Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. If I did I would be rich and not writing fan fictions.

Warning: Deathly Hollows info in this chapter, only briefly but still there.

Warning Two: Sorry, no new pets this chapter.

Chapter 4: Wands

Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived, awoke one morning to the sound of knocking at the front door. Who the Hell would be knocking this early in the morning on a Sunday. Harry was ignoring that it was a Saturday and 10:14 AM.

Spike arose, his angry clicking filling the room. What ever was making that noise was about to get a serious pain in the butt. Literally or figuratively, he hadn't decided yet. The giant scorpion worked the pincers that made up the visible parts of its mouth in anticipation of something being eaten. By him of course, the black one and the silver one could fend for themselves. That would teach the silver one for head-butting him. It's not like he was actually going to eat the stupid thing. He was...playing! Yeah, thats it, playing. Absently scratching the spot on his cephalothorax where Hedwig had hit him, Spike shuffled toward the front door. He had seen the monkeys do this a million times, it couldn't be that hard. Propping himself up on the door, spike maneuvered his claw and twisted the knob. Carefully holding the knob, Spike shuffled backward, opening the door. Coming around to see what was about to die, he froze. This was, without a doubt, the biggest and HAIRIEST monkey he had ever seen. Damn, the black one would get this one easy. Stupid, growling, grow bigger than him at will thing!

"Well 'ello there!" Spike cringed at the noise, maybe he could kill it, hide it, and eat it a limb at a time?

"Oop," the monkey seemed to comprehend the problem and was now much more quiet. "Giant scorpion eh? Bet yer like Aragog, not to fond of noise eh?"

Spike had a pretty good understanding of the monkey language, he'd be dead before he was caught actually attempting to speak it though, stupid need for a tongue. But he was pretty sure he's never heard of an "Aragog".

"Excuse me," both turned to see Harry at the base of the stairs, "who are you?"

"Where are me' manners? Ahm Rubeus Hagrid, keeper ah keys and grounds at Hogwarts. I haven't seen ye' since ye' was a baby Harry. Sorry ta hear the goin' ons in yer' old home. But any way...sorry fer askin' but where are yer' glasses?"

"Hm?" Harry was kind of confused about this but, hey whatever, "Oh, I use contacts now." He was rewarded with a confused look. "You know, contacts? Little lenses you put directly on the eye?"

Hagrid blinked a few times before shrugging, he'd never understand muggles. "Quite a pet ye' got there Harry, quite a pet. Cute little fella."

"Oh yeah! Spike is mine along with Mittens and Hedwig!" Now Harry was on familiar ground, animals.

"Well, I hears all 'bout Hedwig from the Headmaster but, who is Mittens?"

The appropriate statement would have been "Speak of the Devil." As if asking about the cat had called it, Mittens seemed to materialize in front of Hagrid and gave a little merp noise in greeting.

Hagrid narrowed his eyes in thought. Something about the cat seemed familiar in some way. As if he should be worried. Humph, it was just a little kitty as far as he could tell. "Well 'ello there Mittens!" Hagrid reached down and gave the dark feline a pat on the head.

Mittens would have eaten the the large human if not for that her human was nearby. Darn it, this one looked so yummy too. At least he knew how to properly pet a cat. She'd lost count of how many random people she'd eaten just because they scratched her wrong. Oh, God Damn it! Her human was making friends with it! Now she'd never be able to eat it.

"Well Harry," Hagrid got to businesses, "'m 'ere ta take ya to Diagon Alley fer yer school supplies and wot not." Hagrid looked around for a moment, "Where's yer guardian Harry?"

"Hello," Hagrid's head snapped up in astonishment, he had JUST looked at the empty kitchen and now there was a man reading a newspaper and drinking a cup of coffee. From what he understood the man was incapable of doing magic. "I've been expecting you. Feel free to spend the day with Mr. Hagrid, Harry. Just be sure to get back here by 5:00 for supper."

"Just let me call Hedwig." Harry turned up the stairs and shouted out, "HEDWIG!!"

Hagrid was expecting the owl to fly in from somewhere and then settle near her master, as all owls did. What he was not expecting was for Hedwig to walk into the entry way from the bathroom after a distinct toilet flushing was heard. The snow white owl regarded him for a minute before giving off something of a wheezing hiss and fluttering up to Harry's shoulder. For less than a second Hagrid thought the owl gave him a murderously possessive glare but, just played it off as a trick of the lite.

"Well, I guess we'll be goin' t'en."

In his office Dumbledore sat in contemplation. The boy already had an owl, competent guardian, and some exposure to the magical world. The sense of wonder the boy should have had would be all but gone by the time he entered Hogwarts. Nearly all sure ways to manipulate the boy were now gone. There was one real way left. His wand. If the boy would use the wand with Fawkes' tail feather then every time he used magic Dumbledore could use his link with Fawkes to send mental suggestions to the boy and give Harry his idea of a suitable mentality. It would take time but, all good things did after all. Fortunately, he had put charms and wards around Olivanders to ensure that Harry would only be able to use the brother of Tom Riddle's wand. It would make him that much more of a powerful weapon against Tom when he returned. And keeping the Sorcerers Stone in the school would most certainly draw Mr. Riddle's attention.

"Alright, lets see." Harry held up his list for school and went over it once more. "Potions equipment? Check. Books? Check. Robes? Check. Owl? Already have the best ever." Hedwig, still perched on Harry's shoulder, gave a happy hoot and ruffled her feathers. "Wand? Where in the Hell do I get a wand?"

Hagrid frowned at the swearing but said nothing of it, "Well you'll be wantin' Olivanders. Only place ta get a wand I tells ya."

"What about down there?" Harry pointed down a dark side alley to a shop that only had WANDS painted directly on the wall above the door.

Hagrid looked horrified at the idea, "Harry you can't go down there! Thats Knockturn Alley!"

"Whatever, it says wands so I'm checking it out." Before Hagrid could argue Harry had started trekking down the dark, dingy alley.

The shop was dark with the acceptation of a small table lamp at the register. The smell of dirt and pine was thick in the air along with the faint aroma of blood. The shop was chopped in two, a long counter in the middle separating the hundreds of boxes that filled the store from the half connected to the front door.

"Well, well, well," Hedwig gave a frightened squawk and Harry actually jumped, no one had been able to sneak up on him like that outside Mittens and Terrance, "what have we here?"

The man standing next to Harry was somewhat tall, about 6' 7'' with long black hair done in a braid down to his knees. He was wearing black robes with a light blue trim that seemed to shine in an eerie silver lite. His right eye was covered by a dark red patch with a matching cord wrapping around his head. Three long, narrow, scars went from the top right of his forehead, behind his eye patch, and down to the right corner of his mouth. His visible eye was a deep purple in color and pierced Harry in a way that made him feel as though he was being judged by a God. The man's eye traveled to Harry's scar and he gave a empty chuckle that actually chilled Harry's blood. The man was beyond creepy.

"So Harry Potter has come for his wand from little old me?" The man then added in humorous sarcasm, "My heart is filled with nauseating warmth, I can now die happily." Harry had to actually laugh at that, he was still getting used to the whole celebrity thing. "Well Mr. Potter, lets find you a wand." The man walked towards the counter and part of it fell out of the way and then came back up when he was across. He instantly began going over the boxes as though it was a library and he was searching for a book, randomly pulling out a box here or there.

"Excuse me Mr..." "Just call me Mr. B." "Mr. B, why are you surprised to see me?"

"Well," he paused for a moment, "Dumbledore is probably still trying to manipulate you even after all that crap in the news a couple of years ago. I thought for sure you'd be getting your wand from Olivanders, after all, it's where Dumbledore's phoenix has donated its feathers."

"Is there anything wrong with getting a wand from Olivanders?"

"Not really, no. It's just that he doesn't really have any imagination. He's an excellent wand maker, don't get me wrong but, he only uses three different types of cores; Dragon Heart String, Unicorn Tail Hair, or Phoenix Tail Feather. I use whatever seems to work, constantly experimenting and researching in order to create the ultimate wand..." Mr. B trailed of in a dreamy tone. After rummaging around for a few moments more he turned around with five boxes. He set down his cargo and opened the first box. "Sasquatch Brain-stem and Garry Oak, 13 inches. Give it a wave." Harry did so and a shop down the street collapsed. "Nope, try this one. Crystallized Gargoyle Blood and Black Pine, 11 and ¾ inches." A nearby flock of pidgins exploded. "Next. Spinal Tissue from a Hungarian Horn-Tail and Yew, 12 and ½ inches." There was now a hole in the shops wall. "Mmmkay. Cockatrice Stomach and Holy, 11 inches."

In front of Hogwarts Severus Snape was suddenly struck by lightning. Before passing out he muttered, "Damn...you...Potter..."

"Guess that one doesn't work for you. Okay. Harpy's Heart String and Red Wood, 12 and ¾ inches."

Back at Hogwarts, the Headmaster sat waiting for the connection to Harry to open up when about 47 pounds of bird shit landed on him.

"Guess that ones a dud to. Hm." Mr. B picked up the boxes and put the wands away while looking somewhat pensive. "Give me a moment Mr. Potter, I'd like to try something with you." The tall man disappeared into a back room and the sound of large boxes being moved about came out. Moments later he returned with an deep red box , wrapped in dark blue laces. The wand within was a deep black and seemed to pulse when Harry touched it. "This wand has some history behind it, so please give it a wave Mr. Potter." the result was a large gash being left in the air and a rainbow of multi-colored sparks spraying forth from the wand's tip. "I'll be damned." Harry looked at the man in confusion and so he explained, "Mr. Potter, before He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named there was an evil in this world just as great. The Dark Lord Grindelwald was single handedly responsible for World War Two and with his Elder Wand he was taking over the world. Near the end of WWII he was defeated by Albus Dumbledore, who now possesses the Elder Wand and its great and terrible power. But before Grindelwald had the Elder Wand he used one created by my great grandfather. With his first wand he was able to do monstrous things and terrorize his school of Durmstrang before being expelled and steeling the Elder Wand. The wand he used before the Elder Wand was one of two, created by my great grandfather on the day of his death. This wand is the brother wand of Grindelwald's first wand and is meant for great things. It is 12 and 5/9 inches of The Ebony Tree of Death, the only plant growing on the Island of Azkaban, it has been there since long before the prison and is where they hung the prisoners before they use of Dementors. The core is the Brain-Stem from one of the heads of a 200 year old Hydra, freshly slain. It has been waiting with my family for a worthy wielder and now it has found you Mr. Potter. Use it well."

Harry looked at the man for a few minutes before muttering, "How much do I owe you?"

Mr. B gave a hearty laugh that left him out of breath for a minute, "It's on the house lad. Just make sure you do great things with it or my Great Grandfather's spirit will stop resting in peace."

Harry nodded his consent before leaving, a confused expression on his face. Hedwig glared at the man all the way out the door, a glare that was easily understood; If Harry was harmed by the wand Hedwig would find him and no force on earth would save him from the owl. Mr. B just smiled at the bird as she and her master vacated the building.

"Well cousin Terrance," Mr. B smirked, "you were correct. We can expect great things from Mr. Potter, oh yes," the sounds of Hagrid yelling his happiness that Harry was unharmed filled the mid day air and drifted into his shop, "great things indeed."

To Be Continued...