Chapter 83: Room of Requirement
In the corridor deep in the night, guided by the dim light of wall torches, Ethan walked toward the eighth floor where the Room of Requirement was located.
In the empty, dim corridor, there was no one, yet light footsteps gradually approached.
The paintings hanging on the walls were also awakened, their eyes searching for the student who dared to wander at night.
"Meow."
It was Mrs. Norris. Though she couldn't see Ethan, she smelled his scent.
The skinny cat's nose twitched as she slowly approached him.
Ethan crouched down and petted her head. "Good girl, go play by yourself. I'm not available right now."
Mrs. Norris seemed to understand, walking toward the depths of the corridor with many backward glances.
"Hey, next time I need to remove my scent too, or Mrs. Norris will find me again."
He didn't know where Filch was, so he moved forward cautiously and slowly, planning to brew a scent-removal potion to spray on himself before future night wanderings.
Along the way, he didn't encounter Filch, and Peeves didn't come out to cause trouble. He did wake many portrait figures, who condemned this invisible student for disturbing their sleep.
Ethan ignored these figures who did nothing but sleep and chat in their frames, arriving at the eighth-floor corridor and standing beneath the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy being clubbed by trolls.
He thought, I need a place to study and practice spells.
After walking back and forth along this corridor three times, a smooth door with a brass handle appeared on the wall.
He pulled the door open. Inside was a space about the size of a classroom. At one end was a desk and chair, and behind it a bookshelf with a few books.
"This is fantastic!" Ethan closed the door and lifted his Disillusionment Charm.
The few books on the shelf were all first-year textbooks, nothing interesting.
Next time, I'll see if I can enter a library. If possible, I won't even need to risk entering the Restricted Section, he fantasized.
He set down his backpack, organized his notes for a while, then took out his wand and approached several dummies standing at the other end.
He'd already planned his practice sequence. To prevent these targets from being used up too quickly, he would first cast Bone Shield on them for protection.
Now, with his magic greatly increased and his knowledge far surpassing what it had been before, the Bone Shield he cast was much stronger than his previous Bone Heart Mirror.
"Bone Shield!" As the incantation was spoken, a delicate translucent shield soon appeared in the air.
The shield was half the height of a person, decorated with horned skulls and bone wings, clearly not a proper type of magic.
After fitting the shield onto a dummy, Ethan first released a head-sized Incendio at the Bone Shield.
"Boom!" The fireball burst into sparks on the shield. One of the skull's horns broke off, showing black scorch marks.
"The defense is quite good." Ethan repaired the shield, then gradually increased the power of Incendio, testing the Bone Shield's limits and his own control over flame spells.
Finally, under the impact of a fireball half the height of a person, the Bone Shield shattered into transparent powder and vanished.
"Can it be further improved? I'll research that later."
He was quite pleased with the result but still felt the Bone Shield wasn't as comprehensive as spells like the Shield Charm that protect the whole body.
Setting this topic aside for now, he excitedly rubbed his hands together, pointed his wand at the dummies, and shouted, "Incendio!"
He stopped controlling his magic output, using the maximum power he could release without harmful intent.
"Boom!" An orange fireball taller than he was shot from his wand tip, blasting the dummies to pieces.
Charred fragments flew through the air, trailing flames.
"It works incredibly well!" He was completely convinced of Voldemort's mastery of Dark Arts.
Seeing burning wood pieces everywhere, he pointed his wand at the sky and said, "Hailstorm Spell!"
Instantly, dark clouds about ten square meters in size appeared beneath the ceiling.
The clouds rolled, and marble-sized hail clattered onto the ground. On contact with the flames, they quickly melted into water that flowed across the floor.
The flames extinguished, leaving small patches of black ash on the ground.
He used a Scourgify to clean up all the debris, then cast a Lightning Charm.
It was the same familiar dark clouds, but this time, blue electrical arcs descended to the ground.
The arcs lasted only a short time, about five seconds, before both arcs and clouds disappeared, leaving only scorch marks from the electrical strikes.
For comparison, he also cast a Thunderstorm Charm and a Rain Charm.
The Thunderstorm Charm does seem to be a combination of the Rain Charm and Lightning Charm, with moderate lightning and rainfall.
Though one benefit is that soaked enemies might be more easily struck by lightning, it's not guaranteed and needs modification.
He noted down the two ideas he'd had today in different notebooks.
After casting the Disillusionment Charm on himself again, he pushed the door open and left the Room of Requirement.
He looked back at the entrance that had returned to being a wall, yawned, and headed back to his dormitory, his footsteps echoing.
Walking through the dim corridor, his drowsiness grew heavier until he heard a man's voice.
"I hear your footsteps! Whoever you are, I will catch you!"
It was Caretaker Filch, holding a lantern, with Mrs. Norris by his side, searching everywhere for the source of the footsteps.
Ethan's heart leaped. He wasn't afraid of being found by Filch, but his invisibility was useless against Mrs. Norris.
But the more you fear something, the more likely it is to happen.
The wide-eyed cat meowed and moved toward him.
Ethan glanced at Filch, who had fallen behind, and ran.
"Stop!" Though he couldn't see anyone, the sound of his footsteps gave him away, and Filch ran after him.
Thanks to his youth, he ran all the way to the Slytherin common room entrance, where he paused to catch his breath and speak the password.
When the door opened, he quickly slipped inside, finally escaping Filch's pursuit.
Huff... huff... He sat on the common room sofa, still under the Disillusionment Charm, gasping for breath.
That was close. I nearly got caught and given detention. He wiped sweat from his forehead, feeling sticky all over.
Once his breathing steadied, he tiptoed back to his dormitory, gathered his things, took a shower, and then lay in bed.
I'll brew the scent-removal potion tomorrow! This was his final thought before sleep.