The Gloriana Set

Healing

Here's a bit of sweetness before the plot of this story takes our characters by the scruff of the neck and shakes them furiously. 

At 7:47 p.m. on Friday, Hermione ducked into the chilly alcove near the Gryffindor common room and tapped the Maurauders' Map with her lit wand. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." Draco thought he'd outsmarted her, but she'd prove him wrong. Confidently she scanned the Slytherin dungeons, the classrooms on the upper floors, likely alcoves and the ground-floor storage room.

But no Draco. Hermione hunched over the parchment, checking and rechecking dots. Where was he? How did he do it? It must be someplace the Marauders never found. A Slytherin hideout? Someplace new, perhaps, created during the renovations this summer? Hermione bit her lip. Maybe she should ...

Wait. There he was, in the fourth-floor corridor that linked Gryffindor Tower and the Owlry. Draco's dot lingered near a bit of wall opposite a balcony and then ... disappeared.

Hermione stared at the Map in disbelief. He was there and then gone, just like in their Sixth ...

She shoved the parchment in the pocket of her cardigan and left the alcove, walking briskly to the fourth floor. The corridor was lined with pictures of the Scottish moors; flickering torchlight reflected off the floor-to-ceiling windows on her left. Draco was nowhere in sight.

Hermione pulled out the Map again, but there was no dot but hers in the corridor or the balcony. She looked curiously at the bit of wall where she had seen that dot. Draco was nearby, she was sure of it.

She tucked the map back into her pocket, prepared to wait him out, when the stone wall shimmered slightly and a small, low door appeared, painted green. The door opened and she stood amazed as Draco ducked through.

He spotted her immediately, even before he'd straightened to his full height, and his smile held a hint of triumph. "You're late," he said.

Hermione was still staring at the door. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Yes, come see." Draco took her hand and she smiled, for he looked a bit excited, his usual hauteur completely gone.

He pulled her into a small, rectangular room with a flat ceiling and no windows. The only furnishings were a thick, luxurious brown carpet, a few large cushions and two standing lamps. Draco's black suitcoat was draped over a cream-colored cushion.

But the walls were the real wonder: Hermione stood agog, mouth open, for runes danced across walls the color of parchment, the figures shifting color as they moved. A tree appeared, its leaves rustling silently, followed by a longship with square sails moving across the wall. Her gaze turned to Draco and he silently gestured upward, where more runes spun in a slow circle.

"The Codex," she whispered, hardly daring to speak or it would all disappear. She squeezed Draco's hand. "The Room of Requirement. You asked it to show you the Codex."

"I found the Room last week," Draco said. "I needed a place to hide from ..." he stopped and cleared his throat.

"Who?" Hermione couldn't help asking. She couldn't imagine who could drive Draco Malfoy into hiding.

"Luna Lovegood," he confessed. "She's developed a renovation plan for the Malfoy cellars. She thinks the underground spaces would make an excellent meditative retreat." Draco suddenly looked drained, and Hermione bit her lip to keep from laughing. "The daft witch has been hounding me for weeks. She thinks we can tap into a groundwater source to create a ... a Spring of Renewal, and that the positive meditative energy could chase away any lingering Dark spirits." He swallowed and shook his head.