Whilst the children waited for a reply, they set to work finalising their plan to smuggle Chirrup out of the castle. It was easy enough to take Chirrup outside in the mornings as the classroom was on the ground floor and the door to the grounds was rather close. However, the entrance to the passageway was on the other side of the castle on the third floor and they would no doubt have to navigate the corridors just after curfew, which was when all the prefects and the caretaker were out on patrol. The children had originally planned to arrange the meeting early in the morning but with some calculations, realised that they wouldn't have enough time to return to Hogwarts and not be late for class. Grudgingly, they had all agreed that they would have to creep about the castle with the prefects patrolling.
'We can use Sullivan as a look out,' Erris suggested as he sat at one of the library desks with his magpie shredding a peanut shell on the table in front of him.
'He can do that?' Rosewaine asked dubiously.
'It was one of the first things I trained him to do. Helped me avoid my family around the house,' Erris explained with a rueful tone. 'He can fly ahead of us and look around corners. He will click his beak if it is all clear and squark if we need to hide.'
As Erris explained his plan, Wren became a little more confident that it was all feasible; however, one element of the plan still gave her anxiety. Even if they managed to smuggle Chirrup out of the castle, they would end up in a locked shop and they couldn't use magic to help them.
'Have you thought of a way to get us out of the shop, Rory? Remember, as soon as we leave school grounds, we can't use magic or they will know we are out.' She reminded everyone.
'Ay, i think i've got it cover'd.' Rory flashed Wren a confident grin. 'We wizards rely so heavily on magic, especially with security tha' simple, muggle techniques are of'en overlook'd. Lucky for you's, i'm rather skill'd at lock pickin',' Rory announced as he laced his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair.
'Sometimes I worry that I am friends with a future crime lord with the skills you choose to hone.' Erris said feigning concern.
'I prefer more of a vigilante future for me self but many o' th' same skills come in handy.' Rory grinned cheekily.
All three of Rory's friends shook their heads in disbelief then returned to ironing out the fine details of their plan.
It took two days to receive a reply confirming the pick up day and time but by then the children had run over the plan so many times that they could resight it in their sleep.
The 10th of january quickly arrived and Wren found herself in Chirrup's classroom for the last time, helping the very large cub into his purple jumper.
'I know you want to stay with me but we both need to be brave about this.' Wren reasoned with Chirrup as he purposefully made it hard for her to pop his many legs through the jumper sleeves. 'If I knew I could give you the life that you deserve I would keep you with me but these people can. You will have lots of space to run about whenever you want. You won't be shut in a cupboard and you will never be cold again. They will even give you whole cows at a time to eat.' Chirrup listened to Wren describe his new life with some interested but then sighed and rested his large head on her knee and looked up at her with his lamp like eyes. He didn't need to make a sound, she new exactly what he was thinking. That life sounded wonderful but he wanted her there enjoying it all with him.
'If I am allowed, I will visit you and I will definitely be writing for updates but sometimes people are only supposed to walk by your side for a section of your life and then go their own ways, no matter how meaningful they were in that moment. I have loved you and will always love you but now our journeys are at a crossroads and you are about to meet new people to keep you company on that path.' Wren explained but as she spoke she could feel emotion welling within her and tears fighting to escape. She fought them back, willing herself to be strong for Chirrup but it was evident that he could see through her forced composure because he nuzzled his forehead against her cheek then allowed her to finish putting his jumper on.
As the lights were dimmed in the castle corridors and the other students began to head to bed, Rory, Erris, Wren and Rosewaine opened the classroom door and peered out into the deserted corridor beyond. Sullivan flew along its length then perched on a suit of armour and clicked his beak signalling to the children that it was safe to come out.
The children emerged from the classroom with the Wampus cub in toe and began to traverse the various hallways of the castle. They had managed to reach the second floor before Sullivan gave a squark. Erris and Rory dragged a bewildered Chirrup behind a tapestry and the girls stood behind suits of armour and waited with baited breath. A few moments later a Griffindor prefect girl walked past, eying the magpie curiously as Sullivan seemed to be pretending to be startled by her, giving him an excuse to 'Caw' a few more times.
Once the prefect had passed, the children emerged from their hiding place and continued on their way. They clambered up staircases and took short cuts through passageways hidden by tapestries, routes they had learnt over their time at Hogwarts. Every now and then, one of the sleeping portraits would awake as they paced and their blurry painted eyes would widen at the sight of the big cat trotting along the hall.
The children were only a few hallways away from the passageway when something small and low to the ground rounded the corner. Wren was the first to spot it and she froze as the others walked on a little further. Sullivan had only been trained to look out for humans so the cat had gone completely under his radar.
'Pssst,' Wren called to her friends. They all turned sharply, suddenly on edge. 'Mrs Norris,' she nodded towards the towsled feline that was trotting down the hall.
Suddenly the small creature stopped as it became aware of the children. Then its reflective eyes grew wide in the candle light as its gaze locked onto Chirrup. In a moment Mrs Norris matted fur had stood up on end, doubling her size as if she had just been electrocuted, then she gave a loud, fearful hiss before turning on her heels and darted back the way she had come, and out of sight. Wren, Erris, Rory and Rosewiane looked it terror at each other for a moment for they all new where mrs Norris was going. Where ever that cat was, Mr Filch wasn't far behind.
A second later Rory broke the silence by whispering, 'Leg it,' as he began to dash down the corridor followed closely by the others, desperately trying to reach the passageway before they were caught. The children were running so fast with their target in mind that they didn't even notice that they had passed Peeves, who was unscrewing the bolts out of class room chairs for unsuspecting students to sit on in the morning. Seeing the group of children followed by a large predator fly past the door, the poltergeist began to follow, yelling out 'STUDENTS OUT OF BED! STUDENTS OUT OF BED! CHASED BY A FEROCIOUS BEAST! MONSTER LOOSE IN THE CASTLE!' his voice boomed around the corridors as he cackled joyously.
As the children sprinted faster, Rory cursed the poltergeist under his breath. As they rounded the corner, the hunchback statue came into view and they dashed towards it. As Rory reached the statue of the one eyed witch, he climbed up onto its podium and whispered 'Dessendium,' into its ear as he tapped the stone with his wand. On this command the statue's hump opened up to reveal a narrow set of stairs that led down into darkness.
Rory and Erris began to pick the cub up and lift him up towards the statue entrance when they heard a set of shuffling, running footsteps. The unmistakable sound of Mr Filch's approach. Chirrup twittered in protest as he looked down into the dark abyss, afraid to venture down the stairs. Seeing the cub's reticence to move as the boys heaved him up onto the statue, Rosewaine planted her hands on his fluffy haunches and shoved. Chirrup had no choice but to descend the stairs. Once Chirrup was out of the way, Erris helped Wren and Rosewaine to climb the statue and descend into the passageway. As the echoing footsteps grew louder, Erris jumped down into the darkness with the girls. As the old caretaker rounded the corner, Rory pulled the hump down into its usual position behind him, sealing the group into the pitch dark passageway.
Filch rounded the corner, puffing for air as his long, lank strands of hair swayed like wet kelp from his scalp. His eyes scanned the deserted corridor only to find a magpie perched on the one eyed witches head. He grumbled to himself, cursing Peeves and scolding Mrs Norris for making up stories as he opened a window and shooed the magpie out into the night.
The children stood on the steps in silence for a few moments as they listened to Filch limp past before Erris took a small lantern from his cloak and illuminated the candle within with his wand.
'Last magic of the night guys. Remember, from this point on we cannot use our wands for any reason, ok?' Erris reminded everyone sternly. Everyone nodded their heads silently in the candlelight then turned and began to descend the steep stone steps into the earth.
The steps continued for a very long time and as Wren descended them she dreaded the thought of having to climb them once more at the end of the night. Finally the children reached the bottom of the stairs to find themselves in a passageway hune from the stone of the mountain that Hogwarts stood upon.
Chirrup had been rather reluctant to move this entire time but now seeing the dark, creepy corridor ahead of him, he backed up as close to Wren as he could then sat on her feet with the evident intention not to move another inch.
Wren sighed and stroked the cubs head then in a soft, coaxing voice explained, 'We are all here, and the rest of us aren't afraid. You are the biggest predator down here Chirrup. You have nothing to fear.'
The Wampus cub twittered stubbornly for a moment then sighed and returned to his six legs and began to pad along the passageway once more, practising some rather unconvincing growling noises.
The passageway seemed to stretch on for miles and there were points when Wren wondered if it was simply never ending. The children stumbled and tripped over the uneven flooring in silence until, after about an hour of walking, they found themselves faced with a dead end.
'Are you kidding me?!' Rosewaine exclaimed, scowling at the rock wall in front of her.
'Look up,' Rory whispered into Rosewaines ear, trying to hide his amusement with the girl's frustration. As Rosewaine did as she was told, she was able to see the slatted boards of a floor above her. She reached up and pushed on the wood, trying to move it aside but nothing happened. As she turned to Rory once more he rolled his eyes then placed his hands on the wood himself and gave it a hard shove. The floorboards swung open on their hinges to reveal themselves as a trap door, allowing the children to clamber out into a cellar filled with boxes of pink and turquoise packaging.
'Honeydukes!' Wren exclaimed, recognising the iconic sweet store colours. 'We are inside honeydukes!' her excitement was clear in her voice.
'No time to stock up on your tuck box now.' Erris warned as he looked at his watch. 'We have fifteen minutes to get to our rondevu point and we still need to get out of the shop.'
With that prompt, Rory took out a small leather pouch filled with oddly shaked metal implements then climbed the stairs into the brightly decorated sweet shop. Though the sweets were hidden in darkness as Wren emerged into the shop, the unmistakable scent of sugar and blended fruits filled her nostrils and made her mouth water. She had wanted to visit this famous sweet shop for years, she had never imagined that her first visit would entail her breaking out of it.
Wren, Erris and Rosewaine watched as Rory bent down at the shop door lock and began to twiddle the metal instruments in the lock. It looked as if he was rather randomly prodding the lock mechanisms but the concentration on the boy's face indicated otherwise. After about a minute of poking and twisting and changing tools the glorious sound of a latch clicking reached the children's ears and Rory turned to them with a wide grin. 'Hogsmeade awaits,' He announced with a flourish as he turned the handle of the door and opened it to the cool night air.
The children had arranged to meet the sanctuary owner behind the three broomsticks pub. It was late enough now that the streets of Hogsmeade were deserted and the punters that had flowed in and out of the old pub had all headed home or up to their lodgings. The only lights that remained on around the village where the lanterns that lit the doorways of each residence and establishment, casting a warm glow onto the snowy ground below.
The children stayed close to the buildings, hiding in the shadows as they moved in the snow towards the three broomsticks. Once they had skirted the building to reach its barrel strewn courtyard, they began to relax a little. They had made it to the meeting point in time and without being caught.
Chirrup busied himself sniffing around the various barrels and crates as the children waited, glancing skyword and towards the alleyways for any sign of someone approaching. After about three minutes of standing in the cold, Rosewaine pointed up to an odd shape in the sky. As Wren looked up to follow her friend's finger she realised that four broomsticks attached to a large platform were approaching them. As it grew closer and closer the children backed up to give the riders some landing room. They watched as four men touched down in synchronicity as the platform with a large travelling cage landed upon the ground.
Once the men had dismounted, they began to walk towards the children with large grins on their faces. There were two older men aged around 40 to 50 in long leather trench coats. One had a grey ponytail whilst the other had a large scar across his face. The other two men consisted of a rather tall and lanky black man in his thirties who wore a rather jazzy patchwork robe and a sandy blonde floppy haired man that looked as though he had only graduated from Hogwarts a few years ago. It was this man in his dragon leather jacket and ripped jeans that stepped forward to greet the children with a rather surprised look on his handsome, roguish face.
'I am assuming that it is one of you who is W.L. Novelle?' The man asked with a little uncertainty as he looked at the group of eleven year olds wrapped up in their warm school cloaks and house scarves.
'Yes, i am the one you have been corresponding with,' Wren stepped forward and tried to speak in a formal, business-like tone.
The man looked down at the little girl and stifled a smirk at her forced demeanour but decided to play along with the professional tone. 'Wonderful to finally meet you, Baxter Timberly at your service,' He stuck out his hand and Wren took it and shook as firmly as she could.
'I won't lie, I am rather surprised that children, especially ones as young as you, have been raising a Wampus cub for all this time, and in a school no less. May we see the cub in question.' Baxter asked with a little concern in his voice.
Wren eyed him for a moment, ascertaining whether he and his associates could be trusted but seeing all the mens open, unguarded stances and broad friendly smiles, she decided that there was no threat here. 'Chirrup,' she called, beaconing the cub to her side. Chirrup peaked his head out from behind a barrel he had sought refuge behind.
'Be a brave boy,' Wren coaxed. Chirrup padded slowly into the open and came to Wren's side wearily, never taking his yellow eyes off of the strangers.
'He's looking really good.' exclaimed the man in the patchwork robes as he scanned the cub's body looking at his condition.
'This is Jamal Howly, Crescent Lock's resident animal health specialist.' Baxter introduced the man who gave Wren a wink. 'This is my father, Jimmy Timberly, mostly retired now but wanted to come along for this pick up, he loves Wampus cats,' Baxter pointed to the man with the pony tale who waved at the children with an excited grin 'and this is our dangerous animal specialist, Mikey McGrint.' he gestured to the man with the large scar on his face. 'He's just here as a precaution. We didn't know how your cub would react to us. He is very good at calming animals down without using force.' Baxter explained.
'Chirrup is a good boy. He understands what is happening.' Wren reassured the men.
'That is wonderful to hear.' Baxter nodded as he knelt down to the ground and extended a hand of friendship to Chirrup. Chirrup backed away a little until Wren nudged him forward and encouraged him, 'don't be shy Chirrup, Baxter might turn out to be your new best friend.'
Chirrup met Wren's eyes for a long moment then stepped forward and sniffed Baxtors hand and let him scratch behind his ear.
'You really have done an amazing job with him.' Baxter praised as he marvelled at how friendly and well nourished the cub looked.
'We did our best. We weaned him from milk to meat quite early on and took him outside in the mornings for exercise and spent the evenings playing with him.' Wren explained, proud that a professional was impressed with how they had raised the cub.
'And the jumper?' Baxter asked with a puzzled expression, looking at the purple jumper that the wampus cub wore.
'He's from Peru. he started to shiver as the weather got colder.' Wren explained.
Baxter stifled a chuckle as he looked down at the cub. 'I think he had you for a mug with that one. Peru gets rather cold at times and Wampus cats of that region are quite happy in the snow covered mountains. This one was just being a wimp.'
Chirrup replied with a torrent of chirps and twitters protesting the accusation as Wren blushed, a little embarrassed then couldn't help but join in with her friends giggles.
'Right, I'm afraid that we will have to start getting him in the transport box and start heading out if we want to do the journey whilst it is still dark and out of the sight of muggles.' Baxter said with a sympathetic expression to Wren. 'I will give you some time to say your goodbyes.'
'Thankyou.' Wren said as she felt tears begin to well in corners of her eyes. 'Will I be able to visit him or have updates about how he is getting on in his new home.'
Baxter ducked down to her level and squeezed her arm comfortingly. 'I can write every two weeks if you would like and if you or your friends want to work with animals when you grow up we have a work experience program for ages 14 and up.'
Wren nodded and then turned to Chirrup, 'I will see you in three years, ok. It's a long time, I know but maybe, one day I will work at Crescent Lock and then we can be together.' she gushed as she pulled the cub into a hug then stood and allowed Rory, Rosewaine and Erris to say their goodbyes. Once they had stroked and hugged him and shed a few tears, Wren led the cub to the box on the platform and helped him up into it. She gave him one last kiss on the forehead and whispered, 'Your life has just begun. I have done my part. You are going to be safe and happy and that is all I could ever wish for you, my friend.' Chirrup gave her one last head butt and a sand paper lick on the cheek then allowed her to shut the box behind him. As she turned from the box, her tears could be contained no more and her cheeks became a wash of criss crossing tear tracks.
'You are doing the most loving thing for Chirrup you could possibly do,' Jimmy Timberly said softly to the little girl as she passed. 'I promise I will give him an amazing life. I'm retired now so I can play with him all day.' he grinned.
Wren gave him a meek smile back then replied with a few sniffs. 'That's the life of an animal rescuer, isn't it. You love them and then you let them go.'
'I'm afraid it is, and it takes someone with an extraordinary amount of love and strength to do the job. Tonight, you proved that you have what it takes, if you want that life.' Jimmy's tone was sincere.
Wren nodded without a word. She had always wanted to look after and rescue animals since she was little. She had looked after sick owls from her mothers breeding owlery and chicks she found in the garden who had fallen from their nests. She had spent hours observing the bowtruckle and jarveys that inhabited the words by her home. She had always admired wizards like Newt Scamander who dedicated their lives to protecting and researching animals but now, for the first time, she realised that she had already begun to live that life. It wasn't a dream any more, it was a reality and it was something that she could devote her life to just like these men.
'I will see you at work experience when I'm fourteen.' She said with determination. 'In the meantime, you should know that his bedtime is ten pm, he likes being tickled under the arms and is frightened of bright sudden flashes of light like lightning or certain spells. He will rip up any cushion you give him and will refuse to go to sleep unless you tuck him in.' She finished and realised that the older man was grinning wildly at her.
'I will endeavour to deliver the high standards that your cub has grown accustomed to. I can tell he is going to be the biggest dever at the sanctuary.' he chuckled.
The children said goodbye to the men as they mounted their brooms and began to ascend into the sky, steadily with Chirrup's box between them. Once they were growing rather small in the sky, Wren let herself sob into Rosewaine's shoulder as her friend held her close. All the children had adored Chirrup but they knew that Wren had always been more connected than the others. She had found him and fought for him to get everything he needed and now her mission was complete and she felt like her heart had flown away in that box.
Rory patted her on the back and muttered affirming words. 'He'll love his new home. You'll feel better in a few days.'
Erris simply stood and watched Wren bawl her eyes out. He wanted to fix it, to make her smile again but this was not something that could or needed to be fixed and he did not know how to comfort her so he simply stood there and watched and hated himself for it.
As Wren sobbed, images of the past few months flew by in her mind. Finding Chirrup, playing with him in the classroom, researching all about him, playing in the snow. It was all a swirl of memories she wanted to cling onto forever. Suddenly a few words that Hagrid had said bubbled up to the surface of her consciousness and demanded attention. 'Nothing but abandoned farm buildings so it was a little odd to see a new crate there.'
Wren froze, mid sob as her mind linked everything together. 'I know where they were.' she blurted out suddenly then, before anyone could ask or comprehend the sudden change in emotion, she had begun to race through the village towards the Hog's Head and beyond.