The Darkwood Wand

Echoes

Draco couldn't help it—he began to snicker, and Weasley giggled. A pink fairy emerged and landed on her bright braids. Draco casually ran a hand over his own hair, and brushed his suit coat, just to be careful.

"Was that a sock?" Weasley asked.

"A bunion sock," Draco said. He'd learned about them in the Muggle Studies' health unit. The class' elderly professor was plagued with bunions and corns and had dwelt lovingly on various foot treatments. It was even worse than the construction unit. Draco was convinced the Ministry was under orders to make Muggle Studies as horrifying as possible as part of his probation.

"Bunions ..." Weasley tried in vain to muffle her giggles.

Draco suppressed a smile. "And bubble baths."

It took some time for the two to regain control, since every time Draco considered leaving, one look at Weasley's dancing brown eyes nearly set him off again. But finally they calmed down, and the redhead reverted to her usual psychotic state. A second fairy had joined the first on her head, and all three glared at Draco.

"I'll be watching you, Malfoy," she said. "I can use that same spell on you, too."

"Splendid," Draco said. "I'll be sure to use my wand to wank off. Give you a show later."

Weasley turned a snicker into a snarl, then whirled and left the section. Draco expected her to charge out of the library altogether, perhaps pick up Tennant's trail, but the redhead stopped at the end of a line of shelves.

Draco circled another shelf so he could see what Weasley was staring at. Then he nearly groaned again, for there was Blaise. His former friend was sitting once more in the library's main reading space, swathed in black and surrounded by piles of bloodstained books. His slashing dark eyebrows were drawn as he read "Arts Most Foule" and he looked altogether evil. And Theo was worried about Draco further damaging the Slytherin name?

Draco looked around for Madam Pince, but perhaps the librarian was off giving Tennant a well-deserved detention, for her desk was now occupied by the Head Girl, the less glamorous Patil twin from Ravenclaw.

"What are you reading?" Weasley demanded of Blaise.

Blaise's eyebrows rose. "Good afternoon to you too, Miss Weasley."

"Those books are from the Restricted Section," she hissed.

"So kind of you to notice. I'm enjoying a little independent study today."

Draco braced himself, expecting to see Blaise's head burst with Bat-Bogeys. What was Blaise about, taunting a rabid She-Weasel?

"You need a pass to read those books, Zabini." The witch's tone reminded Draco of her older brother, the Head Boy with the stick up his arse.

Blaise placed a long, elegant hand on his chest. "Do I really? If only I had a small red tag signed by Madam Pince on every book."

Weasley and Draco (and the Head Girl as well) all looked at Blaise's pile of horror, each book studded with a red tag. Blaise set down "Arts Most Foule" and folded his hands over the thick book, all polite attention. Draco waited for one of those ill-bred outbursts so common among the younger Weasleys.

But this witch surprised him, and her voice remained cool. "I'll be watching you, Zabini."

"I look forward to it," Blaise said.

Weasley stormed out of the library with her fairy stowaways and Blaise resumed reading, a small smirk now lingering at the edges of his mouth.

Draco shook his head. Blaise's interest in this witch had been obvious for years, but this was a mad way to go about it. Then again, pursuing a Weasley was unhinged behavior in the first place. That woman made Tennant nervous, for Merlin's sake. Theo would go spare when he found out.