The cold, crisp January air heightened the delicacy of the full-moonlit evening as Hermione stepped through the door. She closed it behind her to trap the cosy warmth of the small shack that had been home for the past twelve years. Shivering a moment on the step, she pulled her scarf close to her throat and fastened the top button of her wax coat. She surveyed the fields of her smallholding. They were mostly dormant just now and swathed in floating skeins of mist which, as she crossed the yard, she displaced in swirls.

The harshness of the cold struck her bones. She ached. Maybe she was getting too old for this way of life, yet, she had done very little over the past couple of days. Not much, other than scan the seed catalogues for the coming season: not so physically taxing! She breathed in, relishing the cold air, as the two lurchers clamoured for attention. Hermione smiled as she tousled the long hair of each back, feeling the dampness imparted by the night. Luna and Molly were parents to the pups she was about to feed.

Before opening the barn which housed the babes, she peered through the darkness towards the pasture. A spectre hovered behind the gate.

"Puzzle!"