On the way to the Room of Requirement, Lily walked side by side with Pandora.
Because the staircase was narrow, their shoulders were quite close to each other, yet they never once brushed.
At the landing on the eighth floor, Lily instinctively started to climb upward again, but Pandora turned instead, stepping into the corridor.
"Is that place near the Headmaster's Office?" Lily asked curiously.
Pandora shook her head without speaking, her steps light and confident, moving with the composure of someone who led rather than followed. Severus wisely kept silent, making no comment on the route.
Lily chose to follow behind Pandora, half a step back, just the right distance.
Pandora led them directly toward the tapestry of the Troll beating up the foolish Barnabas on the eighth floor of the castle.
"This is it." She stopped, facing the blank stretch of wall. Her voice carried clearly in the empty corridor.
The troll in the tapestry stopped swinging its club and turned to look at Lily; it was the first time it had seen her pause here. Lily glanced at the troll but did not act. Instead, she turned and gazed thoughtfully at the bare wall.
"Here? A wall?" she asked, tilting her head as she stood half a step beside Pandora, studying the smooth surface.
Pandora did not answer. She merely turned her head slightly, her gaze flicking over Severus's face, and her lips curved into a particularly beautiful smile.
That smile vanished in an instant, so fast that Severus almost thought he'd imagined it.
He quickly stepped forward toward the blank wall, knocking on it rhythmically as he thought: Pandora is so clear-headed today, such a contrast to how she is when she's lost in experiments. Fortunately, I never told Lily about the Room of Requirement.
After completing the secret signal with Moaning Myrtle, a soft creak echoed, "squeak", and a wooden door slowly emerged in the white wall, half ajar.
"Hurry, get in," Severus urged them as he pulled the door open, then quickly shut it behind them.
Behind the door was a spacious room. In the center stood a long table cluttered with various instruments. Around it were tall bookshelves filled with volumes of all kinds. In one corner there was a small resting area furnished with two comfortable armchairs.
No sooner had the door closed, before Severus could even turn around, than a cheerful female voice rang out.
"Severus, you're finally here! It's been so long since I last saw you, ever since that time we bathed together."
Severus froze and turned stiffly. From the ceiling, the translucent form of Moaning Myrtle hung upside down, her silver-gray eyes blinking behind round glasses, her face tinted with an eerie blush.
Both Pandora and Lily immediately turned their heads toward Severus. He felt as if a wave of icy water had crashed over him.
"Myrtle," he sputtered after a two-second pause, half enraged, "don't say things that ruin my reputation!"
Myrtle sniffled, then put on her familiar pitiful expression. Transparent tears swirled in her eyes without ever truly falling.
"Severus," she whimpered, "why would you say such a thing? The last time we bathed, you told me my eyes were as enchanting as boiled gooseberries..."
Lily's green eyes widened; her mouth fell slightly open. Pandora, by contrast, arched one eyebrow, her face caught somewhere between shock and laughter.
"Stop spouting nonsense! You snuck into the washroom and spied on me bathing!" Severus protested. "How does that count as bathing together?"
"But," Myrtle floated closer to him, speaking in a melodramatic tone, "didn't you show yourself to me in the end?"
"Show what?" Severus felt beads of sweat forming at his hairline. "You, "
"Severus," Lily interrupted softly, the corners of her mouth twitching as though she were suppressing a smile, "I never knew you had such... inclinations."
"I don't have any inclinations!" Severus said urgently. "Don't gang up to slander me!"
Lily ignored him, instead smiling at Pandora. "You said earlier there were 'no other people.' So that's what you meant, no wonder your tone sounded strange."
Pandora frowned slightly, turning to Severus. "You bathed with Moaning Myrtle?"
"No!" Severus shouted quickly, feeling his dignity crumble at lightspeed. "Myrtle, tell them the truth!"
Seeing Severus so flustered, Myrtle floated gracefully between the three of them. "I was joking just now. I never actually bathed with Severus."
She twirled in the air and sighed melodramatically. "I can't bathe anymore anyway... That day, the one I saw bathing with Severus was another 'lady.'"
Severus had just begun to relax, then nearly slipped and fell at her next words.
"Another lady?" His voice rose. "That was Mrs. Norris! The cat!"
Both Pandora and Lily looked at him with pitying expressions.
"No," he backed away two steps until his back hit the wooden door, "that's not what I meant, I mean-"
"Pfft." Lily suddenly laughed, her green eyes sparkling with amusement. "Who'd have thought you had such a close relationship with Mr. Filch's cat?"
"Well, we'll respect your preferences," Pandora added, chuckling. "Even if your tastes are a little... unique, we won't judge you."
"Yes, Severus," Lily agreed with mock sincerity. "At least it's an improvement over your previous interests." Then she looked around. "But there's nothing here for potion-making."
"That's simple," Pandora said. She closed her eyes, her lips moving silently.
Moments later, with a low rumble, the Room of Requirement transformed.
The room expanded outward like folded space unfolding. The central table stretched wider and longer. Upon it appeared brass cauldrons of various sizes, sets of crystal vials, and several brass scales. The bookshelves reorganized themselves; heavy tomes of potion-making floated to prominent spots.
Lily's face showed genuine astonishment. "This... this is..."
"The Room of Requirement," Pandora said happily, looking at her. "You can ask it for what you truly need, just don't go overboard."
Lily closed her eyes and tried.
After a soft sound, a beautiful washroom appeared in the corner of the laboratory. Its door was frosted glass etched with lily flowers.
In the lounge area, Severus noticed an additional soft, floral-patterned armchair had appeared.
Pandora curiously approached the washroom and opened the door. Myrtle peeked in over her shoulder.
"Nice, isn't it?" Lily said.
"Very nice." Pandora shut the door and nodded. "Now we can stay here longer. I don't know why I never thought of that before."
"A bit too bright and tidy for my taste," Myrtle commented, "but I still like it."
Once the room's expansion was complete, they returned to the long table.
"Severus," Lily said, holding out her palm toward him, "take out the Muggle laboratory instruments you bought, the blood of the Australian protein eye, and any other materials. It's time to work."
"All right." Severus began unpacking his purchases, setting out all the tools and materials along with their instruction manuals. "Do you want me to explain how to use them?"
"No need," Lily said, glancing at Pandora. "Would you like to make the Wolfsbane Potion with me?"
"Of course," Pandora exchanged a knowing look with Lily. "It doesn't sound difficult. You can relax, Severus."
"What?" Severus looked at them innocently. "Are you sure?"
Both nodded firmly.
In the end, he had no choice but to retreat to the lounge. He lay down in an armchair, pulling Tom's diary and a quill from his robes, ready to write.
Just as he was about to set pen to paper, he caught sight of the girls in his peripheral vision, trying to light a flame beneath a water-filled graduated cylinder.
"Stop!" Severus shouted, nearly toppling from his chair. "No, you can't heat that! That's a measuring cylinder! You're supposed to heat flasks!"
"Really?" Lily asked doubtfully, flipping through the manual. "Oh, it does say that here."
"Merlin's beard." Severus sighed, putting away the diary and standing up. "I'd better give you a demonstration. Hm, the Calming Draught will do."
It was the potion Eileen had asked him to brew for Mrs. Weasley. Since he had time, he might as well make it now, otherwise by the time he remembered again, the twins would probably already be born.
"When brewing the Calming Draught, you must pay close attention to your behavior," Severus instructed as he set up the mechanical balance, trays, and measuring cups before him. "If you're careless with ingredient quantities, the drinker can fall into a deep, sometimes irreversible sleep.
"Each ingredient must be measured exactly." His fingers brushed over the new instruments. "These are far more precise than balance scales."
At that moment, he looked every bit the confident Potions Master, his gestures and tone indistinguishable from Slughorn's, save for the difference in hair.
"An appropriate amount of moonstone powder," Severus said as he poured some into a tray, then adjusted it delicately with a tiny scoop. "Precisely five grams."
After measuring everything, he lit the flame beneath the cauldron and began adding and stirring ingredients in turn.
When the potion neared boiling, he picked up a strange-looking instrument.
"This is a bimetal thermometer," Severus explained, placing one end into the flame. "It measures the flame's temperature."
"As we know, when making the Calming Draught, the temperature at the cauldron's boil must be brought to a precise standard," he said, watching the dial and adjusting the flame with his wand. "Neither too high nor too low, and held for a specific time, before adding the final ingredient."
"Perfect," he said at last, glancing at the thermometer and stopwatch. "Three thousand two hundred degrees Celsius, and seven minutes."
Finally, he used a dropper to add two drops of Sneezewort Syrup. "Use this to control your measurements, not a trembling wizard's hand."
A faint silver-white steam rose from the potion as it shifted from pink to turquoise.
"Perfect," Severus said proudly, looking at Pandora and Lily. "Even better than what I made in class. We should record the optimal formula and process."
The two girls stared, wide-eyed, at his entirely non-magical method of potion-making.
"So you can do it like that..." Lily murmured, biting her lip.
When the flame was out, Severus poured the potion into a crystal bottle and labeled it: 'Heat in a water bath for ten minutes before use.'
"Understand now?" he said, brimming with confidence. "Potion-making is a precise science and a strict craft. Now, experiment to find the best process for the Wolfsbane Potion and record everything. I'll inspect your work later."
After explaining how to use the rest of the instruments, he returned to his armchair, sitting back comfortably while the girls busied themselves.
Out of caution, Severus watched them for a while. When he saw they were doing fine, and even Myrtle had been recruited to watch the temperature, he finally relaxed and took out the diary again.
Hello, Riddle, he wrote, the quill scratching softly. I didn't answer your question yesterday because I was busy, but now I finally have time.
I remember you asked how I found your diary, he continued. Well, before school started, I bought a secondhand copy of "The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts" in Diagon Alley, and found this diary inside. Maybe its previous owner left it there.
The ink spread briefly across the page, then vanished as if absorbed by a sponge. Moments later, elegant handwriting appeared:
Hello, Spike. I see. It seems the diary's original owner discarded it. Are you a student at Hogwarts? I once studied there too.
Yes, Severus wrote casually. I'm a fourth-year Slytherin. Which House were you in?
What a coincidence. I was in Slytherin as well. When I wrote this diary, I was in fifth year. Your current Headmaster-
The sentence cut off halfway as Severus interrupted with a new question:
Riddle, why are girls so hard to understand?
Can you teach me how to get along peacefully with several girls at once? You might not understand, but talented people always face choices, and they're all my wings. I don't want to choose.
For a long moment, the diary remained silent. Then, a single line of hasty handwriting appeared: