Many thanks to my beta Bunnyhops, and to Shinigamioni and Shadowchsr, who helped me finish this chapter. Also, thanks to MistressMalfoy of GE, who had to add a whole category for this story.

Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters and canon Potter Verse belong to JK Rowling and associates.

Chapter 1

Diagon Alley was, as per usual for a sunny day in July, bustling with summer-time shopping. Everywhere one turned, one could hear shop owners hawking their wares, hyperactive children whining at their parents, said parents reprimanding their children for whining.

There were, however, two places in which these sounds were not to be heard. One such shop, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, would ordinarily be the center of the commotion and noise, and today was no different from the norm; the reason that these everyday sounds could not be heard was that the Weasley twins were currently giving a demonstration of their newest wares: the "Double Dragonfire Fireworks (patent pending): Opaleye Edition." All that could be heard within the limits of the property was the fizzing, whistling, and banging emanating from the fireworks. Verity was forced to employ the use of an Auto-Answer Quill in order to communicate the prices of items to customers.

The other shop had an entirely different reason for the lack of noise. Ollivander's Wand Shop was rarely witness to such rambunctious activity, other than the pre-school shopping rush. Of course, there was the odd wizard or witch who walked in needing a repair or a replacement for their wand, or the occasional parent with a Hogwarts bound child, wanting to beat the August rush. Today, there had been one repair request as well as two early school shoppers and a custom carving order from the Malfoy family. Apparently, Narcissa wanted a new rune added to her wand.

All in all, this was a normal day in the shop, including the special order from the Malfoys. This normal day, however, was about to become a bit, well, less normal.

The sound of an explosion soon rang out along the street, making the cacophony in front of the Weasley's shop seem small, followed by the sound of incensed cursing. Shoppers who frequented Diagon Alley were accustomed to random explosions, but they were not expecting any to come from the end of the street on which Ollivander's was located. Especially considering the identity of the person who Mr. Ollivander had taken on as an apprentice.

Hermione Granger was sitting at one of the workbenches in the back of the wand shop, covered in soot and seething, glowering at the sparking wand in front of her. She had just closed the incision she used to insert the new wands core, and immediately she had a face full of cinders.

"I thought Palm wands were supposed to be docile!" Hermione cried as her mentor finally reentered the room from the front of the shop. She had read through her books several times and nowhere had she seen references to Palm wood wands reacting badly to a phoenix feather core.

Mr. Ollivander nodded in agreement. "Generally speaking, they are."

The wand sparked and popped again, as if to deny the previous statement.

"Very curious," said Ollivander as Hermione glared at the new wand as if it had said something offensive.

The bell in the front of the shop rang, signaling the arrival of a customer. As Hermione was getting to her feet to meet the customer, leaving Ollivander to study the oddly behaving wand, she heard a clomp and shouting from outside, the tell-tale sounds of visiting Weasleys.

"Fred! George!How many times do we have to tell you to warn us if you're going to experiment?" Hermione heard Mr. Blott's voice floating in the door. "The explosions are disturbing our customers!"

"It wasn't us," said Fred, sounding much closer. They were standing on the stoop outside the door.

"We didn't do it this time," George continued. "Honest!" they intoned together.

"If it wasn't you, then who..." the shopkeeper trailed off, finally realizing that the smoking entryway they were standing in front of was not that of their own shop. "Ollivander's?"

Hermione went to the door and peered out. Ever since the shop was moved to its new location between Eeylops Owl Emporium and Moriarty's Magical Instruments, Hermione had been on good terms with the owners of the busier shops in Diagon Alley. Mr. Blott had an odd look on his face, half of irritation at the commotion and half of concern, now knowing from where the explosion issued. Mr. Flourish was peering out from the window in his first-floor office.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Blott. I just finished assembling a new wand and the core reacted strangely with the wood. Is everything alright?"

"Yes, yes, everything is fine," Mr. Blott responded, waving has hand dismissively. "One of the displays moved about a foot to the left, but that was easily remedied. Are you unharmed, dear girl? That sounded like quite the explosion."

"Everything is fine here. Mr. Ollivander is investigating why the wand reacted the way it did."

Suddenly another, larger, explosion rocked the street, causing all of the owls next door to wake up and start squawking in complaint, the shattering of glass and subsequent cursing from the magical instruments shop, and half of the inventory in the wand shop to fall off the shelves and out of their boxes. Smoke began to pour out of the doorway with even more gusto.

"That definitely wasn't us," George commented as they regained their equilibrium. Fred nodded and then jumped again when Hermione gasped.

"Oh no."

She ran back inside the shop, intent on finding her mentor and making sure he was in one piece. When she reached the back room, she saw the destruction; the plaster on the walls had begun to fall off the wall studs, shelves were in pieces, wands and wand materials were scattered everywhere, the workbench singed and smouldering. Nowhere did she see her mentor.

"Mr. Ollivander?" she cried, "Mr. Ollivander, are you alright? Are you here?"

A soft groan issued from the corner, underneath a pile of formerly boxed wands. Hermione immediately scurried to the corner to help the man up from where he was thrown by the blast.

She unburied the man from the large quantity of boxes and helped him sit up. "Sir, are you alright? Do you remember what..." she trailed off. "Who are you?"

Sure enough, the man she was half supporting was not the same man she had left behind when she went to the front of the shop. This man looked to be about thirty years old, despite his long white hair.

"What are you talking about, Hermione?" the man asked sounding puzzled. "I am exactly who I was five minutes ago."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "And who is that, exactly?"

The man frowned. "This is a strange way to figure out whether or not I have a concussion, Hermione."

Now Hermione began to get impatient. "Sir, please answer the question. I need to find Mr. Ollivander and—"

The man's eyes widened in surprise. "What are you talking about?" he asked again. "I amZeno Ollivander."

Yes, I have given Mr. Ollivander a name. I noticed that he didn't have a given name in the books and that just doesn't work for me. I shall give you a small blurb about his namesake.

"After the conquests of Alexander, the world was larger than ever, and the city-state had ceased to be an important political unit. Like Diogenes of Sinope and Epicurus, Zeno of Citium (336-264 BCE) ignored traditional values like prestige and honor, and focused on man's inner peace. In his view, this was reached when a person accepted life as it was, knowing that the world was rationally organized by the logos. A man's mind should control his emotions and body, so that one could live according to the rational principles of the world. It has often been said that Zeno's ideas combine Greek philosophy with Semitic mysticism, but except for his descent from a Phoenician town on Cyprus and an interest in (Babylonian) astronomy, there is not much proof for this idea. This philosophy, called Stoicism, became very influential under Roman officials."

I then thought it might be funny if he had a name that sounded a bit like part of Xenophilius Lovegood's name.