The Cupboard Series 3: Potter Haven

Chapter 16

"Get a move on, Nev!" Seamus Finnegan announced, giving his dorm-mate a slight shove in the back.

For his part, Neville stumbled forward and out of the way of the door of the dormitory before freezing in place. The room that he'd spent the last two years in simply looked ... wrong. Where once there were places for five boys to live, there were now only four. Harry's bed and desk were gone leaving behind a blank stretch of stone wall.

"Looks like we've got ourselves a bit more room to stretch out in," Ron Weasley commented as he stood beside his bed, looking at the same patch of bare flooring that had Neville entranced. "What do you think we should use it for?"

Ever so slowly, Neville's head turned to face the red head.

"That's Harry's area," he stated.

"Well, yeah, it was," Ron replied. "But he ain't here anymore, is he?"

"That's Harry's area," Neville repeated.

Ron grimaced at him before turning to the other two boys in the room.

"What do you guys reckon we should use it for? We could set up a table for games, maybe. Have an area for chess and whatever?"

Dean looked between Ron and Neville. "I dunno, Ron. Like Nev said, that's Harry's spot. It wouldn't feel right to take it over."

"It's not like he's coming back or anything," Ron appealed. "He's been expelled, remember."

"He'll be back," Neville stated emphatically.

Seamus cut in before Ron could speak again. "Reckon you should drop it, mate. That's Harry's area. I think that we should just leave it alone."

Seeing Ron turn away grumbling to himself, Neville cast one last glance at the empty portion of the room before trudging across to his own bed.

Like always, the house elves had brought up their trunks from the train and placed them at the end of their beds. Opening his up, Neville dug out a pair of pyjamas and quickly changed. He wasn't in the mood for the usual first night back gob-fest that he and his dorm-mates usually participated in. Instead, he climbed into bed and closed the curtains around him.

Lying down, he slid his hands up under his head and heard an unfamiliar crackling sound coming from under him. With a frown, Neville sat up slightly and turned around. He lifted his pillow to find an envelope laying there, his name emblazoned on the front.

In his haste, he ripped the envelope open and yanked out the slightly torn piece of muggle paper inside.

Hey Nev,

Welcome back to Hogwarts! Wish I was there with you, but you know how things are.

I thought that I'd send letters to you this way now, hope you don't mind. I don't really trust Dumbledore not to do something to the owls when they arrive at Hogwarts so that he gets to read any letters between us. If you ever feel like writing to me, Hermione knows of a secret place that you can leave them and they'll get to me.

Anyway, have a great year.

Harry.

He was already half out of his bed before he remembered that he was wearing his pyjamas, not to mention the fact that Hermione was probably already in her own dorm room and not in the common room any more.

After stuffing the letter back into its envelope, Neville stashed it between the mattress and the base of the bed. He'd write back to Harry in the morning and then go find out where this 'secret place' was from Hermione.