It was lovely! Wonderful! Annie Prewett Enright, Salem junior and tournament hopeful, had an entire school break at her disposal, and the world, it seemed, was her oyster. There was going to be another task taking place after the break, and another group of champions was going to be chosen to compete. Sure, she hadn't been chosen the first time... or the second... but that, she thought, was just fine. Frankly, the first task had terrified her, and once it had been revealed, she'd watched in horror, thanking the stars that she hadn't been 'lucky' enough to be selected for that particular challenge. If the whole competition was going to come down to wrestling giant spiders then she would certainly, without a single doubt, fail. The second task wasn't quite as bad – it was definitely more her speed, and lacked the presence of arachnids ten times her size. Whatever the third task was – giant spiders or otherwise – she wanted to be prepared, and this week was going to be dedicated to drilling.

The trouble was, Hogwarts wasn't quite as accommodating when it came to practice space. There were plenty of classrooms she could use over the break, since classes weren't in session, but it felt odd going into an empty classroom at someone else's school and taking it over for herself. The library wasn't ideal for the sort of hands-on practice she had in mind, and it was far too cold to spend hours outdoors. The dorms were available, but still occupied, and she preferred her privacy when she could get it. Thus, she'd headed out in search of some practice space that she could claim for herself. She imagined somewhere spacious, but not too spacious, where she could cast that fantastic charm that turned a surface reflective, turning an entire wall into a makeshift mirror. A mirror was important when practicing her gestures and her stance, which needed all of the help they could get. A door was also an absolute must, as was some sort of desk or table to place her things. She wasn't expecting to stumble upon the perfect room, but she definitely had one in mind.

She was starting at the top. Although she'd been wandering the halls of the castle for a few months now, Annie hadn't spent much time up on the seventh floor of Hogwarts. It wasn't that she had anything against it – she just had no reason to go there. She didn't need to access  Ravenclaw or Gryffindor towers, and her father didn't want her taking what he called 'soft subjects,' so she hadn't had reason to visit the divination classroom. She hadn't the slightest idea what else might have been up there, which meant there was a good chance that the perfect candidate for a winter break practice room may have been waiting for her!

She was dressed down today, wearing a sensible muggle-style outfit, complete with light pink zip-up hoodie, some vintage wash blue jeans, and her reliable pair of green low-tops, her hair in two neat french plaits. It was sort of nice to walk around without the purple uniform that immediately labeled her as foreign here. She still felt foreign, though. As she climbed the stairs up to the seventh floor corridor, she could already feel the homesickness setting in. Three days until Christmas. She sighed as she walked, clutching her bag at her side as she peered into the doors of each room that she passed. This tournament thing had seemed like a much better idea before she'd actually come. She had to make the best of it and use this time to make herself better. She would get chosen, she would not fail, and they'd all feel sorry that they'd ever mocked her! That was the plan, anyway, but at the moment it was much easier to wander up and down unfamiliar corridors with a pout set on her lips, looking for a room that probably didn't even exist.

With a few days until Christmas and most of the school gone, aside from the foreign school students of course, there really wasn't that much for Gabriel to do. So, since it was a decent enough day, he decided he'd get in some more practice with Charms. Not that he needed it, of course, he just wanted to expand on what he already knew and learn something else. And to work on that, he knew the perfect room.

Grabbing his book bag with a few books on Advanced and Expert level Charms from the library, he made his way from the tower to the 7th floor. It was even better because he didn't have to go far. Stopping in front of it he looked up at the currently blank wall, focused on what he needed, and paced back and forth three times. It was when the door was starting to appear that the younger girl came around the corner.

Setting a hand on the door handle Gabe looked to the girl curiously, recognizing her as one of the Salem students, though they'd never spoken before.

It was like a mirage in the desert coming into view – suddenly, there appeared a door where there never was a door. There was a boy, too, but running into people in the hallways was not quite as unusual as doors materializing out of the stone. Even coming from a world where architecture was often far more complex and deceptive than it looked, Annie was still surprised to see that, from what she could tell, there were some rooms in this castle that she didn't know about, not because she wasn't intimately familiar with the castle's floor plan, but because they appeared and disappeared at will. Was it possible that their host school wasn't quite as welcoming and accommodating as she'd thought? She already felt strange trying to coexist with the students who had made the grand castle their home – now she felt even more peculiar standing around in a corridor she rarely frequented in front of a door that she wasn't supposed to know about... and, oh yeah, in the company of someone she hadn't formally met.

She looked up at the boy, the expression on her face slightly pinched. She wasn't entirely sure what she was seeing, which made it far more difficult to know how she was supposed to react. She swallowed, blinked a few times, and glanced up at the other student – she thought he was from Hogwarts – her left hand writhing anxiously at her side. “Um...” Annie spoke, her voice sounding louder than she'd intended it to in the quiet hallway. She cleared her throat softly, glancing down at the green of her shoes. “I didn't know there was... um... was I supposed to...?” she stammered, her voice rising interrogatively. As was often the case, she had no idea what a person was supposed to say in this particular situation, but that didn't stop her from attempting to speak anyway. Feeling anxious, she reached for her zipper and began fussing with it as she stood a safe distance away from the boy and the mysterious door, secretly hoping another secret door might open up below her, allowing her to fall to her death without experiencing any further socially deprecating interactions with beautiful strangers.

The expression of the other student was... well, it wasn't as bad as others who suddenly had a door appear before their eyes. A grin found it's way to his face when she stammered over talking. That was more like it. However, from what he gathered of the end, she was thinking she wasn't supposed to know about it. The real question was... Was anyone supposed to know about it? Students found out on their own, then told their friends, and eventually, almost everyone knew.

"Don't worry about it. This is magical room called the Room of Requirement. It becomes pretty much whatever you need before it appears." Glancing up and down the empty hallway he shrugged and opened the door. "Come on in." After she was inside he went in and shut the door. "I'm Gabriel, by the way."

The room was a decent size with a table, a chair, and an assortment of random objects to practice the charms on. -stretching out he dropped his book bag over the shoulder of the chair and glanced around. Not too bad. Looking to the other student again, who was looking rather flabbergasted, he offered a smile. "So. What did you need?"

The room of requirement? For a room that didn't really exist, it had a particularly fancy name. Annie stalled for a moment and, for no reason she could have explained, turned to look behind her before she slipped tentatively through the open doorway, as though it was possible she was being followed. She was relieved to note that the door was accessible from inside of the room, too, which made her feel much better about having meandered inside to begin with. It was only once she had confirmed that important detail that she was able to look around properly, her eyes wide as she took in the details of the space. She took another few steps inside, and the longer she glanced at every perfect detail, the further her jaw dropped, until she was standing gape-mouthed at the center of the room, certain that the castle had read her mind. It was as comforting as it was unsettling, and as eager as she was to believe that the very space she was hoping to find was just waiting for her to dream it up, there was something sinister about finding just the space she needed, just when she needed it. The world just wasn't like that. There was some seriously strong magic at work here – that, she supposed, was the perk of attending a school that was over a thousand years old.

”I'm Gabriel, by the way.”

“Oh, um, sorry. Hi. I'm Annie. I was just... it's just so perfect,” she sighed, the lost, overwhelmed look on her face suddenly morphing into an exhilarated grin – still overwhelmed, but in a good way. The next time she glanced behind her she was thrilled to find a wide, freestanding mirror and, resting against the wall, a folding privacy partition. She balked, the expression on her face getting caught between two emotions – she didn't know whether to be more shocked or more thrilled, so she compromised. Those two additions had definitely appeared out of nowhere – they hadn't been there during her first turn about the room, and they hadn't been in her peripheral vision, either. Unable to contain herself, she half-skipped over to the mirror, facing it so that she could still she Gabriel behind her, even as she studied it. She jostled it a bit, and it barely budged. “It's so, so perfect! You can only charm stone to be so reflective – a mirror is way better! I can't even believe this!” she gushed, making eye contact with the boy in the reflection – it was easier to look him in the face when she didn't have to really look him in the face.

”So. What did you need?”

“I was looking for a place to drill?” she informed him, with that interrogative tone to her voice that didn't really belong. “I mean, um... to practice. I wanted to do, um, functional magic, mostly. I have notecards, um...let me just...” she began explaining, shifting her bag from her shoulder and digging in the pocket for the trusty stack of super important study cards she had tucked away in there. “Here,” she said, waving the little stack of cards in the mirror so that he could see them. It was a lot easier to talk to handsome boys when you could look at them in a mirror instead of talking to them face to face. She felt almost socially competent for a moment! “My classes here aren't really covering everything I'd hoped, so I'm trying to work on my own so I don't, um, embarrass myself or anything? Not that the classes here are bad. Some of them are actually really hard, but, um... I just... I wanted to practice some other things. For me. We're... we're really allowed to be in here, right?"

Gabriel watched her curiously as she seemed to lose herself in the room and how perfect it was. The Room of Requirement was just about always perfect, and very handy that way. It had even been used as a party at least once[1]. He saw the big deal about the room, of course, but he supposed he'd used it so much he rather just took it for granted. He'd miss this room when he left Hogwarts as a student for the last time.

After he asked what she needed she proceeded to tell him... via the mirror. Now that was interesting. She apparently had a difficult time looking at him and talking to him without help of the mirror. He'd let it slide, for now. Shaking his head Gabe smirked. "No, we're breaking fifty school rules by being in here. Of course we're allowed. Why have such a handy, helpful room if no one's allowed to use it? Besides, the school sometimes seems to have a mind of it's own. Well, drill away. If you need help with anything just holler. I'll be practicing Charms spells."

There was one in particular he wanted to try, which was part of the reason he needed so many objects. Moving to the end of the table he studied the scattered objects and decided some might land on the floor, but that was alright. Levitating them back on would be easy enough. Pulling out his wand he gathered his focus for a few seconds before pointing and saying, "Averte Pedeum a Tuum A Malo."  He watched as the objects moved to either side of the table ,making a clear path - some falling off as he predicted - and he didn't stop his focus until it reached the end of the table. Pleased with the results he stopped the spell and admired his handiwork.

1.	Party Thread

It was easy to say 'well, drill away!', but it was much harder to actually begin drilling. Annie was used to privacy – as well as she played the part of the soft spoken, well-intentioned mumbler, she could be rather loud when it came time to let loose. She talked to herself, she berated herself, and she chanted incantations like she had a serious mental condition – in other words, she regularly put on a grand but terrifying performance that was not intended for a live audience. Since hearing her own voice was enough to make Annie feel self conscious, beginning her practice drills in the presence of an attractive young specimen of wizard seemed, well... like less than a good idea. Although the room had been kind enough to provide her with a privacy screen, there seemed to be something slightly rude about pulling the screen across, even if she were to cast silencing charms. It was antisocial, and she had enough trouble with being perceived as awkward. A cute boy was actually talking to her! On purpose! She didn't want to ruin it by hiding!

Unfortunately, there was no good way to remain in the room without standing around uselessly, staring at him like she was simple. She tried to do something else, at least for a moment, but her choices were somewhat limited. She set her bag down, for one... she retrieved her wand from her bag... she bent down as if to tie her shoe, but found it already tight and secure... she walked back over to her bag and removed the notecards... she put the notecards on the table... and then she was thoroughly out of ideas.

She took a little step forward and watched as Gabriel faced the table of charms props, looking at him directly instead of through the mirror for once. He didn't seem to have any of the jitters or self consciousness that Annie felt herself, and his spell landed beautifully. All of the objects chose a side and parted like the red sea, leaving a path down the center of the table. It was a neat little bit of charmwork, and she grinned despite herself as a few of the objects slid away a bit too enthusiastically, dive bombing off of the table like lemmings. “That was... that was really good,” Annie remarked, seeming to realize that she seemed like a creep a little too late.

Not wanting to seem like some sort of stalker, Annie skittered over to the edge of the table, crouching down to retrieve the objects that had jumped ship and setting them back on the tabletop. It hadn't even occurred to the girl to use her wand - she just wanted to be doing something in the hopes that she wouldn't look quite so odd standing there like a loser. “Did you enter your name in the tournament?” Annie asked, trying desperately to break up the silence as she placed the fallen objects neatly on the table. Granted, she was kind of interrupting his practice, but it seemed better than staring like a fangirl. “You seem like you'd be pretty good. Well, um, really good. Is this okay? Where I'm putting these?” she asked, hazarding a peek over at him, looking him straight in the face for a change.

Gabriel silently admitted to himself while he had been aware Annie was there and watching, he didn't really notice how close she had gotten or that she was, apparently, staring. Smiling at her compliment he looked to her and nodded, "Thanks. I'd only read about that spell, but it's supposed to work on crowds too." Granted parting crowds the way he had parted the items was bound to be far more difficult but... maybe he could give it a try sometime. Hogwarts students were always great to practice on... usually. He didn't make a habit of it but it was a harmless spell, granted they weren't by an edge or the lake.

Watching with some amusement as she began to pick the objects up by hand he leaned against the table. "Putting them back on the table's fine. I didn't enter my name, though. I don't need that kind of attention my last year here. Besides there are other things to do... like sleep." Grinning again he winked and used the levitation charm to put the stuff she missed back on the table.

“But...” Annie refuted, backing away from the table as Gabriel began the far more efficient process of using magic (Oh, duh) to return the objects to the table. She was struck dumb, however, when he winked at her, her mouth hanging open like she was planning on saying more but had been hit with a silencing charm before she could. Did this 'room of requirement' control what people in the room did, too? Cute boys didn't wink at Annie. It just didn't happen.  It had to be reading her mind again, didn't it? Was this all an illusion? She really had no idea. It made her smile, though. A gigantic, completely enamored smile spread across her face as she stared down at her sneakers and giggled a little to herself, so overcome with giddiness that she couldn't have helped herself. Real or fabricated, this was the best room ever. She wondered if she might be able to move in, and how soon.

“But, um...” she went on, after a moment of bashful giggling had passed, “You're already in here working. And you're... you're really good, so... I don't think you'd have to do too much more work than you're already doing,” she expressed, taking a few more steps away from the table so she wouldn't disturb him any more than she already was. “I guess it's too late, but, um, I bet if you'd put your name in, you'd get picked.” She turned around and went back toward the mirror, watching him in the glass again. It was the best way to stare at him without seeming weird – though, in a way, it was even weirder.

“I probably won't get picked,” she admitted feebly, shifting her gaze to look at her own reflection now, studying her bulbous nose, her watery brown eyes. She watched her lips as she spoke. If she kept her focus on her lips, she could almost pretend that she was pretty enough for this boy, but as soon as her eyes moved and she took in the rest of her, she changed her mind as quickly as she could blink. Ugh, why had she worn her hair in pigtails? Was she twelve? He definitely was only winking and smiling to be nice... which made him attractive, talented, and kind. Merlin, some people had all the luck! “You really don't want to be picked? I think it would be really cool. I mean, I don't know how I'd do. I want to do really well, but sometimes under pressure I... I don't know. I just... suck. But I'd be really happy if I got to compete. I think my mother would faint,” she explained, looking closely at the pores on her face. “It would just be a really big deal, I guess,” she admitted softly, lifting her eyes to look at his reflection once again.

Gabriel listened calmly and patiently as she spoke and nodded a bit. "I guess it would be a big deal but you know... people really like to see confidence, even if you don't feel very confident. If you don't think you'll get picked, then you probably won't. There's time still and you need to believe it can be you. You have to at least a little bit, right? I mean, you are here."

Idly pointing his wand at one of the objects he cast the engorgement charm silently and it swelled in size quite a bit. Nodding he looked over to her again, leaning against the table. "If you would like, I could tutor you with Charms. It's my best subject and if you would like help with other areas of spells I'm sure I could find someone to help with those." Of course, it was all up to her and faintly he wondered if she was going to start blushing. A fourth year had started to blush after he had offered, so maybe it was a natural reaction.

“I want it to be me. I do. I really do,” Annie insisted as she gazed at her own reflection, tugging gently on the bottom  of her sweatshirt to remove wrinkles that weren't actually there. “I guess I'm just... nervous? I don't know.” She let her hands fall to her sides and flattened her palms against the denim of her blue jeans. Did she really had a shot? Some days she was certain of it. There were days when her spells were eloquent and lovely, when her wand felt like an extension of her arm – days when everything was coming up Annie and she genuinely felt like the sort of witch who could accomplish a task with finesse. Then there were other days. Sometimes she dropped her wand in the middle of a spell. Sometimes she stuttered with an incantation on the tip of her tongue. Sometimes she panicked and froze completely, and nothing happened at all. She could always summon hot tears, but she knew for a fact she couldn't wish herself invisible no matter how strongly she willed it. How was she to know which Annie might show up on the day of the task, assuming she was picked? That's what scared her. Sometimes it was easier to make herself believe she had no chance. She turned from the mirror and watched Gabe work, wishing she possessed his confidence.

”If you would like, I could tutor you with Charms. It's my best subject and if you would like help with other areas of spells I'm sure I could find someone to help with those.”

“No. No,” Annie spoke, her words tumbling quickly from her lips, shaking her head as she looked away from him. Oh Merlin. He thought that she was an idiot! “I'm not... I... I know what I'm doing. Most of the time I know what I'm doing,” she insisted, though she didn't sound as sure of that as she'd hoped to. She sighed a deep and shuddery sounding sigh and looked up. “Sorry. That's not.. what I really meant to say was, um... just... I don't think I need a tutor. I'm not really dumb. Some of the other kids are just... less nervous about everything.” She hoped he didn't think she was a jerk now. That would be typical – alone in a room with a cute boy who is winking at her and she goes and makes him hate her without even meaning to. “I'm probably really annoying. I could just... I could leave or something. If you wanted?” she suggested, fully expecting to be shown the door.

Gabriel's eyes widened at her statement. "No! No, gosh, I didn't mean to imply that..." Shaking his head he slid his wand away into it's holster. "I don't think you're dumb. I just meant... tutoring could help you become less nervous, maybe. If you started feeling more confident on your bad days even a little bit it would be worth it, no? You could even learn new and handy spells through tutoring that you might not learn in a classroom."

After all that, her felt like a right git. He hadn't meant to come across that he thought her stupid or incapable. Perhaps he should have worded things better... This was why he would never be a teacher. He didn't mind helping other students with Charms one on one, but anything else and likely he would end up insulting half or more of the class accidentally. "You're not annoying me...." Sighing softly he looked up at her again. "And I don't want you to go."

Annie felt completely dumb. Whether she was annoying Gabriel or not, she felt like she was annoying him. She felt weird for accusing him of calling her dumb... and she felt even weirder for believing it. He'd told her not to go, so now she was trapped in this room with someone who made her feel anxious and sort of tingly... for multiple reasons. Even the half-sentient, eons old ancient magic in the room couldn't make Annie Enright into a marginally socially competent member of the student body! She practically plowed her chin into her chest in her desperate attempt to avert her eyes and keep him from seeing just how flustered she was. Now that she'd claimed she was handy with a wand she couldn't afford to do perform a single spell incorrectly when in this boy's presence or she'd come off like an avoidant, uncoordinated liar. She chomped down on her lip. What was she supposed to say now?

“I don't really think I have... time... for that,” she half mumbled, pulling the most obvious excuse she could muster out of thin air. She half believed it to be true. Back at school she'd had all of her schoolwork plus the equestrian team and she'd had to spend many late nights in the lounge doing work to keep up with everything. She didn't even have riding this year, but between acclimating to the school and trying to stay spry for the tournament she was booked fairly tight. The thought of adding even one more thing made her feel stressed beyond measure. She may have been able to convince herself to accept his offer because it meant spending time with a cute boy, but Gabriel was no mere cute boy! He was a cute boy who thought that she thought that he thought that she was an idiot, which was not the same. Plus, the stigma of needing a tutor just didn't sit right with her. She needed her best to be enough.

She wandered back over to the table with her things on it and sighed loudly as she compulsively attempted to organize them, feeling slightly better with her back to him. Even so, she was hoping the room, which may or may not have granted wishes, would just let her die already.

"Well, that's alright, really. Not a big deal." And it wouldn't have been, if he didn't feel like such an ass. If she was busy and wanted to rely on her own skill that was her choice. His offer had been meant only in the friendliest and helpful of ways and somehow it seemed to have backfired on them both. So, she went back over to her table and things and he turned back to his.

With a soft sigh he looked at the now giant stuffed squirrel which seemed to stare at him. Glaring at it he silently practiced several different charms on it, and when it came out looking worse for wear that was its own fault for staring at him so. Chuckling softly to himself he returned it to normal and just shook his head.

The overwhelming sense of awkwardness in the room was practically a presence, and Annie could feel its big, hulking form breathing down her neck as she struggled to figure out how to somehow rise above it. She stared down at her things – her immaculate note cards, her freshly waxed wand – and sighed. There was no way she was getting anything accomplished today – not as long as she had company, anyway. It had taken her months to find this perfect practice room, and now that she was here she couldn't even practice? Such was the luck of Annie Enright, who, for the record, was still waiting for the universe to smite her. Every second of odd, awkward silence between the two teenagers was like a second deprived of oxygen. She was slowly going crazy and could feel her own death looming with each passing second. Was she just going to have to stand there forever, until he was done practicing and left the room? Could she leave, or would that be weird? Did it matter if it was weird? How could anything be weirder than standing silently in a room with a beautiful boy you hardly know? She couldn't take it anymore.

“Sorry!” she squeaked, her voice cutting through the silence. “I didn't mean to... I mean... just... everything I said came out wrong, and now you hate me, and I promise I'm not trying to blow you off or anything, I'm just... I guess I always say the wrong thing, not that there's a right way to say something completely stupid,” Annie gushed apologetically, still not daring to look in his direction. To the casual observer it would seem as though she were trying desperately to make amends with the table top. “I make everything awkward. You should just kill me,” she practically pleaded. She buried her face in her hands, like a child attempting to hide in plain sight. Maybe she should have erected the dumb privacy screen. None of this would have happened if she'd just sequestered herself like she'd wanted to. She hoped he said something – anything – to kill the awkwardness just a little bit. She didn't think she could take anymore of it without doing something even more embarrassing, like crying or puking.