Chapter 14 Wandmaker
Gawain Robards, a head of Auror headquarters said, "I'd like to introduce who you know very well, the most skillful wand maker in Britain. He will give you a lecture about wand theory. After his lecture we will practice wandless magic. Very few wizards can do it, but to train you as wizards who can do this will be our strength in the future. Welcome to Auror Headquaters, Mr. Ollivander."
All the trainees clapped and an experienced wandmaker, Garrick Ollivander, climbed slowly on to the platform with two other young wizards. Robards followed after him and he urged him to sit down on an arm chair. The old master craftsman sat down and waved his wand,
"Sonorus." Ollivander began to speak. "It's my pleasure to initiate you into the heart of Wand. These are my apprentices, Girolamo Ollivander, my nephew, and Marino Ganotti. After this lecture I would be glad to service your wands. My ancestors made a voyage from a magical land in the Mediterranean to England about one thousand six hundred years ago. They had a heritage of both Mediterranean and Druidic methods. Your boss asked me to tell you how to create a substitute wand which you can use temporarily to survive if you were disarmed or had your wand taken by an enemy in the forest or in the mountain. Of course you need a magical core like phoenix feather, dragon heartstring or unicorn hair for a proper wand. But when you can't get them, if you can find the right sort of wooden stick, you might be able to perform your magic in the same way as when you do wandless magic. This method will be very useful to help you to survive when on duty. Your own magical strengths will be the core of your substitute wand, so it's easier to do your magic with it than with no wand at all. "
Ollivander gave a cue to Sturgis and Proudfoot who were standing beside him. They brought in a big screen on which a world map was projected by magic. Ollivander continued to speak, "We use oak, cherry, mahogany, ebony, elder, rosewood, hazel, walnut, yew, ash, vine, blackthorn, holly, hawthorn, ivy, willow," pictures of trees were projected one after another. "You must research where these trees grow before going on your duty. And I'll instruct you how to cut and improvise a substitute wand."
Sturgis used his wand to distribute knives and sample woods to the trainees.
"The wood you have may be a different wood from your own wand but you must get used to using your magic with a different wood. I have chosen the woods for your substitute wands." Ollivander stood up and showed them how to cut in order to make individual wands. Two other apprentices helped to show them.
While they were waiting for their turns, Ron said to Harry. "Blimey, we can make custom-made wands, great!"
"No, Ron. They have no magical core," said Harry.
"Oh, yeah, but Hermione can perform nonverbal magic very well, so I will give it to her."
"Ron, it's your training. You must perform magic with this substitute wand," Harry admonished Ron.
Ollivander walked closer to them and said," . I'm very glad to see you again. What wand do you use now? I heard your phoenix feather wand was broken after you rescued me."
"Eh.., I use the same wand. I mended it," said Harry.
"How?" Ollivandar looked very surprised.
Harry looked around, and cast a "Muffliato" spell to keep others from hearing what they talked about.
Harry took a step closer to Ollivander and whispered,
"Please don't tell anyone. I was an owner of the Elder Wand. I used it to mend my own wand." He changed the word 'is' to 'was'. Though he was still actually the owner of the powerful wand, he thought it better to hide the fact. He was afraid someone might want to kill him, in order to become the next owner of the Elder Wand.
Ollivander was stunned by Harry's words and whispered back,
"I understand. So where is the Elder Wand?"
"I can't tell you. It's a Wizarding World Top Secret," said Harry. "You must keep this confidential," he repeated.
"I see. I will not tell anyone. Shall I examine your wand closely?"
"Sure, please," Harry held out his phoenix feather wand.
"Eleven inches long, holly, phoenix feather donated by Albus Dumbledore, nice and supple. Amazing. It has been kept in very good condition," said Ollivander and he returned Harry's wand saying, "Thank you, . I am deeply impressed."
"Mr. Ollivander, you told me that the wand chose the wizard," said Harry.
"Yes, I did. I told you about wandlore," said Ollivander.
"If the wand chooses the wizard, does the wood or the tree choose the wizard, too?" asked Harry.
Ollivander stared at Harry for a while and said, "Well, what a surprise. Have you studied wandlore before, ?"
"Well, it just occurred to me."
"Your idea is just the same as Druid wandlore," said Ollivander.
Harry noticed a young apprentice was waiting. He ended the 'muffliato' spell.
"Now my nephew Girolamo will tell you how to make a wand out of a wood. Can I examine your wand, now ?" said Ollivander.
Ron held out his unicorn hair wand to Ollivander. Girolamo showed Harry how to cut the wood and gave Harry advice on how to carve a wand out of wood.
Harry had made his substitute wand before long. His wood was oak. "My original wand is made of holly. If I can't find any holly, will oak work for me?" he asked Girolamo.
"My uncle chose oak for you, . He said it was easy to find oak in Britain. And yes, oak will work for you very well," said Girolamo.
Harry remembered Hagrid's wand was made of oak. His heart warmed when he remembered Hagrid. Hagrid sometimes bungled things concerning about magical creatures, but no matter what he did, you could not dislike him. He had found Harry on his eleventh birthday, after the Dursley's had tried to hide him, and given him the letter from Hogwarts. He had carried Harry back to Hogwarts castle in his arms after he had been hit by Voldemort's curse during the battle of Hogwarts.
"If I was disarmed or had my wand taken in the forest, should I find holly or oak?" Harry asked Girolamo.
"If you're lucky, you'll find holly, but if you can't, oak will work for you. That's why my uncle chose it for you."
After lunch at the Muggle restaurant near the Leaky Cauldron, Harry and the other trainees had a training session. Aberforth was waiting for them in the Gathering Hall.
"Have you all made a substitute wand? Good. Let's practice wandless magic with it. Take out your substitute wand," ordered Aberforth.
All the trainees took out their wands which had no magical core.
"Most of you can't do wandless magic, but try hard with your substitute wand. Remember when you used your magic first time? When you do your wandless magic, you will need to feel intense emotion. Concentrate," said Aberforth.
He told them to practice the wandless Shield Charm but no one succeeded that day.
Ron muttered,"You're right, Harry. It is impossible to do magic without a magical core."
oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo
A wave from the Irish Sea hit the shore and turned into foam. Owen Cadwagan turned around from the window of the castle near the shore.
"What's your plan?" Cadwagan asked the toadlike witch in front of him.
"My friend, Mafalda gave me information. We will co-operate with the Goblins. Mafalda will send an owl to the president of Gringotts. They have never forgiven Potter for breaking in there," said Umbridge, smirking.
"What are you plotting? It is dangerous to co-operate with Goblins," said Cadwagan.
"You don't need to co-operate actually. What we have to do is to use them." said Umbridge rubbing the old metal container she was holding in her hand.
Just then Dara entered the guest room carrying a tea set. Umbridge continued to speak, "We will promise to extradite Potter to them and to give them the sword of Gryffindor which they want more than anything."
Dara dropped the tea set on the floor and the fragments scattered.
Cadwagan raised his brow and said, "Dara?"
"Sorry, Father. I will clean this up," said Dara, and cast a nonverbal spell. All the fragments vanished from the floor. Cadwagan opened his mouth after watching his daughter leave.
"But I heard the sword of Gryffindor appeared only when the bravest wizard needed it."
"So we need to capture Potter. We will bring both Potter and the sword of Gryffindor to the Goblins. They've already promised to freeze all assets of the old noble clans and give them to us after we bring them Potter and the sword of Gryffindor. If we can obtain lots of Galleons, we'll be able to regain our political power in the Ministry." She smirked again.
"I don't think your plot will succeed," said Cadwagan.
"Well, I found out that Potter has a girlfriend. We are going to bring his girlfriend here to lure him."
"I see. I won't help you with fetching an innocent girl but my daughter wants to meet him. So you can use this castle for your plot. And," Cadwagan pointed at the metal container in her hand, "Use it well."
After three days training Harry and Ron took a day off and went to George's joke shop.
"Blimey, one hundred Galleons. Will they give us one hundred Galleons every month?" said Ron. They had just had their first month's pay as trainee Aurors.
"When you became an Auror, they will pay you more," Harry grinned at Ron.
"The Twins bought a shop with the thousand Galleons you gave them. So if I save up, I'll be able to buy another shop in a few years, won't I?" said Ron.
"I don't know how much they will pay us when we become Aurors, but do you want another shop?" said Harry.
"Well, Fred had wanted to buy Zonko's. So we are planning to set up a Hogsmeade branch," said Ron.
"Brilliant. Please let me help."
"No, thank you. You have helped enough, Harry. We want to do ourselves." Ron opened the door of the entrance.
The shop was packed with preschool children and their mothers. Harry smiled to see many boys gathering around flying toy cars, and a new product, a flying Hogwarts Express. Then he was dumbfounded to see a miniature figure of himself rescuing a princess who looked like Ginny from the clutches of a dragon. Girls pestered their mothers to buy them the set of miniature Harry and a princess.
"Do you like it? Help yourself to anything you want, Harry," said George behind him.
The mothers and children looked at Harry. The shop was thrown into chaos when they discovered that the Boy who had saved the Wizarding World was there.
"Oops, let's go , Harry." George urged them to go upstairs.
They went upstairs to the second floor. When they stopped on the landing, Harry opened his mouth, "It's very embarrassing to see my own miniature figure, George."
"Sorry, Harry. If you want royalties, we will pay you,"
"No, no, I just.. I don't like to be in the spotlight, you know?"
"Well, it was Fred's idea," said George.
"Was it Fred's?" asked Harry.
"Yep. He tried to cheer up our baby sister while three of you went on your mission last year. So we thought of making the figure set for her. We almost succeeded in making them, but it was difficult to make your miniature figure thrust a spear into a floating dragon in the air. Charlie gave us some advice, and finally we finished it last week."
Harry wondered whether "us" meant George and Fred or George and Ron.
"So, how are the Defence Against Dark Arts products? Do you get orders from the Ministry?"
"Yeah, a lot. The Detective powders the Malfoy boy produced are great. Kingsley told us most of the Ministry officials now use our products before they touch the owl mail," said George.
Then Harry was stunned to hear another George's voice behind him.
"I heard from Ronnie you fought with Umbridge and two Death Eaters, Harry." No, it wasn't George's voice. It was Fred's voice from behind the curtains.
Ron drew the curtains so that they could see Fred's smiling face in the portrait.
"Hi, Harry. How's your Auror job?" Fred's portrait grinned at Harry.
Harry felt awestruck and nearly cried.
"You reacted just like our mum, Harry," said Fred.
Harry couldn't hold back his tears and they dropped from his eyes."I don't know how to say the words, Fred. I'm very sorry. I eh..I miss you."
"No more tears, Harry. You are targeted by a toad Monster, Umbridge," said Fred.
"It's not only me. She is evil. She allied herself with Lestrange who tried to kill Ron, too," said Harry.
"Yeah, I know. But Umbridge has aimed her disgusting her long tongue at only you, Harry. I have been feeling her obsessive harassment against you since you announced U-NO-POO-had come back," said Fred.
"Fred is right. Be careful, Harry," said George.
At the long Slytherin table in the morning, Hermione touched Ron's wooden stick and said, "Did you really feel nothing?"
"Nothing. I swear. Very few are like Dumbledore and able to do wandless magic. Aberforth told us to concentrate and that strong emotions were important but it is impossible. Wizards can't do magic without their wands. I mean, wands without magical cores," said Ron.
"How about you, Harry?" Hermione turned to Harry.
"No, nothing," said Harry.
"Really?" said Hermione.
"Well, I might have felt a little vibration, but I'm not sure," said Harry.
"You did wandless magic at the Dursley's many times when you were a child. So I am convinced that you will be able to do wandless magic earlier than any other trainees. Besides, you can do wandless magic when you do Legilimens and Occlumens," said Hermione.
"Hermione is right. Harry, how did you do your wandless magic when you read Malfoy's mind?" asked Ron.
Then Malfoy cleared his throat, "How long are you going to sit here, Granger? It's not your house table."
"Oh, yes, how is Astoria? Does she feel better?" Hermione stood up.
"She is fine, thank you," said Malfoy coolly.
Ron watched Hermione leaving for the long Gryffindor table to sit next to Ginny and said, "So Harry, how did you do it?"
"Eh, it's just like penetrating Vol..," Harry glanced at Malfoy and changed the name and said,"..like penetrating Tom Riddle's mind."
"Oh..I can't do that," said Ron.
"You are such a git, you will never be able to do wandless magic no matter how hard you train," Malfoy smirked.
"Shut up, Malfoy," Ron grumbled. He grabbed a goblet of pumpkin juice and gulped it down.
Then Astoria came to the spot where they were sitting and said, "May I sit here?"
"Sure," the three of them said together and exchanged glances each other.
She beamed and sat down opposite them, saying,
"Thank you for returning my potions report , and ."
"You're welcome," said Harry, and Ron said, "No problem. You can ask for our help anytime you want."
Malfoy looked uncomfortable and he kept silent and pretended suddenly to worry about smoothing out the wrinkles of his robes. Harry stood up and said abruptly, "Ron, I remembered the knack of casting the charm you mentioned. Come here."
"What?" Ron stood up.
Harry beckoned Ron to move away from the spot where Astoria and Malfoy were sitting and whispered to Ron,"We should let them alone."
"What?" Ron couldn't understand Harry's intention.
"Malfoy and Astoria Greengrass," Harry nodded towards them.
Ron looked back and stared at them for a while and finally the penny dropped and he said,"Is Malfoy going out with her?"
"I'm not sure, but ..," Harry remembered the time when he became aware of his feeling for Ginny, and tried to explain to Ron. Then Harry heard the sound of growling.
"Harry, where shall we eat? I'm hungry," said Ron.
Only the spot where they had been sitting before was vacant. So they went back and sat down on the same seat.
Astoria looked up and said, "How's your job? Do they train you hard at the Ministry?"
"Eh, yes," "Eh, no," they responded the opposite answers at the same time.
She smiled again and said,"I heard Draco bought the shop in Hogsmeade. I would like to visit the Apothecary in Diagon Alley this afternoon. If the Headmistress allows me to visit there, can I go with you?"
"Of course you can," answered Harry.
They used Floo Powder to travel from the hearth in Headmistress's office, and stepped out of the hearth in the Apothecary shop. Malfoy and Astoria went into the back room to help the shopkeeper with unpacking material boxes. Ron stood at the entrance and kept watch outside the shop. Harry fixed his eyes on the mystic picture on the wall he had seen the other day. The blonde-headed witch entered the castle and this time she didn't vanish. She turned around and showed her face to Harry. He was very surprised. Her eyes were green just like his own. Harry blinked then she vanished. He rubbed his eyes and stared at the picture again.
Then she appeared again and to his surprise, she spoke to him, "Are you Harry Potter?"
"Yes, I am. Who are you?"
"I am Cliodna Cadwagan. My direct descendant, Dara, sends you a message. They will trap you. Be careful, Mr. Potter," then she transfigured into a sea bird and flew away and vanished across the sea in the picture.
Next day Harry and Ron left Hogwarts for the Isle of Skye early in the morning. It was a little chilly, so they cast a Warming Charm. Williamson and Dawlish met them at the entrance to the ruins.
"How is the Malfoy boy? Has anything changed? " asked Williamson.
"No, sir," said Harry.
Williamson nodded and led the way, saying, "We traced the old Druid magic Umbridge cast the other day. It took long time to finish the charm. Unspeakables helped us…"
"Wait, did you mention Unspeakables?" asked Harry.
"Yes, I did. Unspeakables are wizards and witches who work in the Department of Mysteries. They know a little about Druid old magic. They also know about the Druid's dispute with our Ministry. It's a long history," said Williamson.
"I recall the time when Albus Dumbledore visited the magical land of Druid," said Dawlish.
"Professor Dumbledore? When?" asked Harry.
"Before the first battle. About twenty years ago, I think. After we finished our Auror training," said Dawlish.