Who: Sarah Fawcett, Stephen Fawcett (NPC) What: A walk in the woods yields strange discoveries... When: Tuesday, January 25th, 1998 Where: The fields and woods outside Ottery St. Catchpole Rating: Low, for the moment
Sarah shrugged and pulled the collar of her cloak a little bit more closely against her shoulders. She was beginning to question the wisdom of taking a walk on such a crisp January afternoon, but for the most part she was glad she'd gone out. It had been too long since she'd gotten the chance to come home and just relax a bit, see her parents, and get away from the stresses of her residency. The last off day she'd had, she'd ended up going to the Minister's speech, which had been far from relaxing. So far, today had been much better. She'd stopped in to help her Mum out at the shop in the late morning, and they'd popped home for a tasty lunch after that. When Marjorie had gone back to take care of the afternoon rush, Sarah'd opted to take a walk in the gently rolling hillsides around their farm. She used to love to take long walks all over the countryside as a child, and it had been ages since she'd had the chance.
Determined to stay out a bit longer, despite the chill, she kept up her steady pace over the open fields, skirting a small copse of trees on the right. Breathing the cold air in, she held it in her lungs before expelling a puff of crystalline breath. As she crested the next hill, she watched a small flight of rooks take wing, scattering from the grey limbs of a bare tree with a resounding cawing racket. When her eyes returned to the horizon, the sight that she was greeted with nearly caused her to stumble and fall down the hillside.
She gaped for a full minute at the scene before her, her brain almost unwilling to believe what she was seeing, before pulling out her wand and Apparating back to her family's farmhouse. Racing inside she flung a handful of Floo powder in the kitchen hearth, called out the address for the Auror department at the Ministry, and stuck her head into the grate. When the desk duty Auror came into view, she kept her voice as calm as possible. "Stephen Fawcett please, if he's in." Please let him be in, she thought, wishing with all her might. "Please tell him his sister needs to speak with him."