Julie Stone was a regular girl; she lived in an orphanage, had some friends, and every now and then would bang her head against the wall due to stress. . . . Normal!
Anyway, all her life Julie never seemed to quite fit in. She loved it, but her life...
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𝒉𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒂 𝒍𝒂 𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒅 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓
────── *•. ⚡︎ .•*──────
"Harold, snap out of it! We have ten minutes to get back down to the hospital wing!" Hermione said, snapping her fingers in front of Harry's face. The latter was quick to wrench his gaze from the sky.
They slipped through the doorway behind them and down a tightly spiraling stone staircase. As they reached the bottom of it, they heard voices. They flattened themselves against the wall and listened. It sounded like Fudge and Snape. They were walking quickly along the corridor at the foot of the staircase.
". . . . only hope Dumbledore's not going to make difficulties," Snape was saying. "The Kiss will be performed immediately?"
"As soon as Macnair returns with the Dementors. This whole Black affair has been highly embarrassing. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to informing the Daily Prophet that we've got him at last. . . . I daresay they'll want to interview you, Snape. . . . and once young Harry's back in his right mind, I expect he'll want to tell the Prophet exactly how you saved him..."
Harry clenched his teeth. He caught a glimpse of Snape's smirk as he and Fudge passed Harry and Hermione's hiding place. Their footsteps died away. Harry and Hermione waited a few moments to make sure they'd really gone, then started to run in the opposite direction. Down one staircase, then another, along a new corridor—then they heard a cackling ahead.
"Peeves!" Harry muttered, grabbing Hermione's wrist. "In here!"
They tore into a deserted classroom to their left just in time. Peeves seemed to be bouncing along the corridor in boisterous good spirits, laughing his head off.
"Three minutes, Prongslet!"
They waited until Peeves's gloating voice had faded into the distance, then slid back out of the room and broke into a run again.
"Hermione—what'll happen—if we don't get back inside before Dumbledore locks the door?" Harry panted.
"Go figure. . . ." Hermione gasped—all this running was not good for her—, checking her watch again. "One minute!" They had reached the end of the corridor with the hospital wing entrance. "Come on, Harry!"
They crept along the corridor. The door opened. Dumbledore's back appeared.
"I am going to lock you in," they heard him saying. "it is five minutes to midnight. Miss Granger, three turns should do it. Good luck."
