break out, causing the third jail-break in history," Dubois said, silencing his group.

"Okay, okay!" the Minister yelled. "The girl requires a wand, yes? She doesn't—"

"We all thought the same as you, but, no, she doesn't," Professor McGonagall said. "She is extremely powerful."

"Yes, thank you. What is the argument against Miss Nike receiving a wand? It is, after all, the right of every witch and wizard."

"But she's a danger to us all!" a professor protested.

"What happened to Mr. Malfoy was perfectly reasonable, although her punishment was not," Adda snapped, shooting a glare at the professor who had spoken against me.

"Excuse me if I happen to think otherwise," Mrs. Malfoy said huffily.

"We'll take that thought into account, but don't be offended if we could care less," Adda retorted. "You Malfoys think everything revolves around you—"

"And you Weasleys don't?" Mrs. Malfoy scoffed. "Ohh! The famous Harry Potter married into our scum family! Now we can actually afford to live! Big deal! He was a wretched boy, he was."

"He was not!" an Auror exclaimed, her hands clenching into fists.

"I do not publicize that, and neither does the rest of my family. Why don't you keep your nose in your own business, hmm?" Adda was getting angry.

The Minister coughed. "I hate to interrupt this lovely discussion, but back to the present subject. We only have five minutes left, so how about we make a deal?"

"I don't think that girl should receive one," the headmaster said. "There's something off and not right about her. Not to mention she doesn't deserve one." Yay. I had made an enemy with the Headmaster of Hogwarts. Lucky me.

"Nike may go to Diagon Alley and I personally will pay for her wand and, since I hear she may be the best Keeper Hogwarts has ever seen, a nice broom for Quidditch," he said, cutting off more arguments. "But," he added as the protesters started to whine again. "she will change Mr. Malfoy back to normal before she departs. When the students first go to Hogsmeade, one of you will take her to Diagon Alley."

"I'll take her," Weasley volunteered. To tell the truth, I wasn't surprised. I felt relieved he would be there with me.

"Good. We're done here. Meeting adjourned."

A/N: Mwahahaha! Voldemort will return! How do you like that? I have to ask though, are you guys confused with when this takes place still? Or did you guys figure it out already? I know I'm going to explain better in a following book, but if you're reading this and are confused, well that's just no fun, is it?

And the Aurors, they're interesting pieces of works I think. But, with that, I want to be one when I grow up! Don't you? ;)

And Nike finally gets a wand. But will she use it ever? Or will she stick with Wandless magic? What do you people think? Do you think it'll make her more powerful or less powerful? Or what about somewhere in between?

OK. Next chapter: Doughboy (you should be happy for this one, Twin :)

Let me know what you are thinking! Please review!

Nike