Sparrow woke feeling oddly troubled. Her dreams had not been
lucid, as she had come to expect lately. Instead,
she had been vaguely been running towards something, while people
around her were screaming "no, no, no". For what? No clue.
Normal dreams were like that. Too elusive.
In practical and emotional terms, she had little other reason to
feel down. Here she was, in the arms of her beloveds, on a bed that
was softer than anything she could get back in London, with
four-poster curtains to make it warm even if she hadn’t the benefit
of Jill’s furnace body. She was attending school in a place where
good hearty food was made for her daily – she’d been
getting better nutrition than even her higher-status parents could
give her, and she’d grown about an inch since the start of this
school year. She had access to a world of wonder, and the friendship
of incredibly talented and creative people.
What, then, was the matter?
That the closest village to Hogwarts had been incapacitated,
possibly deliberately. That the castle was cut off from
communication. That she and her friends would be facing whatever foe
they must to set things right – that it could very well involve
Patronus spells.
Sparrow shuddered, in spite of the warmth. That must be it. For
all their magical triumph yesterday, they were developing their
skills for one specific reason.
She extricated herself from the arms enfolding her and clambered
over Jill to exit the bed. Work to be done, as ever. She tumbled
through the curtains into the colder air of the room, shivering as
she retrieved her wand and recited the Animagus incantation.
That completed, she considered returning to bed. There was really
no reason not to have a lie-in, on this their day of rest.
But she could bring tea to them, which was a
reason all by itself. So she dressed for the morning, and exited the
room, swiftly scampering down the stairs and over to the kitchenette
–
There was Cleo Sassoon, stepping out of the door. Sparrow skidded
to a halt before she barreled into the girl. Cleo jumped, startled,
but laughed when she saw Sparrow. "Goodness, you’re more eager
for tea than I am!"
"That’s the British way," said Sparrow.
"I ought to conjure a Union Jack behind you," said
Cleo. "Should I get the full tea service out, then?"
"Oh, I –"
"Or did you wish to take tea alone?"
Sparrow looked back at the balcony, where she could just see the
door to the Dorm Room of Requirement. "I was going to take tea
to Jill and Jo…"
"We could do that!" said Cleo. "We could all have
tea together, that would be lovely, wouldn’t it? And you could show
me this mysterious extra dorm room of yours."
Sparrow shrugged. "It’s nothing too special, but alright."
…
When Sparrow entered the dorm room with Cleo in tow, there was a
tea table, of a size to seat four, that Sparrow could have sworn wasn’t
there twenty minutes ago.
Cleo looked around at the room as she set the tea service down
with a soft clink. "Goodness," she whispered, "it
seems ordinary enough. I would have thought it would be full of
wonders and delights,
like the regular Room of Requirement."
"That would not be what we require," whispered Sparrow.
Cleo shrugged. "I’ll just be outside while you talk to your
girlfriends." She turned to leave, and had the door open, when
there was a quiet murmuring from within the curtains, and Jocasta was
stumbling out of them. Cleo halted, turning back and waving
nervously.
Jocasta glanced at Sparrow. Sparrow coughed. "Teatime with a
guest? Are you up for it?"
Jocasta narrowed her eyes. "At this hour."
Sparrow shrugged, leading Jocasta to roll her eyes. "Alright,
as long as Jill’s up to this. Also one moment." She retrieved
her wand from the bedside table and moved to Sparrow, pointing it at
her sternum. Sparrow shivered as the cone of green light passed over
her. Jocasta flicked her wand to dispel the light. "All
signs read normal."
"Oh," murmured Cleo, "does Sparrow have some manner
of ailment?"
Jocasta regarded her with a blank stare, for a few moments, before
clearing her throat. "She’s
no worse off than me."
Cleo was left to stare at her in confusion, as Jocasta clambered
back through the bed curtains. She glanced at Sparrow, who wasn’t
about to tell her the full details of all that, but only shrugged
noncommittally.
Then Jill was brushing aside the bedcurtains, breaking into a warm
smile when she saw Cleo. "Ah, good morning. You were suggesting
tea?"
Cleo nodded, looking nervous. "I admit it’s a bit early…"
Jill glanced at Sparrow. "One of us is an early bird anyway." She laughed, and stepped
out from the bed, turning back to its dark recesses. "Teatime
dear, come on."
There was a bit of grumbling, and then Jocasta was emerging out of
the darkness, still a little sullen.
And so, in the early morning light, four witches sat at a table of
mysterious source, sipping their tea. Jocasta remained groggy and
grumpy, in spite of the caffeine. Jill and Sparrow both were quite
awake, though not contributing a great deal of conversation at first.
Cleo was paying more attention to the room than her tea.
"Do you like our accommodations?" said Sparrow.
"I just don’t understand," said Cleo. "The Dorm
Room of Requirement only stays around as long as it is strictly
needed, in my experience. What need keeps it around now?"
Jill shrugged. "It’s a gift of the castle. Who can say?"
"Perhaps the castle can say?" Cleo looked contemplative,
as she dropped a couple lumps of sugar into her tea. "There are
so many years here, so much magic. It must have seeped
into the stones, surely? In fact, I wonder if anyone even
constructed this Dorm Room of Requirement deliberately, or if it
simply coalesced out of hopes and dreams."
Sparrow’s thoughts flashed back to the mysterious voice and
pictures down in the deep caverns. It had said something about being
made by accident. Perhaps the castle’s apparent personality was
likewise an emergent property.
To the extent that it was any separate from the voice in the
basement. But here the castle was kind – why would it be less so,
down there?
"You with us?" said Jill, shaking Sparrow by the
shoulder, nearly causing her to spill her tea. "You went blank
for a second there."
"I’m fine," said Sparrow. "Just got a lot to
think about, is all."
"You certainly have put a lot on your plate," said Jill.
"As for accidental creation...well, we’ve run into a bit of
that lately, haven’t we? Plenty of magic arises from emotion
alone." She raised her eyebrows, sipping her tea while looking
away.
"If it was deliberate," murmured Jocasta, "It
wouldn’t be an effective backdoor into my own common room."
Cleo looked surprised. "Excuse me?"
"Jocasta enters the Dorm Room of Requirement from her own
common room," said Sparrow, "and the door takes her here.
It doesn’t let her out into the Hufflepuff common room…most of the time...but she can enter it from
our common room and exit into her own."
Cleo stared at Sparrow, wide-eyed. "That...does not seem like
something a sane member of the faculty would construct." She
glanced at the door. "Will it let me out where I’m supposed to
go?"
"It will let you out into your proper common room," said
Sparrow. "It’s hard to convince it to do anything else."
"But not impossible?" said Cleo.
Sparrow blinked. "Not….impossible."
"Right." Cleo leaned back in her chair and sighed. "So
on top of whatever the hell you’ve got going on with your studies,
and your daily aerial exercises – don’t even try to deny it, I’ve
been watching every day – you are granted this enormous privilege of being able to sleep in a private
room with those you adore."
"I know you would like the same," said Sparrow.
"If I could win the heart of the one I adored," murmured
Cleo, looking away.
"This room does seem a trifle unfair," said Jill. "If it is truly a matter
of need, there are far more people in this castle that have need than
us, and for better reasons. In fact it wouldn’t be very much in the
way of magic to give everyone their own room, would it? Just time.
Wizards are so good at fitting lots of space into a little space."
"Highly talented Wizards are good at it," said Jocasta.
"Dimensional folding is more advanced coursework than our
regular O.W.L. material."
"Great," said Sparrow. "So we’ll just learn it and give everyone their own room. We’re
piling responsibilities on ourselves anyway."
Cleo regarded Sparrow with a measured stare, saying nothing, only
sipping her tea. Sparrow cleared her throat to break the sudden
awkward silence. "You, uh...you kind of look like you have
something to say about that."
"You," said Cleo, "managed to fit so much of what I
find confounding about you into a single sentence. You will learn
dimensional transfiguration, just like that, so you can give things
to everyone, without necessarily asking them, nor considering how you
might be trampling upon the authority of the school administration,
the physical structure of the castle, and the social structure of the
school."
Sparrow winced. "Okay, when you put it like that."
"She is not wrong," said Jocasta, as she dropped a lump
of sugar into her tea. "This is how I felt about your wild plan
back in January."
"It takes a whole crew just to rein my little bird in,"
said Jill, dropping two sugars into her tea. "And then a
Headmistress to rein us all in."
"Don’t get me wrong," said Cleo, "I’m not
necessarily objecting to the idealism. I’m just saying, she’s got
a heart of gold. It’s an astonishing thing to see, in such gloomy
times. But it’s the sort of thing that can lead one to go off the
rails, you know? If you’ve got rock-solid convictions and
won’t hear any objections, and you know you’re
right and everyone else is wrong…"
"I’ve been fielding objections since last autumn,"
said Sparrow.
"Such as mine," said Jill.
"And mine," said Jocasta.
"I see." Cleo sniffed. "And I suppose the fact that
you were both won over to Sparrow’s side had nothing to do with your attractions to her, then?"
Jill’s face got a bit darker, and Jocasta’s face turned red.
Both of them looked away nervously. Cleo raised her eyebrows briefly,
and sipped her tea, saying nothing more.
"I did ask people," said Sparrow. "I asked the whole school.
I remember, I was there. And so were you! You were at the dance, I
danced with you a bit, you were there. How can you say I haven’t
asked anyone? And I’m not done with the school, I’m going to ask
the whole world someday, and if they say no then I’ll give it up.
But if they say yes, then I’ll give them just what they ask for!"
The porcelain and metal of the tea service began to reflect golden
light from somewhere. "Count on it, my friend! Count! On! It!"
"Dear," said Jill, putting a hand on her shoulder.
Sparrow belatedly realized that her heart was beating fast, and the
glow was coming from around her. She let out a long breath, the glow
slowly fading. She grabbed a few lumps of sugar and dropped them into
her tea, stirring fitfully, only glancing up at Cleo as she took a
sip.
Cleo’s eyes were wide. "I cannot doubt your convictions.
You clearly mean to be thoroughly generous."
"She’s Hufflepuff squared," muttered Jocasta.
"That reminds me," said Sparrow, "Cleo, do you want
to learn our technique for casting a
Patronus?"
"See what I mean," muttered Jocasta.
Cleo sat up straight. "Oh, I – my goodness, yes, of course!
Actually, hang on, I wanted to show you…" She shook her wand
out of her sleeve and pointed it at the wall. "Protego!"
All at once a great translucent disk appeared in the air before
her, glowing a bright cyan. Cleo turned to Sparrow and beamed. "Your
method really works. I managed to get it after a few days of
practice."
"Sounds like you have someone you love very much," said
Sparrow.
Cleo’s face flushed. "Well, you know who it is."
"Will you permit me to test it?" said Jill. "Just
to make sure it can hold up well?"
Cleo nodded. Jill set her tea down, and rose from her chair,
stepping around the table to stand before the shield. Cleo looked
puzzled. Then she looked nervous, when Jill drew her
fist back.
Jill slammed her fist into the shield. There was a great warbling
wobbling sound, as of a large sheet of thin metal being waved about,
and visible ripples passed through the glowing barrier. Cleo was
knocked sideways out of her chair, not only spilling her tea but also
dragging the entire tea service down
with her as she caught a corner of the tablecloth, the tray raising
a clatter as the porcelain shattered and spilled tea and sugar and
jam and cream and biscuits all over the floor.
Sparrow and Jocasta were up in a moment, rushing to Cleo’s side,
as Jill knelt before her. "Cleo," said Jill, "I am so
sorry, are you alright?"
Cleo looked dazed for a moment. But then she laughed, her
merriment ringing throughout the room. "That was incredible!"
She looked up at the table, and then about her at the wreckage of the
tea. "I probably should ask for it again in a plainer setting."
"You’ve certainly got the basics," said Jocasta, as
she waved her wand to vanish the spilled liquid and food. "Hardly
a bad effort for a beginner."
"Are you still wanting to learn the Patronus though?"
said Sparrow. "I wouldn’t demand it after you just went
through that."
"I’m demanding it," said Cleo, as she staggered to her
feet.
"Alright." Sparrow sighed, and then Sparrow told Cleo
all that Budge had told her, Jocasta and Jill chiming in with their
nuances and possibilities.
Cleo looked intrigued. "So there are real mental steps, then,
not the usual method of practice and hope. But…" She frowned.
"It does seem to rely a great deal upon character and
conviction. I don’t...I don’t really know if I have that. I couldn’t possibly have half as much as you
do."
"You’ve got enough for the shield spell," said
Sparrow. "Give it a try."
Cleo let out a long breath, and closed her eyes, holding her wand
to her chest with both hands. For a few moments, the room was silent,
save for Cleo’s audible breathing, as the three other witches
watched her closely. Then her eyes snapped open. "Alright."
She raised her wand up high, pointing straight above her. "EXPECTO
PATRONUM!"
Out of the wand sprang a sizeable
serpent, slithering around in the air, before descending to Cleo and
coiling about her. Once more her laughter rang through the room. "It
works! It really works! Thank you, Sparrow!" Cleo dismissed the
Patronus with a wave of her wand. "I must go and tell everyone –
actually, could you write the instructions down? I wouldn’t want to
teach anyone the wrong way."
Sparrow dashed to the bedside table and yanked open the drawer,
fetching a scrap of parchment and a ballpoint pen. She scribbled down
the instructions and dashed back to hand them to Cleo. "Go on,
then. Have fun."
Cleo shoved the parchment in her pocket and swept up Sparrow into
a hug. "Thank you, you really are generous!" She put
Sparrow back down and whirled around, dashing out the door.
Sparrow looked around at her girlfriends. Both Jill and Jocasta
were standing motionless, slack-jawed. "What’s the matter?"
"How does she get it
perfect on the first try?" said Jocasta.
"By following Budge’s instructions?" said Sparrow.
"And maybe she had a really good memory."
"And not as much pain as us," sighed Jill. "I think
you and I, Jo, have quite a bit more to work through before our own
Patronuses are ready." She glanced at Sparrow. "And you,
when I think of it."
"All of us," said Sparrow. "But we’ll get it. We
have to."
"We do indeed," muttered Jocasta. "We do indeed."
...
Sadly for Sparrow’s day of rest, McGonagall had meant what she
said when she set detention for every afternoon. Nor was it an easy day of doing basic
exercises, but a further development of their acrobatics, as they
were now dodging twisted and snaking metal shapes that were moving
every which way. Sparrow was beginning to meet
her limits – there were far too many times she clipped her shin or
her forearm, and had her trajectory thrown off. For the first time,
she was having to learn physical coordination the hard way.
Nor were the majority of her friends faring much better. It was
fortunate that they were taking to Sparrow’s method of
shield-casting, since they kept having to save themselves from
dropping. Iphis especially was barely getting through one path
without banging something; Wren’s glider-cloak was interfering with
the trickier movements and getting caught on things; Miranda was
hesitating more than she was moving forward; Jill was smashing
through objects more than she was dodging them. Only Jocasta
displayed enough grace to nimbly twist herself through the chaotic
mess coming her way.
By the end of it, as they were returning to the window of
McGonagall’s office, Jill and Jocasta were the only two not
displaying multiple bruises. Jocasta and Wren had to heal everyone
up, but the relief only extended to physical pain. There was still
the embarrassment.
"Finally meeting your match?" said McGonagall.
"Goodness, who would have guessed the mighty privateers
would be daunted? Tsk tsk."
"We are battered and bruised," said Jill, "but
not defeated."
"We’ll get it eventually," said Sparrow. "I’m
just wondering – maybe this is an awkward question..."
McGonagall raised an eyebrow. "Go on."
"You mentioned earlier," said Sparrow, "that you
were having us do this outside so other people could see. Are we
supposed to be, like, teaching this to everyone else eventually?"
McGonagall looked thoughtful. "I am considering how to
include this in the regular school curriculum. An optional course, I
suppose, but goodness knows this school has never had any
physical-education component besides Quidditch. Might be a decent
outlet for the more rambunctious students. But I am intrigued that
you would think of you and your crew teaching it, as opposed to a
member of the faculty. Not that I am too surprised, coming from you
and your amateur sign language course."
Sparrow coughed. "Yeah, uh...I also gave someone Budge’s
instructions for how to more easily cast a Patronus. Not sure how
well they’ll work for most people, but, you know, fair warning."
"I did wonder why I was seeing those in the
halls this morning." McGonagall smiled. "Goodness, so many
developments in magic in this year alone! Almost as if it is stirring in its slumber, or something."
The children all fixed McGonagall with a silent stare.
"Not that I mean to be implying anything," said
McGonagall. "Be on your way, then, and I will see you here
at the same time tomorrow."
…
After dinner, Sparrow sat by herself at the tea nook, hiding
behind a disillusionment spell, sipping a hot cup of black tea. On
the main floor of the common room, there were many students with
their wands out, attempting the Patronus charm. Some had swift
success, and there were glowing white owls flapping about, mice and
cats and bats and little birds. Others were struggling to get their
Patronuses to take shape. None were finding the charm
impossible to cast, though. Budge’s instructions were proving
thoroughly sound. He would be so pleased.
And while there were many who were praising Budge’s name, there
were as many who were praising Sparrow, wondering where she had got
to. Sparrow supposed she could have come before them all and taken
the credit, wowed the crowd, whatever – but she was beginning to
feel a trifle overwhelmed by everyone’s attention to her cause, and
what Budge had said about her having a cult had really stung her.
Sparrow supposed she could have stayed in her room, which would
have been a more secure hideaway. But Jill and Jocasta wanted to be
down on the main floor watching the proceedings to see if there were
any tips they could pick up. There they were, hand in hand, backs to
the fire. And Wren nearby on a sofa with Iphis and Miranda, playing
with two handheld Wirelesses. The devil worked fast but Wren worked
faster, and so the Nerd Herd was beaming with pride, barely even
paying attention to the patronuses.
So of course Sparrow could not leave her friends just like that.
And she wanted tea. Thus the feeble curtain of the disillusionment
spell.
She heard a faint tapping behind her. She turned – and there on
the other side of the window was something she hadn’t expected to
see again for a while. It was an owl, a small roll of parchment tied
to its leg, tapping the glass with its
beak.
Sparrow shook her wand out of her sleeve and cast the
glass-manipulation spell to open a hole for the owl to hop through.
It leapt onto the table, and held its leg out. Sparrow untied the
parchment and unrolled it.
Dear darling daughter,
Your father and I are so sorry for failing to contact you any
earlier. We’re in a bit of a tizzy here at the Jones house –
we’ve been unable to get access to an owl. As for why, well, it
seems like it’s to do with magic, and we were hoping you might be
able to tell us what on earth might have happened.
We had been waiting on a letter from you for a while. But nothing
came. So we thought we would ask the aurors about the house –
lovely chaps, but you really must explain why they were necessary –
if they could send a message your way. But when we looked for them,
they were nowhere to be found. It was the strangest thing – we’d
chatted with them daily! But all of a sudden, nothing.
So we decided to make our way to the Ministry – which is a
fairly intimidating place for us, even if I know how to use my charm
to full advantage. Muggles aren’t entirely welcome there, you know,
especially for parents of a Muggleborn, especially if they are not
bringing their child with them. The amount of cajoling we had to do
just to be permitted into Diagon Alley! It was fortunate that we’d
made some decent friendships in your little world, and we were able
to get people to escort us into the Ministry – I don’t know how
much more time it would have taken to get them to let us in.
And then when we requested access to an owl, we were told that the
supply was low, because the owls weren’t leaving Hogwarts for some
reason, and nobody could tell us why. They seemed as mystified as all
the other parents demanding an owl. There was a rumor of some sort of
terrorist attack, but no clear information. And then – well, this
is the part that gets really strange. They asked us what on earth us
two muggles wanted an owl for, and what we were even doing there, and
we explained that we were parents of a student at Hogwarts…
…And when we gave your name, nobody we asked remembered it.
Which is surely impossible! Not only are there so many students at
your school, and so few names to have heard of, I am quite certain
that the people of the Ministry have heard of you! The aurors
guarding us always spoke of you! They said you were a bit of a
laughingstock around the Ministry!
We even asked after anyone from that security detail, just to have
SOMEONE who might remember you – but the response was that no such
guards had ever been granted to us. It was very lucky that we saw one
of those very guards passing by that we remembered – and he acted
like he didn’t remember us. We begged him to remember us, to no
avail. He seemed entirely sincere.
Talk about a confusing nightmare! Your father was about to have a
nervous breakdown, before I demanded to see the Hogwarts registration
scroll. Perhaps everyone else had lost their minds, but ink on paper
could not!
Indeed, when we at last got someone to check it for us, they came
back looking highly perplexed and perturbed, because your name was,
in fact, on the scroll.
People were saying we must have gotten someone to put the name on,
but then your father asked what purpose that could possibly serve. So
cooler heads prevailed, and upon review of other records it was
proven that we were, in fact, your parents. It became clear that this
entire hullabaloo was because of that damned memory-charm nonsense.
Which sent the entire Ministry into an uproar, trying to figure out
who had been “obliviated” and who had not, or if it was even
possible to know – honestly, whoever decided to keep that spell
legal was an absolute fool.
In the chaos we were escorted out, still without access to an owl.
A very kind lady took pity on us, and permitted us to use her
(extremely rare) private personal owl. Which is how we were at last
able to contact you.
Please send us your reply via this owl immediately. We are
desperate to hear of your own safety, and of any news you can offer.
Love,
Mum
Sparrow sat there, for a moment, staring at the paper, her mind blank.
She felt a sharp pain in her ear, and jumped. “Agh!” She
swatted the owl away. “Dammit, you – that’s Jocasta’s job!
Alright alright hang on.” She fished her pen out of her pocket and,
flipping the parchment over, scrawled on its back, GO TO GROUND.
WATCH FOR ME. I AM COMING.
She rolled up the parchment and re-attached it to the owl’s leg,
then gestured toward the hole in the window. “Go on then, back to
where you came. Get a move on.” The owl hopped through the hole and
disappeared.
In truth, Sparrow hadn’t needed to write anything. If her
abilities were up to snuff, she could get a message to her parents
much more quickly. The parchment had
mostly been so she could send the bird back with something, and also
just in case all else failed. The bird might well take a few days to
reach London.
Which meant it had taken a few days to reach her. Which meant this
entire exchange of information was terribly delayed. Whose bloody
idea had it been to keep using owls?
Sparrow took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She concentrated
on her thoughts of her mother. Slowly, ever so slowly, an image began
to take shape in her mind – a humanoid form, grey as a cloud,
with wisps of white and grey swirling about them, on a field of
palest blue.
But before Sparrow could Send a word, she felt a horrible
twinge of pain in her head, and she reared back in her chair as her
eyes flew open. She clutched her head, trying to dull the throbbing
ache. Well, that was a better effort than before, but she wasn’t
going to have time to actually perfect it. Or the fortitude. The
matter was far too urgent.
Sparrow looked out at the gathered students. There were still Jill
and Jocasta by the fire. If Sparrow could just get some extra juice
from kissing Jill…but taking that route would risk Jill asking
where Sparrow was going. And the plan taking shape in Sparrow’s
mind depended on being able to get down to London and back without
objections. She would just pop down there, give her parents the
Remember Ball and the Wireless, and come right back. Easy peasy, the
work of twenty minutes. She’d barely be missed. So a kiss was worth
the risk.
Sparrow flicked her wand to dispel the disillusionment charm. In
but a moment, a few of the students spotted her, and started cheering
and clapping, soon followed by the rest of them.
But Sparrow could not spare them too much time. She smiled, and
gave them a flourishing bow, before marching through the throng to
her girlfriends.
She knelt before Jocasta, grabbed her by the shoulders and planted
a hard kiss on her lips, to the laughter and jeering of her fellow
students. No sense leaving her out of the fun, nor raising any
suspicion in her. She pulled back, leaving the girl grinning, dazed.
Then she moved to Jill.
Jill grabbed her and held her tight, her lips crashing into
Sparrow’s, and Sparrow’s very bones were filled with fire.
A tiny part of Sparrow’s mind cried in grief at what she was
doing to the two she loved so dearly.
But it could not be helped. Sparrow pulled back from the kiss,
giggling as she struggled out of Jill’s embrace. “We can save the
rest of this for a more private setting,” she whispered. She rose
to her feet. “I’ve got to go see if I can talk to Professor
Clearwater. I’ll be back shortly.”
“Soon as you can,” whispered Jill. “You can’t get me all
fired up and then abandon me, dear.”
Jocasta put an arm about Jill’s waist. “I can take care of
you,” she purred.
Jill grinned, and scooped Jocasta into her arms as she rose to her
feet. “Definitely need a more private setting, then.” She turned
to Sparrow and winked. “Come back soon if you don’t want to miss
the fun.”
Sparrow nodded eagerly. Then she turned to Wren. "Bird buddy,
I’m going to need you too."
Wren looked mighty perplexed, along with Miranda and Iphis. "For
what?" said Wren.
"Talking to Professor Clearwater involves you," said
Sparrow. "Oh, and bring the Wireless, that’s going to be
necessary." She nodded her head to the door. "Come on. This
won’t take long."
Wren looked skeptical. Nevertheless they rose from their seat,
Wireless in hand, and followed Sparrow out of the common room.