Nighttime Wanderings (Part 2)

Vaughan soothingly held Fruit Tea and fed it a piece of dried fish as well. Shrugging, he said, "That's how I did it. Take out some snacks and feed it."

"Stop lying to me."

Ron muttered, "Last time, Harry tried feeding it roast meat, and it completely ignored him. It chased us through three corridors. That damn cat!"

Vaughan rolled his eyes at him. "My foolish little brother, animals are very sensitive. They can tell who's sincere and who's putting on an act. Your motives weren't pure, so of course it ignored you."

He scratched Mrs. Norris under the chin. She gave a contented purr, then flopped over and exposed her belly.

Her little paws waved as she played with Vaughan's teasing fingers for a while.

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

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

Vaughan looked in that direction and asked, "Were 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 rat and give him to Fruit Tea as a toy!"

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

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

"All right, I'm taking Peeves for another walk." Vaughan stood and said to the two of them, "I'll leave Fruit Tea with you. Once Harry's done polishing the trophies, have Fruit Tea lead you to me. I'll take you somewhere fun. I've discovered quite a few secrets recently."

With that, Vaughan led Peeves away.

Hermione watched his retreating figure, her eyes shining brighter and brighter.

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

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

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

Ron hurriedly stopped him. Only after hearing that Vaughan was going to take them wandering at night did Harry recover a little.

As the group followed Fruit Tea to find Vaughan, Harry was still complaining.

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

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

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

Ron was jealous too. His dad did not have any either... though Charlie had won one before, it was not the same.

Fruit Tea led the three of them all the way to the second floor.

Everyone was familiar with this floor. Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, History of Magic, Muggle Studies, and the school hospital wing were all here.

There was also an abandoned girls' bathroom here.

Following Fruit Tea, they found Vaughan inside the girls' bathroom.

He was talking to a female ghost, Moaning Myrtle.

"...Oh—Vaughan Weasley, you sweet thing, you're so considerate. No one has ever cared about me. Whenever they see me, they always scream, 'That horrible Myrtle is here again!' Boo-hoo-hoo—"

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 began spraying water.

Vaughan 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."

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

The three ugly people: "..."

"All right," Vaughan said regretfully. "Then I'll take them away first. We can talk again when there's time."

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

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

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

Vaughan looked perfectly calm. "Don't you think it'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 it interesting in the slightest.

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

For the rest of the way, Hermione kept asking Vaughan what he thought about the questions surrounding Myrtle.

Until they climbed to the sixth floor, Harry was so exhausted and out of breath that he had to interrupt them. "Vaughan, where exactly are we going?"

"The eighth floor. We're almost there."

Once they reached the eighth floor, Vaughan led them along the corridor to a tapestry depicting a troll beating Barnabas with a club.

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

Vaughan instructed.

The three looked at each other and did as he said. Vaughn walked to the stretch of wall opposite the tapestry and paced back and forth three times.

Then, something magical happened—

A smooth door suddenly emerged from the wall.

Vaughn pushed it open and beckoned to them.

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

Countless miscellaneous objects were piled high, like towering castle turrets.

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

Even after entering the magical world and encountering magic, Harry still felt that this room, which had suddenly appeared from within a wall, was challenging the limits of his imagination.

The room was vast—larger even than a Quidditch pitch. If he had not seen it with his own eyes, Harry would never have believed they were still inside Hogwarts.

The piled-up clutter contained everything imaginable: broken desks and chairs, intact-looking tables sitting on the floor, and all sorts of objects whose purpose he could not make out. Some spun in circles atop tables, while others flew through the air.

He stared around in dazzled fascination as Vaughn explained the room. "The Room of Requirement can create a room suited to your needs based on what you're thinking. All you have to do is focus on what you need and walk back and forth three times in front of the wall we entered through. For example, I was thinking about hiding something just now, so this is what the room looks like."