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initials
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\begin_layout Chapter
Frontal Override
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T
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 biting January wind howled around the vast, blank stone walls that demarcated
 the material bounds of the castle Hogwarts, whispering and whistling in
 odd pitches as it blew past closed windows and stone turrets.
 The most recent snow had mostly blown away, but occasional patches of melted
 and refrozen ice still stuck to the stone face and blazed reflected sunlight.
 From a distance, it must have looked like Hogwarts was blinking hundreds
 of eyes.
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A sudden gust made Draco flinch, and try, impossibly, to press his body
 even closer to the stone, which felt like ice and smelled like ice.
 Some utterly pointless instinct seemed convinced that he was about to be
 blown off the outer wall of Hogwarts, and that the best way to prevent
 this was to jerk around in helpless reflex and possibly throw up.
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Draco was trying very hard 
\emph on
not
\emph default
 to think about the six stories worth of empty air underneath him, and focus,
 instead, on how he was going to kill Harry Potter.
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“You know, Mr.
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\backslash
 
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Malfoy,” said the young girl beside him in a conversational voice, “if a
 seer had told me that someday I'd be hanging onto the side of a castle
 by my fingertips, trying not to look down or think about how loud Mum'd
 scream if she saw me, I wouldn't've had 
\emph on
any
\emph default
 idea of how it'd happen, 
\emph on
except
\emph default
 that it'd be Harry Potter's fault.”
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\emph on
Earlier:
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The two allied Generals stepped together over Longbottom's body, their boots
 hitting the floor in almost perfect synchrony.
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Only a single soldier now stood between them and Harry, a Slytherin boy
 named Samuel Clamons, whose hand was clenched white around his wand, held
 upward to sustain his Prismatic Wall.
 The boy's breathing was coming rapidly, but his face showed the same cold
 determination that lit the eyes of his general, Harry Potter, who was standing
 behind the Prismatic Wall at the dead end of the corridor next to an open
 window, with his hands held mysteriously behind his back.
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The battle had been ridiculously difficult, for the enemy being outnumbered
 two-to-one.
 It should have been easy, Dragon Army and the Sunshine Regiment had melded
 together easily in practice sessions, they'd fought each other long enough
 to know each other very well indeed.
 Morale was high, both armies knowing that this time they weren't just fighting
 to win for themselves, but fighting for a world free of traitors.
 Despite the surprised protests of both generals, the soldiers of the combined
 army had insisted on calling themselves Dramione's Sungon Argiment, and
 produced patches for their insignia of a smiling face wreathed in flames.
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But Harry's soldiers had all blackened their own insignia 
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 it didn't look like paint, more like they'd 
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 and they'd fought all through the upper levels of Hogwarts with a desperate
 fury.
 The cold rage that Draco sometimes saw in Harry had seemed to trickle down
 into his soldiers, and they'd fought like it hadn't been play.
 And Harry had emptied out his entire bag of tricks, there'd been tiny metal
 balls (Granger had identified them as “ball bearings”) on floors and staircases
, rendering them impassable until cleared, only Harry's army had already
 practiced coordinated Hover Charms and they could fly their own people
 
\emph on
right over
\emph default
 the obstacles they'd made…
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You couldn't bring devices into the game from outside, but you could Transfigure
 anything you wanted 
\emph on
during
\emph default
 the game, so long as it was safe.
 And that just wasn't fair when you were fighting a boy raised by scientists,
 who knew about things like ball bearings and skateboards and bungee cords.
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And so it had come to this.
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The survivors of the allied forces had cornered the last remnants of Harry
 Potter's army in a dead-end corridor.
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Weasley and Vincent had rushed Longbottom at the same time, moving together
 like they'd practiced for weeks instead of hours, and somehow Longbottom
 had managed to hex them 
\emph on
both
\emph default
 before falling himself.
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And now it was Draco and Granger and Padma and Samuel and Harry, and by
 the looks of Samuel, his Prismatic Wall couldn't last much longer.
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Draco had already leveled his wand at Harry, waiting for the Prismatic Wall
 to fall of its own accord; there was no need to waste a Breaking Drill
 Hex before then.
 Padma leveled her own wand at Samuel, Granger leveled hers at Harry…
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\begin_layout Standard
Harry was still hiding his hands behind his back, instead of aiming his
 wand; and looking at them with a face that could have been carved out of
 ice.
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\begin_layout Standard
It might be a bluff.
 It probably wasn't.
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There was a brief, tense silence.
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And then Harry spoke.
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“I'm the villain now,” the young boy said coldly, “and if you think villains
 are this easy to finish off, you'd better think again.
 Beat me when I'm fighting seriously, and I'll stay beaten; but lose, and
 we'll be doing this all over again next time.”
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The boy brought his hands forward, and Draco saw that Harry was wearing
 strange gloves, with a peculiar grayish material on the fingertips, and
 buckles that strapped the gloves tightly to his wrists.
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Beside Draco, the Sunshine General gasped in horror; and Draco, without
 even asking why, fired a Breaking Drill Hex.
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Samuel staggered, he let out a scream as he staggered, but he held the Wall;
 and if Padma or Granger fired now, they would exhaust their own forces
 so badly that they might just lose.
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“
\emph on
Harry!
\emph default
” shouted Granger.
 “
\emph on
You can't be serious!
\emph default
”
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Harry was already in motion.
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And as he swung out the open window, his cold voice said, “Follow if you
 dare.”
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The icy wind howled around them.
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Draco's arms were already starting to feel tired.
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…It had developed that, yesterday, Harry had carefully demonstrated to Granger
 exactly how to Transfigure the gloves he was currently wearing, which used
 something called `gecko setae'; and how to glue Transfigured patches of
 the same material to the toes of their shoes; and Harry and Granger had,
 in innocent childish play, tried climbing around the walls and ceiling
 a little.
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And that, also yesterday, Harry had supplied Granger with a grand total
 of exactly two doses of Feather-Falling Potion to carry around in her pouch,
 “just in case”.
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Not that Padma would have followed them, anyway.
 
\emph on
She
\emph default
 wasn't crazy.
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Draco carefully peeled loose his right hand, stretched it over as far as
 he could, and slapped it down on the stone again.
 Beside him, Granger did the same.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
They'd already swallowed the Feather-Falling Potion.
 It was skirting the edges of the game rules, but the potion wouldn't be
 activated unless one of them actually fell, and so long as they 
\emph on
didn't
\emph default
 fall they weren't using the item.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Professor Quirrell was watching them.
\end_layout

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The two of them were 
\emph on
perfectly, completely, utterly safe.
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Harry Potter, on the other hand, was going to die.
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“I wonder why Harry is doing this,” said General Granger in a reflective
 tone, as she slowly peeled the fingertips of one hand off the wall with
 an extended sticky sound.
 Her hand plopped back down again almost as soon as it was lifted.
 “I'll have to ask him that after I kill him.”
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It was amazing how much the two of them were turning out to have in common.
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Draco didn't really feel like talking right now, but he managed to say,
 through gritted teeth, “Could be revenge.
 For the date.”
\end_layout

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“Really,” said Granger.
 “After all this time.”
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Stick.
 Plop.
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“How sweet of him,” said Granger.
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Stick.
 Plop.
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“I guess I'll find some truly romantic way to thank him,” said Granger.
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Stick.
 Plop.
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“What's he got against 
\emph on
you?
\emph default
” said Granger.
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Stick.
 Plop.
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The icy wind howled around them.
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One might have thought it would feel safer to have ground under your feet
 again.
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But if that ground was a slanted roof tiled with rough slats, which had
 rather a lot more ice on it than the stone walls, and you were running
 across it at a high rate of speed…
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Then you would be 
\emph on
sadly mistaken.
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“
\emph on
Luminos!
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” shouted Draco.
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“
\emph on
Luminos!
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” shouted Granger.
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“
\emph on
Luminos!
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” shouted Draco.
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“
\emph on
Luminos!
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” shouted Granger.
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The distant figure was dodging and scrambling as it ran, and not a single
 shot hit, but they were gaining.
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Until Granger slipped.
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It was inevitable, in retrospect, in real life you couldn't 
\emph on
actually
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 run across icy slanted rooftops at a high rate of speed.
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And also inevitably, because it happened without the slightest thought,
 Draco spun and grabbed for Granger's right arm, and he 
\emph on
caught
\emph default
 her, only she was already too far off balance, she was falling and pulling
 Draco with her, it all happened so quickly 
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There was a hard, painful impact, not just Draco's weight hitting the roof\SpecialChar \-
top
 but some of Granger's weight too, and if she'd hit just a little bit closer
 to the edge they could have made it, but instead her body tipped again
 and her legs slipped off and her other hand grabbed frantically…
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And that was how Draco ended up holding onto Granger's arm in a white grip,
 while her other hand clenched frantically at the edge of the rooftop and
 the toes of Draco's shoes dug into the edge of a roof tile.
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“
\emph on
Hermione!
\emph default
” Harry's voice shrieked distantly.
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“Draco,” whispered Granger's voice, and Draco looked down.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
That might have been a mistake.
 There was a lot of air underneath her, nothing but air, they were on the
 edge of a rooftop that had jutted out from the main stone wall of Hogwarts.
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“He's going to come help me,” whispered the girl, “but first he's going
 to 
\emph on
Luminos
\emph default
 both of us, there's no way he wouldn't.
 You have to let me go.”
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It should have been the easiest thing in the world.
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She was just a mudblood, just a mudblood, 
\emph on
just a mudblood!
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She wouldn't even be 
\emph on
hurt!
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\begin_layout Standard
…Draco's brain wasn't listening to anything Draco was telling it right now.
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“Do it,” Hermione Granger whispered, her eyes blazing without a single trace
 of fear, “do it, Draco, do it, you can beat him yourself 
\emph on
we have to win Draco!
\emph default
”
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There was a sound of someone running and it was coming closer.
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\emph on
Oh, be rational…
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The voice in Draco's head sounded an awful lot like Harry Potter teaching
 lessons.
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…
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are you going to let your brain run your life?
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\emph on
Aftermath, 1:
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It was taking a bit of an effort for Daphne Greengrass to keep herself quiet,
 as Millicent Bulstrode retold the story in the Slytherin girls' common
 room (a cozy cool place in the dungeons running beneath the Hogwarts Lake,
 with fish swimming past every window, and couches you could lie down in
 if you wanted).
 Mostly because, in Daphne's opinion, it was a perfectly good story already
 without all of Millicent's 
\emph on
improvements
\emph default
.
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“And then what?” gasped Flora and Hestia Carrow.
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“General Granger looked up at him,” Millicent said dramatically, “and she
 said, `Draco! You've got to let go of me! Don't worry about me, Draco,
 I promise I'll be all right! And what do you suppose Malfoy did then?”
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“He said `Never!',” shouted Charlotte Wiland, “and held on even tighter!”
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All the listening girls except Pansy Parkinson nodded.
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“Nope!” said Millicent.
 “He dropped her.
 And then he jumped up and shot General Potter.
 The end.”
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There was a stunned pause.
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“You can't 
\emph on
do
\emph default
 that!” said Charlotte.
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“She's a 
\emph on
mudblood,
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” said Pansy, sounding confused.
 “Of 
\emph on
course
\emph default
 he let go!”
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“Well, Malfoy shouldn't have grabbed her in the first place, then!” said
 Charlotte.
 “But once he grabbed her, he 
\emph on
had
\emph default
 to hang on! 
\emph on
Especially
\emph default
 in the face of approaching certain doom!” Tracey Davis, sitting next to
 Daphne, was nodding along in firm agreement.
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“I don't see why,” said Pansy.
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“That's because you don't have the tiniest smidgin of romance in you,” said
 Tracey.
 “Besides, you can't just go dropping girls.
 A boy who'd drop a girl like that… he'd drop 
\emph on
anyone.

\emph default
 He'd drop 
\emph on
you,
\emph default
 Pansy.”
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“What d'you mean, 
\emph on
drop me?
\emph default
” Pansy said.
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Daphne couldn't resist any more.
 “You know,” Daphne said darkly, “you're eating breakfast one day at our
 table, and the next thing you know, Malfoy 
\emph on
lets go of you,
\emph default
 and you're falling off the top of Hogwarts! That's what!”
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“Yeah!” said Charlotte.
 “He's a witch dropper!”
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“You know why Atlantis fell?” said Tracey.
 “'Cause someone like Malfoy 
\emph on
dropped
\emph default
 it, that's why!”
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Daphne lowered her voice.
 “In fact… what if Malfoy's the one who made Hermione, I mean General Granger,
 slip in the first place? What if he's out to make 
\emph on
all
\emph default
 the Muggleborns trip and fall?”
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“You mean 
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 ?” gasped Tracey.
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“That's right!” Daphne said dramatically.
 “What if Malfoy is 
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\emph on
the heir of Slipperin?
\emph default
”
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“The next Drop Lord!” said Tracey.
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\begin_layout Standard
Which was far too good a line for anyone to keep to themselves, so by nightfall
 it was all over Hogwarts, and the next morning it was the 
\emph on
Quibbler's
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 headline.
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\emph on
Aftermath, 2:
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Hermione made sure she got to their usual classroom nice and early that
 evening, just so that she would be by herself, in a chair, peacefully reading
 a book, when Harry got there.
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\begin_layout Standard
If there was any way for a door to creak open apologetically, that was how
 the door was creaking open.
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“Um,” said Harry Potter's voice.
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Hermione kept reading.
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“I'm, um, kinda sorry, I didn't mean for you to 
\emph on
actually
\emph default
 fall off the roof or anything…”
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It had been quite an entertaining experience, in fact.
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“I, ah… I don't have much experience apologizing, I'll fall to my knees
 if you want, or buy you something expensive, 
\emph on
Hermione I don't know how to apologize to you for this what can I do just
 tell me?
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
She kept reading the book in silence.
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\begin_layout Standard
It wasn't as if 
\emph on
she
\emph default
 had any idea how Harry could apologize, either.
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\begin_layout Standard
Right now she was just feeling a sort of odd curiosity as to what would
 happen if she kept reading her book for a while.
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