On God?

Chapter 29

in which sneaking out is fun.

"There you are! I was beginning to think you wouldn't show!" Hermione whispered as I stopped by them, trying to catch my breath. I had sprinted all the way from Snape's office to the Gryffindor Common Room, which wasn't an easy feat.

"So-sorry, got caught up in something." I panted, straightening out and glancing at Harry, who was pulling out an worn out piece of parchment. "Woah is that the Marauders Map?" I exclaimed in a whisper, and their gazes shot to me. "Um...Sirius told me about it." I chuckled, shrinking back.

"Hold it." Harry warned, unfolding the piece of parchment at the top of the last staircase, tapping it with his wand and muttering, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." A map of Hogwarts appeared on the blank surface of the parchment. Tiny black moving dots, labelled with names, showed where various people were.

"Filch is on the second floor." Harry said, holding the map close to his eyes. "Mrs Norris is on the fourth."

"And Umbridge?" said Hermione anxiously, and I made a face at the mention of the toad woman.

"In her office." said Harry, pointing at the paper. "Okay, lets go."

We hurried along the corridor to a stretch of blank wall opposite an enormous tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmyʹs foolish attempt to train trolls for the ballet.

"Okay." said Harry quietly, while a moth‐eaten troll paused in his relentless clubbing of the would‐be ballet teacher to watch them. "Dobby said to walk past this bit of wall three times, concentrating hard on what we need."

We did so, turning sharply at the window just beyond the blank stretch of wall, then at the man‐sized vase on its other side. Ron had screwed up his eyes in concentration; Hermione was whispering something under her breath; Harryʹs fists were clenched as he stared ahead of him. I felt ridiculous.

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed quietly, pointing towards the once blank wall.

A highly polished door had appeared in the wall. Ron was staring at it, looking slightly wary. Harry reached out, seized the brass handle, pulled open the door and led the way 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 instead of chairs there were large silk cushions on the floor. A set of shelves at the far end of the room carried a range of instruments that I didn't recognize, but could only assume were some sort of wizard technology.

"Woah. Now this is cool." I breathed, glancing around as Ron and Hermione all did their own exploring. "But I wonder..."

Please give me an espresso machine, please give me an espresso machine....I glanced up an shrieked, jumping up and down for joy as I ran towards the coffee machine. Hermione, Ron and Harry all flinched, head's shooting from where they were looking towards me.

"What is that..." Hermione trailed off as I produced a steaming cup of coffee. The Room of Requirement had graciously provided milk and sugar, and a few seconds later I was holding some amazing, basic coffee.

"It's coffee!" I grinned, taking a small sip to not scald myself. "I haven't had any in forever, all you people drink here is pumpkin juice and Butterbeer. Do you not know what water is?" Nah, because somehow wizards survive off of pumpkin juice. Do they have different organs or something?

The three looked flabbergasted as the other members of the DA began entering the room, and I calmly sipped the caffeinated drink.

"I think we ought to elect a leader." Hermione suggested, and the others murmured their support.