Chapter 252: A Desperate Retreat
Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 252: A Desperate Retreat
"Who was that? Why are you so scared, Professor?" Ginny asked.
"Yes, why are we running so much? We left Goly 2 behind!" Lyra complained.
"Fenrir Greyback… I have encountered him before," Lily said with a grave tone. "He is the most dangerous and ruthless werewolf that I know, and he is not someone you want to fight."
"The castle is changing again," Luna observed as they went through another set of staircases.
They could all feel the walls shifting and changing.
"I had no idea the castle could transform so much," Lily looked back at where they came from. She could not see or hear anything yet, but she had no doubt that Fenrir and his pack were coming after them, so she could not slow down.
But as soon as she got off the stairs, Lily stopped in her tracks.
"What in Merlin's name is this?" Those stairs should have led them to the fourth floor and come out right next to her Defense Against the Dark Arts class. She was then planning on using a secret passage that would lead them outside after passing through a long flight of stairs on the east side of the castle.
Instead, they found themselves in a narrow corridor with only one way forward.
"This one looks very familiar, even if the walls are a bit changed…" Lyra looked around.
"The writing supplies storage…" Lily said as they passed by a room with a very old wooden door. She then realized where they were.
"This is the last floor of Hogwarts," she said with worry. There was no escape from here. If their enemies found them now… they would have nowhere to run.
"The entrance to the training room is right there." Ginny pointed to the only painting remaining on the walls, depicting some trolls trying to practice ballet.
"Right! Over there is the Room of Requirement," Lyra exclaimed.
"The other paintings are missing," Astoria noticed. Usually, there would be several more decorations on the wall, but now… there was only the one painting that pointed towards the secret entrance to the Room of Requirement.
"I think Hogwarts wants us to go there," Luna said.
"Yes, let's go! They will never find us there." Ginny hurried to open the entrance by pacing around.
Lily didn't understand anything. She had never heard about this room they were talking about.
"What are you doing?!" she told Ginny after seeing her pacing around in front of an ugly painting.
"There is a secret room here, Mom. We can use it to hide," Lyra explained to her. "Once we go inside, the entrance will disappear. It is the perfect place to hide."
"There is a room here?" Neville had no clue about what those girls were talking about.
"Really?" Lily had learned of many of Hogwarts' secrets thanks to James and the other Marauders, but never heard of a hidden room on the seventh floor.
'Was there a place like that in the castle? Could it be they never found it?...' Her eyes opened widely when she saw a door forming out of the stone walls.
Ginny did not waste time opening it and went inside. Luna and Astoria followed behind. Lyra pulled both Neville's and her mother's hands.
"Come on, let's go!"
As they entered, they were all surprised by the contents inside. Even the four girls who were used to being here had never seen their training room in this state.
"Ginny… what did you ask when you opened the entrance?" Lyra asked before closing the door behind her.
"A good place to hide…" Ginny answered.
The Room of Requirement had taken its original form. The entire massive chamber was filled with rows and rows of shelves, all filled to the brim with things. It did seem to be somewhat organized despite the amount of items stored, but it still gave them an overwhelming feeling.
"There are plenty of good spots for hiding, so it wasn't wrong," Luna said.
"Where did all of this stuff come from?" Neville looked around in shock.
"I don't know… we have never seen the room like this. It usually looks like a large training room, with target dummies and stuff like that," Ginny explained.
"And my brother never explained much about this room either. He just asked us to never tell anyone about it…" Lyra added.
"So remember… when he asks, we tell him it was Ginny who revealed the secret and not me."
"Okay," said Luna, while Astoria assented with her head.
"Whoa, wait! Don't tell him that," Ginny didn't want Harry getting mad at her.
"I won't tell anyone, if that helps…" said Neville. "I mean, if Ron knew about this place, he would have us skipping class and coming here all the time."
"What?" Lily raised an eyebrow. Neville had somehow forgotten there was a professor present in the room.
"Ah… no… I mean… we would never do that!"
Lily ignored the panicked boy and examined the entrance. There was nothing on the stone wall, but as soon as she got closer… a door appeared in the same place as it was before.
"Don't open it!" Ginny hurried to say. "As long as we are inside and the door is closed, no one else will be able to enter here."
"Yes, Harry always made us all enter together. He said that as long as someone was using the room, it would not show for anyone else, even if they knew it was here," Lyra explained.
"That sounds very useful," Lily agreed. "Let's hope that is enough to lose them."
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