Katrin stared at the vibrant purple cow magnet stuck to her fridge. Although it was not so much the magnet which drew her gaze as the note beneath it:

Ok, he wants me to come home, but does not want to tell me to do it because he does not want to worry me, so he is trying to be casual, she thought. She wondered if he realised that every time he tried to be casual he was either guilty of something or hiding something. He probably has no clue. Typical. If she was not so concerned about the fact that he obviously wanted her to go Underground, and soon, she would have been slightly irritated at his insinuation about Bill. She sighed and looked at the note again. What in the world is going on back Home that he's having me come back early? The Faire season will be over in a couple of weeks, so I would have headed back then anyway. If I go Home now, I might not make back it to Faire on the weekend. I hate breaking contract. Maybe I can just come back Aboveground for it. Bill goes back to England next Monday. And I was hoping we could do lunch again or something. Oh, pox on't. Always complicated...

She reached out and plucked the note and magnet off the fridge. At her touch, they turned into a crystal sphere. She tossed it in the air once, then put it on top of a pile of apples in a bowl on the counter. She wanted have a cup of tea before she got into things with her father. After putting the kettle on to boil and pulling out her recipe box from a drawer, she wandered to the other side of the counter and turned on her laptop so she could type up the recipe for her mother.

Bill sat in front of one of computers in the quiet library. He was relieved to get one in a corner, that way he did not have to feel embarrassed as he read the instructions in the little pamphlet. After he asked the librarian for instructions, the five year old standing behind him in the queue loudly announced to the entire place that he was, indeed, not knowledgeable in the ways of the Internet. That was more than enough attention already. He had since decided that this Internet thing was quite useful, although he did not find any information about Hogwarts or even You-Know-Who when he searched for them using that yahoo place. I wonder where the nearest place back home is that I can go on the Internet. He grinned. I doubt Mum would appreciate me bringing up more Muggle contraptions, though Dad would surely enjoy the distraction. The reminder that there were things out there that one needed to be distracted from chased the smile away from Bill's face. He sighed. There really is no sense in worrying about it now, mate. You are on vacation and should use the time to relax rather than try to solve problems that are unsolvable from here. And speaking of distractions... He pulled out the packet of sugar Katrin had written on and set it next to the keyboard, and then proceeded to register for his very own email address.

"Message for you, sir!" announced Katrin's laptop. She had just added milk to her tea and was about to reach for the crystal when her program announced the arrival of a new email. She stared at the computer across the counter for a moment. Could it be... nah, not this soon, surely. And I should wait to check it in any case until I've spoken to Dad. Find out what the deal is. Yes, that sounds like a good idea. With that conviction in mind, she walked back around to the other side of the counter and clicked on the little envelope in the corner of her screen.

Indiana Weasley? Katrin giggled. And it sounds as though he's never experienced the Internet before. Weird. She moved her mouse over the reply button before remembering that she was going to call Home. She figured she might as well wait until afterwards to reply, so she would know what was going on and where she'd be this coming week. Besides, if Gertrude was the librarian staring at him, which was likely since she always closed during the week, then he didn't stand a chance if he tried to wait for her reply. She went back to the fruit bowl and picked up the crystal.

Bill returned to the little spot he had scouted earlier as a campsite and barely contained his yell of surprise. Perched on a log was a spotted owl. It was looking at him rather impatiently, as though it had been sitting there for ages and was put out with him for making it wait up this long.

He put his things down next to the log and squatted in front of it. The owl was not one he recognized, but it held out its leg politely so he could untie the note attached to it. Scanning down to see who signed it, he saw that it was from Charlie and dated this morning. "How did you make it all the way out here??" he asked the owl in surprise, though he did not really expect a reply. Bill scratched it on the head. "You're not waiting for a reply, are you?" It hooted softly and fluffed its feathers. "I'll take that to mean 'just read the letter, already'," he told it as he sat on the log next to it to read the note, still pondering how the owl made it across the ocean in less than a day.