Chapter 18: Room Conjured!

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"Would you like me to call you that?"

I resist frowning. I had originally thought it would be kind of a me and Luna thing. "I don't know, give it a try."

"Okay, William, how is that?"

"Hmmm, I like it." I actually do.

"I like it, too," she admits. "But won't that be confusing?"

"No, because Bud doesn't sound natural to me here either." I don't mention that neither one is my real name anyway, so it can't get any more confusing than it already is. "Are there any other Williams?"

"Ron's oldest brother is called Bill, but I can't think of anyone else at Hogwarts. There probably is in one of the other years."

"Hmmm," I hum as I scan titles. I seem to have come to a history section, and interestingly I believe I see some Muggle books mixed in there.

Hermione fidgets. "How did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Luna...she...everybody calls her 'Looney' Lovegood, saying she does strange things all the time. But you...you knew exactly how to communicate with her. Looking out the window, quietly enjoying the view...it didn't seem strange at all when we were doing it, even though it would have if you had told me what we'd be doing just a moment earlier. I quite enjoyed it. I mean...I loved it. And I hadn't ever even considered doing that before."

"Hmmm. She is different, but it's not in a bad way." I pause and ponder on it for a moment, but shake my head. "I can't explain it."

"I can't either, and yet I know exactly what you mean. Like when you said you l-liked me. See? I'm embarrassed to say it here, but I knew it meant something else when we were out there. It's like every word is the truth when you're with her. Maybe that's why it felt wrong to talk."

I ponder that for a moment. "The truth...yeah, that's as good an explanation as I'll ever come up with."

"Will you...take me up there again?"

I smile. "She likes you now, I don't think she'll mind if you go without me."

She seems to deflate a bit. "I suppose so."

"But yes, I enjoy it, too. It'll be a shame when we have class after breakfast and we can't make it up there."

"I never thought I'd say this, but I agree."

I chuckle at that. I also don't believe she would have ever said that. "So what are we doing first?"

This snaps her back into business mode. "I figured we could go through the subjects alphabetically...since we only have a year of Ancient Runes and Arithmancy to review I figure it'll feel like it's going faster this way. Plus Ron and Harry aren't missing out since they aren't taking those."

I nod. "Sounds perfect to me."

"I'm also interested in seeing what the Room conjured, so after reviewing last year's work and previewing this year's, I thought we'd set aside a half-hour to peek through more advanced texts for each subject."

I smile at Hermione using her excited voice, the one I get the feeling she doesn't get to use too often with Harry and Ron. "Excellent. Shall we find the Runes section?"

She doesn't even hesitate as she leads me to the shelves on the wall in one corner.

Leave it to Hermione to imagine an entire full-sized library and still know where everything is.

After handing me an armful of books, she flips through one herself as we make our way over to the sitting area.

"Did you take anything like Ancient Runes at your old school?"

I shake my head. "We were exposed to them, but the class itself wasn't available until Freshman Year, which is like your Fourth Year." Hey, that probably sounded quite convincing!

"Actually, all of our electives are that way. Best to assume I'm starting from scratch."

She frowns slightly but nods. "Okay, well all we really did was cover the Proto-Germanic runes and their Old English equivalents. We only really looked at the possible meanings and basic language constructs, and that will continue through this year. For example, ehwaz is the rune for speed, but it literally means horse, and horses can also represent intelligence, strength, light, destruction, or victory; it just depends on how it's used." She stopped as she took a short breath.

After taking a short breath she continues, "Unfortunately we don't go into warding and runic enchantment until after OWLs, although next year we'll get some exposure to it so we can recognize them when we see them. Over the break I summarized what we learned last year and drew up this quick reference map containing potential meanings, cross-referenced with my notes and the Third and Fourth Year textbooks." She pulls out a fairly large rolled-up parchment and spreads it out on the table.

I don't notice my jaw hanging loosely so I think I drool a little before coming to my senses. "This is incredible! Maybe I should just skip this year and wait for next year's quick reference." I dodge a smack.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I can't even describe how awesome this is, seriously." I weigh down the corners on my edge with my Room-conjured copy of the Third and Fourth Year textbooks, and she secures the other edge with hers.

I spent a while poring over the reference parchment. "Hermione, do you have extra writing stuff?"

She looks at me strangely for a moment, then nods and silently hands over a quill, ink jar, and a small stack of parchment.

"Thanks," I say, looking down at the quill and ink. Oh boy, this is going to be awkward. I probably should have practiced this before now.

She fidgets a moment before asking what's on her mind. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no, I was expecting this. It's just that we used Muggle pens and pencils and notebooks in my school." Technically an entirely true statement.

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