𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 | 𝐡. 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫

𝟏𝟐𝟐 - 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐱𝐞𝐬

𝙰𝚞𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚛'𝚜 𝙽𝚘𝚝𝚎 - 𝙵𝚊𝚒𝚛 𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝟾𝟻% 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚗 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝙸 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍'𝚟𝚎 𝚍𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚘𝚛 𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚍𝚎𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚊𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢, 𝙸 𝚊𝚍𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚊 𝚏𝚛𝚎𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢.

𝙃𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙁𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙭 𝙁𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙖𝙨 𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙩 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙡𝙚.

The front door had remained locked for him, but on the third floor he met Peeves and only narrowly avoided detection by diving sideways through one of his shortcuts. By the time he got up to the portrait of the Fat Lady and pulled off his Invisibility Cloak, he was not surprised to find her in a most unhelpful mood.

"What sort of time do you call this?"

"I'm really sorry--I had to go out for something important--"

"Well, the password changed at midnight, so you'll just have to sleep in the corridor, won't you?"

"You're joking!" said Harry. "Why did it have to change at midnight?"

"That's the way it is," said the Fat Lady. "If you're angry, go and take it up with the Headmaster, he's the one who's tightened security. "

"Fantastic," said Harry bitterly, looking around at the hard floor. "Really brilliant. Yeah, I would go and take it up with Dumbledore if he was here, because he's the one who wanted me to --"

"He is here," said a voice behind Harry. "Professor Dumbledore returned to the school an hour ago. "

Nearly Headless Nick was gliding toward Harry, his head wobbling as usual upon his ruff.

"I had it from the Bloody Baron, who saw him arrive," said Nick. "He appeared, according to the Baron, to be in good spirits, though a little tired, of course."

"Where is he?" said Harry, his heart leaping.

"Oh, groaning and clanking up on the Astronomy Tower, it's a favorite pastime of his --"

"Not the Bloody Baron -- Dumbledore!"

"Oh--in his office," said Nick. "I believe, from what the Baron said, that he had business to attend to before turning in --"

"Yeah, he has," said Harry, excitement blazing in his chest at the prospect of telling Dumbledore he had secured the memory. He wheeled about and sprinted off again, ignoring the Fat Lady who was calling after him.

"Come back! All right, I lied! I was annoyed you woke me up! The password's still 'tapeworm'!"

But Harry was already hurtling back along the corridor, colliding into Ophelia who was heading back to the Common Room from the defence against the dart arts corridor, the two of them came crashing back down to the floor.

"Harry what are you--"

"I got it, come on -- I'm taking it to Dumbledore!" said Harry, pulling her to her feet before slipping his hand into hers, not giving her much of a say in the matter as he continued running in the direction of the Headmaster's Gargoyle, Ophelia running beside him the entire way, within minutes, he was saying "toffee eclairs" to Dumbledore's gargoyle, which leapt aside, permitting Harry and Ophelia entrance onto the spiral staircase.