Nighttime Wanderings (Part 2)

Vaughn comfortingly held Guoguo Tea in his arms and fed it a piece of Dried Fish as well. Shrugging, he said, "That's how. Take out snacks and feed it."

"Stop lying to me."

Ron muttered, "Last time Harry fed it roasted meat, and it completely ignored him. It chased us down three corridors, that awful cat!"

Vaughn rolled his eyes at him. "My foolish little brother, animals are very sensitive. They can tell who is sincere and who is pretending. Your intentions weren't pure, so of course it ignored you."

He scratched Mrs. Norris beneath the chin. She gave a contented purr, rolled over at once, and exposed her belly.

Her little paws waved about as she played with Vaughn's teasing fingers for a few moments.

"All right, go back now. Don't tell Filch." Vaughn scratched through her fur again, then frowned. "Hmm, I need to brew you some supplements. You're too skinny."

Mrs. Norris licked his fingers, gave Ron and Hermione another eerie look with those huge eyes, then swished her tail and returned to the entrance of the Trophy Room.

Vaughn glanced in that direction and asked, "Are you keeping Harry company?"

"Yeah. We were worried Malfoy would bully him."

"Don't worry. I told Draco that if he gets Slytherin points deducted again, I'll turn him into a mouse and give him to Guoguo Tea as a toy!"

Hermione smiled happily. "That's exactly how you should scare him."

Ron, on the other hand, clutched his pocket, his face turning green. He did not think Vaughn was merely trying to scare Malfoy.

"All right, I'm taking Peeves for another walk." Vaughn stood and told them, "I'll leave Guoguo Tea with you. Once Harry finishes polishing the trophies, have Guoguo Tea lead you to me. I'll take you somewhere fun. I've discovered quite a few secrets lately."

With that, Vaughn led Peeves away.

Hermione watched his retreating back, her eyes growing brighter and brighter.

"Ronald, you really should learn more from your brother. He's good at studying and so caring. Even Mrs. Norris likes him."

Ron puffed out his cheeks, unwilling to speak to a "foolish girl"!

After waiting for more than an hour, Harry finally emerged. He was so exhausted that his mind had gone blank. When he saw Ron, he even tried to wipe Ron's face with the rag.

Ron hurriedly stopped him. Only after hearing that Vaughn was taking them on a nighttime adventure did Harry become a little more alert.

As the group followed Guoguo Tea to find Vaughn, Harry was still complaining.

"...You have no idea how many trophies there were. We weren't allowed to use spells; we had to wipe every single one by hand. Halfway through, my brain had already stopped knowing anything."

Hermione mocked him from beside him. "Even if you were allowed to use spells, you wouldn't know how!"

Harry pretended not to hear her and excitedly told his friends, "I saw my dad's Quidditch trophy. His name was engraved on it—James Potter. Malfoy was so jealous. He keeps bragging about his family, but I know his dad never won a trophy."

Ron was jealous too. His dad had never won one either... although Charlie had once received one, it did not mean the same thing.

Guoguo Tea led the three of them all the way to the Second Floor.

Everyone was familiar with this floor. Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration Class, History of Magic Class, Muggle Studies, and the Hospital Wing were all here.

There was also an abandoned girls' bathroom here.

Following Guoguo Tea, they found Vaughn inside the girls' bathroom.

He was talking to a female ghost, Moaning Myrtle.

"...Oh—Vaughn Weasley, sweetheart, you're so considerate. No one has ever cared about me. Whenever they see me, they always scream, 'That annoying Myrtle is here again!' Boohoohoo—"

She cried for a few moments, then suddenly shrieked and flew into a rage.

"So no one gets to use this bathroom! It's mine! I died here, and I'll be here forever!"

Several faucets spurted water.

Vaughn watched it all with great interest. Noticing that Harry, Ron, and Hermione had arrived, he called out, "Don't be angry, Myrtle. Look, I brought some friends."

Moaning Myrtle glanced at the three of them, clearly uninterested. "Sweetheart, I don't want to talk to ugly people. A beauty like me is only worthy of someone like you."

The ugly Trio: "..."

"All right." Vaughn said regretfully, "Then I'll take them away first. We can talk again when we have time."

Moaning Myrtle hid her body inside a toilet, leaving only her head exposed. In a shy, syrupy voice, she said, "Mm—okay. I'll always wait for you, darling."

Ron held his breath, then began gulping in air the moment they left the bathroom. "Merlin, I nearly threw up."

He stared at Vaughn in disbelief. "How can you stand her?"

Vaughn looked utterly calm. "Don't you think she's interesting? As far as I know, she's the youngest Ghost in the entire school. She only died a few decades ago. How did she become like this? And she can make the pipes spray water. Other ghosts can't do that."

Ron and Harry did not find any of it interesting at all.

Only Hermione suddenly felt that Moaning Myrtle seemed to be hiding countless secrets, gleaming with the light of knowledge.

For the rest of the way, Hermione kept asking Vaughn what he thought about the mysteries surrounding Moaning Myrtle.

Not until they had climbed to the Sixth Floor did Harry, panting from exhaustion, have to interrupt them. "Vaughn, where exactly are we going?"

"The Seventh Floor. We're almost there."

Once they reached the Seventh Floor, Vaughn led them along the corridor to a tapestry depicting a Troll beating Barnabas the Barmy with a club.

"Step back a little and stand beneath the tapestry."

Vaughn instructed.

The three exchanged looks and did as he said. Then they watched Vaughn walk to the stretch of wall opposite the tapestry and pace back and forth three times.

Then something magical happened—

A smooth door suddenly emerged from within the wall.

Vaughn pushed it open and beckoned to the three of them.

Still dazed, the three followed him through the door and discovered an enormous space inside.

Countless miscellaneous objects were piled together, like castle towers rising into the air.

"Harry, Ron, Hermione, welcome to the Room of Requirement!"

Even after entering the world of Magic and coming into contact with magic, Harry still felt that this room, which had suddenly appeared from a wall, was challenging his imagination.

The room was vast, even larger than the Quidditch Pitch. If he had not seen it with his own eyes, Harry would never have believed that this place was still inside Hogwarts.

There was everything among those heaps of clutter: broken tables and chairs, as well as seemingly intact tables sitting on the floor. Some objects were impossible to identify. Some spun around on tables, while others flew through the air.

He stared around in dazzled wonder as Vaughn explained the room.

"The Room of Requirement can create a room suited to your needs based on what you're thinking. You just have to keep your need in mind and walk back and forth three times along the wall we entered through. For example, I was thinking about hiding things just now, so this is what the room looks like."