Daylight || Harry Potter

Chapter Seventeen

"I know we're allowed to be out until nine, but I still feel like we're sneaking out after curfew."

"Well, we are holding an illegal meeting to teach a bunch of teenagers jinxes and curses. Not to mention physical defense techniques. By the way, Ash, if you want any help teaching that, I'll be happy to help."

"Oh, thanks, Sofia. I'll definitely —"

"Hold it," said Harry warningly, unfolding the Marauder's Map 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 upon the blank surface of the parchment. Tiny black moving dots, labeled with names, showed where various people were.

"Filch is on the second floor," Harry informed us, holding the map close to his eyes and scanning it closely, "and Mrs. Norris is on the fourth."

"And Umbridge?" said Hermione anxiously.

"In her office," said Harry, pointing. "Okay, let's go."

We hurried along the corridor to a stretch of blank wall opposite an enormous tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy's foolish attempt to train trolls for the ballet. Luke and Brion seemed to find this painting extremely amusing.

"Okay, so what are we looking for?" I asked.

"Dobby said to walk past this bit of wall three times, concentrating hard on what we need," Harry said.

We did exactly that, turning sharply at the window just beyond the blank stretch of wall, then at the human-size vase on its other side. Ron had screwed up his eyes in concentration, Hermione was whispering something under her breath, Harry's fists were clenched as he stared ahead of him. Luke, Sofia, and Brion paced around awkwardly, and I couldn't blame them for looking so uncertain. None of us knew whether this room we were looking for would show up for us. According to Dobby and Dumbledore, it would become whatever we wanted it to be.

"Harry," said Hermione sharply, as we wheeled around after our third walk past.

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 the ones that illuminated the dungeons. 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 Sneakoscopes, Secrecy Sensors, and a large, cracked Foe-Glass.

"Wow," I said, impressed. "This has to be the coolest classroom ever."

"Yeah, it looks like the training room had a baby with the library," Luke said enthusiastically.

"I want to say 'ew, what the Hades are you talking about,' " Brion told him. "But for some reason that makes complete sense to me."

"Unfortunately, it does," Sofia agreed.

Luke grinned and shrugged.

"These will be good when we're practicing Stunning," said Ron enthusiastically, prodding one of the cushions with his foot.

"Yeah, it won't hurt as much when we knock you on your butt a lot," I teased him.

"Oi!"

"And just look at these books!" said Hermione excitedly, running a finger along the spines of the large leather-bound books. "A Compendium of Common Curses and Their Counter-Actions... The Dark Arts Outsmarted... Self-Defensive Spellwork... wow..." She looked around at Harry, her face glowing, and he saw that the presence of hundreds of books had finally convinced Hermione that what they were doing was right. "Harry, this is wonderful, there's everything we need here!"