Two days later, an incessant pecking made me awaken from the deep, much needed sleep I had very much been enjoying. I rolled over to look at the clock on my bedside table and groaned when I saw it was already ten.

I hauled myself up and went to open the window where Sam Adams continued to peck. He zoomed in to escape the light drizzle that fell from the sky, and I followed him to the living room. He sat on top of his cage, chest puffed out as though he were quite pleased with himself. I picked up the small stack of post he had dropped on top of my desk. There was a response from Clancy saying he wished the same, a bill for something or another that I'd eventually get around to paying off, and a small red envelope.

I cringed as I cracked the wax seal. The howler jumped to life.

"RÜDIGER VON STRAUSSBURG," the voice of my manager, Sean Pierce, shouted, "IF YOU DO NOT GET YOUR SORRY ASS TO THE MEETING BY ELEVEN O'CLOCK, I WILL DO EVERYTHING IN MY POWER TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE OUT OF A JOB BY THE END OF THE WEEK."

After a little spiel on the importance of being timely and whatnot, the howler proceeded to shred itself up. I glanced at Sam who was giving me what could only be called a judgmental look. I reached into a box next to his cage and handed him an owl treat.

I went to my kitchen to quickly fix up some toast and tea before changing and sprinting out the front door and to Magick Studios. I held my umbrella high above my head so as to not poke others' eyes out. I'm sure the muggles thought I was just another business person running incredibly late for a meeting as I dodged in and out of pedestrians along the sidewalk, my scarf flying behind me.

I turned down an alleyway, quickly checking to make sure no one was following me, before hurrying to a high wall at the end of the alley. I pulled out my wand and, after carefully surveying and locating the brick I needed, I poked the tip in the small hole near the top right corner of the brick. I stepped back when the brick wall cracked down the middle and separated as if it were a door, revealing Shaw Square, a wizarding business and shopping district. I went through, weaving in and out of the clumps of wizards and witches.

For a moment, I stopped in front of my favourite store, 1776, looking through the window at a new robe with matching gloves. I was about to go inside when I glanced at my watch and saw that I only had five minutes. I made a mental note to stop in after the meeting. I took off at a sprint again, almost tripping over a small dog as I reached the front door of the studios. I wrenched it open, flew past the secretary who shot me a disapproving look while yelling at me to wipe off my boots, and jumped up the stairs two at a time.

"You're three minutes late," Sean said, looking up from his watch as soon as I reached the fourth floor.

"Sorry, at least I made it," I heaved. He held out a cup of coffee for me, and I took it. I followed him to the small conference room that was decorated with posters and magazine clippings of Sean's latest success story: Lara, Toni and myself with our hit radio show and accompanying booklet, Chasing History.

Lara and Toni looked up at us when Sean made a show of ushering me into the room. Toni smirked and pointed to the empty chair next to her.

"Hello," I whispered as Sean collected and organised the papers he had in front of himself.

"Hey," Toni Townsend said cheerfully.

Sean cleared his throat, and I turned my full attention to him as I looked up over the rim of the coffee cup.

"Before we start, I would like to congratulate you three on the success of the last show. We had a record high number of listeners, and the Egypt booklets are still flying off the stands."

"Yay," Lara cheered, beginning to clap. When no one else joined in, she slowed to a stop. I snorted.

"Now, we have two important matters I would like to discuss. First, Rue will finish working on the Quidditch report in a month so we can put you guys on air as soon as you return, if she can make the deadline," Sean gave me a pointed look. "Second, I've made all the travel arrangements for England. You'll be leaving us next Thursday and return in two months. The readers want to know about Stonehenge and Tudor England, and we're gonna give it to them."

"Cool," Toni said, leaning back in her chair with her arms folded over he chest.

"Wait," I said, setting my coffee cup down. "We Brits did invent the sport, you know, so why don't we do the show with a team there or something?"

Sean regarded me curiously.

"We're going to be in England for two months, anyway. Why can't I just finish the research and the report for the Quidditch one there?"

Sean raised an eyebrow before slowly nodding, "And we could do a spread in the book about it."

He clapped his hands together suddenly, "I will handle this! You will be taking a crash course in Quidditch, and I will find a team who'll participate."

I exchanged looks with Toni and Lara, "Er, Sean, you do know that I played Quidditch in school. I don't need a 'crash course' or anything."

He waved me off, "Nonsense. It'll make for a good story and even better pictures, and then Lara and Toni can get in on the action too."

I rolled my eyes.

"Secondly, you're scheduled for interviews today and a photo shoot for Wizards. I don't want you acting like a bunch of giggly girls, and I want you to watch what you say," Sean's gaze flicked towards me. I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, sir," we all chimed.

We stared blankly at him, waiting for further instruction.

"Well, go" he gestured to the door. We clambered out of our seats and squeezed through the door.

I made faces at my reflection in the mirror as a stylist messed with my hair. Toni was watching and laughing next to me.

"So," she leaned closer to her own mirror, inspecting her dark skin. "I saw you 'n' Clancy were datin' again."

"We aren't."

"Figured. Goin' to get back with your beau when we're in England?"

I looked at her reflection in the mirror, raising my eyebrows.

"The one who gave you that ring."

I glanced down at the silver band, "Oh, er, well," I trailed off.

She smiled warmly, "I think you should."

I bit my lower lip and lost myself in thought. I didn't talk much about Oliver, at least not to Toni and Lara. Clancy had brought it up once, after we had broken up for the first time. He thought that I was having second thoughts because I was incapable of loving any other man except the one I had left behind. At the time, two years ago, I had denied it, but Clancy constantly pointed out how I didn't so much as look twice at any blokes I passed. I suppose that was true, but I had come to realise that American men just weren't my type. Things couldn't even work properly with Clancy; we'd only broken up and gotten back together four times before we finally gave up, deciding friendship was a better route.

I swirled the ring around my finger, now knowing full well that his accusation, that I could only wholly love Oliver, was true.

I huffed when the stylist gave a final flick of her wand and gently tapped my shoulder. "You're done."

"Thanks," I muttered, sliding out of the chair and going to stand by Toni and Lara in front of a white sheet.

"I hate this," I grumbled through a smile as we all posed.

Lara laughed, "Just make Sean happy, and we'll be off to your house in jolly ol' England in no time."

"Who said anything about my house? I'm not letting you lot anywhere near it."

Toni laughed.

The next afternoon, we were sitting inside a small restaurant. I was poking at the salad in front of me, waiting for our lunch entrées to be served.

"Oh, no," Toni groaned as she sunk in her seat, looking towards the door. I turned to see Sean swiftly approaching our table.

He pulled up a chair from an unoccupied table and sat it at the end of our booth.

"Ladies, I have excellent news."

We looked at him expectantly. The waitress cleared our plates with the wave of her wand, eying Sean curiously. "Would you like anything, sir?"

"No, thanks."

She nodded and turned to her other table.

"So, what's the news?" Lara asked.

"Oh, right, so, I've got your crash course set up. You'll have a week working with one of the great British Quidditch teams."

Toni raised her eyebrows, "Well, which one?"

"Yeah," Lara continued, "The only one here who knows anything about British Quidditch is Rue."

I nodded. The waitress returned, placing our dishes in front of us.

"Well, I was getting to that," he said. "Anyway, if you'd let me finish-"

"Out with it, then," I snapped, twirling linguini around my fork and bringing it to my mouth.

"You'll be working with Puddlemere United between Stonehenge and the Tudors."

My jaw dropped, and the fork fell to my plate.

And there you have it. Hope you enjoyed and would do me the honor of reviewing, as they really do make the world go 'round. Jo Rowling owns the Harry Potter series, and that you don't recognize from the original series belongs to me. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in a review and I will do my best to get back to you. Oh, and for anyone interested, I'm watching Tron, the original one from the 80s, and it's pretty awesome. Yours.