I Did It

Dumbledore descended the stairs at an unhurried pace.

He was in a good mood today. There had been a small mishap in last night's experiment, but the result was promising.

The consciousness of Gavin's toad could be moved. That meant the theory itself was sound; all they had to do now was proceed step by step.

He left the Headmaster's Office and made his way down the Spiral Staircase. At a bend in the corridor, he stopped to look out the window.

The sunlight was lovely today. It made the leaves of the trees in the courtyard shine, while a few birds hopped from branch to branch.

He was thinking he might ask for a cup of hot honey tea in the kitchen, then send Gavin a note asking him to come by in the afternoon. That would leave him the morning to relax a little longer—

Then he received a message Gavin had sent through Justin, asking him to hurry to St. Mungo's.

The boy came rushing up, saying something about "Cordelia's in danger," "a House-elf came looking for me," and "Gavin went to St. Mungo's without even eating." He nearly ran into Dumbledore.

"Cordelia's in danger?"

Dumbledore thought it over and calculated how much time remained.

He knew about Cordelia's condition, but there should still have been a month left. That was plenty of time to run more experiments and find a final solution.

Besides, as her temporary guardian, he would be notified by St. Mungo's if anything happened to her.

"It seems our Mr. Gu really is still a child. It isn't even July yet." Dumbledore merely shook his head at the message. "Well, I suppose it's understandable that he'd want to show off a breakthrough."

Despite his words, he was worried something unexpected might have happened.