Chapter 1: The Wand Maker Greater than Death
"Watch out for the sparks!"
Flames burst forth from the wand in the Slytherin students hand, spraying onto the table and turning his lightly cooked steak into a smoldering piece of charcoal; the fire just missing the boy's sleeve that hung dangerously close to his wand hand. "What the-
"Evasive maneuvers!" Erik Ursus shouted to the surrounding students at his temporary spot on the Slytherin table as the other boy immediately let go of the wand and followed suit in ducking beneath the table.
A loud "Crash! Boom! Bang!" could be heard from the rampaging wand above their heads as the Hogwarts students hid from the wand usage gone bad.
"I thought you said it was a good beginner wand!" the Slytherin boy shouted at Erik as he grabbed the collar of Erik's robe.
"It is! It has a Dragon's Flint core though, so it can be a bit… temperamental," Erik said, nervously laughing at the Slytherin boy's unspoken threat to bash his face in and break the wand.
When the sounds of burning dinners stopped the students peaked their heads out of the table, they were greeted by Headmaster Minerva McGonagall looking down at them. A serving dish floated next to the old woman that had small flames occasionally peaking out of gaps as the dish attempted to suppress the wand.
"I assume you plan to take responsibility for this little 'accident' Mr. Ursus?"
The sweat that began to run down Erik's face at that moment was quite possibly the first time that Erik had truly learned to fear the old headmaster. "Yes ma'am."
Son of a proud wand making family and a homeschooled wizard till now, his fifth year, Erik Ursus had already landed himself in the headmaster's office on his first day.
"Mr. Ursus, do you realize the uniqueness of your circumstances?" Headmaster McGonagall asked Erik from behind the large desk that had sat in the Headmaster's office long enough the dust on some of the corner almost seemed to become soil in some nooks.
"Yes."
"A fifth year attending his first year of magic school at Hogwarts, in the middle of the year at that, who almost failed the practical examination and was only permitted entrance to the school because of his genius wand making capabilities. I'm sure you are quite proud of this, am I correct Mr. Ursus?"
"Ye- I mean, no ma'am."
"Good. The last thing I need is another trouble maker at this school that thinks that their unique circumstances get them out of punishment."
"That was never my intention ma'am!" Erik said as politely as he could.
"I certainly hope not. However that incident in the Grand Hall earlier will certainly not make a good impression on the other teachers, much less your fellow students."
"It was an accident! I was cleaning and polishing my latest wand, a 9" ash wand with a Dragon's Flint core that I was hoping to sell to Mr. Ollivander next week, when suddenly he said he wanted to test it out. I told him that he really shouldn't but he took the wand anyway. He wasn't compatible with the wand however, so it backfired in the Great Hall and there was nothing I could do."
"That doesn't excuse the fact that you let the wand get into his hands in the first place."
"I'm a fifth year without a house on his first day at Hogwarts, I can't help it if I get picked on."
"But you can Mr. Ursus, that's why you have magic; to complete the acts that your heart wants but your body cannot physically accomplish. You could have stopped the boy with a disarming spell, you are the wand's maker, and it will listen to you before it listens to some Slytherin boy."
"But Dragon's Flint is very temperamental, almost as bad as Veela Hair in its pickiness but its backlash is of a far higher quality. Disarming the wand before it went off would have been almost impossible."
"Why Dragon's Flint of all things? I know they call your parents pioneers of high grade wands, but I don't think I've ever heard of anyone using a wand with a Dragon's Flint core."
"It's exactly as you say, it's a very uncommon and unorthodox wand core that I have been working on lately. Dragon's Flint wands are best used for wizards that wish to tame magical beasts, especially beasts that breathe fire and the like as it can make the user invulnerable to fire, to the point where the flames simply don't burn them. However, Dragon's Flints must be extracted from the mouths of dragons, almost like declawing a tiger, and because of the increase of dragon poachers lately has been exceedingly harder to obtain."
"Well now I'm going to take it away, I'm sorry but I can't simply give it back to you and have the rest of the school think you are going to start another fire, it would reflect badly upon me as a headmaster. I will be confiscating this wand."
"No no no, please no! I promised Mr. Ollivander that I would sell it to him once it was complete! It's the only way I can make back the money I spent in getting the flint in the first place!"
Headmaster McGonagall looked down at the now dormant 9" ash wand that sat on her desk, and then back up at the earnest eyes of the young boy before her. She let out a big sigh before she put forth her compromise, "on one condition."
"What is it? Anything! You name it, I will do it!"
The woman scowled at Erik's eagerness, scolding the boy that he should compose himself properly in front of her; to which Erik's mouth slammed shut and he sat completely upright in his chair.
"The wand remains in my office, if you wish to finish the wand then you must do so here and nowhere else. As soon as the wand is complete you will take it to Ollivander's in Diagon Alley and you will sell it to him, if you cannot sell it to him once you leave school grounds then either I will break the wand myself or you will be expelled from my school. Do I make myself clear, Mr. Ursus?
"Yes ma'am!"
"Now sit and be sorted by the sorting hat," McGonagall said, gesturing to a small wooden stool in the corner of her office where a dirty old patchwork of a hat sat and snored, "you must belong to one of the four houses here at Hogwarts, and the sorting hat is the one that makes that decision."
Erik hesitated at first, only inching at first towards the hat, trying not to wake up the hat just in case it happened to be man eating. Erik's first rule of magical creatures: don't get in range of its mouth until you know what it eats.
"Don't be afraid Ursus, the grump doesn't bite," McGonagall picked up the hat and shook out some of the dust, making the hat release a few curses from its enchanted mouth that I'm sure its seamstress wouldn't have liked to hear.
Erik sat down on the stool as McGonagall placed the squirming enchanted hat on his head, the rim of the hat seeming to send tendrils of magical energy deep into his skull; probing his mind and his thoughts before drilling even further down into his heart.
"The boy is very meek, afraid and not pursuant of his goals; his courage is almost non-existent. He doesn't have any particular dreams and merely sees himself as 'existing' instead of truly 'living' his life. At the same time, he is not a deviant, he doesn't mean to cause harm and has no particular cunning; only good intentions live in his heart. Truly a bland character if I do say so… but he does have one particular trait that I can see an answer in."
Erik looked up at the face of the hat that at first frowned and seemed to suck Erik's soul straight out through its vacant eyes, but the next instant it smiled and Erik felt like he was filled with warmth and belonging.
"Ravenclaw. That would be a good place for him. Although he doesn't have a particular end in sight; perhaps that is a good thing. Let the boy grow his talents without a ceiling, let the wands he makes rival even that of the Elder wand."
"You lousy hat!" McGonagall shouted, "Just what do you think you are telling this child?"
"Something he already knows he can do, truly the only dream that he has, the dream of wand maker to make the best wand in existence. He won't let a mere title like the "Elder Wand" limit his potential. No, if Death feared the Elder wand, then this young man will make Hades himself withdraw from the wand that he makes. Welcome to Hogwarts, Erik Ursus."