8 Something New

Unbeknownst to Rose, from the moment she erected the wall in front of the Slytherin Common Room, she had been watched. Not by a person, but by the castle itself. Deep within the castle, a consciousness as old as the castle itself began to stir, causing the entire castle to shudder. This went unnoticed by nearly everyone, but there were a few who noticed…

The house-elves felt it first through their connection to the castle. Thursday morning, they all felt shivers run down their spines.

"What is it, Miss Atrien?" one of them asked the Head Elf.

"Something is being wrong," Atrien said. "Do not be worried; Atrien will be talking to Headmaster Dumbledore. He will be knowing what to do."

Atrien had a deep respect for the current headmaster. She had served under his predecessor, Headmaster Dippet, but she still preferred Dumbledore. He listened to everything Atrien had to say, and always treated the house-elves with respect. Atrien had come to trust that Professor Dumbledore would always have the answers. She hoped he still did.

In the Headmaster's Office, Albus Dumbledore felt something wrong with his castle. There were a lot of secrets known only to the Headmaster, and the subtle signs of the castle in duress was one of them. It was like a shiver ran up through the magical energies of the castle.

Albus saw the subtle shifting of the magical auras, and took it as a sign of things to come. He had felt something similar when Harry arrived. Things were never going to be the same.

A free period was a dangerous thing to give the Weasley Twins. Armed with their Super Secret Map, they were just preparing something for Filch when something unexpected happened.

"Fred, did you see that?" asked George, pointing to the map.

"What was it?" his twin asked.

"The map just blurred out for a moment. Like all the lines had gone wobbly."

"'Wobbly'?" asked Fred, raising an eyebrow.

"I really don't have a better word for it."

"It's never done that before."

"That's just what I was thinking."

Fred glanced down at the map.

"Seems fine now."

"Yeah," replied George. "I really hope it stays that way."

In his office, Quirinius Quirrell got a splitting headache as a voice began to rave in his head.

"Something is wrong!" it hissed.

"I… I do not know what you mean, My Lord."

"Silence, fool! I did not ask for your opinion!"

Quirinius knew what this meant. It meant no sleep for a few days, and a week-long headache.

Harry Potter put his hand to his forehead. For an instant there was a sharp pain just above his eyes. It was his scar. He had felt the same pain when he first saw Professor Snape. It was a sign; it had to be. Something bad was going to happen. Harry only wished he knew what.

Towards the front of Harry's Transfigurations Class, one girl wasn't just feeling the disturbance; she was hearing it.

"It has awoken."

"Hermione, did you say something?" whispered Rose.

"Shh!" Hermione said.

"It has awoken."

<Ref, was that you?>

"It has awoken."

Rose glanced around the room. She was in Transfigurations class, listening to Professor McGonagall explain the intricacies of changing a mouse into a snuffbox.

"It has awoken!" "It has awok--" "–awoken" "It has--" "–has awoke--" "–s aw--" "It has awoken!"

More voices were joining the first; more and more voices, and they grew louder and louder. It was starting to give her a headache. The noise wasn't like the dull roar of the Great Hall; it was like a concert, with thousands of excited fans screaming.

It was beginning to feel as if someone were driving an ax covered in barbs clean through her skull. Slowly. And the ax was on fire.

Hermione glanced over at Rose, who was slowly beginning to shake her head. Because Professor McGonagall required Rose to remove her goggles when in Transfigurations Class, Hermione could see that Rose's eyes were squeezed shut. Rose's lips were squeezed so tightly together they had turned white.

"Rose," she whispered. "Are you alright?"

Rose didn't reply, but instead pressed her hands to her ears. The sound was becoming unbearable. She couldn't hear anything else other than the constant wave of noise, which grew louder with every passing second. What could be making noise so loud it felt like her whole head was being ripped apart, but no one else could hear it? Rose couldn't so much as begin to count how many voices there were; they just kept shouting, almost like they were afraid of something. She assumed that it was the same phrase, but could no longer understand them.

"Rose?!" gasped Hermione, no longer whispering.

"Ms. Granger, would you like to add something?" Professor McGonagall asked. She turned to face the girls. When Professor McGonagall noticed Rose, a look of concern crossed her face. "Ms. Peta-Lorrum, what's the matter?"

Rose began to tremble. Her entire body was shaking. Tears began falling from her eyes, and she let out muffled sobs.

"Rose!" Hermione gasped. She didn't know what to do. What was happening?

Minerva didn't know what was happening either, but she knew what to do. She turned to a portrait of an elderly witch wearing a white gown.

"Fetch Poppy NOW!" Minerva ordered.

"Right away, Ma'am!" the portrait's subject replied, immediately disappearing from the canvas.

Rose wasn't even aware that anyone else was talking. She couldn't hear anything over the voices, even her own voice. Why did it hurt so much? It shouldn't have hurt this much. It was just noise! And she had damage reduction! Was this some sort of sonic-based attack? This didn't feel like damage. It felt like wrack, a spell that specifically caused pain.

Rose's own thoughts were cut off as the pain became unbearable. She couldn't concentrate, so she couldn't even use Serendipity to drop a silence on herself. Her own thoughts were completely blocked out by the noise, and Rose began to cry.

Unbeknownst to Rose, she wasn't actually crying. Unable to hear her voice to control it, she had instead started screaming.

The entire class clapped their hands over their ears in order to drown out the cries of their classmate.

Minerva McGonagall wasted no time. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at the suffering child.

"Quietus Maxima!"

The crimson-haired girl continued to scream, but no one could hear her. Minerva was going to see to it that this was sorted immediately, but in order to do that, she needed to be able to concentrate.

Minerva waved her wand at her desk, which immediately turned into a large, wood-brown horse. She hopped up onto the horse, and, with a wave of her wand, she gently levitated the screaming girl onto the horse.

"If anyone so much as thinks about causing trouble," she told her students, "each of you will lose five points and earn a detention!"

The best way to get Hufflepuffs to stay out of trouble: Group punishment. They took the loyalty thing of theirs to heart, so none of them would dare do something if they knew it would get their housemates in trouble.

Without the Slytherins there to goad them into doing something foolish, the Gryffindors were much less likely to get into trouble. Especially with the saintly Hufflepuffs there to convince the Gryffindors not to get into trouble.

The magical horse lept over the awestruck class. With a wave of her wand, Minerva transfigured the entrance of her classroom to make it large enough for her and the horse to pass.

Every few summers since she had started teaching, Minerva took a holiday out to the countryside, not far from where she had grown up. Whenever she did, she went horseback riding with some locals, even as she grew older. She had rarely had use for it, but it relaxed her, which was vital to the Head of Gryffindor House. She wasn't sure why, but everything interesting (pronounced "bad") always seemed to happen to the Gryffindors.

As she rode her magical desk-horse towards the Hospital Wing, Minerva considered asking Pomona to trade houses with her. This kind of thing just didn't happen to Hufflepuffs.

Poppy Pomfrey wasn't used to Matron Tressa's portrait making such a fuss. Matron Tressa was one of several past mediwitches with portraits in the classrooms. It was much faster than a patronus charm in case of an emergency, but it wasn't often that an emergency severe enough occurred.

It looked like today was going to be one of those days. Matron Tressa had informed Poppy in no uncertain terms that there was trouble in the Transfigurations Classroom, and Minerva never sent for help unless it was an emergency. Even if it was just another student transfiguring their finger, Poppy wanted to deal with it was quickly as possible. Poppy had immediately taken off towards Minerva's class, but she only made it part way before being intercepted by Minerva herself.

The Deputy Headmistress was riding a horse of all things,and accompanying her on that horse was Rose Peta-Lorrum, the little orphan girl they had taken in just over a month ago. The girl was clutching her head, her eyes squeezed shut, tears trickling down her face. Rose's mouth was open as if she were screaming, but no sound was coming out.

"I used a Quietening Charm on her," Minerva explained, seeing Poppy's confused expression. "She started screaming in the middle of class unprompted."

"Well, stop wasting time!" Poppy shouted. "Take her to the Hospital Wing immediately, and get her laying down. I'll be there shortly."

Minerva rode off, vanishing from sight when she rounded a corner.

Poppy took off in a full sprint, wanting to return to the Hospital Wing as quickly as possible. She arrived a few minutes later to find that Minerva had already laid the girl out on a bed, and was waving her wand over the poor girl. Poppy dashed over to the bed, and began firing off analysis charms.

Minerva took a step back away from the bed. It was commonly known among the staff that anyone who wanted to keep their limbs intact should not put them close to Poppy when she was like this.

"Cover your ears," Poppy instructed Minerva.

Minerva covered her ears as Poppy waved her wand over the girl.

"Finite Incantatum!"

The entire Hospital Wing was filled with the girl's wails. What could be causing this?

Poppy tuned out the girl's screams, and continued her barrage of charms. She was just finishing up when all of a sudden, the girl stopped.

Rose's hands slowly receded from her head, and she lay in the bed, panting.

"What happened?" asked Minerva.

"I'm not sure," Poppy said. "But now that she's stopped, you should return to your other students, Minerva. I can take care of her from here."

"I know you won't let me down, Poppy," Minerva said. Hopping back up on her desk-horse, she rode out of the Hospital Wing.

Poppy turned back to Rose, who was slowly opening her eyes.

"Where am I?" she asked, wiping away the tears from her face.

"You're in the Hospital Wing, Dear," replied Poppy in a soothing voice. "Do you know what happened?"

"I heard a lot of voices," Rose said, sitting up in her bed. "They were all shouting at me."

"But they aren't anymore?"

"No."

Random shouting voices usually meant a psychotic episode of some sort. Poppy would definitely be discussing this with Albus. If the girl had these fits randomly, then there was no telling what could happen if she were allowed to stay here. As concerned as Poppy was for the girl's health, she would rather not keep a potentially harmful student in Hogwarts. St. Mungo's would be able to handle the girl much better than Poppy could.

"What were you doing before they started shouting?"

"I don't remember," Rose said, rubbing her temples. "Nothing, I think. Professor McGonagall was saying something about turning a mouse into a snuffbox. Then all of a sudden I started hearing voices. They started shouting, and my head felt like it was on fire." She turned to look at Poppy, and gave a half smile. "Trust me, I know how that feels. But I couldn't think, I couldn't hear, I couldn't concentrate. Then I started crying, and I vaguely remember moving, and then the voices finally stopped."

"You weren't crying, Dear," Poppy said gently. "You were screaming."

"I was?" the girl asked, confused. "I'm sorry, I thought I was just crying."

"It's alright, Dear. You get some rest."

"What happened?" whispered Sally-Anne.

"I don't know," Hermione replied. "Rose just started shaking, then… well, that."

"I heard she's mental," one of the Gryffindor boys said. Hermione couldn't remember his name at that moment. Sean, or Shane, maybe? She was pretty sure his last name was Finnigan. "Probably just having a fit or something."

"Wasn't she the one that trapped the Slytherins last week?" asked one of the Hufflepuff boys. Justin something? Hermione began to wonder if Rose had the right idea to take notes.

"No, she didn't," Lavender chided. "Seamus is right; Crazy Crimson's just mental!"

That was his name! Seamus! Seamus Finnigan! Wait, what did Lavender just call Rose?

"She couldn't have done it," Ronald Weasley said. "I heard that someone actually put a wall in front of their entrance. No way she could do that!"

"How do you know?" Hermione asked, a little more offensively than she intended. "Are you an expert?"

Ronald turned to look at Hermione and had the nerve to look shocked.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You don't know anything about her. How do you know what she can and can't do?"

"She's just a first-year!" Ronald argued. "No first-year could do that!"

That was probably true, but now Hermione was annoyed. She didn't have many friends… Actually, Rose was really her only friend, so she certainly wasn't going to let her own housemates badmouth her!

"Just because you can't do something, Ronald, doesn't mean that no one can."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Ronald shouted.

"Oi!"

They turned to look at one of the Hufflepuffs, Maxwell Jones, she was pretty sure. She remembered because his name was simple.

"You lot heard what Professor McGonagall said. If one of us acts up, we all get in trouble."

That got Ronald to settle down for the moment.

"Harry?"

Harry looked around for the source of the voice. It was Hannah Abbot, one of the Hufflepuff girls.

"Are you alright? You've been rubbing your forehead for a while now."

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said.

"Probably just got a headache from Crazy Crimson's screaming," muttered Ron.

"No, it happened before that," Harry said, noticing Hermione glaring at Ron.

Sally-Anne looked around. The Hufflepuffs were all being very nice, but the Gryffindors were being mean. That struck her as odd. She still didn't understand why the Sorting Hat had stuck her in Gryffindor. It had told her that she could be brave, but she needed some help. She didn't believe it; she was too timid.

Sally-Anne and the other students waited quietly for Professor McGonagall to return. Other than Ron whispering something to Harry every so often, things were quiet until their professor rode in on her desk-horse.

Once their Transfigurations Professor reached the front of the classroom, she dismounted the horse. After transfiguring the horse back into a desk, she looked out at her classroom.

"I'm glad to see that you have all behaved appropriately," she said. "One point to each of you."

Hermione raised her hand.

"Ms. Granger, your friend is alright," Professor McGonagall assured her. "She is in the care of Madame Pomfrey for the moment. You may go and see her after class."

Hermione nodded and lowered her hand.

After Transfigurations Class, Hermione went straight to the Hospital Wing. Sally-Anne accompanied her, a little curious about what had happened to Rose.

"Madame Pomfrey, may we please see Rose?" Hermione asked.

"Only for a few minutes," Madame Pomfrey replied sternly.

"Thank you, Ma'am."

The girls quickly walked over to where Rose was staying.

"Salutations, girls!" exclaimed Rose as they approached her bed.

"Are you alright?" Sally-Anne asked.

"What happened?" added Hermione.

"Yes, and a lot of voices were yelling at me."

Hermione and Sally-Anne stared at the crimson-haired girl.

"What do you mean 'voices'?" asked Hermione.

"Not sure yet," Rose replied. "I've got a few guesses, but my current best guess is that it was the voices of the bricks in the classroom."

The other two girls continued to stare at Rose.

"Is… is that normal?" Sally-Anne asked.

"Not even from where I hail," Rose said.

"…Scotland?"

Rose paused for a moment.

"Yes."

"Alright, humoring you for a moment," Hermione said. "Didn't you mention that you learned about the Room from the stones?"

"I did, but they don't usually talk on their own," Rose said. "I think it's because the castle's sentient."

"Why can't you hear it all the time?" asked Sally-Anne. The timid girl wasn't sure that she entirely believed Rose, but her parents had always taught her to at least give people a chance. What was the worst that could come of trusting the crimson-haired girl?

"Dunno."

"Maybe it only responds to specific stimuli," Hermione suggested. "Like something had to happen to get the castle to start shouting."

"That's good thinking, Hermione!" Rose exclaimed. "We should look into this some time!"

"But for now," came a voice from behind them, "you two need to get some lunch, and you, Ms. Peta-Lorrum, need to get some rest."

"I really don't," Rose said.

Madame Pomfrey glared at Rose, who grinned back at the mediwitch.

"We're going to get going," Hermione said quickly, fearing the wrath of an authority figure.

"Feel better, Rose," Sally-Anne said as the two girls exited the Hospital Wing.

"Thanks!"

Rose laid back down in her bed and began a staring contest with the ceiling. Despite having lost the last several rounds, she was sure that she would win just as soon as she figured out where it kept its eyes.

Albus sat in his office, deep in thought. He knew Tom had a plan. Someone like him didn't just stay dead, but Albus wasn't sure what it was yet. He was going to make a run at the Package, but the question was when? Was that what caused the castle to shudder earlier? Was it the presence of the Package, or the presence of Tom?

Albus's thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his door.

"Come in!"

His door opened, and Minerva and Poppy entered his office. He greeted them with a smile.

"Albus, we have a problem," Minerva said.

"I believe Rose Peta-Lorrum had a psychotic episode," Poppy said.

Albus' cheery smile faded.

"That is a problem," he said calmly. "Why do you believe that?"

"She began to scream in the middle of class," Minerva said. "Nothing prompted it, but she began to clutch her head."

"She told me that there were voices shouting at her," Poppy said.

Albus looked at them with what could almost be described as suspicion.

"When?"

Both women exchanged glances.

"It must have been around 11:30," Minerva said. "Why?"

"Because at approximately the same time, I sensed a disturbance within the enchantments of the castle," Albus said, folding his hands in front of him, "and shortly after that, Atrien appeared in my office and informed me that she and the other house-elves had felt the same thing."

Minerva and Poppy both stared at the Headmaster.

"You think Rose Peta-Lorrum reacted to the disturbance?" Poppy asked him.

"It's too big of a coincidence to ignore," Albus said, rising from his chair.

"Where are you going?" Minerva asked.

"I would like to speak with Ms. Peta-Lorrum," he replied, turning to Poppy. "Poppy, is she in a state to accept visitors?"

"Yes, she settled down almost immediately, but I've kept her in the Wing as a precaution. She should be able to return to class tomorrow."

"Very good," he said, making his way to his office door. The two women followed closely behind him.

"Rose?"

Rose looked up from her sketchbook to see Professor Dumbledore entering the Hospital Wing. Having grown tired of losing to the ceiling, she had decided to start drawing instead.

"Salutations, Professor Dumbledore!"

"Salutations, Rose," he replied, smiling.

Rose grinned back at him.

"What are you drawing?" he asked her.

"My brother," Rose replied. "Last time I was scared, he came and saved me."

"I see," the Headmaster replied, glancing down at the sketchbook. Did her brother have pointed ears? Albus dismissed it for the moment. "I would like to talk to you about what happened today."

"Alright," Rose said cheerfully, putting down her sketchbook.

"Why don't you explain what happened?"

"I was sitting in Transfigurations Class, then I heard a lot of voices shouting at me."

"What were they saying?"

"'It has awoken.'"

"Did the voices specify what 'It' is?"

"No," Rose said, shaking her head. "Or if they did, they did it after they were joined by a thousand other voices all yelling at me."

"Hmm," Dumbledore said, stroking his beard.

"Does that happen a lot in this plane?" asked Rose.

"Only at Wizengamot meetings," Dumbledore said. After seeing the look of confusion on the girl's face, he added, "The Wizengamot is a sort of wizarding senate."

Rose started laughing.

"I'll need to remember that one," she said. "My friend Shadow hates governments. Well, corrupt ones. Point is, I might actually get a laugh out of her."

Dumbledore smiled.

"Rose, do you know what those voices were?"

"I think they were the bricks."

"Why do you think that?"

"It's the only reasonable explanation for why there were so many voices, and why they seemed to follow me all the way here."

"And you think that 'The bricks' is a reasonable explanation?"

"Of course," she replied. "I've got a persisted speak with anything spell on me."

"And that allows you to talk to bricks?"

"Bricks, metal, water, squirrels, pretty much anything except a dead body," Rose said. She grinned. "It's how I found The Room."

"The Room?"

"The hidden room on the seventh floor that becomes whatever you want," Rose explained.

"You mean the Room of Requirement?"

"That's a good name for it," Rose replied.

"I always thought so too," the Headmaster said. "Returning to our original conversation, couldn't all of this just have simply been in your head?"

"No, mind blank stops all mind-affecting effects. Considering that includes the Sorting Hat, it probably also includes most forms of mental assault on this plane."

"I see."

"Professor, I imagine that, being the head of one of the only three wizarding academies in the continent, you're quite busy. Why are you personally asking about this?"

"I take the health of my students very seriously, Rose."

"Don't you trust Madame Pomfrey?"

"Completely," the Headmaster reassured her. "I just wanted to hear the story for myself. You know how rumors can spread. In fact, there's one about you sealing the Slytherin Dungeon a few weeks ago."

Rose shrugged.

"I deny everything!" she exclaimed, grinning.

"Very well," Professor Dumbledore said, rising from his place on the bed next to her. "You get some rest, Rose. And please let Professor McGonagall know immediately if this happens again."

"Okay!" Rose said. "Professor, can I ask you one more question?"

"Certainly, Rose."

"I know you can't tell me everything, but there's something bigger going on here, isn't there?"

Albus was a little taken aback, but he had perfect control over his facial expressions. The fact that his magnificent beard covered part of his face helped tremendously.

"It's nothing you need to worry about, Rose," he said as he walked off.

<That's a 'yes',> she told Reflectesalon. <I speak Headmaster pretty well after talking to Sk'lar and Uncle Oz for so long. Especially after Professor Dumbledore told me to tell Professor McGonagall immediately. Not 'someone', not a prefect, not even a staff member. No, Professor McGonagall specifically. And immediately. This is a big deal, I just don't know why yet.> She grinned. <I bet I know how to find out!>

She hopped up out of bed.

"To the Library!" she shouted, raising her fist.

"Where do you think you're going?" asked Madame Pomfrey, who materialized out of nowhere.

"To my bed!" Rose shouted, her fist still in the air. She spun around and returned to her bed.

"I don't understand what that accomplished, Albus," Minerva said as the two of them walked back to his office.

"She isn't lying," Albus informed her. "She honestly believes that she heard the voices of the stone bricks of the castle at exactly the same time as Atrien and I felt the disturbance."

"How do you know she wasn't lying?"

"She's got a tell, Minerva," he said. "It's subtle, and you can't see it unless you're looking for it, but it's there. The girl is a magnificent liar."

"Does the girl constitute a threat to the other students?" Minerva asked him.

"I highly doubt that," Albus replied, calm as always. "I think she's just a unique girl. Nothing to worry about. No, I believe our attention should be focused on the cause of this disturbance."

"I'm sure you've got a theory?"

Albus turned to look at her, his years apparent on his face.

"Tom."

Minerva sighed.

He isn't your student anymore, Albus.

Back in the Hospital Wing, Rose attempted to contact her brother to tell him what happened.

<Sk'lar, are you there? Eom.>

<Okay. Eom.>

Rose realized that it was the middle of the day. All of her friends would be working, so none of them would be able to talk. Except one.

In addition to the earpods, each of the Exalted had been given two blue seashells. Except for Shadow, each of the Exalted had distributed theirs to different people. Fortunately for her, Sk'lar had given one of his to her sister, Alice, who didn't have a day job; she was a freelancer, so she picked her own hours.

Better yet, her big sister always made time for her.

<Alice, you there? Eom.>

<ROSIE!>

Rose jumped in her bed, then began laughing.

<Salutations, little sister!> There was a short pause, then, <Oh, right, your protocol thingy. Em.>

<Salutations, big sister!> Rose pathed, smiling. <Eom.>

<That's what I said!> Alice pathed. <How are your adventures in the Rowling Plane, Rosie? Oum.>

Unlike her older brother Sk'lar, people had actually mistaken Alice and Rose for blood relatives. Alice had bubblegum pink hair that she kept in a pair of pigtails and insisted that she act like a child. Rose had picked up several of her… quirks from Alice.

<Well, I was in class, then the stones of the castle started talking to me. Then they started shouting. And then screaming.>

<I'm okay now, but I apparently started screaming. I thought I was just crying, but I couldn't hear my voice.>

<Speak with anything,> Rose corrected.

<Right. I thought you had to start the conversation with speak with anything. Potato.>

<Normally– Are you just saying the first word that pops into your head?>

<Nope, I'm just saying whatever it is your word is. Banana.>

<Normally, inanimate objects don't talk without me starting the conversation. I guess since the castle is magical, the stones are intelligent, so they can talk on their own.>

<As long as you're okay now,> Alice pathed, using her "grown-up" voice. Any attempts at acting like an adult were ruined by her next replacement for "Eom". <Fopdoodle.>

Rose broke out laughing.

<I'm…> Rose took a moment to stop laughing. <I'm alright. I'm just a little worried it's going to happen again, that's all.>

<This can't be the first time this has happened,> Alice pathed. <Stone tell is lower level, and it lets you talk to stones. Besides, the Headmaster has to have heard about speak with anything. Cacophony.>

<No, he hasn't,> Rose replied. <He doesn't know about mind blank either, but Ref can't read his mind.>

<No offense to Ref, but the save DC on his detect thoughts is pretty low,> Alice pathed. <Maybe he just saved against it. Butterfish.>

<Maybe. I'm not really sure yet. This plane makes no sense.>

<Well, you stay safe, Rosie. The world's a mean place when your big sis isn't there to break things that mess with you. Moo.>

<That's why bad things happen? I thought it was because someone put a curse on me!>

The two girls (They refused to think of themselves as "women") laughed.

<I'll let you get back to whatever it was you were doing, Ali.>

Rose smiled. She could always count on her sister to make her feel better. Alice went out of her way to make Rose laugh when she was down in the dumps.

She laid back in her bed. For better or worse, things had just got a lot more interesting.

Interesting.

The Consciousness looked out through the castle and witnessed the events of the day. It watched the panic it spread in the castle walls affect the strange girl.

She can hear my castle. This warrants a more… direct method of research.

The Consciousness set to work making preparations to study its new subject more closely.

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