Book 1 - James Potter and the Hall of Elders' Crossing

James watched, horrified, as Tabitha and Philia began to climb the steps. He thought furiously,
trying to invent a quick diversion, but nothing came.
“Sod off!” a pair of muffled voices suddenly squeaked.
Both Tabitha and Philia stopped in their tracks. Philia, on the first step, whipped around angrily.
Tabitha, ahead of her, turned much more slowly, a look of polite wonderment on her face.
“Did you say something?” she asked James slowly.
James coughed. “Er, no. Sorry. Got a, uh, frog in my throat.”
Tabitha watched him for a long moment, then tilted her head slightly and narrowed her eyes at
Ralph. Finally, she turned away and disappeared up the rest of the stairs with Philia following, glancing back
furiously. After a few moments, their footsteps could be heard from above. There were no angry screams or
sounds of struggle.
“Grotty blighter!” quacked the muffled voices again.
“That crazy loon!” Ralph rasped, jumping up and grabbing his bag. “What’s he doing?”
“Come on!” James said, lunging toward the door. “If he’s still up there, we can’t help him.”
They both ran out into the hallway and threaded their way around several random corridors before
finally stopping. Panting and hearts pounding, they dug their rubber ducks out of their bags, each examining
his own even though they were identical. Two words were scrawled on the bottom of the ducks in black ink:
Laundry room!
“That crazy loon!” Ralph said again, but he was almost laughing with relief. “Figgle just took him
down to the cellars with the rest of the dirty sheets! I say we leave him there.”
James grinned. “No, let’s go get him before they try to stick him in the wringer. He probably
deserves it, but first, I want to know what he might have found out.”
The two boys ran to find the washrooms in the cellars. James stopped only once to ask directions
from an annoyingly observant servant in a painting of a gaggle of dining knights.
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