Anything you recognise I don't own. If I owned Harry Potter I'd be a lot richer than I am!
Rated M to cover myself for violence in future chapters.
A boy ran from the back of his grandfather's shop shouting at the top of his lungs.
"Granddad, Granddad, Granddad help me!" The just turned eleven years old knew he was in trouble. His name was John Williamson. He was quite tall for his age at 5ft 3, very dark black hair with pale blue eyes. He was dressed in smart but well-made and well fitted robes of a light brown colour.
"John! How many times must I tell you…"His grandfather started before he stopped and burst out laughing.
John's skin had turned green and had blue spots in random places. On top of that his ears had turned into small trumpets, making hearing a bit difficult.
"Granddad please fix me!" wailed John.
With a wave of the old mans wand John was returned to his normal appearance, with a look of sheer relief on his face, which was quickly replaced by a look of sorrow.
"How did this happen John?" the old man asked sternly.
"I thought, I thought I felt something from one of the wands Granddad."
"And what should you have done?"
"Waited for you granddad. I'm sorry."
"God boy, we'll get your wand sorted soon, I promise."
At this point they were interrupted by a loud cough from a man so large John wondered how he'd missed him. After all it was his ears which were trumpets, not his eyes.
"Sorry Mr Ollivander, sir, but Professor Dumbledore's waitin' for me back at 'ogwarts."
"Oh of course Hagrid, and we should not keep young Mr Potter waiting of course."
At this point John noticed the young boy standing beside the man his grandfather referred to as Hagrid. He immediately recognised him as Harry Potter. Though he'd never met him before, John was highly intelligent. He knew that Harry Potter would be starting Hogwarts in the same year as him. And with his granddad referring to him as Mr Potter, he put two and two together. Seeing as he hadn't been dismissed by his granddad, he stayed and watched as his granddad gave him multiple wands to try.
Ollivander got happier and happier the further he went. He knew his granddad loved a challenge and he loved watching him work. While he had little interest in taking over the family business (and luckily for him that would go to his uncle and cousins) his granddad had made sure he learned what he could about wandlore, and he did have an interest in the subject. Seeing Harry getting more and more worried with each wand that his granddad snatched out his hand he decided he'd better speak up.
"Don't worry Harry, every wizard has a wand. Its just a matter of finding it."
He just nodded and though he still looked worried. After a couple more minutes of silence only punctuated by bangs of wands rejecting him and Ollivanders mutterings, Harry asked, "What wand do you have?"
"Me? Oh I don't have one yet. Not had chance to choose what materials to make it from."
"Choose? You get to choose what to make your wand out of?"
"Kinda. My granddads taught me about wandlore. As such I'll feel a certain pull to some woods and cores. When I've found out which ones call to me, I'll make my wand from them."
Harry looked vaguely interested in this, though John could still tell he was nervous at not finding a wand and slightly bored now. His granddad had gone through at least eighty wands by now. Sometimes wand makers would be able to sense which wands a person would be suited to before they touched it. Obviously his granddad hadn't been able to sense anything. John knew that wasn't a slight on his granddad. A wand makers ability had nothing to do with this sense. Just sometimes he would not be able to pick anything up. Thinking it was worth a go, John extended his senses, using the techniques his granddad had taught him.
The core most suited to Harry was immediately obvious. John immediately felt the euphoria only a phoenix song could provide. The wood was a little more difficult though. He had a feeling of warmth and being surrounded by love. He struggled to place it until he remembered it was exactly how he felt last Christmas. Now to work out what wood connected to Christmas…..
"Granddad, try Holly and Phoenix feather."
Ollivander turned around and looked sharply at John. John couldn't identify what was behind the look his granddad gave him and wondered briefly if he was in trouble until his granddad spoke.
"That is a most unusual combination John. So unusual in fact, I only made one. And that one has a brother."
John again used his intelligence and figured out what the hidden meaning behind his granddads words. He nodded at his granddad before speaking "I'm sure."
Ollivander went to get the wand and soon arrived back. As soon as Harry grasped the wand it was obvious it was a match. A golden glow emitted from Harry and a huge smile lit up his face. John could feel the rush of magic come from Harry and the wand and blinked a little in shock. That only happened when an extremely powerful wizard or witch found their wand, so his granddad had said.
The outpouring of magic had sent Johns head a little woozy so he sat down on one of the chairs. As such he missed most of the talking to his granddad gave Harry, though from Harry's face he guessed that it was about the connection his wand shared with the Dark Lords.
"Have you even told him about the significance behind the core and wood granddad?"
"Ummm no… I was just getting to that bit."
John mercilessly surprised a laugh. He knew his granddad and he knew him well. He had got carried away. He spoke his next words to Harry.
"Wands with a phoenix feather core display the greatest range of magic, though they sometimes take longer to show this. The Holly wood wand tends to be strongest when acting in defence of others, and this is when your magic will be at its peak."
As Harry nodded on being somewhat interested in what he was being told, his granddad was beaming. He loved it when he made his granddad proud and the best way to do this was to demonstrate his knowledge of wandlore. Deciding he quite liked Harry, he spoke to Ollivander.
"Granddad, if he wants to can Harry stop for tea?"
Before his granddad could answer, the giant of a man responded. "'fraid can't do that. Must be getting young Harry here back to his aunt and uncle."
"Can he come tomorrow then, if his aunt and uncle allow it?"
"Dunno" said Hagrid scratching his head "depends on if Professor Dumbledore says ok."
"And what say does Albus have in this?" asked his granddad
"Well he's Professor Dumbledore ain't he?" said Hagrid, as if that explained it all.
"And young Mr Potter is head of the Ancient and Most Nobel House of Potter. Albus has no say on what happens outside of school."
"I'm what!?" squeaked Harry
Ollivander turned sharply to Harry. "You mean you don't know of the House system?"
"Yeah Hagrid explained it to me. There's Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw…" Harry started before being interrupted by his granddad.
"No not the Hogwarts houses! The Ancient and Most Noble Houses!"
"No I don't know about them sir."
At that his granddad turned to look at Hagrid. "Take Mr Potter back to his relatives. And when you're back at Hogwarts you can tell Albus I'll be coming to see him later."
At that Hagrid nodded and hurried out the shop.
o-0-o
A few hours later John was in the Headmasters office with his granddad and Professor Dumbledore. His granddad had determined after his accident he shouldn't be in the shop on his own. Speaking of his granddad, he was currently arguing with Professor Dumbledore.
"It's preposterous Albus! He's head of a family, you can't not tell him of it!"
"And as I've explained Garrick, I will tell him in due course, probably at the end of the year. I do not want to overwhelm him upon his entry into our world."
John was fed up of hearing them argue. Both were old men too stubborn to listen to the point of the other. He decided to interrupt.
"Excuse me, Professor Dumbledore?" he asked, causing the headmaster to look at him.
"Yes Mr Williamson?"
"Surely it would be bad for Harry in the long run if he wasn't told now? I mean I know I don't stand to inherit, but I've still been taught about this stuff and from what I can gather it could seriously affect Harry in the future if he doesn't have this information. And he could sit in on my lessons with me, and then we'd both have a friend to go to Hogwarts with."
Both of the older men looked quite shocked at this. While they'd both been considering the short term impact on Harry, neither had considered the longer term impact or the fact that Harry might actually like to know someone when he got on the train.
"And maybe he could even live with us for the rest of the month, if dad and granddad agreed?"
Professor Dumbledore sighed at this. While this was not how he envisaged Harry's entry into this world, he could not argue the child had valid points. Turning back to his old friend Ollivander he asked. "How well protected is your hall Garrick?"
"Extremely well Albus. You know how valuable some of my books are. Muggle Repelling charms, Dark Object detectors, intention based wards, the whole lot. The Goblins upgraded the wards not long before the Dark Lords fall and carried out their maintenance only last year. And not to mention my own duelling skills and the fact my son in law lives there as well."
Professor Dumbledore thought for a second before saying "Very well. If his relatives permit, Harry can either live with you for summer or join you just for lessons."
At this, John let out a cheer.