It Starts Here.
Tracey sat in the courtyard with a book on unicorns splayed open. Exams had finally concluded the day before, and now they finally had time to pursue their own interests in their downtime. In this case, that meant Tracey was reading aloud all the properties Holly’s unicorn hair possessed, while Holly played with it. First, she had simply meant to try different spells on it, but that had become boring after she put it in her pocket next to her wand earlier that morning and it had fired off while she was walking to lunch and burned a hole through her pocket.
Holly wrapped the hair around the want and waved it about, imagining no spell in particular. Several puffs of smoke and a wilted flower shot out the end.
“Some potions, such as the Beautification Potion, use Unicorn hair as ingredients…” Trracey looked up from the book to squint at Holly. “You know, I don’t think it making your wand explode is a good reason to be experimenting like this… you could get hurt.”
Holly shrugged. She unwrapped the hair and breaded it around the crystal hilt instead. “It didn’t explode. It just fired, was all.” she said, and waved her wand again. This time, a knot of string popped out the end, along with several more wilted flowers. “Hmm… maybe it’s too crowded… is it in a straight line when it’s used as a wand core, or is it chorded somehow?”
Tracey sighed. Grumbled. Read from the book. “It’s straight - but Holly I really don’t think you should-”
Holly had already unraveled the hair and wrapped it around her wand the long way so it would be straighter. If this worked, she might consider cutting it to size…
“Holly, please don't-”
Holly ignored her friend and waved her wand. She wasn’t exactly sure what had happened there, only that there was a loud pop, and she was knocked to the ground. Holly huffed at her failed experiments as she picked herself up and dusted off her robes. “I wonder if I-” she decided to try the straight hair once more, but this time, she took care to pack sure the ends of the hair lined up with the tip of the wand, and the hilt of its crystal. She used a simple sticking charm to keep it in place, since she couldn’t rely on her grip or her wrappings as she had on previous tries.
“This is a bad idea…” Tracey muttered.
Holly took a moment to inspect her work before finally deciding it was straight enough, and giving her wand another wave.
Holly felt herself falling - she heard the scream…
The last thing she was was the setting sun, and then everything went black.
When she woke, it was morning and she was in the hospital wing. She sat up slowly to find Harry was completely unconscious in the cot beside hers - that was strange. Hadn’t he run off with Hermione and Ron several minutes before… she looked around frantically for her wand and unicorn hair, sighing with relief when she found them on her bedside table.
“Ah good, you’re awake.” Holly looked up to find Madam Pomfry, the school healer, walking towards her. “Drink this.” Holly was handed a potion that tasted like swamp water.
“What happened?” she asked, trying hard not to gag.
“You were found at the bottom of a flight of stairs by your friend. She brought you here. You must've hit your head.” Madam Pomfry answered, but she was staring at Holly as if she knew exactly what had happened and that it had nothing to do with a stairwell.
Holly looked away. Her gaze caught on her brother, still asleep, and she couldn’t help but wonder, “And Harry? What happened to him?”
He was covered in get-well-soon cards and chocolates and flowers. Holly’s bed was empty of such things, so he must have done something extraordinary to have all of those goodies. “It seems he managed to discover a plot by Professor Quirl and stop it. Your classmates have been filtering in all morning, leaving him gifts.”
Holly stared at Harry. He would need to do some serious explaining once he woke, but for now, Holly would let him rest. “How long do I need to stay here?” she asked, eyeing her wand.
“At least overnight. I suggest you get some rest, dear.” Madam Pomfry said.
Holly did try to sleep, truely. She wasn’t not tired. But her mind was restless.
Sometime in the afternoon, Professor Dumbledor came to the infirmary. Harry was still asleep, but starting to stir, so he sat between them and spoke with Holly. “That was very risky, Holly. Wands are fickle things.” he told her, by way of hello.
“Sir?” Holly was surprised, though, perhaps she shouldn’t be. The headmaster did seem rather omnipotent…
Dumbledor smiled at her. “Ah, indeed. I studied wand lore in my youth, you see? I can’t say I ever experimented with one though, the way you and Miss Davis were doing. May I?” he nodded at her wand, picking it and the unicorn hair up gingerly. “Interesting… what is your core, if you don’t mind me asking?”
Holly hesitated, scared she may be in trouble. But the headmaster hardly looked angry… “Dittany Stock, Sir.”
“Fascinating!” Dumbledor enthused. “I did hope you would be joining your brother, I must admit. He would have fared far better with you by his side, I’m sure. But I can see why you did not. A Unicorn Hair is a rare find indeed.” he lifted the hair to view it in the light. “Yours is not a wand made for strength, it would seem. I do think you were on to something though, Holly.”
Harry blinked open his eyes, looking between them in confusion.
“Holly, would you mind waiting with Madam Pomfry in the office? I think Harry and I need to have a little chat.” Dumbledor said, not unkindly.
To be honest, Holly was glad for the excuse to get out of bed. Her head only barely hurt and she was bored. So, she did as she was asked with little more than a shrug. “Um,” she said, as she slipped inside the little office that overlooked the hospital wing. “Professor Dumbledor asked me to wait here. Is… is there anything I can read? I’m really bored.”
Madam Pomfry glared mildly out the window at the headmaster. “See if I let him in again next time…” the healer muttered under her breath. She came around the table and pulled out her wand. “Lumos” she said, and the tip of her wand lit like a torch. “Follow the light please, dear.” she instructed, and moved the wand slowly across Holly’s field of vision. Satisfied, she let the light go out. “Any dizziness? And be truthful, now!”
“No, Ma’am.” Holly shook her head.
“Headache?” Madam Pomfry checked.
Holly shrugged. “Like two out of ten. It hurt worse for exams, to be honest.”
Madam Pomfry considered this for a moment, and then nodded to herself. She rummaged around the shelves behind her old desk, passed the supplies and ingredients, on to a lower shelf. “Ah!” she breathed, and straightened, handing a book over to Holly. A Beginner’s Guide To Healing Potions And Spells. “I keep it around for any interested students. Why don’t you give it a crack and then tell me how you like it.”
Holly nodded, found a seat on the floor in the corner of the room, and began to read.
By the time Holly was allowed to return to her bed, she was half way done with the book. And entirely invested in it. But, she was happy to put it aside if it meant finally getting to talk to her brother. “So what happened, then?” she asked, sliding under her covers and laying on her side to face him.
“Well, do you remember when we went to Gringotts and we went to that other vault and Hagrid wouldn’t tell us anything about it?” Harry began.
Over the course of the next hour he proceeded to recount a tale of magick immortality stones, mystery, three-headed dogs, and the man who had killed their parents ten years earlier being defeated by the power of love for a second time. Oh, and Professor Quirl was dead.
Their friends came to see them that evening. Tracey threatened to take Holly’s Unicorn Hair and hide it somewhere it would not be found, but she never moved to touch it. And, when they went, and Harry drifted off, and Madam Pomfry went to her own quarters (just next door) for the night, Holly took out her wand and her hair and thought over what the headmaster had said.
“Yours is not a wand made for strength, it would seem. I do think you were on to something though, Holly.”
Holly cast the sticking charm upon the hair once again, closed her eyes, and began to lace it around her wand by what felt right. When she opened her eyes, she found a crude sort of latus work and a soothing sort of warmth coming from her wand. She knew then that she was on the right path, but the rest of her experiments would have to wait until she got out of the Hospital wing.