Understanding (Neville Longbottom)

27

The end of that week brought February.
Nobody but Neville, Ginny and Seamus knew that I was still in the castle; they took turns to come keep me company, but most of my time was spent alone.
I didn't mind it too much: I was still mourning my uncle and sudden bursts of tears caught me at random during the day. I wasn't too proud to let my friends see me vulnerable, they had seen me in worse conditions, but I needed time to figure out what to do with myself.

My uncle wasn't just my family, he was my everything, he was the one with the plans!
What was left of my life now? A house half destroyed which I couldn't get to, a psychopath obsessed with the idea of killing me, my education left unfinished, all my possessions in a bag.
That was enough to give me vertigo.
I was feeling better however: the time spent alone and the books that the Room kept materializing on my shelves, were getting me through the worst of it; I had decided that there was no way I could get to my cousins until the end of the year, so I might as well take full advantage of my time safe at Hogwarts.
The Room began spilling books over books on advanced spells, potions, transfiguration, astronomy, runes, arithmancy and herbology; at the pace I was studying them, I would be done with the seventh year regular curriculum by easter, but I wouldn't stop there: I had been given time to prepare and I intended to use it at the best of my abilities; who knew what kind of spell could be of use while on the run?
The Room also offered a tiny space (more a closet than a room) were I could keep cauldrons and ingredients for potions and everything else I needed to study: endless amounts of parchments, quills and ink, charts and maps, plants and tools.

Still, at the end of the first week of February, I couldn't take it anymore.
My studying was going incredibly smoothly and I was working through pages without any difficulty, but it couldn't just be that: after this year, I probably wouldn't see my friends for a long time; I couldn't be this alone anymore.
I knew that Ginny, Seamus and Neville were doing their best, but I had other friends too; of course I understood the importance of not telling Sasha but what about Ben?
So I suggested they started having the D.A. meetings in the Room of Requirements, which is to say my apartment.

Of course they all reacted badly but I was able to let them see reason.
"Do you think I'll be the only one in need of a place to hide? There will be others in my same situation or worse and they'll need to come here too"
That made them stop to consider the idea; it would only be members of the army and having a safe place for a meeting was no small deal.

"Ben is getting kind of annoying" sighed Ginny, already sold.
As much as they didn't like the idea, they all caved.

So I was sitting on the couch talking with Ginny, when we heard Neville and Seamus come in with the selected group of people they had chosen for this first experiment meeting.
I stood up to watch them enter and study the room; already from behind the wooden panel I could hear Melinda Kelly's loud, thrilling voice, and others

"Cool place"

"Wow! It's like... It's a house! You can live here"

"Why did the Room change to a house?"

The small group made their way in the living room and still looked around, curious; there were Neville and Seamus at the head, and then Melinda Kelly, a loud clumsy and sweet Hufflepuff my age; Alan Leary, a  quiet Gryffindor yearmate of Ginny's; Jude Harrison who was a fellow Ravenclaw of my year and a friend of David's; Denise Fisher a fifth year Gryffindor, and Ben.
While everyone was studying the place, Alan focused on me and took half a step back from the surprise
"Jo?" 

I smiled to everyone, managing to get out a "Hi" before Ben crushed me; he was holding me so tight I couldn't breathe

"Merlin! Are you ok?" he murmured as he shaked me around a little, my feet dangled in the air a couple of inches above the floor.
I squeaked, trying to gasp for air; he realized that and unclenched his arms so I could breathe, but didn't put me down.