Disclaimer: All of these characters are the wonderful creations of JK Rowling. They aren't mine and I'm not using them for money.
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Finals were two months away. Wolf, hunched over his fifth-year potions book, scowled down at the scribbled notes he had written. Snape had grudgingly moved him up to fifth-year potions after he had discovered what was now called The Muggle-Werewolf draught for lack of a more creative name. The class was a tad harder but Wolf hadn't had any trouble catching up and surpassing the class. Hermione Granger was really his only contestant in that class.
Draco Malfoy had walked up to Wolf the instant he had stepped through the door. "Hey, aren't you a third-year? What are you, lost? This is a fifth-year class."
"Nope. He's in this class from now on, Malfoy. Smart enough to do him some credit," Harry said proudly, coming up behind the silent Wolf. "C'mon, Wolf. You can partner me. We're working on the Confundus Concoction today."
Wolf followed Harry to the cauldron that was already filled with essence of newt water. "We're supposed to wait until it boils," Harry muttered, sheepishly staring at the cauldron.
"Why don't you do this?" Wolf asked, tapping the rim of the cauldron with his wand. A few seconds later, the water started to burble. Harry gaped at him in amazement. "It's an easy enough spell."
"The sixth-years learn it next year," Hermione remarked from where she and Ron were working on a cauldron. Behind them, Neville and Goyle's cauldron exploded. Ron sniggered evilly.
"LONGBOTTOM!" Snape roared.
"Malfoy did it," Wolf muttered to Harry, who grinned and nodded.
Malfoy heard Wolf. He glared at him for a moment, then gave the boy the cold shoulder. Wolf sniggered for a moment before he returned to help Harry load the contents of the table into the cauldron.
That had been just after Christmas break, Wolf reflected silently. Since then, Malfoy had pinned Wolf in so many terrible situations, pitting Crabbe or Goyle on him, setting off complicated spells that wove embarrassing patterns across Wolf's skin, etc., and Wolf was sick of the older boy.
"Wolf! We're going to Three Broomsticks now!" Harry said, catching Wolf's attention with a snap of his fingers. "Are you coming? You said you would tonight!"
"Um, sure, I guess. Is Ginger going this time?"
"Yeah. Find her and meet us at the witch in ten minutes," Harry said, checking his watch. He was incredibly proud of the odd little watch. His godfather, Sirius Black, had sent it to him for his fifteenth birthday. It was an odd little watch, but Harry loved it.
Ginger was studying for an exam in Transfigurations in the library when Wolf walked in, looking around for Madam Pince, the librarian. After he was sure that Madam Pince was out of the area, he checked for Ian. Ian had made it quite clear that Wolf was to stay away from Ginger, that Ginger was his, not Wolf's. Ginger had no idea that her boyfriend was threatening her best friend.
"Hey, Gin," Wolf said, dropping into the seat next to her. "Where's Ian?"
Ginger shrugged and looked very exasperated at being interrupted. "Is this important?" she asked bluntly, obviously not in the mood for the banter she and Wolf often shared.
"No, but I was wondering if going to the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade would cheer you up," Wolf said, glancing at her Transfigurations work. Being Ginger doing the work, it wasn't less than three days until the exam.
"Three broomsticks? Wolf, next weekend's a Hogsmeade weekend," Ginger said tiredly, brushing away an errant strand of ginger colored hair, something she was named for. "Have you lost your sanity, too?"
"Who else has lost their insanity?" Wolf asked, sliding down to sit beside her.
She blew another errant strand of hair upwards so that it stayed out of her face. "Ian," she finally said. "He's being a total psycho lately! I'm not even allowed to glance at another guy! He explodes!"
"Explodes?" Wolf asked, glancing around apprehensively. When Ginger gave him her "I'm not going anywhere, buddy" look, Wolf made up his mind. "You're coming with me! C'mon!" Grabbing her wrist, he pulled her along behind him, startling her with his unexpected action.
Madam Pince gave them a sour look, but Wolf ignored her as he pulled Ginger out of the library. "Wolf?" she asked in an unsteady voice. "What are you doing?"
"We're going to have a drink at the Three Broomsticks. Is that too much to ask of my best friend? Come on!" Wolf pulled her to where Ron, Hermione, and Harry were waiting, dropping her arm before they rounded the corner.
Harry and Ron seemed to be deep in discussion when Ginger and Wolf trotted up to join the troupe, but Hermione was willing to talk to them. "We've run into some trouble. Somebody knows about these secret passages, but we don't know whom. We've decided that the Three Broomsticks isn't secret enough for us to meet there - after all, the teachers go there all the time anyway and we don't want anybody blabbing on us. So we're going to eat at The Ghoul Café."
"The Ghoul Café?" Ginger asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.
"Yes. They have quite excellent cuisine there," Harry said, mocking a French accent. Wolf, who had lived in France for a few months with Ray, rolled his eyes. "What?"
"Just don't quit your day job," was all Wolf said. He whipped out his want and tapped the hump on the back of the witch. "Dissendium," he whispered. The hump opened. "Ladies first."
"Follow me," Hermione instructed the awe-struck Ginger. Ginger nodded mutely and followed the older girl into the passage. Shrugging, Ron followed them, followed by Harry, and then Wolf.
~~~~
The blond-haired boy that entered the Three Broomsticks screamed trouble in his very haughty gate. Rosemerta, their head waitress, was taking a break for the night, so fifteen-year-old Juan Resbold directed him to a seat where his partner in business was waiting and took his order. Juan, shuddering at the evil the blond boy radiated, went back into the kitchen to deal with the orders.
"Why'd you request my presence here?" the blond boy, a snobby, obnoxious boy named Draco Malfoy asked the black-haired young man across the small table.
"I have some business to request of you and Hogwarts isn't the best place to request it," Ian Moon leaned forward, flicking a bit of flame from his index finger. He and Malfoy were in the same year, but Ian was in the Ravenclaw house, even though everybody sincerely agreed that he should be in Slytherin.
"Business, eh? What sort of business?" Malfoy looked up as Juan brought back two tankards of foaming pumpkin fizz. He nodded slightly and then sipped slowly.
"Kidnapping," Ian said, bringing out a dagger and playing with the blade. "Got a guy I need out of the way for a couple of days. Can't stand him. He's been making passes at my girlfriend and I need a couple of days to ensure that she's mine."
Malfoy raised an eyebrow. "Who's your girlfriend?"
"Ginger Bates. She's a Gryffindor third-year and she's got eyes for him. I just need him out of the way for a couple of days. You can throw him in a pit or whatever, just get him out of the way!"
"Two days. How much?" Malfoy asked. Ian was well-dressed, like Draco was, so he ought to have a good deal of money on him.
"Fifty galleons," Ian said slowly, laying his price down.
Malfoy raised an eyebrow. "One guy, two days, in a pit. Let's look at the risk factors here and the expenses. Hmm...first, I'd have to create the pit, which is not easy. That, my friend, will cost eight Galleons. Then I'd have to enchant it to protect myself and others - two Galleons. That's ten so far. Then I have to capture the boy - and he will put up a fight - which will lead to sixteen Galleons. That's twenty six Galleons."
Ian couldn't believe this guy.
"Let's see...to keep your name innocent for forty eight full hours...that's gonna be costly. Twenty eight Galleons. Smuggling him back in would be about seven Galleons. Cleaning up all evidence...this is gonna be a whopper...that's gonna lead to about four hundred Galleons in all."
"No deal," Ian said, slamming down his fist.
"No girlfriend then," Malfoy returned just as smoothly.
"Three hundred! That's all I'm gonna offer," Ian said, jaw set.
"Three fifty and you've got a deal," Malfoy returned smugly. He ran a confident hand through his neatly groomed hair. "And can we hurry up? I've got to meet Blaise in an hour."
"Three thirty."
"Three forty!"
"Deal!" Ian regretted his words, but there was little he could do. Draco Malfoy was the best agent for hire in the school and he wasn't known at all to shirk his jobs. Ian dropped two sickles into Juan's waiting hand as he stormed out. Malfoy tipped Juan a little more generously, finished his tankard, and left, grinning with success.
~~~~
"I've decided that I actually like this place," Ginger said, looking around. A large mural of wizards and witches dancing spread across the left wall and there was a giant stage across the right wall. The whole restaurant was designed to look like a muggle fifties restaurant, and a ghost Frank Sinatra was singing "Lady Luck" onstage.
"Yeah, it's a neat place," Wolf agreed, sipping his root-beer float. He admitted to himself that it had been too long since he'd had one of those and was enjoying the sugary treat. Ginger had just been introduced to soda and claimed that it tickled her nose.
Hermione and Ron were having an animated discussion over the Marauder's Map, something Ginger knew about. Harry was swirling his spoon around in the remnants of an ice cream sundae. Ginger and Wolf were talking quietly about an assignment for charms class.
"Those cheering charms he taught us last week were rather simple," Ginger remarked, frowning.
"Well, charms was always your best class," Wolf said. "I didn't find them so easy. Divination is a real blow-out class, though. I don't see anything in those little crystal balls of hers."
"Well, everything else you excel at. Really Wolf, I think you're the top of our class. And don't shake your head at me. You're much too modest anyhow. Take a look at yourself! You're in fifth year potions, you're virtually always a step ahead in transfiguration, and you're always correcting the teacher in DATDA! I've never seen anybody handle those cubs last month in care of magical creatures as smoothly as you did!"
"Mom was a vet."
"A what?" Ginger, not used to Muggle occupations, screwed her face up, trying to remember if Wolf had mentioned this before.
"A veterinarian. She handles animals all the time and..." Wolf stopped, cleared his throat, and went on, "I picked up a lot from her and just watching the animals at her office."
"Is that where you got your nickname from?" Ginger asked, finishing her can of Dr. Pepper.
Wolf paused, not sure that he should tell her the actual reason, and sipped his root beer float. "Sorta, I guess. Addy, my younger sister, and my friend Joey started calling me that after I started visiting her office a lot. It's just sort of stuck."
"Strangely enough, you remind me of a wolf," Ginger said, setting her can down.
Wolf didn't answer.
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Finals were two months away. Wolf, hunched over his fifth-year potions book, scowled down at the scribbled notes he had written. Snape had grudgingly moved him up to fifth-year potions after he had discovered what was now called The Muggle-Werewolf draught for lack of a more creative name. The class was a tad harder but Wolf hadn't had any trouble catching up and surpassing the class. Hermione Granger was really his only contestant in that class.
Draco Malfoy had walked up to Wolf the instant he had stepped through the door. "Hey, aren't you a third-year? What are you, lost? This is a fifth-year class."
"Nope. He's in this class from now on, Malfoy. Smart enough to do him some credit," Harry said proudly, coming up behind the silent Wolf. "C'mon, Wolf. You can partner me. We're working on the Confundus Concoction today."
Wolf followed Harry to the cauldron that was already filled with essence of newt water. "We're supposed to wait until it boils," Harry muttered, sheepishly staring at the cauldron.
"Why don't you do this?" Wolf asked, tapping the rim of the cauldron with his wand. A few seconds later, the water started to burble. Harry gaped at him in amazement. "It's an easy enough spell."
"The sixth-years learn it next year," Hermione remarked from where she and Ron were working on a cauldron. Behind them, Neville and Goyle's cauldron exploded. Ron sniggered evilly.
"LONGBOTTOM!" Snape roared.
"Malfoy did it," Wolf muttered to Harry, who grinned and nodded.
Malfoy heard Wolf. He glared at him for a moment, then gave the boy the cold shoulder. Wolf sniggered for a moment before he returned to help Harry load the contents of the table into the cauldron.
That had been just after Christmas break, Wolf reflected silently. Since then, Malfoy had pinned Wolf in so many terrible situations, pitting Crabbe or Goyle on him, setting off complicated spells that wove embarrassing patterns across Wolf's skin, etc., and Wolf was sick of the older boy.
"Wolf! We're going to Three Broomsticks now!" Harry said, catching Wolf's attention with a snap of his fingers. "Are you coming? You said you would tonight!"
"Um, sure, I guess. Is Ginger going this time?"
"Yeah. Find her and meet us at the witch in ten minutes," Harry said, checking his watch. He was incredibly proud of the odd little watch. His godfather, Sirius Black, had sent it to him for his fifteenth birthday. It was an odd little watch, but Harry loved it.
Ginger was studying for an exam in Transfigurations in the library when Wolf walked in, looking around for Madam Pince, the librarian. After he was sure that Madam Pince was out of the area, he checked for Ian. Ian had made it quite clear that Wolf was to stay away from Ginger, that Ginger was his, not Wolf's. Ginger had no idea that her boyfriend was threatening her best friend.
"Hey, Gin," Wolf said, dropping into the seat next to her. "Where's Ian?"
Ginger shrugged and looked very exasperated at being interrupted. "Is this important?" she asked bluntly, obviously not in the mood for the banter she and Wolf often shared.
"No, but I was wondering if going to the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade would cheer you up," Wolf said, glancing at her Transfigurations work. Being Ginger doing the work, it wasn't less than three days until the exam.
"Three broomsticks? Wolf, next weekend's a Hogsmeade weekend," Ginger said tiredly, brushing away an errant strand of ginger colored hair, something she was named for. "Have you lost your sanity, too?"
"Who else has lost their insanity?" Wolf asked, sliding down to sit beside her.
She blew another errant strand of hair upwards so that it stayed out of her face. "Ian," she finally said. "He's being a total psycho lately! I'm not even allowed to glance at another guy! He explodes!"
"Explodes?" Wolf asked, glancing around apprehensively. When Ginger gave him her "I'm not going anywhere, buddy" look, Wolf made up his mind. "You're coming with me! C'mon!" Grabbing her wrist, he pulled her along behind him, startling her with his unexpected action.
Madam Pince gave them a sour look, but Wolf ignored her as he pulled Ginger out of the library. "Wolf?" she asked in an unsteady voice. "What are you doing?"
"We're going to have a drink at the Three Broomsticks. Is that too much to ask of my best friend? Come on!" Wolf pulled her to where Ron, Hermione, and Harry were waiting, dropping her arm before they rounded the corner.
Harry and Ron seemed to be deep in discussion when Ginger and Wolf trotted up to join the troupe, but Hermione was willing to talk to them. "We've run into some trouble. Somebody knows about these secret passages, but we don't know whom. We've decided that the Three Broomsticks isn't secret enough for us to meet there - after all, the teachers go there all the time anyway and we don't want anybody blabbing on us. So we're going to eat at The Ghoul Café."
"The Ghoul Café?" Ginger asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.
"Yes. They have quite excellent cuisine there," Harry said, mocking a French accent. Wolf, who had lived in France for a few months with Ray, rolled his eyes. "What?"
"Just don't quit your day job," was all Wolf said. He whipped out his want and tapped the hump on the back of the witch. "Dissendium," he whispered. The hump opened. "Ladies first."
"Follow me," Hermione instructed the awe-struck Ginger. Ginger nodded mutely and followed the older girl into the passage. Shrugging, Ron followed them, followed by Harry, and then Wolf.
~~~~
The blond-haired boy that entered the Three Broomsticks screamed trouble in his very haughty gate. Rosemerta, their head waitress, was taking a break for the night, so fifteen-year-old Juan Resbold directed him to a seat where his partner in business was waiting and took his order. Juan, shuddering at the evil the blond boy radiated, went back into the kitchen to deal with the orders.
"Why'd you request my presence here?" the blond boy, a snobby, obnoxious boy named Draco Malfoy asked the black-haired young man across the small table.
"I have some business to request of you and Hogwarts isn't the best place to request it," Ian Moon leaned forward, flicking a bit of flame from his index finger. He and Malfoy were in the same year, but Ian was in the Ravenclaw house, even though everybody sincerely agreed that he should be in Slytherin.
"Business, eh? What sort of business?" Malfoy looked up as Juan brought back two tankards of foaming pumpkin fizz. He nodded slightly and then sipped slowly.
"Kidnapping," Ian said, bringing out a dagger and playing with the blade. "Got a guy I need out of the way for a couple of days. Can't stand him. He's been making passes at my girlfriend and I need a couple of days to ensure that she's mine."
Malfoy raised an eyebrow. "Who's your girlfriend?"
"Ginger Bates. She's a Gryffindor third-year and she's got eyes for him. I just need him out of the way for a couple of days. You can throw him in a pit or whatever, just get him out of the way!"
"Two days. How much?" Malfoy asked. Ian was well-dressed, like Draco was, so he ought to have a good deal of money on him.
"Fifty galleons," Ian said slowly, laying his price down.
Malfoy raised an eyebrow. "One guy, two days, in a pit. Let's look at the risk factors here and the expenses. Hmm...first, I'd have to create the pit, which is not easy. That, my friend, will cost eight Galleons. Then I'd have to enchant it to protect myself and others - two Galleons. That's ten so far. Then I have to capture the boy - and he will put up a fight - which will lead to sixteen Galleons. That's twenty six Galleons."
Ian couldn't believe this guy.
"Let's see...to keep your name innocent for forty eight full hours...that's gonna be costly. Twenty eight Galleons. Smuggling him back in would be about seven Galleons. Cleaning up all evidence...this is gonna be a whopper...that's gonna lead to about four hundred Galleons in all."
"No deal," Ian said, slamming down his fist.
"No girlfriend then," Malfoy returned just as smoothly.
"Three hundred! That's all I'm gonna offer," Ian said, jaw set.
"Three fifty and you've got a deal," Malfoy returned smugly. He ran a confident hand through his neatly groomed hair. "And can we hurry up? I've got to meet Blaise in an hour."
"Three thirty."
"Three forty!"
"Deal!" Ian regretted his words, but there was little he could do. Draco Malfoy was the best agent for hire in the school and he wasn't known at all to shirk his jobs. Ian dropped two sickles into Juan's waiting hand as he stormed out. Malfoy tipped Juan a little more generously, finished his tankard, and left, grinning with success.
~~~~
"I've decided that I actually like this place," Ginger said, looking around. A large mural of wizards and witches dancing spread across the left wall and there was a giant stage across the right wall. The whole restaurant was designed to look like a muggle fifties restaurant, and a ghost Frank Sinatra was singing "Lady Luck" onstage.
"Yeah, it's a neat place," Wolf agreed, sipping his root-beer float. He admitted to himself that it had been too long since he'd had one of those and was enjoying the sugary treat. Ginger had just been introduced to soda and claimed that it tickled her nose.
Hermione and Ron were having an animated discussion over the Marauder's Map, something Ginger knew about. Harry was swirling his spoon around in the remnants of an ice cream sundae. Ginger and Wolf were talking quietly about an assignment for charms class.
"Those cheering charms he taught us last week were rather simple," Ginger remarked, frowning.
"Well, charms was always your best class," Wolf said. "I didn't find them so easy. Divination is a real blow-out class, though. I don't see anything in those little crystal balls of hers."
"Well, everything else you excel at. Really Wolf, I think you're the top of our class. And don't shake your head at me. You're much too modest anyhow. Take a look at yourself! You're in fifth year potions, you're virtually always a step ahead in transfiguration, and you're always correcting the teacher in DATDA! I've never seen anybody handle those cubs last month in care of magical creatures as smoothly as you did!"
"Mom was a vet."
"A what?" Ginger, not used to Muggle occupations, screwed her face up, trying to remember if Wolf had mentioned this before.
"A veterinarian. She handles animals all the time and..." Wolf stopped, cleared his throat, and went on, "I picked up a lot from her and just watching the animals at her office."
"Is that where you got your nickname from?" Ginger asked, finishing her can of Dr. Pepper.
Wolf paused, not sure that he should tell her the actual reason, and sipped his root beer float. "Sorta, I guess. Addy, my younger sister, and my friend Joey started calling me that after I started visiting her office a lot. It's just sort of stuck."
"Strangely enough, you remind me of a wolf," Ginger said, setting her can down.
Wolf didn't answer.