Chapter 27 - The Room of Requirements

Aside from classes and some time for friends, my time was spent in my room trying to perfect the Disillusionment charm, scent hiding charm and a spell to mute my footsteps so that I could move around Hogwarts freely and visit the legendary Room of requirements.

Soon I mastered all the spells. So I decided to visit Room of requirements. There was also another problem that I had to solve before I visited Room of requirements to avoid detection. I could not check if anyone was out in the hallway when I exited the Room of requirements so I had to speed up the acquisition of Marauder's map. I took out the schedule of the Filch and his cat which I had mapped during these days with the help of Sherry. The timing was almost the same every day so I could find the perfect time to steal the map from it. I was in a hurry so after I found the perfect time interval during night in which the room was unguarded, I went towards the Filch's room after disillusioning myself. I was careful to make sure that my scent was hidden as it could lead to me if Mrs. Norris sensed it later.

When I was there I checked to see if anyone was there and luckily no one was near the room. I had Sherry wait outside to warn me if anyone approaches and quickly went into the room and found the cupboard which was marked dangerous items and searched for the old parchment. I found it very easily and then checked to see if it was the real one. When I said the password 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good' the parchment changed and the map of the floor I was present on was shown on it. I saw that no one was near me so after closing the parchment using the phrase 'Mischief Managed' and quickly left the room. I told Sherry to make sure that I did not leave any traces and quickly went to my room in the Ravenclaw tower while disillusioned. My luck was too good and I was not found by anyone else and the whole process took only 30 minutes. Along the way I checked if there was someone invisible in the path I took using the map and was happy there was no one. So the mission was a perfect success.

Now there was nothing else stopping me from going to the Legendary Room of Requirements. I decided I would go to the Room of requirements tomorrow. I was too excited to wait any longer.

After classes I went into an empty corridor, disillusioned myself, applied the various spells and made my way towards the 7th Floor. I stood across the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy (some barmy wizard!) and walked past the wall opposite it three times while thinking for a place to practice magic. When I crossed the wall for the third time the wall split into two and there was a door in the wall. I opened the door and went inside making sure that no one was present in the hallway.

When I entered the room I was met with the sight of a room of the size similar to a classroom. One side contained various dummies and another side contained a couple of bookshelves filled with books. Then I started testing the room. It was a lot better than I imagined. The room could be called the Room of Illusions. The room can make realistic illusions of anything we can think of but with some conditions. The room could make the things that was available at the time it was made so I cannot ask for a modern muggle room or anything like that. Since it was an illusion, we cannot ask for water or any eatables from the room. I had Sherry for that so it was not a problem.

It can provide me with a copy of anything that is present inside Hogwarts which is Hogwarts property and the things no one else has claim to. So I could access the whole Hogwarts library including the restricted section and even the Headmaster's collection of books which he removed from the library from the Room itself. I guess this makes the efforts Dumbledore took in hiding some books futile. I could also ask for books that the Hogwarts professors had bought using Hogwarts funds as it was owned by Hogwarts and not them. I could not gain access to Dumbledore's private collection of books or the various teachers private books and notes, which was a shame. But since even the books were an illusion and was not taken from its original location, they could not be taken out of the room and I could read them only when I here in the room. Only the things present in the Room of Hidden Things could be taken out of the room. Other things would just disappear as soon as I left the room. I guess I will have to read normal books from the library and use the time in ROR for restricted books. I did not enter the Room of hidden things and check for books and other interesting things for now as there was not much use for them at the moment and some items in there were dangerous and I did not want to accidentally get cursed.

The dummies in the room of different types and sizes. Some were stationary and some moved in predefined fashions. They must have been used in the old times for duelling practice. I could not have the perfect battle enactment using this but with the dummies along with an obstacle course that I could think up, I could a get close enough scenario.

I checked for a time dilation option in the ROR which I had read about in various fan fictions but was disappointed as that was not available. Guess it would have make the room too powerful.

All in all, I was more than satisfied with the room and added a visit to it to my daily schedule. So after a total of 2 weeks in Hogwarts, I had finally prepared the daily schedule to follow when I am in Hogwarts which looked packed with things to do. Now the only thing left to do was to stick to it and hope there are no interruptions.