Sabrina watched Caitlin, smiling. Surely the girl must have made some attempt at communication? Even if the condition was short-lived, how could she survive without expressing herself? Sabrina’s memories of Caitlin as a Prefect was of a girl who had an opinion on  everything, and wasn’t afraid to voice it.

The listless little shrug surprised her. Setting down her teacup, she reached across the table to take Caitlin’s hand. “I know it must be terribly difficult. Now, I know I don’t know anything about the circumstances, and Sioni couldn’t tell me anything. But Caitlin, sweetheart, you mustn’t give in. Whatever happened, you can’t just lie back and think of England! That’s not the Caitlin I knew in Hogwarts!”

Standing up she walked to an open space and turned to face her friend.

“I just spent the summer in Italy, mostly with family members, but with a lot of strangers, too. And though I speak a fair amount of Italian my grammar isn’t perfect and I don’t know all the idioms. Besides, there are as many regional forms of Italian as there are of English in the British Isles. Just think of Scotts, Welsh and Londoners and you’ll get what I mean.”

While she had been speaking she had deliberately kept her hands clasped behind her back. Now she brought them out and pointed both her fore-fingers at Caitlin. “But all Italians speak one common dialect. Can you guess what it is?”

As she said this, she pinched the first two fingers of her right hand together with her thumb, and made a little pecking gesture toward her smiling mouth. At the same time she shrugged slightly.

“Hands, sweetie. You can’t speak Italian with your hands in your pockets. It’s not possible. That little gesture? It means what, why or where.” She held up her thumb in the universal hand sign for approval. “Get it?” She asked. “Nobody asks why or what without the gesture. It’s automatic. It’s been going on forever.” Sabrina added to this statement with a quick gesture of her thumb over her shoulder. “That means long time ago. See?”

Walking over to Caitlin, she held out her hands. “Come on, let’s just have a little fun, shall we?” Bunching together all of her fingers except her little finger, she made a quick ‘J’ shape with it. “That means let’s go. Come on, something like that.” She flicked her fingers at herself, without speaking, encouraging Caitlin to respond. It wasn’t sign language, after all. It was more like acting with your fingers.

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