She wandered along until she nodded in satisfaction at finding somewhere suitable. Then she took a ball out of her bag and threw it for the dog to chase. He bounced after it and brought it back, dropping it at her feet. Grimacing at the now soggy ball, she bent down, picked it up and threw it again.

This was repeated a couple of times and then Jo must have been distracted, because she accidentally threw the ball in the wrong direction, and it bounced down the hill and into the lake. The dog shot after it, landing in the lake with a tremendous splash.

Jo ran down to the edge of the lake, pausing only briefly to drop a miniature tracker in the jacket pocket of a man she passed. She looked at the dog, which was now bouncing around in the lake, trying to find his ball.

“Come on out, Ambrose,” she called. “I’ll buy you another ball!”

Instantly the dog left the lake, shaking furiously as he did so.

“Aw,” said the man’s companion, “it’s just as if he understood what she said.”

Jo and the dog set off briskly and were soon back at the Grid.

“Were you successful?” Harry asked.

“Completely,” Jo replied. “But we’ll need to buy another ball.”

“Why?”

“I had to promise him a new one or he wouldn’t have come out of the lake.”

“Really?”

The werewolf came over and sat in front of Harry, looking up at him.

“Oh, very well!”

The werewolf bounced around in excitement at the prospect of having a new ball.