Back on top of the mountain of bones again, under a starless sky.

Except – There was a division of the lands below that more a shining moon, casting its light over a landscape whose elements Sparrow had only ever seen in picture books and dreams. Up from a blanket of soft white rose great columns of translucent blue – like the glaciers Sparrow had read of, yet thinner than they ever could have been.

And what else gleamed in the moonlight, scattered between those great columns, was countless clusters of unmoving human figures.

"Those are mannequins," said Sparrow, "right?"

"I wish," murmured Miranda.

"That landscape," said Jocasta. "Is it what you wished to escape?"

Miranda nodded.

"Is this more peaceful?" said Sparrow. "I mean, you’re standing atop a literal mountain of bones."

"Ah," said Miranda, "and yet, the bones are not turning into skeletons and reaching for me, are they? Not yet, at least. And I am not alone. That is enough for me. I don’t need all that much warmth. Just company."

Jocasta nodded to the landscape of tumbled stones and bubbling lava. "You might have picked the wrong dreams to step into, Ice Queen."

Miranda turned to give Jill’s broken field of dreams a quizzical look. "You might be right." She turned to look out over Sparrow’s field of green. "Might be better fortune there. Ooh, perhaps not," she said, as flames engulfed the trees. She turned to Jocasta’s twisted and gnarled woodland. "What might I find under those boughs then?"

"Nothing," said Jocasta, stepping in front of Miranda. "Off limits until further notice."

Miranda raised her eyebrows. She exchanged glances with Sparrow, who shrugged. "I don’t know the reason," said Sparrow, "but I won’t contradict my own fiancee on the matter of her own heart."

"I do wish," said Miranda, "that our favorite ginger had been available tonight. I never appreciate the chocolate, but the snowfall is...more peaceful than my own, and the conversation is reassuring. A decent respite from waking days of tinkering and troubled thoughts. But…" She looked up at the starless sky. "Iphis’ dreams...they’re nothing like this. If it’s not the harshest sunlight, it’s the brightest lightning and the loudest thunder and the heaviest rain. I don’t know how his partner puts up with it."

"Maybe by being the only one of us who’s stable," said Sparrow.

"I would say he is the most stable among us," said Miranda.

Jocasta raised an eyebrow. "I’m catching the double meaning there."

To this, Miranda only gave a weary nod in reply.

"I wish I could offer you better company," said Sparrow, "but, there’s a lot of stuff I have to face and it’s all in the Hotfoot Swamp down there. Unless...I mean you’re so cool you might freeze the path ahead of me –"

"You must face your trial alone," said Jocasta. "Remember?"

Sparrow pouted. "You’re no fun."

"On the contrary," said Jocasta, "I’m letting you have all the fun. I won’t hog any of it! It’s all yours! Go on then, I can keep Miranda company well enough."

"We do have critical and confidential matters to discuss," said Miranda.

Sparrow grumbled and mumbled all the way down the mountain.

Sparrow hadn’t thought she could possibly be following the same path as last time, but as she slid down stones and skipped around lava pits and tar pits and steam vents and hot springs, she ran right into the charred body from before. Clearly, the easiest path was a single twisting track. It could, eventually, lead her to the other side. Maybe. Or it could dump her out into Miranda’s arctic wasteland.

She didn’t especially want to look at the body, familiar though it was. Who would? And if her hunch was correct, she’d be seeing a lot of stuff like it if she kept going this way.

On the other hand...she could try her luck going straight across, no matter how difficult it was.

"Straight" was a tall order if it meant climbing up and over the tall standing stones, but she could certainly try to go around them. She could try to clamber over the larger boulders. She could try to jump right across a small-looking tar pit –

Nope. Both feet right in it.

Sparrow struggled to lift one foot or the other, but both were stuck fast. She tried grabbing one of her legs with her hands and lifting, but all that did was unbalance her and cause her to fall face-first.

Dash it all.

Sparrow felt a familiar slender hand in the darkness, holding hers, giving her a quick squeeze.

Alright, back at it again.

"I admire your tenacity," said Miranda, as Sparrow prepared to take a running start. "It might keep interrupting our conversation, however."

"Don’t worry," said Jocasta, "she’ll get the trick of this eventually."

And Sparrow was practically flinging herself down the mountain, rolling and tumbling down all the bones, not even caring what pain they gave her if it meant she would get back into the game faster.

And so she found herself at the edge of the volcanic landscape once more. Alright, so going straight could only work if she didn’t keep getting reset back to square one. It had to be the slow way this time, the easy way, odd as that was to say. But it would actually be the hard way if Sparrow ran into more bodies.

She followed the same path as ever, and once more saw the charred corpse.

This time, she knelt and examined its remaining features. Familiar skull shape, familiar height...one of the ears was intact. An ear that looked just like hers.

Sparrow raised her head and looked up at the vague path beyond the body. She couldn’t see any more corpses yet. But that didn’t mean she didn’t know exactly whose bodies they would be.

And so she made her way forward – down slopes, up boulders, around standing stones, past tar pits, on and on and on. Not a single body yet. Sparrow hoped, just a little, that there wouldn’t be any more. But she knew there must be. Jill dreamed of her dying so often. And...clearly she feared that she might be the cause.

Up ahead, there was a figure just as Visible in her sight as any of her friends. She had the wild hope that it was some dream-form of Jill. But when she shouted and ran closer, the figure turned.

It was her.

In the next moment, the earth shook, and one of the standing stones toppled right over onto her doppelganger.

This was gonna suck.

Sparrow didn’t even pause to chat this time, but sprang forward off the mountain face, landing on her feet and skidding down the bones, before leaping forward again. The pain mattered nothing. This was a dream, wasn’t it?

As she flung herself into space, she heard Jocasta saying, "I think she’s almost got the picture."

So she found herself down at the vast volcanic field once more, and once more she found herself slipping and skidding down slopes and dancing over sharp stones and around the magma – passing first the charred corpse and then the place where the doppelganger lay flattened beneath the stones, and Sparrow fairly felt she was flying along…

She could, couldn’t she? This was a dream. She’d broken the rules of reality by pushing through all that fire. Why was this any different? She could just – float, like this. She could just float forward, like this. She could just float upward, like this –

There was another earthquake, and a great standing stone toppled over, right on top of her –

She dodged. "Ha!" She shouted to the lonely starless sky. "Nice try!"

She had a split second to hear an explosion beneath her.

It was nice, waking up in a soft bed, enfolded in the arms of her lovely, beloved girls.

It was getting hard on her brain to do it multiple times in an evening. Maybe she would have to pace herself.

But, one more try at least. Back into the fray.

Once more Sparrow stood atop the great bone mountain.

"Did you get any farther that time?" said Jocasta.

"I...I’m not sure," said Sparrow, "I think maybe I cheated. I don’t know. Are there any rules in here?"

"The only rule is to keep a level head," said Jocasta, "but you may have noticed that the landscape will do all it can to startle you."

"Keep a level head," said Sparrow. "Cool as ice. Got it. Speaking of which…" She glanced at Miranda, who was standing a little distance away, looking out over Sparrow’s narrow band of sunlight and ruined trees. "Jo, do you think you can wake up and then come back and tell me how close we are to sunrise? I feel like I’m running out of time here."

Jocasta stood up straight and tall, snapping a salute. Then she crouched, and sprang, higher than Sparrow could see.

Sparrow heard a faint screaming, which rapidly grew louder as Jocasta plummeted down face-first towards the bones, arms pinned at her sides, an open-mouthed grin, wild-eyes in the second Sparrow could see her clearly –

The instant she touched the bones she vanished.

Sparrow was nearly startled enough to wake up herself. But she regained her composure, breathing deeply for a minute, before looking to Miranda again. The girl had not turned around. She had not even flinched.

Sparrow came to stand at Miranda’s side. "You mentioned talking to McGonagall. Was it about what I suggested? Did you ask her for help?"

"I did." Miranda took a deep breath, and let out a long sigh. "Does it look like it went well?"

"Did she yell at you or something?"

"She...no, I suppose that might have been a bit easier to deal with, I could hate her for it."

"So what then?"

Miranda took another deep breath. "Perhaps I am simply greedy and impatient. Perhaps I am desperate for some elder to take me by the hand and lead me where I wish to go, as once my own elders did, in happier days. Perhaps I rested too much of my hopes on being granted a perfect solution. The fact of the matter is that, regardless of my desires, or Iffy’s, or Wren’s...the matter of permanent human transfiguration is little-studied because the process of experimentation necessarily involves practicing on living beings, be they human or animal. McGonagall explicitly stated that she would not condone any such experiments we made, even if our subjects were volunteers, even if our subjects were ourselves. Anything we did to anyone might be something even Saint Mungo’s couldn’t handle."

Sparrow sighed. "Hello, Ambitions, may I introduce you to Brick Wall."

Miranda nodded.

"You can’t work on, like, cadavers?"

"I did inform McGonagall that I would be willing to perform initial experiments on human cadavers, and that I would of course not be obeying her prohibition regarding this matter."

"Uh –"

"What am I if not honest? What am I if not foolhardy? Am I not a proper Gryffindor?" Miranda smiled faintly. "Ah, but Iphis and Wren were somewhat annoyed with me as we were scolded out of McGonagall’s office. I’m sure they were hoping to keep their disobedience discreet. I tried to stress that McGonagall had demonstrated her capacity to spy upon us, and that she wasn’t so foolish as to think we would cease our efforts. So." Miranda took a deep breath. "I am...here…where I can find less judgmental company, and consider calmly. We are sailing into uncharted waters, my partners and I – we have only a compass and captain to guide us. We have...more work ahead of us."

Out over Miranda’s dreamscape, the moon was suddenly obscured by great dark clouds, and the whole land was cast into shadow.

"More rough work?"

"It’s a longer journey ahead than I had hoped. No telling how long. No telling how much longer I must live with pain."

Sparrow looked out to Jill’s volcanic nightmarescape. "Well, you know, sometimes you have brilliant breakthroughs, and sometimes you just have to keep plugging away at it until you’re done. Which one do you think you can rely on, eh?"

"The latter," grumbled Miranda.

"It sure would be easier if we had those books of theory though," said Sparrow.

"You don’t need to remind me," growled Miranda.

"But I might need to remind you of what you’re also supposed to be working towards," said Sparrow. "Remember that ol’ Lycanthropy cure?"

"Yes...McGonagall told us that we really ought to be putting our transitional work aside and focusing on our academics. She’s lucky I didn’t cover the entire room in snow."

"You’re lucky," said Sparrow.

"Yes," grumbled Miranda. "I managed to keep my cool."

"But about the Lycanthropy thing," said Sparrow. "It just occurred to me...like, there are such things as permanent spell effects. Curses that stick around. You know? Like Lycanthropy. Not that it makes one’s form permanent – quite the opposite. But it, you know, sticks to people. That’s the whole trouble with it. So...if you could make a good effect that stuck to someone...I mean, I’m just spitballing here, just throwing spaghetti at the wall, but really, if you could reverse-engineer Lycanthropy, you could figure out how it sticks...or figure out how to get to unstick?"

Miranda had a weird light in her eyes. "One of the things I like about you is that you make your suggestions and assertions regardless of whether they make any sense."

"Um –"

"I’m saying that’s a good thing. I’m saying you’re good at finding things that are crazy enough to have daunted more sensible people, but are actually good ideas. Bringing down the Statute of Secrecy, giving magic to everyone, curing lycanthropy, and so forth. Sometimes common sense gets in the way."

"Um –"

"Just take the compliment," said Miranda. "I will relay your suggestion to Wren and Iphis and Jocasta." She looked around. "Talking of which, wasn’t she supposed to come back?"

All of a sudden, Jocasta shot out of the top of the mountain on a fountain of bones. She tumbled off the top, wincing as a few of them fell upon her head. "I love the opportunity to make an entrance! Also, I heard you insulting my girlfriend. Take it back."

"It was a compliment," said Miranda. "I guess I have to take it as one," grumbled Sparrow. "But what’s your report, Jo? How much time do we have?"

"Maybe half an hour before the first rays of dawn," said Jocasta.

"Time enough to make one more run," said Sparrow.

"You could give yourself a break," said Miranda. "Really."

"Gotta plug away," grumbled Sparrow. "Alright, here I go."

This time, when she threw herself off the mountain, she knew she could make the jump as long as she wanted. Clearly Jocasta had done it. This was dreaming, after all, and maybe not her dream, but she was in it all the same. And so she leapt halfway down the mountain, landing hard enough to raise a great wave of bones down the slope, and then she leapt down the rest of the way, landing ahead of the cascade, her heels plowing furrows in the ash.

No sense wasting time, after all. She marched forward, hopping and jumping and skipping along the same path as ever – yes, here was the charred corpse, and here was the crushed doppelganger, and now here was the rest of the path – it was only to charge forward and find the next one.

As she ducked under a low arch of stone she saw her body laid out on the ground, head separated from neck.

Oh, what a lovely thing always to wake in loving arms. Even better without a pounding headache.

"Good morning honey," whispered Jocasta.

"Good my tiny ass," muttered Sparrow. "Ow."

Jocasta gently stroked Sparrow’s head. "I would suggest that the next evening, you give yourself a break and stay on the mountain with me."

"I don’t know." Sparrow sighed, settling a little more into her pillow. "I want to get through this as quickly as I can, so I can comfort her in her dreams. I’d rather she get a break, I’ve had plenty in comparison."

"But if it keeps frightening you –"

"I don’t deny that," said Sparrow. "I’m taking a tour through Jill’s nightmare scenarios, it’s not going to be skipping through the primroses. Hypothetical fears and spiraling guilt – and paranoia. It’s all a dream, it’s all unreal. Is there anywhere on earth that looks like Jill’s dreams? I doubt it."

"Unreal," whispered Jocasta. "Focus on that."

"So I’m willing to keep giving myself a headache," said Sparrow.

"Suppose you have decent reason," grumbled Jill, as she shifted in her waking. She pushed herself up to sit upright, yawning and stretching and groaning. "Sacrifice yourselves for my sake. Hard to watch happening." She leaned over and gave Jocasta and Sparrow lingering kisses on the cheek. "Don’t tire yourselves out, dears."

"But I wanna," mumbled Sparrow. "I wanna see you."

Jill slid an arm under Sparrow, and lifted her upright. "Thus I invited you into my dreams. And you are making good progress, I’ll not deny that. But you don’t need to martyr yourself for me. When I am in my dream, alone against the fire, I know you’ll be there for me in the morning. It helps me face my fear." She gave Sparrow a peck on the lips.

Well, that woke Sparrow up.

Getting up might be another matter, though. She had many kisses to give Jill before then, and many to give Jocasta, and the three of them wound up waking Miranda, who grumbled as they giggled. "I had hoped you three could control yourselves around me."

"I should be sure to wake you first next time," said Sparrow. "if...you want there to be a next time. Sorry."

"I find it a convenient way to speak with Jocasta in strictest confidence," said Miranda. "Goodness knows someone could be using magic to spy on a conversation in so many ways, especially around here."

The thought made Sparrow shudder. She put it aside. "Right right, ah...would you like to see how I do the Animagus recitation? Just to get a feel for it ahead of time?"

Miranda raised an eyebrow. "Hm. Have I decided to become an Animagus?"

"Oh!" said Jocasta. "How could you not! It is so much fun!"

"And so much risk," said Jill. "And there’s the physical changes to your human form," said Sparrow. "Some sensory advantages and disadvantages, at least." 

"Tell me about it," said Jocasta."A fly’s life is not at all easy in this climate. Brr!" She feigned shivering, and grabbed Sparrow about the waist, holding her close. "Warm me up, honey."

"Sensory advantages…" Miranda looked intrigued. "Jocasta, by any chance, has your fly form granted you any real advantages? Perhaps, I don’t know, a sensitivity to air movement, perhaps slight changes in your vision…"

Jocasta grinned. "Would you like to see?"

"By all means."

Sparrow found herself deposited next to Miranda, and Jocasta sat cross-legged before Jill. "Alright dear, whenever you’re – wait." She turned around to address Sparrow. "Honey, whatever you do, I need you to not cast your shield spell here. Alright? I’ll be fine."

⋄⋄ WHAT?!⋄⋄

• I WILL BE FINE. •

Sparrow could only stare in open-mouthed horror as Jill drew back her fist. Jocasta still had her head half-turned to Sparrow, but Jill threw a straight jab right at Jocasta’s temple – Instantly a disc of translucent golden light appeared between the two, and Jill’s fist bounced off, smacking her in the face, knocking her back onto the pillows.

Jocasta had ducked the punch even before the disc had appeared, and she glowered at Sparrow as she rose. "My dear. My sweet. My love. I specifically said no shield. What part of that is difficult?"

"Jocasta," Jill groaned as she sat up. "Think who you’re talking to."

Jocasta rolled her eyes. "Right, I really should have known. Wait a minute." She looked at Sparrow’s lap, then at her hands, then at the shield spell, then back at Sparrow. She raised an eyebrow.

Sparrow realized with a start that she wasn’t holding her wand. It was in her lap.

"Impressive," said Miranda.

"I wondered when it would happen," muttered Jill.

Sparrow hastily dismissed the spell and sat on her hands. "Alright, try again?"

"In a second." Jocasta leaned forward, and gave Sparrow a kiss on the cheek. "There. That ought to make you feel a little better. And don’t worry, honey, I’ll be fine."

"You always are," grumbled Sparrow. "Eventually."

"Right," said Jocasta. "Begin again, with no interruptions this time."

Jill wound up and threw another straight jab at Jocasta – And faster than blinking, Jocasta had ducked it. Jill threw a left hook this time, and again Jocasta dodged. Suddenly the air became a flurry of blows, and yet it was also a flurry of Jocasta dodging nearly too fast for Sparrow to see.

Until after a minute or so, the girl was slowing down. She only barely ducked the last jab. "Woo! Nearly took my head off there. But I think my endurance is getting better, wouldn’t you say dear?"

"Ten seconds longer than last time," said Jill. "We’ll keep at it."

"Hang on," said Sparrow, "that’s why you’re such a good duelist! You were cheating!"

"I use all my tools at my disposal to my best advantage," said Jocasta, crossing her arms. "And really, Sparrow. If we’re going to be going up against people who aren’t playing around, I should think you would appreciate how difficult it is for someone to lay hands on your girlfriend."

Sparrow turned to Miranda to ask her to back up her opinion of the matter, but Miranda was not only off the bed, she was completely dressed and had her school bag slung over her shoulder. She looked faintly amused. "Most intriguing. I have been content with the short-term transformation potions, but if being an animagus offers persistent benefits...well. The only form I can imagine that reflects my soul would have me seeing quite clearly in the night, and shading my eyes by day."

"As long as you don’t grow feathers," cackled Jocasta.

"I bet I’ll grow feathers," said Sparrow.

"Oh?" Jill stroked her chin. "Oh, really, hm. I think a bird form wouldn’t be you, my dear. I can think of something else that would fit you better."

"But I wanted to be a bird!"

"You sing so prettily," said Jocasta. "And you get up too early. But oh, what little creature will you be?"

"Just tell me!"

"I suppose we will see," said Miranda. She glanced at the window, where daylight was streaming in. "The recitation, though?"

"Oh!" said Sparrow. "Right, right." She bounded over Jocasta’s lap to grab her wand off the bedside table, only requiring a small amount of tugging to get it away from the Fetching Stick. Hopping off the bed, she stood in the sunlight, and pointed the wand at her heart, reciting the incantation in a clear voice for Miranda to hear. Then she bowed, as Jocasta and Jill applauded. "Thank you, thank you, I’m here all week."

"So that’s all it takes?" Miranda glanced between Jill, Jocasta and Sparrow.

Jill tapped her temple. "The hard part is remembering. It’s every morning. Or you start all over again."

"No mistakes allowed," grumbled Sparrow.

Miranda smirked. "Ah, but if there’s anyone who is attentive to exacting instructions, it is I." She glanced at the window, a faraway look in her eyes. "And if I achieve this...it would allow me to spend time in a body that took me away from certain unpleasant sensations, for as long as I wished, whenever I chose. Hm. I might need to cultivate a taste for rodents, though." She shrugged. "I’ll do it on the next school year, then. As for you, dear little bird, good luck, and have a good day. I will be in my greenhouse if any of you should call upon me."

"Talking to your plants?" said Sparrow.

"They make excellent conversation," said Miranda. She opened the door to a room full of bookshelves and reading tables, and departed.