Black [Ron Weasley]

( secret room )

Chapter 26

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Hogwarts felt different now that she was alone most of the time but it brought her peace in a way. The first few weeks had gone by rather quickly as Nevaeh spent most of her time studying, something she was quite good at actually. Broadening her knowledge and testing it was something Nevaeh enjoyed. She loved getting carried away by books, 'Fowl or foul? A study of Hippogriff Brutality' or 'Fantastic beasts and Where to Find Them', it didn't matter to her as long as it took her away from reality.

When Nevaeh was only eight she had already swallowed more books than most adults had. One time her mother had been so worried when Nevaeh didn't return home whilst it was already getting dark outside, she had searched everywhere and asked a few of her closest friends about the whereabouts of her daughter but nobody knew. When the last ray of sunlight disappeared Nevaeh came running into the living room looking a little sleepy. Sounding out of breath she told her mother how she had fallen asleep leaning against a tree when she had been reading for an entire day. Her mother couldn't stay angry with her for long knowing this was Nevaeh being her typical self. At least Nevaeh had learned one thing from the experience, never read anything written by Gilderoy Lockhart again, boring enough that it made her fall asleep.

When the quidditch tryouts came around Nevaeh thought it was the perfect moment for her to take a quiet walk around the castle to maybe find some perfect new study spots or talk to one of the castle's ghosts and see what they were up to. After taking a few staircases up and walking through some of the corridors Nevaeh found the most perfect window-seat. She sat down inside of it and stared outside the window for awhile.

The view was indescribably beautiful and seeing it made her miss home, Bulgaria. There was no view that topped the highlands of Bulgaria, in Nevaeh's opinion.

From the window she could even see the quidditch arena. Squinting her eyes she hoped to see which house was playing, seeing some red uniforms she came to the conclusion that it was Gryffindor's turn. Instantly her mind went to Ron, knowing he was trying out for the team. Without a doubt Nevaeh knew he was going to make it. His drive, his built and his strategic insight could bring him far.

It took her everything not to run outside and watch him play but it would be too painful. Besides if Ron saw her he would think they stood a chance or that Nevaeh was interested and that couldn't happen. Sighing deeply Nevaeh decided to stop her train of thoughts about the redhead and opened her book to start reading some more.

Several pages later of 'Potion Opuscule' Nevaeh got distracted by footsteps walking into her direction. Peeking into the corridor she couldn't see anyone yet until several seconds later someone tall stepped into view. Cursing internally Nevaeh ducked her head back into the window-seat hoping he wouldn't see her.

Draco Malfoy was the last person she wanted to be bothered by right now. But when Draco stopped in front of a wall at the end of the corridor Nevaeh was slightly confused. Why was Malfoy facing a plain wall and staring at it like it was the most mesmerizing thing ever?

Nearly dropping her book on the ground Nevaeh couldn't believe what she saw. A door appeared in the wall, a door Nevaeh had never heard about. Wherever it led to she was sure it wasn't meant for just anyone to see. Malfoy looked around, making sure there wasn't anyone watching. When he couldn't see anyone he opened the door and stepped inside and within seconds the door disappeared. From the nervous look on Draco's face Nevaeh figured he was doing something he shouldn't be doing and Nevaeh was determined to find out what it was.

She couldn't care less about reading for the rest of the day. She waited hours and hours for the door to reappear, she even stood in front of the wall and tried several spells, she even tried jumping up and down and tapping against the wall with her fingers hoping it would do something but it was without result. Either Malfoy was planning to stay inside the room overnight or the door had reappeared somewhere else for him to leave.

It was getting late and there was no point in waiting any longer without her falling asleep. After quickly getting a book from the library about Hogwarts, hoping she'd find anything on a hidden room, she hurried to the Gryffindor common room.

"Who's the Half-Blood prince?" Ginny asked, holding a copy of a book of potions. Nevaeh's eyes turned to the conversation and stopped in her tracks.

"Who?" Hermione asked.

"That's what it says right here, this book is property of the Half-Blood prince." Ginny explained before throwing the book back to Harry to whom the book apparently belonged. Either Harry had a good explanation to calling himself the Half-Blood prince or the book belonged to someone strange before him.

Nevaeh nearly intervened in the conversation when she suddenly remembered she couldn't and wasn't friends with them anymore. The room fell silent when they caught Nevaeh staring. Ron who was feeling good about himself only seconds ago because he made the Gryffindor quidditch team was now looking at the girl herself. Quickly Nevaeh turned her eyes to the floor and nearly ran upstairs.

Heart beating quickly she got into her dorm and plopped onto her bed. She had to remind herself not to get too close to her 'friends' again, she told herself to think about what could happen if she did. After some deep breaths she remembered why she had rushed to the Gryffindor common room in the first place and opened the book she had gotten from the library.

That night she didn't get much reading done fore Lavender, her roommate suddenly wanted to be best friends. Nevaeh found out why when she was getting bombarded with questions about the one and only Ron Weasley. Apparently Lavender had a big fat crush on the redhead, even though Nevaeh hated answering the questions and refused to answer any at first she figured it was the perfect opportunity to ask some questions herself.

Hogwarts did have a secret room. The Room of Requirement, that only appears when a person is in great need of it. The real question now was, why did Draco Malfoy need it?