Jimmy Timberly carried Wren up the ladder and into the snowy farm yard whilst the other men began to take stock of the animals down in the basement.
'I think the sanctuary will be pretty full after we take on all these poor souls,' Jimmy said in a contemplative tone to Erris who had not left Wren's side. Rosewaine and Rory had stayed with the other men to work on releasing the wampus cub from its cage.
As Jimmy approached the four abandoned broomsticks with Chirrup's box, Wren could hear the frantic chirps and twitters of the creature as he paced. The old man set Wren down gently in the snow then approached the box and began to undo the latches on the door.
'It's all right, little man. You're gonna want to come out and meet who we have just found.' Jimmy explained in a soothing but excited tone.
Wren watched from her snowy seat, trying to ignore the cold that was seeping through her cloak as the box door was opened and Chirrup wearily stepped out. As soon as he saw Wren and Erris he raced over and began to nuzzle them, butting his head against their bodies.
'Oh Chirrup, it's not us you're going to meet, though it's great to see you again,' Erris giggled as he tried to fend the large beast off, warding him away from his sick friend. Chirrup looked a little puzzled, then his rounded ears pricked up as his gaze turned in the direction of the barn. Wren struggled to raise herself to see but as she propped herself up on her elbows she witnessed the mother wampus cat and cub emerge from the barn and lock eyes on Chirrup. Within moments they were racing towards each other, twittering excitedly. Chirrup was so excited that he launched himself at his mother, knocking her to the ground and they ended up nuzzling and licking one another in the snow.
As Rosewaine and Rory emerged from the barn they couldn't help but laugh with joy as they watched the three large cats frolicking about in the snow, chasing and head butting each other all whilst emitting a torrent of chirps so loud and frequent that, had wren closed her eyes, she would have believed she was listening to the dawn chorus, which as the sun was attempting to peak over the horizon, would be starting up soon.
Rosewaine knelt down and propped Wren up with her own torso to watch the cat's frivolities then whispered to her quietly, 'He won't be alone now. He's found his family. You brought him everything he could ever need.'
Wren's heart swelled at her friend's words as she watched the cub play with his family and for the first time she felt at ease with the situation. She could let him go. As she looked to the lightning sky she sighed in a quiet voice, 'It's time we should go.'
As Erris helped Wren onto his back, Chirrup stopped playing for a moment and trotted over to the children. Wren let her hand find his soft fur and stroked his neck. 'Its ok Chirrup. Go, be with your family. I'm sure this isn't our last goodbye.' And with that, Chirrup twittered one last time, his yellow eyes full of thanks and then turned on the spot and scampered back to his family, his large fluffy tail flying behind him.
'Are you going to be alright getting back to school?' Baxter asked as he strode over.
'Between the three of us we can get Wren back just fine. Might not make it in time for class though,' Erris said a little ruefully.
'You'd better get going then.' Baxter grinned, then his face turned serious and sincere, 'Thank You all for what you did tonight. You have saved a lot of animals and stopped some really bad people.'
'Blame tha' on Wren, we were just followin' her.' Rory gave Wren a mischievous smirk. Too weak to muster a reply she simply stuck her tongue out at him playfully.
Baxter turned to her as he spoke, 'well, farewell for now. Look out for my letter in a few weeks, i will tell you how Chirrup and his family are settling in and i hope to see you in a few years at Crescent Lock. You'd make a great magi-zoologist.' he smiled kindly at her as her eyes lit up.
The children bid the men farewell and began their long journey back to school. The two boys took turns in giving Wren piggy backs, enlisting Rosewaine's help when they lowered her down into the passage below the Honeydukes cellar. By the time the children had reached the staircase back up to the one eyed witch they were all exhausted. Wren felt really bad for making her friends carry her but every time she had attempted to walk, her knees had buckled under her as soon as she put weight on them.
Once the children were back in the hallway, they split up. Wren had begged them to take her back to her dormitory, however, Erris had rather assertively told her that she was heading to the hospital wing. His tone had stopped the conversation dead. He didn't like how weak and pale Wren was looking and knew that she needed more care than they could give her. He told Rosewaine and Rory to head back to their common rooms whilst he took Wren to Madam Pomfrey.
As he carried her, his legs now burning under her prolonged weight, his mind raced trying to come up with a plausible scenario for Wren's loss of control. Finally he settled on a story involving her posting a letter in the owlery and someone having jumped out and scared her. As he didn't know all that much about her condition or how she was triggered he had had to rely solely on the memory of his own experiences. He recalled his first magical outburst from when he was four. His sisters had tied him to a chair in the attic and had been about to place a disgusting slug on his face when he lost control. The ropes had flown off of him and begun to attack his sisters like snakes and the circular attic window had smashed from the shock wave. He had got into so much trouble for that that he still remembered his step mother screaming at him.
Erris knocked on the hospital wing and waited for a rather blurry eyed Madam Pomfrey to appear. It was still only around six am so the castle was mostly still asleep or only just stirring. As soon as she saw Wren's pale form draped over the boy's back however, she became very alert.
'Bring her in. Bring her in and place her on that bed.' Madam Pomfrey ordered, pointing at a hospital bed in the corner of the room. Erris did as he was told then stood there as he was pushed aside and a partition was wheeled around the bed, hiding Wren from view. Within a few minutes Madam Pomfrey had appeared once more, pulling back the partition to reveal Wren, now changed into a hospital gown and tucked into bed.
'Well, her heart is stable but weak and she's still very lethargic but she will be just fine with a few days rest and rescue remedy.' She told him reassuringly then her eyes narrowed a little as she asked 'What happened?'
Erris told her the owlery scare lie which Madam Pomfrey bought without question. 'My goodness,' she exclaimed. 'This girl is like an over shaken bottle of ginger ale, one wrong move and pop!'
Erris was allowed to sit with Wren for a few minutes before class. It seemed that as soon as her head had hit the pillow, the girl had fallen into a deep sleep. As Erris sat, watching her peaceful face he noticed that her sleeve was scrunched up around her shoulder, revealing some rather nasty purple bruises forming. They marked out the unmistakable print of a hand. A burst of rage suddenly filled Erris' chest as he looked down at the brutal mark her ordeal had left on her. He had always known that the world was cruel and vicious but seeing the marks of it on his friend felt different. He had been powerless to protect her, though he had tried and for the first time he realised that, unlike in many of the books he had read, being a child did not protect anyone from the worst evils. Those men had been perfectly willing to kill them no matter how old they were. It was a hard lesson to swallow.
Before Erris left for class, he tugged Wren's sleeve down to hide the marks from view. He did not want the world to see them, infact, he wished he hadn't seen them himself. The sight of a bruise was commonplace on a child but the sight of those bruises and on her made him feel very complicated emotions that he could not yet identify.
By the following day the entire school was talking about the Hogsmeade fight ring bust. News had travelled quickly around the village and subsequently the Daily Profit had plastered the story across their front page. As Hogsmead was such a sleepy, peaceful village with little exciting news it was rather a shock to everyone that such a large scale illegal operation had taken place there.
During break that day, Wren's friends visited her in the hospital wing where she was still recovering with the article in hand.
'No' a single mention! No' one! Takin all th' glory for themselves when we were th' one's riskin our arses.' Rory fumed, his accent growing so strong that it took a moment for his friends to decode his grievances as he plonked himself down on the end of Wren's bed. Wren looked blankly up at Erris and Rosewaine for some clarification.
'The Daily Profit wrote an article about the fight ring and credited Crescent Lock with the discovery.' Erris explained in a passive tone.
'I see,' Wren replied, a little disappointed. It would have been nice to be recognised for their efforts but then as her mind raced through the ramifications of such a revelation she realised that Baxter had probably excluded them from the story for those reasons. 'It is for the best.' she finally said simply.
'Seriously?! You're taking Erris' side?' Rory asked in an exasperated tone.
Rosewaine finally interjected, rolling her eyes. 'Rory, I get it. It would be great for everyone to know what we did but it's not worth getting expelled for. Placing us at the scene would have put a lot of scrutiny on us. For heaven's sake, we smuggled ourselves out of the castle, let alone harboured a large, exotic animal on school grounds and broke curfew every night for months. Glory is not worth the hassle it comes with.' Rosewaine reasoned, dropping her voice to ensure that Madam Pomfrey could not eavesdrop.
Rory sighed, a little defeated as he accepted what his friends were saying. It was evident that he was still disgruntled but his friend's reasoning had made sense so he dropped the subject. Erris and Rosewaine joined him on the bed as Erris unfolded the newspaper and asked Wren, 'Would you like me to read you the article?'
Wren nodded vigorously then pulled herself up a little on the cushions, ready to listen.
' ANIMAL FIGHTS FOR BETS,' Erris Read the headline that was plastered across the front page with a picture of a snarling crup. 'As a prized wizarding community, Hogsmeade has always enjoyed a rather glowing reputation with its historic pub and shops that we all know and love, so when such a barbaric criminal activity was discovered by the owners of Crescent Lock Sanctuary, the community was shaken. The bloodsport ring was discovered in the early hours on the 11th of January on a farm just outside of Hogsmeade Village. Believed abandoned by the residents, it was an area that locals rarely ventured to.
On discovering this despicable business Baxtor and Jimmy Timberly along with Jamal Howly and Micheal McGrint, employees of the sanctuary, found themselves in a harrowing duel with the conspirators of operations who were later identified as Carlos Kleeton, Marvin Bristol, Gregory Nup and Peter Langhurst. All of the suspects caught at the scene will be sentenced early next month.
However, as investigations have looked deeper into this fight ring, it has come to light that all four men are employed by Hickleson's Relocation Services, a company that works closely with the ministry to manage the magical animals of the British isles. The company has recently released a statement explaining their shock and horror on finding out that a faction of their company had been using their respectable name as cover for not only stealing creatures that the company had sworn to protect but had been smuggling endangered and exhotic animals from other countries under the guise of conservation for their gruesome entertainment.
When one of our reporters visited the sanctuary, they were told that over fifty different creatures were discovered at the crime scene, ranging from the common garden gnome, to Jarvey's and their most astounding discovery, a Wampus cat and her two cubs. Baxter Timberly wishes to assure our readers that all these animals will now be either released into their appropriate habitats or cared for at their sanctuary and other sanctuaries that specialise in various creatures. Jimmy Timberly seemed rather excited to announce that the family of Wampus cats would be staying in Crescent Lock's care as the cubs have been raised in captivity and the mother will need medical treatment for the rest of her life due to injuries sustained in fights.
The Daily Profit would like to remind the Wizarding community that our magical creatures are a gift, something to treasure and protect and that attending blood sports are not only wrong but illegal and audience members can be prosecuted as harshly as the organisers. We believe that this paper can speak for everyone when we say we are simply glad that this abominable activity was uncovered when it was so that more animals do not suffer in the future.' When Erris finished reading, the room fell silent for a long moment before Wren spoke.
'The last pieces of the mystery are solved.' She said as she relaxed back on her pillow with a satisfied expression. 'I like it when things are wrapped up neatly. Hickleson's involvement was the one part that I could never quite wrap my head around.'
'I'm glad that we have brought you some peace.' Rosewaine smiled. 'Now you can stop problem solving and focus on getting better. The dorm feels weird without you and Freda keeps leaving her stuff strewn on your bed, I think she is eying it for herself. She's always liked your bed better.' Rosewaine warned.
'Oh my, well give permission to Eremial to peck her if she gets too comfortable. Madam Promfrey has told me I only have to stay here for another night and then I am free to go.' Wren smiled reassuringly at her friends as the bell rang for their next class to begin and they hurried out of the hospital wing leaving her to rest.
As Promised, Madam Pomfrey discharged Wren the next day and she was able to return to her dormitory. Freda seemed to have taken the hint that her possessions were not welcome as Wren's possessions were as neat as she had left them, without a foriegn object in sight when she arrived. She wasn't surprised as she could imagine that Rosewaine and Eremial working as a team would have been quite the fierce force to be reckoned with.
It felt good to be back in her own bed and as she tucked herself in and watched the other girls ready themselves for bed, she realised that she felt a little different within herself. There was a sense of ease and calm within her core that had never truly been there before. Her fear surrounding her outbursts and the power that she was constantly having to battle against seemed to be dormant in the present. And as she closed her eyes, resting her head on the pillow, she cast her mind back for the first time to the moment where she had willed her powers forth and let go. It had felt good, better than good. It had felt like freedom. Something she had never experienced with her other episodes which had been filled with struggle and pain. She lay there, as the candles were slowly blown out around her, leaving her in darkness, replaying that moment over and over until a thought settled into her mind that could not be ignored. Her episodes weren't going away as her parents had hoped. The wand had not been a cure. But maybe searching for cures wasn't the answer. She had saved her friends with the flaw that she had always tried to push away. Maybe it was time to stop fighting it, fighting herself and harness it instead. Though at that moment, she had no idea how to achieve such a feat, she felt for the first time in her life that she had a new direction, a new hope and that she could turn that which was wrong into something right.