Making a snow sculpture atop the Astronomy Tower, the highest point in the entire Castle, was no easy task—without magic, that was.
The Ravenclaw upper years had artistic talent that frankly scared Andrew. The younger students hauled blocks of snow up with magic, and beneath the upper years' wands, the blocks rapidly piled up, took shape, and changed color. They worked so fast it looked less like they were building something out of snow and more like they were digging something buried out of a snowdrift.
In less than an hour, an enormous raven stood at the Castle's highest point, its head turned to look down. Its left claw gripped the tower's spire, while its right claw rested below. Its wings had been deliberately dyed black and enchanted somehow; in the sunlight, they gave the illusion of a black that shimmered with every color.
"Perfect!"
After a few upper years voiced their admiration, they hurried Andrew and the others back inside in secret. (Obviously, if Filch caught them, they would be sent outside to clear snow...) A few students then slipped away with the brooms to return them.
Everyone else was immediately told they could go about their own business. It was almost absurdly casual.
Andrew was getting used to it, though. After privately grumbling that hardly anyone would see their work, he left the Common Room and headed back to the Empty Classroom belowground to work on his manuscript.
What had happened today had given him a new idea, and it helped.
++++
[Wizards were magic's darlings, while fairies embodied its rules.]
[Dumbledore looked at those words, still unable to understand the meaning of this gift from Gryffindor.]
[Ever since returning from the era when Hogwarts was founded, he had continued studying the book—but there were no records he