Chapter 85: Room of Requirement
Chapter 85: Room of Requirement
"Is there really such a great place? I've been at the school for a year, but I've never found anything like that", Liam said, a bit skeptical.
Hearing Liam's doubtful tone, Nick quickly explained, "I've known about this place for over two hundred years, and countless students have found it. Unfortunately, those who know about it keep it a secret, so it's normal that you wouldn't know about it."
"Where is that place?" Liam asked, already having a good idea of what Nick was talking about.
"The place is called the Room of Requirement. You need to go to the eighth floor of Hogwarts Castle, opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy Battling the Trolls. Concentrate on the room you need and walk past the wall three times. A very smooth door will appear, allowing you to enter the Room of Requirement. Most current students don't know about this place; recently, it's mainly being used by the House-Elves of Hogwarts."
Sure enough, it's the Room of Requirement, Liam thought. Now he could finally use that room. In the past, using it would have drawn unnecessary attention and suspicion. As a wizard from a family with no ties to the wizarding world, he theoretically shouldn't have known about the Room of Requirement. Today's conversation with Nick finally gave Liam a reasonable excuse to discover it.
After saying goodbye to Nick, Liam returned to the dormitory to get ready for class. Just after finishing his first class and heading to the next, he saw two upper-year students using magic to levitate a stretcher toward the Hospital Wing.
"I have the diary, so why did something still go wrong? And why do some people look regretful, some look happy, but no one looks scared?" Liam entered the classroom with a puzzled frown. As soon as he arrived, he received a shocking piece of news: Professor Lockhart had been injured and was sent to the hospital.
After asking his classmates and piecing together what he knew, Liam deduced the sequence of events: Yesterday, Liam's actions in class made Lockhart feel that his own abilities weren't being highlighted. So today, while teaching an upper-year class, he decided to bring a Runic snake to class, hoping to impress the students.
Unfortunately, while retrieving the snake from the Potions storage in the dungeons, Lockhart was bitten by the Runic snake. Fortunately, Professor Snape, who was teaching Potions next door, heard the commotion and rushed to his aid. Otherwise, Hogwarts might have had to find a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year.
Upon hearing this, Liam had to admit that Professor Lockhart was a disaster. To maintain his glowing image, he was willing to risk his life. This showed that, while he might not be a competent teacher, he was certainly a competent idol, not much different from those who claim to practice for twenty-six hours a day even when they're running a fever of sixty degrees Celsius.
However, when the next Defense Against the Dark Arts class rolled around two days later, Liam sincerely hoped Professor Lockhart would recover quickly. Because Headmaster Dumbledore had assigned Professor Snape to take over the class.
Time quickly passed to Saturday morning, and Liam woke up early, as he had agreed to practice magical combat with Hermione.
After breakfast, Liam and Hermione went to the eighth floor, opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy Battling the Trolls. The troll on the tapestry stopped its attack on Barnabas and looked curiously at the two of them.
"Why do we need to practice magic here? It looks like there’s nothing here."
"Patience. This is the place that Gryffindor Ghost Nick told me about. He shouldn’t be lying." Liam focused his thoughts: I need a place to practice combat. When he turned around for the third time, Hermione whispered, "Liam, look."
Liam followed Hermione's gaze and saw a door appear where there was only a bare wall before. He turned the doorknob and opened the door, then called to Hermione, "Come in. This place looks safe."
When the two of them stepped inside, they found the room to be quite spacious. The room had no windows, and the light came from torches mounted on the walls. Along the walls stood a row of bookshelves, filled with books.
At the other end of the room, there was a pile of instruments, most of which Liam could only recognize from his Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook. In the center of the room, there were several large, cushioned mats, likely meant to protect those practicing here.
Hermione immediately rushed to the bookshelves, excitedly running her fingers over the spines of the leather-bound volumes. She then turned to Liam and said, "Look at these books! Common Spells and Countercharms, Outsmarting Dark Magic, Self-Defense Spellbook. These books seem to be even more comprehensive than those in the library."
Seeing Hermione's eagerness, Liam quickly interrupted, "Let's practice first. We’ll have plenty of time to read these books later. They’re not going anywhere."
The two of them then practiced the Disarming Charm they had learned last time. It was clear that Hermione had spent a lot of time practicing on her own since then, not just with magic but also with physical training. As a result, her magical attacks were much more proficient this time.
With Liam slightly holding back, Hermione finally managed to knock his wand out of his hand, which thrilled her. Liam shrugged, knowing that teaching required giving the learner a sense of achievement. Otherwise, prolonged failure could severely damage one's confidence.
Once Hermione’s excitement subsided, the two began discussing what to learn next. Hermione initially wanted to delve deeper into offensive spells, like the Stunning Spell. However, Liam successfully convinced her to learn the Iron Armor spell instead.
After finding the method for casting Iron Armor in the Self-Defense Spellbook, Hermione resumed her usual learning approach: memorizing the spell. Liam, on the other hand, picked up a book from the shelf and started reading.
After a while, once Hermione had mastered the spell, they began practicing combat techniques. Each of them cast Iron Armor on themselves and then cast the Disarming Charm at each other.
After a bit of practice, Hermione clearly noticed the gap between them. The Iron Armor spell created an invisible barrier around the caster, blocking incoming spells, but while her Iron Armor could only block Liam’s attacks, Liam’s could deflect his attacks back at her.
During a break after over an hour of practice, Hermione sat on one of the cushions and said to Liam, "It seems you have a better talent for this. I should stick to dealing with books."
"Don’t say that. I’m not as good as you think. With enough practice, you can do it too", Liam encouraged her, holding back a thought. If she had to fight a horde of zombies numbering in the tens of thousands, she would quickly master all the necessary spells and learn how to use them effectively in battle.
(End of Chapter)
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