Canary Creams and New Yellow Paint - (DRARRY)

Chapter Fourteen

~

Dear Mister Scorpius Malfoy,

We appreciate your letter and understand your concern. However, for more than 200 years, North Moor has been uninhabited by Beings. We also have no record of Wallygagglers existing in the magical world, though they have been featured in many wonderful children's stories.

When the Ministry determined which creatures qualified as Beings in 1811, many until-then-unknown species stepped forward to participate in the shaping of laws in magical Britain. The Wallygagglers were not one of those species, nor have they made themselves known to any reliable source since then. Because of this, if they exist at all, Wallygagglers are officially classified as Beasts, meaning they have no legal right to the land which they inhabit.

If you would like to address the issue further, please take it up with Conservation of Magical Creatures in the Beasts Division.

Thank you for contacting the Wizengamot,
Undersecretary Prosymina

~

Slowly, Draco sets down the letter and removes his reading glasses. The light of a candle flickers at the slight movement, warping Scorpius's shadow as he paces restlessly across the far end of the room.

Finally, he stops, looking at Draco expectantly. "Well?"

"Well ... it's very unfortunate. Have you contacted the head of the Conservation Department yet?"

"There is no Conservation Department! There's a couple of blokes in overpressed robes who like to argue with the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures all day — only to go out to a Quidditch match together after — but there is no Conservation Department!"

"I can hear you perfectly well without all the shouting."

"Aghhh!" Scorpius says. "Sorry. I'm going to hex the bloody Undersecretary until her teeth fall out."

"How innovative. You might want to aim a little higher than the Undersecretary, though. I highly doubt she's responsible."

"I'm less likely to be arrested if I don't curse the Chief Warlock himself."

"Of course. Carry on."

"The Wallygagglers couldn't make themselves known! They can't leave the moor! And how could there be Beings when they smoked them all out with their enchanted water?"

"Well, you've got your eyewitness accounts now. I know you didn't want to implicate them in the initial letter in case things took a turn, but I think it might be time."

"Obviously, yes, I know. You're not being helpful," Scorpius grumps.

"You'll have to forgive me, seeing as I'm not a Legilimens, and you haven't told me what you want me to say. Have you asked your mother?"

"She told me to get stuffed."

Draco holds back a snort. "Yes, that does sound like her. Just in case I decide to fact-check this later, what she actually said was...?"

"Go home until her headache potion kicks in."

"Ah."

"What do I do? I need to prove they're real, then get them transferred to Being status, then—"

"One thing at a time."

"They're dying! I don't exactly have time to waste."

Draco sighs. Scorpius is right. He hates what that means: that Potter is right too. They have to do this. They owe it to the Wallygagglers to try, even if it blows up in their faces.