Lucy shivered as she felt that curtain like wave of magic as she walked into Ollivander's shop.

Ever since her first visit here with Hagrid, the place gave her the creeps. Cobwebs hung in several corners, and, despite the frequency of customers, it seemed that a layer of dust covered everything. Mrs. Zabini scowled and used a cleaning spell on the old chair before she would sit in it.

'At least it's not so crowded,' Lucy thought. She didn't know if that was because Hagrid had taken up so much room or if the room had some sort of controlled expansion charm that would only kick in when the front room started to be crowded with customers.

Even though she knew it was coming, Ollivander still made her jump when he suddenly appeared from the back of the shop. She felt a cruel pleasure in noticing that Blaise had jumped higher than she had. He could clearly tell what she was thinking because he stuck his tongue out at her. Before they could delve into even more childish acts, Mr. Ollivander began speaking.

"Let's see, Mr. and Mrs. Ogden – oh and is that Ms. Zabini in the chair?" Mr. Ollivander murmured, "I assume from seeing the two children that we are here for them to get wands, not to replace any?"

Mr. Ogden nodded, "This is Lucy, our daughter, and her friend, Blaise Zabini."

He looked over us, and nodded as he snapped his fingers. As the magical measuring tape flew off the shelf, it knocked three pieces of paper off in its hurry to unroll itself.

Mr. Ollivander shot it a disgruntled look, "Several boys were in here before you, and they made a complete mess of things. No manners to speak of! The one grabbed my tape measure and tried to crumple it. I suppose I'd better grab the extra one from the back."

Lucy was surprised that anyone would have the gall to mess with one of Mr. Ollivander's items. He'd always had a rather scary personality around him.

As they waited for Ollivander to return, the group started into casual discussion.

"I saw the Harry Potter group come from this way. Harry Potter was waving his new wand around, sending sparks flying everywhere," Mrs. Zabini said.

Mrs. Ogden nodded, "One of the ladies in the crowd had been saying obnoxiously loudly what type of wand he'd gotten; apparently it's a holly wand with phoenix feather."

Lucy felt her heart drop as one of her worst fears was confirmed. She casually leaned against her mother because she felt faint. Her mother, not thinking anything of it, put an arm around her shoulder in a one armed hug.

She tuned out the rest of the conversation as she thought. Of course, she wanted Harry to have an experience as close to the original as possible, as far as good memories went anyways, that's why she'd let him have Hedwig. But deep in her heart, she hadn't truly been ready to give up that wand. She had even more memories with it then she did with Hedwig. It had saved her life time and time again.

And she knew that her magic was so volatile, what if it refused to work with another wand? What if Ollivander couldn't find a wand for her? Would she be declared a squib and her Hogwarts letter taken from her?

It was lucky that Ollivander returned shortly because Lucy had quickly been working herself into a panic. At the sight of Ollivander, though, she forced herself to calm down and take a deep breath. Everything would work out.

This time around the measuring tape quickly scuttled around, but it didn't hit anything. Lucy had moved towards the door to stand by her mother, so the tape started with Blaise.

Ollivander didn't say anything; he just turned to grab the first couple of boxes.

Blaise's wand trying didn't take too long. He tried about 11 wands; other than one wand that caused several boxes to fly from the shelves, nothing remarkable happened.

He finally waved an 11 ½ inches hawthorn wand with dragon heartstring that let out a shower of green and blue sparks.

They all cheered as Mrs. Zabini stepped forward to pay for it.

After Lucy and the rest had appropriately praised his wand, he gave Lucy a gentle push up front.

"Ah, Miss. Ogden's turn," Ollivander said, the tape measure already speeding to work. As the tape measure went from measuring the width of her eye to the length of her eyebrows, Lucy again wondered why it was even necessary.

"Here, try this one, Yew wand, dragon heartstring, 9 inches," he said as he handed the wand to her.

Lucy scowled at the thought of using a Yew wand and quickly waved it. Immediately several boxes flew from the shelves.

Ollivander snatched the wand as he muttered to himself, "Not that one, try this; cedar, phoenix feather, 12 inches, rather stiff."

Lucy hadn't even waved the wand – she'd barely touched it – when a fire erupted on the desk. Ollivander didn't seem disgruntled, he just waved his wand and a quick flow of water put it out.

That was only the start of the long process of looking for a wand for Lucy. If she thought it was bad the first time, it was nothing compared to this. Anything with cedar would cause fire, no matter what the core, and anything with yew would cause stuff to go flying. Oak, cherry, and mahogany wands tended to make things explode. If the core was a phoenix feather, it would either cause a fire on top of the other reaction, or it would cause an even larger fire. Ollivander only had a few wands made of pear tree, and each of them caused things to disintegrate.

One wand, made of sycamore with phoenix feather, caused an entire shelf of wands to burst into flames while every box on the shelf across from it flew off of the shelf and tried to dive bomb into the flames.

As the day dragged on and the shadows grew in Ollivander's shop, Lucy became embarrassed and tired. More than anything, she was worried; she surely had to have gone through most of Ollivander's wands, what would happen if he just couldn't find one for her?

On the flip side, Ollivander just seemed to grow more and more thrilled. He'd soon lost his scowl and he was grinning from ear to ear. Lucy was worried that he might start to do something really embarrassing, like skip around the shop.

At least the adults weren't annoyed with her. Ms. Zabini and Ms. Ogden had been talking for hours9; their subjects varying from the recent laws to the latest hairstyles. Mr. Ogden had unshrunk a book from Flourish and Blott's, and he was completely interested in it.

Not even Blaise was actually annoyed. He was happy just to examine his wand for hours, though he would send occasionally worried or reassuring glances to Lucy, each would depend on whether or not he thought she would notice the look.

Ollivander handed her another wand, half of the box it came from was charred and it was still smoking, "Try this one then, willow, unicorn hair, 10 ½ inches, slightly springy."

Lucy's wand hand was beyond tired by this point; she had long ago lost count of how many wands she'd waved, but it must have been in the hundreds. At least this wand didn't cause anything to fly, burn, or explode; it simply did nothing. There were no sparks, no warm feeling. She tired shook her head and sat it back into the box.

Lucy waited for Ollivander to give her another wand, but he did not. Instead, he rocked back on his heels and examined her with a wide grin on his face. Slowly the other conversations in the rooms died out and all attention was given to Mr. Ollivander.

"Do you know what you've done, Miss. Ogden?" he asked her quietly.

"No, sir," she muttered.

Oh no, had one of the wands really damaged something?

"You, my dear, have tried every single wand in my wand shop! And not a single one worked for you!" he crowed before letting out a loud bark of laughter. Lucy felt her heart sink as she stared at him in mild trepidation. She wondered vaguely if magic slowly caused people to go senile. She also wondered if her parents would kick her onto the street now that it appeared she was a squib. Maybe Carver hadn't attached her magical core correctly.

Her parents shared an alarmed look before her mother spoke up, "What does that mean? She received her Hogwarts letter, so she clearly has magic. If you aren't capable of providing her with a wand, perhaps we should go somewhere else."

Ollivander completely ignored her parents, "Do you know what makes a person a good wand maker?"

He was looking straight at her, so she figured he was asking her.

"I don't know sir," she finally whispered.

"It's our ability to see auras, and more specifically, one's magical signature. It's why those upstarts like Jimmy Kiddell are so detrimental to the profession. Trust me, Mrs. Ogden, young Lucy definitely has magic, I wouldn't have wasted all this time if she didn't," he said, never taking his eyes off of Lucy.

She suddenly felt mad, "If I have magic, why couldn't you find a wand for me."

He suddenly turned to the Zabini's, "Now, I don't mean to be rude, but this could end up being highly private. Are you alright with the Zabini's staying?"

Everyone turned to Lucy, and she nodded. She was going out on a limb here, but she trusted Blaise. She'd known him for years, and he'd proven time and again that he knew how to keep his mouth shut about important matters.

Ollivander finally explained, "There are times, usually more common in older adults who come looking for replacement wands, though not unheard of in first time wand users, when a person's magic is not compatible with any wands. This usually happens because the magic is so used to being channeled through one specific wand that it cannot be used with another. In the case of first time wand users, like Lucy, it's more likely that her magic is simply not compatible with wands. Unless, perhaps, one of you have been letting her play with your wand over and over again for years?"

Here he shot her parents sharp looks.

Mr. Ogden replied, "Of course not! I mean, there have been times when she's gotten ahold of our wands, but we would always take them away, we know that it can be dangerous to give a child a wand."

"I thought as much," Mr. Ollivander said, he seemed thrilled. "Like I said, it's likely that her magic simply isn't compatible with wands."

"Then what can we do? She can't go to Hogwarts without a wand!" her mother cut in, aghast.

"Too true. In situations like this, I must suggest a different focus," Mr. Ollivander said.

The adults shared a glance while Lucy and Blaise looked at each other in amazement.

"A different focus?" Mr. Ogden finally asked dryly.

"Yes, we magical folks today are so used to using wands, and honestly, they are the easiest, that we forget that there are different ways to channel magic. In Lucy's case, for whatever reason, her magic won't accept a wand, but I'd be willing to bet my store that she could use a different conduit for magic," Mr. Ollivander said, nearly bouncing from excitement.

"What other types of focuses are there?" Mr. Ogden asked warily.

"Oh there are hundreds, most anything can be used, but I would suggest a jewel. It can be set into a nice piece of jewelry, preferably a bracelet. Of course, we would give her a fake wand as well, so that other people wouldn't know," Ollivander said, leading the way to the back of the shop.

Lucy looked at her group before squaring her shoulders and leading the way.

The back of the store looked like something from a book. A row of shelves against the wall held raw wood, most with the bark still attached, and large, clear bottles with labels like:

Dragon Heartstring
Chinese Fireball
1789

Most of the room was filled with work benches overflowing with tools and partially made wands. Even though Lucy couldn't see any workers, the tools were all moving themselves.

Several sanders were filing wood to a smooth finish while saws cut other pieces to the appropriate length. On one table, she saw several drills making a hole up the middle of the wood. Closest to her, there was a table were the wands seemed nearly finished. Paintbrushes were applying stain and clear coat while handles seemed to apply themselves. Finally, a box would come up and a finished wand would settle itself neatly in before the cover would go on, and the box would fly off.

He led them past the workbenches to the far wall. There, she noticed another set of shelves that the workbenches had hidden. These shelves were covered in very random items.

There was a huge assortment of precious gems, ranging from obnoxiously large to smaller than an eraser.

She saw a long staff with a clear gem seemingly grown into the wood at the top and a hand held device that had a long needle at the tip.

There were several weapons piled on the lower shelves, some ornately decorated like Godric Gryffindor's sword, while others were completely plain. A black dagger that seemed to suck light into it caught her eye.

"In my entire lifetime, I've only had four customers that needed a different focus. However, I do like to fiddle, trying to perfect my craft. I've looked into several different options, but I've found jewels to be the most reliable, after wands of course," Ollivander explained.

"If all these different options are available, why do magical people always use wands, and why aren't people more aware of these other options?" Mr. Ogden asked.

Ollivander sighed, "That would be the fault of the Ministry, I'm afraid. The tracking spell they use on wands is nearly impossible to put on other kinds of focuses. It's the wood part of the wand that holds the spell so well. The ministry wants to be sure that they can control the masses, so they've basically outlawed other focuses."

"But you're offering me a different type…" Lucy said.

"When you've lived as long as I have, you'll find that some laws are worth breaking. Besides, I would not be a true to my profession if I didn't make sure every customer who was capable of doing magic had a way to do that magic. That's why I asked at the beginning if you wished for the Zabini's to stay," he said.

She looked at the Zabini's. They both looked at her with determined faces before Blaise spoke, "Don't worry Lucy, you're a friend of the Zabini's. You've kept certain secrets of ours; it's time we returned the favor."

She gave them a grateful look.

"That's also why we'll be giving you the fake wand. You must be very careful that it always appears that you are doing your magic through the wand," Ollivander said.

She nodded, and Ollivander finally seemed satisfied. He grabbed an array of the gems; Lucy wasn't sure how he was picking them, before laying them out on a workbench. He gestured for Lucy to come closer.

"For this to work properly, I will take this cloth –"he held up a clean rag – "and blindfold you. It's very important that you choose based on feeling and not the one you think looks the prettiest. Simply wave your hand over the gems. You'll know when you've found the one," he tied the rag around her face.

Lucy took a deep breath. It felt like her stomach had gone on a roller coaster ride without informing the rest of her body. She worried about how she could possible know the right gem.

She held her hand over the workbench. Slowly, starting at one end of the table and moving to the other end, she waited for some reaction. Suddenly, she felt a hot spot. She continued down the table to make sure it wasn't a fluke before going back to it. Again, she felt the same hot spot. Reaching down, she blindly picked up a stone that didn't burn her, but seemed to heat in her hand.

She turned around, "This is the one."

The group cheered and she felt herself smile. Ollivander swiftly removed the blindfold and she examined the stone she'd picked.

Somehow she wasn't surprised to find it was a sapphire. It didn't match her eyes, which were a lighter sky blue; instead it was a deep cobalt blue. It was shaped like a teardrop.

She was slightly surprised by how small it was. On some level, she'd been expecting a huge stone like something that would look nice on the end of a giant staff. Instead, it was only about the size of a nickel.

Mr. Ollivander smiled at her, "I think this will make a very nice bracelet. If you would like, I know a very nice jeweler who could have the bracelet made and sent to you within a week."

She looked to her parents, who nodded with smiles. She was surprised to find that she was smiling too. All of her anxiety and worry from the day was suddenly gone, replaced by joy.

She remembered when she first got a wand. It had been the true that she was actually a wizard, that she could actually do magic. It felt nearly as good this time around. Now she knew that Carver had successfully transformed both her soul and her magic. She wasn't a squib; she was as much a witch as Hermione or Pansy.

"What would you like the bracelet to look like?" Ollivander asked.

Her joy deflating slightly, she looked hopelessly at her mother. Blaise drawled, "Better not let Lucy pick, she has a worst sense of style then Crabbe and Goyle."

She scowled at him as her grinning mother cut in, "I'm thinking two strands of silver twisted into a classic Celtic design with the sapphire entwined in the middle. I'd like there to be a small clasp. Oh and can it be enchanted so that only Lucy or the people she approves of can remove the bracelet?"

"Of course, of course. Like I said, I'll get in touch with him, and you should have the bracelet in a weeks' time. One more thing Lucy, like I said, there have only been four times in my life that I've seen a different focus used. Conduits like gems can be very different from wands. For one, no motions are needed, and for second, the natural safety of the wand is missing. It is much easier to overpower a spell and work yourself to magical exhaustion. I was wondering, in retribution for the danger I'm in for providing you with the wand, if you would be willing to visit me once a summer, just for a routine checkup. If anyone notices, which I doubt they would, just claim that you are buying wand polish," Ollivander requested.

Lucy didn't have to think about it for long. Ollivander was shamelessly guilt tripping her, but with good reason. He was risking his shop and possibly a trip to Azkaban to help her, the least she could do for him was this small favor.

"Sure," she agreed.

"Excellent," he smiled. He waved his wand and a box flew over.

"Here's the perfect fake wand for you. I noticed that you seemed to have fewer problems with holly, so I figured we'd say it was made out of that. It doesn't actually have a core, but for the cover story, say there's a dragon heartstring. Its 10 1/3 inches, but I suppose you could just say 10. Also, here's a can of wand wax to make sure there's no contingency errors in the story," Ollivander passed the items to Lucy.

Mr. Ogden cleared his throat suddenly, "I trust that none of this will be sent to Dumbledore or the board of governors."

Mr. Ollivander gave Mr. Ogden a slightly disturbed look, "Certainly not. I wouldn't trust Dumbledore not to hold the information against us."

Mr. Ogden nodded in relief, "You have no idea how many people just blindly follow him."

"I'd say I have a fairly good idea. On the other hand, I do not trust him. That's part of the reason I didn't join his foolish militia group during the last war," Mr. Ollivander gravely replied.

Lucy couldn't contain her curiosity, "What were the other reasons?"

Mr. Ollivander gave a long pause before replying, "One, I didn't approve of his capture only policy. The Death Eaters certainly weren't trying to stun us; they were trying to mutilate or kill us. Secondly, I wasn't completely sure he wouldn't try to take over after the war. I'm still not sure that he hasn't already done that."

After Mr. Ogden had paid, the group gathered their bags and tiredly left the shop. Lucy noticed that Ollivander's shop was marked at closed; she wondered if he had just done that or if that was why there had been no other customers all afternoon. The streets were empty, and the sun had already sunk. The exciting events of the day were finally catching up with the group.

"Well, there goes the plan of a short day," Mrs. Ogden murmured.

"Sorry," Lucy muttered as she leaned against Blaise. She felt embarrassed that she'd ruined everyone's plans like that.

"Don't be sorry, it was cool," Blaise managed to mutter. He was half asleep while standing.

The adults looked at the two kids in amusement.

"He's right, dear. I've never seen anything like that, and it more than made up for the long day. Speaking of a long day, I do think Blaise and I will head home before he completely falls asleep," Mrs. Zabini said.

"I think we will too," Mrs. Ogden agree

Lucy gave Blaise a hug before following her parents to the floo ports at the Leaky Cauldron.

That night, when she actually had the opportunity to sleep, Lucy found that she couldn't. Events of the day kept running through her mind. She found that, as much as she missed her holly wand, she was glad that Harry would have a chance to have it. Hopefully it would give him good luck too. Besides, now she had her bracelet, and she had to admit that that was pretty cool.

She smiled at the fake wand on her nightstand. No one would know that it was fake because it really was an Ollivander's wand, it just didn't have a core. Plus, Ollivander had told her that it would be easy to direct the spell so it looked like it was coming from the tip of the wand.

Every day she was getting more excited about Hogwarts. On the other hand, she would miss this peaceful time. She knew that she would always remember the last few years, when she actually got to be a kid for the first time in her life.

Author's Note

So that was chapter four. I know that it really focused on the wand shop, but that is a pretty big plot point. Also, this was a huge chapter, around 3,700 words, so I decided to make it its own chapter. How am I doing so far?

By the way, I've thrown in several hints during the last several chapters about ways things will be different. Some were obvious, like the bracelet instead of a wand, but some were subtler. No one has mentioned any of them in reviews, I wonder if you guys have seen any.

Author's note 1/15/2018: going through and editing some stuff to continue the story