Under the Willow Tree | Draco Malfoy

chapter 2: who's nott?

Lorelei Jones | 2nd Year

A second time on the train to Hogwarts, and a second time that Lorelei was riding alone. It wasn't fun to sit alone last year, but she had assumed that she would soon make friends, and that things would be different by her second year. However, now she was trying to find an empty compartment to sit by herself once again. Her roommates had crammed a bunch of the Hufflepuff boys from their year into their compartment, and there wasn't room for her. It was alright by Lorelei; it wasn't like this was the first time things like this had happened. All the Hufflepuffs in her year were quite close, so it was bound to happen that there wouldn't be enough room for everyone.

As Lorelei was wandering about the train in search of an empty compartment, she found a lonesome wand rolling about on the ground. She panicked and scooped it up off the floor. Merlin! How had someone lost a wand before they had even arrived at Hogwarts?

With this unfamiliar wand in hand, she now had a new mission that would distract her from her inability to find a seat. She knocked on all the nearby compartments and asked everyone if the wand was theirs, but everyone shook their head after looking at it.

Everyone could tell straight away that it wasn't theirs, and Lorelei understood why. It wasn't one she had ever seen before. It had an intricate pattern carved into the wood and a study grip with smooth stones and black metal on the end.

Nevertheless, Lorelei kept trying.

After knocking on many compartments and receiving numerous snide glances, Lorelei was about to quit her journey to find the wand's owner. Maybe she would just give it to Professor McGonagall or to Dumbledore. Surely, they would be able to find the student faster than she could. Just as soon as these defeated thoughts came into her head, an unfamiliar black-haired girl moved past Lorelei on her way back to the Slytherin section of the train. It was the only section that Lorelei hadn't searched extensively yet.

"Wait!" Lorelei called before the girl could get too far away. When the older Slytherin turned around and glanced at Lorelei curiously, she lifted the wand and asked, "Do you know who's wand this is? I found it on the floor, and no one has a clue who it belongs to."

The Slytherin girl didn't say a word. She instead stepped closer to inspect the wand. She gently took the wand from Lorelei and looked at the unique handle. Lorelei watched her do so quietly, hoping that the girl could help.

"I'm quite certain this belongs to Nott," the girl said. She put the wand back in Lorelei's hand. "I would ask him."

"Who's Nott?" Lorelei asked while she too inspected the wand.

The dark-haired girl put a hand on the nearby wall when the train shifted around a bend and nearly made her lose her balance. She steadied herself and smiled at Lorelei after. "That's Theodore Nott, a Slytherin in my year. Come with me, and I'll point out their compartment on my way back to my own."

Lorelei happily obliged and followed her. She quietly fell into step with the girl, but she soon broke their comfortable silence by saying, "My name's Lorelei by the way."

"Briar Davies," the other girl replied with a subtle lift of her eyebrows.

"What year are you in?"

When a group of rowdy Gryffindor boys went running past the pair, Lorelei had to quickly shuffle out of the way, but Briar seemed to be waiting for Lorelei to step back up beside her before answering. Briar's steps had slowed down considerably, and a fire had lit behind her eyes, but Lorelei didn't see this from her temporary position behind Briar.

"I'm a third year," Briar said while subtly shooting daggers at the Gryffindor boys that had spooked the younger Hufflepuff.

"It's my second year!" Lorelei chirped. Briar thought that Lorelei's chipper attitude certainly fit with the Hufflepuff stereotype, but something about the way Lorelei's shoulders seemed to slouch as if being weighed down, and the way her eyes blinked heavily as if begging for sleep, resonated with Briar.