The Room That Shouldn't Exist
"You won’t do it," Sirius said, grinning at his best friend.
"What’s so special about this room anyway?" James asked, raising an eyebrow.
Lily, his girlfriend, folded her arms. "The special thing about this room is that it’s not supposed to be here. It’s on none of the school maps. I think it might be haunted."
"Ha! Ghosts don’t exist," James scoffed.
Remus, ever the serious one of their group, just stood there, shaking his head as his gaze moved from one friend to another. He hadn’t approved of this idea in the slightest—but when did they ever listen to him?
"Can we not do this?" he tried one last time. "We have Mr. Thompson’s test tomorrow."
"Chill, Remus! It’s not like the test has credit marks or final exam weight or anything!" Marlene said, practically bouncing with energy.
Remus sighed and stepped toward the door. He always had to be the first to investigate, despite being the only one who never actually wanted to. "Locked," he confirmed, testing the doorknob.
Marlene smirked. "When has that ever stopped us?"
"I like your way of thinking, darling," Sirius said, throwing an arm around her shoulder.
The group had finally convinced the two of them to get together a month ago after endless rounds of teasing and not-so-subtle matchmaking. Marlene rolled her eyes but smiled, pulling a hairpin from her half-bun and handing it to James. Before he could take it, Sirius snatched it away.
"Step aside, amateurs." He knelt by the lock, expertly working the pin.
In less than thirty seconds, the lock clicked, and the door creaked open. A thick cloud of dust rushed out, making them all cough.
"It... cough… feels like it hasn’t been opened in forever," Lily wheezed, covering her mouth.
"That’s the best part, sweetheart," Marlene teased, nudging her.
Sirius pouted dramatically. "Why don’t I get called sweetheart?"
The rest of the group burst into laughter.
“Time to go in,” James declared.
They took a collective deep breath and stepped inside. Instantly, darkness swallowed them whole.
Within three seconds, chaos erupted.
James: “Ow! Who just elbowed me in the ribs?!”
Lily: “That was me! Sorry! I can’t see anything!”
Sirius: “Well, no duh, it’s pitch black—OW! Who stepped on my foot?!”
Marlene: “Not me—ACK! Who just grabbed my arm?!”
Remus: “Relax, that was me. I was trying to find the wall.”
James: “Well, instead of the wall, you found my FACE!”
Lily: “Okay, everyone stop moving before we all end up on the floor.”
Sirius: “Too late for that—ugh, someone just knocked me over!”
Marlene: “Oops. That might’ve been me.”
Remus: “Great. We’ve been in here for two minutes and we’re already a disaster.”
James: “Wouldn’t be an adventure without a little chaos.”
“Okay, everyone relax! I think I found the switchboard,” Lily announced.
With a flick, the room was flooded with light. They squinted, rubbing their eyes.
As their vision adjusted, James turned in awe. “What is this place?”
“Looks like a club of some sort,” Sirius mused, getting up and brushing dust off his pants.
“This place is ancient,” Lily said, wrinkling her nose.
“Like no one's cleaned it in a century,” James finished for her.
Marlene coughed, pointing ahead. “They probably haven’t. Look at that banner!”
A majestic banner hung on the farthest wall:
Legacy Club
Founded in 1920
“1920? That’s about—” Sirius started, then frowned as he counted on his fingers.
“One hundred and five years ago,” Remus supplied effortlessly.
Sirius thumped him on the back. “That’s more than a century!”
Curious, they scattered across the room, flipping through old notebooks, diaries, and records. Suddenly, a sharp chirping noise echoed from behind a shelf.
Lily’s eyes narrowed. “That was either rats or mice.”
All heads turned to Remus. His face had gone white.
“Poor guy,” Marlene muttered, barely holding in her laughter.
Remus’s second biggest fear was rodents. His first was failing a test.
Sirius, grinning mischievously, nudged the shelf. A pair of brown mice darted out—straight toward Remus.
He froze. Completely.
Pandemonium broke loose as everyone rushed to bat away the mice using books, papers, and even an old coat. Finally, the rodents scurried off, and the group collapsed into laughter—except for Remus, who huffed indignantly.
“That was NOT funny!”
“Oh, but Remus, it was,” Marlene wheezed, still clutching her side.
Lily, still giggling, dusted off a thick leather-bound book she had used to swat away the mice. She squinted at the last page.
“Find the truth.”
The room went silent. Everyone looked up.
“What?” Sirius asked, baffled.
“That’s what it says. The last entry in this diary just says: Find the truth.”
“Well, that’s not ominous at all,” James said cheerfully.
“What truth?” Marlene frowned, scanning the room as if expecting an answer to appear.
Remus crossed his arms. “It sounds like they wanted someone to uncover something.”
Marlene rolled her eyes. “No duh, Remus.”
“Check the previous entries,” James suggested.
Lily flipped through the pages, scanning the handwritten notes. “Okay, here’s one: ‘Today John Joseph joined our club.’” She scrunched her nose. “That’s not very helpful.”
“Wait—John Joseph?” Sirius snorted. “What kind of name is that?”
“Oh, come on, it’s obvious,” Marlene said. “His parents probably couldn’t agree—his mum wanted ‘John,’ his dad wanted ‘Joseph,’ so instead of acting like adults, they just mashed them together. Boom. Instant compromise, zero effort.”
Sirius grinned. “Honestly, I bet they decided right there in the hospital while the nurse stared at them, waiting for a name.”
Remus, who had been quietly reading over Lily’s shoulder, shook with laughter.
James smirked. “I wonder if he ever had an identity crisis. Like, was he more of a John or a Joseph? Or did his parents only use both names when he was in trouble—‘JOHN JOSEPH, CLEAN YOUR ROOM THIS INSTANT!’”
The group burst out laughing again.
Then, Lily’s voice cut through their amusement. “We found it. Whatever ‘it’ is, they were going to reveal it the next day.”
The laughter faded.
“Found what?” Remus asked.
Lily shook her head, turning the book toward them. “No idea. But it’s the third-to-last entry. Whatever they discovered… they never got the chance to reveal it.”
Silence.
James grinned. “Well then. Looks like we’ve got a mystery to solve.”
"Can we leave now, please? You've all had your fun—now let’s go. I have no intention of failing the test tomorrow or getting caught here," Remus said, crossing his arms.
"Oh, chill, Remus. You’re going to pass the test even if you don’t study," Lily said, rolling her eyes. "Also, let’s each take some files and diaries home so we can look into this club properly." She grabbed a few files from the nearest shelf.
The others exchanged glances before shrugging and following her lead, picking out record files, diaries, and old photo albums.