Prue's parents left for work after telling her they would call to make sure she didn't get up to anything during her grounding. She kept that in mind as she began her hike to the Leaky Cauldron.
Prue didn't have enough money to buy a portkey to Hogsmede, so she altered her plan. She bought Floo powder. She had to give up two of her three galleons for a bag of it, but she only needed a pinch. Another sickle went to gaining access to a public Floo. Prue spared a sad thought for the death of her savings, then pocketed her remaining sickles. She pretended she was with a family that came by until she threw the powder in, stepped into the green flames, and called out Hogsmede. An hour after she had left home, Prue arrived at the only village with a path to Hogwarts.
In another half-hour she made it to the Hogwarts gates, where she came to a stop. As she had confirmed the day before, the curse was a green haze over the castle doors. It was simpler than the ones she had briefly glimpsed at Gringotts. It had more fingers and pulsed like a heartbeat, but it was only made by one man, one human man. It extended down the path all the way to the front gates, attaching partially to the wards. She could access it from where she stood.
Prue got to work, confident in her abilities. She had been the top of her class before she had started spending all her time on curse-breaking. She analyzed the tremors of the haze, trying to detect a key vein that would give away how held onto the school. However much trouble she got in for this, she was going to be happy with herself. The other students would thank her too.
Ten minutes later, one of Prue's searching prods struck gold and the curse pulsed bright green. Suddenly, its conditions seemed clear. Prue gasped, stepping back and pulling her mind away before she was overwhelmed. She wouldn't get another rest once she actually started breaking the curse.
A blue dot the size of her thumb appeared before her. It was a creature, holding itself to gate and watching her work. When it realized that she was staring back at it, its mouth dropped open. Prue smiled and said hello. It opened its mouth wider and let loose a buzzing sound, and in a blink it was gone. Prue laughed, thinking of what Mrs. Scamander had told her. She had kept an eye out for Gribblywinks when hidden things were revealed, but she only caught a glimpse of one when she was busy trying to break a curse. Prue would have to pursue it later, but her discovery gave her a giddy confidence.
Sure that she understood the curse, Prue set about breaking it. The next part was theory, but Prue already had experience successfully putting curse-breaking book knowledge into action. She reached out and touched the curse. It had been active fifty years, so she had to pull all its fingers together before her. She delicately rolled back the fog of each strand, and it condensed into a single string that led from the gate to the castle doors. The string retreated no farther, so Prue hesitated and frowned. She had thought she would have the entire curse at the gate by that stage. She pulled at the string, but it didn't move.
Prue looked doubtfully at the string in her left hand and the wand in her right. She couldn't just let it go, it would snap back at her, and she didn't think giving another tug was a good idea. Prue put her wand between her teeth and called out for the other end of the string with her right hand. The string released from the door and sailed to her, so Prue snatched her wand out of her mouth again, readying herself to use it. There was a pull in her left hand. A curse could slip out of someone's grip, but Prue had never heard of it pulling itself. She kept her grip tight, even as the errant end of the string attached itself to the gate.
Tiny localized spots on Prue's clothes and hair begun to pull back from the gate. Prue didn't know what the Gribblywinks were trying to do, but they were only serving to distract her. And she needed to focus. The body of the string had not collapsed like she'd intended. Instead it shortened, by its own power, to better form itself into a circle. The curse end Prue held tried to wrench away and join its opposite, and her clenched fist jerked forward and hit the gate. A Gribblywink buzzed incessantly in her left ear as the others continued their pulling. The curse started to slip from Prue's grasp. She didn't know if the pain that bloomed in her palm was from the string cutting into her hand or her own nails. There was no time to think. Prue brought up her wand and broke the string.
A shatter of green blinded her, and Prue shuttered her perception of the curse to get away from the painful light. It should be broken. She should be done. The string dissolved from her hand, but something pulled her toward the gate. The Gribblywinks had not stopped pulling at her in the other direction, but a stronger force had gotten its hold on her hands. Prue thought she might see two strings wrapped around her wrists if she was brave enough to check despite the blinding light.
One of Prue's fingers touched the gate. Instead of pressing against metal, it disappeared in the air. More than one little voice buzzed in Prue's ears, but she still couldn't see them. Prue's hand holding her wand disappeared into the gate, and her feet scrambled against the dirt. There was no give for her to work with, only a relentless tug. Prue was up to her armpits in the gate, and she screamed for help along with the buzzes of the Gribblywinks. Then, all the hands dropped away from her, except the one tugging her ear, and she fell through the gate.
Prue fell to the ground with a wordless exclamation. The metal of a gate dinged when her shoes hit its bars on the way down. Prue couldn't see. An agonizing second passed before she realized that her eyes were adjusting to the sudden light of day.
The hazy figure of an adult stomped towards Prue as she tried to blink her vision back to normal. He said, "Who are you?"
The man's anger made Prue scoot back even as she tried to orient herself. Her back hit cool metal, and she looked over her shoulder. Hogwarts?
The man took advantage of Prue's distraction. In a flash, he had grabbed her wrist and pulled her up. He said, "Were you following me?"
His grip tightened like a vice as he loomed over her. Instead of an answer, Prue cried out for help. She could hardly tell what was happening, but she knew she wanted to get away. The man brought out his wand. A loud buzz and tug on Prue's ear made her duck just before a spell flew over her head and rung the gate. Prue pushed at the hand trapping her, simultaneously trying to tug herself away. The man gripped her wrist harder and snarled some kind of command, then shook Prue. She threw out her arm to grab the gate and steady herself as her back smashed into metal bars. The Gribblywink's buzz rose to a shriek. Its grip on her ear tightened to a sharp pinch.
Suddenly, it was dark again. The man was gone. The gate was still at her back. The buzz had stopped. Prue waited, panting, for her eyes to adjust to the dark as she put her arms around herself. Something light but present pulled down on a small section of hair on the right side of her head. Prue shakily touched her hand to her ear, feeling where the Gribblywink had pinched. It still hurt, but Prue was distracted by a light tickle of a tiny hand against her pinky. She cupped her hand horizontally. After a moment, something tumbled into her palm. Slowly, carefully, Prue kept her hand level and brought it in front of her face. There, in her palm, was a blue Gribblywink. Its little pixie-like body was lying prone, and she thought she could see it panting in the darkness. The fingertip Prue had touched to her ear had come back bloody, but she couldn't really blame the Gribblywink for that.
"You aren't invisible anymore," Prue said, still dull from shock.
She waited for the Gribblywink to recover and stand, but it only curled up under her gaze. It made a high pitched buzz. After a moment of being startled, Prue realized that it was rocking itself and crying. She gasped and looked away, but its tears brought her own spilling out. She could assume that it preferred being invisible, if what Mrs. Scamander had told her was accurate. For some reason it couldn't hide itself from Prue, and there was a good chance that it was her fault. She started blubbering.
It took her a long time to get out words, between her stutters and sobs. "I'm sorry," she said. "I don't know if you can understand me, but I'm sorry. I should have listened to Mrs. Scamander. I only thought, I was sure I could do it. I don't know what happened… You and your friends tried to warn me didn't you?"
At the mention of the other Gribblywinks, the buzzing wail got louder. Prue didn't know how to comfort it. It didn't want to be looked at, but it had climbed into her palm. She tried to swallow her tears in order to keep talking. "What happened? That man- I think he was going to hurt me. And you… you hid me from him didn't you?" Prue stared sightlessly into the darkness as the light touch on her hand shifted about. "I don't know what that took, but thank you. Really, thank you. I don't think I can repay you, I don't know how, but I'll help you if I can."
Prue took a quiet minute to get a hold of herself. She had an easier time of it when the buzzing finally petered off. Still, she didn't dare look at the Gribblywink again to check if it was really getting better. She surveyed the castle, then took a chance and looked for the curse. No green spots emerged in her vision. Prue stood, cupping her hand and holding it to her body so the Gribblywink wouldn't fall off. She banged on the gate with her left hand and called out for someone to let her in. After a couple minutes of the same, her hand was sore and her voice was hoarse.
She stopped and said, more to herself than the Gribblywink, "I don't know what's going on. I can't stay out here. It's freezing."
Something tugged her ear, and it took all Prue's self-control to keep from jumping. She glanced down to her cupped hand, trying not to move her head. The Gribblywink was gone. Prue ran her left pointer finger gently along her palm to make sure it hadn't just turned invisible again, then dropped her hand. The one pulling her ear was the same one as before. He must have recovered while she was banging on the gate.
The pulling on her ear continued, and the light buzzing started up again.
Prue said, "I'm sorry. I don't know what you want. All I can hear is buzzing."
It could have just been wind, but she thought she felt the Gribblywink brush against her hair. Then it was in front of her face.
Prue said, "Oh, hello."
The Gribblywink wrung its four tiny hands and looked down.
"Sorry, I won't look."
Prue turned her head, but a loud buzz had her looking back. The Gribblywink was still wringing two hands, but with one of the others, it pointed at the path to Hogsmede.
"You wanted me to follow you?"
The Gribblywink crossed its arms, looking blankly at her for a moment before nodding.
"I guess I should listen to you."
The Gribblywink nodded and pointed again, but it had its back turned to her.
Prue said, "You can go back to pulling my ear. I know you don't like me looking at you."
Prue watched the Gribblywink turn before looking away. Soon, she felt its barely-there weight land on the top of her ear. She kept her head as still as possible as it tugged her ear forward, toward the path to Hogsmede.
Prue set off, walking through the dark forest path instead of running like she had previously. As the Gribblywink pulled her steadily past tall, night darkened trees, Prue babbled to distract herself from the unidentifiable noises and shadows within. "I'm sure you'll get invisible again soon. You probably just tired yourself out," Prue said. She waited for the Gribblywink to give some response, but none came. "I do wonder about that sometimes with my own magic – if I can exhaust myself using it, I mean. I've never got tired from spellwork before, but I think magic has to come from somewhere." She considered what she'd said, while resolutely ignoring the crackles and hoots filling the silence. "I don't know why I never asked anyone about it before. I should have done that instead of spending all my time on curses. It would have been the smart thing to do. That is what I should do – the first thing when I get back. I'll ask my mother about magical exhaustion. And I'm sure Mrs. Scamander will know how to help you. It'll be alright, you'll see."
The Gribblywink pet her ear. Prue supposed that while he understood her perfectly, his little voice just couldn't make English words. She said, "Well, I'll probably have to wait until after my parents yell at me a while. I knew that they would when I came out here. And they're going to tell me I was reckless and stupid and overbold. And I won't even be able to defend myself because they're right… It's just that I thought…" Feeling herself slide back into a slump, Prue said, "You're probably bored listening to me talk to myself. We should work out a system so we can have a conversation… We can start with yes and no. One buzz for yes, two buzzes for no. Do you understand me?"
The Gribblywink on her ear gave an answering buzz. It tickled a little, and Prue gave a smile even though the Gribblywink probably couldn't see it.
She said, "Do you want me to go back to the castle?"
The response was two buzzes and a tug on Prue's ear toward Hogsmede.
"Right. Neither do I. We have to get back to Hogsmede. I still have floo powder left, and a few sickles. If we get home fast enough, maybe my parents won't even know I was gone." Prue wasn't sure she would mind her parents being home when she got back, though. She tried not to wonder why no one had discovered her yet, and why no one had answered her knocking on Hogwarts' gate. Or who that man was, and what everything that had happened meant. But she couldn't help noticing that the path under her feet was made of dirt, not the stone she remembered from her earlier run. And where were the Gribblywink's friends, and why wasn't he with them? She pushed aside her worries for when she got to Hogsmede. If Prue got home alright after everything, she might just confess anyway from relief.
Prue played a game of twenty questions with the Gribblywink. He seemed happy to participate, which made Prue at least assured that he didn't hate her for getting him into trouble. The game was calming until Prue asked, "Did I break the curse?" and the Gribblywink answered 'no.'
Dreading the response, Prue asked, "Is the curse still there?" She had to be sure.
In answer, the Gribblywink gave a tap on Prue's ear instead of making his usual buzzes. They hadn't worked out what a tap meant, but Prue thought she could understand what he wanted.
She rephrased. "Is the curse still on the Defence position?" At another tap, Prue rephrased again, choosing her words carefully. "I didn't see a curse on the gate. Does a curse against the Defence against the Dark Arts Position at Hogwarts exist right now?"
Two buzzes. No.
"Is right now what I think it is?"
Tap. Rephrase.
"Did you bring me back to the same night I started at when you hid me?"
Two buzzes.