Chapter 21: The Room of Requirement
Simon sighed in relief when he managed to convince Fred and George to push back their plans of impersonating each other by a few more weeks. Firstly, it was just unwise to do something like this before they had even gotten used to their routine at Hogwarts. Secondly, Simon wanted to be there to witness this chaotic behaviour. And he was going to be quite busy these first few weeks.
Pacing on the seventh floor opposite the tapestry depicting the attempt of Barnabas the Barmy teaching trolls ballet, Simon focused on his need to access all of Hogwarts' books and a simple way to search for specific books he needed. After passing by it three times, a door emerged.
Closing the door behind him, Simon saw a vast library that would put the Hogwarts library itself to shame. A thin book was placed on the nearest table, with the words "To the Seeker of Knowledge" carved into the cover.
Simon eagerly opened the book which had words written neatly in ink.
*"Knowledge should be free to those who seek it.
Thus, I have ensured that a copy of every unwarded book that has passed through Hogwarts may be accessed in this room.
To find a book you want, you may search for it by writing the name of the book or the subject matter it entails in the blank space below.
Begin your journey of learning!
Rowena Ravenclaw"*
Rowena Ravenclaw was clearly a leader in the shadow library movement. A quill and ink appeared just as Simon finished reading the message left in the book. Simon earnestly scribbled "Occlumency."
Suddenly, the thousands of shelves disappeared, leaving only one shelf that contained books on occlumency. Seeing the space under the message go blank again, Simon wrote "Occlumency for learning purposes for beginners."
More than half of the shelf became empty and three books remained. Rowena Ravenclaw had created a search engine in the 11th century! This would have made students' lives so much easier! Simon wondered why this system was not in place in the actual Hogwarts library. Perhaps there was a disagreement between the Founders on whether information should be free and so easily sought out, leading to this being hidden away like Salazar's basilik. Another problem that Simon would get to eventually.
Simon fished out a small box from his pocket. *"Engorgio!"*
The suitcase returned to its regular size. Opening it up, Simon cheerily carried the books into his empty study room.
After additional searches, Simon's study room was full of books which should keep him busy for much of the year. Lord Lian also seemed impressed by the collection, even though he could not read most of the English titles.
"You should also see if they have any Chinese texts!" he ordered from the portrait.
Simon returned later with just a copy of "The Eight Immortals Cross the Sea". Lord Lian sneered at this old Chinese wizarding tale which had become a common muggle myth. "We should have done more academic exchange with Hogwarts back in the day…"
Ignoring his ancestor's comments, Simon relayed his new needs to the Room of Requirement. Slowly, the room morphed into a dueling practice room with movable practice dummies. Next to the dummies was a guide on how to install the dummies in a new space and charms to make a space safe for practicing spells. For the next few hours, Simon started remodeling the empty room besides his study room in the suitcase.
Simon let out a yawn as he looked at his finished product. This should do for his practices for now. Closing the suitcase, he reduced it in size again and requested the room for a means to get back to his dormitory undetected. After a few moments, a door materialized and Simon opened it to see the empty Ravenclaw first years' male bathroom. Not the exit he expected but that was likely what he was going to get if he wanted to go undetected.
---
Phoebe grimaced as Simon yawned for the fifth time during Transfiguration. George looked like he was well-rested and was cheerfully bantering with Row in between attempts to making their silver matchsticks more needle-like. Roger, Fahim and Jake all look like they had a good night's sleep too. Simon was the only Ravenclaw boy who looked like he had barely gotten any sleep.
"Excellent work, Mr Li!" Professor McGonagall remarked, as she picked up the perfect needle Simon had transformed, "It is the right weight and has the texture of a needle. Very few students can do so within the first few weeks – 10 points to Ravenclaw."
Well whatever he was up to, it was not causing him to lag behind at all. Phoebe frowned at her picture-perfect needle that still felt like a wooden matchstick upon touch. She was so close. Maybe he was practicing well into the night to beat her. If that was the case, she better do some extra practices herself too…
---
Sharon Fawcett was certain she would be the top in her classes or at least the top few. She had always read during most of her waking hours since her dad taught her to read. Her family did not have much but she was always keen to explore the grounds surrounding her home and learn about the magical creatures and fauna through her interactions with them. She even read all her Hogwarts books before the school year began!
Of course, she was not surprised that most Ravenclaws, besides George, Roger and Jake, had done the readings ahead of time too. But she had even asked for live demonstrations of various spells from her father and had taken copious notes ahead of classes.
Yet when it came to the practical aspects of things, she was far behind everyone else besides maybe just Roger and Jake. Honestly, it was questionable why Roger was even in Ravenclaw – the boy seemed confused most of the time. Jake was a muggle, so it was understandable he needed time to adapt. But nothing explained why she could still not turn her matchstick to a needle. It was not even fully silver yet. And her potions never look like the colour in the textbooks. Her feather barely wobbled in Charms when she chanted "Wingardium Leviosa". Even the relatively benign Bouncing Bulb skipped onto her head ten times in one Herbology lesson.
She had started asking Cedric for help and he had given her a few tips whenever they came across each other in the Library. But there was only so much she could ask someone with a different schedule and living arrangements from her own. No, she needed help from her housemates.
She turned her gaze to Simon Li, who was being praised by even the stern Professor McGonagall as he stifled a yawn. Simon made everything look so effortless. He seemed to have barely slept much the past week and was still acing his classes. George Weasley, who was with him at most times, also did not appear to be the studious type and was doing relatively well in class. Plus, Cedric always spoke highly of Simon.
Patricia and Julia were splendid roommates but if Sharon wanted to be far from the bottom of the Ravenclaw rankings in her year, she needed to spend more time with these high achievers.
---
George winced as Sharon placed a stack of books beside him in the Ravenclaw common room after class.
"Is this seat taken?"
"Er… no? I am just finishing off this essay before I go see my brother," the redhead replied, returning to scribbling away on his almost-complete assignment.
"I see…where is Simon?"
"Oh, he went to take a nap. Boy deserves it, he had been looking like an inferi this past week – said we were snoring too loud or something! I swear to Merlin I don't snore!"
---
"I must say you had made almost no progress on Occulmency since you focused on some side projects."
Simon ignored the snide remark from Lord Lian as he swung another *"Stupefy"* at the practice dummy.
It had been a few weeks since he began his training regime in the confines of his personal Room of Requirement in a suitcase. While his youthful body took his new schedule in stride during the first week, fatigue began to kick in during his second and third week.
"Your duelling skills had much improved just from the stance adjustments you had picked up from those old texts," the old man in the painting continued, "And your repertoire of spells had increased too thanks to such texts…but a mind can only be as strong as the body that holds it."
*"Yeah, the old man's got a point."*
"You too, Raze?"
*"It was pretty disheartening that none of the books you went through so far gave any advice about undoing the weird dark art rituals you are so worried about, for Rowena knows whatever reason…"*
Simon frowned at the memory of his relatively fruitless research on the dark shit Voldemort has done and was going to attempt to do. He had really hoped he could use the years before Harry entered Hogwarts to set up lots of precautions. It seemed like Voldemort had learned a lot based on word of mouth on top of the Hogwarts' restricted section and it was not going to be easy for him to circumvent it all just by using the Room of Requirement. Why did fanfics make it seem so easy?
*"…And now you are kind of just lashing out at dummies every time you finish another book in vain. Maybe take a research break? Work on something you have a better grasp of at this point like occlumency? Or find a new research topic? Or just, actually take a nap?"*
"You know, I used to be an ambitious youth like you," Lord Lian continued, oblivious to the mind conversation between Simon and Raze, "But we wizards rarely die young. It may sound odd coming from me but relish your youth. There is plenty of time to become a scholar close to my stature!"
Simon rolled his eyes at the painting's last remark.
"But honestly, take your time. Sometimes, you simply may not know what you need to know or even what you do not know until later on. What you require comes and goes."