The Max-Level Muggle-Born: Hogwarts Isekai

Man, time just seemed to slow way down. I was totally frozen, clutching my new wand like a knife, just staring at this shimmery, half-there door. Then I heard it—a soft click from the handle turning. That sound was just... impossible. It broke all the rules of my secret spot. I mean, the Room of Requirement was supposed to be my own private server, totally undetectable!

My brain went into overdrive, just running through all the options. It couldn't be a professor, right? They wouldn't have to mess with the handle. And it wasn't some big magical attack; the room's magic is way too strong for that. The only thing that made sense was something I'd never even thought about, something the game never really covered.

The Room of Requirement doesn't just work for me. It works for anyone who really needs it. And right now, some other kid—or kids—on this floor must have been totally desperate for something. The room wasn't being broken into; it was trying to do two things at once!

The doorknob rattled again, way more desperately this time. The whole room started to glitch out. The stone walls flickered, and for a scary second, I saw a totally different room laid over mine—a tiny, cramped broom cupboard that smelled like dust and polish. My workbench wavered and almost turned into a stack of buckets!

[WARNING: Instance Instability Detected. Conflicting User Inputs.]

The room was literally trying to rip itself in two, stuck between my need for a "master workshop" and their need for "a place to hide, right now!"

This was a totally new kind of fight. I wasn't fighting a monster or a teacher; I was fighting the system itself. I just had to prove that what I needed was more important.

There was no way I could let them in. If the room changed, my workshop would disappear, and I'd be standing there with some stranger, with all my secret crafting stuff out in the open. No thanks!

I closed my eyes, trying to ignore the flickering walls and the rattling doorknob. I just gripped my new wand—that raw, chaotic power felt like a good anchor. I focused everything I had, not on the door, but on the room itself.

I need a workshop, I commanded in my head. A secure, hidden place that no one can get into. My need is for power. It's absolute. It beats everything else.

I pushed my magic out, not like a spell, but just like a wave of pure willpower. And I felt it hit their need—and wow, it wasn't just one feeling. It was this messy tangle of three different emotions all mixed up. I felt this rush of pure, boyish fear and loyalty (that had to be Ron). Then there was this frantic, panicked "gotta-solve-this-now" anxiety (totally Hermione). And under it all was this stubborn, desperate need to protect the other two (definitely Harry). It was a total mess of panic, but they were all in it together.

For a second, I felt like I was losing. The broom cupboard got stronger, and I could even smell the floor polish over the smell of my forge. Their need was so real and desperate! But it was also all over the place. My need, on the other hand, was focused and absolute. I wasn't just needing something; I was commanding it. I gritted my teeth and pushed back, my gamer focus giving me the win.

The rattling at the door just... stopped.

The walls stopped flickering. The broom cupboard vanished, and it was just my workshop again. The door flickered one last time and then poof—gone. Melted right back into the stone wall.

I'd won.

I opened my eyes, breathing pretty hard. I was even sweating a little. The room was quiet and solid again. But winning felt... kinda empty. My perfect safe spot wasn't so safe anymore, but something else had shattered, too.

In that little fight, the Trio stopped being just... concepts. They weren't just "NPCs" in my game anymore. I'd felt their real, unfiltered panic. Their friendship. Their fear. They felt... real. And that realization was super unsettling. It was like a crack in the armor I'd built around myself.

I moved fast, my hands just doing their thing on autopilot. I scooped up the willow shavings from the workbench and put them in a little pouch. Then I wrapped up the unfinished wand body in a cloth and hid it deep in my robes.

I gave one last look around my perfect, temporary workshop and walked to the wall where the door used to be.

I need to leave, I thought.

The fancy wooden door popped back into existence. I stepped through it into the empty hallway, and the door vanished right behind me.

I was alone in the castle again, but my whole view of this world had changed. The "Hero Party" wasn't just a bunch of stats and quest markers anymore. They were people. And that was a complication I had totally not planned for.