He was about to articulate this to Bones, in case he cared why he'd asked his question in the first place, when the bushes to their right erupted with movement, and both Draco and his doggy companion jumped back in surprise.

"Come here yer bastard!" a voice rang out through the leaves, but the first thing to emerge was not a person, but a green snake, whipping through the grass at an astonishing rate.

Draco was starting to twig that everything in the whole damn place around them was green, and maybe that was a clue to their whereabouts, when his suspicions were confirmed by the appearance of a foot-high, red-nosed, pipe-smoking leprechaun.

His tunic and hat matched Bones' to the last detail, and he shook his little fist as he scrambled out of the bush after the snake. In one hand he held a miniature, metallic tankard that sloshed brown liquid over the edges as he got to his feet, but then he spotted the newcomers and stopped in his tracks.

"Well now, what do we have here?" he demanded, planting his feet and shielding his eyes with his free hand so he could peer up and down at Draco and Bones (well, mostly Draco, as the little fellow wasn't that much taller than Bones truth be told.) "You'll be looking for a pot of gold I'll guess?"

"What?" Draco spluttered inelegantly. "No, not gold, we're actually looking for-"

"Try all you like!" the leprechaun hiccupped, brandishing both his pipe and his tankard. "You'll never find old Brandon's pot, for sure now."

"We ain't looking for gold," Bones snapped, earning the leprechaun Brandon's somewhat bleary attention. "We're looking for a human by the name of Harry. Ain't that right, Sunshine?" he added, addressing Draco.

"Yes," he jumped in quickly. "He's um, a little shorter than me, black hair, green eyes, round glasses, scar shaped like a lightning bolt on his face." His insides flipped just thinking about him, which was hugely embarrassing and Draco gritted his teeth against the blush threatening to rise on his cheeks. "Hard to miss around these parts I'd imagine," he muttered, aware he knew far too many details about Harry's appearance than was probably healthy. "We think he'll have started in Christmas Land, but he could have wondered away from there by now."

Brandon squinted at him suspiciously. "And what're you doing that for then?"

"What?" asked Draco, unsure.

"Looking fer a fellow what has a bolt of lightning on his face," he said, as if that was obvious. "Sounds like trouble to me."

Draco almost opened his mouth to agree that, yes, wherever Harry bloody Potter went generally led to trouble, but he changed his mind, thinking it was probably best that in this instance, Harry's reputation didn't proceed him.

"He's not in trouble, at least I don't think so," Draco said hopefully. "But he will be if we don't find him soon." He pulled out an engraved silver pocket watch from his waistcoat and popped the case open to reveal the face. "We've got less than twelve hours to find him and make our way back up through the Lands."

That wasn't all that long, not really. Not when there was hundreds of lands to explore. If they were lucky, then maybe Harry would just still be in Christmas Land, and they could just grab him and head back up to the Living Land. Easy.

Ha, thought Draco. That would be the day.

"Twelve hours before what?" Brandon questioned, rubbing his ruddy nose.

"Never you mind," Bones snapped at him, and Draco didn't miss the way his pointed teeth flashed at the leprechaun. Brandon just sniffed indifferently though and took another swig of what Draco guessed to be ale. "You seen him, or not?"

Brandon shrugged his tiny shoulders. "How would I know, been chasing that there snake for all the morning, and the little bugger got away anyhow thanks to you."

"What did we do?" demanded Draco indignantly.

"Well you were there weren't you," scoffed Brandon as he waved his pipe at him. "Being all tall and...strange. Where did you say you were from now?"

"We didn't," Bones told him pointedly. "Alright then, half-pint, how about you take us to civilisation, or whatever passes for it around here. Maybe they'll have heard something about a newcomer." He scratched irritably at the bowtie, then shook himself. "If not, we'll just use your portal up to Crimbo Land, and leave you mad lot to your snakes."

Brandon blew a raspberry and glugged another mouthful of ale. "What's in it fer me, doggy? I should just toddle on me way and see about finding some more of those devil serpents."

Bones tilted his head, making his top hat go skew-whiff. "The Prince here will pay you."

"I will?" squeaked Draco.

"You will," affirmed Bones.

"With what, exactly?" He crouched down so he could hiss at him without Brandon hearing. "I'm not actually a prince, remember?"

"Yes," Bones whispered back even quieter. "But he don't need to know that, does he?"

They both glanced over towards Brandon, who was back to hiccupping and doing a little jig, completely unaware.

"This is true," Draco agreed.

He stood and cleared his throat. "Come along, leprechaun," he said in his most regal voice. "Take us to St Patrick's Town, and your rewards will be great."

Brandon stopped dancing, and his eyes shone as he looked up towards Draco. "Yeh promise?"

"Cross my heart," said Draco, feeling only alittle bit bad.