Room of Requirement

Room of Requirement

When Albert woke, the dormitory was pitch-black. He could vaguely hear rain outside the window; the rain from last night had yet to stop.

Albert sat up in bed and covered a yawn with his hand. It was all because of that strange dream last night—he felt exhausted when he woke up.

Besides, he had woken far too early. The other three boys in the dormitory were still asleep.

Albert reached toward the bedside, picked up the wand resting in the corner, and softly cast, "Lumos."

A pale glow shone from the tip of his wand. He brought the glowing wand closer to his mechanical pocket watch and checked the time: 5:40.

Sure enough, he had woken up too early.

Albert extinguished the light on his wand and lay back down. The mechanical pocket watch slipped from his hand onto the sheets.

It was a gift Luke had bought for him to celebrate his receiving an invitation to Hogwarts.

Since he was already awake, Albert had no intention of going back for a Second Sleep. He sat up again, stretched, pushed aside the covers, and got out of bed before walking to the window. He unlatched it, pulled open the wooden shutters, and looked out beyond the tower.

A blast of cold wind hit him head-on, making Albert shiver. His mind instantly cleared.

The rain was not particularly heavy, but it was still pitch-black outside, and the entire castle was shrouded in a hazy curtain of rain.

"A grand adventure." Albert lightly patted his cheeks and muttered under his breath.

After closing the window, Albert returned to his bed and took out a robe from his trunk. He put it on, then picked up the pocket watch and wand beside his bed and tucked them into his pockets. Before leaving the dormitory, he stopped to toss the clothes he had just changed out of into the basket in the bathroom. The house-elves would use magic to wash them clean, then place them back on his bed.

Come to think of it, Hogwarts students actually had it pretty good. There were plenty of things they did not need to worry about; they only needed to focus on learning magic.

The Common Room was quiet. Only a female ghost sat on the sofa reading. Hearing footsteps, she looked up at Albert, then lowered her head and resumed reading her book.

Albert did not disturb the ghostly lady. Though he wanted to chat with her, he ultimately gave up. He himself hated being disturbed while reading.

Albert did not linger in the Common Room. Before everyone else woke up, he planned to wander around the castle and search for the legendary Room of Requirement.

Pushing open the Common Room door, Albert bent over and stepped through the round hole. The Fat Lady was still wearing her nightgown, staring sleepily at the departing student.

She asked, "Where are you going?"

"For a walk." Albert looked down the dim corridor, raised his wand, and continued onward. This time, he did not intend to take the route from last night, but planned to explore elsewhere.

Perhaps because it was raining outside, the corridor felt cold and damp, like a gloomy castle from a horror film. A ghost could emerge from the walls at any moment and scare someone half to death.

In fact, there really were ghosts in Hogwarts Castle, and quite a few of them. Even if one suddenly emerged from a wall right now, it would not be anything strange.

Just after turning the corner, Albert saw the Stone Steps he had come up last night. This time, he did not go down them and simply kept moving forward.

After turning down another corridor, Albert found a large vase ahead. He turned his head and looked around, and actually found the tapestry depicting trolls in ballet skirts.

"Looks like my luck is pretty good."

Albert quickened his pace and approached the tapestry. Raising his wand, he used its light to inspect the bizarre tapestry before him. It was simply too ridiculous to look at.

On the tapestry, a group of trolls wearing ballet skirts held clubs or bone clubs and struck all sorts of coquettish poses. A ballet instructor was trying to teach the trolls how to dance, only to be brutally beaten by one of them with a bone club.

As Albert studied the tapestry, the troll stopped beating the ballet instructor and turned to stare at him, as if asking, "What are you looking at?"

If he had brought a camera, Albert definitely would have taken a picture of this hilarious scene.

But the Room of Requirement was the priority. It was inside the white wall opposite the tapestry.

Albert stepped aside, turned to look at the white wall, then turned back to glance at the tapestry. Raising his right hand, he made a knocking gesture at the troll.

The tooth-decayed troll actually copied him, raising its bone club and striking the poor ballet instructor.

The sight was enough to make anyone weep.

Albert laughed cheerfully, walked over to the white wall, and reached out to feel it. It was a solid stone wall. There was no Room of Requirement.

The condition for entering the Room of Requirement was to pass by this stretch of wall three times while concentrating on what one needed.

"Pass by?" Albert raised his wand. Its pale light illuminated one end of the white wall, where there was a window. He turned around and saw the waist-high vase at the other end.

So he just had to walk past it three times? "A place to practice magic, a place to practice magic..." Albert focused his mind, walked from the window at one end of the white wall, turned around, then turned back again at the vase on the other end.

He murmured under his breath, and when he turned around for the third time, the wall changed.

Countless patterns appeared across the white wall, gradually forming a smooth door.

Albert was in a good mood because he knew he had succeeded. He grasped the brass handle, pulled open the door, and walked inside. It was a spacious room with torches burning around the walls, somewhat like a classroom.

There were many wooden bookshelves along the walls, holding hundreds of books. Albert suspected they had been moved here from the library. On the other side stood several dummies for practicing magic.

"Wonderful," Albert said softly. With these books, he would not need to make special trips to the library to look for them.

Still, he needed to be careful not to be discovered when using this place. After all, a door suddenly appearing in a wall would easily draw attention.

Albert did not stay any longer. He turned and left the Room of Requirement, intending to think about how he could use the place discreetly.

If he did not want anyone to know, he had to make sure no one saw him when he entered or when he left. Only then could he keep this place secret.

He needed the Disillusionment Charm and the Marauder's Map.

He should be able to find the Disillusionment Charm among those books, but the Marauder's Map was with Filch. Getting it would not be easy.

Make one himself? He did not have that ability yet.

Forget it, he would take it slowly. He still had seven years to spend here, after all.

After Albert turned and left, the door to the Room of Requirement slowly vanished again, becoming an ordinary white wall once more. Few people in the school knew there was a magical room here.