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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𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆
────── *•. ⚡︎ .•*──────
"Never again," Ron said, struggling to his feet. He made as though to stride away from his thestral, but, unable to see it, collided with its hindquarters and almost fell over again. "Never, ever again . . . that was the worst —"
Harry had already slid off his and Hermione and Ginny touched down on either side of Ron. Both slid off their mounts a little more gracefully than Ron, though with similar expressions of relief at being back on firm ground. Neville jumped down, shaking, but Luna dismounted smoothly.
"Where do we go from here, then?" she asked Harry in a politely interested voice, as though this was all a rather interesting day trip.
"Over here," he said, then led the way quickly to the battered telephone box and opened the door.
"Come on!" he urged the others as they hesitated.
Ron and Ginny marched in obediently; Neville and Luna squashed themselves in after them; Hermione stayed firm on her feet. "We have to go, Dame!" Harry urged her, "It's your dad!"
"What if I can't save him, Harry?" Hermione asked quietly, looking petrified at the telephone box. Sirius wasn't even there but, if they did go, he would be, and that would mean that there was the possibility of him not making it alive.
"We'll save him, Mimi," Harry said gently now more aware of what Hermione was really feeling. He grabbed her elbow and led her to the telephone box, the two of them squishing inside with the others.
"Whoever's nearest the receiver, dial six two four four two!" Harry said as Hermione closed her eyes, and took a deep breath as if she was exhaling all her worries.
Ron did it, his arm bent bizarrely to reach the dial. As it whirred back into place the cool female voice sounded inside the box, "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."
"Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger," Harry said very quickly, "Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood . . . We're here to save someone unless your Ministry can do it first!"
"Thank you," said the cool female voice. "Visitors, please take the badges and attach them to the front of your robes."
Half a dozen badges slid out of the metal chute where returned coins usually appeared. Hermione scooped them up and handed them mutely to Harry over Ginny's head.
