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Chapter 4: Ebony and Walnut

The first weekend back at school was spent by nearly all at Hogwarts outside under the sun, catching up. Everyone seemed to have some story or tale of their summer and travels, and they were all relayed with what seemed to be exclusively for making their friends and, better yet, rivals jealous.

Perri and her fellow potions classmates, however, had found themselves in the dungeons of the school, since 7 that morning, attending to their wound cleaning potions and working out exactly how they were supposed to 'cleverly' (as stated by their advanced potion making textbook) remove the right fang of a boomslang without causing the potentially deadly venom to run. The problem was that the fangs were delicate, and the act of pulling it from the jaw would likely shatter them. Wrenching it out with pure force would not work, as shown by Kenneth Towler, a Gryffindor, who had tried this approach and ended up with venom over the front of his apron and a swift scolding from their teacher.

"Do you think we have to take a portion of the jaw?" Perri whispered to Amelia Roxburghe, one of the Hufflepuffs. Perri was already feeling exhausted. She had sat in on the detention for a couple of 2nd years who

The raven-haired, girl however looked even more lost than Perri and was anxiously rummaging through their textbook for any guidance. Perri supposed that being a mere finger prick away from death, should the fang of the dead snake pierce them, would make anyone nervous.

Needless to say, she wouldn't be much help. Others in the class, positioned further away from her, didn't seem like they would be much more considering their expressions.

"I don't know!" She whispered urgently, periodically glancing to the back of the room where Professor Snape sat grading papers with a hard, sour look on his face. It was so akin to his normal expression, however, that Perri couldn't tell whether or not the papers were good or bad.

Snape was a curious man.

Naturally, as a member of his house, she had always garnered favour with him. He never gave any Slytherin detention or deducted points, yet when it came to potions and assignments, he had always seemed to be particularly stringent. The moment a single Slytherin seemed to be not living up to his expectations, they were immediately summoned and lectures regarding what they needed to do to improve. In this, he was helpful and ensured that most Slytherins found themselves in the top ¼ in all of their classes (though there were many whom she suspected to be lost-causes in his eyes). It was in no small part why they had previously dominated the house-cups up until recently. Any slacking off or misbehaving in ways that would deduct points were handled with particular swiftness. They perhaps weren't given detention or had points deducted, but there were other ways of ensuring discipline was kept.

Perri could remember the howler her father had sent her the year before when Snape had written to her parents about her "frivolous behaviour and impending failure" when she had gotten an E on one of his papers.

Snape didn't let his house off the hook, he just understood that point deductions and detentions weren't what would make a lesson stick. Her house, with almost no exception, responded far stronger to the impending sense of disappointment of a loved one than a stranger. They had expectations to live up to.

He was strict, biased, unyielding in perception, and a perfectionist. Perri had felt this from her first day of first year when he greeted all of the new Slytherins with a formal handshake. There had been something closed off about him though. Something that was blocked out and locked away that he didn't want anyone to know about.

He did have a hawthorn wand though, Perri reminded herself. Additionally, he had a unicorn hair core and whippy flexibility. Unicorn hair typically chose who was open, fair, and positive. Whippy indicated some level of flexibility in views. added up to the professor she had known for over 5 years. All of her encounters with him seemed to just confuse her more. Or perhaps that was how it was supposed to be. Hawthorns all had contradictory and tumultuous natures. That fit to a T.

Perri couldn't imagine the process it must have taken her grandfather to find the correct wand for him though, she imagined it must have taken at least an hour.

Turning back to her potion in progress, she stirred it at a rate of exactly 3 ¼ turns every minute. The colour was a beautiful amber, just as it should be, but if the venom wasn't added soon, then it would turn dark, mossy green and be unsalvageable.

With the threat of failing this assignment, Perri sawed through the jaw of the boomslang, dedicating herself to her plan. She could feel her heart pounding through every second, anxiously looking for any leaking venom. Thankfully, Perri saw none, even when she broke away pieces of it to reveal the clean, single, white fang. It was added whole, something that ensured that the potion would gradually extract the venom during brewing before removing the fang at the end. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw the potion start turning to a brilliant cerulean.

Not failing yet.

Amelia and a few others saw this change and peered at her with desperate eyes.

With a quick look back, to ensure Snape wasn't looking, Perri scribbled down the instructions on spare parchment and passed it around.

By the time the potions class had ceased their extra-unofficial lesson with brews that could successfully wait for completion till Monday, it was near time for dinner.

Perri felt completely wasted, and her haggard appearance spoke for itself. There were bags under her eyes, and the lines of her face were all the more apparent. Her hair was half falling out of its ponytail, bits flying in every direction. Her shoulders ached and, every time she stood up, her knees cracked and groaned in protest.

"I just want to sleep," She groaned, leaning heavily on Imogene who was all but feeding her the stew served for dinner. "I want to sleep and not wake up for at least 24 hrs."

"You look dreadful."

"Thanks, you're beautiful too."

"You know what I mean!"

Perri chuckled, sitting up straighter.

They had gone to dinner early, only 5:30, since neither had eaten all day. As such, the tables were still nearly deserted. Perri was glad of it though. The early dinner meant that Malcolm was conspicuously absent, as he and other Ravenclaws had gone out for an unofficial game of house quidditch with Gryffindor between last year's teams (or what was left of them following the final years leaving). It appears that the news of the cancellation of the inter-house quidditch cup was not particularly well-received, even though it made way for the Triwizard tournament.

Not to be misunderstood, Perri liked Malcolm, but he was just always there. Sometimes she just wanted to be able to talk in private to Imogene and have girl-time. It was just going to be harder during 6th year since they now had limited classes together.

"Do you want to come out to the lake with me after this and see if we can find those new unicorns?" She could almost feel the blazing smile form on her friend's face. She was tired, but she wanted to see the new herd even more.

Imogene Selwyn LOVED unicorns.

"Silly question."

"Thought so."

"You missed some drama down at the lake today," Imogene spoke quietly,

though there was no one close enough to hear it.

Perri gave a Cheshire smile and scooted closer, leaning her ear to her friend.

"Roger Davies got dumped by Beatrice! I mean it was out of nowhere! They were getting all close and cuddly away from the rest of," Imogene rolled her eyes. Roger and Beatrice had gotten together in a none too quiet manner at the end of fifth year, and Beatrice had gone around gloating about how she had bagged the most, admittedly unarguably (though Perri felt she could always give it a go out of principle) attractive guy at Hogwarts and how they were 'destined for each other'.

Apparently, destiny had an expiry date of just over 2 months.

"Well, there no shocker there, but why?"

"Well, also at the lake was one Cho Chang…" Imogene gave her a devilish smile, knowing she had just given something a bit more interesting. Cho was in the year below them, was the Ravenclaw seeker, and was perhaps only threatened by Roger himself with how many people fancied her.

"No! Did they…?"

"Well, that's the thing, apparently not. Apparently, Cho broke up with her boyfriend over the summer though, and Beatrice knew this. What happened was Beatrice had apparently been telling Roger of the breakup when they saw Cho back there. I saw it myself, the second he knew, he couldn't stop looking at her. Started saying how pretty and what a loss she was to her ex. Well…"

"Beatrice didn't like that."

"A swift slap to the cheek and she out of there. The two of them screamed at each other the entire way up to the castle. And guess what else?!"

"There's more?"

"Apparently, Beatrice never really stopped seeing Marcus over the summer!" This sent a shadenfreudian smile to Perri's face, lighting up her weary features. The rest of the hall had long disappeared. Beatrice, the seventh year, had previously dated Marcus Flint.

"No!"

"Yes! And he was going to come and visit her on the first Hogwarts trip!"

So engrossed in the gossip, was Perri, that she didn't notice Mel coming towards the two girls.

"I mean look, I don't think much of either of them, but why would you pick someone like Flint when at least, if nothing else, Davies isn't a complete ass. Not to mention at least nice to look at. If you as-"

"Perri!" The aforementioned person jumped at the sudden exclamation of her name. Whirling around she met the dark eyes of the head girl.

"Oh, um… yes?" She stammered. She was so tired that the surprise frazzled her.

Mel looked especially stressed.

"What are you doing here?!"

"Um…" Perri looked down at her dinner bowl, feeling the answer to the question was rather obvious.

"Never mind, you need to get up to the transfiguration room."

"Why?"

"Detention! You're rostered for today remember?"

Perri's heart dropped. She thought detention would have been empty today.

"It's been two days," Her expression was deadpan. "Who's gotten detention in two days?"

"Perri? Never thought I'd see you here!"

Fred and George; that is who gets detention by day 2 of school starting.

"You've got to be kidding me…."

It was going to be a long night.

Fred and George were both looking up at her with surprise. They were leaning so far back in their chairs that she was sure they would fall with the slightest breeze.

"What'd the pretty, perfect, prefect do to land herself in detention?"

"The pretty, perfect, prefect didn't," She felt her lips purse, as she started to eye the front desk. Looks like McGonagall was busy tonight, as it lay empty with a large stack of papers piled on top.

She hoped that there was something left for her to tell her what to do with them, though she doubted they would do anything she told them to do.

"So what's she doing here then?"

"She's supposed to be supervising it."

This comment seemed to spark something in the two of them, as their surprise turned to grins. Even with her back to them, she could feel some sort of plan forming between the two of them.

"Really?" Fred dropped his chair back onto four legs, and landed with his chin in his hand, peering up at her as she reached the desk and had a look for any guidance at the front.

"Really really."

First, second, and third-year papers yet to be graded were on the desk along with lesson plans and… nothing else. There was no indication of what she was supposed to do with them. She was just supposed to… do it?

"What am I supposed to do," Perry whispered to herself, though the twins had already jumped to their feet.

"Well then Periwinkle, it's been a blast," Whirling around, both were up with very self-satisfied grins. "I think we'll just be going."

With that, they span on their heels were aiming for the door.

'I'm missing unicorns… for this?'

"Woah, Woah, Woah," Perri called after them sternly, and with a flick of her wand, slammed the doors shut before they could go through. "Where are you two going?"

"Pear, you've been a peach, but we're a little busy at the moment," Fred looked unfazed as he leaned casually against the newly slammed door, hands in pocket. "Got some big things we're working on."

"Well, you two have landed yourself in here, so I don't doubt that," Perri crossed her arms at them from across the room, but couldn't help but have a small, half-smile break onto her expression. "What was it this time?"

"Who wants to know?"

"The person who's going to be determining what you'll be doing for the next 4 hours for detention, so you'd better make it good."

"Oh, wanna know how best to discipline us, eh? More than happy to help you out with that one." A wink from Fred and a snigger from George came her way, causing a slight blush to come to her cheeks.

This was as it was in divination last year.

"How kind of you," She tried to will her blush away but could feel it was there.

"So what it'll be?"

"Whippings?"

"Lashings?'

Honestly… Perri had no idea.

What is one to do when they have to find a way to deter wrongdoings from wrongdoers who seemed to take detentions as a badge of honour; the more the better.

It took only 2 hrs for Perri to cut her losses, for 2 hours was by far enough time to realise that detentions didn't seem to work for the Weasley's twins.

It wasn't like divination the year before, it was much more difficult; double the trouble.

Make them polish all the silver? They'd alter all the trophies and medals to say things such as 'Top Git', 'Award for special services performed ON the headmaster', and they even changed one of Professor McGonagall's quidditch awards to say 'best snog'. Try to get them to scrub the prefect's bathroom? They found a way to replace the flower, scented soaps out and somehow change them to make any skin they touched so hairy that it would resemble that of a gorilla. Have them reverse all of the failed animal-goblet transfigurations by first years? Students were going to wake up to a breakfast with goblets turning into toads, rats, and owls.

To their credit though, the charms on the silver were simple but they were also pretty strong. It took over 10 tries to change any of them back, and even then, she couldn't change McGonagall's back. The hairy hands were able to be shaved away with relative ease, and at least many of the students would be reunited with their pets.

"Well, it's good to know that detention is completely useless for you two…" Perri mused as they sat across from her looking far more like they had just won a quidditch match than served detention. She looked far worse for wear than they did.

Fred was Ebony, George was Walnut; non-conformist, individualistic, intelligent, innovative and inventive. They were quite the pair.

Not that she'd ever say that out loud.

"Don't feel bad Perri, you're not the first to have come to that conclusion." George chuckled. "Flitwick gave up first year with us."

"But you two always get detention, what on earth do you do in it?"

"You think we'd give away that secret?"

'Fair point.' Perri thought.

"Alright though, what did you two even do? You never said." It was only 8 pm, and the detention was supposed to last until between 9-10pm. It clearly wasn't going to work though, thus Perri didn't see much benefit in continuing the struggle.

Her company shared a look.

"Well, it appears that ol' Minnie had a problem with us giving these out." Fred pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. Perri took it gingerly and unfolded it. The page was an order form of some kind with bright purple text on it on a background of yellow and orange.

"Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?"

"Our newest venture."

"Where you can find all manner of mischief and mayhem making effects."

"We're taking orders if you want."

Perri scanned the list of products. She had never heard of these before.

"Canary creams?"

"Ah, an excellent choice. One bite and you'll sprout wings!" Fred nodded approvingly.

Confused, Perri gave them a questioning look.

"Tarts that will turn the consumer into a canary for a short time," George explained.

Her eyes widened. Hexed foods were notoriously tricky and difficult to maintain quality control. Where did they get them from?

"I've never even heard of any of these things before."

"As it should be."

"We took a lot of care to make sure they were all new! They're the start-up to our new business."

They had come up with these things?

"That's… impressive. You two are starting a business?"

Was that even allowed at Hogwarts?

"Started, we've been taking orders since we got the train. Even showed off some of the fireworks on the platform."

Perri thought back to the hullabaloo she had heard while with her grandmother on the platform. She shouldn't have been surprised it was them.

Perri handed the parchment back to them.

"So how many detentions did you manage to get yourself for it?"

"3."

"Are we going to have your company each time?" Fred asked. George sent him a rapid sideways glance.

"I doubt I'd survive three of these," Perri chuckled as she rubbed her tired eyes. "Anyway, we only do detentions when the teachers are busy. Seems they have a lot of work to do with the Triwizard cup and everything."

"You entering?"

"I don't turn 17 until next June." She was too young for the 17 and above age limit that they had put on the contest.

"That's not going to stop us," Fred leaned back in his chair.

Perri cocked an eyebrow at this.

"Do I even want to know?"

"You will soon enough."

Sunday was one of sweet relief. Apart from a quick prefect meeting in the morning, Perri had a completely free day. Imogene and her other roommates were all busy with boyfriends, friends, and schoolwork, but this didn't bother her; Perri didn't mind time alone.

She planned to spend the afternoon outside examining the willows for her grandfather. Maybe if she was lucky, she'd also be able to find the unicorn herd (though unicorns were so skittish as yearlings).

Perri couldn't help but lose track of the prefect meeting as she started designing new carvings in her mind. Willow and unicorn hair were one of her grandfather's absolute favourite pairings, as he said that it always led to a witch or wizard that he felt was going too far exceed anyone's expectations.

In addition, she also had the Dogwood wand in her pocket, as she wanted to examine it again. The idea of it just filled her with curiosity. It seemed the perfect opportunity for her to practice her wand manipulation.

"Alright then, if there's nothing else?" Professor McGonagall stated, making Perri jump back into the conversation. Looking around, everyone appeared nearly lulled to sleep, even the other heads of houses. Looks like she'd have to have Adrian fill her in on the details afterwards. "Well then, on that note. We will leave you all to your Sundays." They all got up to go before McGonagall added one extra part; "Miss Ollivander, if you could stay behind for a moment?"

As everyone filed out, Perri stood waiting for the professor, impatiently watching the door as she watched everyone leave with jealousy.

"Thank you, now, Miss Ollivander, I was just wanting to check in with you regarding how your first detention went yesterday." McGonagall joined her by the door, the stern woman's expression being one of curiosity.

Perri guessed she had seen the bewitched medal. She blushed deeply.

"I don't think I was particularly the disciplinary occasion that the school was hoping for," Perri said sheepishly.

McGonagall gave out a large sigh.

"Yes, I suspected as much. I'm sorry that you were assigned to it." If she had seen the medals, it didn't seem to be being blamed on her, causing Perri great relief. McGonagall gave the bridge of her nose a massage, appearing exasperated. "I've had my reservations about the prefect's supervising detention for those in their own years and above. I shall speak to the headmaster regarding it."

"I was happy to fill in as you were busy, but yes, perhaps not the most effective."

"I'm sure for first and second years it would be fine. In the meantime, while I sort this out, you'll have to continue with the original plan, which will mean detention again next Saturday with the Weasley twins."

This surprised Perri. She had zoned out in the meeting, but she did at least have a look at her roster that was handed out. Roger Davies was supposed to be on detentions next Saturday. "I don't believe I'm rostered that day."

"Indeed you're not, Miss Ollivander, however, the headmaster specifically requested that you take them for the detentions."

"What? Why?" Her informal questions were not typically how she would have addressed a teacher, but this surprised her. Why would she need to take them?

"He did not give a reason, I'm afraid. I have told him that I am able to supervise them as necessary, but the plan stands. But I'll see at least if we can have Mr Davies join you on Saturday. Those two should never be in detention together."

3 weeks… Perri had 3, Saturday detentions over 3 weeks with the twins.

Merlin help her.

Shorter chapter today. Thank you for reading, please leave a review and constructive criticism below!