Chapter Four:
Two Months Later
Magdalene was back in Diagon Alley with her list of Hogwarts supplies in one hand and her cat, Shyvana, sitting in her cauldron in the other. She cursed under her breath for the umpteenth time, swearing to herself to make that leech of a boy pay for it. Not only did he dare go to her potential employer's house to ruin her interview, but he ended up taking her and his cousin down with him. This won't go unpunished, she stated in her mind as she made her way towards Ollivander's to, as she did every year, make him check her wand. The brass bell rang as she opened the door to the renovated store. She could not help but remember the first time she had entered that shop.
She was in awe. She had never thought, in her eleven years, that such wonders existed. Her parents were just as awestruck as she was, and they asked multiple questions to their guide: a most peculiar man, roughly Maggie's height and who spoke in a squeaky voice. His name, Magdalene would later remember, was Filius Flitwick.
"Ah, now, the most important part!" Flitwick squeaked, making everyone jump. "The wand! And the best place for that has always been Ollivander's…"
Professor Flitwick rambled on about the history of Ollivander's wand shop, which captivated her parents, but she was too busy marvelling at the visuals to pay him any heed. The shop smelled of old parchment and broomsticks—although the latter scent was still unfamiliar to her. Professor Flitwick had enthusiastically explained to her the rudiments of Quidditch, when they had first read the whole of the letter. Mr. Ollivander smiled down at Flitwick as the four of them penetrated the shop.
"Good to see you, Professor. Muggle-Born?" He inquired, tilting his head towards Magdalene, who was too busy looking at all the shelves and what they contained to notice.
"Most certainly, Mr. Ollivander! Come, Magdalene, now you're going to have to get measured for your wand. Come on; let's see what your wand is going to look like."
Magdalene was measured and asked a couple of questions before Ollivander started pulling wands out of the shelves behind the front desk. Half a dozen wands later, Ollivander took almost a minute in staring at her, as though debating whether he ought to do what he had in mind or not. Finally, after forty-five seconds of agonising silence, he whooshed to the bottom of the aisle and crouched down to retrieve a rather long box, compared with the other ones she had tried. Even as he approached the quartet, he seemed hesitant.
He pulled out a wand and meant to extend it towards Maggie but he retrieved his arm before she could reach for it. "You must understand, Miss Middleton that I am reluctant to give you this wand to try out." He informed her.
She looked up, squinting with a mixture of suspicion and curiosity. "Why?"
Mr. Ollivander pursed his lips and gave her the wand. As she took hold of it, she felt a warmth erupt from within the wand, extending from her hand to her arm, and spreading throughout the rest of her body. A light breeze ruffled her hair against her face, despite the weather being hot and still. She glanced back up at Ollivander who had a mixture of wonder and disappointment plastered all over his face. He took back the wand, and placed it back into the box gently, as though it might explode.
"Can't I have that one, Sir?"
"I'm afraid this wand might be too demanding, Miss. You see, this wand is made of sycamore wood and a Phoenix feather core. These two, individually, are already a handful, but together, they constitute a hazard." He paced up and down the aisles, probably looking for a better fit while toying with the box between his fingers. "The sycamore makes a questing wand, eager for new experience and losing brilliance if engaged in mundane activities. This is not the kind of wand that accepts to be treated as a third arm, and it will show this. If this wand is used in mundane ways for too long, it will burst into flames. The wand always chooses the wizard, Miss Middleton. Moreover, this wand wood chooses an owner who is vital, curious, and adventurous. When this wand and the right owner pair up, wonders will never cease. It will demonstrate a capacity to learn and adapt that earns it a rightful place among the world's most highly-prized wand woods." With a defeated sigh, he made his way back towards the Middletons and Professor Flitwick.
"So this wand gets bored easily? It won't make coffee or do some of the simple Charms that Professor Flitwick showed me?" Magdalene inquired a hint of disappointment.
"Oh, it will… But if this becomes its primary purpose, then I'm afraid you'll have to come back to me for a new wand…"
"What about the Phoenix feather? What does it do?" Magdalene asked, as her father took a seat on the chair next to her, and her mother stepped close behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"The Phoenix feather is the rarest of wand cores. You must understand that each wand has a magical animal part inside. Unicorn hair and dragon heartstring are commonly used. And then, there comes the Phoenix feather." He began, but was interrupted by her gasp.
"Unicorns and dragons exist?" She marvelled, more to herself than for anyone's interest.
"They are, yes. But not to worry, no dragons are allowed anywhere near Hogwarts." Professor Flitwick added the latter part in order to quell the worry that had taken over the parents' features.
Ollivander quickly hid his irritation at the interruption and continued. "Phoenix feathers are capable of the greatest range of magic, though they may take longer than either unicorn or dragon cores to reveal this. They show the most initiative, sometimes acting of their own accord, a quality that many witches and wizards dislike. Phoenix feather wands are always the fussiest when it comes to potential owners, for the creature from which they are taken is one of the most independent and detached in the world. These wands are the hardest to tame and to personalise, and their allegiance is usually hard won."
"Will that mean that I'm going to have more difficulties than someone with a Unicorn hair wand?" Magdalene worried, biting her bottom lip.
"No. However, this wand puts pressure on you to accomplish great things, Miss Middleton. Great things indeed. I suggest you came back next year, when you're next in Diagon Alley, for me to see if the wand is truly adequate or if it is a mere fluke."
And she did. She went back to Ollivander's every year since, making sure that her wand was nowhere near bursting into flames. Ollivander had been quite intrigued to know that she had been sorted into Slytherin, but she thought nothing of it. That day, there was already a client and Magdalene would recognise that mass of dirty blonde hair anywhere.
"Good morning, Luna. Mr. Ollivander," she greeted, nodding at the old man.
"Oh, good morning Maggie," Luna greeted her softly. "You're coming back to Hogwarts for your N.E. ?"
"Yep!" She confirmed, making the 'p' pop.
"Did you lose your wand?" She inquired with a tilt of her head.
Mr. Ollivander beat Magdalene at answering. "No, it would never happen to little Miss Middleton, right here. Each start of year, she comes to my store to make me check her wand. She is very careful with it; the wand's allegiance to her is unbreakable as I tell her each year."
"Thank you for believing in me, the first time I came here. It has proven a stronger ally than I could have dreamed of," she said and leaned back on the counter. "What about you, Luna? Any wand problems?"
"No, it's just that the new one doesn't work like my first wand, I need to test other wands. Wand lore seems like a fascinating subject," she murmured as she examined the wand that she had in hand.
"I think so too, maybe I'll open a Middleton's," Magdalene mused, "it would be the most gratifying work that exists, seeing all those fascinated eleven year olds trying out their first wands…"
"I think so too," she muttered distractedly before flicking a new wand, making a clumsy Patronus of what might have looked like a bunny appear.
"Not this one, then?" Ollivander asked as he put down Magdalene's wand on the counter.
Just then, the bell rang and three blond heads entered: a young man, a young woman, and a middle-aged woman. All of them were wearing chic, expensive clothing. Magdalene recognised them as the Malfoys, minus the father. She would have liked to express her discontent to the Malfoy son but his mother had always intimidated her, and his cousin might just tear out her throat or worse. She turned to Luna for them not to see her face.
"Mrs. Malfoy, what a pleasant surprise!" Ollivander greeted them, abandoning his search for a potential wand for the blonde Ravenclaw. "How can I help you?"
Draco got closer to the counter and spoke before his mother. "I need a wand, Mr. Ollivander."
"Do you, boy?" He muttered without further questioning it.
"Similar to my first one in shape, if possible." His voice sounded strained.
"Of course, of course let me just…" he trailed off, disappearing behind newly stocked shelves.
"Hey, Loony," Victoria chimed smugly, "wand problems?"
"Oh, not as big as Draco's but, yes," she absentmindedly replied, unaware of Malfoy's sarcasm.
"Isn't this dear Middleton, though?" She teased, poking the girl's shoulder.
Maggie readied her forced smile and turned around —Narcissa was probably waiting for them outside— "Hello, Victoria," she said sweetly, "how are you by this oh-so good morning?"
"Feeling just as murderous as you must be," she fumed, earning a sneer from the boy.
Magdalene raised an eyebrow at Draco before speaking to Victoria. "I see he's told you what his smart mouth brought on us."
"Oh, yes," she ranted, "I nearly killed him."
"We've got business to attend to, Victoria, if you don't mind." Draco narrowed his eyes at his cousin
"So what?" She shrugged, earning a glare. "Don't you glare at me, Draco Malfoy, I can use magic at Hogwarts and you won't like what you'll see."
He merely blinked at her. "Really? What's the worst that you can do? Stun me to death?"
"I can try," she persisted with a decisive nod.
"Will you try these, sir?" Ollivander interrupted them, putting five long rectangular boxes on the counter.
Draco tried wand after wand and then examined every single one closely before lifting up the shortest.
"What is this made of?" Draco asked.
"Hawthorn and Dragon heartstring, sir."
"How long does it take to make a wand?" Maggie interjected, making all eyes turn to her.
"About three weeks, Miss," he responded.
"Make a wand identical to his first and send it to Hogwarts, he'll try both and send the less effective back to you, if that's all right with you," she requested.
Ollivander nodded slowly. "This might work, though I'll need to find a good enough unicorn for the hair. And I do believe the tree I got the wood from is still standing…" he trailed off, putting away the four other wands.
"How do you know so much about wands?" Victoria asked, while Draco fished for Galleons in his robes.
"I took wand lore in sixth year," Magdalene explained. "Is my wand all right, sir?"
"Of course, of course young lady. You may have it back."
"Thanks, I'm rather late; in fact I should be going." She grabbed her wand. "Later, Luna. I'll see you next year, Mr. Ollivander." She turned to the other two and nodded "Malfoys."
"Later, Middleton," Victoria nodded her farewell.
She exited the shop and continued her shopping while the Malfoys went to look for new cloaks. Victoria, as usual, was easy to satisfy. Draco, on the other hand, acted like Draco Malfoy.
"This cloak is too wide," he complained, widening his arms like a bat.
"For heaven's sake, Draco, it's a cloak!" Victoria whined.
"A cloak that makes me look half-giant," he reiterated.
"Don't be such a baby, come on we'll miss the train now!" She hissed menacingly.
He ignored her pointedly. "It's only nine forty-five."
"We still have to go to Flourish & Blotts' and get potions supplies, you insufferable—!"
"Language," the warning came from both mother and son.
"Sorry, Aunt Cissy, but you'll be okay with me saying that he's making a fuss out of nothing." she stated matter-of-factly.
"As much as I hate to admit it, you are being insufferable today, Draco." Narcissa remarked, a half-apologetic glint in her eyes.
He pressed his lips together. "Fine, these are fine, then," he surrendered.
"Thank Merlin it's over!" Victoria gloated on their way out, earning a glare from Draco.
The rest of the morning went without further events, and the three Malfoys arrived at the platform at ten minutes to eleven. Draco scanned the crowd, looking for Blaise or Pansy, while Victoria looked for Daphne and Theo. When the time came to embark, and neither had found their peers, they settled on saying their farewells to Narcissa.
Narcissa took Victoria aside. "Be safe, all right? And please, be there for Draco. He will never admit it, but he needs all the support he can get."
"I will, Aunt Cissy," Victoria murmured, out of Draco's earshot.
Narcissa placed a hand on her niece's left cheek. "I'm going to miss you so much."
"We'll miss you even more," she replied before kissing the top of her head. "Try and visit Andromeda, please… You only have each other now, and there's no reason to hold on to that old quarrel. Not to mention that if Uncle Lucius's trial goes wrong, you'll have somewhere to go if they decide to seize the Manor."
Narcissa studied her niece before giving her a slow nod and a hug. She then approached her son with nearly the same instructions she had just given to Victoria.
"I love you," he whispered finally.
"I love you too, I love you both," she murmured. "Go now, you don't want to be late."
Draco held out his arm for Victoria. "It's now or never, if you want to back out," he challenged.
She grabbed the crease of his elbow determinedly. "You wish," she retorted.
They hop into the train, Draco leading the way, looking for familiar faces. They end up settling on a seemingly empty compartment.
"Where do you think Blaise is?" Victoria asked.
Before Draco could answer, and as she sat down, a black cat hissed at the both of them, making Victoria give out a squeak and Draco curse under his breath. That cat, they recognised to be Magdalene's, since it had spent most of its life in the Slytherin common room.
"What the bloody hell is this fleabag doing here?!" Victoria snapped, making the cat leave the compartment.
Draco raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were the pacifist one?"
"Not when a cat surprises my behind, thank you very much," she protested, dusting her white trousers of cat hair. Hearing a snort, she glared at Draco, "Help me, instead of mocking me, you useless twat!"
Just as he pulled out his wand, the compartment opened to reveal Blaise and Magdalene coming in, their arms charged with sweets. They stopped abruptly, making a liquorice wand and two Chocolate Frog boxes fall on the floor. For the Malfoys, that was a sight to behold: Blaise Zabini, the most poised and aristocratic Slytherin in their year, joking around with the Muggle-Born who was the most out-of-place in their common room, their arms overflowing with candy and the trace of laughter still on their faces. The latter pair was just as shocked to witness the Malfoys in their compartment, Victoria displaying her backside to Draco who had his wand out.
"Well… This could have gone much better." Blaise stated, taking a seat near the window, facing Draco, and unloading his arms to his right.
"Where's Shyvana?" Magdalene asked, looking around for her cat.
"Your fleabag almost ruined my designer robes. This vest is cashmere, Middleton, if I see one black hair on it, you'll have to reimburse it," Victoria thundered, pulling out her own wand and attempting to Scrougify her trousers.
Maggie raised her eyebrows at the statement and dropped her load atop Blaise's, in the middle of the seat. She then tiptoed to retrieve her trunk and shouldered her bag.
"What exactly are you doing?" Blaise asked, glaring at Draco's disapproving look.
"I'm going to look for Shyvana." She stated simply, struggling to lift her trunk.
"And you need your luggage because..?" He trailed off, standing up.
"Because I'm going to settle wherever my cat went."
"And why is that?" Victoria demanded, sitting next to Draco and helping herself to a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.
"Because it is easier to leave than to kick intruders out of the compartment that I found." Magdalene snapped bitterly.
"You'll do no such thing, Maggie." Blaise stated calmly.
"Maggie?" Both Malfoys repeated, flummoxed.
"Magdalene found the compartment, invited me to stay with her, and suggested that we caught up with the trolley lady to have a sweet feast. We were on our way back when you lot started complaining about cat hair and cashmere."
Blaise had never sounded so… emotional. The Zabini heir was always composed and passive, and this was uncharacteristic behaviour. He turned to Maggie, who was still trying to fit her trunk out the partially opened door and levitated the trunk out of her grasp and back into the compartment. She glared at him and he gave her a stern look, which made her sit down opposite Victoria, who looked completely unbothered, albeit confused by the situation. Draco hid his shock well, but questioned Blaise with his squinting eyes.
"Your cat will come back, it always does," Blaise murmured reassuringly as he handed her a Chocolate Frog.
"You owe me, Zabini." She pouted, but still accepted the sweet that she began munching on, like an upset toddler.
Blaise stifled a snort as he turned to Draco. "What?"
"Since when are you two so cosy with one another?" Victoria spoke the words out of Draco's mind.
"Since… third year, was it?" Blaise frowned at Magdalene when she ignored him. He tsk'ed and nodded at the blond pair. "Yes, since third year."
"And you never thought to mention it?" Draco spat bitterly, folding his arms over his chest.
"Don't be so bitter, Draco, here have a liquorice wand," Victoria cooed mockingly, dangling a wand under his nose.
Blaise snorted in amusement, knowing that Draco would die before he brought a liquorice wand anywhere near his taste buds again. It had become common knowledge one night, when they were seven that Draco and liquorice never matched.
October 31st, 1987
Blaise had always loved visiting his paternal grandfather, if for nothing else than he knew he'd always be welcome at the Zabini manor despite what his mother had most certainly done to his father. That year, young Blaise had managed to convince his grandfather to invite his friends over for Halloween, and so it was that the Malfoys, the Greengrass girls, Theodore Nott, and Pansy Parkinson were running around the Zabini estate, collecting as much sweets as they could. Since the estate was nowhere near having neighbours, the sweets had been hidden in the maze-like gardens by the house elves. With the last piece of candy in tow, they all retreated to Blaise's room to compare and swap their findings.
"Hey, I have an idea!" Theo exclaimed as he removed a grass blade from yet another pack of Every Flavour Beans. "How about we put together all of our beans with weird colours, like grey, and stuff, and we dare each other to eat one?"
"But that would be stupid and disgusting," Victoria remarked, opening a Chocolate Frog. "I got Merlin again, who wants to swap?"
"Me!" Astoria Greengrass chimed, "I got Salazar Slytherin again, I've got six of him already."
"Done! I almost got all four founders, I'm only missing—"
Draco interrupted her. "What do we win if we can eat every weird bean we get?"
Theo pondered for a moment before his eyes snapped back to reality. "If you can't swallow it whole, you have to put one of your sweets in the middle, and if you can, you can take whichever one you want from the middle until we finish them."
And so the game began. Victoria and Daphne suffered the most losses, while Draco and Theo displayed their winnings proudly. The game went on until only two identical beans remained. They were black, glistening with challenge.
Theodore and Draco never left each other's eyes as each one lifted a bean. "What'd you think?" Draco smirked. "I'd say sewer."
"Rat fur." Theo challenged.
"Three… Two… One… EAT!" The onlookers did the countdown and were astonished to see opposing reactions.
Theo looked as though he thoroughly enjoyed the taste. Draco, on the other hand, was all but scraping his tongue and nearly crying with disgust.
"What did he get? Was it sewer?"
"No, it was clearly rat's fur, look at his face!"
Blaise took one of the empty boxes and read the taste guide. After scanning the paper briefly, he roared with laughter. Piqued by curiosity, Victoria tore the paper from his hand, and soon joined him, and they were both in tears by the time everyone learned that Draco had made a fool of himself for a liquorice-flavoured bean. Theo claimed that that had always been his sweetest victory, and Draco would resent anyone who brought back that memory.
September 1st, 1998
Blaise smirked at the memory before replying to Draco's last question. "Had I mentioned it, you would have forfeited a lifetime of friendship over petty prejudices."
Draco fumed in his corner, slouching in his seat and watching the landscapes fly by as the train sped to Scotland. Victoria noticed that tension that threatened to settle and quickly thought of an idea.
"Blaise," she spoke. He turned to her and noticed the gleam of mischief in her eyes. "Want to play with beans?"
Blaise's smirk grew into a wide grin. "Only if you manage to get Draco to play."
The latter huffed, and Magdalene seemed suddenly interested. "How'd you play with beans?"
"We put all the suspicious-looking ones in the middle and take turns eating them. If we can't swallow them whole, we have to relinquish one of our sweets, and if we can, we get to take one of the losses. It's a game full of stories, and a good way to bond." Blaise added the last fact eyeing Draco meaningfully.
"Draco, how about you played with us?" Victoria suggested mock-innocently.
He raised an eyebrow at her as though meaning to say "Really?" and turned back to the window.
"Malfoy is too scared to play," Magdalene stated, as she opened a pack of beans and selected those for the game.
"Do you genuinely believe that this is going to work on me? You can challenge a Gryffindor that way, not me." He huffed.
"Of course, because you're much better, moping like a child." Magdalene mused.
The three willing players took turns playing, Victoria relinquishing one good bean when she found herself eating an earwax-flavoured horror, and when Draco's turn came, everyone turned to him expectantly.
"What?" He hissed.
"Come on, don't be such a prick," Victoria encouraged, handing him a white bean.
Draco eyed the bean suspiciously before surrendering and tearing it from Victoria's hand. He chewed it tentatively before nodding. "Vanilla."
"Now was that so hard?" Blaise teased.
"Sod off."
And so, the unlikely friends played on until they arrived at Hogwarts, and the group split into two once they left the train.
A/N: About the wand stuff that Ollivander said in the first flashback, I took the information from my own wand in Pottermore, and some sentences I copied verbatim. So, yeah, I hope you enjoyed the long chapter.