Julie Stone was a regular girl; she lived in an orphanage, had some friends, and every now and then would bang her head against the wall due to stress. . . . Normal!
Anyway, all her life Julie never seemed to quite fit in. She loved it, but her life...
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𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆. 𝒖𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚
────── *•. ⚡︎ .•*──────
Crookshanks led the way down the stairs; Snape was first, drifting creepily along, his toes hitting each stair as they descended, held up by his own wand, which was being pointed at him by Sirius; Sirius, Pettigrew, and Ron went next, looking like entrants in a six-legged race. Harry and Hermione brought up the rear.
"You know what this means?" Black said abruptly to Harry, turning his face back slightly, as they made their slow progress along the tunnel. "Turning Pettigrew in?"
"You're free," said Harry.
"I already said that," Hermione huffed and Harry nodded.
"Yes. . . ." said Black. "But I'm also—I don't know if anyone ever told you—I'm your godfather."
"Yeah, I knew that," said Harry.
"Well. . . . your parents appointed me your guardian," said Black stiffly. "If anything happened to them. . . . I'll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle," said Black. "But. . . . well. . . . think about it. Once my name's cleared. . . . if you wanted a. . . . a different home. . . ."
"What—live with you?" he said, accidentally cracking his head on a bit of rock protruding from the ceiling. "Leave the Dursleys?"
"Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to," said Black quickly. "I understand, I just thought I'd—"
"Are you insane?" said Harry, his voice easily as croaky as Black's, and Hermione laughed. "Of course I want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can I move in?"
Black turned right around to look at him—still pointing his wand at the rat; Snape's head was scraping the ceiling but Black didn't seem to care.
"You want to?" he said. "You mean it?"
"Yeah, I mean it!" said Harry.
They did not speak again until they had reached the end of the tunnel — except for Hermione mumbling Come and Get your Love from Redbone. Crookshanks darted up first; he had evidently pressed his paw to the knot on the trunk, because, Snape, Sirius, Pettigrew, and Ron. At last, all of them were out.
The grounds were very dark now; the only light came from the distant windows of the castle. Without a word, they set off. Pettigrew was still wheezing and occasionally whimpering.
