[As promised to a certain Pirate Captain, Hermione is hard at work, attempting to carve a reasonable wand shape from a hunk of wood. Needless to say, it isn't easy work. She keeps breaking twigs and cutting her fingers on the splintered edges.]

Oh bollocks... [Bringing a cut finger to her lips, she suppresses a frustrated sigh.] I've never heard of a wood carving spell, but after working with this, I'm almost positive one exists. Otherwise wand-makers would be covered in splinters.

[To make matters worsemore interesting, she has no clue what to choose for a core. It's not like unicorns, phoenixes or dragons were -

Her eyes widen. There is a dragon in the village. But asking him for a heart-string would be awful.

Though if he were willing to part with a scale, she might be able to work with that...]

How does one ask a dragon for a scale?