Alex Weasley: Book 3

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When the door to the vanishing room appeared, it opened out to a very simply furnished room. There was a single couch and a table. There were shelves of books on one wall and a quidditch poster on the other. Taking off her outer robes, Alex jumped onto the couch.
"Welcome to the room of requirement."

"The what of the what?"

"I discovered it first year. It gives you what you want or need. What you require of it."

"That's brilliant." She stood up and walked back over to him.

"Close your eyes." She told him, putting her hand over his eyes. He did so and felt a cool breeze brush over his cheeks. He opened his eyes when he felt her remove her hand. The small and cozy room had turned into a wide quidditch pitch with two brooms (firebolts) hovering mid air. He reached out for one and felt a hum of magic jolt through his palm. "We can't take it out of the room, but it's cool to practice with it in here."

"How do you ever leave? If you can have whatever you want, how could you ever leave this room?"

"Not everything I want is inside this room. It doesn't have Kichiro, or Hermione or you unless you're with me. It's meant to be a haven, a place to help you with what you need. It's more of a comfort zone, and you can't live in a comfort zone. It's good for hiding out for a little while, but sooner or later you'll have to go out into the real world and face it."

"This is your refuge." He realised.

"Usually when I'm trying to run away from things. Feelings. Namely for you." He smirked.

"You liked me."

"You liked me back." She countered childishly, and he laughed leaning forward until their noses were touching.

"I did." He admitted.

After dinner, Alex went to her private spot by the lake. She was surprised to see the black dog again. Taking a seat, she waited for him to come to her.
"Hi." She said, surprised. "I wasn't sure if you were real, you know. I figured I might have imagined you after you disappeared." The dog licked her cheek and she laughed. "Hey! That tickled." She looked up at the moonlight. "How've you been?" She asked the dog, scratching his head. The dog let out a whine. "That's too bad." She said. "You know, my brother Ron would call me mental for talking to a dog, or whatever you are. So would Hermione. Luna would be absolutely fine with it. She'd probably say something like 'everything has something to say if you know how to listen' and that talking to an animal makes me the sanest person she knows. What do you think? You have anything to say?" Alex didn't know if it was normal but she was absolutely sure the dog had nodded. "You can understand me?" The dog nodded again somehow. "Okay, maybe madam Pomfrey's right and I need to eat more because I'm definitely hallucinating." She frowned. "Oh man, Hermione's going to lord this over me for, like, forever." The dog pushed against her arm, as though disagreeing. "You're right. I don't need to tell her. She'd never leave me alone." Alex sighed. "Just don't start talking. That's the limit. I cannot handle any more." She said and the dog laid down on the ground with another whine. "You got a name?" The dog barked. "I've always wanted a dog named snuffles, and I kind of had one in first year, but he's gone, and technically his name was Fluffy. So what do you think of Snuffles? Yeah? Is it okay if I name you after him?" The newly named Snuffles looked up and she grinned. "Great, Snuffles it is." She turned to the lake in front of her. It was more of a river, this deep into the forest. She pulled her robes tighter around her, attempting to warm herself up. "Is it me or is it cold?" She asked.

A few minutes later she stood up. "Okay, it's way too cold to stay out much longer, and it's not like I have my cloak, so I'm going to have to go back to the dorm." She told him. The dog whined. "I'll be back tomorrow. As long as you don't mind if I bring some books with me." She promised, before leaving. She hurried back to the Hufflepuff dorm, and sat down next to Cedric on the sofa in front of the fire, trying to warm up.

"You look freezing." He said, taking off his hoodie and wrapped it around her. He didn't move his arm from her shoulder, so she leant her head on his chest, letting his body heat warm her up.

"Sometimes I forget I get cold like normal people." He laughed at that, as she curled her legs up under her. "Why is it so cold?"

"It's winter in Scotland." He answered. She frowned.

"Then why are you so warm?"

"Because I wasn't outside for hours."

"I found a dog outside." She said and Cedric let out a chortle.

"Of course you did."

"I named him Snuffles 2.0."

"Who was Snuffles 1.0?"

"Oh, that's right. You never met Fluffy slash Snuffles. He was a Cerberus guarding the trapdoor on the third floor corridor first year."

"The forbidden one?"

"Yeah. That's where the whole showdown between Harry and Quildemort happened."

"And you were worried you'd stop being such a mystery." He teased. "It just seems like the more questions I ask, the less answers I get."

"Want me to write an essay on my journey in first year?"

"No essays, please. Never write me an essay. I'm not like you. I don't read for fun. Just tell me about it." He begged and she grinned.

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Cedric: *reads up on totally obscure magic and does tons of research to impress Alex* I know all this totally unexplored branches of magic because I like reading!
Also Cedric: I don't read for fun 😒