The clock struck twice, and the afternoon sunlight streamed through the stained-glass windows of the Headmaster's Office, casting an image of Fawkes onto Albus Dumbledore's desk.
The air smelled of Sherbet Lemons and parchment, but Dumbledore was frowning.
A pile of Muggle books lay open before him.
"Introduction to Educational Psychology," "On the Stimulation of Learning Motivation," and "Analysis of Adolescent Post-Exam Behavior Patterns."
The great wizard was laboriously studying Muggle educational theories with his keen blue eyes.
"Fawkes," he sighed to the phoenix preening his tail feathers by the window, "the monthly exams are over, but something is wrong with the children's state of mind."
"Some of them have nothing to do, while others are anxious about the future."
Fawkes gave a clear cry, as though comforting him.
Dumbledore shook his head. He needed a more concrete solution.
He reached for the little silver bell on his desk and gently shook it twice.
The bell rang through the office, yet seemed to make no sound at all. A little later, someone knocked on the oak door.
"Come in."
Douglas Holmes pushed open the door, a hint of resignation on his face.
"Professor, you wanted to see me?" Douglas complained. "You promised me you wouldn't ring that bell without good reason."
This bell was a magical creation Dumbledore had developed based on the Muggle principle of resonance-the Mother-and-Child Summoning Bell. There were nine bells in the set. He held the mother bell, and by shaking it a different number of times and in different rhythms, he could make the corresponding child bell among the other eight ring in the same way.
Although the system seemed both crude and insufficiently private compared with the Roaring Communicator produced by the Sirius Company, Dumbledore simply loved magical creations with this sort of old-fashioned