Chapter 5

The Secret Meetings

Blaine had promised he would stay true to his gut feeling, to avoid doing something if it didn't feel right. His father had told him not to put himself in any trouble causing situation, had made him promise to do as his professors said, and he had promised. So why did sneaking out after curfew just to attend a secret glee club meeting- with a boy who his best friends didn't approve of- give him the feeling he was doing the right thing? Well, either way, Blaine didn't really care.

The dormitory was silent except for Artie's light snoring in his four-poster bed, which was right beside Blaine's.

He slowly sat up, eyes skimming the circle of beds. He released his legs from the tangle of blankets he had managed to make while tossing and turning in an attempt to convince Artie that he had already fallen asleep, so as to avoid any further pointless conversations before Artie went to bed himself. Blaine silently swung his legs over the side and stood up. He was still wearing his Gryffindor uniform; he figured that trying to change back into them later might end up waking someone, and he definitely didn't want that happening tonight.

His father may have been teasing about the Howlers, but that didn't mean he wouldn't send Blaine one the moment he found out his son had put himself in major trouble by purposely doing something he specifically was forbidden to do in the first place.

The floor creaked quietly beneath his feet as he slipped on his shoes and stepped over to dig into his suitcase.

His hand felt around inside the large pile of clothes, packets of owl treats for Skye, pieces of parchment for letters he would write to his folks, and letters that he had received from his folks, until he felt a sensation of the softest silk brushing his skin. He gripped the cloth and slowly pulled it out. Without hesitation, he slipped out of the dormitory and down the staircase, across the common room, and through the porthole. He heard the Fat Lady make a loud weezing sound inside her portrait as it swung open. Blaine quickly threw the cloth in his hand over his shoulders; it fell swiftly until the hem hit the floor, covering his whole body in the fabric.

"Who's there?" the Fat Lady said.

Blaine quickly whisked out of the passageway and into the corridor.

"I know you're there! I won't have any more of you no good troublemakers bribe me into keeping quiet! I'll shout for the authorities if you don't show yourself!"

Slightly panicking now, Blaine hesitantly gripped the cloak covering him. "What do you mean any more of us?" he said, pulling it completely over his head, revealing himself.

The Fat Lady gasped. "Mr. Anderson? What in the world are you doing out of bed at this hour?"

"Never mind that. What did you mean? Were there others who made it out?"

"That is none of your concern young man!" she snapped. "Now get back inside before I have to call Figgins on you!"

"I don't think it will matter with how loud you're shouting. Jeez, you don't have to wake up the whole castle, you know. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a friend waiting for me."

"No! No more of you foolish teenagers breaking the school rules! I had enough dealing with your grandfather! Now get back here young man!"

But Blaine was long gone, throwing the cloak back over his head as he dashed down the corridor.

His footsteps echoed against the hard stone architecture.

He passed rows and rows of armory standing against the walls, with his only source of light being the moonlight shining in through the open stone archways, and continued to run until he had reached the end of the corridor, stopping until there was no sound except the chirp of the crickets outside. He closely examined his surroundings, making sure he was alone, before pulling the cloak off again. "Kurt?" he whispered. "Are you here?" He stood in silence as he waited... The only sound he could hear was the gentle pattering of raindrops outside; he hadn't even realized it was raining until now. Wait, what time was it anyway? He hadn't bothered to check before he left the dormitory. Suddenly he flinched; he could have sworn he had just heard a pair of feet scuffling swiftly across the ground. His eyes darted around the empty space, hoping and praying to god that it wasn't a professor. He squinted his eyes, frustrated; they hadn't fully adjusted to the darkness yet, and the interior of the cloak made everything look the slightest bit blurry.

Then there was a silhouette approaching him, and Blaine had to bite back a gasp that tried to escape his lips as he spotted it.

His whole body froze in its bent stature; his legs' swift growth in the past year was beginning to make it difficult for him to cover his whole body under the cloak. From what Blaine could see, the dark figured appeared to be wearing a black hooded cape.

"Blaine? Where are you?"

He let out a sigh of relief, recognizing the voice as if he'd been listening to it his whole life.

The silhouette removed its hood and reached into its pocket, pulling out a wand. "Lumos!"

Blaine's knees fell weak as he gazed from under the cloak into the young boy's face glowing in the wand's light. Quickly, he pulled the cloak back over his head, causing Kurt to gasp.

"God, Blaine!" Kurt whispered, the light at the end of his wand immediately going out and sending them both back into darkness. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry. Are you ready to go?"

"Well, I'm still not exactly a fan of being out after curfew, especially with but you said it would be worth the trouble, so I'll take your word for it." He shot Blaine a tiny smirk.

"No pressure, right?"

Kurt faked a scoff. "Pressure? Now why would I ever want to use such nonsense?"

Blaine chuckled. "Come on." He waved his hand to beckon Kurt closer.

Kurt seemed to hesitate for a moment before allowing his lip to curl. He met him halfway, and Blaine snatched up the edges of the cloak, throwing it over the two of them.

"I have to warn you, if either of us sees or hears anything, we both need to get lower, okay?" Blaine said as he began to lead Kurt down the corridor. "This cloak isn't exactly long enough to cover two teenage boys, and it would be nice if we could manage to avoid getting detention before we even get there."

"You know," he heard Kurt retort directly behind him, "avoiding detention would have been a lot easier if we hadn't actually agreed to do this."

Blaine rolled his eyes even though he knew Kurt couldn't see it. "Well, here we are, so there's no turning back now."

"You make it sound like we're on our way to compete in the Triwizard Tournament."

"Is that supposed to be another reference to my grandfather?"

"Maybe."

"Figures."

After ten full minutes of tip-toeing, exchanged whispers, and hushed laughter, Blaine felt they were safe enough to leave their hiding place.

Slowly, he scanned the corridor before the two of them slipped out from beneath the cloak.

"I've never been to this part of the castle before," Kurt whispered.

Blaine grinned at him. "You really need to get out more. Back in second year, I used to sneak out here with Nick all the time."

Kurt glanced at him under a quirked eyebrow. "And you never got caught?"

"Not really."

"Not really?"

"I told my dad about it when I got home that summer, and I honestly expected him to yell at me or something, but he just laughed and called me a troublemaker... then he told me to never do it again."

"...Wait-"

"But the teachers never caught me, because I always had this." Blaine ran his hand down the silk fabric of the Invisibility Cloak.

"You know, I was going to ask about that. That was your grandfather's, wasn't it?"

Blaine quirked an eyebrow at him, but his smile didn't fade. "You know too much about my ancestry."

Kurt chuckled. "Yeah, I feel like I'm stalking you or something." His eyes widened in realization at his statement. "I mean, uh..."

Blaine grinned. "Like I've said before, it's really just become rather flattering."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Let's just find this room already, please?"

"After you," Blaine remarked, waving his hand to beckon them forward.

"You're the one who's supposed to know where it's at."

"Then don't rush me," Blaine teased.

"Blaine!"

"Shhhhh!"

Kurt winced; he hadn't realized his volume had raised a little too high. "Sorry," he whispered.

Blaine couldn't help but let his lip curl. He's adorable, he thought.

"Meow!"

Both of the boys froze.

"What was that?"

Blaine felt terrifying chills shoot down his spine. Instinctively, he gripped the cloak tightly and lifted it above him. "Get under!" he whispered hurriedly.

"What?" Kurt said, obviously overcome by horror from the sound.

"Get under now!" Blaine told him a little more forcefully, grasping Kurt by the arm and yanking him back under the cloak.

"Blaine!"

"Shhhhhh!"

"Meow!"

"What the hell is going on?"

"We gotta get out of here now!" His hand still gripping Kurt's arm pulled him closer (which Blaine took a little too much notice of,) and steered him to follow. "Come on, let's go!"

"Meow!"

Blaine swore under his breath before leading the two of them down the corridor as quickly as possible without making a sound.

Soon enough, after many more fast paces past painted characters sleeping in their frames and motionless armory- which Blaine honestly felt like were staring right at the two of them,- they were both face to face with a large barren wall.

Kurt glanced over at Blaine for a split second. "So, this is it, huh?"

"Yep."

"So...how exactly do we get in?"

Blaine snorted, causing his hand to fly up to cover his mouth.

Kurt sniggered, and Blaine shot him an evil glare.

"I would think you'd know how."

"I don't know that much about the Room of Requirement, just that it's where your grandfather held all those secret meetings for 'Dumbledore's Army'- that's what it was called, right?"

Blaine nodded and smirked at him.

"And for the record, I don't know everything about his history."

He shrugged.

"Care to demonstrate how the hell we're supposed to get in there?"

"Absolutely," Blaine replied, a large grin spreading across his face. After successfully scanning the corridor for any eavesdroppers or spies, he slipped out from under the cloak and stepped up in front of the wall. He started to walk in front of it, pacing quickly across. When he glanced over at Kurt, he received a look of confusion. He stopped. "What?"

Kurt's expression fell. "Oh, nothing. I just thought the way to get in was supposed to be far more complicated than that."

"Than what? Pacing in front of it?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you don't just pace in front of it; you have to do it three times while thinking of the specific room you want to find."

"Oh...okay." His eyes lingered around the corridor before he ducked his head back under the cloak, obviously a little paranoid.

Blaine smiled. "Here, I'll show you." He went back to his pacing, repeating the same sentence in his head as he crossed in front of the wall. I need to find the room where my friends are meeting. I need to find the room where my friends are meeting. I need to find the room where my friends are meeting.

Suddenly, Blaine heard a loud rumbling beside him, and a soft "wow" emit from Kurt's still-invisible mouth. After pausing for a few passing seconds in silence, he stood up and saw two large wooden doors right where the large barren wall had been. The corners of his lips twitched at the all-too-familiar sight.

The room was large and rather spacious. The walls weren't visible, all being covered by large mirrors. At the very back of the room, there sat a gigantic table which sat in front of a burning fireplace.

"Blaine," Wes said, standing up from the table, "it's good to see that you made it alright."

"I'm glad we made it at all," Blaine replied, stepping down to the front of the table and reaching over to shake Wes' hand.

"Did anyone see you?" Nick asked.

"Only the Fat Lady, but from what I made out from her yelling at me, she saw all of us."

"We'll worry about her later," Wes clarified as he sat back down, "but for now, none of the staff will find us anyway."

Blaine took a moment to notice that Kurt hadn't said anything yet since they walked in the room, and he turned to him, only to see him practically cowering in the corner, keeping himself in the shadow of the lamp light. "Kurt?" He turned back to the rest of the boys. "I hope you guys don't mind, but I brought a friend; he said he'd heard about the club, and he wanted to come along, so..." He gestured to Kurt, beckoning him.

Slowly, hesitantly, Kurt edged out of the shadows, making himself visible, and trying to put on the friendliest smile he could muster.

The room fell into dead silence.

Every single Gryffindor was looking at the Slytherin boy, making him feel slightly angry, and uncomfortable on all levels.

Kurt's brow furrowed, and the corners of his lips fell into an extremely visible frown.

Blaine noticed. "Kurt, what's up?" he asked as he edged back up the steps to where the other boy stood.

"...Well, it's just that all of you're friends are looking at me like I'm not welcome, so I think I'll just go." He turned on his heel and attempted to storm out, but then there was Blaine's hand grabbing his arm.

"Kurt!"

He spun around to scowl at Blaine. "What?"

"Nobody said you weren't welcome."

"Why do you always think that none of us like you?" Jeff piped up.

Kurt's eyebrows knitted together. "I'm sorry?"

"I just think it's weird that throughout the past five years, Blaine is the only non-Slytherin I've ever seen you talk to."

"...I...I..." Kurt stuttered, "I have a girlfriend. She's in Ravenclaw..."

Blaine bit his lip, fighting off a growl forming in his throat.

"Well, I guess you guys must be pretty private, because I've never seen you with her," Jeff said rather flatly.

"Maybe because you, like most everyone else at this school, don't care to pay attention to people like me."

"Stop assuming that all of us hate you, Hummel. We're from different houses, so what? Doesn't me we all have to loathe you."

Kurt didn't respond... He didn't know how to respond. "I...uh...I think...I think I should go."

"Kurt, just hang on a second," Blaine said.

"I'm the only non-Gryffindor here; it feels awkward even just being here."

"Doesn't mean you aren't welcome," Wes said.

Kurt stopped dead, halfway turned toward the doors again.

"Look, Kurt," Wes said, clasping his hands in front of him on top of the table, "it's just not very often us Gryffindors interact with Slytherins; the majority of them have a tendency to give us hell every time we cross their path, which is why we tend to avoid them as much as possible."

"Come on, Kurt," Blaine insisted, "just stick around and see what's gonna happen. After alll, you were the one who asked me about coming here in the first place."

"The club wasn't designed for just one specific house," Wes assured.

Kurt still didn't speak.

"Come on," Blaine said with a little more pleading in his voice than he had intended.

Kurt turned his gaze to lock eyes with the other boy. After a small pause, he swallowed audibly and took a breath so his shoulders rose and fell. "Fine, I'll stick around."

Blaine's lip curled into a miniscule smile. "Good."

"Very well," Wes said, "you're both welcome to take a seat now if you'd like." He gestured to the last empty couch in the room- a rather worn and torn set of leather- that sat in front of a currently barren table.

"It is my pleasure to announce that the first official Warblers meetings has now commenced!" He slammed the mallot down, and the room erupted with hollers and cheers. Wes stood up with David and Nick following suit.

"So," Nick said, "who'd like to sing for us first?"

...The entire room was sucked into a brief silence once again...

"Not everybody at once," David joked.

No one responded. Every boy turned his head to glance around at the others, searching for a brave soul to volunteer.

Blaine's eyes fell on Kurt again, whose gaze was glued to his clasped hands resting in his lap. At that moment, something sparked down in the bottom of Blaine's gut. "I'll go." He said it without really thinking.

All heads turned on him.

"I'll sing first." He stood up from the couch rather abruptly, lightly hitting the back of his calves against it.

"Well done, Blaine," Nick said, flashing his friend a supportive smile, "the floor is all yours."

Quickly, Blaine made his way to the middle of the room as the three leaderboys sat back down once more. "This song has been one of my favorites since I was a kid; back at home I always dance around my bedroom singing my heart out to it. This song is called-"

BANG!

The entire troop of boys jumped a foot in the air.

"What the hell was that?" Wes said.

Kurt spoke up. "Um...guys? Was that huge hole in the wall there when we came in?"

All boys snapped their heads where Kurt directed.

A large crevice had formed into the back wall beside the front doors where they had all come in from.

"Oh no," muttered David.

Wes stood up for the third time and swiftly rushed up to the crevice, peeking through it for a split second before he let out a yelp of fright and stumbled backward as a much older man's voice from behind the wall shouted "Reducto!"

BANG!

The floor trembled violently, and Blaine barely saved himself from falling flat on his face. His first instinct caused his hand to fly to his wand, but once he realized who the shouting voice belonged to his hand switched to his other pocket and pulled out the Invisibility Cloak. "Kurt!" He darted toward his Slytherin friend and flung the Cloak over both of them. "Get down!" he told him as he caught a glimpse of Headmaster Figgins' angry expression.

Kurt didn't need to be told twice.

The two of them ducked down to the foot of the couch as the other boys shouted Invisibility charms at themselves.

"Finite!" Figgins yelled, repeating the spell as he pointed his wand every which way around the room.

Blaine watched under the cloak as one by one the other Gryffindors became visible and horrified.

And then the entire room fell silent. No one moved, Figgins' wand still stood at the ready, and Blaine's feet were falling asleep.

"You tried to hold a secret student meeting, and you snuck out after curfew. I'm very disappointed in all of you."

None of the boys said anything.

"Are there any more of you?"

"No, sir," Wes answered shaking his head.

Guilt filled Blaine's insides as he realized he and Kurt hadn't been seen.

"Very well then; all of you to my office now."

Blaine felt his heart grow heavy and a lump form in his throat as he watched his friends vacate the room with Figgins following them on their heels.

The room fell into silence once again.

Slowly, Blaine lifted his head out from beneath the cloak and stood up. "I am the worst friend in the world-"

"No, Blaine!" Kurt said, standing abruptly and sliding the cloak off. "Don't you dare blame yourself for any of this."

"Kurt, it's my fault; the Fat Lady warned me, I should have listened."

"No, Blaine, that is not what happened. The other guys should have made sure that this room was more secure."

"We shouldn't have agreed to coming tonight."

"There's nothing we could have done."

"I should have gone with them!"

"And what good would that do?"

"They wouldn't have to hate my guts like they probably do. I should have been a good friend and gone and suffered with them!"

"Go then, Blaine!"

Blaine was slightly taken aback. "W-What?"

"Go with them!" Kurt repeated mockingly, his voice raising ever so slightly. "If you hurry, you should be able to catch up!"

"...I...I can't..." Blaine's eyes fell to the floor. "My dad would kill me."

"Then don't talk to me about how it's all your fault, because it's not Blaine."

Blaine didn't respond.

Kurt's eyes softened as they continued to follow Blaine's guilty expression. "Come on," he said, nudging him in the arm, "let's get out of here. We'll face the other guys tomorrow.

Blaine's eyebrows rose in surprise. "No, Kurt! I can't put you in that position!"

"I was here when it happened, I could have said something too, so they'll probably be pissed at both of us; plus, you shouldn't have to face them by yourself anyway.

Blaine couldn't help but smile, and he brought his hand up to grip Kurt's shoulder. "Thank you."

"Now let's get out of here in case they changed their minds and decided to rat us out after all."

That's the end of this chapter guys! You didn't seriously think I'd leave the Warblers out of the story, did you? Bwahahaha!

Hope you all enjoyed. Next chapter shall be up, I promise; I don't know when, but it will come. Always.