The Room of Requirement
word count: 2745

It had taken the group a while to find a decent hiding spot for Harry to teach them all how to defend themselves. Eventually, Neville had found a secret room that would appear only to those who needed it. Dumbledore's Army crowded together as they examined the glassy walls and numerous mannequins that looked like Death Eaters.

Harry noticed Arden beginning to grow anxious. He gripped Arden's hand tighter and leaned in close to whisper in her ear.

"Don't worry, you'll be a natural in no time," he whispered. Arden flashed a quick smile until he looked away, instantly turning her expression back into a frown. She was in no way ready for the immense pressure she'd face.

Harry then let go of her hand and stood in front of the students, telling them that they'd all start with disarming spells and stunning spells. He set up one of the mannequins in front of him and pointed his wand at it. "Expelliarmus!" He called. The mannequin's wand flew into the air, and Harry quickly caught it. He then made everyone form a line where they could each practice the spell and receive feedback from Harry.

Arden made sure that she was as far back in the line as possible. She began twirling the ends of her hair around her fingers to deal with the growing anxiety of performing a spell in front of so many people who were excellent at spells. She stood beside her brother Cedric, who looked down at her worriedly.

"You don't look very enthusiastic," he stated.

Arden rolled her eyes, "thanks for pointing out the obvious, Ced," she snapped.

"You'll be fine, no one here is going to judge you if you get it wrong. We're all here to learn," he reassured. The line was moving a little too fast for Arden's comfort, further increasing her anxiety, since so many people were getting the hang of the spell. It wasn't a difficult spell at all, but for Arden, it was about as difficult as the patronus charm.

It was eventually Arden's turn. She reluctantly pulled out her wand and limply aimed it at the mannequin. Harry gently straightened up her arm and moved it upwards slightly, assisting her with her aim. She was the only one in the whole group that he had touched.

Her breathing was unsteady, causing her hands to shake. Harry noticed and placed his hands on the one holding her wand to steady her grip.

His emerald eyes stared into hers. "It's alright, trust me," he muttered.

Arden put her arm down and took a deep breath. "C-can you just show me how to d-do it first?" She stuttered. She had never felt so nervous before, she had no idea why her legs felt as if they were going to give out, or why she felt like she would vomit. The very thought of her performing magic made her feel so nervous she felt sick.

Harry nodded and performed the spell again. He caught the mannequin's wand, then placed it back in it's wooden hand. Arden nodded and held out her arm again. Her grip was tight, and her hand was still shaking. Her arm was stiff from trying to stop her hand from shaking. She couldn't take standing there while everyone was watching, so she just cast the spell to get it over with.

Arden's words were shaken, slurred, and quiet. Her gesture was all over the place, and nothing happened. She heard a few snickers from the back of the line, causing a knot to form in her stomach. She lowered her arm and sighed in disappointment. As she was about to move to the back of the line, Harry quickly grabbed her and encouraged her to go again.

"Relax your arm a little more, and make sure you move your wrist." He instructed. Arden nodded and raised her arm again. She took a deep breath, before casting the spell with a little bit more confidence.

"Expelliarmus!" She said. A flash of white light erupted from her wand, and knocked Arden back into Fred and George who were behind her, then causing a domino effect and making everyone in the line to fall back also. Arden rubbed her eyes and slowly got up from the ground. Many people in the line were shouting and whining at Arden for not being able to get a simple spell right. She squinted as she looked at the mannequin across the room, which was engulfed in flames.

Hermione ran from the back of the line to the front, releasing a jet stream of water from her wand to put out the fire. Harry got up and cleaned his glasses, sighing as he watched Hermione repair the mannequin. Tears began to well up in Arden's eyes. She apologised to everyone over and over, before storming off to the back of the line.

Eventually, everyone had stopped ridiculing Arden, instead, they muttered about her to each other. Arden found herself moving back to the end of the line when she found herself getting closer to Harry, not wanting to perform magic again.

It soon came time for everyone to leave. People began filing out of the room of requirement. Harry thought that he was the last person in the room, until he realised that he didn't see Arden leave. He looked around, then his eyes fell upon Arden who was sitting cross legged on the ground in the far corner, fiddling with her wand.

He sighed and sat down next to her. "Don't beat yourself up, you just need to practice-"

"I've been at this school for five years. Five years I've been 'practicing' magic only to either hurt someone or myself. This stuff is stupid, I'm not meant for magic," she cried. Arden ditched her wand across the room before folding her arms in anger. Harry sighed as he pulled out his wand to retrieve Arden's. "You see? I can't even perform a simple bloody charm like that," she snapped.

Arden snatched Harry's wand and threw it across the room. Grabbing her wand, she performed the summoning charm, only for Harry's wand to fly at her at an alarmingly fast rate, and hit her in the face. She cried out in pain before screaming in frustration, holding her wand in two hands, prepared to snap it.

Harry snatched her wand from her grasp and kept it away from her. "Have you ever thought that maybe you have the wrong wand?" He suggested.

Arden frowned for a moment. "It took about eleven wands before Ollivander finally found one. I remember he frowned, then he shrugged and just gave me that one," Arden recalled. "I waved it, and a bunch of sparks started flying out and causing parts of the shop to catch fire. I thought it was a dud just like the others, but he insisted I get it," she sighed.

"So maybe it is the wand, and not just you."

"I could go back to Ollivander's and I doubt he could find a wand that would work for me," Arden sighed. "Eleven wands Harry, the most people have ever had to test is four!" She cried. Tears began to stream down Arden's face. She felt so hopeless that she couldn't perform magic with a wand. She felt abnormal; while everyone around her could use a wand without a problem, she was causing problems and hurting people with her magic. She could only use her hands and thoughts to use magic, but she knew that it was such a rarity, she didn't want to be thought of as strange.

Harry placed his arm around Arden, only for her to push it off and stand up from the ground. "You're going to tell me the same thing: 'Oh just keep practicing Arden you'll get better!' But it doesn't work!" She yelled, mocking her many teachers and Harry. Harry's posture sunk slightly at her words. He had never seen her be so angry at anyone other than Draco. He had never seen her so emotional in general.

"Let me buy you a knew wand, I know that you can get better at magic, Arden. You're intelligent, you know how the spells work and what they do, you just can't do them for whatever reason," Harry muttered.

Arden began pulling her hair at the roots. She shut her eyes tight and felt her knees give out. She fell to the ground as her breathing began to accelerate at a dangerously fast pace. Harry rushed to her side to try and understand what was going on. Harry placed a hand on her shoulder, but a powerful force emerged from Arden's hands as she pushed him away, causing him to fly a few metres away from her.

Harry slid along the ground. He looked at her with incredibly wide eyes once he stopped. He had no idea where that force had come from. He had no idea why Arden was breaking down in a way he couldn't understand. He cowered back slightly in fear, feeling as if he didn't know the wailing girl in front of him.

She looked over to him and noticed what she had done. She had taken out her pent up anger and frustration on Harry, her boyfriend. Her eyes swapped between staring at her palms and Harry, not believing that her anger caused her power to almost severely hurt him. After a few long seconds, Arden shot up from the ground and sprinted out of the room, leaving Harry panting on the ground, not knowing at all what had happened.

-

Arden was alone at the top of the astronomy tower. Her cheeks were stained with tears as she repeatedly practiced spells but failed each one miserably. She looked over into her spell book that she had left open and growled in anger as she realised that she was casting the spell correctly, it just wasn't doing anything. Arden was tempted to throw her wand over the side of the railing and never see it again, but she knew that she couldn't.

Instead, Arden placed her wand in her pocket and stepped back away from the spell book on the ground. Snufflifors, she thought, and instantly the spell book turned into a mouse. Arden grinned, then thought of another spell, transfiguring the mouse into a snake. The snake began to hiss, and slithered up to her and along her shoes. She giggled at the snake slithering around her, hissing occasionally.

"So you do have a soft spot for snakes," a voice teased. Arden quickly looked up and noticed Draco standing in the stairwell. She relaxed slightly, before transfiguring the snake back into her spell book.

"The creature maybe, but I don't know about the ones in our school," she teased.

Draco knelt down in front of Arden and picked up the spell book. He handed it over to her, smiling slightly. "You know, a lot of people were looking for you at dinner..." He mumbled.

"Good for them," Arden snapped as she took her book.

Draco sighed. "Getting the hang of magic with a wand?" He asked, ignoring Arden's hostility. Arden sighed before taking her wand out of her pocket, showing Draco that she wasn't using it. His smile faded, "oh," he hummed.

"I just can't do anything," Arden sighed hopelessly. "I've been trying all day, I even asked Harry to help and instead I just got both of us hurt."

Draco cautiously stepped closer, not knowing if Arden would react to them being less than a metre apart. "What were you trying to do?" He asked.

"The disarming charm," Arden mumbled. Draco stifled a laugh; he thought that charm was easy and didn't understand why Arden would have difficulty with it, until he remembered her situation.

Draco stepped back then pulled out his wand and pointed it at Arden. "Watch my hand closely," he ordered. "Expelliarmus," he spoke. His wrist moved quickly, and Arden's wand left her hand and landed in Draco's free one. He tossed it back to her, and beckoned her to try.

Arden raised her arm and pointed it at Draco, her arm shaking a little less than it did when practicing in front of Dumbledore's army. "Expelliarmus!" When nothing happened, Arden groaned and began to put her wand away.

"Aim a little lower, you don't need to point it at my face," Draco chuckled.

Arden frowned, "but Harry said-"

"Whatever Potter said clearly hasn't worked for you, just listen to me," he reassured. "Aim lower."

Arden lowered her arm slightly, looking at Draco to check if she was correct. "Relax your arm," he ordered. Arden did so, then cast the spell again. Draco's wand shook slightly, but didn't leave his grasp. Draco smiled at Arden, "well you didn't disarm me, but you did something," he praised.

Arden grinned from ear to ear. She raised her wand again and spoke the incantation. Draco's wand limply left his hand and rolled along the concrete to Arden's feet. She picked up the wand and began jumping up and down in excitement. Draco couldn't help but grin also at the Hufflepuff's excitement. He knew how much it must have meant for her to finally cast a spell with her wand without it ending in disaster. It wasn't executed perfectly, but in the end, Draco was disarmed, therefor Arden did the spell correctly.

Arden skipped up to Draco and placed her hands on his shoulders, standing on her tip toes slightly. She began shaking him back and forth in excitement as she rambled on about how she disarmed him without anyone getting hurt. Draco couldn't help but beam down at the small brunette. He began to laugh. He hadn't been so close to her without one or both of them sitting at a desk, he hadn't realised how short she was until now.

He placed his hands on her shoulders so she would stop jumping up and down. She did stop, although she did slightly bounce on her tip toes as she couldn't contain her excitement at all. Draco chuckled at her child-like behaviour. Normally he would be repulsed by it and snap at her to grow up, but in that moment, he adored it.

The two locked eye contact for a moment. Arden felt something in her gut that she hadn't felt before. They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, but in reality was only for a few moments. As Arden felt her cheeks grow hot, she realised how close she actually was to Draco. So close in fact, that she was able to smell the slightly spicy scent of his that she couldn't exactly pin point.

She laughed nervously as she took a step back, tucking her hair behind her ears repeatedly. It was an action that Hermione picked up on when Arden would get flustered around Harry, but Arden never noticed herself doing it. This time, she was doing it around Draco.

Draco cleared his throat and began tousling his blond hair for only a second. He watched as Arden picked up her spell book, hoping that she would say something.

Arden was about to leave the tower, but she stopped at the stairwell. Turning around, she looked longingly at Draco.

"Thank you, for helping me with that spell," she said with sincerity. Draco would normally brush off a thanks, but he could tell that Arden was genuinely thankful even for his little help.

He smiled, "no worries, Arden."

Hearing her name leave his lips made her chuckle slightly. She grinned and looked down at her shoes, before making eye contact again.

"If you don't mind, do you think we could meet back here next week?" She asked. "Instead of on a Sunday like today, do you think we could do Saturday?"

Draco nodded, "of course," he agreed. Arden's smile grew even wider, causing the corners of her eyes to crinkle slightly and for her cheeks to start turning pink again. She jumped slightly before running down the stairs with a slight spring in her step.

Draco shook his head at the Hufflepuff's bubbly attitude. He had never been able to experience her liveliness and bubbliness ever until now.

And as he watched Arden run down the steps, he finally realised why all of the students adored her, and he himself became one of those students.