Chapter 53. Room of Requirement. Part 1. Discovery
Halloween, the eve of All Hallows' Day, was drawing steadily nearer. It was a strange holiday, celebrated in the Muggle and magical worlds alike. For the occasion, houses were decorated with all manner of seasonal symbols: pumpkins carved with eyes and terrifying grins, candles placed inside to turn them into lanterns, decorative skulls and bats. People dressed as monsters, wizards, and witches, then went door to door asking for sweets.
Of course, the holiday did not go unnoticed within the walls of Hogwarts. Though the general mood was hardly festive, especially given the events unfolding beyond the school grounds, the Headmaster and teachers refused to let the day go unobserved. It was a sort of professional celebration for wizards, so they resolved to observe it anyway, if only to dispel the gloom a little.
The Great Hall was decorated in the best Halloween traditions. Pumpkins rested on every surface and hung from every corner, while candles floated magically through the air. The house-elves had helped enthusiastically with the preparations, staying well out of sight, and the ghosts were restless with excitement for the upcoming event. They were frequently spotted throughout the castle inspecting the pumpkins and conferring among themselves.
The enchanted ceiling, which usually displayed bright sunshine during the day and starry skies at night, now showed only dark clouds and lightning. The teachers and Headmaster did their best to create a festive atmosphere for the students, hoping to distract them, if only briefly, from the troubles plaguing Magical Britain.
Severus, meanwhile, sat in his quarters surrounded by books, continuing his studies of everything he could find about the Founders, as well as plants and monsters, not even skipping fairy tales and legends. After all, such fiction almost always contained a grain of truth, however small.
Nor had he forgotten about Nagini; in two months, of the three unknown plants, he had managed to find only one, and only by accident while reading a book by a certain Fredja Brew about his travels. After contacting him, Severus learned that this ingredient grew deep in the Amazon jungle. The man had stumbled upon it while fleeing a swamp monster, and its beauty and pleasant smell had caught his attention. This confirmed the traveler's account, since the plant possessed the same properties as the one from Severus's world, and the physical description matched completely.
Of course, Severus offered to pay the man to return and retrieve the plant, but the writer refused, advising Severus not to go there, since the place was extremely dangerous, and finding one plant in the vast jungle was an extremely nontrivial task.
Severus, of course, didn't plan to abandon school and travel to the other end of the world for that ingredient, but he made a note of the location, and if he couldn't find another source, he would most likely have to go there himself.
In addition, while scouring the library, he found mention of a wizard, the greatest alchemist living in France, who was currently six hundred forty-six years old. Though Severus had heard the name before, he had never been interested in him, but now he decided to study his biography and learned of a strange yet fascinating object: the Philosopher's Stone, capable of granting eternal life. He cared little about that; he was more interested in the knowledge accumulated over six centuries. So, after talking with Nagini, they decided to postpone her transformation until he graduated from Hogwarts, and then, together, they would travel to France and ask the old man about the plants needed for the potion.
Besides the potion, Severus had also turned his attention to the door he had found on the eighth floor. He hadn't stopped investigating it and had almost figured out how to open it. Only a small section of runes remained, one rune consisting of a hundred others, and because of its inconvenient location near the Headmaster's office, he couldn't linger there long, so decryption took quite a lot of time, right up until October twenty-ninth.
But from what he had managed to decipher, he finally understood more or less how the door opened. He just needed to think of something he truly needed while walking past the door three times, and it would open. But Severus had already tried this without success, so he assumed the inscription required something else to open it, perhaps a specific word or gesture.
Tonight he planned to visit the old door once again and decipher the last of the runes.
Toward evening, after leaving the library, Severus headed down to the dungeons for extra Potions lessons with Professor Slughorn.
He was already beginning to enjoy those lessons, since he could actually learn something new from them, just as he did with Runes, which he attended with genuine interest.
As for Transfiguration, he barely listened to the elderly professor. He already knew everything she taught, and if he wished, he could teach her himself, since two months of material could easily fit into two lessons.
McGonagall did not make masters of her students; she only taught the basics, never delving too deeply into her subject. She understood that only a few of the children truly wanted to learn, so she tried to drill into their heads only the material that might eventually prove useful in life.
He rarely attended his other subjects, except for Runes, Herbology, and Charms.
He studied Charms to better understand what the wizards of this world were capable of, Herbology mainly to compare plants from his world with those from this one, and Runes to understand how local artifacts worked and the spells based upon them. Interestingly, the elderly Runes professor did not simplify the material but presented it in full, so Severus rarely had to delve into the subject himself or waste time searching for worthy literature in the library.
As he made his way down to the dungeons, a familiar voice pulled him from his thoughts. He stopped and looked toward the sound to find Regulus looking somewhat nervous, which surprised him.
"I knew I would meet you here."
"Hm? What is it? We agreed to chat on the weekend, and right now I have lessons with Professor Slughorn. Or is it something urgent?"
"It is. My family is throwing a banquet in honor of the approaching holiday."
"I understand what you are getting at." Severus raised a hand and stopped Regulus mid-sentence as he finally descended the stairs. "But it will not work. If your grandmother sees me there, she will definitely have a heart attack." He winked and smiled as he walked past, patting him on the shoulder. "But thanks for the invitation."
"Wait!"
"What now?" Severus looked at him, puzzled.
"It will be a masquerade ball, and no one will recognize you if you wear a suitable costume!"
Severus stroked his chin thoughtfully, then shook his head.
"I'm sorry, but I cannot. I have too much to do," Severus said regretfully, noticing Regulus's sad expression. "And if they do recognize me, you'll be the one in trouble, and I don't want to put you in that position. You've worked too hard to earn your family's recognition."
"That's not true," Regulus said firmly, looking Severus in the eye with determination. "These past two months, you've opened my eyes to many things, and though it was harsh at times, I realized that to become a worthy head of the family, I must think for myself first and foremost, and I'm sure that if I develop a good relationship with you, it will be the right decision."
"You are quite straightforward, but I'm glad those lessons weren't wasted on you. Now I just need to knock those foolish blood purity prejudices out of your head, and you'll do fine. And don't look at me like that. You must understand there's no difference between Muggle-born wizards, half-bloods, and pure-bloods. You have your proof right in front of you, and I could name countless Muggle-born wizards who are far stronger than pure-bloods. But anyway, I won't bore you with my sermons." Seeing Regulus's sour expression, Severus waved dismissively and headed toward the Head of House's office. "I'll come. Thanks for the invitation." He waved the white envelope, surprising Regulus, who quickly checked the inner pocket of his jacket and then smiled crookedly.
"Severus, are you sure you're not a thief?"
"Who knows."
The lessons with Slughorn proceeded as usual, and afterward Severus immediately headed to the eighth floor, continuing to decipher the runes until one in the morning.
When he finally finished, Severus couldn't suppress a crooked smirk.
"And everything turned out to be so simple."
"What is it?" Nagini asked, bewildered as she saw Severus's disappointed look.
"You will see for yourself now." He slipped the notebook into his money bag and lifted his gaze to the blank wall. "I would like to see all possible literature on Legilimency." With that thought, Severus walked past the wall, then once more, and when he did it for the third time, a set of three-meter steel double doors adorned with patterns materialized before him. "To make them appear, you need to think about what you truly need and walk past the wall three times. It's all so simple, and I had imagined something far more complicated."
"Indeed. A strange method to hide this room. Anyone could have made it appear by accident. But what is in it?" Nagini asked with intense interest.
"Logically, I think it is exactly what I was thinking about when I walked past it three times, but I should still make sure. Ladies first." Nagini looked at Severus, then at her tail, and back at him.
"I am going to bite you now."
"I'm just joking. But when you become human again, I wouldn't mind." He ignored the bare fangs and unfriendly look, grabbed the handle, and opened the right door.
Before him stood endless wooden shelves, all filled with books on a single topic: Legilimency. And on that day Severus understood that he had found his new abode, and Nagini realized she would not get him back. He was lost to her for years to come, and perhaps decades.
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