Cast yourself (you are the spell)

Chapter 32

They follow Slughorn-several steps behind him, of course-for about five minutes until he reaches the headmaster's office. It involves a lot of ducking behind columns whenever Slughorn glances behind him or turns his body suspiciously their way. By the time they reach Dumbledore's office, Hope's heart is nearly beating out of her chest.

Slughorn murmurs a password to the gargoyle statue outside the entrance that Hope doesn't catch, and then walks inside. She sighs, resigning herself to the fact that they're probably not going to find out anything else tonight, when she sees Josette move forward like she's on a mission.

Hope pulls Josette back before she can try slipping inside.

"Are you crazy?" she whispers, and Josette crosses her arms like she's severely put-off. Hope does not think that she looks cute at all. Yes. Her pout is not adorable, and Hope does not suddenly feel warm to the point of a fever. "You can't sneak into Dumbledore's office."

"Why not?"

"First off, the gargoyle-" she gestures at it offhandedly, "-notifies the headmaster of any visitors."

"Secondly," Hope pauses for dramatic effect, harshly lowering her voice. "Are you crazy?!"

"We won't be able to hear anything from out here," Josette explains, glancing off to the gargoyle like she's still contemplating whether or not she can sneak passed it. "I don't want all of this to have been for nothing."

Just before Hope can respond, the headmaster office's entrance opens sharply, followed by several teachers. Hope cranes her head to see who, but Josette tugs her behind a wall before she can get a good look.

They hide for a long moment before the professors pass them, and Hope finds herself surprised to see so many of them. She recognizes all of her own teachers quickly, and she finds that the headmaster is at the front, leading them to an unknown location.

"Where are they going?" Hope wonders out loud, and she feels the muggleborn shrug next to her. She thinks that it's very weird that they're all staying as a group. If their meeting was over, wouldn't they be splitting up already?

"Are you just going to stand there?" Josette hisses and then she takes off to follow them. Hope chases after her quietly, and she imagines that they look like quite a pair, indeed.

They get close enough to hear some semblance of whispers of the three teachers in the back row of the group, but not close enough to recognize the words.

Hope realizes swiftly that the staff is guiding them towards the back entrance of the entire school, near the Forbidden Forest. Her breath catches in her throat as they approach the tree line. Why the hell are they going so far out?

"Can you hear anything?" Josette says at one point, so close and directly behind her when Hope pauses suddenly and the other girl runs into her back. The pureblood flushes and looks away.

"Not with you yelling into my ear, Saltzman," she says, straining her ears to glimpse any sort of conversation.

"I truly...cannot believe the audacity of that man..." she hears, at last. She recognizes the voice as her Arithmancy teacher's. "As if...this silly prophecy wasn't enough..."

Hope and Josette lock eyes, and the muggleborn mouths, "Prophecy?"

Hope ignores the violent shock attaching itself to her skin as she looks into confused, chocolate orbs. "...He has us wandering around....a forest in our pajamas..."

Hope isn't close enough to register the words as soon as they leave Professor Vector's mouth, so they come to her in parts and syllables as her brain and ears work together to perceive them.