AN: I did research woods and stuff for this bit. Sorry that I've left loose ends. I promise they get tied up later!

Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters or anything even remotely related to the Harry Potter Franchise, except my own copies of the books and some merchandise.

Playing With Wands

The holidays were over and the first week of school passed quickly, albeit uneventfully. Sitting in the Slytherin common room, Albus and Scorpius were sitting about lazily, just chatting.

"It's weird, not hanging out with James. I'd gotten used to his presence" Scorpius said.

"I guess so. . . At least we see him around though. We'll only see Teddy again at Easter" Albus said, rubbing his chin.

"I liked his hair when it was pink. It was shocking" Scorpius laughed.

Albus laughed too. "It was! But it normally goes back to indigo or turquoise"

The boys sat in companionable silence for a while. Albus watched a pair of fourth years play chess over in the corner, and Scorpius watched Albus.

Scorpius took out his wand and examined it. "Hey, Ally, what's your wand made of?"

Albus looked up. He took his wand out and held it up horizontally so that it was level with his eyes. "Chestnut" he replied thoughtfully. Eleven and a half inches, it was a fine looking wand.

"And the core?"

"Dragon heartstring. Yours?" Albus replied. "Swap?" he added, before Scorpius answered.

The boys exchanged wands for examination. Scorpius answered, "Snake-wood and unicorn tail-hair"

Albus turned Scorpius's wand over in his fingers. "How fitting for a Slytherin" Albus sniggered, admiring the pattern in the dark reddish wood that resembled snakeskin.

"Apparently it's quite a rare wood-type" Scorpius commented, swishing the chestnut wand and causing a gust of wind strong enough to knock the fifth years' chess pieces over. "Oops!" Scorpius giggled, sinking lower into to couch as the chess players looked around indignantly.

"Yeah it is. The rarest in the world. That's probably why your wand is thinner than the average wand" Albus said, knowledgably. "'Must have cost your dad a fortune!"

Scorpius blushed. "Do you know much about wood types?"

"A little bit about wandwood -You know, wood that can conduct magic. Snake-wood is the rarest wood in the Muggle world too" Albus told his friend.

"How do you know, though? Where'd you learn?" Scorpius asked interestedly. There weren't many subjects that Albus was more knowledgeable about, and Scorpius was intrigued.

"Well, Teddy told me. His wand is made of a rare wood too" Albus wiped Scorpius's wand with a handful of his robes, increasing its shine visibly. Scorpius vaguely recalled seeing Teddy's wand during his stay at the Potters'. It was a bright shade of pink, almost red, just like Teddy's hair had been that day. He wondered why he hadn't inquired about it before; it was quite unusual. "Pink Ivory. The core is the hair of a Veela, taken from Victoire's great grandmother"

"Maybe you should study wandlore when you're older, Ally. You seem to be quite interested in the subject"

"I haven't really considered that. . . In fact, I haven't thought that far ahead about anything" Albus smiled. "What do want to be when you grow up?" Albus asked inquisitively, handing his friend his wand back.

"I don't know" Scorpius answered, honestly. He took his wand and offered Albus his. Albus reached for it but Scorpius moved it to the left. Albus reached for it again but Scorpius moved it up, smirking. They proceeded to play a game of playful tug-of-war for the wand.

After a few minutes of laughing and falling about, Albus sank back into the couch and exhaled deeply. "'Dunno what you want to keep my wand for anyway. . . It's lame compared to yours" Albus laughed.

Scorpius laughed back. "It's not lame, it's just not as cool"

"It's the same thing!"

Scorpius poked Albus gently in the stomach with the back of the wand. Albus looked at his friend with a half-annoyed, half-amused look. He didn't take the wand. Scorpius poked him again repeatedly until Albus snatched it out of his hand, grinning triumphantly.

"Ah, damn. You win" Scorpius joked, sinking into the opposite end of the small couch comfortably.

AN: Kind of pointless, but I like scenes like this where you see the type of relationship they have. "Z" is kind of a useless letter, but we like it anyway!

Next Chapter: What Rose Wants, She Doesn't Get

"I'm no idiot, so watch your tongue, Weasley" Scorpius spoke, his voice dangerously even and controlled.

. . .to be continued!