Echo | Harry Potter - George Weasley

Chapter 15: A Rough Return

It was now or never.

Shaye had exactly thirty minutes until she had to leave for King's Cross Station and a lock still held Lorelei's bedroom door shut securely, almost in a taunting fashion. Shaye had been staring at the thing all morning and had even, on a few occasions, ventured out into the hall. But not once was she able to muster up enough courage to break into the room itself. The fear of getting caught was too much.

But then, as Shaye glanced over at the clock on her bedside table and watched the seconds tick away, she was overcome with an even greater fear. What if she never swallowed her doubts and entered that room? What would she be missing out on? For all she knew, the one clue that would lead directly to Lorelei was in there, just waiting to be discovered.

If Shaye didn't do it now there was a good chance she would never do it, and if she never did it, she would spend all of her time wondering what could have happened if she did. The possibilities were simply too endless and too promising to pass up. 

Drawing in a deep breath, Shaye picked up her wand and crept out into the hall, making sure to avoid the floorboards that were known to squeak. Shaye listened for her parents to make sure they wouldn't be coming upstairs and once she was sure they were both immersed in a conversation in the kitchen, she took her chance.

Shaye pointed her wand at the lock on the bedroom door and muttered, "Alohomora," as softly as possible.

The lock clicked open instantly and the bedroom door swung open. Shaye froze, listening for anything that might suggest her parents had heard her but they were still talking away as loudly as before; there wasn't even a falter in their voices, which may have indicated they had heard the sound of the lock opening but had shrugged it off or chosen to ignore it.

Moving as slowly and carefully as possible—while still acting fast within the given time limit—Shaye took a quick survey of the room. Like always, Lorelei's bedroom was in pristine condition. Lorelei had always been very tidy and the room remained the same as she had left it.

There were many spots where something important could have been hidden, so Shaye was unsure where to start. Eventually, she decided on the bedside table and pulled the drawer open, which after a quick search revealed nothing of importance; just a few birthday cards she had saved, two books, and a small box with the jewellery she rarely wore.

Next, Shaye checked the desk drawers. Sadly, it was much of the same nothing. Textbooks, regular books, quills, and other miscellaneous objects that clearly held no value to Shaye's search.

Finally, with only ten minutes to spare, Shaye opened the closet. Shelves and boxes were packed full of Lorelei's things, from old school supplies to clothes she had outgrown but never got rid of. Shaye tried to look through as much of the possessions as possible but it was hard to sift through the items without making a lot of noise. 

Sure that she was going to run out of time, Shaye was just about to close the closet back up and vow to return for a second search during the winter holidays when something caught her eye. On the very top shelf in the closet, barely peeking out from under a pile of discarded blankets and pillowcases, sat a box labelled, Lorelei - Hogwarts. 

Shaye recognized the box instantly. It was the package that had been sent from Hogwarts containing all of the things left behind in Lorelei's dormitory when she had gone missing. Shaye also knew for a fact that the box had never been opened because when it had arrived, Shaye's parents had been too emotional to handle her things so they had shoved it into the closet and had, most likely, since forgotten about it.

If there was one thing in the entire bedroom that would have an undiscovered clue inside of it, Shaye was willing to bet it would be the unopened box from the school where Lorelei had disappeared from.