Snore.
Snore.
SNORT!
"…For fuck's sake!" Merlin's eyes opened slowly, his brows furrowed with irritation.
He lay there for a few seconds, staring at the canopy above his bed, hoping the noise would stop on its own. It didn't, of course. In the end, Merlin let out a breath and pushed himself up.
The dorm room was dim, save for a faint morning light filtering through the curtains, painting everything in gray.
Everything was quiet except for—
Merlin turned his head and looked at the source of his disturbance.
Lee was sleeping like he'd been thrown onto the bed and just… left there. Half his body was on the mattress, half hanging off. One leg was sticking out at a weird angle, twitching every few seconds. The blanket had lost the fight completely and was bunched up near his feet.
And his mouth was wide open, lips slack, cheeks puffing slightly with each breath. Every inhale dragged in air, followed by a rattling, uneven snore on the exhale.
A pause.
Then back to snoring.
Merlin stared at him for a long second.
'…Should've known it was this guy.'
Apparently, his friend's loudmouth trait didn't switch off even when he was asleep. It all made sense. There better be a potion for this, though, because the idea of waking up to this every morning didn't sound appealing to Merlin in the slightest.
Rubbing his eyes to wash away the dizziness, he reached beneath his pillow, pulled out his pocket watch, and flicked it open.
Click.
5:12
Getting off the bed, he walked over to the window and pulled the curtain aside slightly.
Laid before him were the Hogwarts grounds, stretched out below under a pale gray sky. A thin mist hung over the grass and the big dark lake in the distance, making everything look soft and quiet.
There was a dense forest far in the distance, which he assumed to be the notorious Forbidden Forest. Low clouds sat over the mountains behind it all.
Merlin stood there for a second, feeling the cold, damp breeze of early September brushing against his skin, letting it wash away any lingering dizziness.
Usually, he woke up at around six for his morning exercise, but since he was already awake, he might as well get a head start on the day. There were a lot of things on his agenda for today, so some extra time might just come in handy.
Closing the window, he changed into his uniform without making a sound and straightened his robes. Then, grabbing his wand, he quietly stepped out of the dormitory.
Time to explore the Hogwarts castle.
....
The common room was quiet, except for the soft crackle of the fireplace. Merlin walked quickly over to the portrait hole, bent down, and stepped out into the hallway as carefully as he could.
The Fat Lady, still in her nightgown, blinked sleepily at him. "Where are you going at this hour?"
"On a stroll," Merlin said, glancing down the dimly lit corridor.
He raised his wand and whispered, "Lumos." The tip lit up with a clean, steady light. It felt solid now—nothing like the weak sparks he used to get a month ago. He held the wand out in front of him and kept moving.
The Gryffindor common room was on the seventh floor. He remembered that the headmaster's office was up here too, and if his memory served him right, the legendary Room of Requirement was supposed to be somewhere on this floor as well, which also happened to be one of the motives for this expedition. And what better time for it than when the whole castle was asleep?
Or perhaps not everyone.
"Turn off the damn light!" a portrait grumbled as he rounded a corner.
"Sorry," Merlin muttered, and sped up.
He turned into the next hallway and spotted the large vase he was looking for. Right next to it hung the tapestry with the troll in a ballet skirt.
"Looks like my luck is good," he whispered.
He stepped closer and lifted his wand to get a better look. The painting showed a wizard, Barnabas the Barmy, trying to teach a bunch of trolls in frilly skirts how to dance, while one of them was whacking him with a club.
While Merlin stared, one of the painted trolls actually turned its head and glared at him like it wanted to know what the hell he was looking at.
Merlin almost laughed, but he caught himself. As tempting as it was to interact with a troll in a moving tapestry, he had come for the Room of Requirement. It was supposed to be right across from this tapestry.
He crossed the hall and stopped in front of a blank stretch of wall. It looked completely ordinary. He reached out and touched it, finding nothing but hard, cold stone. Who would have thought that behind it was a sentient room as old as the castle itself, which could configure itself into whatever you needed?
'How did it work again?'
Yeah. Walk past it three times while thinking clearly about what you want.
Merlin turned around and did exactly that, focusing hard on needing a washroom. He hadn't taken a piss before leaving the dormitory for this very reason.
One pass.
Two passes.
Three.
Nothing. No door appeared. Just the same blank wall staring at him.
Merlin raised an eyebrow. Was he doing something wrong, or was the need not intense enough?
He bounced on his toes a couple of times to build up the pressure, then walked the corridor three more times.
But still nothing.
He stood there, staring at the wall, his mind spinning with possibilities.
The Room of Requirement didn't stay the same for everyone. It changed to fit the person using it. The only reason it wouldn't open was... if someone was already occupying it.
The thought sent a chill down his spine.
But that made no sense. As far as he knew, only Dumbledore was supposed to know about this room right now. And the headmaster wouldn't be sneaking around at five in the morning.
So who was in there? A student?
Or a professor?
Merlin's stomach tightened. One part of him wanted to turn around and run straight back to the dorm. What if it was someone hostile?
The only charms he knew that were remotely offensive were the Severing Charm and the Fire-Making Charm, but he doubted they'd fare much against a potentially adult wizard. So running away was definitely the most rational choice.
But the Room of Requirement played a very crucial role in his plans for the future. If there was someone who knew about its existence, he had to determine their identity and purpose. And there was a voice in the back of his mind telling him that it was his chance to figure that out—at least the latter—if he could guess what room they had configured.
He hesitated for half a minute, pacing the corridor before deciding to just go for it.
'No pain, no gain.'
He would try one guess. Just one. If a door appeared, he would run before it even finished opening. Though with his rotten luck, he doubted one guess would be enough.
He turned around and started walking again, muttering under his breath with every step. "A room to hide things… a room to hide things… a room to hide things…"
One pass.
Two passes.
Three.
A soft click echoed down the empty hallway.
A plain wooden door shimmered into existence right in the middle of the blank wall. Its edges glowed with a faint golden light, like it had just been polished.
Merlin didn't even look at it before he spun on his heel and made a dash towards his dormitory, his robes wildly flapping behind him.
...
Only after he had reached the common room and felt the warmth from the fireplace did Merlin exhale the breath he realised he had been holding.
His legs were still shaky from the sprint back. His heart was pounding hard in his chest, and his thoughts were a complete mess, jumping from one worst-case scenario to the next.
He took a deep breath and reached out for his other self, synchronising with him.
It was like flipping a switch.
The frantic, scattered panic that had been spinning in his head halted in an instant, and a steady, clear-headed version of himself washed over the chaos.
His thoughts sharpened, faster and clearer than normal, like two minds working side by side instead of one panicking on its own. The fear was still there, but now it was background noise, and he could actually think straight again.
And then what he had done set in.
He had fucked up. He knew it the instant that door appeared, and he couldn't begin to describe how deeply he regretted it.
There were so many other options he had. He could have just left for now, practised stronger spells first, gathered more information, made a proper plan, and then caught them off guard.
Or he could have just forgotten the whole thing, adjusted his plans to stay away from the Room of Requirement, and gone on with his first year like nothing had happened. But no. He had to go ahead and poke the hornet's nest instead. Now the occupant would be more alert and careful.
Most importantly, he had exposed his own existence!
"Damn it!" he muttered under his breath. "Just what the f*ck was I even thinking?"
It was so unlike him. The logic had been right there in front of him the whole time. He still couldn't explain what had pushed him to do something so stupid and irrational. His heart tightened just thinking about what could have happened.
A place to hide things?
That place wasn't just a junkyard. It hid a literal Horcrux!
And whoever was wandering around the Room of Requirement at five o'clock, while the rest of the castle slept, definitely wasn't looking for some broken furniture.
Now he had a potential dark wizard on his tail.
He rubbed a hand over his face. It wasn't even his first full day at Hogwarts, and he had already managed to land himself in trouble like this.
Brilliant.
Just brilliant.
...
A/N : So what do u guys think happened? Tell me your guesses in the comments. Also, some power stones would be appreciated. They motivate me to write more than you think.