Since the Two-Way Mirrors originally used for communication had broken, the interns had been trying to make a new communication device—extendable cords and earmuffs, inspired by Muggle headphones. The difference was that both ends of the cord had earmuffs, with no plugs.
The one who had come up with the idea was Penelope Colinwater, Ravenclaw's female prefect. Only then did Pomona remember that Penelope had been among those Petrified alongside Hermione Granger. It was also because Penelope and Hermione had held mirrors to look at each other's backs that Pomona had thought of using Two-Way Mirrors to do the same while she and Severus were on patrol.
When Pomona arrived at the tent, the interns were locked in a "decisive battle" with a tangled ball of cords. They had made several pairs at once. Things had been fine during testing, but once they casually set them aside and later grabbed them carelessly, the cords became tangled.
"Why not just make them wireless?" Lucinda said in despair. She no longer wanted to deal with those balls of cords.
"No, I think they should stay wired. Even if we get lost, we can follow the cord back out of the maze," Gabriel Truman said.
"And then we have to untangle cords every day like this?" Lucinda said impatiently.
"You could try wool that never tangles. They sell it in Diagon Alley," Pomona reminded them. "Also, when you need multiple people to speak at once, how will you ensure that the parties communicating can hear each other without being interrupted by everyone else?"
Lucinda had nothing to say to that, so Pomona addressed them all. "For the next week, starting tomorrow, I won't have time to come here. Is there anything else you want to ask me?"
No one spoke. Jones took the