HP: I got Transmigrated into the World of Magic [Chapter 105: isaz runes! ] (Patreon)

"I think he's interested in Daphne, like everybody else. He confides in me more than her, but he's never talked about or shown much romantic interest in either of us."

"What about you?"

She blushes. "I'd rather not talk about it. But Daphne is the same way as he is." Tracey looks at me askance. "She hasn't said it, but I think she likes you."

"She does, she told me a little bit ago," I say with a smirk.

This causes her to miss a step again, though luckily we're turning the other way this time so my foot is moving in the opposite direction. "She what?"

"Yeah, I think my gift of truth rubbed off on her a bit," I say, still laughing. "I don't know if she likes me that way, but..."

"So are you going to ask her..." her brows knit together. "...but what about Granger? The way you guys..." she trails off, looking confused.

I sigh heavily. "Unfortunately we are not and will not be together. In either case, if Daph does turn out to like me that way."

"Why not?"

I'm quiet for a moment, trying to figure out what to say. I really don't want to go into it again, especially because Astoria will probably ask, too. 

"Secrets," I say. She cocks her head and looks at me strangely but says nothing. After a minute of continued silent and somewhat mechanical waltzing, the earlier thought of Astoria triggers a feeling of odd discomfort. 

Then it hits me. "Oh yeah! I knew I was forgetting something!"

"What?"

"I meant to thank Daphne and Astoria for the gifts," I say. "Did they, um, mention what I made them?"

She cocks her head back in surprise. "You made their gifts?"

"Ah, yeah, well..." I trail off, my face turning red.

"They didn't mention them," she says softly.

My heart sinks. "Well, that's to be expected, I suppose. They're probably used to much nicer."

"I'm sure they were just distracted since I told them about coming here as soon as they got in," she offers.

"Mm," I say, trying to avoid speaking so I don't have to try and keep the disappointment out of my voice. After a few more moments, the song ends. "Thank you for the dance, Ms. Da—"

"Tracey," she corrects me.

"Tracey, I mean," I say with a smile. She smiles back and gives a little curtsey before marching toward Blaise to demand a dance. I head over to Daphne, who had sat out that song after convincing the Slytherin boy to dance. 

"Hey Daphne, I forgot to thank you for my gift...I didn't get a chance to look through the book much, because thanks to Hermione they have a 'no reading at the tree' rule since we'd never get through our piles. But it looks wonderful, thank you."

She chuckles when I describe the rule. "I'm glad you like it." Then her face turns serious and she speaks quietly. 

"I thought you said you just made a silly thing...but none of those things you made were silly. The frame is beautiful; it must have taken you forever."

I blush at her obviously sincerity. "Well the picture deserved a good frame."

She snorts. "I can't believe you actually got a picture of that. You planned that whole conversation, didn't you?"

I smile victoriously. "Well, I positioned us properly and told him to catch your smile. The rest was left to chance."

"Chance...perth."

"Just so."

She smiles at me and shakes her head. "And paired with gebo...that is exceedingly clever considering that he caught you fake begging and me turning around."

I smile sadly. "I gambled, hoping you'd take it that way. The other way..." Her smile fades. "I do wish—"

"Don't say it," she cuts in, holding her hand up to stave off my wish that things could be different. "Just don't. Thank you for the medallion as well. I assume you think that was clever as well?"

I chuckle softly. "I once heard somebody refer to you as the Ice Queen, hence the tiara with isaz runes."

She arches an eyebrow. "Ice Queen? Very funny. And I suppose the kaunan on the back represents you, to melt my frozen heart?"

"I'm sure you must be reading too much into it," I say with a wide grin.

"I'm sure," she says in a way that clearly means she doesn't believe me. "And the stones? I thought you made all of your gifts?"

"I did."

Her eyes widen. "How did you—?"

"How did he do what?" Astoria asks as she joins us.

"He made those lantern and shield ward stones himself," Daphne says, not taking her eyes off me.

The younger girl's eyes widen in shock as well, making me blush. "That's...that's..."

"Well, I wanted to give you both something useful, since I couldn't make the carvings do anything," I say with an embarrassed shrug.

"That's really impressive, William. Really," she says sincerely, causing me to blush deeper, which in turn causes her to smile. "Speaking of the carvings, did you realize the meaning behind Astoria's pendant?" Daphne asks. "Your note to her didn't mention it."

I'm surprised to see Astoria pull it out from under her robe. A relatively thick, blackened snake curls protectively around around a large, pale egg; the neck of the snake lifts up off the top of the egg, drops back down to touch the tip, then lifts back up. 

A small algiz rune is carved in the bottom of the egg. 

There is a long, thin black string that is threaded through the loop formed by the snake's neck and then disappears under her robes.

"I don't remember," I say honestly, "it came to me when I was trying to decide what to carve, and the idea just wouldn't leave me alone. I didn't have a lot of time, so I went with it."