The Durmstrang boy was Viktor Krum. The moment he was called up as a champion, I knew that my hopes for a friend and protector were gone. He gained such a crowd that it became nearly impossible to go near him without gaining more unwanted attention. I got a ‘hello’ every once in a while, but nothing more. I ate every meal by Draco’s side for weeks with no one to save me.
He refused to stop touching me. It was nothing big, just a hand on my shoulder, brushing hair out of my face. He had realized that chills filled my body every time he set so much as a finger on my skin. I was afraid. I wanted more than anything to be embraced, hugged, caressed, but not by him. With him, every touch was evil; cold and distant. I couldn’t go anywhere without him close behind, whispering messages that foretold my defeat.
Every comment I had made, and continued to make, against him was a challenge. He was losing respect because of me. If some little nobody cold hold their own against him, why couldn’t everyone else? Draco would not have the pyramid of fear and power he had so carefully constructed go to ruin because of me.
As fall came and went, I took to sleeping every moment possible. Draco may not have been able to reach me in the dormitory, but Pansy Parkinson could. Even with the dark curtains drawn tight and my pillow over my ears, I could hear her and her little gang. All the extra attention I was getting was taking away from hers. Somehow that neurotic little mind of hers couldn’t understand that he was torturing me. She was convinced that I was trying to steal him. The night I told her that there was no way I could steal what was never hers; I knew that I had gone too far. I opened the drapes just enough to see her face contort in true rage before the others led her out of the room in vengeful silence, no doubt to plan my downfall. There was nowhere safe for me at Hogwarts.
Night became my only solace. I wandered the castle hopelessly, wishing for the first time in my life that I wasn’t a wizard. Even the disgraced existence of a Squib would be better than this terror. I could live a simple life. No Hogwarts. No Slytherin. No Draco Malfoy.
One night just before the winter holidays, I was drifting as usual somewhere on the seventh floor when the hated silence that I had become so accustomed to was interrupted by a strange sound. Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. I barely had time to turn around before I was almost flattened by Peeves the poltergeist as he zoomed toward me down the corridor. His arms were laden with what had to be contraband stolen from Filch’s office, and he dropped items with a loud thunk every few feet. His entire armload crashed to the floor when he saw me.
“STUDENT OUT OF BED!!!! STUUUDEEENT OOOOUUTTTT OOOOFFFF BEEEDDD!!!!!” he bellowed. I broke into a run with him right on my tail, screaming all the while. From a tapestry to my right I would hear huffing and puffing as Filch burst forth from it. I turned my head so he wouldn’t see my face and ran faster than I ever had. I need a place to hide for the night where they can’t get in! I need a place to hide where they can’t get in!! I searched my mind, not caring where I was running, leading them back and forth through the corridors. Suddenly, a door appeared to my right. I had no idea where I was, but I couldn’t run much longer.
I burst through the door and slammed it behind me, catching my breath as I fell to the floor. This was it. Any moment now, the door would open and Filch would come to take me to the headmaster’s office. To my surprise, I heard his heavy footsteps run right past as if he couldn’t even see the door.
“She was right here! Right here! Oh, I’ll find you!! You can’t hide from me!” he coughed out. As his voice faded down the hall, I lifted myself off the chilled stone floor to look around at the room I had stumbled into. It was quite large, but mostly empty. A large bed sat toward the middle, with a gloomily empty fireplace standing beside it. I pulled my wand out of my robes and watched as it filled with happily dancing flames.
As I examined the room further, I realized that it had everything I needed to hide out of the night; clothes, blankets, even a shower with lovely soaps and fluffy white robes. I was sure I had never seen that door before… everything I needed… the Room of Requirement! I had read about it in so many books… but I had never dreamed that I would find it! I had never dreamed that it was real! My first smile since dinner with Viktor spread widely across my face. I had found my safe place.