Chapter One
The Son of Ollivander
You've all heard of Mr Ollivander, the famous wand maker. He has the memory that can remember every wand that he's ever sold and to whom. But, what most people don't know about him is that he was married. Yes, married. About fourteen Years ago, next June. And, from that marriage, Mr Ollivander had two sons. One, he formally named Terrence (Terry for short) Waymous Ollivander. This is his story (hence the title of the story is Terry Ollivander and the Plunderer's Eye, not Mr Ollivander and the Plunderer's Eye).
Terry Ollivander sat at the bay window of his bedroom, which sat over his father's wand shop. He watched the street of Diagon Alley. He watched all the witches and wizards hustle and bustle their way to the different shops. He watched the horizon and a tiny flock of birds that flew out of a tree.
He felt bored. Life on Diagon Alley could be lackluster to those who had spent their entire life there. As a young boy, Terry enjoyed going into all the stores. He enjoyed walking into Quality Quidditch Supplies to see the latest brooms. Occasionally he would find himself in Flourish and Blotts reading up on interesting hexes and curses. Weasley Wizard Wheezes: Jokes of All Kinds was always worth a visit. And Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream parlor always had the most interesting flavors of ice cream like iced pumpkin juice, fairy dust, and liquid honeysuckle. But, after eleven Years, the glamour of living in Diagon Alley soon lost its appeal.
Terry continued to stare out his window and he noticed an owl swooping over the buildings. He cleared a couple of strands of long blonde hair out of his face to see more clearly. He expected it to go into one of the shops. It didn't. Maybe it was just passing through and would move onto another town. It wasn't. Possibly, it was heading for Terry. It was. The owl aimed its head toward the window. Terry unlatched the lock and leapt back as the owl shot into the room and landed on Terry's bed.
Terry had never received mail before, unless you count the letters from his grandmother, so you can imagine how excited he was. At first glance, he could tell it wasn't from his grandmother. The owl was a handsome barn owl and his grandmother owned a tawny. He made his way quickly toward the bird, took the letter, and saw that it was addressed to:
Mr T Ollivander
Front Bedroom
Upstairs
Suite 27
Diagon Alley
The letters on the envelope shone in bright emerald ink. He turned the letter over to see the seal. A lion, a serpent, an eagle, and a badger were all given an equal space surrounding a giant letter "H."
"Hogwarts," muttered Terry under his breath, astonished. He opened the letter. It read:
Hogwarts School
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: Harry Potter
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Founder and member of the Defense Academy (D.A.), Chf. Warlock, Ex-Auror, Member of the International Confed. of Wizards
Dear Mr Ollivander
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.
Yours sincerely,
Hermione Granger-PotterHermione Granger-Potter,
Deputy Headmistress
Terry had never been so happy before in his life. He had heard a lot about Hogwarts from his mother and father and had always wanted to go. Then, it hit him. He would tell his parents (he had better if he actually considered going). Just as Terry was heading to his bedroom door, it swung open. Mr Ollivander had come to talk to him. Terry noticed that his best suit was donned.
"Terry, your mother and I have been called to the Ministry of Magic in London. I need you to watch the shop. Just for an hour or so," said Mr Ollivander in his usual soft voice. His usually poofy hair was sleek where he had tried to tame it, but nothing doing.
"Okay, but you will never guess what happened. I got—" he was cut off. A tiny tinny of a bell rang, magically magnified so the Ollivanders could hear it wherever they were in the shop or house.
"Busy, busy, busy! This day has been hectic! It's the end of summer and the new Hogwarts kids are getting their wands. Terry, this really is urgent. If you could take care of the customer while your mother and I are out, we would really appreciate it. You can tell me the good news when we get back. See you soon!" There was a loud pop! and Mr Ollivander was gone. Another shortly followed it, which meant Mrs Ollivander had gone too.
"Hello? Mr Ollivander?" said a voice from downstairs. The voice sounded as though it belonged to a boy in his adolescents.
"Must be the customer," thought Terry. He exited his room, went down the hall, down the creaky wooden stairs, and into a stuffy room with shelves piled with thin, narrow boxes upon thin, narrow boxes. At once, Terry spotted two boys. One was a couple inches taller than him with well-kept glossy black hair. He looked very dignified in his round glasses. The other had freckles and the same shiny black hair but wore it more disorganized. Terry was taller than the second boy.
"Yes—um, is your father in at the moment?" asked the taller boy.
"I'm sorry; he's in London at the moment. I'm covering for him. What do you need?" said Terry, standing up straighter to look more official.
"My little brother here, Travis, needs his first wand," said the tall boy. "He'll be starting at Hogwarts next week."
Next week? He was right. September 1st was the following Wednesday.
The smaller boy waved nervously at Terry, obviously scared by the whole process. Terry realized that he would be a classmate with Travis.
"Alright, we'll need to take some measurements." At this, a measuring tape rose in the air off the counter where the old tarnished cash register was and flung itself at Travis. Travis flinched, but the tape stopped inches from him and started to measure him everywhere.
As this continued, Terry walked over to the taller boy and said: "May I see your wand? I need to see the wood and core for a guide line for him," he nodded his head toward Travis who was now having the bridge of his noise being measured and was crossing his eyes trying to see what it was doing.
The taller boy handed him the wand and Terry examined it. He had been taught at a young age to recognize the different woods and cores in the wands. This particular wand was an reed and unicorn hair wand. Around fifteen and a half inches.
Terry looked through the never-ending supply of wands. He found one that might work and opened the box. Willow and unicorn hair. Thirteen inches. It could work. Terry took the wand out of the box and handed it to Travis, who was now holding the limp tape measure. They exchanged their items and Terry tossed the tape back over his shoulder onto the counter. Travis was still holding the wand, but Terry snatched it away and boxed it again. He tried another. This time it was made of ebony and had a phoenix feather core and was ten inches long. Travis held it, but no luck.
The process continued. Each wand was put back in its place and Travis would try another. After what seemed like half an hour, Terry pulled out a hawthorn wand with phoenix feather and thirteen and three quarter inches long. As soon as Travis put the wand in his hand, blue and silver stars blasted from the end. Terry gave a small smile. Travis looked very pleased with himself and grinned from ear to ear. The tall boy applauded loudly.
"Very good. That wand is great for transfiguration. It's also very accurate," Terry told them. The property of wands was yet another lesson his father gave him. "That'll be seven Galleons."
The smiles faded from both the tall boy's and Travis's faces.
"I'm a bit new to the wizarding money, but isn't that a little steep?" Travis asked.
"No, wands are essential at Hogwarts," the taller boy said. He began to rummage in this pocket for some gold coins. "Believe me. And Ollivander's sells them cheap. I've heard that some wand-maker in France sells his wands for ten galleons, so you get your money's worth" He placed the coins on the counter.
Terry picked them up and hit the register with his fist. The register clanged and shot the tray out at Terry and he placed the coins in it and turned to Travis.
"I'll need your wand back. I need to take a record of it for my dad."
Travis reluctantly gave his newfound treasure to Terry and Terry wrote down the proportions of the wand on a browning parchment. Terry placed the wand back in its home, wrapped it brown paper, and handed it back to Travis.
"Come, Travis. We still need to head to the Apothecary. And you need your cauldron," said the taller boy. But Travis had a look of decision on his face.
"Actually, Gary, I was wondering if I could stay here withuh" he was lost for words. Terry had never told them his name. "Oh! Sorry," Terry said apologetically. "My name's Terry. Terry Ollivander." He held out his hand and both Travis and Gary shook it.
"Like I was saying, I was wondering if I could stay with Terry for a while," Travis implored. He turned to Terry. "If you don't mind," he added.
"No. I wouldn't mind." Terry smiled.
"Well, alright. Give me your list. I'll get your school things. I need to drop by Flourish and Blotts. I ripped a page out of my copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration. I'll be back in about half an hour." Gary left the shop and soon was lost in the crowd.
"So, Terry," Travis tried to start conversation, "how old are you?"
"I'm eleven," Terry replied. "I'll be twelve in September."
"Cool. I turned eleven in June. Have you gotten your letter from Hogwarts yet?" Travis asked, still trying to shoot-the-breeze.
"Just this morning. My dad got a call from the Ministry of Magic and had to leave. I haven't gotten a chance to tell him yet."
They continued to chat for another ten minutes. It turned out that Travis had Muggle parents and that Gary was only a Year older than the two of them, which surprised Terry who thought the older of the two seemed to have the maturity of at least a fifteen-Year-old.
"Yeah, Gary's always been—how can I put this politely—ambitious. Always got the top grades, he did."
Terry was going to tell Travis that he was an only child but there were two more loud pops! Mr and Mrs Ollivander were standing by the doorway. Mr Ollivander had a large cardboard box in his hands.
"Ah, Terry! Look. My new order of wood! The Ministry thought it looked suspicious and intercepted it. I had to go pick it up." Mr Ollivander then noticed Travis. "And who's this?"
"Oh, this is Travis Norron. He was the customer that came when you left. He and I will be going to school together."
Mr Ollivander glanced at Travis, who waved, but then looked back to Terry. "What do you mean 'school?'" He asked.
Terry forgot. He hadn't shown the letter to his father yet. He told his parents to hold tight and started up the stairs but was delayed.
"Can I come with you?" piped up Travis, but looked embarrassed. "I've never seen a real wizard's room before."
Terry agreed and the new friends darted up the stairs. They entered Terry's all-too-familiar bedroom. Travis looked astonished. All that was in the square room was an old wooden writing desk on the right wall, a bed with an old homemade quilt (and a live handsome barn owl) spread over it on the left wall, a large bay window on the far wall, and on the wall closest to them was a rusty wardrobe. Terry thought it was rather plain, but Travis thought it was wonderful.
"I left the letter on the desk," said Terry. And sure enough, the green lettered envelope sat opened on the desk. He snatched it up and both he and Travis made their way back downstairs.
On the way down, they began to chat again.
"I see where you get your blonde hair. Your mother has blonde hair too," Travis stated.
It was true. Terry did in fact favor his mother in appearances, but he took on his father's mind and intellect. Terry's mother was in Hufflepuff when she was in school and his father was in Ravenclaw. It was anyone's guess which house Terry was going to be in.
"What house is your brother in?" Terry asked.
"Crowtalon. Er — or something. It has an eagle as a mascot like thing"
"You mean Ravenclaw?" Terry corrected.
"That's the one!"
They had finally made it to the last step and Terry handed the letter to Mr Ollivander.
"Gloria!" said Mr Ollivander, breathlessly. "It's Hogwarts!"
Mrs Ollivander strode over to Mr Ollivander, who was now reading the letter in an undertone. He read the last few words, and put his hand on his forehead. He looked tired.
"Oh! What a day!" he said exasperated. "This will take forever!"
"What? What's the matter, dad?" asked Terry. Travis looked puzzled too.
"It is by nature that the Ollivanders are hard wand shoppers," Mr Ollivander told them. "That's why I started making them myself. When I got my first wand, it took hours. I saw all the different woods and shapes and cores; I became fascinated. I would look up how to make wands, famous wand-makers, what types of wands famous Aurors and other celebrities had.
"But now, it's time for you to get your first wand. I say first but I hope it's your first and only." Terry knew all too well that Mr Ollivander was temperamental when it came to having his beautiful works of art snapped in half by a Ministry official or some wild, raucous tree.
Just then, Gary came back in, holding a large gray cauldron stacked to the brim with assorted magical objects.
"Ready to go, Travis?" he asked from behind the mess.
"Yeah, I guess so." Travis said. "See you at Hogwarts! Good luck with the whole wand thing!" Travis left with Gary hot on his trail.
"Well, let's get started!"