p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.9636363636363636; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 18pt;"span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial; color: #555555; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"I am sitting in Professor Snape's office with my head hung low, ashamed out of my mind. I've been sitting silent and frozen for so long here, my throat hurts and my bottom feels tingly. I will not give him the satisfaction of breaking down in tears, although I want to. I mustn't./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.9636363636363636; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 18pt;"span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial; color: #555555; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The Slytherin Housekeeper paces around the chair I'm sitting in, peering down at me from his sharp, pointed nose. He does not say a word. He hasn't said a word since he dragged me by the wrist to his office. It still hurts, a light band of red wrapping around my arm, quickly turning more painful by the second. I think the excruciating silence is meant for me to think about what punishment would be fitting for such an unforgivable crime, or dwell on remorse for the deed./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.9636363636363636; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 18pt;"span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial; color: #555555; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Instead, I am thinking of a way to get out of this./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.9636363636363636; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 18pt;"span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial; color: #555555; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"I am filled with regrets. I am swelling with self-doubt. Maybe I will never get out of this. Maybe Professor will just ask me what I was doing in the Slytherin wing of Hogwarts, but then what would I tell him? There's no way I'll betray the truth. He might pop out an Avada Kedavra spell on me and I'll be done for. Or even worse, I'll get expelled./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.9636363636363636; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 18pt;"span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial; color: #555555; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"I can't be expelled! The thought makes me terrified. I can't return to my non-wizarding family, not now, before my third year is out! I still haven't even taken my OWLs yet, or...or.../span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.9636363636363636; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 18pt;"span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial; color: #555555; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"My mind goes completely blank. For once, I don't have the answer./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.9636363636363636; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 18pt;"And then it comes to me./p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.9636363636363636; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 18pt;"span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial; color: #555555; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The Slytherin Housekeeper paces around the chair I'm sitting in, peering down at me from his sharp, pointed nose. He does not say a word. He hasn't said a word since he dragged me by the wrist to his office. It still hurts, a light band of red wrapping around my arm, quickly turning more painful by the second. I think the excruciating silence is meant for me to think about what punishment would be fitting for such an unforgivable crime, or dwell on remorse for the deed./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.9636363636363636; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 18pt;"span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial; color: #555555; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Instead, I am thinking of a way to get out of this./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.9636363636363636; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 18pt;"span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial; color: #555555; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"I am filled with regrets. I am swelling with self-doubt. Maybe I will never get out of this. Maybe Professor will just ask me what I was doing in the Slytherin wing of Hogwarts, but then what would I tell him? There's no way I'll betray the truth. He might pop out an Avada Kedavra spell on me and I'll be done for. Or even worse, I'll get expelled./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.9636363636363636; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 18pt;"span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial; color: #555555; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"I can't be expelled! The thought makes me terrified. I can't return to my non-wizarding family, not now, before my third year is out! I still haven't even taken my OWLs yet, or...or.../span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.9636363636363636; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 18pt;"span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial; color: #555555; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"My mind goes completely blank. For once, I don't have the answer./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.9636363636363636; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 18pt;"And then it comes to me./p