Gwen asked around about wizard photography, but no one seemed to know the answer. That is until she asked Professor Smith. He smiled at her kindly. “I don’t know, but my friend Andrew would. He never leaves home without his camera. I’ll see if I can get in touch with him.” He turned, scratched a quick note on his desk and turned back to her.
“Now, are you ready to teach?”
She laughed. She’d been teaching for two days now, since she’d recovered from her bout of depression. She was pleased to see that Draco was (oddly enough) on his best behavior. The Ouranian Barbaric project was forging right ahead (they had added 20 new words in the two weeks Gwen had been holed up in her room) and things in general seemed to carry on where they had left off.
After classes Gwen sat, idling in her office, trying not to look at the picture of Graves whose eyes were now closed and the image hadn’t moved again. He looked eerie, laid out on the cobblestone sidewalk of the Alley, captured in black and white newsprint, still and cold.
She took out her rune bag and reached inside. The very first rune she touched felt electric. She pulled it out and laid it on her desk. It was Gyfu, the rune for union. The next she pulled was Tyr, the rune of strength and regulation. The next rune was Sowelo or Sigel, the rune of the sun.
She figured it was about Harry. Gwen had never been wrong when divining something before. This would be the first. Of course, she wouldn’t realize that until she was so deluded with fantasies about what could be that she would have to shake herself out of the dream she had built up in her head.
Gyfu stood for an old bond, and a reunion of that bond. Tyr stood for strength and stubborness; if she’d been thinking clearly she would have remembered that Graves often adorned himself with this rune especially during outdoor activity. Sowelo stood for something that had been shrouded in darkness to come to light.
It would take her awhile to realize this. In the meantime she was so deeply within her daydreams that she didn’t hear the knock on her door. Anthony swept in and handed her some sparkly powder. “Come on.” He nodded.
She followed him reluctantly. “Where are we going?”
“My office. It has a fireplace.”
She looked at him curiously. He answered immediately. “Andrew. He’s just going to pop his head in and give you a quick answer.”
She nodded. Anthony stoked the fire with his wand and waited, looking at his pocket watch. “He said half-past four.” At that, he bade Gwen toss in the pile of shining sand. She did and was only a little surprised when a handsome head appeared sticking out of the flames.
“Hey Tony!” Andrew said.
“Drew, this is Gwen; Gwen, Drew.”
“Nice to meet you.” She said. She wanted to shake his hand, but couldn’t, as only his head appeared to be in the fireplace.
“So, you have a photography question?” The head asked. The flames licking at it painted strange undulating shadows that made it difficult to concentrate on what he was saying.
“Yes.” She said after a moment.
An half an hour later and Gwen was sitting in her room, thunderstruck. It couldn’t be possible. She didn’t dare hope. And yet, if what Andrew said was true…