Dumbledore smiled as he gently stroked Fawkes's head, saying helplessly, "Fawkes has been complaining to me again, saying you wanted to steal his tail feathers."
"No, those few feathers were about to fall out."
Dumbledore went over to sit at his desk and tapped its surface a few times with his wand. Several plates of assorted snacks appeared out of thin air. "Please, take a seat, sir and lady. Try these new snacks from Honeydukes."
"Thank you."
"How was your trip?"
Edward sighed and gave an answer that mixed truth with lies:
"It was exciting, but dangerous too. If not for the Time-Turner you gave me last time, I might have been in serious trouble. Unfortunately, the Time-Turner was destroyed during use."
Dumbledore paused in the middle of unwrapping a sweet. "Oh dear, that's going to be troublesome. The Ministry of Magic is bound to make an issue of it again." After a pause, he said, as though seeing through Edward's thoughts, "If you want to borrow another one, you'll have to wait a little longer."
"All right." Hmm, perhaps I should try sneaking in and getting one myself?
"And you, Miss Hall?"
Audrey smiled with her lips pressed together. "It was very nice."
"That's good."
He popped a green sweet into his mouth, his brow creasing noticeably as he muttered, "Oh, a celery-flavored sweet. What a novel flavor. Hopefully it'll give me some... hmm, vitamins? That's the word, isn't it?"
"So, Edward, how long do you plan to stay this time? Is there anything I can help you with?"
"I should be staying for thirty-three days this time. I'd like to learn wandless and nonverbal magic, especially wandless magic. I also haven't mastered the Fire Dragon Spell or the Lightning Charm."
"Wandless magic."
Dumbledore thought for a moment before