Down the hall, up the moving staircase as it spun, jumping
the last ten feet from case to case, hoping that she was on the right
track. Pushing her way through the
throngs of students hurrying to their next class, a salmon swimming
upstream. The gong chimed, and she
groaned. I’m going to be late, on top
of it all. No homework, lame story to
support why I don’t have it with me, lamer promise to have it in later . . . I
should have joined in the exploding strip snap tournament last night. At least I would have been able to show off
my new green stockings.
The halls emptied around her. She had no idea which classroom she’d find
Philandra in; she hadn’t even finished the basic Transfiguration courses, much
less sat for her OWL to move on to the advanced studies. “Carp!!!”
It was one of the Forgiveable Curses, and a current favorite in the
Dungeon. “Carp, carp, carp!” She stamped her foot. “I need to find Philandra Duntisborn right
now,” she announced to the air at large, pacing the hall. You never know, there might be a house elf
zooming around in a flowered chair who’d point the way; a flaming arrow might
appear labeled “This way to Advanced Transfiguration; or maybe . . . A door
appeared in the blank hallway where a door had most certainly not been
before. Spike stood and stared at it.
A plain and ordinary door.
Not bound in brass bands, not three times a person’s height, not carved
with grinning demons’ faces. Just a
door, of good serviceable oak, gleaming with oil but hardly polished, with a
plain brushed brass knob. If you looked
for a picture of an ordinary door, this would be right there in the top
ten. Spike was instantly suspicious of
it.
She approached softly, as if it were an ill-tempered
griffin, warily reaching out to touch the knob.
No showers of sparks, no fanged mouth opening, no pit yawning beneath
her feet. Cool and round in her hand,
turning easily and soundlessly. Unlocked, even. Now comes the
trap, right?
She pushed the door open, and was immediately facing not
only Philandra but three other students, along with their wands, drawn and
ready. Pointed directly at her.
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