▬▬ ten; the room of requirement.
⋆.｡.:* ☆:**:. 

THE ONLY THING IN THE CASTLE THAT HAD CHANGED WAS THE WALL OUTSIDE THE GREAT HALL. The naked stone wall she never had paid attention to was now almost completely covered with frames and a new proclamation had just been added. 'All student organizations are henceforth disbanded. Any student in noncompliance will be expelled' it read. There was no doubt that it had to do with the secret army they had started, the army that Lauren still didn't know anything about while walking past the proclamation sings and making her way upstairs to Dumbledore's office where her luggage had arrived.

"I'll let you get settle, Lauren. No doubt your friends are still up and ready to help you," he said as she grabbed the two suitcases.

She chuckled, "It's midnight, they're sleeping. . . Well, at least Ron is."

But to her surprise, when she entered the Gryffindor common room as quietly as she possibly could, her three best friends were seated around one of the tables. The boys tiredly leaned against the palm of their hand while Hermione Granger was in her natural habit, stuck in a book.

"Aren't Prefects supposed to set a good example?" She said, bringing all the three heads up and around. She giggled as Hermione ran into her, pushing the suitcases onto the floor and holding tightly around Lauren's figure. 

"I had no idea you were coming back!" She exclaimed.

Harry and Ron joined the hug and the redhead said, "of course we're thrilled to have you here but couldn't we've gotten a heads-up?"

"You seem busy enough as it is, why are you still up?"

"We have some catching up to do," Harry said. And hours into the night they explained how it had been at Hogwarts, from the big changes to the smallest of details. Without hesitation, she accepted the invitation to the secret army they had formed, Dumbledore's Army. 

And by lunchtime the next day, Neville Longbottom dragged them along through the halls with a smile on his face. A tall wooden door appeared on the blank stone wall and they walked through it to find themselves in a room perfectly built for magic training.

"You've done it, Neville. Youfound the Room of Requirement," Hermione said, beaming.

"The what?"

"It's also known as the Come and Go Room. The Room of Requirement only appearswhen a person has real need of it," she explained. "And it's always equippedfor the seeker's needs."

"So say you really needed the toilet. . ." Ron said, making Lauren giggle.

"Charming, Ronald. But, yes,that is a general idea."

"Won't teachers be able to find us here?" Lauren asked.

Hermione shook her head, "Not as long as we bring them here."

"It's brilliant. It's likeHogwarts wants us to fight back," Harry Potter said while his lips curved upwards a bit.

"If I really needed to go swimming, you think this room would turn into a beach?" Laughter burst out at Lauren's sudden question, and then they were off to gather the other students that were a part of this secret.

"Have you talked to Draco, does he know you're back?" Hermione asked as she walked arm in arm with Lauren behind the boys.

The brunette sighed, "Haven't got the chance. I did speak with him when I was here a couple of weeks ago visiting Dumbledore to talk about. . . about how I was doing," she said, avoiding the topic of her dreams and visions for now. "You know when we decided I should move in with Sirius?"

Hermione nodded.

"I kissed him," Lauren blushed, making Hermione smile and playfully hit her shoulder.

"But it wasn't the first time, I'm sure," the red-haired girl smirked.

Lauren ignored her comment and looked up at the moving stairs, "I really should find him, let him know I'm back."

"That's a wonderful idea, just don't mention anything about DA."

—

Lauren Diggory was very unfamiliar with the feeling of being nervous. Her courage and curiosity had always killed any chance of being nervous, but now, standing behind a pillar looking into the courtyard she could understand why they explained nervosity as butterflies in your stomach.

In the middle of a small crowd, the blonde boy stood among his friends chatting loudly. Whenever he'd laugh her own mouth would curve upwards, and it had always been that way. It felt so odd to think that the spark between them wasn't just imagination anymore. But even if so, walking up to him among his friends felt wrong. She felt unwelcomed to do so because a soft spot inside her was afraid he wouldn't embrace her proudly. She was almost trembling because she wondered if he'd reject her.

Convincing herself it was a bad time, she hurried back into the castle. And later that day DA's first lesson was held. Lauren couldn't drop the proud smile she wore while listening to Harry explaining different spells and how to perform them, and she admired how he encouraged everyone even though most attempts were failed.

"You're just flourishing your wand too much. Try it like this." 

She didn't pay much attention to the actual information he was saying, she just watched how he helped Neville control his wand more gentle.

"Expelliarmus." 

And Harry did notice her carefulness, how she just walked around giving people compliments and then just stood gazing around in the room from a corner.

"You okay?"

She smiled and nodded, "fine."

"My bad, I can see something's off so let me restate myself. . . What's wrong?"

A sigh escaped her lips and she looked down at her feet. "A lot of things are wrong, but I really wanna' help this happen. Let's focus on the important things, yeah?"

"You are important, Laure. You're my best friend and you've been there for me through everything. Just lemme' know how I can help you?"

Looking into Harry's eyes she had always felt so safe. Having him to lean on had always been such a relief but now it felt so wrong to pour her problems out for him, it would be selfish of her to feel bothered when her friends, the world, were under so much pressure.

"I know that I have you, Harry," she patted his shoulder. "Now go on."

They stood now lined up in two lines and in between them, Harry paced from one end to the other explaining, "Stunning is one of the most useful spells in your arsenal. It's a wizard's bread and butter, really. So come on, then, Nigel." The little boy a few feet away from Harry himself gulped, "Give it your best shot."

Having curious faces watching him from his left and right, Nigel raised his wand at Harry who stood unarmed waiting to be hit. And he was.

"Stupefy!" The boy shouted, making both himself and Harry fly and land harshly on the floor.

"Good. Not bad at all, Nigel," Harry said, groaning quietly while getting up from the floor. "Well done."

After a few rounds, it was Ms. Brainy against Mr. Redhead. "Don't worry. I'll go easy on you," he said.

The girls chuckled, and Hermione nodded, "Thanks, Ronald."

Lauren scoffed, "this shall be fun." She walked up to the tall Weasley twins, knowing well what they were up to. "I bet on Mione."

Fred nodded and whispered as the duel was about to start, "One Sickle."

"You're on," both George and Lauren said in unison.

"Stupefy!" Ron flew back and landed with a loud thud at the floor, followed by a wave of gasps and laughter from the audience.

"Thank you," Lauren said as Fred placed a sickle in her and Geroge's hand. "Well, that was beautiful," the brunette giggled as Ron walked up to them before she ran over to the group of girls smiling and laughing.

—

Without a greeting, he walked into the almost empty girls' chamber. He sat down on her bed while she stood in front of the mirror tying her up in a rather messy bun.

"You're not welcomed in here," she said with a joke-filled tone and wink. She ignored how he was staring at her and kept gathering her things and laid her new-washed clothes near the fireplace. "Why are you—"

"We need to talk," he said firmly.

She looked up at him with her facade fading into a frowned expression. The girl got up and walked over to sit on the bed opposite where he was, "about what?"

"You're scared, I can see it."

"Voldemort is back, Harry. Of course, I'm scared," she said.

"I've known you since the first day of First year, and we've gone through unbelievable things. You ran into the bathroom and jumped at that troll to protect Hermione, you punched Draco in the face when he gave Ron a dirty look while walking by, you ran through the fire to save me from Quirell who in fact was Voldemort. And you remember when we met Aragog for the first time, and when we tried to escape I lost the picture of my parents I always carry around. . . you went back to get it, without hesitation."

Lauren's shoulders caved in as she tried to dodge his words. He made her sound so brave. . . Like she was some sort of hero but she didn't feel like one, not at all.

"And you threw yourself at the basilisk to protect me, and you figured out how to destroy the diary. When I stayed at the Leaky Cauldron you also did because you didn't want me to be alone." He paused for a second and chuckled, "and you so badly wanted to ride Buckbeak and you were mad for days when I was the one who got to do it—"

"I know I shouldn't say this but it was so funny when Draco was being so overdramatic. It was just bruised," she added, joining him in smiling back at all the memories.

"And I remember our lesson with the Boggart," he said making her head perk up. 

During their Third Year, Lupin was their professor in Defense Against The Dark Arts. The very first lesson he had introduced the Boggart to them.

"Lauren, you're up next," he announced as Harry walked to the end of the line. She shrugged and held her wand gently while waiting for some instruction from Lupin. "Just relax, take a deep breath, and. . ."

The doors of the wardrobe opened and wind hit her and her classmates in the face harshly. It was silent while she waited for something to happen, for something to appear as it did for the others. But nothing happened and she lowered her wand and looked at Lupin.

"Professor, am I doing something wrong?"

The tall man frowned and shook his head, "either you're insane or sanest of us all."

"What does that mean?" Someone in the row muttered confused.

Lupin shrugged, "Ms. Diggory is simply not afraid."

▬▬author's note▬▬

IT'S SUMMER!! I'll enjoy ten weeks of nothing but sun and fun, i'm soooo happy.

stay tuned, thank you! <3
stay safe.