Restoration

Chapter Seven

"Expelliarmus," Elara softly cast a disarming charm at Draco, who went flying across the classroom, hitting the hard, cold-stone floor.

They had been practicing disarming charms all morning in their Defense Against The Dark Arts class. Initially presented to the students by Gilderoy Lockhart, some of them had practised the defensive charm in their younger years.

"Wonderful, just wonderful, Miss Dotson," Professor Snape sneered, as the students cheered.

It had been the third time Elara won the dueling competition, and she wasn't showing any signs of weaknesses. She had successfully disarmed both Susan Bones and Neville Longbottom prior, but she didn't use as much force and anger - not that anyone noticed, aside from Professor Snape. He was convinced Elara and Draco had shared some bad blood in the past, as he observed how both of them did their best to undermine the other one in their classes.

He had also noticed how awfully good Elara had been at using and practising darker charms and spells - as she was by far the best one in her year, if not the best one in all years. He had warned Dumbledore about her, but as he didn't seem to be concerned, Snape decided to act on his own accord. By figuring out who had despised and yet was constantly around Elara, he hired Pansy and Draco as his spies.

"My wand- she broke my wand!" Draco shouted once he got up, massaging his back, which was most likely bruised from the fall. His wand was missing a smaller chunk at the top, and as Pansy began searching the grounds for it, Draco bolted towards Elara.

"You bastard," he roared, "you will pay for this!"

"Make me," Elara pouted, as Professor Snape got between them, carefully inspecting Draco's broken wand, before looking at Elara's.

"I should've expected it," Professor Snape growled, grabbing both of the wands, comparing them in front of his eyes.

"What? That she cheated?" Draco proudly spat back, angrily staring at Elara.

"For the last time, I don't cheat-," Elara growled, before being interrupted by their professor;

"These two wands couldn't be more alike," Snape revealed.

"That's not possible - mine is made out of hawthorn wood and has a unicorn hair core, while hers is - what even is it?!" Draco stopped for a moment, observing Elara's peculiar wand.

"It's made out of maple and has a phoenix feather in it. It's nothing like Draco's wand," she proudly declared.

"Exactly," Snape interrupted again, "and yet their characteristics fit each other perfectly."

All wands sold by Garrick Ollivander were unique and chose its owner. Like wizards, wands could be stubborn too and sometimes went against their owners' will. Their nature was complicated and a difficult one to understand, but one could go by a general 'guideline' to find out exactly why the wand had chosen him.

Draco's wand was made of hawthorn wood, which was a 'strange, contradictory wand, as full of paradoxes as the tree that gave it birth, whose leaves and blossoms heal, and yet whose cut branches smell of death,' as described by the wandmaker Gregorovitch. Hawthorn wands had a complex and conflicted nature, similarly to their owners, who best suit them. They required an extremely talented wizard or a witch to master them. Similarly, Elara's maple wood had a reputation as the wand of high achievers. Wands made out of maple wood traditionally favored explorers, and ambitious individuals, who liked challenges and changing their locations often.

"One so complex and everchanging," Professor Snape lifted Draco's wand, "the other one challenge-driven and in need of a change of scene," he looked at Elara's wand.