.⊹⁀➷ CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT!
↳ ❛room of requirement❜

THE FOLLOWING DAY when Annabeth made her way down into the common room she was met by a crowd of Students that had gathered around the Gryffindor noticeboard.

The brunette pushed her way through the students and at last came to a stand infront of the new sign.

"By order of the high Inquisitor of Hogwarts- all student organizations, societies, teams, groups and clubs are henceforth disbanded. All organizations, society, teams, group of club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students. Permission to re-from may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge). No student organizations, society, team, group or club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor.- Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an organization, society, team, group or club that had not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled. - the above is accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-four."

Harry's voice caught Annabeth's attention while he exchanged a look with her, "This isn't a coincidence- she knows."

"She can't-", Ron immediately stated but Annabeth gave him a pointed look. "There were people listening in that pub. And let's face it, we don't know how many of the people who tuned up we can trust- any of them could have run off and told Umbridge-"

"They can't have done", Hermione's voice suddenly made them spin around to her. Ron gave her a dark look, "You're so naive- just because you're so honourable and trustworthy-"

"No they can't have done, because I put a jinx on that piece of parchment we all signed", Hermione quickly explained to them. "Believe me if anyone's run off to Umbridge, we'll know exactly who they are and they will really regret it."

"What'll happen to them?", questioned Ron eagerly. "Well, put it this way- it'll make Eloise Midgeon's acne look like a couple of cute freckles."

Annabeth gave Hermione a small smile before the brunette nodded her head at the door, "Come on, let's get down to breakfast and see what the other's think- I wonder wether this has been put up in all the houses?"

As soon as they had entered the Great Hall it was obvious that the sign had not only appeared in the Gryffindor house. All the students were seemingly agitated by the new rule.

Harry, Annabeth, Hermione and Ron had barely taken a seat at the Gryffindor table when Dean, Fred, George and Ginny immediately started bombarding them with questions.

"Did you see it?"

"D'you reckon she know?"

"What are we going to do?"

They were all looking at Harry and the boy glanced around quickly before he proceeded to answer the questions. "We're going to do it anyway, of course."

"Knew you'd say that", George stated while beaming at Harry. "The prefects as well?", Fred questioned while he raised an eyebrow at Hermione and Ron.

Hermione nodded, "Of course."

Ron's eyes averted onto something behind Annabeth before he spoke, "Here come Ernie and Hannah Abbott- and those Ravenclaw blokes and Smith- and no one looks very spotty."

Hermione immediately looked alarmed, "Never mind spots, the idiots can't come over here now, it'll look really suspicious-"

She immediately spun around and mouthed to Ernie and Hannah, "Sit down!- we'll- talk-to- you-later!

After that Ginny immediately hurried off towards the Ravenclaw table to inform Michael and the other's.

But it wasn't long until their breakfast was interrupted once more but no othrr than Neville, who came storming towards them.

Her then quickly bend down and whispered something into Harry's ear. Harry's eyes widened in what seemed like excitement and he immediately got onto his feet before he motioned for Ron, Annabeth and Hermione to follow after them.

It didn't take them long from the Great Hall to reach the door that Neville wanted to show them.

It was a large highly polished door. Neville seized the handle and opened the door, revealing a spacious room.

The walls were covered in mirror's and there were large metal dolls that they could practice their spells on. They were also lined with wooden bookcases and large silk cushions were covering half of the floor.

"You've done it, Neville. You found the Room of Requirement", Hermione told the boy impressed while their eyes moved over their surroundings.

"The what?"

"It's also know as the Come and Go Room- The Room of Requirement only appears when a person has a real nerd of it. And it's always equipped for the seeker's needs."

"So if you really need the toilet-", Ron questioned making everyone look at him irritated.

Hermione gave him a small nodd, "Charming, Ronald. But, yes, that is the general idea."

"It's brilliant-", Harry's eyes gleamed with sudden optimism. "- it's like Hogwarts wants us to fight back."

"Great, we got a room to practice now we only need a time-", Annabeth stated before they carefully made their way back outside into the hallway.

"I'm still deciding - we need to be very careful", he muttered while they were passing a couple of Hufflepuff's that were probably on their way to eat breakfast.

In the distance Annabeth could see a group of Slytherins, that consisted out of Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott, Pansy Parkinson, Goyle and Draco Malfoy.

Her eyes flickered down onto the shining silver badges that had the letters Inquisitor command on it.

Annabeth and Harry exchanged a quick look with each other before the brunette sighed, "Why am I not surprised?"

"I have to get my Charms book."Harry gave her one last look before he went down the corridor that lead towards the courtyard and Annabeth continued her way to the Charms classroom.

She adjusted the strap of her bag when someone called out to her from behind. "Potter!"

Annabeth immediately recognized the voice and glanced over her shoulder while she still continued walking.

"Potter!"

The brunette rolled with her eyes when the blond Slytherin boy caught up to her.

She gave him a glare while she once more adjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder, "What do you want, Malfoy?"

The boy didn't seemed to be irritated by her hostility and just started walking alongside her. He shrugged, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his pants, "Nothing-"

The brunette girl glanced at the badge that was located on her chest. Her eyebrows were raised while she gave him a sarcastic look, "Nice badge."

"Yeah- Umbridge's Inquisitor Command", the boy stated while he glanced down onto the silver badge.

Annabeth made eye contact with the blond boy besides her and nodded, "You're father must be very proud."

Draco nodded as well, while he rubbed his neck with one hand, "I hope so-" He seemed like he suddenly remembered something. "Well- I actually wanted to warn you."

Annabeth gave him a surprised look, "Warn me? About what?"

"I know you and your little friends are up to something. And if I know- she definitely knows", he told her, his eyes lingering on her face.

Annabeth was sure not to show him any kind of reaction, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Draco seemed like he wasn't buying her lie and after a small moment he cleared his throat, "Just be careful, all right. She's keeping a close eye on you. If she finds out anything that gives her the opportunity to expell you, she will."

Annabeth remained silent because she didn't knew what to say, and to her relief she didn't have to because they had reached the Charms classroom.

Annabeth and Draco exchanged one last look before they nodded at each other and went to their several seats.

Her heart was beating fast when she thought about the fact that Umbridge knew that something was up.

She couldn't fully focus on the lesson after that, and the day seemed to be rushing by quickly while she was drowning in her own thoughts.

And before she knew it, it was evening and Annabeth was sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room, flipping through some pages of the book she was currently reading.

Harry was sitting besides her, talking or Ron and Hermione about a right time for Dumbeldor's Army to assemble for the first time when suddenly the flames of the fire place started started growing.

Annabeth's eyes snapped towards the fire place when she suddenly spotted a face inside the embers.

"Sirius-?" She quickly checked that they were alone before she approached the fire place.

"Hi-" The other three teenagers immediately joined her and sat down around the fire.

"How're things?", the man questioned them curiously.

"Not that good- The Ministry forced through another decree, which means we're not allowed to have Quidditch teams-"

"Or secret Defense Against the Dark Arts groups?", Sirius added and the three immediately fell silent.

Harry's eyes widened in shock, "How did you know about that?"

"You want to choose your meeting places more carefully- The Hogs Head, I ask you!"

"Well, it's better than the Three Broomsticks!", Hermione immediately wanted to defend her choice. "That's always packed with people-"

"Which means you'd have been harder to overhear- you've got a lot to learn, Hermione", Sirius told her while he shook his head.

"Who overheard us?", Annabeth asked him immediately. "Mundungus of course- he was the witch under the veil."

Ron let out a chuckle, "That was Mundungus? What was he doing in the Hog's Head?"

"What do you think he was doing? Keeping an eye on you, of course", Sirius stated like it should be obvious.

"I'm still being followed?", Harry immediately asked him angrily.

Sirius let out a small laugh, "Yeah, you are! And just as well, isn't it, if the first thing you're going to do on your weekends off is organize an illegal defence group!"

To Annabeth's surprise he seemed to be proud of them instead of angry at them.

Ron frowned at the man in the fire, "Why was Dung hiding from us? We've liked to've seen him."

"He was banned from the Hog's Head twenty years ago and that barman's got a long memory. We lost Moody's spare invisibility Cloak when Sturgis was arrested, so Dung's been dressing as a witch a lot lately- anyway- first of all, Ron- I've sworn to pass on a message from your mother-"

"Oh, yeah?", Ron seemed like he already knew what was about to come.

"She says on no account whatsoever are you to take part in an illegal secret Defense Against the Dark Arts group. She says you'll be expelled for sure and your future will be ruined. She says there will be plenty of time to learn how to defend yourself later and that you are too young to be worrying about that right now. She also advises Harry, Annabeth and Hermione not to proceed with the group, though she accepts that she had no authority over either of them and simply begs them to remember that she has their best interest at heart. She would have written all this to you, but if the owl had been intercepted you'd all have been in real trouble, and she can't say it for herself because she's in duty tonight-"

Ron's head immediately snapped up, "On duty doing what?"

"Never you mind, just stuff for the Order", Sirius immediately deflected his question. "So it's fallen to me to be the messenger and make sure you tell her I passed it all in, because I don't think she trusts me to."

There was a short moment of silence before Annabeth questioned hesitantly,
"So you want me to say that I'm not going to take part in the Defence group?"

Sirius immediately shook his head at her, "Me? Certainly not! I think it's an excellent idea!"

Harry and Annabeth were both surprised, "You do?"

His eyebrows were raised while she spoke enthusiastically, "Of course I do! D'you think your father and I would've lain down and taken order from a old hag like Umbridge?"

Harry seemed to be confused, "But- last term- all you did was tell me to be careful."

"Last year all the evidence was that someone inside Hogwarts was trying to kill you! This year, we know there's someone outside Hogwarts who'd like to kill us all, so I think learning to defend yourselves properly is a very good idea!"

Suddenly Hermione spoke up, her voice slightly above a whisper, "And if we get expelled?"

Ron's eyes were wide while he stared at the girl beside him, "Hermione, this whole thing was your idea!"

Hermione gave him a small nodd, "I know it was. I just wonder what Sirius thought."

"Well better expelled and able to defend yourselves than sitting safely at school without a clue", said Sirius honestly.

Harry nodded heavily, "Hear hear!"

"So- how are you organising this group? Where are-", Sirius suddenly stopped talking and his face was suddenly very tense and alarmed. He turned sideways, apparently looking into the solid brick wall of the fire place.

Annabeth frowned at her Godfather, "Sirius?"

But the man had already vanished from the fire. The four exchanged confused glances, "Why did he-?"

Hermione gave a horrified gasp when a hand suddenly appeared amongst the flames, groping as though to catch hold of something.

Annabeth felt as if her heart stopped beating before Hermione suddenly granend her arm and yanked the girl onto her feet, before dragging her over to the stairs and then up towards their dormitory.

Annabeth felt the panic rise in her chest before Hermione started to assure her, "He's alright, Anni- she didn't get him."

"He would've been back in Azkaban in a second", Annabeth breathed out quietly before she settled down onto her bed.

A few days later, when Harry had finally decided on a time to meet with the DA, they all gathered in the Room of Requirement.

The always entered in groups of three or fours and Harry always checked the Marauder Map to see if the cost was clear.

When the Ravenclaws' entered the large room, Cho seemed to be stunned by the room, her eyes were filled with amazement, "It's fantastic."

"It's bizarre", Fred's stunned voice could be heard while he frowned at the room. He hit his twin onto the shoulder, making him look over at him, "We once hid here from Filch, remember George? But it was just a broom cupboard then."

Harry was fiddling with his wand when he came to a stand at the front and addressed the group of students infront of him, "Right, shall we get practicing then? I was thinking the first thing we should do is Expelliarmus, you know, the Disarming Charm. I know it's pretty basic but I've found it really useful -"

"Oh please- I don't think Expelliarmus is exactly going to help us against You-know-who, do you?", Zacharias Smith said while rolling his eyes amd folding his arms.

"I've used it against him- It saved Harry's and my life in June", Annabeth stated while staring the arrogant boy down. "But if you think it's beneath you, you can leave."

Zacharias didn't move, neither did anyone else, so Harry continued. "Ok- I reckon we should all divide into pairs and practice."

After a couple of minutes the room was suddenly full of shouts of Expelliarmus. Wands were flying in all directions and missed spells hit the books shelf's.

Annabeth had partnered up with Neville and after quiet some time the boy had actually managed to disarm Annabeth, which made manny of the students around them cheer for him.

Annabeth glanced around the room and a snort escaped her lips when she saw what Fred and George were doing.

Every time Zacharias Smith opened his mouth to disarm Anthony Goldstein, his own wand would fly out of his hand, yet Anthony did not send to be making a sound.

Annabeth cleared he throat when she walked past the twins and George gave her sweet smile while he shrugged, "Sorry, Annabeth. Couldn't resist."

Time flew by after that and soon Harry ended the lesson for the day. "Well, that was pretty good- but we've overrun, we'd better leave it here, same time, same place, next week?"

"Sooner!", Dean immediately exclaimed, an eager expression on his face.

"Let's say next Wednesday night then", Harry told them other's. "We can decide on additional meetings then. Come on, we'd better get going!"

Harry pulled out the Marauders Map and let them all leave in threes and fours, watching the tiny dots anxiously until they had disappeared into their Common Rooms.

Annabeth placed a hand on her brother's shoulder and gave him a reassuring squeeze, "That was very good, Harry."

The two smiled at each other and in that moment Annabeth knew it would be worth it. All the trouble they were going through and the fear of being expelled, it was worth it.