SALEM ᵈ ᵐᵃˡᶠᵒʸ

xviii. The Reunion I've Been Waiting For

ALMOST in an instant, the four of us were engulfed in a stampede of various greetings of hugs and shaking hands.

I could barely count or recognize who was in front of me without another person swooping in a second later, so I went with it and embraced them back, shaking their hands with smiles and accepting a pound on the back; still in a dazed state as I did so.

"Margo!" a voice lost in the excited crowd called. "Margo!"

It was that sound that made me snap out of trance; a sound that I knew like the back of my hand, a voice I heard almost everyday for the past seven years.

The crowd parted as a figure pushed through, tall and lanky with sandy, wavy hair—

I screamed as I ran to him. "Ernie!"

We met halfway, embracing each other so fiercely that we almost stumbled back. I don't remember when I started to cry, but as I pulled away and scanned his face, a busted lip and a light scar against his cheek, I felt the tears slide down to my neck.

"Oh my god, oh my god—" I hiccuped as he grinned from ear to ear.

"I knew it," he said. "I knew you'd make it."

I didn't even care about the people who were watching, some with sad smiles and some already wiping away their tears, but the ugly sobs started on their own.

I didn't even care about wondering why he was here, and what in his right mind was he thinking when he chose to stay, knowing fully well that his mother would have said otherwise.

"O-of course I'd make it. You h-have no idea—" I blubbered as I hit him lightly "—how much I—I missed you and Ruby—" another sob escaped as I remembered my other best friend, missing her so much that my heart clenched, but so, so relieved she was away from all of this. And safe.

"I know," Ernie said with a sad smile as he wiped a tear. My best friend; my brother.

"Hey!" I heard Ron exclaim indignantly. "You never cried like that whenever you missed me!"

A chorus of laughter echoed around the room, the atmosphere growing happier once again — probably more than they've felt for almost a whole year.

"Okay, okay, calm down!" Neville called against the commotion, finally taming the crowd and letting me take in where we were as I dried my tears.

It was a place I had never seen before in Hogwarts, almost resembling a giant tree house with the colorful hammocks tied on one end to the other. The room had no windows yet it was illuminated in a way as if there were, tapestries of the crests of three-quarters of the Hogwarts houses hung on the walls instead; the emerald green and silver of Slytherin no where in sight. Bookcases and broomsticks even lined some of the walls.

"Where are we?" Harry voiced aloud.

"The Room of Requirement, of course! Surpassed itself, hasn't it? The Carrows were chasing me and I knew I had just one chance for a hideout: I managed to get through the door and this is what I found!" Neville explained.

I marveled at the room again as I half-listened to Neville's story: how the Carrows can't get in, how they've been getting food — it was incredible.