Joel rubbed at his skin where Tessa had stung him so thoroughly, half expecting to see blood on his fingers when he drew them away.  He rolled his shoulder joint with a large windmill of his arm to make sure it wasn’t damaged from striking the wall, handing over his wand without any greater argument than a scowl.  Trying a little harder might have helped, but it was too late for that now, and Joel found himself running over what he might possibly be able to get out of his wand with the Prior Incantatem while he walked over to have another look at Lizzie and Daniel, who were quite suddenly frozen in place.  

Professor Grayson was not screwing around, apparently, and Joel turned back to Tessa as soon as the Professor instructed them to get back to work, though not without wondering whether Tucker had ever enjoyed such a thorough look under Lizzie’s skirt as the rest of the class were having.  He felt sorry for her, but not enough to cross the teacher over it.  

“So are you going to interrogate my wand or what?” he asked Tessa.  “Gonna find out all my secrets?”


JOEL WATKINS