Katie

1. Escape

The sky was caped in a darkness that hid away the stars from my desperate eyes. I could hear the light breathing of everyone in the dormitory. They were all asleep. Sleeping gently after counting their sheep, expecting to wake up with every piece of the puzzle in tact.

I sat perched on the edge of my window sill above my bed, looking out on the city of London that we sat right in the middle of- yet we were invisible. Golden lights gleamed prosperity for the rich and adventure for the poor. I sat in neither position. My freedom was my only resource worthy enough of having value.

Being locked up in a place like this for 15 years, I understood the way things worked. When I turned 17, they'd kick me out onto the street with a shitty public education and a certificate that read, 'congratulations'. Congratulations for what? Not having parents? 

Squintons was a wizarding orphanage for abandoned magical children. It had an in-built school that was opened by the Ministry, meaning we were taught about what they wanted us to know. The library was filtered with facts and lies and I didn't know what a muggle was until I was seven. 

I held tightly the latest corresponding letter from Dumbledore, a man i'd never met in my life, yet my education and freedom depended on my trust in the distant man. Sure, i'd seen his face when we were lucky enough to be let out into Diagon Alley to collect supplies with our teachers, but never had i been remotely near the man. I didn't know his motives or his streak record of saving witches from cult-like orphanages, yet, it was him that was going to save me.

I knew, of course, who he was. He was one of the most powerful wizards alive. Whether or not that fact came because he was going to save me from this damned place. 

Out in the distance, I heard the faint ringing of tuba-like bells. They rumbled through the air, and made barely a squeak by the time they'd reached my ears. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. Now was my cue.

I grabbed my bag from underneath my bed and swung my legs over the side of the window. Adrenaline suddenly kicked in and I felt the blood rush into my face. 

The wind from the second story window was harsh and unrelenting. I fought against it and crept to the side of the building, ducking by each window that passed. All I could hear was the slow and quiet creaking of my feet against the metal sheeted roof, and the wind blowing against my ears, causing my hair to blow everywhere.

Once at the end of the building, I grabbed a hold of a drain pipe that led down. I twisted my feet around it and slowly slid down to the wet cobble ground. I was now in a dark, empty alleyway.

Where was he?

My heart was in my throat as I desperately glanced up and down the alley. He wasn't there. A slow, painful sinking feeling punched my stomach. Had this all been a scam? Were my hopes held too high on a man i'd never met? Perhaps it was silly to think I could escape, i'd most likely invested myself too much to notice that it was all fake.

It was too late to back out now. I had no way to get back in through the window. The only way back into Squintons was through the front door that was guarded by the matrons. I had to keep looking, Hagrid had to show up eventually...

I crept towards the street, poking my head out from beside the tall brick building that had been my home for so long. The street was dark and illuminated by small street lamps every few shops or so. The shops were all closed, darkened by the night and awaiting to be filled back up by the presence of daylight.

With a sigh, I turned back from the street into the alleyway again. The sinking feeling had buried itself in the bottom of my stomach. Maybe trust was something I needed to work on?