"Let's not use up more oxygen than we need to," he said in what he thought was a sweet voice to Althea. Declan wasn't sure how it came across. He was very bad at intentional attempts at affection. His father was better at that kind of thing. Declan supposed he had his mother's tact. "I don't want you to faint or anything terrible like that."

How about that? He hoped that worked. In any case, this was giving him a headache. He needed the coffee--that he was according to his Mum--not drinking.

"A protean charm only means we can communicate with each other. If either of us change our charmed items, with heat or whatever, it will let the others know. It won't tell us anything if you suddenly got sucked up into some wormhole or into oblivion," he explained slightly annoyed as he waved a hand in the air. "But it's a start, if you think you're both fast enough with a wand."

He wasn't worried about the difficulty. It was N.E.W.T. level work. Declan had read it in his fourth year although he hadn't yet put it into practice. He supposed there was a first time for everything.

"Peeves is a poltergeist," Declan explained slowly. "In theory, he is an entity that kind of dabbles in between realms already. Dimensions? Two realities? I am not too knowledgeable on that." He shook his head. "I was thinking wouldn't he know something about these portals? Or at the very least do you think he would be able to travel to and from at will? Or..." Declan shrugged. "If I can't be the anchor, he could be an achor. But Peeves isn't so easily tricked."