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𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐊𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐁𝐮𝐬
CHLOE WAS SEVERAL streets away before she collapsed onto a low wall in Magnolia Crescent, panting from the effort of dragging her trunk.
Sitting quite still and listening to the frantic thumping of her heart, anger was still surging through Chloe. But after ten minutes alone in the dark street, a new emotion overtook her: panic.
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Whichever way she looked at it, Chloe had never been in a worse fix. She was stranded, quite alone, in the dark Muggle world, with nowhere to go.
And the worst of it was, Chloe had just done serious magic, which meant she was almost certainly expelled from Hogwarts. She had broken the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry so badly, she was surprised that Ministry of Magic representatives weren't swooping down on her where she sat. She shivered and looked up and down Magnolia Crescent. What was going to happen to her? Would she be arrested, or would she simply be outlawed from the wizarding world?
Just as Chloe started thinking of Ron and Hermione, her heart sank even lower. Criminal or not, Ron and Hermione would want to help Chloe, but they were both abroad. And with Hedwig gone, she had no means of contacting either of them.
Chloe didn't have any Muggle money, either. There was a little witch gold in the money bag at the bottom of her trunk, but the rest of the fortune her parents had left her was stored in a vault at Gringotts Wizarding Bank in London. There was no way she'd drag her trunk all the way to London.
Chloe looked down at her wand, but she straightened up suddenly, looking around her once more. She had the strangest feeling that she was being watched, but the street appeared to be deserted, and no lights shone from any of the large square houses. She stood up once more, her hand clenched on her wand. She had sensed rather than heard it: somebody or something was standing in the narrow gap between the garage and the fence behind her. She squinted at the black alleyway.
If only it would move, then Chloe would know whether it was just a stray cat or.. something else.
"Lumos," murmured Chloe. A light briskly appeared at the end of her wand, almost dazzling her. She held it high over her head, and the pebble-dashed walls of number two suddenly sparkled; the garage door gleamed, and between them, Chloe saw, quite distinctly, the hulking outline of something very big, with wide, gleaming eyes. Chloe stepped backwards. Her legs hit her trunk and she tripped.
