"Shit," Elizabeth hissed, snuffing out the flame with a quick wave of her wand. "That's probably Filch on night rounds!"
"No way," Julien said, staring at the door. "The Room of Requirement only opens for the person who needs it—"
The doorknob turned.
The three of them scrambled. Julien tried to shove the Shadow Dial into his pocket and nearly ripped his robe when the alchemical device snagged on the fabric. Elizabeth flicked her wand to kill the lights and accidentally knocked over the entire plate of cookies. Liriya took the prize—she tried to dive headfirst into the walking copper failure bucket to hide.
The door swung open.
Albus Dumbledore stood in the doorway wearing deep-blue pajamas embroidered with silver stars and a pointed nightcap with a fluffy pom-pom dangling from the tip. He held a single candle in one hand and clutched the hem of his robe with the other, looking exactly like an old man on his way to the bathroom.
The room went so quiet they could hear the candle wick crackle.
"Ah," Dumbledore said, blinking behind his half-moon spectacles. His bright blue eyes swept over the messy alchemy station, lingered on Liriya's head poking out of the copper bucket, flicked to the corner of the Shadow Dial sticking out of Julien's pocket, and finally settled on Elizabeth's wand, which she hadn't managed to hide yet. "It appears I've interrupted a… late-night academic seminar?"
"Professor, we—" Julien started, but every possible excuse sounded ridiculous before it even left his mouth.
"Alchemy! What a fascinating subject," Dumbledore stepped inside, the hem of his night robe dragging across the floor as he peered curiously at the peacock-shaped distiller. "Very interesting choice. When I was young, I used this room for similar purposes—though back then I was looking for a place to hide banned books. Instead, it gave me an entire library."
Elizabeth and Julien exchanged a quick glance. No points docked? No lecture?
Dumbledore bent down, picked up one of the fallen alchemy-symbol cookies, examined it carefully, and took a bite. "Mm. Much better than the ones I got. Mine tasted like salty garlic. I've always preferred honey."
He walked over to the worktable and studied the miniature starry sky still swirling in the liquid. A flicker of understanding crossed his face.
"Oh? Elemental Distillation?" He smiled knowingly. "Don't look so surprised. I recognize that rune style—rather like recognizing my own handwriting."
Julien's heart jumped into his throat.
"Don't worry," Dumbledore said gently, taking another bite of the cookie. "I won't ask where you learned this, nor what you plan to do with it. After all…" He gave them a mischievous wink. "The Room of Requirement exists precisely to keep secrets."
He turned to leave, then paused and looked back at Liriya, still half-buried in the bucket. "However, Miss Liriya, that bucket is for disposing of failed dragon liver. It's been cleaned, but you might still prefer to… come out?"
Liriya shot up instantly, cheeks flaming red.
"And one more thing," Dumbledore added as he reached the door, the pom-pom on his nightcap swinging. "If you need extra moonlight extract, there's some in the second storeroom on the left side of the fourth floor—collected from the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Excellent quality. Of course," he winked again, "those are Professor Snape's treasures. Don't tell him I told you."
The door clicked shut softly behind him.
The three of them stared at each other, then simultaneously let out a huge breath and collapsed onto the floor.
"He seemed to know everything," Elizabeth muttered. "And… he looked almost pleased?"
"That's Dumbledore for you," Julien said with a wry smile, setting the Shadow Dial back on the table. "All right, let's finish this distillation before he comes back from the bathroom."
---
When Julien finally slipped back into the Ravenclaw boys' dormitory, Casen Moretti and Edgar Finch were still awake.
The two were sitting cross-legged on the wooden floor with a floating three-dimensional wizard chessboard between them. Gold-and-red pieces clashed fiercely against silver-and-green ones.
"Checkmate!" Casen crowed, his knight threatening Edgar's king. "Give it up, Edgar. Your defense is as full of holes as Crabbe and Goyle's moral standards—"
"Shut up, Casen," Edgar pushed up his glasses, eyes never leaving the board. "Don't distract me."
The door opened quietly. Julien slipped inside, the hem of his robe still damp with night dew. Neither roommate looked up—Julien sneaking out at night was old news by now.
"So, which girl did you spend the evening with tonight?" Casen asked casually, tapping the edge of the board to hurry Edgar along.
"Girls," Julien corrected as he hung his robe on the bedpost. "Plural."
"Merlin's great-aunt!" Edgar finally looked up, eyes wide behind his glasses. "Rosier and that Northern girl? At the same time?"
"Don't give me that look," Julien laughed, waving him off as he pulled a Chocolate Frog from his nightstand. "We were just doing some academic research. Really."
"Academic research?" Casen rolled his eyes. "Sure. Midnight academic research with two beautiful witches. I totally get it."
"You get jack shit," Julien said, biting the head off the Chocolate Frog and watching it squirm in his hand. "Anyway, what class do we have tomorrow morning? Why are you two still up?"
The subject changed successfully.
Edgar immediately forgot about the chess game, eyes lighting up. "Looks like your 'research' made you forget. Tomorrow is Care of Magical Creatures."
"It's a brand-new elective this year. Finally, no more staring at textbooks in a stuffy classroom. Though that Monster Book of Monsters is a nightmare to handle," Casen added, sounding genuinely excited.
"I still think Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them would've been a better textbook," Edgar said, pushing his black-rimmed glasses up his nose. "But according to the actual book, Hagrid might be introducing us to some real—"
"Dangerous creatures," Casen finished with a grin, finally giving up on rushing Edgar and pulling his knight back.
"I heard from last year's seniors that they only did Flobberworms last term, but Hagrid said this year's going to be an upgrade. Hope it's not Blast-Ended Skrewts—those things actually explode out of their tails!" Casen didn't sound scared at all.
"It's Hippogriffs," Julien said, popping the rest of the Chocolate Frog into his mouth. The sweetness melted on his tongue.
"That exciting?" Casen's eyes sparkled.
"How do you know?" Edgar asked sharply. "Hagrid said it was a secret. He hasn't told anyone yet."
"I walked past the edge of the Forbidden Forest this afternoon and saw him setting up the paddock. The creature's feathers were silvery-gray, and its wingspan was at least—" Julien spread his arms wide in an exaggerated gesture.
"Really?" Edgar sounded skeptical.
"Doesn't matter," Casen said, flopping back onto his bed. "Anything's better than Professor Binns' History of Magic. I swear, even if a Blast-Ended Skrewt exploded in class, it would still be more interesting than listening to the 1639 Werewolf Code of Conduct."
"It was 1637," Edgar corrected automatically. "Not 1639. You got that wrong on last year's exam and still can't remember."
"Whatever, it's all sleeping material anyway. Good night."