Harry was filled with sadness for his daughter as the weeks flew past and neither Willow nor Hermione were able to come up with a wand that Gabrielle could use. His mind flashed back to the last wand, of the extra few dozen they had made, that she had tried before she gave up. She had with a gentle flick caused a horrible stench to fill the air. It had taken them days to get the odor out of their hair. Hoping to make her feel better Harry had even told her the story about his own search for a wand. He wasn't sure it had helped do anything other than get his daughter to abandon hope in acquiring a wand. The fact that she had asked Willow and Hermione to stop making wands for her to try had stung Willow a bit. That was several weeks ago. He looked up as Faith walked into the kitchen where he was slumped. "Any luck cheering her up?"

Faith grinned, "Well the new pet seems to be a big hit with her and the rest of the kids as well."

Harry shuddered, "I'm not sure that getting a five year old a pet Anaconda is the best idea."

"She can talk to snakes, how bad can it be? Besides it's just a baby."

Harry shook his head, "I guess… It's growing fast though."

Faith laughed, "If Ron didn't have such an unhealthy fascination with tossing Slith as many mice and rats as it can eat it wouldn't be growing so fast."

"Can't say I blame him but still."

"Still it can't be worse than Spike's present."

"I still can't believe he got her a knife."

"He thought she could use it I guess."

He looked up the plate of cold food in front of him. "I don't care how much she practices with the practice swords five year old girls shouldn't have real knives."

Faith scowled at him, "But it's okay for Leo to have them? I didn't see you complaining when I gave him his first knife."

"That's different and you know it Faith."

"Why because Leo is a boy?"

"No, it's because the pocket knife wasn't half a foot of metal."

Faith sighed, "Are you going to take it away from her?"

Harry sighed, "I put some spells on it to keep her from seriously cutting herself. Other than that I'm forcing him to teach her how to handle it and fight with it."

She chuckled, "How are you doing that?"

"I just told him that if he didn't, I would let Willow turn him into a fluffy bunny and then I would lock him in a room with Anya and a chainsaw."

She shuddered, "You've been spending too much time with Xander lately."

He grinned, "I'm just glad that Gabrielle is feeling better."

"How's her magic classes going without a wand?"

He shrugged, "Some things work fine without a wand and some things don't. Willow is working with her a lot these days. She even has a few classes with Dobby working on seeing if she can learn any of his tricks."

Faith frowned, "Any luck so far?"

"Not really but it keeps her from dwelling on the no wand bit."

"I'm just hoping that the snake familiar doesn't make her think Slytherin is in anyway a worthwhile house."

"Not much danger of that Harry, none of the girls like Slytherin, they have spent too much time with James and Sirius for them to fall into that house. You have much more to worry about from Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff stealing your children."

Harry smiled, "Glad to hear it."

Faith grinned, "You should hurry up and toss the cold trail rations in the trash and help Hermione and Lily out with the finishing touches on the new expanded potions book."

Harry groaned, "At least it's almost finished. I'm still amazed at how much it taught us about potions and spells. I have to say that no matter how much I might hate Snape, he does know an insane amount about potions. I just wish he had actually taught like he was supposed too."

Faith shrugged, "It's water under the bridge now. Just work on improving your skill with potions and defense. Besides I heard that Hermione wants to go through all of your old school books looking to do a write up of the theory behind each spell."

Harry left his dishes on the table as he walked out of the room with a sigh, "At least I don't have to worry about house points for being late."