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The term was a long one, Elle wished she could go back to having the dream about Harry rather than the one about the strange man in a prison. She felt bad that every night she was watching the one responsible for torturing Alina's parents to insanity. Of course she didn't mention anything to her considering Alina had never told Elle about her parents and what they went through. It wasn't as though it was Elle's fault in the slightest but she was beginning to feel connected to this man she dreamt of him every night which was worsened by the idea they shared the same gift.
There was a lot to take her mind off the subject, most importantly exams, Elle had been studying non stop over the weekends not even delving into Hogsmede with her friends despite missing Fred getting punched last time. She was determined to excel in these exams and if that meant putting in hard work, well that's what she would have to do. To her annoyance, she had to spent most of her time revising potions since she was definitely doing the worst in that subject. She flat out refused to seek any help from the grumpy professor so had to do all of the work herself which led to her getting muffled headaches and mental breakdowns every five minutes.
She'd gotten into the habit of joining in with Fred and George's pranks after all she had been a prankster herself in her younger years, she had mentioned this to the twins who didn't seem overly impressed by her pranks seeing as they weren't magic. However Elle was getting better at the magic pranks and when she wasn't studying, she found herself crouched behind a wall waiting for a reaction from their victims. Fred and George loved pranking Filch however this was a risk considering he would chase after them, luckily Elle had gotten better at running away.
Their best prank to date was turning all the girls (Elle shared a dorm with) hair different colours. The trio sat in the common room in anticipation as the four girls came sprinting down the stairs sending the three into fits of laughter. Angelina's hair was bright blue, Katie's red, Alicia's green and Lauren's pink. However something good game from it when Lauren decided she loved how the pink hair looked on her and restored to dying her blonde locks a soft bubblegum pink.
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Quidditch was also going well for the Gryffindor team as they'd almost won every game this term, they'd beaten Ravenclaw and Slytherin leaving them to only face Hufflepuff for the final decider of who would win the Quidditch trophy that year. Luckily the game went well for them and they ended up beating the Hufflepuff team as Harry impressively swooped low to collect the snitch (without swallowing it this time) the team had a celebration in the common room that night which led to them all passing out from exhaustion on the sofas and having to be woken up by the rest of the house the next day.
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As exams drew nearer Elle found herself growing separate from her friends (apart from Alicia who liked studying with her in the library). Fred and George seemed too set on pranking to study but despite that would come out with impressive marks. As for the other girls their interests weren't entirely academic. Angelina was fully quidditch orientated, Lauren spent most of her time devising a plan to get back with Chase and Katie usually ebbed in between them usually reading some kind of book in her spare time.
The most interesting piece of news came a bit before exams when the twins came bursting into the corridor where Elle was sitting frowning in confusion at her potions text book. She looked up in surprise as they stormed over in excitement throwing themselves down next to the brunette and staring at her,
"What are you two up to?"
"Why would you assume we were up to something?"
"Because you usually are" she shrugged,
"You'll never guess what happened" Fred bounced.
"What?"
"Guess"
"But you said I'll never guess"
"Exactly so it'll be funny to see you try"
"Fred"
"Elle"
"Get on with it"
The twins looked at each other before turning back to Elle,
"Well it's a long story... Ron just told us"
"I don't have that much time... I'm studying potions if you couldn't already tell"
"There's probably no need there's rumours that Dumbledore is going to cancel all end of term exams after what happened anyway"
"He can't do that... what about Owls and Newts" she tilted her head to the side like a confused puppy.
"They've already finished their exams... anyway you're going to want to hear this" George pulled the text book out of Elle's palms.
"Fine get on with it"
The twins told an interesting tale about there being a secret part of the castle where Harry, Hermione and Ron went,
"It's guarded by a three headed dog"
"You're lying"
"Am not"
They explained how they almost got suffocated by Devil's snare, being in a room full of flying keys and having to catch one, walking past a sleeping troll, playing a game of wizards chess where they were the figures, having to solve a riddle about potions and finally Harry facing off with the dark lord who turned out to be on the back of Quirrell's head"
When they dramatically finished Elle just sat staring at them in disbelief.
"This must be one of the most elaborate pranks you've ever pulled" Elle sighed but the swings arrogantly shook their heads,
"Our little brother is many thing but he does not have the imagination to make something like this up, if you don't believe us then explain why Harry's in the hospital wing"
"Why's Harry in the hospital wing?"
"Because he faced off with the dark lord I just told you" Fred grunted, suddenly Elle thought back to the earlier dreams she'd had about Harry taking a stone out a mirror before being injured by a voice she didn't recognise, she remembered seeing a chess board and a room of what she thought were silver birds but were actually... keys.
"Did Harry or Ron say why they went down there in the first place?"
"No I don't think so"
"You didn't ask?"
"We were more intrigued by the three headed dog and the fact Qurriell had the dark lord on the back of his head"
"Can you tell me what the dark lord's called yet?" The twins shook their heads in unison.
"Please... just whisper it I feel like I'm out of the loop" George rolled his eyes reluctantly before leaning over to Elle and whispering in her ear,
"Voldemort"
"Voldemort" Elle said aloud resulting in Fred clamping his hand over her mouth,
"Don't say it"
Elle didn't believe the rumours circulating about exams, she found it hard to believe the story Fred and George had told her until she remembered the dream she had. The twins had instructed her to not say anything to anyone as apparently Ron wasn't supposed to tell them anyway. She doubted the twins could stop them selves from telling the story to everyone but Elle knew that she wouldn't repeat it... maybe to Alicia but no one else.
At this time Elle found herself walking up to the head masters office again, she'd left Fred and George saying she had to go somewhere urgently but they didn't ask too many questions.
Eventually, Elle found herself standing in front of the stone gargoyle's looking at the stone door.
"Sherbet Lemon" she spoke clearly just as McGonagall had done, the stone statues moved allowing the door to open revealing the twisting staircase.
She walked up into the office and spotted Dumbledore immediately sitting behind his desk. He looked up kindly as though he had been expecting her,
"Good evening miss Elle" he beamed,
"Good evening sir" she smiled nervously in response,
"How can I help you today?"
"Well... I know I'm not supposed to know but"
"You know what happened to Harry Potter don't you" Elle frowned in confusion,
"Yes ... how did you know?"
"I assumed that the young Weasley boy wouldn't be able to keep it to himself, also I knew if you were coming here there would be no other reason that what we discussed the other week" his eyes twinkled knowingly,
"Yes well... I wanted to know if what happened to Harry... was it was I predicted?"
"Yes I believe it was exactly what you saw" for some reason Elle felt pride at this statement as she realised that her gift actually worked,
"Can I ask... what was the stone Harry took out of the mirror" Dumbledore eyed her carefully,
"That was the philosophers stone it grants immortality which is why Voldemort was after it" Elle frowned at the use of the name,
"Sir I thought no one was allowed to say his name"
"People choose not to say it out of fear... but at this time I believe we have nothing to fear from that wizard"
"Yes well... where's the stone now?"
"It's been destroyed"
"Oh... probably for the best then" the head master nodded formally in agreement.
"I assume you won't go gossiping about this" Elle shook her head clearly,
"No of course not" she assured him "one more question though"
"Yes miss Elle"
"Are exams actually cancelled?" He smiled kindly,
"For you they are indeed yes, I'm sure you'll be grateful to hear this" Elle nodded,
"Yes I was dreading the potions one... Professor Snape hates me"
"I doubt he hates you Elle, he's a peculiar character but... I believe he had history with your uncle" he smiled,
"Yes I thought he might" before Elle could get any more answers on this subject McGonagall appeared up the staircase behind her,
"Oh Miss Lupin I didn't expect to see you here" she smiled,
"Yes well I was just leaving... thank you professor"
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