How the heck did I forget to add this chapter last November?
Saturday did not mean quite so much as it used to, what with their
days being unbound by class schedules. Still, when Sparrow awoke, she
felt a little bit of that old relief and optimism that Saturday once
brought. Today was Saturday, hooray,
time to go out and play.
Although in her current circumstances, it was sorely tempting to just
lie abed wrapped in the arms of her girls, even with the necessity of
the Animagus incantation. As Sparrow reluctantly lifted Jill’s arm
off of her and clambered over Jocasta to leave the bed, she looked
forward to the day that she could at last have a lie-in.
Then
again – once she had recited the incantation, she realized that,
with the work she was throwing herself and her loved ones into, there
might never be any true rest, perhaps not even after the work was
done, if it could ever
even be completed in their lifetimes. For all Sparrow knew it was the
work of lifetimes, like the great cathedrals of old. She might never
get any rest. This was the path she had chosen.
And
that wasn’t even factoring in what the Ministry would say when it
finally took her
seriously.
Sparrow was leaning over the windowsill in the early dawn light,
trying to peer through the frosted glass, when she felt a gentle hand
on her shoulder. She turned, seeing Jocasta standing there, looking
concerned. "I’m alright," murmured Sparrow. "As much
as I can be."
"As much as any of us can be in such times." Jocasta put
her arm around Sparrow’s shoulders. "But we shall be here for
each other, though storms may come."
Sparrow
sighed. "I wish
they would come. So I could get this stupid Animagus business over
with."
"Stupid?" said Jocasta. "My dear, you wound me!"
"Yeah yeah. Your idea and all, and I went along with it. My
goodness, you’ve been a bad influence."
Jocasta
drew Sparrow a little closer. "A fun
bad influence?"
"Certainly that."
Sparrow felt a large hand on her shoulder, and looked back, and up,
to see Jill standing there in her nightgown, looking tired and
forlorn. "You look like you’re having a fine morning."
Jill yawned. "I woke up and realized my teddy human was missing.
I felt so lonely."
"You have two," said Jocasta, releasing Sparrow and putting
her arm around Jill’s waist. "Ah, but both of them left you,
didn’t they? Sparrow, let us comfort our big old bear of a
girlfriend. Why, I know of a lovely bed where we can lie."
Sparrow chuckled. "As long as we’re not late for breakfast."
…
They did not miss breakfast, though they were a little close. Yet
despite obtaining ample sustenance that morning, it did not prevent
her from feeling a fair amount of tension in her abdomen, as she
stood in the Hufflepuff common room watching her crew attempt the
Patronus charm.
It had been Iphis’ suggestion, in order to compromise between a day
of study and a day of rest. Everyone had agreed, feeling the need for
a break from the usual OWL practice. Jocasta had been intrigued by
the notion that casting the Patronus could be straightforward; Wren
had been all too eager to show off; even Miranda had silently nodded
her assent.
And in the event, both Miranda and Wren had proved quite capable.
Wren’s cat-bird Patronus, though still more blank than featured,
prowled across the top of a couch before leaping into the air and
flapping up to the balcony. Miranda had managed to cast what looked
like a dog with cat eyes, a cat’s tail, and a different set of
wings, which barked silently and bounded into the air after the cat,
flapping with far less grace.
Everyone had applauded the two of them for this feat, though really,
Sparrow could not call herself too surprised. Budge’s theory of
Patronus creation leaned heavily on the creative spirit, which Wren
and Miranda had in plenty; the things that built their souls were the
things they themselves built daily. Artificers of all sorts clearly
had an edge with this method.
Iphis, in comparison, had not gotten the trick nearly as easily. He
had picked his best memory with nearly as much speed as Wren had done
yesterday – and yet, his initial efforts had only yielded a glowing
white cloud. Even when he Sent the incantation instead of speaking it
aloud, his result had been merely a blank humanoid figure, no matter
how hard he tried. Wren had admonished him to work smarter instead of
harder, but what that meant specifically for this case, everyone had
a hard time guessing. Wren had suggested he have greater confidence
in himself, which Iphis had scoffed at; it took a silent conversation
of Sending between him, Wren and Miranda for Iphis to at last attempt
the Patronus again.
Which resulted in a humanoid with a feminine figure, precisely as
tall as Miranda, with cat eyes instead of human eyes, and enormous
feathered wings in place of human arms. It did not follow the cat and
the dog, which were chasing each other about the balcony, but stood
with its wings folded, staring at Miranda, its pupils dilated widely.
What it all meant, no one knew for sure. Only that Budge’s theory
was showing solid support.
Yet not rock-solid, and this was why Sparrow felt tense. For both
Jill and Jocasta were struggling to even get small wisps of cloud out
of their wants, no matter how loudly they shouted.
Jocasta at last let her arm fall, collapsing back into a chair, while
Jill threw her wand on the floor – or tried to, it hovered an inch
from the carpet before leaping up and smacking Jill in the face. Then
it zoomed to Sparrow’s hand. She hastily drew the Fetching Stick
out of her pocket so Jill’s wand would have something to stick to
besides Sparrow’s own wand.
Wren giggled. "Wands really do have minds of their own."
"I just don’t get it," growled Jill. "I’m doing
all the steps. What’s missing?"
"Maybe we just can’t do it," said Jocasta. "Maybe
it’s not for us."
"But you do have happy memories?" said Sparrow.
Jocasta met her eyes, and nodded slowly, unblinking. Then she glanced
at Jill, and back at Sparrow, wiggling her eyebrows. Sparrow rolled
her eyes.
"Soul-building," said Wren. "A
memory of something that you have seen or done that not only made you
happy, but gave you some constructive hope for the future. Something
that made you believe in the future, that still does. Do you
have anything like that?"
Jocasta looked again to Jill, and again to Sparrow, this time without
mischief in her eyes – instead, she wore an expression of longing.
She let out a sigh. "Happiness I have in plenty, so many such
memories that I can hardly choose between them. But hope for the
future? After the things I’ve seen? I don’t know."
"I should think if you have any source for it," said Jill,
"it would be in your relationship with Sparrow."
Jocasta met Sparrow’s eyes. "Hmmmmm."
"Wren and Miranda find it easier because they are always making
things," said Sparrow. She strode over to Jill, handing over the
girl’s wand along with the Fetching Stick, and then moved to
Jocasta, sitting on the arm of her chair, twisting around to meet her
eyes once more. "As for what you are making, my dear, it
is not currently tangible, but it soon will be once the ritual is
complete."
"Ooh," said Jocasta. "Goodness, I am effectively
leading a group project, aren’t I."
"And quite a tricky one at that," said Jill. "What
memory might you have based on that, that fills you with both joy and
hope?"
Jocasta smiled, a twinkle in her eye. "There was a day, long
ago, that I spoke with an adorable little witch, and made a wild
proposal to her that I did not expect she would even entertain.
Imagine how my hopes were lifted, when she actually did. And then in
December, one magical evening, when we danced – she seemed to have
already decided to follow my lead into this matter, despite
having been furious enough with me earlier that month to violate her
solemn oath and injure me. And then, in January, we had a lovely
little tryst in the library, and she fully accepted the plan – what
a moment of my life that was, when we sealed the deal!"
Sparrow giggled. "My goodness, you seem quite taken with her.
Where is this witch now, I wonder?"
"She could be anywhere," said Jocasta. "She could be
right next to me, for all I know." Jocasta grabbed Sparrow’s
arm and pulled her down onto her lap. "Why, she could be right
on top of me."
Sparrow leaned forward to whisper into Jocasta’s ear. "I might
like that, yes."
Jocasta grinned wickedly. "Ooh, you are following my
lead. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I think this –"
She kissed Sparrow on the lips. "– will be enough for now."
She raised her wand. •
EXPECTO PATRONUM! •
What came out of the end of her wand was a
short humanoid figure, no taller than Sparrow, bearing a dragon’s
eyes, and dragon wings that dwarfed its small stature. It immediately
flapped its way up to the ceiling and soared about the common room.
All of the children gasped.
Including Cleo Sassoon, who had just come in
through the common room door. She stood there, gazing up at the
Patronus, slack-jawed.
"We’re just having some fun," said
Wren. "What do you think?"
"What?"
said Cleo. "How? What? Merlin, how did you –" She tore
her eyes from the Patronus, looking at Sparrow and her little crew.
"Who are you?
What
are you? How in heaven’s name did you manage a Patronus as
fourth-years? And – and a human one? What is this?"
Sparrow shrugged. "We’re not sure yet.
Maybe once we actually perfect these things we’ll understand."
"I think it’s my turn?" said Jill.
Cleo backed
away, standing behind a large armchair. "I hesitate to see what
you
would come up with."
Jill only
smirked, and closed her eyes, breathing deeply for a few seconds.
Then she raised her wand. †††††
EXPECTO PATRONUM! †††††
What erupted from the end of Jill’s wand was
a vast glowing-white cloud, larger than anything Sparrow had ever
made or seen. Sparrow clapped, but her hands fell silent when she saw
that Jill was looking thoroughly frustrated. Sparrow cleared her
throat. "Not good enough for you?"
"NO,"
growled Jill, so loudly that Cleo squeaked and ducked behind the
chair. "I had a good memory. I had such
a good memory. And I have
so much power! Why am I not
getting it?"
Sparrow shrugged. "It's good but not constructive? Or maybe Budge's new method isn't perfect."
"I didn't expect perfection," grumbled Jill, "I just wanted to get as far as you have."
"I think we’ve done enough exercise work
for today," said Iphis. "We can keep trying at this in our
spare time for the next few days. We’ve had great progress, I am
proud of all of you. And also – Wren has something they would like
to show you all."
Wren was bouncing up and down, an eager
expression on their face. "Yes yes yes yes."
"Then," said Iphis, "crew of
the Lark Rising, let us adjourn to the workshop, and
gaze in wonder."
…
What greeted Sparrow, upon entrance through the
door, was one of the hoop-arches that she had seen the last time –
only, it was encompassing the entrance, so that one had to step under
it as one entered the workshop.
And, as Sparrow noticed in passing as she
passed through, it seemed to be made of gold, engraved with glowing
runes. At least, part of her mind noticed this; mostly she was
distracted by the fact that the space about her had grown larger. And
then there was another arch to pass through, right before her. She
looked left and right and saw what looked like a wand-length gap
between the arch before and the arch behind; but the air within
shivered more than the air above a candle, promising nothing good.
She elected to press forward through the next arch – and as she
did, the world about her grew again. Once more here was another arch
– and so on, and so on, marched Sparrow forward, until she was
standing before what looked like a solid wooden surface,
ever-so-gently curved, with a wide band of glowing violet light.
She stepped toward the band, only to realize
that, as she peered closer, it was not simply made of violet light;
rather, it was countless tiny glowing runes inscribed in golden metal, so
many as to look like one bright band at a distance.
"Well my stars and garters," said
Miranda behind her, "they actually did it."
Sparrow whirled around. There was the rest of
her crew. Jill and Jocasta were looking around at the whole scene,
silent in their astonishment; Miranda was peering at the surface of
the archway; Iphis was beaming. Wren looked high and mighty proud.
"Darn right," they said, standing tall, "IIIIIII did
it. The Remember Ball is ready to go!"
"I don’t understand," said Jocasta,
staring at the scene beyond the gap in the arches. There was a
normal-sized workbench standing at a distance, surrounded by sawdust
and wood shavings. "I thought – I’ve only ever seen the most
highly-skilled Wizards shrink someone without causing them severe
injury. It’s an incredibly complicated spell to use on living
beings, and almost never on human beings, unless you’re trying to
kill them. How did you manage it?"
Wren nodded their head to the interior of the
archway, which bore as many runes as the outer surface. "The
Ancient Runes are quite potent for artifice, and offer a great range
of options for customizing a spell effect."
Jill nodded. "The language does seem quite
extensive and precise."
"You don’t know the half of it,"
said Iphis, and then his eyes grew wide and he turned to the wooden
surface, seeming to take a great interest in its well-polished
surface.
Jocasta frowned, looking at the runes more
closely. "And you didn’t even include a dimensional folding
effect? This is just...shrinking people and objects in real space."
Wren nodded.
"How in the hell –"
"I’m sure Cleo or any other student
could ask the same of us," said Sparrow, "on so many
topics. But I’m interested in this…" She turned to look up
at the wood, where it curved up and out of sight, a sphere as tall as
a tower to them. "Wren, this is your finalized Remember Ball?"
Wren nodded vigorously.
"But it’s made of wood," said
Sparrow. "You were working with metal, for durability and
flexibility. What changed?"
"Wood remembers when it was alive,"
said Wren. "It remembers what it was, and what it did, before it
was cut down. It is already used to holding memory. Metal was never
alive in the same way. It remembers nothing. Wood has proved so much
more durable for holding memories. I went even further, and took wood
from the bench seating in the Charms classroom, which remembers so
many students over hundreds of years."
"And this entire shrinking business?"
said Jocasta. "Why bother?"
"The thing took a lot of runes,"
said Wren. They shook their wand out of their sleeve, and tapped it
on the wooden surface. Immediately the wood lit up with runes beyond
number, so many that the sphere now looked like a ball of violet
light, more than wood and metal.
Sparrow immediately felt as though something
were tugging on her insides, in a manner similar to a portkey, and
she felt suddenly slightly tired. She looked around and saw that
everyone else bore expressions of faint queasiness. Wren tapped the
wood with their wand again, and the surface of the sphere resumed its
wooden appearance. "Sorry," said Wren, "that was turbo
mode. For when you need immediate protection against incoming memory
charms. Otherwise it just siphons bits of your memories slowly."
"Marvelous work," said Iphis, giving
Wren a hearty side-hug. "I’ve taught you well, it seems."
Wren giggled. "All in a day’s work."
Jocasta was still looking at the arch interior.
"I am impressed…" She brushed the runes, her fingers
briefly obscuring one of them. Immediately the world shrunk slightly,
once again making Sparrow feel slightly queasy. Jocasta snatched her
hand away from the surface, and the world returned to its great size.
She gave Wren a significant glance. "Perhaps some safety issues
to resolve on this device?"
"It would be safe if you didn’t paw at
it," grumbled Wren.
"Actually no it wouldn’t," said
Jocasta. "There’s no dimensional folding, as you confirmed,
which means that if the magic on this thing fails, you could be stuck
in miniature form, with no telling what that would do to your
biology, or...more awful possibilities."
Wren looked pale. "Uh. Alright. Yeah. That
makes sense. I mean, maybe it would be nice to scurry about the world
as a tiny creature for a change? Get into nooks and crannies and –"
•I AM THOROUGHLY
AWARE OF THE DANGERS OF SUCH EXPLORATION, DEAR WREN.
•
Wren looked shamefully down at the floor.
"Thank you for warning us ahead of time,"
said Iphis testily. "I am sure that with your foresight and
guidance, we will be able to work out the issues with this system and
allay your fears."
"Uh." Sparrow raised a hand. "One
question?"
Wren looked up, evidently eager to be in their
element again. "Yes go ahead."
"You set these arches up right in front of
the doorway," said Sparrow, "which means you can’t enter
this workshop without getting shrunk...so, um…" She nervously
met Wren’s eyes. "How are you going to get the Remember Ball
out of here?"
Wren and Iphis both smacked their foreheads.
"I’m
sure they’ll think of something,"
said Miranda, with a smile in her voice. "They always do."
"It’s a wonder of artifice," said
Jill. "Not sure how to employ it yet. Hopefully we don’t need
it for ourselves." She drew a watch out of her pocket, and
flipped the lid open. "We do have to get to lunch, though, and
we have Saturday’s detention to attend to. So let’s leave this
for now, shall we?"
"Food!" said Sparrow. "So much
more important than artifice. Let’s be off."
Wren looked slightly affronted at this, but
then they chuckled, and tapped Sparrow’s shoulder with their fist,
before everybody made their way back through the arches and into the
world of regular size.
…
That evening, Jill sat at the edge of the bed
and sighed. "I...think I understand what’s getting in my way,
with the Patronus."
"Oh?" said Sparrow, as she sat back
against Jill’s back. "What’s the issue?"
"I
don’t create," said Jill. "My work is based on
destruction, not creation. Slinging fire around, dueling people...I’m
not
building
anything."
"Ah
yeah…" Sparrow sighed. "Downside of being a fighter,
right? It’s
all about defending the stuff other people have made, not making
things yourself. Or...swiping the things other people have made, if
you’re someone’s goon."
"Am I your goon, then?"
"You are not a goon," said
Jocasta, as she brushed her hair at the vanity. "You are my
valiant knight. "
Sparrow
turned and draped an arm over Jill’s shoulder. "Our
valiant knight."
Jocasta chuckled. "Of course, Captain."
"And
there’s one thing she has
built," said Sparrow.
Jocasta set the brush down, raising her
eyebrows. "Oh?"
"I’d love to hear this myself,"
said Jill. "I don’t remember crafting anything."
"You built a beautiful relationship,"
said Sparrow, "with the two people you love most." She
kissed Jill on the cheek. "Not that it’s precisely a tangible
thing, of course –"
Jill shifted
around to grab Sparrow and haul her onto Jill’s lap. "Oh, I
can
make
it tangible if you like." She kissed Sparrow on the cheek,
sending a pulse of warmth though her, and
then looked at her with lidded eyes. "I can make it
quite
tangible."
Jocasa laughed. "Alright, Jill, try
casting the Patronus now." She moved to the bedside table, and
tugged Jill’s wand away from the Fetching Stick, handing it to her.
"Go on then."
Still
holding Sparrow, she took the wand, and raised it high.
†††††EXPECTO
PATRONUM! †††††
This time, it was a humanoid figure that sprang
into existence, emitting a white glow, with a white surface that
seemed to have a metallic gleam. It was devoid of facial feature, and
floated motionless. "Alright," sighed Jill. "Alright, at least I know I can get that far." She flicked her
wand, and the figure disappeared. "I was hoping for something
more developed."
"It’s a development," said Sparrow.
"And it’s a faster development than anyone would call typical.
We really are confirming Budge’s theory."
"I’ll have to be content with that for
tonight," murmured Jill.
…
Above Jill’s volcanic landscape that night,
there were white clouds flying, bright as if lit by the moon.