𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 | 𝐡. 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫

𝟏𝟐𝟒 - 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭

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𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚜 𝙽𝚂𝙵𝚆 𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚍, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚕 𝚊𝚐𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚄𝙺 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚘𝚛𝚜, 𝚒𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚞𝚗𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚜𝚔𝚒𝚙 𝚊𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍 -- 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚜𝚊𝚒𝚍 -- 𝚒 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚎𝚗𝚓𝚘𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚗𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 <𝟹

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"𝙄 𝙬𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙨𝙖𝙮 '𝙄 𝙩𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙤,'" 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙃𝙚𝙧𝙢𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙚, 𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙤𝙣 𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙢

"Leave it, Hermione," said Ron angrily.

Harry had never made it to dinner; he had no appetite at all. He had just finished telling Ron, Hermione, and Ginny what had happened, not that there seemed to have been much need. The news had traveled very fast: apparently Moaning Myrtle (who had been in the U bend at the time) had taken it upon herself to pop up in every bathroom in the castle to tell the story.

Malfoy had already been visited in the hospital wing by Pansy Parkinson, who had lost no time in vilifying Harry and Ophelia far and wide, and Snape had told the staff precisely what had happened.

Harry had already been called out of the common room to endure fifteen highly unpleasant minutes in the company of Professor McGonagall, who had told him he was lucky not to have been expelled and that she supported wholeheartedly Snape's punishment of detention every Saturday until the end of term.

"I told you there was something wrong with that Prince person," Hermione said, evidently unable to stop herself. "And I was right, wasn't I. "

"No, I don't think you were," said Harry stubbornly.

He was having a bad enough time without Hermione lecturing him; the looks on the Gryffindor team's faces when he had told them he would not be able to play on Saturday had been the worst punishment of all.

"Harry," said Hermione, "how can you still stick up for that book when that spell --"

"Will you stop harping on about the book!" snapped Harry. "The Prince only copied it out! It's not like he was advising anyone to use it! For all we know, he was making a note of something that had been used against him!"

"I don't believe this," said Hermione. "You're actually defending--"

"I'm not defending what I did!" said Harry quickly. "I wish I hadn't done it, and not just because I've got about a dozen detentions. You know I wouldn't've used a spell like that, not even on Malfoy even though he hurt Phee, but you can't blame the Prince, he hadn't written 'Try this out, it's really good'--he was just making notes for himself, wasn't he, not for anyone else. . . "

"Are you telling me," said Hermione, "that you're going to go back--?"

"And get the book? Yeah, I am," said Harry forcefully. "Listen, without the Prince I'd never have won the Felix Felicis. I'd never have known how to save Ron from poisoning, I'd never have --"