Love at First Sight (Harry Potter)

Owl Post Again

|ALEXANDRIA WEASLEY'S P.O.V|

"We've got exactly ten minutes to get back down to the hospital wing without anybody seeing us —" Hermione said, immediately after Sirius disappeared behind the clouds. I turned to find her staring down at her watch, her brown eyes flickering between the numbers around its face. "— before Dumbledore locks the door —"

"Okay," said Harry. He let out a sigh and then wrenched his gaze from the sky, "let's go."

We slipped through a doorway behind us, and down a spiraling stone staircase. As we reached the bottom of it, the sound of distant voices reached our ears. Harry held a hand to his lips to silence Hermione and I, to which both of us held our breaths as we flattened ourselves against one of the stone walls. It sounded like Snape and Fudge; their footsteps echoed quickly along the corridor, sounding only feet around the corner from where we stood.

". . . 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 .  .  .  ."

On the other side of Hermione, I heard Harry let out a nearly-silent scoff. The footsteps grew louder as Fudge and Snape got closer to our hiding spot. In a flash, I caught the glimpse of the two older men as they passed. Their footsteps soon died away into another silence. We waited a few more minutes, until we were sure that they were truly gone, and then we started off in the opposite direction. Down one staircase, another, along a corridor — then a cackling was heard ahead.

"Peeves," I whispered quickly, seizing Hermione and Harry by their wrists. My head whipped to the right and I caught sight of a wooden door. "In here!"

Harry yanked open the door, revealing an empty classroom. We all piled inside, one after another, and then he shut the door behind us slowly — so slowly that barely even a small clicking of the lock was heard.

The room was covered in a layer of grey dust. It touched everything, from the tops of the chairs and tables to the corners of the walls. I looked down at the floor and carefully lifted my right foot, revealing the print that the bottom of my shoe had left in the muck.

The sounds of Peeves' enjoyments rang out in the distance. He seemed to be laughing to himself, bouncing off of the walls along the corridor in high spirits.

"Oh, he's horrible," whispered Hermione. She had her ear to the door, her bushy hair in shambles around her head. She grimaced at Harry and I. "I bet he's all excited because the dementors are going to finish off Sirius. . . ." She checked her watch again. "Three minutes, Harry!"

Again we waited. Only now, it was until Peeves' giggles had faded into nothingness. We then slipped back out of the room and started off again.

"Hermione — what'll happen — if we don't get back inside before Dumbledore locks the door?" Harry was panting as he spoke.

"I don't want to think about it," moaned Hermione in distaste. I led us around another corner as she checked her watch again. "One minute!"