When Sparrow exited her dorm and entered the
Hufflepuff common room, she was greeted by something she had hardly
expected to see at such an early hour: The Hufflepuff prefect, Sextus McLaggen. He was
looking decidedly annoyed, and not at all kempt, as if he had been
woken rudely rather recently. Sparrow gave him a small and hopefully
friendly wave.
Sextus
closed his eyes and took a deep breath in, before breathing out
sharply the same way and glaring at Sparrow. "You," he
growled, "are ever vexing."
Sparrow
pointed at herself and raised her eyebrows.
"Don’t
act remotely surprised." Sextus crossed his arms. "As if
blowing apart a tower and getting the entire
student body to support your mad venture weren’t enough, and then
vanishing a window and making some kind
of magical beacon so any muggle for miles around could see us –"
"Would
you rather have had all that magic happen in the common room? Because
there wasn’t any stopping it, only redirecting it."
"Great,"
said Sextus, "so you and your friends are dangerously unstable,
instead of deliberately destructive. Arrogant in any case, throwing
around your power like the rest of us mean nothing. Look, I had the
Prefect Badge blare in my ear not five minutes ago demanding that I
tell you and Carrow and Patil to meet with the Headmistress, so I’m
not inclined to be charitable to you right now."
"Meeting,"
said Sparrow. "Not surprising. When?"
"At your earliest convenience."
"That
means on the double," said Sparrow. "Right, thanks for
telling me." She spun around to open her door. Then she paused,
and spun around again, looking up into Sextus’ stern gaze. "Also
I’m sorry for everything. Including ditching my proper dormitory
for this magic one. I’m not trying to lord anything over anyone,
alright? I just have a job to do." She spun around again and
scurried into the room before Sextus could say anything else.
…
"Lovely
fireworks display
yesterday," said McGonagall, her hands folded on her desk. "I
bet people could have seen it for miles."
Sparrow,
Jill and Jocasta stood before the desk, both Jill and Jocasta looking
apprehensive. Sparrow stood straight and tall, or as tall as she
could, and met McGonagall’s gaze unflinchingly. "You do
realize this is all a part of the fact that we’re a pack of magical
pressure cookers, correct? Once the three of us came to a revelation
–"
"I
am aware of the factors leading to your outburst," said
McGonagall. "I do not find them as relevant as the fact that it
happened in a place far too many people might have seen."
"There
aren’t any muggle settlements for miles," said Sparrow.
"There remain muggle aeroplanes," said McGonagall. "Any
of their pilots could have been quite
interested by a great beacon below them, even
if they could not have known the true shape of the structure the
beacons were shining from. The ones who could have
seen everything, though, are Wizards on brooms, who may well be
keeping an eye on our school now that the stakes are rising. Do you
understand? If you wanted to let off steam, you should have chosen a
less obtrusive location, such as down in the dungeons, or in the Room
of Requirement."
"There wasn’t time," said Sparrow.
"There wasn’t space to think. It was...I was as horrified as
my partners, only I didn’t handle it the same way. To realize what
could be happening in London with...with…" She elbowed Jill.
"You tell."
Jill took a deep breath. "Our discussion
with Brother Ealdwine raised the possibility that the true extent of
the Lethifold problem in London has been obscured, because the
Ministry’s obliviate-first policy has prevented anyone from
comparing notes on the matter. Neither I nor Jocasta took kindly to
this idea."
"Though
that does raise the question," said Jocasta, "of whether
one who has been in
London can tell us how much Patronus work she needed to do there."
McGonagall sighed. "I only encountered a
Lethifold the once. They are shadowy creatures, are they not? I would
not expect an ambush predator to be prancing about in the pale moonlight. It would have
been safest, and most thorough, for me to employ my Patronus on every
single street...but, as we have discussed, I was not permitted to do
so without employing memory charms."
"I…" Sparrow looked down, unable to
meet McGonagall’s eyes. "I’m wondering if it would have been
better to go that way, instead of leaving the problem obscure."
"I am myself torn," said McGonagall.
"I am considering going down back to London to do precisely
that. It is not as though there were not worse things in the wars."
"But," said Sparrow, "someone
told me the floo network –"
"Is
down," said McGonagall. "Yes, I’ve tried it myself. And
the owls are too afraid to carry messages, and Hogsmeade is
incapacitated,
with its train supply and
repair out of commission, and
the Wizarding Wireless Network is even spotty lately. I would have to
resort to a broomstick if I wanted to get back down to London.
Someone either wants me
specifically to be out of the picture or...perhaps
they want me to be here for whatever they try
to pull here. I’m not sure
which would be worse." She glanced at the staircase up to the
second level. "Though perhaps a certain someone could give me
that report I’ve been waiting for?"
A tall woman of long hair and long sleeves
stepped out of the shadows. "I can give you a report," said
Professor Clearwater, looking grim, "but you’re not going to
like it."
"If I wanted you to be a yes-man I would
have asked," said McGonagall. "Out with it."
"As you wish." Clearwater brought her
hands together, hiding them in the great cuffs of her sleeves. "I
have been struggling to foresee much beyond the space of a few days.
Every time I think I have a lock on the shape of the next week, the
vision changes. Every single time. Typically a seer’s vision would
be more stable, though not perfectly immutable. The frequency of the
shifts is something I have only ever witnessed when...when two seers on
opposite sides of a conflict are trying to scry the future to gain
advantage over the other."
Jill, Sparrow and Wren gasped, though Iphis and
Jocasta only looked more serious, and Miranda grunted. McGonagall
rolled her eyes. "I suppose I should have expected the Ministry
would be asking one of its seers to be looking into our activities."
"I cannot tell if it is the Ministry,"
said Clearwater. "That is the most likely explanation,
but...those are not the only seers I know of. Anyone can attempt
divination, and some private individuals are quite good at it."
She glanced at Jill. "Including one family well-known for it."
The air about Jill grew warmer. "Yes,"
she murmured, "I am familiar with those people."
"Miss Patil," said McGonagall, "if
you could kindly refrain from going off bang twice in as many days in
the middle of my office?"
Jill’s voice came out in a growl. "Can
I?"
Sparrow grabbed her hand. ⋄⋄I
BELIEVE IN YOUR ABILITY TO CONTROL YOURSELF. ⋄⋄
"That’s…"
Jill let out a long breath, visibly deflating. "Right. Alright."
"What this all means," said
Clearwater, "is that I am going to be very busy for the
foreseeable future, as I must scry as much as possible to throw off
my opponent. This is now a battle
of seers. It can only end when a decisive action is accomplished. I
will not be able to lend Budge and our stalwart heroes any direct aid."
"I thought you wanted to be helpful,"
grumbled Sparrow, crossing her arms.
"Kindly refrain from acting the spoiled
brat in my office," said McGonagall. "I fear my leniency is
spoiling you as it is. As for Hogsmeade, I hope this impresses upon
you all the importance of restoring the place. I will need you to be
on your best behavior for the coming week, so that neither I nor
Professor Budge need decide that you all are a liability."
She gave Jill and Jocasta each a stern glance. "I certainly
don’t need any of you deciding that expressions of your personal
emotions are so much more important than our safety and secrecy. I
also need to be certain that you will be listening to your elders and
following instructions, instead of losing yourself in grief. We have
a job to do, and you want to be professionals, so you may very well
start acting like it, or I can choose to treat you far more like
children. Am I clear?"
All the children nodded.
"Good. I will see you all at today’s
detention. Dismissed."
As they all scurried out of the office,
Sparrow felt especially chastised, though McGonagall’s wrath had
not been upon her directly. For it was her outburst, many weeks ago, that had set this ball
rolling. Never mind that it had not been magical. It had promised a
far greater effect than that.
…
The morning’s study done, and lunch come and
gone, Sparrow and her crew found themselves clinging to the roof of
the Astronomy Tower. Miranda was there with them, despite not being
in detention. She refused to elaborate on her reasons.
"Now,"
said McGonagall, standing atop the peak, "from what I was able
to observe of your wild antics that first day of acting like frogs,
your agility is adequate. But the question is, how well can each of
you think quickly? You are moving in a manner that prevents you from
steering away from obstacles, or avoiding a curse that tracks your
movement – what can you
do to save yourselves in that vulnerable position?"
"Employ the Ascendio spell?" said
Jocasta.
"Among
others," said McGonagall. "There is also the spell
Protraho,
to pull things towards you – or you towards things? You may employ
either one to avoid the obstacles I will be putting in your way."
"And here I thought we’d escaped the
physical
education requirement," said Wren.
"Bring it," said Jill.
And so, as
the six of them bounded between one tower and another, at random
intervals they would find a great block floating in the air, and they
would be forced to throw themselves upward or drag themselves
sideways in order to avoid it. Sparrow was favoring ascendio,
if only because she was worried about abusing her shoulder joints. It
made for an awkward moment, though, as her arc changed and she had to
quickly re-calculate her trajectory.
She wound up standing atop a block and pausing
for a moment, looking out at the world. The grand swirling clouds of
the past few days had blown away, leaving nothing but the bright cyan
sky of a spring at mid-day – the sun already weighing upon her shoulders.
There was a reason the Quidditch season tended
to happen almost entirely between mid-September and November. It was
because this time of year typically brought great thunderstorms, as the miserable wet
cold of a rainy winter gave way to the oppressive heat of spring and
summer. It was supposed to be a highly volatile time, perfect for
doing any magic with lightning but terrible for anything else
outdoors – not that Quidditch had ever been averse to risking
getting the players struck by lightning, but high winds tended to
mess with the quaffle.
It was supposed to be a wildly windy time.
Where had that gone?
What manner of storm would come to make up the
difference?
Jocasta landed on the block next to her, and
lunged for Sparrow’s earlobe.
Sparrow dodged just in time. "Stop that!"
"Start moving," said Jocasta.
"Bite me," said Sparrow. And the two
of them bounded away together.
Sparrow
began to pay attention to how the rest of her crew was doing. Wren
wasn’t having an easy time of it, nor Iphis, both of them having
less
physical conditioning
than, say, Jill
or Jocasta,
such that despite their valiant efforts, they were tiring quickly.
Jocasta had her instinct for dodging, of course, and seemed to be
able to re-calculate her trajectory without even pausing to fall. And
Jill...Jill was being remarkably creative, using the protraho
spell to pull her up
and over an obstacle, or under it, or alongside it, flipping over in
the air and immediately yanking herself down to a different
trajectory altogether.
Sparrow was so distracted by Jill’s easy
aerial grace that she failed to notice a block coming right up at
her. She struck its side hard with her shoulder and bounced off. She
was no longer a true stranger to pain, but she hadn’t fully become
used to it yet, and it took her a moment to realize that not only was
she falling straight downward, her wand was not in her hand –
She found herself standing atop a translucent
golden glowing disk, wandless, discombobulated. The rest of her
friends were bounding here and there – only Miranda was unmoving,
standing atop a block, evidently bored with the exercise. Sparrow
waved to her, and the girl waved back.
And then
Jill was throwing her own wand downward, and leaping toward Sparrow.
†††††
SPARROW!
WHAT HAPPENED? WHY DID YOU DROP YOUR WAND? †††††
⋄⋄ YOU’RE
JUST SO MESMERIZING. WHY DID YOU THROW YOUR WAND AWAY? ⋄⋄
She heard
a distant but very loud CLACK
from below, and at the same time Jill was hitting the edge of
Sparrow’s disc, clinging to it with her fingers before pulling
herself up onto it. She didn’t
even seem winded,
as she smiled at Sparrow. "Figured the two would catch each
other."
Sparrow
looked below her, casting about for something she wasn’t sure she
would be able to see. But there, standing out against the bright blue
of the courtyard slate, was a thin dark sliver hanging in the air.
She looked back up at Jill. "That’s great. How do we get them
back?"
Jill’s
face fell. "Uh…this is a terrible place to meditate, isn’t it?"
"Quite
the opposite," said Sparrow, "this is the one place that
you can guarantee almost nobody will interfere. But the wands
wouldn’t be falling up, would they? Fortunately we have one
more trick up our sleeves." She rummaged in her pocket and
produced the Fetching Stick. "The solution to some
of life’s problems!" ⋄⋄FETCH BOY.⋄⋄She threw the stick
downward.
In but a
moment, it returned to her hand with the wands in tow. "Good
boy," she cooed, patting the stick before placing it back in her
pocket. Then she turned to Jill. "Alright, now meditate."
And so
the two of them left the rest of their friends to continue the
exercises, as Jill sat upon the magical platform high above the
world.
For a few
minutes, the wands remained firmly linked – before they suddenly
parted, hitting the platform with soft wooden clicks. Sparrow lunged
for them before they could bounce off into the air again, and shoved
her wand back into her sleeve as she handed the other to Jill.
Jill
hastily slid her own wand into her sleeve, and looked about. Far in
the distance, Wren and Iphis and Miranda were bounding around a set
of blocks that were orbiting a fixed point. "We’re a bit
behind, it seems."
There was
a small thump of air, as Jocasta appeared. "I’ll say!
You two make slowpokes look speedy. Are we getting moving or what?"
"Alright
alright," said Sparrow. "I guess we’ve got a lot of
ground to make up here." She glanced at her magical platform.
"Want to try this without wands?"
"I
suppose you would be the one leading," said Jill. "Go on,
then."
Wand
firmly in her sleeve, hands empty, Sparrow crouched, and then leapt –
out into open air, towards nothing at all –
Save for
the disc she conjured on the air, tilted at an odd angle. She landed
upon it, then bounded off at its angle, again throwing herself out at
nothing, until she cast another disc, and bounded off that one as
well.
So she
went, throwing herself upward, downward, sideways, at whatever angle
she desired, easily clearing any obstacle in her way, even now that
McGonagall was conjuring entire trees to impede her. And as she dared
to look back now and then, she could see Jill was ever on her heels.
Until at
last Jill caught her by the heels,
and the two of them fell, laughing all the way, then leaping off one
last disc, toward the headmistress’ tower. They alighted on the
windowsill, throwing their arms about each other, their
merry laughter ringing about the rooftops.
Soon
followed by Jocasta appearing out of thin air to embrace them both.
"Congratulations, you’re almost as agile as me."
"You
were cheating," said Sparrow.
"Ahem,"
said Mcgonagall, swooping by on a broom. "That was not
the lesson for today."
Jill
looked decidedly annoyed at McGonagall’s presence. "Do we at
least get points for creativity, or are you going to serve us some
manner of tangential detention?"
"I
recall Sparrow telling someone not
to stamp their foot on thin ice," said McGonagall, fixing Jill
with a stern glare. She sighed.
"Given the sheer display of power I witnessed in Sparrow’s
effort of wandless casting, I am reminded once again that attempts to
quantify your abilities are doomed to fail. I will give Sparrow
credit for quick thinking, and Jill, I applaud how well you take to
the air."
Jill
shrugged. "It’s just my old Quidditch skills. I’ve been
itching to fly again."
Iphis and
Wren alighted on the side of the tower, scrambling through the
window, collapsing on the carpet. They were followed at a more
leisurely pace by Miranda. McGonagall harrumped at her. "Miss
McClivert, I would have thought that if you wished to join this
endeavor, you would treat it seriously."
Miranda
shrugged. "I did. My potion clearly works on myself, and I am
able to use it to a basic level of skill. I’m surprised I’m not
more tired, but maybe all my dancing pays off."
"Dancing?"
said Wren and Iphis at the same time.
"That
dashing savoire-faire at the Halloween Ball had to come from
somewhere," said Sparrow.
"Enough,"
said McGonagall. "I will see you here at the same time tomorrow.
Dismissed."