Hey there, mes Amies! I wrote this chapter and the last as one big one, but I decided to post them separately, because I won't be able to write for a few days after this. My dad is off work for a week for Holidays, and he'll be enforcing the new 'half hour per day' rule for computer. And I need to check email and use MSN, so posting will be delegated for a few days.
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He had better be there, She thought as she reached the Gargoyle that protected his office.
"Umm… fizzing wizzbee? Coconut cream? Pepper Imp?" After about a minute and a half of guessing and yelling at the Gargoyle, she tried thinking of every candy, gum or sweet she could. Most of the teachers were still at lunch, she had seen Professor Dumbledore leave the table though.
"Canary Cream! Trident! Nestle! Jack-Frosts! Ton-tongue toffee! Pittling-" The heavy stone statue moved away at ton-tongue toffee.
Guess he's a customer of Fred and George. Hermione jumped up the stairs to his office two at a time, and knocked at the door. She heard Fawkes ruffle his feathers and peep quietly, she guessed he had just been reborn a few days ago. Dumbledore's voice said something, but she didn't hear what through the door. Presently he opened it up for her and invited her in.
"Ah, Miss Granger. Not often I see you without your friends, it's a treat to speak to the school's best student since Percy or Remus. I think you haven't come here just to chat though, can I help you at all? Or where are my manners, can I offer you some tea first?" She accepted and proceeded to tell him about her missing wand.
"So, I would really like to borrow one of the replacements for a day or two for my lessons, if I got too far behind…" Dumbledore nodded understandingly and stood up, disappearing into a room around the corner. Hermione heard rummaging around and he came out in a minute with a small, oaken case. Setting it carefully onto his desk, Hermione saw that it was covered in a fine layer of dust, she began to doubt whether these wands were any good.
He unlatched the box, and inside were 6 wands, all in seemingly perfect condition. The Hogwarts insignia was stamped onto the edge of each one.
"Try them out, they won't be anywhere near as good as your old wand, but the one that suits best should send a few sparks out." Hermione picked up a short reddish one and waved it around, and immediately she got a shock through it. Dropping it quickly, she let out a small yelp.
"Hmm, it seems the last owner of the wand left a bit of a surprise for you. Well, they can't all do that." Hermione waved another two wands until the fourth one let out a few pathetic sparks into the air. Dumbledore nodded, and Hermione left with her replacement wand. Trying a small unlocking spell on a door, she found it took four tries until it decided to open. Sighing, she figured the time and started off to Arithmancy dejectedly.
There had just better not be any hard spells today. She thought, annoyed at her predicament. She wondered whether Malfoy had stolen her wand. He certainly hadn't been friendly at all since their almost-friendly chat in the hallway.
Or at least friendly in the beginning. She climbed the stairs toher class thinking hard. She decided to have a talk with him privately before she did any accusing. And if he said one thing about her being a Mudblood, not only would she get a teacher involved, but she would give Ron full reign to beat his blonde little butt into a pulp.
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After a long hour and a half listening to the Professor, Hermione got up from her desk, stretched her arms, and grabbed her bookbag.
Waving goodbye to Padma, Pavarti's twin, she decided to try to meet up with Malfoy after he got out of Ancient Runes, Crabbe and Goyle weren't in it. Not for lack of trying certainly, they followed Malfoy around like puppies, but Professor Gimactrick was less forgiving than the previous teacher was, and after they destroyed several authentic tablets, neither of them were allowed back to the class. Not that anyone complained, Hermione thought that even Draco himself was glad they were gone.
Walking a little faster so that he wouldn't get the chance to escape, she rounded the corner determined to find out what happened to her wand. It was easily her most important possession, and to get a new one this far through the year, and after all the things she had done with the old one… any wizard who new a basic recasting spell had access to many dangerous, and not to mention illegal, spells that she had used. Of course, they were mostly in defense, but in the wrong hands- like say deatheater-father hands such as Malfoy's, it could be a very bad thing.
She spotted him coming out late from the room, other students had already begun gravitating towards their next class, all that was left outside the room was a group of gossiping Hufflepuffs and two Slytherin girls.
Judging it safe to talk to him, she walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. Turning, he saw who she was and curled his lip.
"What do you want, Muggle? I'm busy, and to be caught talking to you would be-"
"Sod off, Malfoy, I'm not here to get insulted." Hermione interrupted angrily.
"I want to know what the bloody hell you've done with my wand!" Malfoy looked blankly at her for a second, before the familiar smirk returned to his face, although slightly wavering in place.
"So you want my help, eh, Mudblood? Lost something important, have you? Well, why would I know, or care, where you misplaced you wand." He stared at her expectantly. Hermione felt her face turn red; and not just from anger.
"Because, Malfoy," she spat as though his name were a bad taste in her mouth,
"Because you were the last one who saw it, when you ran into me on the stairs. So I wondered, since I searched everywhere, whether you had decided to take it from me."
"First of all, Granger, you ran into me, not the other way around. And secondly, I wasn't the only one there, as I recall, you were there too." She glared some more at him, but he just stood there looking contemptuously back.
"Fine, Malfoy. I don't entirely believe you, but if you're not going to say anything helpful…" Her shoulders slumped and her fingers tightened around the near-useless wand she now had, feeling slightly defeated.
"I had just hoped you could tell me you had seen it… or had grabbed it, or something."
"Listen, Granger, I'm sorry you lost you're wand, but I haven't got anything to do with it. Try using a locating charm." Hermione nodded and looked at him, staring into his eyes. They were impossible to read, impossible to understand what went on behind them. He said it in a less-cruel way, before he turned away.
"Yeah, well… thanks I guess. If you see someone with it, tell me so I can get the bloody thing back."
"Don't count on it, Granger… but good luck. Actually, I hope you don't find it ever, I might beat you in class for once." She looked up, but only saw his back. It was hard to tell if he meant it, or whether he was joking. Disgruntled and still no closer to finding anything, she went to her next two classes in an annoyed silence, fist Runes and then Astnomy. She avoided talking to harry and Ron for the whole class, instead she sat down next to Padma. They both had the same lust for learning, and, unlike her sister, Padma didn't giggle over everything.
Finally it was dinner, and Hermione dropped off her bag in her room and went down to the Great hall to eat.
Just entering, she looked to the left and saw Malfoy, surrounded by a small group, doing an obvious impression of her asking for help. Only about twenty times more pathetic looking, and he was mimicking her in a high, whiny voice. She gritted her teeth, and he saw her looking her way. His brows furrowed, and he looked at her, before Pansy poked him in the shoulder.
Practically stomping, she made her way past the other students to where Harry, Ron, and Neville were seated. Sitting down next to Ron, across from Neville and Harry, she recounted her experience, receiving dubious looks in return.
"So he says he doesn't have it, huh. Well that pretty much makes it kind of odd to see him getting shocked by someone else's wand doesn't it, Harry?" Hermione stared at Ron, who had just shoved a large chunk of bread into his mouth.
"Ron! What did you see? Argh! You're not going to starve." She whacked him on the back and he swallowed and coughed. After another thirty seconds of him hacking and choking, Harry pointed him wand at his throat and said a charm. He instantly stopped coughing, and he glared at Hermione.
"Thanks alot. But anyway, I was coming out of Divination, and I got down the steps, and we had to stop be Herbology to see if Harry's lover-girl was there," He rolled his eyes and got a jab in the stomach for it from Harry.
"Anyway, she wasn't there, but Malfoy was. No teacher either. But he had this wand and he kept waving it around trying to get it to do something, looked like transfigure a plant into a dog or something, I dunno."
"Wolf, not dog, he was trying to get it to turn into a mini wolf. But it didn't work anyway, the spell always came out slightly wrong. Like he just gave the plant ears and teeth when we were there, then the next time he shocked himself. Blue sparks and everything. Hermione, your wands about 10 inches long, right?" She nodded.
"Ten and a quarter, exactly." Harry looked at Ron.
"It looks pretty bleak then, I bet he had your wand. Maybe we should pay him a visit…" Ron glared menacingly in Draco's direction.
"That would be stupid, and they'd probably break my wand in two if you made them angry enough. Plus Crabbe and Goyle may be stupid, but they're still huge. All you two would do is end up in the hospital wing. I think I'll go see McGonagall about this. Then the lying git won't have any say in it." She decided. Ron nodded his approval, and Harry just popped a sandwich into his mouth.
Having a plan, Hermione decided she might as well wait until the end of dinner to talk to the Professor. Besides, she was hungry. Searching gives you an appetite.
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Sorry about the weird and boring ending, but I'm really, really hungry, I can't help but have food on my mind. Anyway, I'll post as soon as possible, please read and review and all that,
Love y'all lots!
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