Chapter 22: The Room of Requirement
Chapter 22: The Room of Requirement
When Albert woke up, his dormitory was pitch-black, and he could faintly hear the rain outside the window. The rain from last night hadn't stopped yet.
Albert sat up in bed, covering a yawn with his hand. That strange dream he had last night made him feel tired even after waking up.
Moreover, he had woken up too early. His three roommates were still asleep.
Albert reached for his wand on the bedside table from the corner and whispered, "Lumos."
The tip of his wand emitted a pale light, which he brought close to his mechanical pocket watch to check the time: 5:40 am.
Indeed, it was too early.
Albert extinguished the light from his wand and lay back down, letting the pocket watch slide from his hand onto the sheets.
Luke had given him this gift to celebrate his acceptance to Hogwarts.
Since he was already awake, Albert didn't plan on going back to sleep. He sat up again, stretched, and got out of bed, walking over to the window. He unlatched it and pulled open the wooden window, looking out toward the tower.
A gust of cold wind blew in his face, making Albert shiver and instantly feel more awake.
The rain wasn't heavy, and outside was still pitch-black. The entire castle was shrouded in a hazy curtain of rain.
"A great adventure awaits," Albert whispered to himself, gently patting his cheek.
Closing the window, Albert returned to his bed and took out his robe from the trunk, putting it on. He then picked up his pocket watch and wand from the bedside and tucked them into his pockets. Before leaving the dormitory, he paused to toss his changed clothes into the laundry basket in the bathroom. The house-elves would use magic to clean the clothes and then place them back on his bed.
Speaking of which, life at Hogwarts was actually quite comfortable. The students didn't need to worry about many things and could focus solely on learning magic.
The common room was quiet, with only a female ghost sitting on a sofa reading a book. She glanced up at Albert when she heard his footsteps but soon returned to her reading.
Albert didn't disturb the ghost lady, even though he wanted to chat with her. In the end, he gave up, as he himself disliked being disturbed when reading.
Albert didn't linger in the common room. He planned to explore the castle before everyone else woke up and to search for the legendary Room of Requirement.
Pushing open the door of the common room, Albert bent down to step out of the round doorway. Fat Lady was still in her nightgown, sleepily watching the student leaving.
She asked, "Where are you off to?"
"Just going for a walk," Albert replied, looking down the dimly lit corridor and raising his wand to continue on his way. This time, he didn't plan to take the path he had taken last night but instead wanted to explore other areas.
Perhaps because of the rain outside, the corridor felt chilly and damp, resembling the eerie castle in horror movies, where ghosts could pop out from the walls at any moment and scare someone half to death.
In fact, there were indeed ghosts in Hogwarts Castle, and quite a few of them. Even if a ghost appeared from the wall at that moment, it wouldn't be considered unusual.
Just around the corner, Albert saw the stone steps he had climbed last night. This time, he didn't go down but continued forward.
Turning another corner, Albert spotted a large vase ahead and looked left and right, and he indeed found the tapestry of the giant wearing a ballet skirt.
"Looks like my luck isn't bad," Albert muttered.
He quickened his pace, approaching the tapestry and raising his wand to examine the bizarre scene before him with the help of its light. It was so bizarre that he could barely stand to look at it.
On the tapestry, a group of giants in ballet skirts held wooden or bone clubs and struck various coquettish poses. A ballet teacher attempted to teach them to dance but was beaten by one of the giants with a club.
As Albert observed the tapestry, the giant stopped beating the ballet teacher and turned to stare at him, as if asking, "What are you looking at?"
If he had a camera, Albert would have captured this hilarious scene.
However, his primary goal was the Room of Requirement, which was located behind this white wall in front of the tapestry.
Albert stepped aside, turning to face the wall and then glancing back at the tapestry. He raised his right hand and knocked on the wall, imitating the giant.
The giant with the decaying teeth actually copied his action and raised its club, knocking the poor ballet teacher.
This scene was truly heartbreaking and tear-jerking.
Albert laughed happily and walked toward the wall, reaching out to touch it. It was just an ordinary, hard stone wall, with no sign of the Room of Requirement.
To enter the Room of Requirement, one had to walk past this wall three times, concentrating on what they needed.
"Walk past?" Albert raised his wand, illuminating one end of the white wall, where there was a window. He turned around and saw the large vase.
So, it was actually walking past three times? "A place to practice magic, a place to practice magic..." Albert focused his attention, walking to the window at one end of the white wall, turning around, and then walking to the other end with the vase before turning back again.
He muttered to himself, and on the third turn, the wall changed.
Countless patterns appeared on the white wall, gradually forming a smooth door.
Albert was delighted because he knew he had succeeded. He grasped the brass doorknob and pulled open the door, stepping into a spacious room with torches lighting the walls, resembling a classroom.
There were numerous wooden bookshelves along the walls, holding hundreds of books, which Albert suspected had been moved from the library. On the other side were some mannequins for practicing magic.
"This is fantastic," Albert whispered. With these books, he wouldn't need to specifically look for them in the library.
However, he needed to be cautious when using this place, as the sudden appearance of a door on the wall would easily attract attention.
Albert didn't stay long and soon turned to leave the Room of Requirement. He planned to consider how to use this place discreetly.
If he wanted to keep it a secret, he needed to ensure that he didn't meet anyone when entering or leaving, thus preserving the room's mystery.
He needed the Disguise Spell and a Marauder's Map.
He should be able to find the Disguise Spell in those books he had just seen, but the Marauder's Map was with Filch, and it wouldn't be easy to get it from him.
Could he make a copy? He didn't have that ability yet.
Never mind, he could take it slow! After all, he still had seven years here.
After Albert left, the door of the Room of Requirement slowly vanished again, returning to an ordinary white wall. Few people in the school knew about this magical room.
(End of Chapter)
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