Á Íslandi - 28

Together the three wandsingers looked at Knud's spreadsheet and counted the ones not yet having wands.
"We never succeeded in finding a test to find out if the smaller ones are ready to have a wand or not," Rósa said.
"That's not necessary," My said. "You can't sing a wand for anybody not being able to use it.  My youngest son's oldest daughter - she's six, but a bit slow - she wanted a wand too, but the tree did not co-operate, or the magic did not work, I felt singularly uninspired and unable to sing."
"Like me and Rasmus' kitchen cabinet door," Susan laughed, and told My the story of Rasmus and his slab of mahogany wood.
"Yes exactly," My said, also laughing, "only in your case it was the wood, not the person. But it feels much the same from your telling."
"When will your children come down here?" Susan asked.
"They won't be able to make it before the summer holidays," My answered. "None of them were able to have their holidays coincide with the school holidays both now and in the summer holidays, so they choose summer holidays over the winter ones. It is the craze for the skiing mobs," My said with a resigned shrug.
"Could they maybe come here another week instead?" Susan asked, "I'd like to meet them, and get to know them. I know you have sung wands for them and taught them a bit. How is your Icelandic after all these years?" Susan asked with a smile. Languages was My's weakest spot.

Jan returned from the shed where Walther was confined, looking white, and still carrying the empty lunch tray, he had been down to collect. "I think Walther is dead!" he said, "He lies on the floor, his head in a strange angle. Come and help me."
"I'll come," Knud said,"and you Susan and Ella. There's no need for all of us going down there."
"You're right," My said, taking the tray from Jan's hands. "We stay here."
Ella, Susan and Knud followed Jan to the small shed. Jan had not bothered putting up the dome again, and the two guards, Heidi and Henning, Knud and Susan's oldest son, were at the door.
They looked in. Walther lay in an unnatural position. Susan went in and knelt at his side. She listened to his heart and then she extended her hands over his head. "He is dead," she confirmed. "His neck is most probably broken."
"Now we have to think. We have to call an ambulance."
Ella began crying, and  Heidi hugged her and held her close. "Come with me," she said, "You should not say here." Susan gave her thumbs up and Heidi led the crying Ella to the gazebo.

"As I said," Susan said, "we have to think. It is fine with us and some guests being here, Ella and Walther of course, and My and Heidi, Sandra and their family. But Hilde and Rasmus, they have to go home. No way we can explain them being able to visit Liisa at the hospital in Tromsø each morning while staying here. Frank and Freja too will have to leave. Let's meet in the Hall. Now!"
Knud closed the door and wiped off the key, then gave it to Susan and asked her to put it back on the nail outside the door. "It has hung here all the time if anybody asks," he said firmly.
Susan went to the gazebo to look after Ella. She found her and Heidi sitting at the table. Ella was quiet, but red-rimmed eyes told of her crying. Susan sat down next to her: "I'm sorry," she said, "I truly am. If it is of any consolation he died quickly. He broke his neck, I think falling down from trying to get to the small window under the roof. He did not suffer."
"Thank you," Ella said. "I know with my brains that he was an evil man, abusing me, but with my feelings I still mourn the man I loved for many years."
"As you should," Susan said. "We'll have to call an ambulance, and the police will probably arrive too. We'll have to plan. because no way we can tell the police how everybody came here. Your explanation is: You both came here by train, ticket bought in cash. For a school reunion. It is 50 years since the 4H school. Knud and I thought this over with Hilde some days ago. We were to arrange a Hogwarts-themed party, this explains the wands and old books and so on. We used the same ruse in Tromsø with Liisa."
Ella smiled a bleak smile, "I see, yes that might work. Are you going to need any help? I think I would feel better doing something rather than sitting here thinking. I can claim, which is mostly true that Walter and I were growing apart, that we have been living under the same roof rater than together for some time, and that's why I feel OK, now the first of the shock has left me."
"Let's get to the Hall," Susan said. "Knud and the others should have found everybody by now."
Everybody was assembled in the hall as Heidi, Susan and Ella sneaked in and sat down. Knud rose and magically augmented his voice: "Dear friends," he said. "Today something terrible has happened. Walther, who was in the smallest shed, tried to climb up and get out through a window, doing so he fell down and broke his neck." He paused while people gasped, sighed and fell quiet again. "I have of course called an ambulance, they are sure to either call or bring the police. And this brings us to the next problem. We cannot have everybody here. It would be hard to explain. Hardest of all you, Hilde, you would not be able to explain your being in Tromsø in the morning and here in the afternoon. Please leave quickly. I'll send you a magical letter when it's safe to return."
Hilde rose and called her family together. "Go and pack now. We take the portal and stay in my house until then, and then we return with Granddad!"
"Frank, you and Freja and your children also had better disappear, we can't find a reason for the children of a former class mate being here."
"Yes, a bit far fetched," Frank replied. "We're off. Do we get a letter ad well."
"Of course" Knud answered.
"Anyone else?" Knud asked. "Olav and Monica, do you want to leave now?"
"Yes," Olav said, "If we do not cause trouble by leaving. We are done packing."
"Then please do, we'll stay in touch." Knud said. "Hurry! I hear the ambulance now."
They left and Knud continued: "Listen. We're here for the 50 years reunion of the inter-Nordic 4H for bookworms at the Danish Enggård. We were to have a Hogwarts-themed party, this explains the wands and old books and other magical items. Walther ate lunch with us and none but Susan noticed him leaving, as we were busy talking and planning the party. He was in the shed to find a BBQ Susan tells me. Jan went to look for him, as Ella wondered why he took so long. And that's all we need to know. Finnbogi will you please disguise the portal room as soon as everybody has left?"
"Will do!" Finnbogi said.
Knud cancelled the language spell and went to the door together with Susan and Ella. The ambulance arrived and Knud led them to the shed. A police car stopped next to the ambulance.
"I am Svend Poulsen," the oldest of the police officers said. "Are any of you Susan Thorsen?"
"I am," Susan said.
"Would you please lend us a room where we can sit and then please explain what happened?"
 "Yes," Susan said. "Come along." She led them into a small room off the entrance hall and the officer sat down and bade them do the same. "Now please tell," he said.
"We had been eating lunch, and then we sat talking," Susan began.
"Who are 'we'?" the officer asked.
"We are quite many," Susan said. "We were - hopefully still are - going to have a 50 years class reunion tomorrow. Many have already arrived. It was an inter-Nordic school. Let me think," Susan paused, closed her eyes, then carried on: "Of course Ella and Walter, living in Germany. Then Finnbogi Yngvason and  Rósa Sigurdsdottir from Iceland. My Birkeland, Marit and Jan Espedal, they married since school, all from Norway. From Denmark: Fiona Sørensen, Tanja, Svend and Ida, I can't remember their last names, and their mother. And then Martine, our old teacher, and me and Knud, who live here. I hope I have not forgotten anybody. And a bunch of our children and grandchildren."
The officer wrote furiously on his notepad. "And what happened?"
"One more thing you need to know," Susan said. "We were preparing a Hogwarts themed party, so you'll find wands, potions, books and so on here and there." She drew a steadying breath. "And now to Walther, After lunch, he asked me if we had a barbecue, I told him that yes we had, but that it was not warm enough for BBQ, and that it would probably be too small anyway, but he insisted. 'It's not a party without a BBQ', he said." Susan paused again and the officer nodded knowingly, "Yes, I know the type," he said. "Please continue."
"I gave in and told him that he could find it in the smallest shed, down by the meadow, and he left to find it. We sat and talked for a long time, planning, getting ideas and shooting them down. Then Ella wondered where Walther was, I told of the BBQ and Jan went to look for him, and found him in the shed. We, not all of us, and not the children of course, went and looked. I have taken a first aid course recently, and I tried to find out if he was still alive. I searched for his pulse, I could not find any ... then things get a bit blurred. We ran around a bit, Knud called an ambulance, and told everybody to stay away from the shed, as Walther had had an accident down there. Me and Tanja consoled Ella." Susan ended, "What now?"
"Now you all better stay in the house while the doctor does his job." Then he looked at Ella, "And you're Ella, wife of the deceased Walther,"
"Ja, das bin ich," Ella answered, and the officer looked at her. "Do you speak Danish?"
"Not good," Ella said.
"I just want to know your name and address," the officer said. "I'll speak slow and clear."
Ella nodded and answered slowly too, and the officer wrote the answers on his notepad.
The police officer asked Ella about when and how they had arrived, if she had noticed anything strange, and some more rather innocent questions. Then he bade them leave and send Jan to him.
Susan saw the doctor from the ambulance arriving and went over to him with Ella.
"My condolences," he said. "Walther has died. He broke his neck, as you suspected. I have to inform the officers."
"They are in there," Susan said and pointed at the door. "They are speaking to a man now, but I suspect it will not be long."

... to be continued

Á Íslandi 27

This week's words/prompts are:

Jagged
Corroded
Withdraw
Effective
Inked
Acres
     and/or:
Destruction
Inadequate
Ladder
Intrigued
Tangled
Swore

I only used Effective for this part.

Ella, who had been looking up some recipes for Hilde came and joined them. Rósa and Finnbogi also drifted over, and Monica and Olav excused themselves and went packing. They were going to leave soon after dinner tonight. 
"Now that Ella is here, I can pose my question. What about Walther aka David," Finnbogi asked. "What is happening to him. And how on Earth did he get his magic back in the first place?"
"I'm afraid you have more questions than we have answers," Susan said. "He's imprisoned or what to call it in the smallest shed. It is protected by a magic dome - a one way dome, only two ways. Much easier to put up and maintain, and simultaneously keeping everybody out. Furthermore we're guarding the house, always two people on guard, sitting where they each can see two sides of the house. We do not know how to proceed from here." Susan shook her head in despair.
"As to how he got his magic, or some of it back," Martine took over: "My guess is that Liisa has cast spells on him, given him magic objects for handling with the purpose of restoring his magic. Much like you and Rósa in that respect. Only it did not work very well. He could cast the language spell on Susan in Shiltach, but it was clumsily done and was very tiring for him. Susan's luck, then he did not protest overmuch against her suggestions, and never got to make her drink from the water in Granny's cottage."
"And you're sure your dome is effective?" Ella asked.
Finnbogi chimed in: "That was what I was going to ask next. I would hate to run into him in the meadow. I would be sorely tempted to do something, I would later regret."
"Do you hate him that much?" Rósa asked.
"After that first broomracing he never missed an opportunity to bother me," Finnbogi said silently. "He made me trip over the doorsteps, he overturned my potions and teacups, he conjured water over my writings, all those Cantrippes for everyday use can make life hard for your fellow magicians. He tied my shoelaces together, he made my broom greasy, and so on, and so on. Never anything big, never anything I could complain about, but a steady, never ceasing rain of small mishaps, accidents and so on. I could feel it was him, smell his magical signature on all the things."
"Maybe he was so relentless because you could tell it was him?" Susan said. "He tried to do the same to me, but I found him out quite soon, and I asked Jon help me. He was busted by a button he accidentally lost behind the water stoup. I think Jon told him to lay it off, Nothing more came off it, and he did not bother me often after this."
"Yes," Finnbogi said. "I must admit that is my weakness, I always hope that if I do not say or do anything it will pass. It seldom does."
"I think he tried his tricks on most of us," Hilde said. "As my parents were magicians, I did not bear the brunt of it, and I promised him a solid thumping if he kept on harassing Terje, he was an easy victim. But your parents were also magicians, like all Icelanders? true?"
"I think Selma's parents were not magicians," Rósa said, "but Grani fancied her already then. They did marry and died, on their honeymoon even. David was no match for him."
"You were the leader of The Opposition," Fiona said. "You beat him. And so did we of The Yellow Team. I think he never forgave us for not letting him win as he meant was his due."
"Most of The opposition and The Yellow Team died early on," Knud said after consulting his notebook. "Did you survive anything dangerous in the 7 first years after leaving Unicorn Farm?"
"Yes, actually I did," Finnbogi said. "a hotel I stayed in, caught fire, I only got out because I was woken up by some crazy birds having a party outside my window. I jumped out, and was in hospital with smoke poisoning and a seriously sprained ankle for weeks after. Most of the other hotel guest died in the fire. And some time later my boat sunk, it suddenly took in water, and the motor died. I only survived because I stuck something in the hole, and the currents brought me near a big ship. Later yet a rope bridge broke, I was able to hang on, but took a bashing against the cliffs. I thought then, 'bad things come in threes', because it ended then, almost seven years to the date." He drew a deep breath. "Was that David's doing? And what about you, Hilde? Did he also try to kill you?"
 Hilde looked at him, only now realizing the danger she had been in: "I was a bitter young woman after the Unicorn Farm ceased to exist. I did not know why. I hung out with a wild gang, Accidents happened often for us, Drunk driving, excessive drinking, daredevilish stunts. I always wrote my brushes with an early and unpleasant death up to this, but now it seems I have to re-think that part of my past."
But it was not David being responsible for it, at least not alone. He lost his magic, same as us," Finnbogi said. "You say Tristan's sister was the main culprit. Maybe David pointed us out, and then she,Tristan and Torben tried to bump us off."
"Teresa might have been able to partially restore the use of magic for at least Torben and Tristan," Martine said. "It seems that the Mondrian and the forgetting spell did not work one hundred percent on us older ones. Thora and I remembered after a decade or more, as did Sandra. But there was no way for us to restore the magic. Not without involving magicians from other countries, and we could not find them without our magic. It was a vicious circle."
 "And you did not think of me?" Ella asked.
"We did not, and as Walther was David in disguise, it was a blessing in disguise, that we did not," Martine said.
"I did not meet him until later," Ella said. "But of course I would have told on you, if he had asked. I trusted him. It is so strange to find out that a person, you thought you knew, in fact is somebody, something else."
Rasmus placed his arm around  Ella's shoulders: "I know," he said. "I might not have been married to Liisa for quite as long as you and Walther, but the feeling is the same!"

Rósa rose: "Susan and My, we're talking too much. We are supposed to be wandsinging, aren't we?"
"So we are!" Susan said and rose too.
   ... to be continued

Positive tanker -- Positive Thoughts

I dag er det koldt, klart og solskinsvejr. Uglemor prøver at finde optimismen frem med gode nyheder fra hendes lille verden. Ingen Fredagsfrustrationer i dag. Verden er dum nok uden!

To day the sun is shining, the weather is crisp and clear. MotherOwl is trying to find the optimism by means of happy news from her little corner of the world. No Friday Frustrations today. The world is bad enough without it.

-- 🦉 --

På UgleTV har uglemor lagt sig på reden - nu venter vi på æggene.
In Owl-livestream Mother Owl is staying on the nest - hopefully an egg or three will soon follow.

Link

-- 🧶 --

Den strikkede og hæklede morgenfrue er færdig. Midten blev også hæklet. Det ligner da en morgenfrue!

---

The knit and crocheted marigold is finished. The middle was crocheted. It looks like a marigold to me!

     Så fik jeg en ny, sjov idé. Først lidt cirkelstrik-teori fra Statistrikk. Jeg har ikke strikket mig igennem alle cirklerne, og hvis noget er uklart, så kig lige på hendes imponerende side! Hvis det jeg skriver, ikke er uklart, så kik endelig alligevel, hun er skarp, klog og god til at fortælle.
     Morgenfruen strikkede jeg ved at vende for hver 4. maske. Det gav mig et hul i midten, en pænt rund yderkant og 28 kiler. Den afsluttende pind i kilerne er strikket skiftevis med orange og gult, derfor ser det ud som om der kune er 14 kiler, men der er altså 28.
     Hvis man strikker en vendestriks-cirkel og vender for hver eneste maske, får man 7 kiler, intet hul i midten og et kantet ydre. Noget i stil med det her:

---

  Then off to the next idea. A bit of knitted circles theory from Statistrikk first. I did not knit the circles, so please look at her blog for more. It's a pleasure to look at. 
  The Marigold was made by turning for every 4 stitches, which gives me a hole in the middle and a nice, round outer rim. It consists of 28 wedges - I have alternated between an orange and a yellow finishing row to the wedges, that way it looks like only 14, but there are 28!
  If you make short rows circle turning for every stitch, a circle will consist of only 7 wedges, it will have almost no centre hole, but an edgy exterior. It looks roughly like this:

     Hvis man vender for hver 2. maske, får man 14 kiler, et lille hul i midten og en noget rundere ydre kant. Hvis man vender for hver 3. maske, får man 21 kiler, et lidt større hul og en endnu rundere kant. Kan du se et mønster her? Statistrikk kunne, og det kan jeg også.
     Men hvad nu hvis man blander, altså vender efter et forskelligt antal masker i kilerne. Hvad sker der så? Det måtte prøves. Jeg slog 17 masker op, vendte for hvert eneste maske i den første kile, og strikkede så to hvor jeg vendte for hver anden maske. Ville de mon passe sammen? Lad os se.

---

If you turn for every 2 stitches, you'll have 14 wedges, a small hole in the middle and a more round outer edge. If you turn for every 3 stitches, you'll have 21 wedges, a slightly larger hole and and even rounder outer rim... Do you see a pattern here? Statistrikk sure did and so do I.
  Now I wonder, what if you alternate the number of stitches between turning around? What will happen? I tried casting on 17 stitches, turning for every stitch in the first wedge, and then with 2 stitches in the next 2 wedges. Will they fit? Look at this.

Men 7 kiler ... hmm det går jo ikke bare med hveranden kile delt i to. Det ville ende sådan her - og jeg undskylder for mine skæve streger, det er ikke let at tegne på computer. Numrene fortæller hvor mange masker for hver vending.
---
But with 7 wedges, alternating won't do. It would end up looking like this - sorry for my terrible drawing skills on a PC - The numbers tell how many stitches between each turning over.

Gad vide, om man bare kan blande, så længe det går op i sidste ende? Der må flere forsøg til. Det her er, hvad der skal testes nu.

---

But can you mix and match, as long as the result is a fitting number of wedges? Time will tell. This is my idea.

Jeg er nået så langt, og da jeg samtidig tester forskellige måder at tage den lilla tråd med frem, bliver det helt sikkert trævlet op, når jeg kan se, om det virker eller ej.
---
This is how far I have made it until now, and as I'm also testing ways of bringing the purple thread to the next finishing row, it will be frogged, and hopefully re-knit, when I find a way that works.

Á Íslandi -- 26

This week's words/prompts are:

Jagged
Corroded
Withdraw
Effective
Inked
Acres
     and/or:
Destruction
Inadequate
Ladder
Intrigued
Tangled
Swore

I only used Jagged for this part. I think it's a weak part, but we need to know the things being discussed here. All suggestions for improvement are welcome.
First a repeat of the closing lines from yesterday's instalment.

During lunch Martine, Susan, Marit, Fiona and Knud brought My up to date with the happenings at Birch Manor and in the world.
As they reached the conclusion, today's broomriding lessons, Fiona said: "I think Roseanne will cause us problems in the long run. She does not really respect me, she feels somehow superior, and keeps claiming that her mum has told her what lousy witches and wizards we all are."
"Does she listen to Marit and Martine better than you?" Susan asked.
"Now you ask, yes she does. Oh!" She said her eyes growing big and round. "Do you think Liisa has imprinted her with a dose of only witches from wizarding families are good witches, and all that?"
"I'm afraid, yes," Susan said. "It's our luck that she is so young still. She just says what she thinks, or repeats what she has heard more likely, and with no deviousness! We'll just have to show her we're as good as her and maybe just a little better."
"Well," Fiona said laughing, "As long as you and Knud do not try and prove this by flying, I'm fine with it."
"You're hopeless," Susan said casting a mock spell in her direction. "I don't know why I ever sang you a wand!"
"Let me handle her," My said. "She does not know me, and in a few days, I'll take over potions from Monica, and then..."
"Yes," Martine said, "That'll teach her. Just don't be too harsh on her, she's young yet."

Monica and Olav came over to them with a cup of tea.
"May we sit here?" Monica asked.
"Talking of the sun," My said, "Please do. I just spoke of taking over potions from you. What have you covered as yet."
"Nothing much, Monica said. "They are young, or untrained or both. I spoke a bit of magic properties of plants, of the failure of  the Doctrine of signatures, and then I showed them how to brew a simple sleeping potion. I'm so happy you have arrived. As I told yesterday, me and Olav are perfectly satisfied with our lives in the Wine and party shop. We are total homebodies. Of course we'll come down for Easter fires, first day of school and so on, but we have decided to stay in Oslo."
Olaf added: "We will be spying for you. I told Susan that we have some of Martine's brain teasers lying around for waiting customers and impatient children. We have already a teeny tiny list of possible witches and wizards."
"Good thinking!" Knud said. "When will you leave? Not that I want to get rid of you, but we're having problems housing everybody. And I suspect more will be arriving tomorrow."
"No offence taken," Monica said. "This weekend are big days in our shop, so we would like to leave tonight after dinner."
"Let's make it somewhat festive," Knud said. "Most will have arrived and well, I need a celebration."
"Then I'll need some more kitchen slaves," Hilde said from just behind Susan's head, making her almost jump out of the chair.
"Sheesh, you scared me, My nerves are still a bit jagged, I think. What news from the North?"
"Nothing new, really. No changes, but she's getting weaker," Hilde said. "They did not say so, but I don't think she will survive if we do not take action, magical action that is."
"Should we?" Susan asked "Or  would it be wrong to not do anything? We even do not know what to do, and I would imagine the doctors being adverse to us appearing in the ward, casting spells and waving wands."
"I tried feeling her today," Rasmus said, "That's easy to do as it includes no overt use of magic. It feels to me as if she is captured inside her brain. In a place even I could not get to. I do not think there is anything we can do."
"I think the decision will have to be yours, Rasmus," Knud said. "She is your wife, you know her best."
"I think," Rasmus said very slowly "I think that she knew, deep inside, that we had seen through her ruses, that she was so to say at the end of the rope. She took a desperate way out. And I suspect that potions and wand-waving would be of no avail. She is in a prison of her own making. I'd say leave her alone. We can almost certainly do nothing for her, and we could damage the budding magic by acting in ways that would make somebody suspect foul play, be it magic or murder."
"Yes," Hilde answered almost as slowly. "I'm not a red one like you, but I also felt her life-flame flickering today. You told me I'm a good midwife because babies want to come to me. She did the opposite, hid even further when I reached out for her. She has made up her mind not to return, I'm afraid. What will we tell the children?"
"I've been asking that myself," Rasmus said. "Maybe the truth, or most of it is the best. She did use magic, way beyond her powers, teleporting far away without training to get home, because that is the truth, she tried to get home. She overstretched herself, and is now dying as a consequence. I'm afraid it will be hard on Roseanne, she was close to her mama, Mary is more daddy's girl." 

... to be continued

IWSG First Wednesday Question and Á Íslandi - 25

IWSG March 2 question - Have you ever been conflicted about writing a story or adding a scene to a story? How did you decide to write it or not?

This happens to me quite often. In the writing of my long long story of The Magic in the Nordic Countries, I have written and ditched many scenes. Most recently a scene, which I wrote for the Á Íslandi chapter. I decided not to include it, but now you get to know about it  anyway. It is deleted, so I can't post it.
After Ella has found out that her husband, Walther, is really David, our old enemy, and Rasmus have come to terms with his wife Liisa being a bad egg and probably going to remain as alive as a vegetable ever after, those two fall in love. They do so even though Ella is old enough to be Rasmus' mother. (/Sorry this sounds so much like Soap 😆).
I wrote it, rewrote it and ditched it. It was terrible! I would like to have included it to tie up some loose ends, but I just could not do it. I'm no good at romance ...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Let's instead have the next part of that chapter ... actually I'm not so sure about this one either. It might turn into a dead end and be re-written later.


This is also a part of Words for Wednesday. Prompts by River, more about the challenge at Elephant's Child.

This week's words/prompts are:

Jagged
Corroded
Withdraw
Effective
Inked
Acres
     and/or:
Destruction
Inadequate
Ladder
Intrigued
Tangled
Swore

I only used Tangled, and I feel it's kind of jutting out.

Susan went out into the meadow to look how the flying lessons were coming on. She had no intentions of flying herself, but every intention of knowing a bit more of what passed. She came out to a frustrated Fiona and Marit.
"We have too many people wanting to fly and not enough active brooms. Martine is taking the smallest one riding double on her broom, and they have fun. But we have a job keeping the smaller ones in a line for the trips, while teaching the larger ones how to hold and mount a broom, all this exacerbated by a lack of live brooms. More than half are having dry runs with brooms not able to fly, they tend to forget in their eagerness and topple when the brooms do not support their weight."
"It was a bit stupid doing broom riding today, maybe,"  Susan said, "but today the sun is out in force for the first time in a long while. I foresee the same problems this afternoon with wands. I'll help you entertaining the impatient hordes, while you teach. Then I know to call in more for this afternoon. I sure hope My does arrive today!"

While Susan stood calling small animals, sparrow and mice and made them sit on brave apprentices' hands and fly from hand to hand to entertain the impatient ones waiting in the lines, she kept half an eye on the teleportation enclosure. 
A part of the meadow had been fenced in, with a fence made from wooden boards and reinforced with chicken wire in the bottom parts, so that it also was an effective barrier against chickens, rabbits, cats, dogs and other creatures. This was the teleport area, and everybody was told to keep out of it. The latch was sat high on the gate, so that small, inquisitive fingers could not reach it, and Susan and Knud had cast protective spells on both fence, gate and latch to ensure that any child getting magical ideas ideas would be thwarted as well.
Just before the lunch break she saw the tell-tale blinking, and left the waiting lines and Marit and Fiona to fend for themselves and hurried down there. She was happy to see that it was indeed My arriving by teleporting!
"Welcome, My!" Susan said. "You have been practising hard since we parted, I see."
My smiled and closed the gate behind her. "Yes I have, and I always loved teleporting. I have practised each and every day since."
"Come inside and have a cup of tea, we have work for you in a short while. A lot of people need wands. The brooms are waiting for you to brew up a potion, Marit is only waiting for you to take over the potions to go home, in short, you're not going to sit idle here."
"Wow, what a stormy welcome," My said smiling, shaking her red hair from which a few errant strands had tangled themselves in some low hanging branches. "Tea you said, sounds great."
"Lunch actually." Susan said. "Come with me while I help Martine, Marit and Fiona manage the small teeming horde. I left them, as I hoped it was you."
My tagged along and she and Susan came just in time to help Fiona and Marit herd all the small children into, and out of the broomshed and placing the brooms in their holders.

During lunch Martine, Susan, Marit, Fiona and Knud brought My up to date with the happenings at Birch Manor and in the world.
As they reached the conclusion, today's broomriding lessons, Fiona said: "I think Roseanne will cause us problems in the long run. She does not really respect me, she feels somehow superior, and keeps claiming that her mum has told her what lousy witches and wizards we all are."
"Does she listen to Marit and Martine better than you?" Susan asked.
"Now you ask, yes she does. Oh!" She said her eyes growing big and round. "Do you think Liisa has imprinted her with a dose of only witches from wizarding families are good witches, and all that?"
"I'm afraid, yes," Susan said. "It's our luck that she is so young still. She just says what she thinks, or repeats what she has heard more likely, and with no deviousness! We'll just have to show her we're as good as her and maybe just a little better."

... to be continued

- - - - - - - - -  -

To expand on my doubts: Do I need Roseanne perpetuating David and Liisa's errors? Or do I just want to make her miss her mummy? Roseanne and Mary won't just plod on, forgetting their mother, even if she was a bad one. But how, what, and why?