Chapter Text
I walked back to the sweetshop, hurrying my pace. Slowly, I pushed open the door and walked inside. God, I hate bells.
Lizzie had several items in her hands and seemed to be trying to choose between them. I, of course, had the bright idea to sneak up behind her.
It did not go well.
At that moment, I discovered something unexpected. That something was that Lizzie was very good at punching people.
“Ow!” I rubbed my chin. “What was that for?”
Lizzie proceeded to apologize profusely to a degree which I considered concerning, almost as if she expected retaliation from me.
“It’s fine,” I said. I waved my new wand over it and muttered an Episkey to fix … whatever cause that pain. Now, you may think this is a stupid choice, considering that I didn’t know what had been affected specifically.
But let me counter that with one fact; explaining this to my parents would require me telling them how I sneaked off, and from what I knew, Episkey usually fixes a lot of injuries, (from what I remember of the story.).
“What is that?” Lizzie asked, with a mix of curiosity, nodding to my new wand.
Well, this was not how I expected this to go. Would she believe me if I told her that something randomly happened?
“My wand.” I responded solemnly, trying not to smile resolutely.
Lizzie raised her eyebrow. “Yeah, I know that. Why’s it purple all of a sudden?”
“Accident with some paint,” I try, attempting to muster up a veneer of confidence.
The eyebrow stays raised. “Not buying that. If you’re going to lie, do it better. It’s almost insulting how basic your attempt is.”
“I’m….not lying,” I try to keep the confidence in my tone. It falters at the end.
“So, if you washed it the colour would come off?” She said, voice quite sceptical.
“It’s waterproof paint,” I defended.
“How do you know that? Did you suddenly encounter a bout of rain on the way here?” She inquired.
Lizzie would probably be very good at interrogating suspects if she ever chose to joint the police force. Well, aurors in the magical universe.
“And why’s it specifically not on the handle?” Lizzie continued to barrage me with questions. “And…”
“Ok, fine!” I say, probably a bit louder than I should have. “I’ll tell you if you help me cover for it at home.”
Lizzie seems to ponder the pros and cons of this decision over in her head. “Fine.” She says reluctantly.
I carefully pondered over what I should reveal. “My earlier wand just suddenly stopped working,” I said. “So, I got a new one.”
“That’s it?” Lizzie says. “That’s not exciting at all!”
“It’s what happened,” I say, with a shrug.
“Although,” Lizzie mutters, contemplatively. “Why did your wand stop working?”
“I don’t know,” I say, attempting to convey an air of nonchalance. “Just stopped.”
Lizzie narrows her eyes at me, like she knows I’m lying. “I don’t think that’s it.”
“Unfortunately, that’s what it is,” I say, hands in my pockets. “I guess I just changed my mindset on things a bit and for some reason it didn’t like me anymore.”
Lizzie’s eyes widened slightly. Perhaps I had told her too much?
“What things?” She questioned, her tone that of a person who was determined to get to the truth no matter what.
I attempted to throw her off the scent. “I don’t know, maybe it’s something about Hogwarts,” I muttered.
“What about Hogwarts?” She continued to interrogate me. “Changed your mindset?”
“I…I don’t know!” I said, exasperated. Inside, I was panicking. She was close to figuring me out. “It’s the wand’s fault! It stopped working! How is it mine?”
“There’s something different with you,” Lizzie says, staring intently at my eyes. “I can’t put my finger on it yet, but something’s different.”
“Just drop it, okay? I don’t know what happened!” I threw my hands up in the air.
“Fine,” Lizzie said, folding her arms across her chest. “But I’m watching you.”
I snagged a few books from the bookstore which I thought looked interesting, before we left.
We trudged back in silence to the house. I wasn’t sure if Lizzie was trying to read my mind, but IF YOU ARE, LIZZIE GET THE HELL OUT… and…no reaction from her. So, probably not legilimency.
Lizzie did cover for me and said that my wand just stopped working midway through the trip. Surprisingly, my parents believed it.