The Remembrall (fiction)

Sparrow blinked herself awake. The spotlight of the sun was visible through the curtains of the four-poster. Sparrow reckoned that it was, strange as it was to say, a good thing she’d been suspended from all of her classes, or this odd hour of waking would have cost her a few hundred more house points. Though by the same token, her utterly unstructured schedule allowed her to venture such things as being out on the walkway at 3 AM in the first place. And then getting caught in a freak blizzard, nearly becoming hypothermic, and crashing back into sleep right in the arms of –

Right. Jill’s arms held her fast. And the day was warming up.

Sparrow tapped Jill’s shoulders. "Come on," she murmured, "we can’t sleep the whole day away. We already missed breakfast."

"Mmm." Jill squeezed her a little tighter. "Five more minutes." She let out a loud fake snore.

"How long have you been awake anyway?"

Jill grinned as she opened her eyes. "It’s been some time."

"Oh you sneaky –"

"Wouldn’t have wanted to wake you up anyway," said Jill, as she rolled to the side and let Sparrow out of her arms. "Didn’t want to push you, after what you went through this morning. After how much you’ve been through lately. What has it been? First you nearly got chomped by a Nark, then you nearly depleted your magic keeping that barrier up for the duel, then I nearly roasted you alive, then I slammed into you on a broom and broke your collarbone, then you got poisoned, then you got your lungs full of plaster, then you almost froze...did I miss any?"

"Don’t forget you voted against me," said Sparrow. She sat up stiffly and pouted at Jill.

"It hurt me more than it hurt you," muttered Jill.

"Well something hurt you," said Sparrow. "Goodness knows what that vision with the fire was…but you know."

Jill nodded glumly.

Sparrow sighed. "I know I shouldn’t ask you more about it until you’re ready. But it would be nice to know you were."

"Maybe," said Jill, "if I hug you all day and give you all the kisses in the world, I might be ready."

"And keep yourself away from Jocasta all day?"

Jill’s eyes grew wide. "Good heavens, you’re right!" She rolled out from the curtains. Sparrow could hear the frantic scraping and clunking of the dresser drawers, and by the time she had climbed out of bed herself, Jill was standing there with her school uniform on and her bag over her shoulder. "Ready, captain! Shall we set sail?"

"Set sail to where?" said Sparrow. "Are we in the dungeons or the library or what?"

All of a sudden a vision flashed into her mind, of a stout figure silhouetted against the flames of a forge. _{∫∫∫∫∫∫ HEY SPARROW, COME TO THE FAR BACK OF THE LIBRARY. I’VE GOT SOMETHING I WANT TO SHOW YOU. ∫∫∫∫∫∫}

 

Sparrow shook her head rapidly, and the vision faded. "Whoof! Never been on the receiving end of one of those before. Alright, let me find my big pirate hat and we’ll sail with the tide."

 

…

 

The far back of the library far farther even than Sparrow’s crew tended to go for their study sessions. Sparrow had half-expected it to be full of dust and cobwebs. But no, it was perfectly clean like the rest of the place.

Somewhat cluttered now, though, with a dozens of curious tools laid out in neat lines, and above them a little glass ball banded with metal, with grey clouds swirling within – and in a chair, Wren sitting with a proud grin on their face.

As well as hair that was now down to their shoulders. "Dang," said Jill, "you look good. Not wasting any time, I see."

"The devil works fast but Miranda works faster," said Wren. "And Jocasta had quite a few pointers. How lucky I am to have friends that help me experiment so easily! Now, I suppose you’re wondering why I called you all here." They gestured to the table. "Behold!"

Sparrow frowned. "A bunch of tools and a remembrall?"

"What? Oh." Wren picked up the glass ball, holding it up to Sparrow. "I mean this thing."

"A remembrall."

"No no, look carefully." They moved the ball closer to Sparrow’s face. There were, it seemed, tiny markings filling the bands – almost too difficult to make out. Sparrow plucked the ball from Wren’s hand and brought it up to her eyes. "See?"

"It’s some form of runic," said Sparrow, "I can’t make it out."

"Indeed," said Iphis, stepping out of a shadow Sparrow could have sworn hadn’t contained anything a moment ago. "It is the language of the ancient runes, which I will not utter here."

"You’ve used to utter them all the time," said Jill. "Including a day ago. And now you’re stopping?"

Iphis looked cagey. "I...I think you’ve become proficient enough to pass the OWL for ancient runes. And that you could simply maintain your level of skill through constant practice. It would, you know, be a way of talking aloud in front of people with decent security? Like the sign language, only far fewer people are truly fluent in the ancient runes as you’ve all become. You’re all such quick learners! I’m so proud."

Wren was narrowing their eyes at Iphis. "You suggested I put these runes on the band specifically because they’re magical. It can’t just be another ordinary language."

"I…" Iphis sighed. "I was just making a cultural reference. Yes, ancient runes are magical when they’re carved into things, that’s basic info." He sat down in a chair at the far end of the table. "Keep on with your presentation, please."

Sparrow and Wren exchanged glances. Sparrow shrugged. "Go on then. What’s this thing for?"

"You remember how an ordinary remembrall is barely better than useless?" Wren took the ball back and pointed to the swirling grey clouds within. "Tells you you forgot something, but not what. But you made it clear back at the Dragon Tower that it’s actually possible to recover memories supposedly erased by the Memory Charm, if an object from the past is a strong enough aid to memory. Like, you know, finding someone’s bones."

"Bone," muttered Sparrow. "Singular."

"Or my ossoscope," said Wren, fishing their metal-banded glass lens out of his pocket and holding it in the palm of his hand. "I made this thing because I saw too many friends back home fracture their bones, and I wanted to be able to use magic to help anyone else who might have that happen. So if I look at this thing, I might be reminded of my friends, even if I got obliviated. And then I thought, if I could enhance the memory-reading properties of the remembrall, so it could show you what you’re missing...maybe it could be an easy way to recover from being hit with a memory charm."

Sparrow’s gaze locked onto the enhanced remembrall. If this device could protect her parents from being obliviated...but it couldn’t stop the curse or heal its effects automatically, could it? "I’d want something that had a guaranteed effect," said Sparrow. "It’s not enough to have a larger chance of recovery, I want to be able to take the hit of a memory charm and immediately know who did it." She cracked her knuckles.

Wren looked disappointed. They crossed their arms. "I...guess that makes sense. But I have to start somewhere."

"It’s a start," said Jill. "Can I see the remembrall again?" Wren handed the ball to Jill, who held it up close to her face and squinted. "Yeah, these runes...if you’re doing memory stuff I might have expected it to involve the same runes as on McGonagall’s pensive, but this is stuff for plain mind-reading, right?"

"That was the basic strategy for this design," said Iphis. "Pensive, though?"

Sparrow snapped her fingers. "A portable pensive. It stores a fraction of your memories all day and automatically releases them back into your head if it detects the energy of a memory charm. Like an appendix for the brain instead of the intestine. Is that possible?"

Wren and Iphis exchanged glances. "I certainly haven’t tried that method," said Wren. "It might need stronger materials to store that much energy...am I even at that level of craft yet? I haven’t even mastered wandlore yet!"

Sparrow placed the ball back on the table, her eyes sweeping over the tools. "All of this equipment, all of which you presumably know how to use, and you think you’re not at a high level of craft already? Maybe not high enough for your standards. But clearly you’re familiar enough with your subject to know how much you don’t know. That means you know what you need to learn, right?"

Wren shrugged. "I guess. It call comes down to the results, though."

"Hang on," said Jill, "Isn’t the smoke in that thing supposed to be grey or red? What does green mean?"

Everyone looked at the remembrall, which was indeed filled with green smoke. And surrounded with bands that were suddenly glowing white-hot, filling the air with the scent of burning wood. Jill immediately grabbed Sparrow and whirled her around, holding her close, shielding her with her back – which Sparrow thought was quite redundant, as she tried to reach a hand around Jill to cast a shield spell.

Sparrow had hoped that casting her spell in a small dome over the ball would be enough. Unfortunately, in the next moment she heard something that sounded like a loud crack, and the clatter of chairs, and the curses of Wren and Iphis.

Jill at last released Sparrow and turned, revealing the scene. The remembrall had completely vanished. There was a large hole that had been punched in the wood of the table. A great deal of sawdust lay spread over the floorboards. Wren’s chair had toppled backward with him in it, and Iphis’ chair was also toppled backward, though he was at Wren’s side.

"I’m sorry I forgot to shield below the ball as well," said Sparrow.

"Sorry?" said Wren, as Iphis helped them to their feet. "You know what I saw? I saw you extending a hand to cast wandless magic, without even doing any of the Magical Sign Language. And you’re complaining about it?"

"You complained about your own work," said Sparrow.

"You know what I heard?" whispered a voice behind Sparrow. She whipped around to see Tim the Librarian stomping towards them. "I heard a noise that anyone with ears could hear, all the way from my desk at the front. What in Potter’s name is this? Why are you using my library as a workshop?"

Wren looked sheepish. "I, uh, don’t have one of my own?"

"What about that disused classroom?" said Sparrow.

"A teacher moved in," said Wren.

"I might have offered you a meeting room if you had asked," whispered Tim, "but you didn’t, and also I don’t want my meeting rooms full of explosions. I want you to leave, and I’ll have to consider if you’re welcome back here."

Wren hastily swept their tools into their bag and the children scurried out of the library.

…

Up the stairs to the seventh floor, where the Room of Requirement was always located. Or, in reality, Iphis was taking the stairs to be cautious while everyone else used the Ascendio spell and waited for him.

Sparrow cleared her throat. "Did you get that Wireless working yet?"

Wren shook their head. "Still can’t get past the proprietary stuff."

"Then build your own when you get your own workshop," said Sparrow.

"Excuse me," said Wren, "when?"

Iphis reached the landing, slightly out of breath. Sparrow turned to the hallway and beckoned everyone to follow her.

As they set out on their long walk around the corridors to reveal the Room of Requirement, Sparrow’s thoughts strayed to the matter of the enhanced remembrall. The fact of the matter was, even a small aid to memory was better than the complete lack of defenses her parents – and everyone else in London – currently had against their so-called protectors. It was tempting even now to snatch the...okay, not now, the thing was currently atoms. But whenever Wren came up with a new prototype, Sparrow might steal it and jump through the floo to bring it down to London to ensure the safety of her family, heedless of the cost.

Except that the cost might injure her own family, as well as the one she was currently building around her, and threaten the development of any improvements to the prototype. So of course Sparrow had to come up with a properly quiet plan that could come to fruition only once Wren had an actual design finalized and constructed.

Because, of course, she had a whole city of people to save, and if her crew wasn’t going to –

But it was her crew, wasn’t it, not her pets, not her tools to store away or her toys to shelve. Her people to lead if they would be led. And they would not be led down to London.

Not yet, anyway. Sparrow had forgotten to ask more about that plan to get the books from the Ministry. So many things on her mind these days, she needed a decent space to focus on something concrete like improving spellcasting, someplace discreet and out of the weather –

Here was a door that hadn’t been here on the last pass.

"It’s funny," said Iphis, as he reached for the doorknob. "For all that this room itself is changeable, its location is the only one in this castle that doesn’t seem to move at all." He pushed the door open.

Inside was a vast stone floor, bare stone walls bearing bronze candleholders, a high vaulted ceiling, and hanging down from it, a great brass chandelier.

Nothing else, save for a single door in the wall at the end.

"This some kind of ballroom?" said Jill. "Did one of us want to be dancing?" She gave Sparrow a wry look. "Wanting to relive some good memories?"

In the silence, Sparrow was able to hear a tiny buzzing before, with a small thump of air, Jocasta appeared before them. The girl looked quite amused. "Marvelous, you all must be on the same wavelength as me! I had thought that if I was in here wanting to practice dueling magic, then anyone with a different idea would be locked out! It seems great minds think alike, after all."

Wren looked askance at Sparrow. "Is that what we’re here for?"

"No…" Sparrow put her face in her palm. "No, I wanted to show you how this place could be a workshop and I got distracted by my own desires."

Iphis shrugged. "I could use some dueling practice myself. It’s one of my weak areas, and we’ve been neglecting Defensive Arts in favor of our other studies this past month, haven’t we? So, might as well take the opportunity to teach me and – Wren? Where did you go?" he looked around.

Sparrow spotted Wren opening the door at the far end of the room. They hopped up and down, clapping their hands. ∫∫∫∫∫∫ Workshop acquired! It’s got all I need. See you all later. ∫∫∫∫∫∫ In a trice they had entered the room and shut the door with a decisive thomp.

"How much later?" said Jill.

"We might see...Cormac...at dinner," said Iphis. "Right, now as for dueling." He clapped his hands once. "Shall we begin?"

…

It was fortunate for Sparrow that Iphis was studious enough to only be rusty, not truly a beginner. Sparrow had the opportunity to practice some of the other forms of defensive spells, with which she was also rusty – so at the same time Iphis was brushing up his disarming spell and his bat-bogey hex, Sparrow was polishing her counter-charms, petrification spells and jelly-legs jinxes, among others.

There came time when the two of them were both near exhausted, and then it was the turn of Jill and Jocasta to show off their own skills against each other – no spells barred, no bystanders to avoid, save for Sparrow and Iphis, who were huddled under Sparrow’s shield spell as the two dueling masters of the school went at it, a god against a titan, thunder and flame fit to shake the heavens.

Or at the very least scorch all the walls. Sparrow realized, as the battle faded, that she hadn’t actually been able to figure out everything that was happening, only that there had been a lot of fire and flashes of light all over the place, and the chandelier that had crashed to the floor had barely made a noise louder than the din of battle itself. It had been, if anything, even more of a spectacle than the legendary duel in the disused courtyard.

And it was ending about the same way, if with more gentle kisses this time.

Sparrow dropped the shield spell, standing up somewhat shakily. "Alright," she quavered, "maybe I can see how much you’ve been holding back. Do you feel better for being able to cut loose now?"

Jill and Jocasta let go, turning to Sparrow with knowing looks. Jill sighed. "Oh, my dear Sparrow...that was still holding back." She moved to Sparrow and brushed her fingers over Sparrow’s cheek. "I hold back so much, just to be able to touch you."

Sparrow shivered with an equal mix of fear and delight.

"Why hold back?" said Iphis.

Jill’s face flushed, and she looked at Iphis with a quizzical expression. "Such strange sentiments coming from you, sir."

"No no," said Iphis, "I mean – if you’ve got something bottled up inside you, it’s safer to release it in a specific direction than to try to hold it in. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of a water jet cutter?"

Jill and Jocasta exchanged glances.

"It’s a bit of lost muggle technology," said Iphis. "Takes too much electricity to get working these days, but the basic idea is that if you focus a huge amount of water pressure through a tiny opening, the resulting jet can cut through many things. You two would be a terrifying sight on any battlefield but if you actually try focusing all your power you could be even more powerful without being nearly as noticeable...so you could let off steam more often."

Jill looked grim. "Focus...focus. Honestly I hadn’t thought it possible for me to have enough control to focus."

"You have enough control to hold back," said Jocasta, sidling up to Jill and snaking a hand around her waist. "Enough control to have more fun with us now. Surely you have enough control to focus?"

Jill shrugged. "I guess I haven’t tried."

"You don’t try if you don’t believe in yourself," said Sparrow. "But maybe now you can. And we’re Wizards, what can’t we do?" She glanced at Iphis, who was looking frustrated. "What can’t we do yet, I mean. All in good time."

"Can any of us cast a shield charm like Sparrow?" said Iphis. "Is that something anyone can learn?"

"Jill did it," said Sparrow. "During the courtyard duel. A carefully-placed shield charm, made to last like mine. Not even with my wand." She met Jill’s eyes. "My dear, what was your thought process in that moment?"

Jill frowned in concentration. "It was...well. Hmph." She snorted. "As if I could remember every detail of such a hectic evening?"

"And you?" Sparrow turned her gaze to Jocasta. "Even you’ve done it a few times, and I could never have taught you how. How did you manage it? What goes through your mind, to shape the spell as you do?"

Now it was Jocasta’s turn to look puzzled. "It is...only that I think of holding it in place? Most of the time when people do a shield charm, they see it as a momentary thing, to block a singular spell, then to immediately vanish – it is how we are taught the charm works. But I saw you doing it your way and thought, oh, obviously she is concentrating to hold it in place, because she wants to keep it up, just in case anything else comes by, so that a poor little first-year isn’t hit by a dung bomb…" Her eyes widened. "Is that it? You are thinking of protecting someone besides yourself."

"Of course," murmured Iphis. "Of course it would be Sparrow who comes up with that kind of shield."

Sparrow shrugged. "What good is a shield if you only use it for yourself? But we should test this. Iffy dear, would you be so kind as to cast the shield charm using the mentality we’ve just discussed? Focus on protecting someone else. Be a brave shieldbearer."

Iphis shook his wand out of his sleeve, and stood beside Jocasta. He pointed it at the empty air and said, "Protego!"

At once a great vertical oval of translucent violet light appeared in the air, covering Iphis and Jocasta both. "Sure looks like it works," said Iphis. Immediately the oval began to flicker. "Unless there’s something we missed?"

"Concentrate!" said Sparrow. "Think of protecting Jocasta from incoming blows!" The shield ceased flickering, resuming its steady glow. "Good! You’re getting it. Alright, now, Jill, if you would be willing to give Iffy’s work the acid test?"

Iphis went pale. "Uh, Sparrow, I think you remember as well as I do what kind of dueling we just saw…"

"Relax," said Jill, as she cracked her knuckles. "This is me going easy." She drew her first back. Jocasta squeaked, and ducked behind Iphis.

Jill threw a haymaker straight into the shield – straight through it. It shattered into a million shards of light. Iphis was shaken, falling backward into Jocasta as his wand slipped from his fingers. The two of them wound up on their rears.

"Well," said Jocasta, getting to her feet and dusting herself off, "you’ve got the form. The power, though, that’s a different matter."

The door at the far end of the room creaked open, and out stepped Wren. "Hey," they called, their voice echoing in the space, "what in the Sam Hill was all that racket?"

Jocasta pointed her wand and shot a bolt of light in Wren’s general direction. Immediately an oval of translucent violet light appeared before them, catching the bolt of light and sending it right back at Jocasta, who ducked as it shot over her head.

Iphis was holding his wand outstretched, glaring at Jocasta.

"Much better this time," said Jill. "Iphis, if I may test the shield once more?"

Iphis sighed. "Alright, but I’m not letting you lay a finger on Wren, you’ve been warned."

"Oh I know," said Jill with a wry grin. She crossed the room, stopping in front of the shield. Behind the shield, Wren had been looking greatly offended, and now they looked shocked as Jill once again reared back and threw a punch at the shield with all her might.

Her fist rebounded off the oval, smacking her in the forehead. This time it was her turn to stumble back onto her rear, to everyone’s laughter.

"There it is then," said Sparrow. "The secret ingredient is love."

All of a sudden a vision flashed into her mind – an ice-blue humanoid standing amid swirls of white on a dark blue field. _{°°° WE’RE BEING SUMMONED BY PROFESSOR LONGBOTTOM. HIS OFFICE, ON THE DOUBLE. °°°}

_{⋄⋄FOR WHAT?⋄⋄}

_{°°° HE WOULDN’T SAY, BUT PROFESSOR BUDGE IS HERE, SO I THINK IT’S OBVIOUS. °°°}

_{⋄⋄DON’T TELL ME HE’S GOING TO BE MOVING ON HOGSMEADE ALREADY. ⋄⋄}

_{°°° ALRIGHT I WON’T. °°°} The vision faded.

Sparrow clapped her hands twice. "Alright people, we’ve had a decent breakthrough, let’s call it a good day for now, because it might about to be a bad day in a moment. To Longbottom’s office!"