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Aurora Areli
MY SOCKS MADE LITTLE sound as I tiptoed my way down the dark, dingy corridor. Eyes darting left and right, on careful lookout for anyone that might sneak up on me, I finally found myself at a narrow wooden door. This was it. Everything I needed was just behind it.
Just when I placed my hand on the cool metal doorknob (that happened to be shaped like a serpent's head) a bright light suddenly appeared to my left. I jumped in surprise, and whirled around to see where it had come from.
It was my father. He was holding his wand and frowning.
"Rory, what do you think you're doing?" Dad said, making me instantly retract my hand from the door and hold it behind me.
"Nothing!" I said quickly. "I was just . . . looking for the bathroom?"
Dad gave me a deadpan look. "Really? Because it seems to me like you were trying to get inside the study, which, as everyone knows, is where you keep the tools to write a letter."
"Uh — er — no," I said unconvincingly, even to myself. "Why would I do that?"
"Let's see . . ." Dad paused in mock thought. "Maybe because you know perfectly well that you're not allowed to have those tools, seeing that you lost those privileges weeks ago."
I winced. "Can you really blame me for just wanting to give Harry even the littlest bit of information? I mean, come on, Dad, nobody's telling him anything! Do you know how furious he must be?"
"Rory, keep your voice down, people are trying to sleep," Dad said sternly, making me shut my mouth. "As you should be as well. I don't know what's gotten into you lately, but so deliberately disobeying the rules we have set in place, so that all the work we have done to keep you safe doesn't get compromised, is completely unacceptable. Now let's go."
"But, Dad!" I pleaded, as he steered me through the dark moldy house and back to my shared room. "All the other letters we've sent so far have been fine! None of them have been intercepted —"
"— and we are not going to take the chance to let them," he told me.
"But —"
"There is no discussing this, Rory," Dad said severely, as we came to a halt in front of the door to the room. "If you try and sneak around like this again, there will be consequences."
I bit my lip harshly to keep from talking back. There was no use trying to convince him — or any of the adults, for that matter — that Harry deserved to not be left in the dark. I knew how terrible it felt. So, without saying another word to my father, I turned and slipped inside the room I was sharing with Hermione and Ginny.
Once I had shut the door (admittedly a little harder than necessary) and turned the lock, I turned to see the two of them staring at me curiously.
"Well?" Ginny said, leaning forward eagerly. "Did you get them?"
