FOUR CAN I STAY?

Xander was numb. There was no other way to describe it. He sobbed at night, casting a silencing charm around his four-poster bed so Justin and the two other boys he shared with wouldn't hear him. He knew Justin was upset too, he also knew Justin was pissed off. Xander had dealt with the black eye to prove it.

"You said you'd protect her!" Justin had shouted and Xander remembered going for his wand, but the boy apparently wanted to deal with things the muggle way. Xander begged Professor Sprout not to give him detention or take any house points, but she did anyway.

Classes were done for the day and Xander sat in the common room, the fire warming him as rain pelted against the windows. It was already almost Christmas, the last week of November was fading away faster than Xander would have liked. His last year in general was fading away faster than he wanted it to. This was supposed to be the biggest year of his life, the year before is out in the world to make his mark. It was supposed to be fun, a last hoorah. Now, he was alone, sitting in front of a fire in a room that didn't feel like home anymore.

"I'm sorry for punchin' ya," a voice interrupted his train of thought and Xander hadn't even realized that he had been nodding off in front of the fire. Was it that late already? He couldn't tell anymore, time was just time. It passed and nothing changed. Nothing got worse, but it certainly wasn't getting any better.

"I deserved it," Xander sighed, "I can't believe it's already been almost a month. Time is... slipping away much too quickly."

"Do you reckon she's still..." the question drifted off as Justin's eyes met Xander's. Neither of them wanted to discuss it, but Xander knew the fear was weighing heavy on his heart with every passing moment that Diana was gone. No bodies had been found of any of the muggle-borns that had gone missing, but that didn't stop Xander from listening to the radio every night.

Xander shook his head, his hands twitching slightly with the after-effects of the Cruciatus curse. Some second-years hadn't stopped talking in class and Xander brunted the punishment for them because he couldn't bear to watch students so young get such a horrible curse casted upon them. He didn't regret it, but his body ached.

"I don't want to talk about this, if you'll excuse me, I have a letter to send." It wasn't a lie, the letter had been burning a hole in his pocket for a week now. Draco had never responded to the first one he sent, so he felt silly sending another, but he had a feeling the boy might know something about Diana's disappearance. He hoped that if the boy cared about him at all he would find a way to help. Still, he couldn't be sure. He might never see Diana or Draco every again; he doesn't know what he would do if that was the case.

The long walk to the owlery was a peaceful one, although there wasn't much peace around the castle these days. He sent off his letter using Diana's owl, since the school ones were monitored by the Carrows and probably Snape as well, as Salem curled around his neck, purring softly in his ear. He took Salem with him everywhere these days, but it was mainly just because he needed a friend. Things had gotten so lonely here.

As he was walking back, he stopped. A noise so familiar to him could be heard to his side. There it was, the room he frequented most of last year in an attempt to catch Draco Malfoy in the act of something terrible. It was amazing how much he had chased that boy down and even he couldn't stop what the boy had been planning. He felt useless just thinking about it. He really was useless, wasn't he?

Still, the Room of Requirement never appeared for Xander specifically and he found himself wondering what he needed. Piqued with curiosity, his hand reached out for the cool handle and pulled the door opening, disappearing inside.

"Xander," the first face he saw was Neville Longbottom's. This room was different than the one he had found Draco in, this one was filled with students and hammocks hanging from various posts and walls. "Glad you could make it."

"What..." the boy drifted off as he realized the amount of eyes on him. They were all familiar faces, he remembered them from fifth year. "What is this?"

"Dumbledore's Army is back up 'n runnin,' you git," Seamus Finnigan explained with a smile, his accent thick as it had been since they were kids, "Wuz' wonderin' when you'd show up. Figured the incident with the bitch this mornin' was enough to make you see."

Xander was in awe as he looked around at the students. There were so many from all the different houses, mostly from Gryffindor since the Carrows seemed to have it out for them specifically, but he even saw some from Slytherin. He smiled when he saw the small amount of emerald green hammocks, feeling proud that they had been able to break away from the house war and recognize the bigger problem at hand. The same couldn't be said for most of the Slytherin's -- especially the ones from old pure-blood families, but a handful was better than none.

"Why here?" was the first question that popped into his mind, although he had many racing through his mind.

"Carrows don't know about this place, it's not on any map n' it keeps movin' around to make sure they never find it," Seamus explained, "Even created a passage to Hogsmeade for us to keep us fed. I reckon they 'aven't even noticed we're missing from our classes."

For the first time since probably the start of the school year, he smiled. His eyes got teary-eyed as he reached over the person closest to him -- who happened to be Neville -- and pulled him into a hug. He didn't feel alone anymore, in fact, he had hope again.

"C-Can I stay?" he asked, his voice quiet. He would be surprised if anyone heard him, but clearly they had. "I know, I know I was friends with Draco and that might --"

"None of that 'ere," a new voice, Lizzie Zhang's, joined in. He hadn't spoken to her since Cedric died, but she still smiled warmly at him as if they were old friends. "If your loyalties truly lied elsewhere, it wouldn't have let you in."

Part of Xander still didn't believe this was happening. Hogwarts had become so dark and dreary that he though all hope was depleted. He figured he was destined to either lose his mind from the Unforgivables or go missing like Diana -- he was a half-blood, after all. He thought he was going to die here, miserable and alone. He wasn't alone anymore, though. His heart filled with the warmth of fire the same way it had fifth year when he had first heard Harry Potter speak of Voldemort's return back in that rundown Hogsmeade pub. Xander felt alive again.

Neville smiled at Xander as he clapped him on the back, welcoming him to sit with the rest of the students, "Welcome Home, Xander."

I'm sorry these chapters have been so short i am very tired anyway I'm planning a sirius black fic set in the same universe as this fic and my fred weasley fic so that's why this story now has a number in front of it bc I'm turning it into a series, but they can all be read standalone but if i mention non-canon names in the battle of Hogwarts scenes or summ they might just be ocs from those fics