Dear Diggory

chapter 21

All too soon, it was Saturday, which meant it was time for the first exploration for our group project. Our decision to start inside the castle meant that today we had to document the room of requirement.

I was excited to see it for myself. The fact that Cedric had discovered it was a stroke of luck.

I gathered my things for the day, making sure to pack my notebook, the journal and my pencils. I had been assigned to look after the journal since I needed time to paint into it.

I left the tower and made my way to the seventh floor. When I arrived the group was already there. I looked Cedric up and down, taking in his frame. He was wearing slim fitting black jeans and a black t-shirt with a dark yellow and black checkered flannel over it. His hair sat perfectly messy, as if he'd just run his hands through it and I wondered how someone could look so good without trying. I shook the invasive thoughts from my head.

He led the way through the halls, guiding us into a part of the castle I'd never thought to enter before and we ended up in the left corridor of the seventh floor.

We didn't have to walk far before we slowed down, matching Cedric's pace. The corridor was average looking, it made sense why no one had seemed to find the room before, its location was perfectly ordinary.

I knew no one came to the seventh floor often anyway, none of our classes were up here unless there was a last-minute room repair being done.

On one side of the wall sat an oil paint portrait of an older gentleman. In the far corner of the frame were three trolls wearing ballet slippers and I smiled at the ridiculous sight. They all twirled as the gentleman attempted to conduct their movements, but they turned to watch us when we came to a stop.

Cedric pointed to the wall opposite, "this is where the door appeared to me. You have to pass it three times holding the thought of what you need in your mind."

We nodded at him and watched as he walked the length of the corridor with focus. He looped around again twice and suddenly the wall began to change. The hard stone shifted and dust fell to the floor as it disintegrated. Slowly, a large set of iron doors materialised and I admired the intricate swirling of the decoration.

We stood there in awe for a moment, absorbing the reality of the rumour, before the others tried to move towards the door, but I stopped them quickly.

"I'm going to sketch the entrance first. Maybe you guys should write notes about how you get the door to appear?" I offered, pulling out my equipment.

They agreed and we stood there for a few minutes as I roughly sketched the doors into the journal with my pencil. I would paint all the drawings properly later in my free periods.

Finally I was finished and we made our way towards the doors. Cedric pushed them open with force and I gasped as I took in the sight of the room.

Although, perhaps 'room' wasn't even the right word to use anymore.

At our feet were multiple cobbled rocks that led towards the centre of the space. They curved around the edge until they reached the other side, leaving an opening.

The wider sides of the room were covered in luscious jungle vegetation. There were too many trees to count; everything from palm trees to large kapok trees to xate leaves. Vines, moss and ferns were weaved through everything too and I marvelled at the splendour of all the different exotic flowers.

In the very centre of the room was a wide natural pool full of clear blue water. At the back of the space there was a very large waterfall that ran into the pool. I looked up and found the ceiling was as equally magnificent. It was adorned with hundreds of stars that contrasted with the dark sky illusion, similar to the great hall.