Chapter 121: Easter Holidays

Saturday evening Hagrid invited Chris, Ginny and Colin for tea in his house.

"I heard abou' yer letters, Chris. Hermione told meh." said Hagrid gently. "I got some o' those letters an' all, after Rita Skeeter wrote abou' me mum. 'Yeh're a monster an' yeh should be put down.' 'Yer mother killed innocent people an' if you had any decency you'd jump in a lake."

"Really?" Ginny looked shocked. "That's horrible Hagrid."

"Yeah," said Hagrid, "They're jus' nutters, Chris. Don' open 'em if yeh get any more. Chuck 'em straigh' in the fire."

Hate mail continued to arrive for Chris over the following week, and although she followed Hagrid's advice and stopped opening it, several of her ill-wishers sent Howlers, which exploded at the Gryffindor table and shrieked insults and threats at her for the whole Hall to hear. Even those people who didn't read Witch Weekly knew all about Chris being a dark and crazy witch.

"Just ignore them Chris." Irena told her in the Ancient Runes class. "It'll die down soon."

Chris was actually ignoring them, it was her friends who were getting effected by those letters. Ginny was in bad mood all day, when she got a letter from Mrs Weasley, asking what they're up to?

"I can't believe mom is considering the witch weekly and Daily Prophet." Ginny snapped. "She knows you more than any of my friends."

"But she didn't accuse me for anything, Ginny." Chris said as she read the letter.

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"No she didn't. But I know my mother." Ginny said angrily. "She is asking if I'm with bad company in school?"

Ginny wasn't completely wrong, but she wasn't completely right either. Mrs Weasley was worried about Chris too. In Ginny's letter she asked if Chris really was mingling with Slytherins? And if yes then she asked Ginny to warn Chris and help her to get rid of them. Chris felt glad as Mrs Weasley didn't believe that Chris could put curses on innocent students for fun, but she also felt bad as she realized what she meant my 'bad company'. Chris understood how Harry got his stereotypical opinions about Slytherins. Weasleys never liked Slytherin house, only Ginny was a little exception. Maybe just because of Chris, she decided to trust Jason. So Ginny soon wrote a letter back to Mrs Weasley, clearly stating that she or Chris no one was doing anything illegal.

But that wasn't true anymore, as they were preparing for the Animagus process. After Rita's article, Chris stopped going to the Myrtle's bathroom. Though she knew Dumbledore will not expell her, there was no need to tempt fate. 'Better safe than sorry.'

So Chris started to looking for a place to start her new Potions and Transfigurations without getting noticed. As Ginny, Colin and Luna, all decided to became Animagus like Chris, they started trying to master potion and Transfiguration as well. So they needed a big space for that.

And after searching for two weeks, Chris finally found it... in her Dreams. A special room made by Rowena Ravenclaw herself. While making the Hogwarts, Helga Hufflepuff and Rowena Ravenclaw decided to create two different significant rooms. Helga Hufflepuff made the Great Hall and Rowena Ravenclaw made the room named "The Room of Requirement." It was located in seventh floor. It was a room that a person can only enter, when they have real need of it. Sometimes it'll be there, and sometimes it won't, but when it'll appear, it'll be always equipped for the seeker's needs.

Chris decided to check the place on that same evening. Soon she reached the seventh floor and saw there was a stretch of blank wall opposite an enormous tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy's foolish attempt to train trolls for the ballet.

'Alright. I just need to think about a place for me and my friends to practice spells, transfigurations and potions.' She thought, and walked past the wall. Then she turned around and walked back to the wall. As soon as she stood in front of the wall, a highly polished door appeared in the wall. Chris reached out, seized the brass handle, pulled open the door, and entered into a spacious room lit with flickering torches like those that illuminated the dungeons eight floors below. The walls were lined with wooden bookcases and cupboards. There were six tables, lots of chairs and cushions. Chris looked at the books cases, inside was hundred of spells, potions and transfiguration books. Chris opened the cupboards, and there was almost every kind of potion ingredients and cauldrons and what not.

"This is excellent Chris." Luna said as Chris brought them in that room the very next day.

"True." Ginny grinned. "Look at those books, they're so advanced."

"Look at the cupboard, here is everything we want." Colin said opening it.

"And we can practice here without being noticed." Chris replied seriously. "But I think we should agree on something."

"What?" Ginny asked.

"We're not going to tell anyone else about this room. Not even Jason, Shawn, Michael, Hermione, Ron, Harry... no one." Chris said seriously.

"Alright." All three of them nodded.

"Then I guess it's time to start preparing." Chris grinned.

Soon the Easter Holidays arrived with packages of Easter eggs from Mrs. Weasley for Ginny and Chris. Both of them got the size of dragon eggs and full of homemade toffee. Chris's father also sent many toffees for Ginny, Luna and Colin. But the best thing arrived for Chris. Leon dropped a light parcel on her lap with some toffee and a letter from his father.

"What's it?" Ginny asked curiously.

"Today after dinner.... Room of Requirement." Chris whispered, smirking. "I'll show you three, what I asked from my father as a early birthday present."

As planned after dinner all four of them sneaked into seventh floor and entered the Room of Requirement. Only then Chris unwrapped the parcel. Ginny, Luna and Colin gasped.

"It's... it's..." Ginny was grinning.

Something fluid and silvery gray went slithering to the floor where it lay in gleaming folds.

"Yep. An invisibility cloak." Chris smirked.

"But why do you need it Chris?" Luna asked while she examined it. "We're pretty good at sneaking around without it, aren't we?"

"I know but it's for emergency situations. We can't get caught now, can we?" Chris said casually. "And now with my reputation, it's important to have something like this with me."

"Point." Colin grinned. "Can I try it on?"

"Sure."

Colin threw the Cloak around his shoulders, the girls laughed. Colin's head suspended in midair, his body was completely invisible.

"I'm going to scare Dennis to death, like this." Colin laughed.

One by one they tried on the new invisibility cloak and made plans how were they going to use it.

"I guess only your father knows about the cloak." Chris said to Ginny as they walked back to Gryffindor tower.

"My dad?" Ginny looked surprised.

"Yeah. Dad wrote in his letter that he took Mr Weasley with him to buy this invisibility cloak, as he wouldn't have understood this things clearly."

"Do your Dad knows about the rumors." Colin asked to Chris.

"Hmm. He does." Chris replied cooly. "I told him."

"And?"

"And what? He wrote, he laughed at the thought that I can act evil." Chris said, rolling her eyes.

Ginny and Colin chuckled.

"My Dad don't trust the articles either. He trusts you." Ginny said smiling.

The holidays were not exactly relaxing for the third years. They never had so much homework. Liam Smith, Colin's other roommate seemed close to a nervous collapse, and he wasn't the only one.

"I can't do this anymore." Lauren said, looking frustrated, at the common room one afternoon. "The exams are ages away and still they gave us so much work."

But nobody had as much to do as Chris. She took one subject extra than her friends, Ancient Runes and its homework was more than any other subjects. Also Chris and her friends were starting on their new advanced potions and spells. Chris was grateful that there was no Quidditch practice this year, because her entire day was so packed that she didn't have time to sleep properly. Chris thought, 'it would've been cool to have a Time-Turner in this kind of situation'. But then again, she wasn't Hermione so the chances of McGonagall giving her the Time-Turner was zero. Because maybe she was a good student, but her reputation wasn't as good as Hermione.

Anyway, Ginny, Luna and Colin were working hard with Chris everyday. Though, at first, they took the Animagus thing casually, but later they realized how much hard work it actually is. Also Chris warned them repeatedly about the dangers in this process.

"Impatience with the long and complicated process is generally at the root of disasters, which usually take the form of horrible half-human, half-animal mutations. There is no known cure for such mistakes." Chris read loudly.

But to her great surprise no one gave up, not even Colin, who was mostly struggling with Transfiguration. After that Chris was sure that there going to be another batch of illegal Animagus in Hogwarts.