"I didn't realise things were getting that bad" Peter whispered.
"It will only get worse" Harry responded certainly.
The feast was a very subdued affair and the boys gratefully left the hall to make their way back to Gryffindor tower. They had just left the hall when Harry was tapped on the shoulder and he turned to be faced with the young Narcissa Black who immediately threw her arms around him.
"Hello Harry" she greeted the boy with a smile.
The rest of the Marauders were confused by the fond way in which the young Black was interacting with someone from their house, completely uncaring of the glares she was receiving by those in her own.
"How are you Cissy?" Harry asked warmly. "Are you not worried that your housemates will be upset with you for talking to me?".
"Don't care if they are" the girl shrugged. "I like you more than any of them and besides, I'll curse them if they say anything" she added with a grin.
Harry just shook his head and chuckled. "Well then you better not be a stranger, you can come and speak to me any time you like" he returned happily.
"Good" Narcissa stated. "I'd be a bad friend if I didn't" she observed. "Anyway, I just wanted to say hi but I will see you soon" she added, before leaving to head to her own common room.
"OK that was weird" Remus stated as the group began heading to their common room.
"We bonded" Harry shrugged.
"You're a strange person Harry, you seem to be able to win everyone over" Peter pointed out amusedly.
"Not everyone" Harry sighed, thinking of the other Black sister he had spent time with.
They entered the common room and almost immediately Harry found himself in a tight and enthusiastic embrace once more. "Hello Lily"
"Thank you for the book, it's amazing" the redhead responded after she had extracted herself from his chest. "You've grown, a lot" she added with a curious frown.
"I am sixteen, that is usually what happens, we don't need to have an awkward conversation about growing up do we?" he asked with a smirk.
Lily blushed and shook her head furiously.
"I know about all that" she whispered shyly. "I just mean you've grown more than should be possible in only a couple of weeks".
"Magic" Harry returned simply.
Lily just giggled and shook her head once more.
"Would you still be able to help me with my project? I'm a little stuck on a few things and could do with a fresh pair of eyes to look it over" she sighed.
Harry nodded.
"I can but I have something really important I need to focus on, so I will help you when it's dealt with, which should be soon hopefully".
"Thank you" the girl said gratefully. "I'm going to head up to bed but I will see you tomorrow".
"See you later Lily" he bade the girl farewell.
Harry himself was soon in bed feeling a little nervous about showing the others the room. He knew they would keep it a secret between the group he just hoped they did not think he was keeping secrets because he did not trust them. He also needed t think of a way how he could explain his knowledge of the room, something he would ponder in the morning as he was far too tired to do so now.
(BREAK) It was after Transfiguration the next morning that found Harry leading the other four Marauders to the seventh floor, up to the tapestry of Barnabus the Barmy attempting to teach the trolls how to dance.
"As entertaining as the tapestry is Harry, there are no rooms here" Remus pointed out.
"Not any that you can see" Harry replied with a smirk.
"We mapped this whole floor already and there is nothing up here worth seeing" Sirius interjected with a frown.
Harry sighed.
"Watch and learn" he advised.
He began pacing back and forth in front of the blank stretch of wall thinking of his training room while being watched by the others who were clearly confused, though they all gasped when the large oak door appeared. Harry opened the door and led his four dumbfounded friends in, closing the door behind them.
"Gentleman, I give you the room of requirement" he announced proudly.
"It's just like our basement" James stated flatly.
"At the moment" Harry agreed. "But it can become almost anything you want it to be".
"Bullshit" Sirius disagreed.
"Think of something you really want, other than food or gold and the room will provide it" Harry challenged.
Sirius gave him a calculative look before closing his eyes, deep in thought.
After a few moments the room became much larger and a swimming pool appeared on the far side. "fuck me" Sirius balked in complete disbelief. "How did you find it?" he asked.
"I asked a house elf for some where I can train and he showed me this" Harry answered truthfully.
"Do you have any idea what we can do with this room?" Remus asked excitedly.
"The possibilities are endless" James whispered.
"No more broom cupboards" Sirius declared happily.
"Our secret remember" Harry reminded him. Sirius looked more than a little disappointed but nodded his agreement.
"We have a lot of time to play with and enjoy the room but now it is training time" Harry informed them as he made the pool disappear. "How do you start?" Peter asked. "Well I do my exercises in the morning, running and weights and so on" Harry began. "Then I come here in the afternoon to do my spell work" he shrugged. "So just relax and watch, if you want to try anything then go for it but be careful" he warned.
The four boys took a tentative step back as Harry set up the dummies how he always did, charming them so they fired stunners at him to begin with as a warm up.
He readied himself and allowed his magic to flow through him for the first time while training this way.
.
.
.
👓☕️Consider supporting me and enhance your reading experience with the ready-to-read PDFs I have on my Ko-fi.☕️👓
🎯https://ko-fi.com/cmrowling🎯