twelve o'clock
How long the dreadful game went on Harry never exactly knew . Well practised as he was in snapping in the nursery , he often failed to think of a retort , and paid for his unreadiness by the loss of his hair . Oh , how foolish and wearisome all this rudeness and snapping now seemed to him ! But on he had to go , wondering all the time how near it was to twelve o'clock , and whether the Snap-Dragons would stay till midnight and take him with them to Vesuvius . At last , to his joy , it became evident that the brandy was coming to an end . The Dragons moved slower , they could not leap so high , and at last one after another they began to go out . `` Oh , if they only all of them get away before twelve ! ''