Sparrow had hoped
that Wren or Iphis would be guiding them through this particular
study session, so that she could pay attention to how someone else
taught. But the topic was history of magic, not theory, which
meant that, the material being mostly available, such sessions were
always discussion-based.
"So we’re
saying Emeric the Evil might have been slandered by Athelstan’s
account," said Jill, "if we’re reading between the
lines?"
"History is written by the people
being paid by the winners," said Wren.
"I thought we
would have got past this bit by now," grumbled Sparrow. She had
her arms crossed over her chest, as she slumped back in her seat, not
even reading the text.
"To be fair,"
said Jocasta, "we were at Pre-Celtic Britain a month ago. Which
is remarkable speed, when you think about it. It’s amazing how fast this subject
goes when you have an actually competent teacher." She raised
an imaginary glass to Iphis, who raised one in turn.
"Great,"
grumbled Sparrow. "When are we getting to the stuff about the
Statute of Secrecy?"
"That’s not
on the test," said Iphis. He frowned. "As a matter of fact,
if I recall correctly, it’s not even in the curriculum."
"What!"
"Hagrid didn’t want you knowing about it,"
said Miranda. "Stands to reason the Ministry wouldn’t either."
"What a lot
of codswallop," said Sparrow, pushing her back and springing to
her feet. "I’ve got stuff to ask Professor Longbottom anyway,
I don’t need this right now." She turned to go – then spun
back around and gave Jocasta and Jill each a quick peck on the cheek.
"Won’t be gone long, dears."
"Oh!"
Jocasta swooned, and slumped sideways, looking up at Sparrow with
pleading eyes. "My dear, whatever
shall we do without your winning smile?"
"Pine away,"
said Jill. "Alas. Fare thee well, sweet little bird. But
remember…" ††††† WE’RE
ALWAYS JUST A THOUGHT AWAY. †††††
⋄⋄LOVE YOU TOO.⋄⋄
Sparrow
departed the library in higher spirits than she had entered it with.
…
Professor
Longbottom had not been in his office, though at this hour of the day
Sparrow had little reason to hope he would be. She had made her way
down to the greenhouses, remembering too late that it would have been
a class period – as a result she wound up waiting a while on a
bench in the entrance hall, frustrated that she was going to be away
from her girls for any more time than necessary. She
closed her eyes and concentrated on the thought of Jill, and slowly
the image in her mind took solid form as a tall humanoid figure made
of flame, amidst a background of the starry night sky. ⋄⋄HEY
JILL, QUICK HEADS UP, I’LL BE LONGER THAN I THOUGHT – ⋄⋄
"Ahem,"
said the voice of a familiar teacher, and Sparrow was jolted out of
her connection. Her eyes flew open. There before
her
stood Professor Longbottom, dirt on his robes, looking amused. "I
did notice you hanging around one of the greenhouses, Sparrow. You
could have waited in one and it would have been warmer."
"And full of spiky plants that wanted to
grab me," said Sparrow. "Do you have some free office
time?"
"I need to get back to tending the
plants," said Professor Longbottom, "but, you know, you
could help me. Get some
extra herbology practice."
...
So
it was that Sparrow found herself gingerly pruning the Venomous
Tentacula, trying to avoid its curling and grasping tendrils.
"Couldn’t we have taken care of the bubotubers first?"
"Now what kind of challenge would that
be?" said Longbottom. "And talking of which – based on
your last report, it sounds like you’re really getting the hang of
transfiguration lately, in a remarkably short time frame. Keep up
your effort and you’re on track to pass your OWLs with flying
colors."
Sparrow dodged a bud that snapped at her. "Just
trying to handle the doom McGonagall laid upon us. And, you know,
it’s the same thing that’s happened in our history studies. We go
faster with a competent teacher."
"And if that teacher happens to be a
pretty girl," said Longbottom, "I assume that helps you pay
attention?"
Sparrow spluttered, dropping her shears and
nearly getting snared by a spiky tendril. "That’s – that’s
neither here nor there!" ⋄⋄ALTHOUGH YOU’RE NOT EXACTLY
WRONG. ⋄⋄"Shush,
you!"
Longbottom chuckled. "Perhaps you’d be
the best student in this place if we replaced all the teachers with
beautiful women, then? But then you might be terribly
distracted after all." He reached his gloves through the
curling, twisting tendrils of the Venomous Tentacula without
hesitating, snipping off a few shoots. "But in reality, what
brings you here? Have you run unto some sort of research trouble that
is too urgent to wait for our regular meeting times?"
"Just hoping for advice on lesson plans,"
said Sparrow. She picked up the shears and went after her Tentacula
again. "I agreed to an amateur teaching
gig, the first opportunity is tonight, I have no damn clue what I’m
doing –"
"Ooh," said Longbottom. "And
McGonagall tells me Professor Budge is going to have you help him
deal with Hogsmeade. You’re taking on so many things, Sparrow. I’m
proud of you."
"That and thinking of teaching people how
I cast my shield spell," grumbled Sparrow.
"And the only one of those you can
delegate is the teaching of sign language." Professor Longbottom
frowned. "But, didn’t Violet teach you? Couldn’t she teach
anyone else as well? Why you?"
Sparrow winced internally at the sound of that
name, wondering if Longbottom knew about Iphis and didn’t think
Sparrow knew, or if he just didn’t know at all – but if he knew
Miranda then – but maybe that was the one thing she had never told
him – except that she absolutely would have been giving him reports
on developing a hormone-replication potion –
Her hand jerked back and pain struck her
forearm above her gloves a split second later, as she stumbled
backward into the shelf of plants behind her, her arm already
throbbing. All of a sudden Professor Longbottom was standing before
her, peering into her eyes, his hand on her shoulder. "Sparrow?
Stay with me, girl." He pressed a vial into her uninjured hand.
"Drink this, quickly."
Sparrow tore the cork off with her teeth and
downed the vial, gagging as the foul taste hit her, nearly choking on
it – but she forced it down, and the pain began to recede.
"What were you doing?" said Professor
Longbottom, as he grabbed the offending plant and placed it far away.
"I asked you a brief question and you just froze. Haven’t I
taught you to never stop moving around the Venemous Tentacula?
They’ll strike any spot they can reach if you give them an
opening." He tapped Sparrow’s arm with his wand, causing
bandages to appear out of the air and wrap themselves around the
wound.
"I – I’m sorry." Sparrow set the
vial down on the shelf and clutched at her now-throbbing head. The
antidote was working its way through her system, but it couldn’t go
fast enough. "I’m distracted by a lot of things lately. Can’t
you just tell me how to
teach a class? I could do with some straight answers for once."
"How to teach a class," said
Professor Longbottom. "Hm. Well, if you think of it as A Class,
you’re going to go into it with a different attitude than if you
just think you’re sharing your knowledge with friends. Lesson
plans...you start with the basics, especially when teaching a
language. So focus on that, for the first lesson. And then for the
next one, get a little more advanced, and so on...isn’t there any
BSL textbook in the library?"
"In a magical library?" said Sparrow.
"There’s only one way to find out,"
said Longbottom. "Go on then, I think you’ve have enough of
practical herbology for a day."
…
"British Sign Language," whispered
Tim the Librarian. "That is...a sign language I have heard of,
but not one I am familiar with. I do not think its textbook would be
in this library. I could help you look, but it could take some time."
Sparrow pouted. Everyone else was at the Room
of Requirement practicing spellwork. Sparrow had wanted to just grab
a book and go.
"The sign language relevant to this
library is MSL," whispered Tim.
Sparrow’s ears perked up. "Em what now?"
"Magical Sign Language," whispered
Tim. "Based on BSL, but with some key differences in signs and
many extras for the sake of casting. Not something to mess with
unless you know what you’re doing. Ah, but aren’t you the sort to
go messing with everything." He sighed. "I suppose if you
want to look for it, now that I’ve told you, I can’t stop you."
"Can you lead me to it?"
"Hmm." Tim looked cagey. "I
can’t stop you, but I can slow you down. So no, I will not lead you
to it."
"You’re a big help," grumbled
Sparrow, and she set off in search of the book, in the general
subject of where it might be – languages, if she knew her library.
Ten minutes later, she was in the midst of tall
stacks, having looked through what must have been the entire
languages section, from Acromantula to Zombie, having found not a
single work on sign language of any region whatsoever. These Wizards,
really, had they no thought for the deaf or the mute? Or anyone who
was disabled in any way?
It was a castle full of stairs. That answered
that question.
††††† SPARROW, YOU’RE MISSING
LUNCH. WHERE ARE YOU? †††††
⋄⋄WHOOPS. I’M IN THE LIBRARY, LOOKING
THROUGH THE LANGUAGES SECTION. REALLY SORRY, UH – IS IT POSSIBLE
FOR ME TO GET TO THE TABLE IN TIME? ⋄⋄
• WE’LL BRING YOU SOME FOOD, DEAR. •
…
Sparrow had been all to eager to receive Jill’s
embrace when they found each other, but she was currently neglecting the bowl of
fried potatoes that Jill and Jocasta had brought, fixated as she was
on continuing to look through the M shelves of the languages section.
"Magical sign language?" said
Jocasta. "And Tim didn’t want you to have it."
Sparrow nodded, not looking away from the
shelving. There must be something here.
"It’s not going to be in the languages
section," said Jocasta.
Sparrow spun around and glared at Jocasta.
"Excuse me? A book on sign language
wouldn’t be in the language section?
What happened then, did the Ministry swipe it?"
"It’s just too obvious a location,"
said Jocasta, crossing her arms. "It must be under the subject
matter of some aspect of this...whatever it is."
Iphis and Wren appeared from around the corner
of the stack. "There are other possibilities," said Iphis.
"Let’s try the Arts section first."
But when they had looked all through that
section, still there was nothing.
"Wait a second," said Sparrow, as she
caught sight of the Ancient Runes textbook in Iphis’ hands. "Iffy,
where exactly does one find that textbook for yours, in this
library?"
Iphis frowned, exchanging glances with Wren.
"The...100
section? Philosophy and Psychology. For some odd reason. It never
made any sense to me, Ancient Runes is clearly a language."
"Maybe this MSL book is there then,"
said Jill. "Let’s go and see."
But in the 100s, though they found a copy of
the Ancient Runes textbook, they found again no sign of any text of
sign language, let alone the MSL. "Goodness," said Sparrow,
"Inigo must have taught his friends how to communicate with him
without reference to any book at all." She sighed, pinching her
nose. "I should have asked him how he did it. Iphis, are you
sure you can’t –"
"Not without feeling like I want to claw
my ears off," said Iphis.
"Hang on," said Jill. She grabbed
Sparrow’s arm and lifted the sleeve, revealing the bandage. "When
did this happen?"
Sparrow explained her brief and
unfortunate apprenticeship with Professor Longbottom, including what
had caused her to fatefully pause. "So if Iphis here was willing
to – whoa!" Her words
were cut off as Jill pulled her into another embrace. "Jill,"
she said with a muffled voice, "I’m alright, it’s fine."
⋄⋄ ARM STILL HURTS A BIT BUT – ⋄⋄"Dammit."
Jocasta laughed, as she joined the hug. "Thank
goodness I am not the only one afflicted with an honest brain."
"I’m
afflicted with not being able to breathe," muffled out Sparrow.
Jill at least released her and she gasped for breath. "Phew!
Right. How the hell any of us manages to keep any secrets right now
–" She glanced at Iphis. "Of course you’d
have a tighter lid on things. But hey, maybe you could loosen that
lid a bit? Because if you were willing to actually come out to the
faculty this wouldn’t have happened." She winced internally at
Iphis’ put-upon look. "Um. Assuming you haven’t, I mean, and
Longbottom really didn’t know about your name, instead of him not
knowing I new."
Iphis sighed. "Shall I be forced to come
out so that my dear friend is not a fool around venomous plants?
I will consider it. But I should warn you, when Miranda
hears of this she will certainly not take your side about the matter,
if you were being so careless in a magical greenhouse."
"I’ll tell her myself," murmured
Sparrow.
"So what of the MSL book then?" said
Wren. "What happened to it?"
"Ohhhh ho ho ho," chuckled Jocasta
darkly. "Oh, I bet I know. I bet it’s the same reason your
precious Ancient Runes textbook is wildly out of place. How do you
hide a book?"
"In a library?" said Iphis. "But
they have call numbers and –"
"How do
you hide a book in a
library?"
"By…putting it in the wrong section."
Iphis looked nonplussed. "Mis-shelving it. It’s why the
librarian never wants you to re-shelve a book yourself, if you don’t
know exactly how the call number system works, and even if you do –
but, I would never mis-shelve a book, and certainly the librarian
wouldn’t!" He looked at the spine of the Ancient Runes book on
the shelf. He pointed to the label. "And he didn’t mis-shelve
this one, it’s got the proper call number for its section, it’s
in precisely the right place!"
"Exactly,"
said Jocasta. "He hid your Ancient Runes textbook from the
Ministry by putting it in a section the Ministry librarians would
never look, but he, being a librarian, couldn’t bring himself to
make it lost completely."
"Should we have just checked the card
catalog?" said Wren.
"I’ll admit I didn’t think of that,"
said Sparrow.
"I’ve got another method," said
Iphis. "Everyone, if you could please
cover your ears?"
As Sparrow stuck her fingers in her ears, Iphis
took a deep breath, and then appeared to be speaking aloud –
whatever it was, it made the sunlight through the window dim,
slightly, briefly.
Brighter was the line of blood that appeared on
Iphis’ cheek.
"What in the Sam Hill?" said Wren,
eyes wide. "Iphis, what the hell was that?"
Jocasta was already standing in front of Iphis,
pointing her wand at his cheek. "Vulerna sanentur!"
But though the gash closed, it swiftly re-opened. • OH, NOT THIS SHIT AGAIN. •
Iphis looked, of all things that Sparrow had
rarely seen from him, surprised.
"Goodness, I certainly did not expect that. That’s my mistake
I suppose. Ha ha." He shrugged, his wide eyes betraying his
attempt at feigning mirth.
"Anyway, I know where the book is, so let’s be on our way then
shall we?" He tapped his wand to his cheek, causing a bandage to
appear out of the air and attach itself to his skin. "No sense
wasting time."
Wren pressed Iphis for explanation all along
the way they were going, to no avail. All Iphis would say was that
what he had done was, clearly, too dangerous to let anyone in on.
Wren wound up at the back of the pack, beside Sparrow, grumbling
about how their own partner wouldn’t let them in on what was
clearly a goldmine of new knowledge.
But as it happened for goldmines of knowledge –
Sparrow found herself standing at the cage to
the Forbidden Section.
"In there?" said Jill.
Iphis nodded slowly.
"I’m taking point," said Jill. "Everyone behind me,
let’s make this quick."
Sparrow took Jill’s hand, meeting her eyes
with determination. "Side by side, dear. Just like last time."
Jill nodded, then looked back to Jocasta. "Jo,
behind us if you please?"
"What," said Jocasta with a smirk,
"protecting your princess?"
"Protecting our sniper," said Jill.
"Right, everyone else, hang back in Jocasta’s shadow. Let’s
move."
And so the five of them started forward –
with less trouble than Sparrow had expected, for the door to the
Forbidden Section was not merely un-warded, as it had been in the
last instance, but unlocked, hanging slightly ajar. Nor, as she and
Jill crept through the stacks, did they meet any resistance. That at
least was no different than last time – perhaps it would be the
same ambush all over again, then, and Sparrow kept her head on a
swivel just in case. Surely, though, the books would remember the
previous intrusion, and resent her and Jill enough to engage immediately?
But no assault came, yet. They began to pick up
the pace, feeling more at ease, among stacks that were no longer
unfamiliar. Yes, they were as bare and empty as ever – almost
completely bare, moreso even than the last time. Perhaps the Ministry
had come through here and swept everything up. Perhaps the Ministry
had been so much in a hurry to get the job done and get out that
they’d left the door ajar.
"This is even creepier than the last
time," muttered Sparrow, holding tight to Jill’s hand.
"At least we know what the hell we’re
actually looking for this time," said Jill. "Iffy, how far
are we from the target?"
"Five hundred meters five degrees from
true north as the wizard flies," said Iphis, "so it ought to
be up ahead and just the next row over. And…" He gasped as
they moved over to the next row. Even these shelves were empty. Down
the aisle, it seemed as if every row was bare. "Good God,"
whispered Iphis, "did the Ministry come in and confiscate
literally everything?"
"But left a single textbook?"
whispered Wren. "If they were swiping everything they would have
scooped up that one along with everything else, willy-nilly."
"Is it that one?" Jill pointed up the
row, where a single hardcover volume lay flat on a shelf.
Iphis dodged around Jill and started forward,
only to be grabbed to a jerking halt. "Hold on now," said
Jill. "We have to stay in formation, my good fellow. No sense
breaking it just because we see treasure ahead. That’s how people
fall into traps." She chuckled, and did her best impression of
an old geezer voice. "Why, I remember in the war, we had a
sergeant who loved his souvenirs too much…"
Sparrow snorted. "Just you wait until
we’re actually in a war. And then you may freely blame me."
Presently they drew closer to the book, just
out of grabbing range. "Right," said Jill, "do we know
any spells that check for magical traps?"
"I’ve got it," said Sparrow. She
pointed her wand at the book. "Malificarum revelum."
Over the book washed a cascade of soft green light. But it stuck to
nothing, and faded away. "Okay...nothing there." She cast
the spell at the shelving above and below, to the same result. She
cast it at the stack behind her, with still no results.
"It’s...okay?"
"I don’t know," said Wren. "This
sure feels like the part where the monsters pop out of the walls the
moment you grab the
treasure."
"How can one resist the lure of
knowledge?" said Iphis.
"I just want a frikkin’ textbook to work
from," said Sparrow. "Grabbing in three, two, one."
She lifted the book off the shelf.
In that instant there was the sound of thumping and papery
rustling from behind them.
"Called it," said Wren, as Jill and
Sparrow stepped past Wren and Iphis in the direction of the sound.
"Can we be getting out of here now?"
"I don’t know," said Jocasta, "can
we?"
For far down the stack, there came the same
onrushing mass of angry, snapping books that Sparrow and Jill and
once faced, many months ago. Only there seemed more of them, this
time, crawling along the ceiling and the stacks, and through the gaps
in the empty shelving Sparrow could see similar masses of books
beginning to fill the other rows. Jill and Jocasta were already
firing off stunners by the score, barely even putting a dent in the
mass as it surged forward. "Oh leave that be," said
Sparrow, twirling her wand and casting a golden dome over her little
group. "There’s really no sense in hurting them if we can just
block them."
All around the dome, snapping and snarling
books were piling up, pressing onto the dome itself. "This is no
trouble!" said Sparrow. "I could do this all day!"
"But did you want to actually get out of
here?" said Jill. "We’re completely surrounded."
"Blast," said Sparrow, "you’ve
found the weakness in my cunning plan." The books were piling up
higher and higher. If Sparrow let the dome go now, they would crash
down onto her friends. "Anyone got any ideas? Wait." She
glanced at the book she held in her left hand. "Can someone help
me flip through the pages here? I can’t let go of the wand."
Jocasta took the book out of Sparrow’s left
hand and held it up to her, slowly flipping through pages. "Tell
me when you’ve found what you wanted."
"For heaven’s sake," said Iphis,
"just check the index. Sparrow, what are you looking for?"
"Hopefully a stronger shield spell that
pushes the books back," said Sparrow.
Jocasta flipped to the back of the book. Then
she flipped to near the front, and held up the open book for Sparrow
to see. There on the page were the hand movements for the shield
spell. "Alright," said Sparrow, "Everybody prepare
yourselves, I’m going to have to let the current shield go and then
do the new spell, and I’ve only
got one shot." Jill held Jocasta close as Iphis held Wren. "And
here, we, go!"
The golden dome vanished. Above them, books
with their spindly paper legs and big paper teeth began to fall.
Sparrow made the sign of magical rejection.
The shadowed stacks were lit with a brilliant
golden light, and there was a faint hummmmm as Sparrow felt at
once a great weight upon her shoulders, the air fairly vibrating
around her. A golden dome had spring up between the huddled students
and the falling books, and all of a sudden, in place of the falling
books, there was a gentle rain of shredded paper and scraps
of cardboard and leather, where the books had struck the ceiling.
As Sparrow swooned into Jill’s arms, the
remaining books scattered and disappeared.
…
Sparrow had been tempted to leave the book back
on the shelf. She’d taken it with the promise to herself that she
wouldn’t use any of
the actual magic in it. Which meant she had to read the stupid thing
and consciously avoid the magic parts. No sweat.
She did feel a bit of a cold sweat when she
signed the book out at Tim’s desk, though, for he had a knowing
look in his eye, and Sparrow realized that if it couldn’t have been
the Ministry who had been doing anything more with the Forbidden
Section, then only Tim could have left the gate open. "You?"
whispered Sparrow.
Tim winked, and bit down on a bit of fried
potatoes from a bowl that Robin thought was suspiciously familiar.
But he said nothing aloud.