I've been asked to post this for the information for fans
A new Harry Potter forum has opened! King's Cross Station has been created to serve as a fun, friendly, and easygoing place for Harry Potter fans to get together to talk about the books and express themselves through fanfiction and fanart.
King's Cross Station is free to join, easy to use and wonderful way to get in touch with other Harry Potter fans. King's Cross Station can be found at / kingscrossstation. proboards. com (Just copy and paste this into your address bar and remove the spaces)
Some of King's Cross Station's useful features include:
- Clean and easy navigation.
- Separate sections for all areas of Harry Potter discussion.
- Boards devoted entirely to Fanfiction and Fanart
- Sections to talk about anything not relating to Harry Potter.
- Competitions, Games, Events, as well as fanfiction and fanart Prompts.
We are also looking for people to hire on as Mods! If you're interested then please PM "admin" over on King's Cross Station.
King's Cross Station is a friendly place open to all Harry Potter fans – readers, writers and reviewers – and we look forward to seeing you there!
Sincerely,
The King's Cross Staff
Chapter 15
David muttered the rhyme through to himself again.
"to reach and find your heart's desire, you must pass through water, air and fire
you must prepare, and have enough, else coming home could yet be tough."
He had a bag with him containing all that he had prepared, a potion made of gillyweed that he had designed himself – with a few snide hints from Severus wondering aloud why anyone might not crush rather than chop something designed to be released by chewing – that would be surely preferable to swallow than chewing on the horrid slimy stuff, however bad it tasted; and a fire protecting potion that he had researched and then written up for the essay Severus had set them all. It was standard NEWT work to cover protective potions and the information was freely available in the library so there was no question of extra help being provided; he had already decided on this route and could have brewed it in his free study period in the dungeon, as indeed he had. The gillyweed research was all his own; and David was quite pleased with it, and had at Severus' suggestion written it up for 'Transactions' and had needed to look up the full title of that learned publication since nobody ever used the full name of 'Transactions of the Learned Society of Potioneers'. He had received a brief note of thanks and the dry comment that of course a new potion would not be published until it had been tested by one of the Society's test wizards; and that if this was to be field tested in the Triwizard competition, the publication staff all wished him success and would be grateful for notes on how well the field test progressed.
Karl gave David a shaky grin, and Alain nodded to both other boys; they looked scared stiff. David hoped he did not.
He was fairly confident actually.
The potions were really because he almost felt it was cheating to use transfigurations for each part; but if anything went wrong, he could always fall back on it. Practical transfiguration was easy; though he had spoken to Minerva McGonagall about Madam Marchbanks' comments on justifying similarities and she had suggested throwing around words like 'taxonomy' and maybe using the similarities of LATIN names for those things he wished to transfigure, which would be more understandable and acceptable to examiners. She also pointed out that many Latin names were descriptive; and in those descriptions one might find hints to what inanimate objects might be paired with animate ones.
"Why a fiddle to a cat though, apart from the rhyme 'hey diddle diddle'?" David had asked.
"Och, it's a' in the sound an ill-played fiddle makes, wailing like a cat" said Minerva "And that the strings are ca'ed catgut, though it's nae sich thing; It's sheep gut. But it's in the name ye ken."
David privately thought he would do better concentrating on the rhyme than on such dubious logic as that; but he said nothing. It was a traditional part of the NEWT exam and he would just have to live with it.
This time Alain was to go first; and he cast a bubblehead charm to enter the water. He was spoken to privately and given some instructions; and then he was off. The points were to be awarded similarly to the first test; a bonus point for every full minute under the hour the contestants took, and penalty points at an equal rate over the hour plus points out of ten for style from each judge. It was to be a more gruelling test than the first where the base time was five minutes and bonuses were on seconds!
David was next.
"You need to find the underground stream that leads out of the lake to a waterfall" said the French marshal who was sending them off. His English was impeccable. "It's been marked by the merpeople. If you come out of the waterfall too fast you'll be in mid air with very little time to react; I warn you for your own safety. You will see the magical fire from where you emerge. You must return, with your heart's desire, the same route or lose significant penalty points. Is this all clear?"
"Yes, sir, thank you; pellucidly" said David, using the Snapism for luck.
"Good; on my mark….GO!"
David downed his potion and dived into the lake, glad he had added as a last minute thought a warming potion. The lake was horribly cold.
He attuned geomantically to the lake's underwater currents and struck out immediately for the out flowing one.
"That was quick" said the bubbly voice of a merman "Ah, our local hero; best of luck!"
"Cheers" said David, hoping it was audible. The merman grinned. They had picked a friendly one then; some of the merfolk had been a little standoffish since Dumbledore's faked death after they had let their grief be known at his equally fake funeral. David waved, absently transfigured his shoes into flippers to swim faster and set off.
He had no intention of slowing down as he exited; but to transfigure in mid air. He could summon a broom, or hover and use a breeze or, as Kinat suggested, squirt water as a propelling jet; but while there were more efficient ways to do things he fully intended to use them.
The tunnel was relatively narrow; and he was glad of the flippers for stabilisation as much as for speed. He put his arms out in front of him and kicked hard, revelling in the wild ride he was on. Coming back would be much harder; so he needed to let the current do the work this way, to conserve energy.
And then there was light ahead; and he was preparing the thought of the image of Gryphon in his head as he shot clear out into the sharp, cold air, the final kick taking him past the waterfall that cascaded thundering into the valley below. He saw Alain who gave a sharp, startled cry from where he was clinging to the rockface beside the waterfall; and then his shoulders erupted painfully but gloriously into golden eagle's wings and he gave a cry of joy from his sharp beak as he was airborne!
Alain, well behind him despite his start, was now airborne as well, having used the summoning charm for a broom.
That would make heavy weather of coming back with a passenger; Ma'm'selle Cartier was no lightweight! David was unconcerned about that however; his task was to fetch Ellie.
He could feel her; she had been faintly bored and was now starting to get excited, cheering him on through their blood. He had wondered about the short feeling of irritation around the time they had taken her; but it had been replaced by one of satisfaction and no doubt she would share the reason later.
Other Marshals hovered on brooms, overseeing the competition and doubtless ready to use hovering charms if anyone actually fell.
He landed, shrugged back into David-the-boy and drank the first bottle of fire-resistant potion and walked through the flames into Ellie's arms. He handed her the second bottle; and she drank it quickly, and they walked out. He had not needed a third; but it had been there just in case. It all seemed quite prosaic.
David changed again and Ellie scrambled quickly up.
Alain was landing his broom by the fire that held his Rosette; and David nodded his golden head to him. Alain gave him a 'thumb's up'.
Then they were away.
"Frenchmen" said Ellie "I had a little trouble with one of the ones who brought me here; seemed to think that as I was a half goblin I was easy or something. So I gave him a little something to distract him; I transfigured his favourite piece of kit into a bunch of nettles. And I made him apologise before I turned it back. He thought that as I wasn't allowed my wand to help myself or you that I was helpless; HIS mistake."
David the Gryphon could not chuckle as such; but he could purr approval. His Ellie was something else!
They landed beside the waterfall and Ellie scrambled off and held tight to the slippery ledge as David transfigured. He passed her a bottle of potion and drank his own.
"We need to get a bit upstream don't we before we swim?" said Ellie.
"Yes; the passage is wider than the stream, from when it's in spate" said David "It's why we're doing it while it's still so perishing cold; before the meltwater comes. You're supposed to be brought by me, so hold my shoulders."
He was glad the ones to be rescued were not unconscious as they had been for Harry's second task; presumably because this was actually a tougher task. Ellie obediently held his shoulders as they entered the icy water.
"Warming potion! Clever old you!" she said.
"Too hedonistic not to" said David, and stepped back hastily as Karl shot past, using what the Durmstrangers evidently favoured as a partial transfiguration to a shark head, as Viktor had done in his turn. Karl hung on just in time not to go over. David hesitated but Karl called,
"Go on, I'm fine!"
He sounded as though he meant it so David continued. The marshals were there in case of accident after all.
There should be no hint of collusion, to give the marauders a better chance of spiriting away little Uschi.
"He's making rope from his wand" Ellie said as they ducked under. "Neat" she bubbled under water "We can actually talk!"
It was a hard swim and David unashamedly added fins as well as flippers. And then they were in the lake; and he could cut out of the worst drag of the current and head for shore. The merman gave him a wave.
The marshal jumped when he popped up, Ellie by the hand.
"You – that was very quick!" he said. "Most impressive! Now, quickly, your Madam Pomfrey has warmed towels and hot drinks for you!"
"Ah, excellent" said David. "I'm glad I thought to add a warming potion to my water breathing potion though; made the task much easier on both of us."
The marshal looked impressed.
"I will let the judges know this" he said "It should add to your style marks."
David had not said it for that; but he was not displeased!
Madam Pomfrey was pleased too when David explained they were not actually that cold, and why.
"Well you have YOUR head screwed on firmly" she said.
David chuckled.
"I dislike the cold" he said "I cast warming charms on my slippers in the morning too!"
Madam Pomfrey laughed.
"A practical thing to do and one of the reasons no doubt that I never have to issue YOU with pepperup potions for winter colds!"
Alain returned next and he and his girlfriend were shivering uncontrollably. Madam Pomfrey was lecturing him as she wrapped hot towels, enchanted with drying and warming charms, around the young French people.
"A little forethought and a quick warming charm or two and this need never have happened. Call yourself a wizard!" she was scolding.
Karl was a long time returning with his sister and David was starting to worry. Then they broke surface near the middle of the lake – as Alain had done, David recalled, instead of taking advantage of the superior speed of swimming underwater – and the little girl was soon on dry land.
Karl had concentrated on keeping her dry and warm in an enclosed bubble of air; which must have been horrendous to get upstream against so fierce a current. She looked a shrewd enough child; she could surely have been transfigured into a fish – equal protection against the cold – and guided by one fin to be sure Karl kept to the conditions of bringing her, as he seemed at home with transfigurations. He said so to Ellie.
"But most people don't wrap the thoughts of the person they're transfiguring to keep them safe, so she'd just have been a frightened animal" said Ellie "That's why they go for the partial transfiguration for fear of losing their own thoughts!"
"Oh" said David "I thought the whole point of transfiguring people was to keep their personalities intact – like the woodlice – as part of, in that case, the punishment."
"But Krait started that. Don't you remember how uptight Minerva got at first about using it as a punishment? Because of the animal not understanding?"
"I'd forgotten" said David. "I guess Hogwarts just has superior magic; because we expect to do more."
"We've had to of course" said Ellie. "We had this teensy problem called Voldemort, remember?"
Karl and Uschi were being warmed; and Karl asked Madam Pomfrey to keep his sister in her hospital ward as she was delicate.
Madam Pomfrey passed her own opinion on competition organisers who put delicate children at risk.
As Uschi did not look delicate and had an excited gleam in her eye, David suspected that half of Karl's lost time had been spent telling her to expect to be kidnapped and to go along with it. He did not want to know; and hung around awaiting the judging.
Alain's score was given first as he had gone first; he had achieved twenty time points, and the judges had given him two eights and a seven for style – the seven from Germany – for a total of forty three.
David knew his time points were going to be better than Alain's since he had overtaken the boy; and indeed he had thirty five time points, nines from Britain and France and only seven from Germany who contended that the use of potions was an inferior way to succeed beside spells. David winced as he saw Severus eyeing the German judge thoughtfully.
Karl had only fifteen time points; which was still good by most people's standards. Germany gave him ten points for style – which surprised no-one - and France and Britain gave him seven apiece. Murphy said "We liked your summoning of a rope to cross the chasm for yourself but we felt the ways you chose for the transport of your sister lacked something in finesse. Had you continued your use of transfiguration to, say, make yourself and subsequently her, into a rat or squirrel or monkey to cross the rope that would have seemed worth more points; or had you then transfigured it into a rope bridge. You showed a lot of acrobatic skill crossing it by swarming along, and also returning with her tied to you, but the marshals were somewhat concerned. As, I have to say, was I. And the use of a full bubble was less efficient than say a bubblehead charm and a warming charm."
Karl bowed and clicked his heels.
"I am grateful for your instruction" he said "Everyone can see that British children are taught much flexibility; I am most happy to have the opportunity to learn by example of my honoured rival."
He did not seem disappointed to have come third in this test; he was having trouble hiding his elation.
The overall points now stood at Alain, fifty four; Karl, seventy four; and David, one hundred and seven.
The Hogwarts supporters cheered loudly.
David would set off on the final task next term a full thirty three seconds ahead of Karl, who would be twenty seconds ahead of Alain; for the points accrued over the first two tasks were to give pole position for the final, and traditionally a maze, task. And that would be set by Hogwarts; and would therefore, thought David, be quite fiendish.
It should be interesting.
The German judge spoke to David before the party reconvened indoors.
"You a metamorphagus are, of course?"
David looked surprised.
"Oh no!" he said "If I was a metamorphagus, I shouldn't have to concentrate on changing form as I don't have to concentrate to get into my animagus form."
"Indeed? What form is that?"
"Dog; as it is registered" said David.
"But you so easy make it seem to even a Gryphon become!" said the German "And my compatriots they saw you a basilisk also become!"
"Oh I think you'll find they saw wrongly" said David easily "I used Serpensortia as soon as I had hovered down and transfigured the snake I produced; far easier. And as I had summoned it in the first place, I could banish it as easily."
The German's brow cleared.
"AH! That is much explaining, thank you Herr Fraser. Madam Bacsó is too given to flights of fancy. But still, a Gryphon…."
"Oh but I belong to House Gryffindor" said David "We have an affinity for such; even as the Slytherin have for snakes, the Ravenclaws for members of the crow family and Hufflepuffs for badgers and other bears. Were I a Slytherin I might have thought instead of an occamy or a quetzal."
The German judge nodded.
"I see; thank you for clearing that up" he said.
David heaved a private sigh of relief and resolved to spread his diplomatic lies to the rest of the Blood Group and MSHG as fast as possible.
To be able to produce a Basilisk from a wand was frightening enough to ODESSA; but it might be as well to keep the fact that all the bloodgroup had some of Krait's skill in transfiguring into magical creatures as yet a secret. It might be an ace in the hole! And he DID feel an affinity to Gryphons anyway!
The new Marauders had been preparing for the rescue of little Uschi for some time.
"It's short for Ursula, did you know?" Willow had said, for they had roped her in to have an older girl to reassure the smaller child.
"Well I'm not enamoured of either name, but then Germans think it okay to call a girl Irmtraut" said Hawke. "In her case fairly suitable; she is a silly old trout."
"It's Ermintrude in English" said Willow.
"And that's almost worse!" laughed Abraxus "Shades of Ermintrude the cow on Magic Roundabout!"
They all chuckled.
"Anyway, Uschi is NOT as bad a name as Nymphadora" said Kinat.
They agreed on that point.
The hospital wing was in one of the newer parts of the building and was therefore devoid – so far as they could determine – of secret passages.
"But we have to assume there'll be some German oik lurking outside in the passages – for her own safety of course" said Romulus "So we need to extend the secret passages."
"What do you suggest?" asked Hawke.
"A gate, like the loo network" said Romulus "Although unmarked."
"Into Myrtle's loo? And hide her in the chamber of secrets?" said Hawke.
"Don't be silly" snorted Willow "The kid's the same age as little Lydia, barely ten. She'll be scared stiff down there. We need to get her into the chimney room; or the goblin room. And I'm more in favour of the chimney room in case during the time we have to leave her alone she goes off poking a bit. In the goblin room that could take her to spiders. In the chimney room she's more likely to stay put for fear of getting lost in the dark. She won't have a wand and somehow I doubt she'll be either as talented or as enterprising as the Snapelings, before you start telling me Jade was her age when she and the other Junior marauders found the chimney passages. And of courtesy we should involve them; besides, with me that makes nine to open a gate which is arithmantically superior."
This was acknowledged fair on both counts; and the younger four were invited in to squabble over the precise location of the passage.
"I don't think it should go direct into the chimney passage" said Senagra firmly "Just in case Pepperup Poppy stumbles into it by accident."
"That's actually a damn good point" said Kinat, sounding surprised.
"She's rather good, your sister" said Romulus, smiling warmly at the little girl. Senagra beamed.
"What about the detention room where we first found the chimney passages?" suggested Lynx.
"Full marks the Junior Marauders" said Hawke "They ARE on the ball today! "I like; it's not as heavily used as a standard classroom so it gives more privacy – unless the third are being more than usually moronic in potions classes – and it's right next to a passage but nobody is going to guess TWO passages happen in one room! Opposite the fireplace – or beside it?"
"You'd look over and think about the carvings if it were opposite, maybe" said Romulus "And wonder about a continuation…beside the chimney breast means you come out looking away from the carvings, it's against psychology to then do a u-turn to go further."
"We get her out, blindfold her, turn her round several times, lead her about the classroom including opening and shutting the door and then in the hole" said Lynx "So even if anyone subsequently manages to legilimens her she won't even have a clue it's from the same room."
"I like" said Hawke "Simple but brilliant. And we need to hide the books in the room; some of them are not nice."
"A simple fidelius charm will cover that" said Abraxus "And only Marauders to be secret keepers."
Hawle nodded.
"We can leave some reading books for her" said Willow "And sewing stuff; European girls sew more than we do. With a cupboard with a preserve charm on like in the goblin room she can know she'll be safe for weeks even if we are watched; which we shan't be I don't suppose. Right, who's going to let me bloody his nose to go to see Madam Pomfrey and make preparations?"
"No go" said Hawke "She knows we wouldn't trouble her over something like that. I need a volunteer to have a rash…thank you Fabian, you're an observant type too I think you'll do very well."
Which is how come Fabian had spent the last few days of the Yule term in bed – allegedly – in the hospital wing whilst magically marking out a panel of wall to be a gate.
The Marauders had performed the ritual in the middle of the night when they first got back to school and, having tested it, had decided that while they were up, the chimney room needed airing and making cocoa there was as good a way of doing it as any.
In the few days before the competition that had made sure that their were books, fabrics, embroidery threads and sewing kit, a teddy bear and paper and coloured pencils in addition to a warm quilt, nice clean sheets and a couple of feather pillows and a well stocked cupboard. Willow sighed slightly at the boys' concept of 'well stocked' and added tinned fruit, fresh fruit and salad to baked beans, spam, crisps and chocolate.
She also covered the scrying mirror to Durmstrang, that had so far revealed disappointingly little. No point the child seeing it and being frightened.
And as little Uschi Heinz was hustled off to the sick bay, the marauders were set.
oOoOo
Uschi was excited.
Her brother had revealed to her in the dark and watery passage that he planned to defect to England and that her safety was paramount and that he had arranged for her defection ahead of his. He did not know how this was to be carried out; but told her that other children would collect her at some point before she returned to Germany and would keep her safe. Uschi had nodded solemnly and resolved to try not to be scared.
Being alone in Germany in a foster house with other orphans and a strict Hausmutter was much scarier. At least she was allowed to be with Karl for much of the holidays, but going back was always hard. And next year she had expected to go to Durmstrang; and she would still not have been with Karl as he was now in his final year. And she knew from what Karl had said – mostly to prepare her – that she must seem quite unemotional there and never show fear. It sounded a horrid place!
Mind you, one did not show fear in the foster house.
If one did the bullies soon struck. Being one of the older ones now it was less of a problem; but old habits died hard. And some of her former bullies must be at Durmstrang now and senior to her.
The children at Hogwarts that she had seen so far seemed to look happy; and unless they had been ordered to do so on pain of punishment that had to be good. And Karl spoke of it being a good place; and he had stayed several times, which surely meant he should know, because acting happy for days on end would be impossible unless you were!
A German Marshal was in the hospital building too; and that was a potential problem; though nice kind Madam Pomfrey had scolded him for the very idea of standing at her bedside.
"A little girl with a grown man standing over her? How improper!" said Madam Pomfrey angrily. "And what may I ask would you need to do that for? She's hardly an escaped prisoner from Azkaban or Nurmengard!"
The German retired abashed, murmuring something about only wanting to keep her safe.
"Do you then doubt my ability as school nurse to care for her?" demanded Pomfrey coldly "I have been caring for the children of Hogwarts for many years; and nobody has ever complained before!"
There was little the man could say; but he insisted on positioning himself outside the door and accompanying Madam Pomfrey every time she came to check on her charge. Uschi was almost in tears; they would not be able to rescue her! They must suspect Karl!
Then, after Madam Pomfrey retired after leaving a tea tray, a patch of wall suddenly glowed; and a good looking blonde boy followed by a dark haired girl walked into the room, grinning.
Uschi put her finger to her lip and pointed to the door. The tall girl waved her wand, whispering
"Muffliatus! There, nobody can hear now…. Sprechen sie Englisch?"
"Yes, my brother had all knowledge transferred to me magically" said Uschi "He told me at first it was so I should not feel so strange, but now I know why you are here I know it was to help me escape!"
"And they actually have a guard on the door of a ten-year-old kid? Creeps!" said Willow.
"I do not know what creeps is but it sounds like what I feel about Herr Hertz" said Uschi.
"That's more or less what it means" said Willow.
"He would have stood always by my bed but Madam Pomfrey would not let him" said Uschi, and reported the conversation.
"Hmm. We need to protect Pepperup Poppy – love that name for her, kudos to the Junior Marauders – even if Abraxus doesn't like her that much. There's disliking and then there's causing trouble" said Hawke. "Don't let us stop you eating by the way; we're having ours saved for us. Okay, the best thing I think is for you to leave a note to your brother saying for some reason you don't want to go back and you're planning to hide out amongst muggles as – as a pet cat because you've discovered you're an animagus. That'll fox 'em. Willow and me'll tear up sheets to make a rope that you've supposedly climbed out of the window on, Poppy's have our guts for garters if she finds out, but better that than them trying to have her dragged off to their loathsome prison to accuse her of having anything to do with kidnapping you."
"Then if I was doing that I would also write a note to her apologising for tearing her sheets and thanking her for her kind care of me" said Uschi.
"Do that then; you must act as you would naturally" said Willow, getting out a knife.
"Not Diffindo?" asked Hawke.
"DUR – wand-work shows, the kid hasn't got a wand – oh – accio scalpel and if I use this it'll look like she found one in here" she added using the scalpel that flew to her hand. "I'll drop it on the floor after wiping off any prints – if they use fingerprints – for a heavy enough clue even a member of the German Ministry can find, being doubly handicapped in being a member of a ministry as well as being German."
"I'm German" said Uschi.
"Yes, but you and your brother are young enough to grow out of it" said Willow cheerfully.
"She can't spell tact you know" said Hawke, tying together strips as Willow cut them.
"Is she your girlfriend?" asked Uschi.
"Thank all the powers of the universe, no" said Hawke.
"Never be rude to a woman with a knife in her hand" said Willow serenely.
Hawke grinned.
"There's a group of us who are really good friends, Uschi, and we're in charge of rescuing you. Willow is a friend, like the other boys are friends, no more."
"I have finished eating, please, shall I letters write?"
Willow produced paper and a quill from the end of her wand, thought for a moment and added a school letterhead and the addition that the sick bay had on its notepaper for sending home those stern letters – Willow informed Uschi – telling parents that little angel-face had come back to school with chizpurfles AGAIN or had suffered an outbreak of Fairy Flu or was to be watched and not allowed to pick doxy bites or whatever.
"Sometimes she leaves it lying around; and she won't remember if she has or not, especially if she's been upset over one of her charges, and if he as good as accused her of incompetence as you say, she'll be well upset" said Willow. "Don't forget to write in German to Karl and careful but poor English to Madam Pomfrey."
Uschi needed the timely warning; she was settling into using English and had not thought about using different languages.
She wrote carefully, in German,
"Dear Karl,
You know how unhappy I am with mean old Hausmutter in the kinderhaus and with Heinrich who always hurts me when he can. He will go also to Durmstrang next year and I cannot bear it. I have felt drawn to being a cat for some time and have secretly practised being an animagus; so I will hide as a pet cat in England with muggles and maybe I will see you again one day. I am sorry to distress you when you have exams and the Triwizard competition but it is my only opportunity to be safe. Heinrich said I need not think I was special to go as your person to be rescued and he would beat me back into my place when I returned. I will never return. Good luck, all my love, Uschi."
"Nice" said Willow, reading over her shoulder "A nice child who thinks to be sorry for causing her brother trouble but too scared to do anything else. You have a good instinct for this sort of work."
Uschi smiled timidly.
"Like you said, I have to act as if I was doing this" she said.
To Madam Pomfrey she wrote,
"Dear Madam Pomfree,
I most sorry am the sheets to tear. You have very kindly been and I thank you most much, Uschi Heinz."
"Excellent" Hawke approved. "How tall are you? Ah, Willow, that chair?"
They piled a chair on two lockers shoved together – the windows being quite high – and fastened the makeshift rope to the back of an iron bedstead, throwing the other end out of the window.
"You take her through the passage; I'll actually climb down and make it look stretched and put footmarks at the bottom" said Willow. "A shrinking charm I think to her size….catch you later, kiddo!" and she shrank to Uschi's size, scrambled lightly up and over the sill. "Yes, footmarks necessary; several feet of drop at the bottom!" she said gaily; and was gone.
Hawke cancelled the muffling spell, with a finger to his lips, and led Uschi through the gate.
There he blindfolded her, and led her around, opening and shutting the door, as they had decided; and finally introduced her to the secret passage.
"I'm going to take the blindfold off so you can see where to put your feet; it's steep" he said "And when you get to the secret room I want you to promise me you'll stay put; there's a whole labyrinth of passages, maybe more than any one person could ever know, and I don't want you getting lost."
Uschi nodded, all big eyes as he took off the blindfold.
Hawke had decided that a white lie about the number of passages might keep her safer than if she accidentally came out somewhere it was better to avoid!
Uschi was enchanted by the little room, when they reached it, and moved by the care her rescuers had gone to in order to make her feel comfortable and have things to do!
"We'll feed you regularly, but in case there's a problem with the German ministry crawling all over the place, there's food enough for you so we can to lie low for a couple of days" said Hawke. "One of us will pop in before bed time – all being equal!"
"Thank you so much!" said Uschi, hoping he would go quickly so she could cry tears of relief in private without a big boy watching. Hawke understood; and he patted her shoulder kindly and left her to it.
Once she had cried herself out she would feel truly free at last!