Chapter 30: Night Wandering Observations
Vaughn hugged Guo Guo Cha soothingly, fed it a piece of dried fish, and shrugged, “That’s how it’s done. Bring out snacks and feed it.”
“Stop lying to me.”
Ron grumbled, “Last time Harry fed it roast meat, it ignored him and chased us for three corridors. Nasty cat!”
Vaughn shot him a look. “My foolish brother, animals are sensitive. They can tell who is sincere and who is not. If your intentions aren’t pure, of course it will ignore you.”
He scratched Madam Lolles’ chin. She purred comfortably, rolled over, and exposed her belly.
Her little paws waved, batting playfully at Vaughn’s fingers for a few moments.
“Alright, let’s go back. Don’t tell Filch.” Vaughn scratched her fur again, frowning. “Hmm, I need to brew you some tonics. You’re too thin.”
Madam Lolles licked his fingers, gave Ron and Hermione another look with her unnerving large eyes, and wagged her tail back to the entrance of the Trophy Room.
Vaughn glanced in that direction and asked, “Are you waiting for Harry?”
“Yes, we were worried Malfoy would bully him.”
“Don’t worry, I told Draco that if he causes Slytherin to lose more points, I’ll turn him into a mouse and throw him to Guo Guo Cha as a toy!”
Hermione said happily, “That’s how you should scare him.”
Ron, however, clutched his pocket, his face turning green. He didn’t think Vaughn was just scaring Malfoy.
“Alright, I’m going to take Peeves for another walk,” Vaughn said, standing up. He told the two, “I’ll leave Guo Guo Cha with you. After Harry finishes polishing the trophies, let Guo Guo Cha lead you to me. I’ll take you to some fun places. I’ve discovered quite a few secrets recently.”
With that, Vaughn led Peeves away.
Hermione watched his retreating back, her eyes shining brighter and brighter:
“Ronald, you really should learn more from your brother. He’s smart and caring, and even Madam Lolles likes him.”
Ron puffed out his cheeks, not wanting to speak to a “foolish girl”!
After more than an hour, Harry finally came out. He was so tired his mind was hazy; when he saw Ron, he tried to wipe his face with a rag.
Ron quickly stopped him. It was only after hearing about Vaughn’s plan for a night walk that Harry became a little more lucid.
As the group followed Guo Guo Cha to find Vaughn, Harry was still complaining:
“…You have no idea how many trophies there are. We couldn’t use spells; we had to polish them all by hand. Halfway through, my brain went completely blank.”
Hermione quipped beside him, “Even if you could use spells, you wouldn’t know how!”
Harry pretended not to hear and excitedly told his friends, “I saw my father’s Quidditch trophy. It had his name engraved on it, James Potter. Malfoy was so envious. Even though he always bragged about his family, I know his father doesn’t have any trophies.”
Ron was also envious. His father didn’t have any either… Although Charlie had won some, it wasn’t the same.
Guo Guo Cha led the three of them all the way to the second floor.
This floor was familiar to everyone. Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, History of Magic, Muggle Studies, and the school infirmary were all on this floor.
There was also a disused girls’ lavatory here.
They followed Guo Guo Cha into the girls’ lavatory and found Vaughn.
He was talking to a female ghost, the crying Moaning Myrtle:
“…Oh—Vaughn Weasley, sweetie, you’re so thoughtful. No one has ever cared about me before. They always scream when they see me, ‘Here comes that annoying Moaning Myrtle!’ Waaaah—”
After crying for a few moments, she suddenly shrieked and threw a tantrum:
“So no one is using this lavatory! This is mine. I died here, and I’ll always be here!”
Several faucets gushed water.
Vaughn watched all this with interest. Noticing Harry, Ron, and Hermione had arrived, he called out, “Don’t be angry, Moaning Myrtle. Look, I’ve brought some friends.”
Moaning Myrtle glanced at the three of them, uninterested. “Sweetie, I don’t want to talk to ugly people. A beauty like me can only be matched by you.”
The “ugly trio”: “…”
“Alright,” Vaughn said regretfully. “I’ll take them away first, and we can chat again when I have time.”
Moaning Myrtle hid her body in a toilet bowl, only showing her head. She said shyly and sweetly, “Mmm—okay. I’ll always wait for you, my dear.”
Ron held his breath and gasped for air as soon as he left the lavatory. “Merlin, I nearly threw up.”
He looked at Vaughn incredulously. “How can you stand her?”
Vaughn seemed very calm. “Don’t you find it interesting? As far as I know, she’s the youngest ghost in the entire Academy, died only decades ago. How did she become like this? Also, she can affect the faucets to spray water, which other ghosts can’t do.”
Ron and Harry didn’t find it interesting at all.
Only Hermione suddenly felt that Moaning Myrtle seemed to hide many secrets, shimmering with the light of knowledge.
For the rest of the way, Hermione kept asking Vaughn for his opinions on Moaning Myrtle’s problems.
It wasn’t until they climbed to the sixth floor that Harry, out of breath and exhausted, had to interrupt them. “Vaughn, where exactly are we going?”
“The eighth floor. We’re almost there.”
Upon reaching the eighth floor, Vaughn led them along a corridor to a tapestry. The tapestry depicted a troll being bludgeoned by Barnaby.
“You all step back a bit and stand under the tapestry.”
Vaughn instructed.
The three exchanged glances and did as he said. They watched Vaughn walk back and forth three times in front of the wall opposite the tapestry.
Then, a magical scene appeared—
A smooth door suddenly materialized from within the wall.
Vaughn pushed the door open and beckoned to the three.
The three followed him dumbfoundedly into the door and discovered a vast space inside.
Countless miscellaneous items were piled up, like towering castles in the stronghold.
“Harry, Ron, Hermione, welcome to the Room of Requirement!”
Even though he had entered the magical world and encountered magic, Harry still felt that this room, which had suddenly appeared from the wall, challenged his imagination.
The room was incredibly spacious, larger than the Quidditch Pitch. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, Harry would never have believed it was still within Hogwarts.
The piled-up miscellaneous items contained everything: broken tables and chairs, as well as tables that looked complete and were placed on the floor, and various indescribable items. Some spun around on tables, while others flew through the air.
He gazed in wonder, listening as Vaughn explained the room:
“The Room of Requirement can create a room that suits your needs according to your thoughts. The method is to think of your need and walk back and forth three times in front of the wall where we entered. For example, I was thinking of hiding something just now, so the room is like this now.”
