It'd been a whim.
That was really it.
Just a spur of the moment decision.
She'd seen this guy, who she'd only seen occasionally when he tried to learn how to work metal but only managed to make an ass out of himself and wasting materials that could be put to better use elsewere, largely without even trying. It had been laughable really. She remembered getting into a good mood whenever he'd shown up. That was the only reason she even knew about him at all.
So when he'd shown up on the Quidditch field and proceeded to made a spectacle of himself, demonstrating on the way that he had solved an age-long quest of many an enchanter and spell-makers, the secret of true flight, it had seemed a good idea to strike up some sort of mutually beneficial working arrangement with this guy. He obviously wanted to learn how to work metal for some purpose, a skill she possessed in abundance, so some form of trade could likely be made for her to gain access to his knowledge of enchanting, something she found herself struggling with.
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
And truthfully it had proven to have been a good one. She'd admit that she'd benefited hugely from his help.
She just wished Drew wasn't so very… Drew.
Sometimes she seriously wondered if he was entirely sane. His moods and manners were mercurial, shifting from one to the other without much warning. She could never be sure what would trigger it. He could sit quietly for hours just diligently working on one of his many projects only to suddenly drop it to come and needle her over something stupid. He could go from acting like her little brother one second, spouting nonsense and taking nothing she said seriously, to then turn and then turn and display the same brooding intensity she often saw in her mother.
In those times he seemed so old and tired. And so very, very sad.
It never failed to send shivers up her spine. She'd seen that look on some of the older members of her people, it didn't belong on the face of someone her age.
She knew there were secrets there; there were things he wasn't telling her. She wasn't stupid. She just couldn't figure what it could be. He had shown her so many things already, things that no one knew and things that had been lost to legend. What could top the Resurrection Stone, or the Room of Requirement? Or any of the number of secrets he had shown her all across Hogwarts? She even helped him make some of their own. It burned in her mind. What secret did he hold that was greater than that?
How did he know these things?
Who was he?
She wanted to know.
She had tried asking, but he would just make fun of her and then start to poke into her own past with outrageous zeal. He was like that a lot, outrageous, unrestrained and uncaring of… pretty much everything that didn't in some way connects to whatever his latest obsession happened to be.
It was immensely frustrating.
A feeling one got intimately familiar with when dealing with Drew for any length of time. He enjoyed driving people spare about as much as he likes to tinker with magic. You grew a thick skin quickly and no two ways about it.
Not that there weren't benefits to putting up with him... Quite substantial ones as she had found out almost immediately. The wealth of knowledge he possessed in charms and potions, his access to facilities that normal student couldn't dream of, both those he had created himself and those that could be provided by the Room of Requirement and the materials found in the Room of Hidden Things.
He shared it all with her without compunction, teaching her what he knew. He had started with meditation and mnemonics and then moved on to occlumancy. Once he felt that she had her mind sufficiently in order he had started to instruct her in what he knew of enchanting. It had been slow going so far as she had trouble wrapping her head around some of the vagaries of the craft. But his relentless badgering and her own desire to match some of the things she'd seen Drew working on drove her on.
He had started to teach her other things as well… how to lie… how to tell the truth… how to shape the perception of those around you to what you want. He called it Kayfabe. It made her wonder if she was even looking at the real Drew.
And then there was the Stone.
She had been astonished that he had even revealed it to her after he'd explained to her what it did. She would not have done so, had the situation been reversed. She would have hoarded it and guarded it jealously, showing it to no one. It would have been her treasure, only revealed and passed down to her chosen heir sometime in the far future. She would certainly not show it to some stranger she'd just met.
He was a fool.
A trusting fool.
Not for the first time she wished she was the kind of person that would take advantage of that. It would be so very easy to steal it and kill him. She could do it. It would be so easy… so easy to stoop to the same low the goblins did when they took all that the dwarves had. Yes… she could take it… she just had to give up all the things she aspired to be for something that she was already benefitting from already and that was shared with her freely.
He was still stupid though.
She supposed that she couldn't complain too much about it seeing as that foolishness opened the door for her to potentially realize something that she knew was at best a pipe dream before. Even with being the first dwarf to ever have gained the ability to cast magic as wizards could, and with her royal lineage, there was little chance that the scattered dwarves would gather to her in any large numbers. There was little she herself could offer, save the promise that her offspring might carry the gift as well. But with the Stone… with the stone, she could offer their lost heritage, their lost magic.
The Ember.
The secret power of the Dwarves… and the Goblins. Alfrigg had told her that ancient legends held it as a remnant from when they had first sprung forth from the molten stone that had first birthed the first dwarves. The first of the dwarves had been beings of stone and metal with hearts of fire with which they could shape the world around them. It was the remnant of this that had become the Ember. It allowed the dwarves to infuse metal and stone with power and intent.
Lys didn't hold much stock in the legend, but the existence of the power itself was true so she didn't feel like making an issue of it, and with the help of her illustrious ancestor she had started the slow and difficult process of transforming that ember into a flame she would eventually be able to use and one day hopefully be able to teach to her fellows.
It was the foundation stone. From that, with a bit of luck and some care, she would be able to build something great for the dwarven people.
With that thought in mind, she opened the door to Drew's workshop and walked in unannounced as was her wont. A quick look around and she was able to locate the owner of said room, he was sitting hunkered over something over by his leatherworking station. His two animal companions with him, the Raven and the Cat, who were fighting again.
She still felt a remnant of the surprise she had felt when he had first introduced his three companions, along with that strange house-elf of his, and told her what they were. Not that he was the first one that had ever thought to create something like them, or better. Wizard and witches through the ages had tried to create servants that could take care of menial tasks that they couldn't be bothered with. The problem was that the materials they had access to, stone and wood weren't good materials for what they intended. Hands made of wood or stone did not lend themselves to dexterity, and their ability to get a good grip without damaging whatever they were holding was… difficult. Some had tried to remedy that with the use of leather in the form of gloves, but while it somewhat solved the griping problem, it made the hands clumsier. Reducing the size of the fingers to compensate made them brittle and liable to crack and the gloves needed to be constantly replaced as they wore out.
Drew had none of these problems because he used a muggle material he called silicone, a material that somewhat mimicked the feel and properties of flesh which neatly sidestepped most of the issue previously faced and while the three needed some basic maintenance every now and again it didn't compare to the problems facing their predecessors. Lys had to admit that she was a bit excited by the prospect of what Drew had planned for the material going forward.
As she approached his workspace her eyes fell on what was laying on the desk beside him. It was like twin waterfalls, one of silver and the other, smaller one, gold. It wasn't hard to place what it was. Unicorn hair… a fortune's worth of unicorn hair. By the amount she'd estimate that there was at least five tails worth of silver hair, and probably as much of the smaller golden pile. Now, unicorns weren't the rarest of creatures and not the most aggressive against people either. But they had earned their XXXX rating fairly. They did not like it when someone tried to pluck them like a chicken. You'd be lucky if they just decided to bolt, else wise you would be introduced to their horn. Something that was far harder to avoid then one might think thanks to their speed.
Which was another thing? Capturing a unicorn without killing it was hard unless you had a special repport with the beast. Something she knew Drew didn't have, his friendship with Hagrid none withstanding. And even should Hagrid have corralled them they were unlikely to have allowed someone to take any hairs, and definitely not from their foals. Unicorns were very protective of their foals, anyone trying to take any hair was liable to get gored. Petting was fine, but you when anywhere near their butt with a pair of clippers and all bets were off.
"What the hell have you done?!" She exclaimed.
Drew jumped and gave a startled yelp before seeing that it was here and giving her a smile. "Hey Lys, how ya doin'?"
"Where the bloody hell did you get all that unicorn hair?!"
Drew shrugged. "The Forbidden Forest of course, where else? There is a big ass herd in there you know."
"Please tell me you didn't kill all of them." She implored.
Drew rolled his eyes. "Oh please, like I'm that stupid. They are fine, a bit pissed off probably, but fine."
Lys sighed in relief. She didn't really think he'd have done something like that, not really. But you never knew with Drew. He might have gone off the deep end when she wasn't looking. "Well, that's good. That still doesn't answer how you got it though?"
Lys frowned as Drew gave her a truly shit-eating grin before answering. "Well, as it turns out, being able to both fly and have your hands free, plus having a pair of additional hands…." He pointed to a pair of disembodied hands lying on the ground. "…makes it relatively easy to shave the ass of even the wiliest of sparkly horsies! Even when they are running around in the forest… and through a Centaur encampment... and then there was this albino wolf, a fox and a raven that was a whole thing..."
"Oh, didn't think of that… What! Centaur encampment!?" She yelled in his face.
Drew recoiled in disgust. "Hey, if you're gonna spray, please turn your head.
"Are you insane!"
"Only a little?" He answered mock-thoughtfully before he had to fend off her attempt to throttle him. "Oh calm down, I was disillusioned and had a scent canceling charm on. They have no idea it was me."
"And when they come to complain to the school?"
Drew snorted. "With what proof?"
Lys pointed to the pile of unicorn hair.
"Like I can't hide that." Drew snorted. "I'll just leave it in the Room of Hidden Things and no one will ever find it. Problem solved."
Lys could just stare at the smug little shit incredulously. "You are unbelievable."
Drew had the nerve to wink at her. "You know it."
Lys groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose before eying the pile of unicorn hair again. "What are you gonna use it for anyway?"
Drew just shrugged his shoulders lazily. "Dunno."
There was a long moment of silence again as Lys processed that. She closed her eyes and took a deep steadying breath before looking at the smiling teen again and asked. "Why?"
"I was bored." Was his frank unapologetic response. "They are bound to be useful for something, right?"
"You are unbelievable…"