A/N: I'm here to finally publish a very, very old headcanon of mine. This story is book-compliant, but not Pottermore-compliant. For those who like to skip around to get a sense of a fic, I believe my best chapters so far are Chapter 7: The Unicorn Hunt, Chapter 9: Severus Snape, Chapter 15: The Duel, and Chapter 21: Todd's Plan.

It was the night before their Easter holidays, and the Ravenclaw common room was unusually jovial.

Roughly a hundred students had gathered by the fire in Ravenclaw Tower, unwilling to let the wind and rain, which was clattering in torrents against the graceful arched windows, dampen their high spirits. Groups of students were watching several games of wizard chess while an enchanted gramophone played disco music. Several people had pulled the high-backed chairs into circles, having impassioned conversations that vacillated from shouting matches to fits of laughter. For once, essays, revising and assigned readings could wait.

Todd Ollivander would have taken his books up to his room ages ago, but Derek Malkin had reserved the Seventh Year boy's dormitory for the time being, while he and his girlfriend made the most of their last day together before they would soon be apart for an unbearable two weeks. Todd tried to block out the noise in the common room and concentrate on the book he was poring over for the thousandth time.

In two days, he was going to assist in nonfatal surgery to procure a heartstring from a living dragon. While he had been preparing for this for years and knew he could do it, he had to be sure that he was ready for any worst-case scenario. His father wasn't one to give second chances.

Giggling, Maggie Gibson had jumped up brightly and begun to dance by the fire with another Fifth Year girl as the music played. She practically glowed in the firelight, which was bringing out the shades of auburn in her brown curly hair.

'Will you turn off that bloody Muggle music?' bellowed a Sixth Year, who was hunched over a chessboard. Several of the students near him hollered in agreement.

Maggie frowned, deflated. She squeezed through some tables and chairs, making her way toward the gramophone. She tapped it with her wand, grumbling a few words, and an upbeat rock song came on, the first wizarding song of the night.

As she turned back toward her group, she caught Todd staring. He looked away quickly, turning his attention back to the moving photo of a pumping dragon heart. The wizarding song was blaring. 'Atop my broomstick we'll ride / I want a frantic, wild, mad thrilling ride / With you the world's magnified...'

Just as he was attempting to refocus his thoughts again, Maggie was standing in front of him, bending her head down toward his textbook, waving energetically. 'Hello?' It suddenly occurred to him that she might've been trying to wave at him since she caught his eye.

Caught off guard, he said nothing. Maggie looked down at the book, intrigued. 'Wow. Dragon anatomy?' She examined the page Todd was looking at. Her finger traced one of the intricate heartstrings connected to the Horntail's heart. 'You have such a fantastic life ahead of you,' she murmured. 'I couldn't think of a better job in the wizarding world.'

Todd was still silent. His brain was having trouble processing what she was saying while she was so close to him. Lately, Maggie seemed to have been coming up with reasons to come over and speak with him, and Todd was beginning to allow himself to recognise what that might mean.

'I met with Professor Flitwick today. We had our careers advice meeting in the morning.' Suddenly, Maggie was looking uncharacteristically nervous. She picked at a dent in the mahogany table where Todd was sitting. 'I always thought I could work for the Ministry, or maybe even manufacture Floo powder. Or, I also like the idea of building wizard homes, setting up the extension charms for those, that sort of thing.'

Maggie looked a little unnerved by Todd's lack of engagement in this conversation. He racked his brains for something relevant to say, but came up blank. She took a deep breath.

'But Flitwick asked me what my dream job would be, and what I would do if I could do anything I wanted to do,' she said, her words tumbling out quickly. 'And – and that was an easy question. I've always been interested in your kind of work – what you do. At Ollivander's? But I always assumed it was just a family business. But Flitwick said that's not the case at all.'

She looked at him hopefully. Todd's brain was working slowly.

'Yes. We hire people outside our family,' he said, adjusting his glasses in front of his silvery eyes. 'Yes, yeah. Wait. Was that your question?'

She looked embarrassed, which made Todd even more confused.

'And what makes a person qualified, though?' she asked, timidly. 'Hogwarts doesn't teach wandlore at anywhere near the level that a person would need to even come close to understanding how to make one. But it must be a huge operation, Ollivander's.'

'Erm, somewhat, yeah. I mean, it's not – it's not huge, no. There are about twenty different people who work there. Gatherers, Beast Hunters, wandsmiths, that sort of thing. I mean, we – yeah. No, you don't have to be an Ollivander to work there. No. Loads of people work there.'

She seemed intently fascinated by what Todd was saying.

'Yeah, loads of people work there. You could work there, definitely,' Todd continued, gaining steam. He was happy to encourage her. It was easy to see that she was talented enough to have a shot at working at the shop. 'You have a better understanding of enchantment theory than anyone else in your year. Or my year. Or anyone's year. I mean, yes, yeah. I've seen that Muggle writer-typer thingy you enchanted –'

'Typewriter,' Maggie corrected, grinning. She looked delighted, and Todd realised he had been unconsciously smiling along with her.

'Typer-writer, right. And everyone's seen what you did to that pair of boots you have, that was brilliant. And that record-less gramophone of yours, of course –' he said, nodding at the gramophone '– you bewitched that in, what, your Third Year? You're very skilled at enchanting objects. You should definitely apply for an apprenticeship at Ollivander's.'

She looked at him, agape. 'Really? You think I... I could be an apprentice? At Ollivander's?'

'Yeah, of course.' Todd looked down at his textbook. Who was he kidding, he knew this thing by heart. He closed it on the desk.

'Wow.' Maggie looked happily dazed for a moment. 'So, what N.E.W.T.s do I need to be qualified? I assume Charms and Transfiguration? Maybe Care of Magical Creatures too?'

Todd nodded. 'Yeah, those all make for a good foundation. But honestly, you learn such complex magic over your seven years as an apprentice that –'

'Seven years?!'

'Well, yeah, of course,' Todd said. He was surprised to see how shocked she was. 'As you said, Hogwarts doesn't come close to offering the level of training you'd need to create an object as powerful and complex as a wand.'

Maggie stared off into space for a moment, thinking. Moments passed. Todd, not knowing what to do, awkwardly reopened the book in front of him.

'Is that why you didn't come to Hogwarts until you were fifteen?' she asked him, suddenly returning to their conversation. 'You began your apprenticeship early?'

Todd nodded.

'I always just assumed your father was tutoring you,' she said, thoughtfully. 'You probably couldn't ask for a better professor than Mr Ollivander.'

'Well, my dad did handle my education until I was fifteen, but yeah, I've been apprenticing as well,' Todd said. He wasn't eager to unpack her statement, that he couldn't ask for a better professor than his dad. 'That's why I was able to jump right into Fifth Year classes when I arrived. I had learnt everything that Hogwarts teaches up to Fourth Year, but there were certain N.E.W.T.-level Potions skills my dad didn't know that he thought were worth learning. Plus, I was really intrigued when Dumbledore hired Professor Burbage to teach Muggle Studies, her research is –'

Todd stopped talking. Maggie's hand was on his arm, and he had completely lost his train of thought.

'So you don't have to be of age when you start your apprenticeship?' she asked excitedly. 'Could I start now? Maybe over the summer? I would love to go to Hogwarts and be an apprentice simultaneously. Like you do.'

Todd opened his mouth, then closed it again. 'That would be sort of unprecedented…' he said trailing off. He was imagining Maggie spending the entire summer with him in Diagon Alley, while he impressed her with his knowledge of wand theory, of which a Hogwarts education really only scratched the surface. Giving an awestruck Maggie a tour of the bustling Ollivander's workshop and warehouse. Travelling with her to China. Raising his wand and telling her to stand behind him, that she was safe as long as she was with him while he surveyed one of the enormous Chinese Fireball dragons as Maggie clung tightly to his arm.

'I'll ask,' he said, brightly.

Maggie looked thrilled and relieved. 'Thank you! And,' she shook her head, as if she didn't believe him, 'thank you for saying all those nice things about me. You really think I'm good enough?'

'Of course,' Todd said, somewhat baffled. She was two years below him, but even so, he was familiar enough with her to know she was one of the brightest students at Hogwarts.

And, proving his point, she gave him a grateful smile, clicked the heels of her boots, rose six inches off the ground, and glided up the nearby staircase to the girls' dormitory as gracefully as a ghost.

Todd watched her go, and he started when he realised that Derek Malkin was sitting in the chair across the table from him.

'Bit of an odd duck, that one,' Derek said glumly, watching as the last of Maggie's robes whipped around the corner.

'That's not an easy charm to perform,' Todd said, admiring the magic.

'Wingardium Leviosa? That's not an easy charm to perform?' Derek raised his eyebrows, dully incredulous.

'No, no, it's not a Levitation Charm. She isn't levitating herself. She isn't levitating her shoes either,' he said, absentmindedly running a hand along the side of his stubbly face. He'd been forgetting to regularly use hair-vanishing cream lately as his surgery trials got closer. 'The shoes are enchanted with a Flying Charm. It's the kind of charm used on broomsticks, and I would say that her charm is as good as anything on a Nimbus 1000, if not better. Have you seen how easily she can speed up, slow down, make turns? Really impressive.'

Derek grunted, uninterested.

'Malkin,' Todd rolled his eyes, exasperated. 'You'll see Cecilia in two weeks. The world isn't going to end.'

Derek scowled. He tapped his wand against his leg distractedly, while blue sparks shot out.

'I've been dumped, mate.'

'Oh!' Todd said, surprised. Derek stared glumly at the table and sighed. 'Oh,' he said again, giving Derek a sympathetic look.

Out of the corner of Todd's eye, he saw Cecilia slink down the staircase of the boys' dormitory in the shadows. She gave her friends a small, guilty smile, and the group of them made their way, whispering, up the stairs to the girls' dormitory. Todd shot them a dark look. He reached over and clapped Derek on the shoulder. 'Ah, well. Bad luck, mate, but we'll be back in Diagon Alley soon. Let's drown your sorrows at the Leaky Cauldron as soon as I'm finished with these bloody surgery trials.'