The Forbidden Paper Trail -------------------------------------------- We didn’t go back to our dorms. There was no way I could sleep with that folder burning a hole in my robes. Instead, we snuck into the Room of Requirement, which had sensed our mood and turned into a small, windowless study filled with magnifying glasses, high-back chairs, and a flickering fireplace. "Spread it out," Emily commanded, her Slytherin instincts taking over. She cleared a table, and I laid the yellowed parchment down. My hands were still shaking. "It says 'Unauthorized,'" I whispered, the word feeling heavy in my mouth. "If the Ministry didn't authorize it, who did? Who has enough power to just... ship a baby across the ocean to a different country?" Jackie pulled a thick book on Ministry law out of her bag—she always seemed to have the right book at the right time. "Look at the signature at the bottom," she pointed out. The ink was faded, but you could see a messy scrawl. "It’s not a name. It’s a code: M.D.O. 102." "M.D.O.?" I asked, my Southern drawl stretching out the letters. "What in the world does that stand for?" "Magical Defense Organization?" Emily guessed. "No," Jackie shook her head, flipping pages frantically. "Wait... here it is. In the old records, M.D.O. stood for Management of Dark Orphans. It was a temporary department set up right after Voldemort fell." I flinched at the name. In the South, we didn't talk about 'Him-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named' much, but at Hogwarts, his shadow was everywhere. "If that department handled me," I said, my voice getting lower, "then someone inside that office purposefully checked the box for 'Muggle Placement.' Look here." I pointed to a small note in the margin written in purple ink. 'Separation is required for the Greater Good. The boy must remain at the center; the girl must be the shadow.' "The Greater Good," Emily muttered, her eyes narrowing. "That’s a phrase Dumbledore used to use a lot in the old days."A cold lump formed in my throat. "Are y'all tellin' me the Headmaster knew? He knew I was out there in foster homes, movin' from house to house, and he just... let it happen?" Before Jackie could answer, the room suddenly felt freezing cold. The fire in the hearth turned a sickly shade of green, and for the first time, I heard it. A low, whispering like sound sound that seemed to come from inside the very walls of the room. “The Potter girl... find the other one...” I jumped back, tripping over my chair. "Did y'all hear that?" Jackie and Emily looked at me, then at each other. "Hear what, Maddie?" Emily asked, her hand going to her wand. "It’s dead quiet in here." "The hissin'!" I cried out, my heart hammering. "Like a giant copperhead snake right behind the wall! It’s talkin' about killin'!" The girls looked at me like I’d lost my mind. That’s when the terrifying truth hit me—whatever was in the walls, I was the only one who could understand it.
