Life After Death - An Erica Black Continuation (4)

Fourteen

"Yes Miss Black?"
"In 1764"
"Exactly"

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"Willow?"
"It was Gellert Grindelwald"
"Indeed"

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"What is it Miss Black?"
"A bezoar Professor"
"Yes, well done"

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"Miss Black, are you paying any attention or do you always walk around with your head in the clouds?" The Headmistress's Scottish burr made the small girl jump.
"I-I'm sorry Prof-fessor McGonagall" she stuttered, her cheeks flushing scarlet behind her open note-book.
"Hmhm, I'm sure but just to be sure I think you'd best go find Professor Malfoy after dinner and spend an hour with him in detention." The woman's tired face offers a subtle grimace as she turns back to the front of the classroom. The petite student lets out a soft sigh of relief, or annoyance, she wasn't entirely sure herself, and turns back to her notebook to revise the benefits and disadvantages of using Veela hair as a core.

"Ah, Miss Black, the headmistress warned me I should be expecting you, although I must admit; when she said I would be having Miss Black join me for detention this evening, I was actually expecting your sister" the tall man chuckles,
"mhm..." She hums softly, looking down at her lap.
"Hey..." He says softly, kneeling beside the desk "Hey, what's wrong Willow? What could you have possibly done to land yourself here?" he smiles at the girl gently.
"I wasn't paying attention in Professor McGonagall's class..."
"Oh?" Draco raised an eyebrow at her, "Why not?"
"I... I wanted to work on my notebook instead"
"Your... notebook?" she nodded towards the thick, leather bound book on the desk.
"May I?" he asks, gesturing towards it, she nods, her eyes still trained on her hands as they fiddle in her lap.

Professor Malfoy took a moment to flick through the pages of detailed notes and carefully drawn and intricately labelled diagrams, "Wow" he breathed out, "This is... wow... this is really something Willow, you did this all on your own?"
"Yeah... I like it..."
"You like wandlore?" She nods enthusiastically, for the first time since she stepped into the room, she looked up to meet her teacher's gaze, her blue irises sparkling. The look of excitement and interest from the small student made Draco proud- it was rare a pupil so young showed such commitment and understanding of any subject- wandlore was a type of magic that most grown witches and wizards had a less than impressive knowledge of, and yet First year Willow Black was studying it at a level he had never seen before.

"Willow..." He exhales slowly "is this what you want to do? After Hogwarts I mean.." she nods, her certainty making her Professor grin.
"Well that's great but you do still need to pay attention in class, especially classes being covered by the headmistress" he chuckles, her ebony curls fall to cover her face as she ducks her head to hide her flushed cheeks.

"How long have you been studying wandlore?"
"Um... since the end of the summer...when I brought my wand with mum and Lottie... then once I got here I owled Mr Ollivander  asking him for information on wandlore. We've been owling back and forth ever since."
"And you've been using that information to create and build your own notes?" Nodding timidly, Willow smiles.

They spent the hour the girl was due to serve in detention discussing wandlore, the Professor didn't have the heart to punish the child for having a special interest and he was almost certain Minerva had only sent her here so as to not play favourites in-front of her pupils.
At one point, Draco Malfoy pulled out his own wand and laid it carefully on the table between himself and Willow.
"How long is it?" She asks shyly curious.
"10"" Her Professor responds, curious as to what she could tell him, in his youth he had never stopped to ask Ollivander about his wand.
"that is on the shorter side of the average lengths- between 9" and 14", this just means you lean more towards elegant and refined acts of magic. Which wood is it made of?"
"Hawthorn"
"good for both healing magic and curse work. They usually like a wizard suffering inner turmoil but your ability to master it proves your talent. Core?"
"Unicorn hair"
"Unicorn hair produces consistent magic and bonds strongly with its first owner. May I?"
He nods for her to go ahead. She reaches out a small elegant hand to pick up the wand and gives it a good wave.
"reasonably springy." She comments, "I think that means it's relatively adaptive and surprisingly open to change."
The Hogwarts Professor was intrigued by the knowledge the young girl had expressed in the last few minutes. It was very impressive; the sheer amount of information she had managed to maintain although it shouldn't have been surprising to him, he had known this child for years so he knew she had always had a knack for information retention.

"Good night Professor Malfoy" she waved as she skipped down one of the long stone halls in the ancient castle.
"Good night, Miss Black" The professor waved.

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Dear Mr Ollivander,
Thank you so much for lending me those notes on Veela hair cores, I found them very useful to my research. I particularly enjoyed reading the part about their temperamental nature. I am excited to see what you decide to share with me next.
Sincerely,
Willow E. Black
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Veela Hair
-common resource.
-Rarely used.
-Temper-mental magic.
-Usually only handled by Veela or part Veela but not exclusively .
-Often using hair donated by family members.
-Ollivander doesn't work with Veela hair cores.
-Considered by many too volatile to act as a decent wand core.
- Useful for Charms work, Outdoorsy magic and Divination.
-also helpful for Herbology and Potions.
-great for duelling spells, earth magic (elemental), dream magic and love spells.
-suitable for people who:
— have strong family values
— are temperamental, driven, intelligent and stubborn
— are loving, loyal, considerate and caring
— are good at taking control but won't unless they deem it necessary
— (often) belong to Ravenclaw house (or Hufflepuff)
— have Veela blood (non-Veela can benefit from this core but it is less common)