Book 1 - Harry Potter And The Dawn Of Chaos
Chapter 3 - A Whole New World.
Hermione Granger was overwhelmed. For a while after Professor Mcgonagall's visit to the family there had been an uncomfortable silence that seemed to follow her into every room. Whenever she entered a room, whatever conversation that her parents had been having simply ceased. It had been becoming unbearable, it was like she was back at school with no one talking to her, the whispers that Hermione knew where about her but she could never quite catch what they were saying. Finally the awkwardness had gotten too much and she had just stopped coming out of her room, hiding seemed to work best at school so why shouldn't it work at home and it did because after a few days her parents sat her down and told her there decision, they were going to let her study magic and god she was so excited. The letter containing the Grangers' decision had been attached to the owl which had been hanging around the garden, they had then all waited a few days for a reply which contained directions to a pub in London called the leaky cauldron and how to enter Diagon alley, which was where her family where now. Hermionie couldn't stand still, constantly leaning on the balls of her feet while her dad sorted out the money situation in the bank. He had been gone for ages now and she was losing her patience. She had wanted to go in with him but he had insisted she wait outside. Hermione didn't understand why since it wasn't like the bank would be dangerous. Her mum stood beside her and unlike Hermione looked very uncomfortable. "Are you okay mother?"
This question seemed to snap her mum out of whatever she had been thinking "Oh yes dear, just this is all a bit much isn't it, I mean a wall that moves to reveal a hidden world behind London, how does that even work." the question seemed to be rhetorical
"I know, isn't it fascinating, I can't wait to find out how it works, I wonder what else I can learn while I am here, Do you know where we are planning on going first?"
Hermione's mum looked at her and Hermione couldn't ignore the strange look her mum gave her. "Well honestly dear, me and your father were talking and we think it might be best if we wait in the pub while you go buy your school supplies, I think we can trust you to behave."
"Oh." Trying to ignore her disappointment Hermionie agreed with her mum, she had hoped that today would be a chance for them all to explore this new world they had been introduced to but if her parents thought it best then they must be right. It was at this moment her father reappeared out from the bank, he held a pouch of something in his hand, which she guessed was the money, and he looked a pale as a ghost, not explaining what had happened he simply gave her the pouch, told her to be back to check in every hour and then dragging her mother they both quickly hurried back to the safety and normality of the pub.
Hermione now stood alone, burying the disappointment she was feeling deep down she tried to focus on something more positive. Thinking of how she now stood in a strange new world with a bag of money and a list of school supplies, she could honestly say she had never been more excited for anything. Checking the list and forming a plan in her head, knowing she needed to be back every hour for check in, she decided to shop in groups, this way she could also go back and drop the stuff off with her parents and also check in with them, two birds with one stone as her father would say.
Deciding she had waited long enough Hermione began to make her way towards the nearest book shop, deciding she could spend her first hour buying her school books and maybe if her father had given her enough money she could buy some extra reading materials, for leisure reading. Lucky for Hermionie her parents had insisted on coming early to beat the morning traffic this idea seemed to also apply to the wizarding world as the streets of Diagon Alley were almost empty, a few early morning shoppers but most where shop owners setting up for the day ahead, as a result when Hermione arrived outside a bookshop called Flourish and Blotts, she was surprised to see it so busy. Walking in she was taken aback by the sheer scale of the place, there were shelves stacked to the ceiling with book as large as paving stone bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all, feeling slightly overwhelmed Hermionie decided to go to the front desk and ask for help finding her first year books, at the counter she found a middle aged man sat, reading from a newspaper and much to her shock the pictures in said paper appeared to be moving, "Excuse me sir" the man looked up from his paper "My name is Hermionie Granger and I am attending Hogwarts as a first year. I was wondering if you could help me find my required reading materials"
Not bothering to stand up, the man, who Hermionie assumed was the owner, pointed to a row of books which seemed bound together. "All Hogwarts books can be found there, just simply find your year and come back to pay" the man seemed annoyed at her question. Not letting his rudeness perturb her she wandered over to the shelve the man had pointed at and looked around, just as he had said there were rows of books bond together, a tag on each one simply read a year, Hermionie assumed this was the year that these books were targeted for at Hogwarts. Picking up the ones that read first year she began to look around to see if anything stood out to her, picking up a book on wizarding customs titled 'The basic guide to the wizarding world written for the uniformed' she decided this is exactly what she needed, on her way back to the counter one book caught her eye 'Alchemy, the dying art of magical science' picking it up she skimmed through it, she knew what Alchemy was, it was quite commonly appeared in the history of chemistry so the idea that the magical world had a version of it excited Hermionie, this could be away to link her no magical studies to her magical ones and even if it didn't it would definitely get her parents interest. Reading the blurb of the book Hermionie was definitely interested it what it had to say;
'Alchemy was once simply an art of transfiguration but overtime fused with other magical practices to form its own branch of magic, however in recent years it has begun to die out, great discoveries are becoming less and less common and more and more people are forgetting the history and majesty of this noble art, join me as I try and chronicle the story of Alchemies rise to fame before it begins a slow fade to obscurity.'
Definitely interesting.
Paying for the books Hermionie crossed them off from her mental checklist and made her way to purchase the items that interested her less, deciding to save the wand till last. Even shopping for those items was far more exciting than anything she had ever done and by the time Hermione had crossed off every item but one she was in a wonderfully good mood, she had been popping back to see her parents all day, dropping stuff off and telling them all about it but now she had one thing left to buy. Her wand.
As Hermione found herself standing outside of the next shop on her list she couldn't help but be disappointed, Ollivanders wand shop looked completely normal, the outside wasn't impressive in any way which considering this was what she was most excited to get was a shame. Opening the door revealed a disorganised mess of shelves that stretched up to the roof of the shop, each one was filled with boxes, a little bell sat on a wooden counter which bore many scorch marks and chucks of the brown wood were missing, clearly like everything in this shop it was very old and very well used. Hermione stood there for a few seconds, taking the mess in before walking forward and ringing the bell, the sound cut through the dusty stillness and with seconds a small old man walked out from behind the rows of shelves, he had wide pale eyes that seemed to shine in the poorly lit light of the shop, she guessed that this was Mister Ollivander, swallowing the nervousness she decide to speak first "Hello Sir, I am Hermione Granger, I was hoping you could help me purchase my wand."
Mister Ollivander studied her for a few seconds before a wide welcoming smile broke out on his face, "Hello my dear, I would be happy to help, I do love muggle born customers, they always present such a wonderful challenge." Drawing his own wand from his sleeve he summoned the tape measures from the back room which got to work measuring the young lady in front of him, taken aback by this sudden change in the man's demeanour Hermione almost forgot to ask a burning question she had been saving all day.
"Sir, would you mind explaining how exactly wands are made?" Hermione hoped he wouldn't take any issue with explaining the process while she got hers.
"Ahh such a curious mind, brilliant, that helps narrow down the options. Oh of course I always love talking about my work" as Olivander began to explain the process, Hermione's eyes were draw to behind him where the rectangular boxes that lined the shelves flew out and started floating behind him "Well to begin with there are two main components of a wand, the wood that makes up the outer shell of the wand and the core of the wand, would you mind trying this one, yes just pick it up" Hermione went to pick up the wand but as soon as her skin touched the wand heated up burning her hand "ahh so definitely not pear wood, sorry about that, now where was I, ahh yes the two ingredients, the core is full of magic and needs to be properly prepared before being added to the wood, you could just go around taking unicorn hair and putting it inside of some stick and then expect it to work, the finer details of this process of preparation is something each wand maker guards, but the basic steps are the same, one must remove any impurities in the core, and the same for the wood, then bind them, do you understand my dear?"
At this point Ollivander flicked his wand and boxes stopped moving, the rather large stack behind him still floated but any wands not part of it returned to the shelves "I think so, it must be a bit like a chemistry experiment at school, the right chemical must be added to produce the desired result, anything that isn't meant to be there would destroy the result or in this case the wand, am I correct?"
Olivander's smile widened "While I have unsure what chemistry is, the description you used fits, now let's sort out this wand"
Hermionie now smiling at his praise and the confirmation she was right nodded however after 10 minutes of trying different wands the positive mood she had been in had disappeared, not a single wand had worked for her, they either didn't do anything or burnt her hand and her frustration at the whole process was getting to her, after Mister Ollivanders latest attempt at finding her a wand caused all the boxes behind him to be blown across the room Hermione snapped "Why isn't this working, this was a mistake, maybe I am not meant to find a wand and I should just go back to my normal life" she could feel the tears in the corner of her eyes and she tried her hardest to not let them fall.
"Miss Granger, I have been a wand maker for a very long time and I have never failed to find a wand for a young witch or wizard and I will not fail today," Looking up at the old wand maker Hermione saw how much he wanted to help her "Do you know how many times I have heard that, almost every child, muggleborn or magicalborn who doesn't find there wand on the first try tells me that they must not belong in the magical world and every time I find them a wand, how about this, why don't you tell me what you want from magic?"
Thinking about it Hermione decided to tell him the truth "I want to change things, I want the power to change things for the better, from the moment I first learnt of magic I have wanted to learn how to change the world."
"Ahhh, well then I think I know just what I have been missing in all my other attempt"
"What?"
"Change Miss Granger, my attempts have all been too rigid for you, you need a bit of flexibility, you seemed to respond best to wands suited to transfiguration but now I see that the wand itself must be suited for change" at this 5 wands flew from the pile " try these five, I am sure one will suit you" and so Hermione did, upon picking up the final wand she felt something, like a dam bursting inside of her flooding through her body and into the wand, waving it around she watched in amazement as the wooden countertop became glass, then steel and then back to wood.
"Thank you, thank you thank you," Hermione fired out, she had her own wand, she was a witch, the excitement of the day returned in full force at this point and with it her curiosity, "What is it?"
Ollivander looked up from his desk, which he had been staring at since its transformation "Well that was impressive Miss Granger, the wood of that wand is Fir wood, an excellent wood for transfiguration and fit best with a strong filled and focused individual, in fact I believe you have already met another witch with a fir wood wand, Professor Mcgonagall." Hermione's eyes widened in surprise, was Ollivander suggesting she was like the intimidating Deputy-Headmistress? Ollivander continued his explanation of her wand "Now we come to the core, it is an incredibly rare and expensive material. Boggart's blood. This substance is incredibly difficult to get your hands on and again is suited best to transfiguration, now before you ask a Boggart is a creature capable of changing its shape into whatever it desires, while classed as a dark creature there is no issue with possessing wands with its blood" Hermione looked slightly embarrassed at Ollivander knowing she was going to ask about a Boggart, her mind was filing this information away for later study, she wanted to learn everything she could about her wand hoping it might give her an edge over the other students. Giving her want a closer look she was impressed with the craftsmanship, the wand was about 11 inches and the pale yellow wood and was beautifully carved, up the length of the wand were vines made out of the same material but made to look like they had grown up the wand, engraved into the base of the wand where symbols which Hermione had never seen before, she wanted to ask but decided not too, she could learn about the wand more when she was home, her parents would probably be annoyed if she turned up late.
"Now Miss Granger, that will be 10 gallons." Happy to hand over that last of her magical money to the kind old man, Hermione placed her wand back in the box and began to leave.
"Thank you Sir, for everything."
"I am always happy to help a young mage, i can't wait to see what changes you bring"
Leaving the shop Hermione added the meaning of the word mage to the list of things she wanted to research before attending Hogwarts, the excitement at the day keeping her in high spirits and making her wish that the school year would start sooner.
However as Hermione left the shop Ollivanders welcoming smile fell from his tired old face and was replaced with an expression of worry as he remembered the warning his father had once given him about wands containing Boggarts blood 'Garrick you must listen and you must remember this lesson wand cores do not lose all properties of the creature they were taken from and Boggarts blood is no exception, the desire to cause fear is ingrained into these wand just as much as the desire for change is, I hope by combining it with fir wood we will be able to limit this desire but I can not be certain so if the day comes and this wand finds a mage, we must hope they are strong enough' these words ran through his mind he couldn't help but worry about the effect such a wand would have on the curious girl who had just left his shop, he hoped she would be strong enough to resist such a call.
LINE BREAK
As the emerald green flames of the leaky cauldron floo network flared to life the Weasley clan emerged, Molly, Arther, Percy, Fred and George, Ron and finally Ginny had all travelled today for different reasons. Ron, who had never been much of a shopper couldn't help but be excited, he had been on this trip a few times growing up but he had always dreamed of the day he would be in Diagon Alley shopping for his own school supplies. After saying hi to Tom the bartender they all walked to the back alley and opened the wall, Ron ran through not waiting for his parents, the busy streets were filled with witches and wizards of all sizes doing their daily shopping. A few kids Ron's age were with parents and most likely doing the Hogwarts shopping. Wishing his parents would hurry up because he couldn't wait to get started.
After the embarrassment of scrapping around from the family vault for what little amount could be found. Ron's excitement had turned to anger for yet again he had been forced to take a back seat to his brothers. Watching Percy get treated to brand new robes for being made Prefect had awoken that jealous voice in Ron's head yet again, the one that whispered about his family not truly appreciating and yet again he had to remind himself to be happy for his family. The bitterness at watching his brother get special treatment while Ron had to settle for scraps, not only settle for them but be happy he was getting anything at all, was difficult for him. Having to be grateful for second hand books, second hand robes and a second hand pet in the form of Percy's rat Scabbers had caused the excitement to turn to disappointment which is why when him and his father entered the potions shop to pick up a used cauldron and Ron didn't believe anything could cheer him up, "Ron while don't you look around while I get this sorted, okay?"
"Yes dad." He didn't see the point in looking around since it wasn't like he would be allowed to buy anything plus potions had never really interested him, he was more looking forward to flying lessons at Hogwarts and if he had to pick any proper subject as his mum would say he would probably pick Charms or Defence against the dark arts.
So Ron stalked around the shop glaring at the potion ingredients like they could be blamed for his misery, Ron thought to himself why couldn't they ever afford anything his dad worked hard everyday at the ministry and sure there mother didn't but she helped around the house all day so surly that counted for something, what angered Ron the most is that there were some families that worked less hard but could always afford the finest of ingredients from the finest of supply shops. No stop this, Ron Had always been told to be grateful for what he had no matter how little it was for some families always had left and he should be happy that his family loved him for some unfortunately did not lock their children but Ron had been miserable all day and no one not even his brothers had noticed. It was this spiral of negative thought that caused Ron to bump into a young dark haired girl, she looked about his age but was smaller than Ron and had icy blue eyes
"Oh sorry." he mumbled, Not really caring whether the girl believed him or not.
"I should hope you were sorry since this was entirely your fault. I mean I was standing right there so how could you not see me" the girl's voice contained a surprising amount of disdain for some Ron considering he hadn't a clue who she was.
Embarrassed Ron's first instinct was to snap back at her some cutting remark about her size and he almost did but he stopped himself, this girl whoever she was held herself with such confidence that Ron guessed she was properly someone important and if she was his age then she was most likely going to Hogwarts with him. Deciding to try this again Ron offered out his hand "I really am sorry, I have just had a bad day that's all and was lost in my own head, can we try this again. My name is Ron Weasley, what's yours?"
The girl seemed shocked by the way Ron had chosen to introduce himself "My name is Daphne Greengrass, heir of the most ancient and noble house Greengrass, and I accept your apology Ron Weasley."
Ron's eyes almost flew out of his head, this was the heir to the Greengrass name, their family was one of the richest in the magical world and one of the oldest, Ron was thankful to whatever gods might be out there that he had decided against insulting her. It was at this point that not only did Ron's dad reappear carrying his stuff but two people with the same striking blue eyes as Daphne who were presumably her parents "Ah Lord Weasley, fancy seeing you here."
Ron could see his dad's annoyance at being addressed as a lord "It's Arthur or Mister Weasley if you want to be formal, I didn't expect to see you here Lord Greengrass, I was just sorting out Ronalds here's potion supplies for Hogwarts."
Lord Greengrass didn't seem annoyed in the slightest by Arthurs dismissal of the title "Oh of course, congratulations on getting into Hogwarts young Ronald, quite impressive, I suspect you will do some amazing things," Ron could help but enjoy the warm feeling the praise gave him. "Our little Daphne got in as well and we couldn't be prouder. Well Arthur while your here I was wondering if we could chat about the bill your department is drafting up, I know you and your team are the specialists but I work closely with muggles and would love to give my input"
Ron had no idea what the dark haired man was talking about, but he smiled at the praise he had received. His father looked less then pleased however "I'm sorry Lord Greengrass" even Ron caught the emphasis his father placed on the word Lord almost as if mocking it. "I must be off as my wife is expecting me back, enjoy your day." With that Ron's father didn't even give him the chance to say goodbye to Daphne as his arm was quickly grabbed and he was pulled out of the store. When they were far enough away Arthur turned to his son and spoke "I want you to promise me something Ron, while the Greengrasses are not as dark as some other families, some of their views and a fact they hold onto the traditions mean they are not people who should be trusted, promise me you'll stay away from their daughter."
Ron nodded, his father had never asked anything like this from him so he assumed it must be really serious, "Dad if there all bad then surely we won't even be in the same house at Hogwarts, they will be Syltherin and I am going to be in Gryffindor."
"Good point son, good point," a smile was back on his fathers face "now Ron let's get back I believe your mother and Percy will have gotten his present by now."
Hearing this Ron felt his already sour mood sour even more "Dad, I was wondering?"
"Yes."
"I know it is asking for a lot but could I have a new something," at this Arthur's face twisted into a look of confusion asking his son to explain, "Well it is just Percy is getting a lot of new stuff, like the new Owl and some better robes and I was hoping I could also get something."
"Ron I know it's tough but we can't really afford anything, Percy is getting treated for not only achieving some excellent results in his exams and making Prefect, surely you understand."
Of course Ron understood, every year he had suffered and given stuff up for his brothers. No birthday presents the year the twins got into Hogwarts or any other time something great happened to his brothers. Ron always lost out and he had enough of getting nothing, taking a moment to think he came up with a plan "Dad what if instead of christmas and birthday presents I could have one item new, like my wand. I mean Charles is more likely to work for Ginny than it is for me."
Arthur took some time to think about his son's idea, the sacrifice meant both Percy's new items and maybe Ron's wand wouldn't affect the overall family too badly and he wouldn't feel as bad since Ron had offered to give them up. He also had a point, Ginny was more likely Charlie than Ron had ever been, Ron wasn't similar to any of the family but in Arthurs mind that's what made him so brilliant.
"Okay," pulling out a slip from his pocket and writing down the amount for a wand and the details for the wand shop Mr Weasley handed it to his son "give this to Olivander, it will cover the cost of a new wand then meet us back at the leaky cauldron, understood?"
Taking the slip and looking at it Ron knew what it was, sometimes when the Weasleys couldn't afford anything instead of money they would give these to a shop owner, then whenever money came into the family vault it would be sent by the Goblins to those shop owners who had a slip.
"Thank you so much dad" then without a moment's thought Ron took off running.
Ron ran through the crowds of shoppers, pushing past them, not caring about the disgruntled crowds who did not seem impressed with being pushed out of the way by a small 11 year old boy, not stopping until he arrived at one of the best shops in Diagon alley, he said one of the best because the broom shop was also really cool, Ollivanders wand shop. He didn't take any time to take in the outside of the shop. Pushing open the door and running to the front desk, slamming the worn golden bell repeatedly. The sound of the bell rang through the whole shop, not stopping until he saw the old wand maker appear from the back of the small shop. Ron had only seen the man a once before yet he looked the exact same, wispy white hair and wide bright eyes that seemed to stare into your soul, Ron sometimes wondered if Ollivander was a legilimens but he doubted it since that would probably be a well know fact, "Hi sir, I am hear to buy a wand." waving the slip in front of the old man's face.
The old man smiled at Ron "I am assuming that you are the young Weasly attending Hogwarts this year" Ron nodded.
"It's Ron sir."
"I do apologize Ron but I did not expect to be seeing you today, however I am very glad to see you and I am always happy to help someone who enters this store looking for a wand, it is how I earnt my reputation after all."
Ron was soon surrounded by tape measures which measured with arm length and width also taking note of his height and for some reason his weight, he had no idea why the wand maker needed this information but since Ollivander continued to talk he didn't want to interrupt him
"Your fathers wand was birch wood with a unicorn hair as a core and your mothers wand was mahogany wood with another unicorn hair so this gives us something to start with, your family always had a connection to the pure unicorn since they represent the light of magic."
In awe Ron watched as Ollivander made hundreds of wands move with one simple spell, flying around the shop; some began to form a pile behind the old man while others returned to the shelves. Ron decided at this moment to ask a question that had always bugged him "Sir, what does the wand wood actually do? I mean the core obviously has all the magic but I never understood what the wood did"
A small chuckle escaped Ollivanders lips and he smiled at Ron who missed the slight flicker of annoyance at his ignorance "The core could be described as the magical source of a wand by those who have no knowledge of wand lore," Ron could feel his cheeks turning red from embarrassment "For in reality the core acts simply as an amplifier for one's own magic so if the wand core's magic doesn't match your own magic then the spell your trying to cast might not work at all or be greatly weakened" at this Ollivander handed Ron a wand the looked similar to his mother, the wood must be the same, waving it nothing happened "that is a perfect example of what I mean, the core doesn't suit you so your magic was unable to meld with the wand and a match wasn't formed."
Ron nodded, while he was very confused, he mainly wanted to just get his wand and leave "I understand."
Looking into Ollivanders eyes he could tell that the old man knew Ron was lying but the wand maker loved talking about his passion so did not care "now that you understand what the core does in a wand, let me tell you about the wood," the plies of wands behind him changed, most flying back to the shelves and a few new one being added "The wood acts as an easier path for the magic to travel, this lets you fine tune the magic to get more delict results, now try this one please Master Weasley." Ron picked up the wand a gave it a wave, the warm feeling of his magic flowing through his body took him by surprise, his magic had never felt so alive and he was very excited but his magic reached his hand and as it seemed to enter the wand it stopped and recoiled, the warm sensation disappeared and Ron was left feeling empty. Out of the tip of the wand a sputter of sparks flew to the floor, dying out immediately.
"Why didn't it work?"
"Well that was an interesting response, what it means is that we are close to finding your wand, could you describe how that felt for me."
"Umm it felt like my magic was alive, moving through me but when it reached the wand, well it felt like it couldn't find the core, like it travelled through the wand but didn't know where the core was but it definitely knew that the core was there," Ron shrugged his shoulders "I know that doesn't make any sense but it is hard to describe."
"No no Mister Weasley, it makes complete sense, what it means is the wood of this wand is suited for you, elms wood is an interesting match, it has a tendency for charms work and is often wonderful at delict and precise magic often being favoured by pure-bloods, however it seems that the core might be off slightly, definitely dragon heartstring of some kind but maybe it needs a bit more."
At this point Ron was very lost, seeming to see this Ollivander elaborated "You see the fact you described your magic as knowing there was a core but not being able to find it means that connection just wasn't strong enough, so lets try this one."
Ron looked at the wand Ollivander had put in front of him, the dark brown wood seemed to shine as the wand had clearly been well kept, it looked expensive, elegant, there was no marks on the wood, no cravings or engravings and as he picked it up it fit perfectly in his hand and even before he could wave it around, his magic roared to life. Like an inferno burning through his body it poured from his hand and into the wand and firing out the end in a torrent of crimson fire, luckily it didn't seem to burn anything just heating up the room and providing a lot of light but Ron's instincts kicked in and he waved the wand around trying to get the fire to stop, this caused it to be flung across the room.
"FINITE INCANTATEM" the wand maker's voice cut through the room, immediately the fire died and stopped coming from Ron's wand "Well young Ronald, I do believe we have found you your wand."
"You can't be serious, I almost burnt down your shop"
"I don't see why that would be a problem, this shop is almost burnt down at least 3 times a day, your magic reacted strongly to the wand, the connection was formed" Ollivander gestured to the wand in Ron's hand "Elms wood, 14 inches, the core is made from Fae hair wrapped around an old English dragon's heartstring, such a wand is uncommon due to the difficulty in finding and obtaining of such hair. The Fae are extremely hard to contact and even harder to convince them to give over their hair. Most of the hair obtained for the few wands which exist comes from decedents of Fae and as a result requires another magical creature to help stimulate the magical potential of the hair, dragon heartstring works best since in this case the dragon is also an old English beast and as such the two magics work in tandem together. This wand will be challenging for you to control but the raw power of the core combined with the elegance of the wood makes for a powerful combination particularly in charms and offensive magic."
Ron blinked, most of the information went over his head, the bits he did catch where that he had a rare wand and it would be good at charms and duelling, this got Ron very excited, handing over the slip and thanking the kind wand maker he left to go catch up with his family, the annoyance from earlier today completely gone, replace with excitement about the coming school year.
Ollivander watched the young Weasly leave a sinking feeling beginning to form within his stomach, that was the second wand today he had sold which had been in his family for years, for the second time today the words of his father came back to him 'Fae are dangerous creatures. They have an understanding of magic that no other thing in this world will ever have and as a result the hair from such a race is a gift and a curse. When crafting this wand my great grandfather used elms wood in hopes of taming such power and it seems to have worked, obviously we won't know for certain until it finds a mage to bond too, we can only hope Garrick that whoever that wizard or witch is they are able to resist the old powers that will be called to such a wand'. Ollivander hoped he was overthinking it, hoped he was reading too much into two unrelated events, but today he had sold a wand destined for change and a wand wreathed in the old magic which the Weasley family had once known so closely. This did not bode well for the future.
LINE BREAK
As Harry approached the meeting point he found his excitement building, he could honestly say that he could never remember a time in his life where he had been this excited for anything before. Harry was about to have his first real encounter with magic. The reply from Hogwarts had come quickly enough, another letter which had seemed so similar in appearance to the first that Harry worried they had just sent him it again, thankfully however that wasn't the case. The content of this letter was much shorter. Instead of the lists of items it simply contained a singular ticket for the train to London, a set of directions on how to go from the train station to the meeting point and a small note which was addressed to Petunia.
Giving the note to his aunt had been a terrifying experience, her face had gone as white as a sheet when she read it. Harry had half expected her to scream bloody murder at him yet she simple nodded, informed him that he would be going alone and then walked away. His aunt had stayed true to her word and on the 1st of august he was taken by a silent Uncle Vernon to the Surrey train station. The young boy was worried that his travels from Surrey to London would be met with strange looks and worried glances yet no one seemed to pay him any attention, even the ticket master didn't seem to notice him judging by the fact he was never asked to show his ticket unlike the other passengers.
The meeting point wasn't too hard to find yet Harry couldn't help but feel confused as to why the school had recommended he meet a member of staff in a pub, maybe that was more normal in the new world he would be entering. The Leaky cauldron was a disappointment, well from the outside which is all Harry could currently see it was, standing outside Harry wondered as to how he was meant to know who this Rubeus Hagrid was. No description was given and Harry was certain that Hogwarts had no idea what he looked like. His questions were however quickly answered as a deep voice shouted from across the street.
"HARRY!"
Looking towards the source of the noise Harry was taken aback by the man who came towards him. It was a large man, taller than anyone Harry had ever met, his face was mostly covered by his bushy brown hair and messy beard. He was dressed so strongly, a long brown coat which was covered in marks, scratches and dirt, it was left open so Harry could see the faded pinkish waistcoat.
"Hi, are you Mr Hagrid?" Harry nervously asked, the man was very intimidating and if it wasn't the Hogwarts groundskeeper then he better be ready to make a run for it.
"Oh bless, no need for Mr, Hagrid will do or Rubeus if we aren't at Hogwarts. you don't remember me do you, merlin you used to fit right in the palm of my hand and now look at you. Ready for Hogwarts." The strange man who Harry was guessing was Mr Hagrid seemed strongly choked up at this.
"You knew me as a baby?" The shock was clear from Harry's voice.
"Of course, mind you we only met a handful of times but I called your parents' friends so when I saw them I got to see you, bless their souls."
So much information was hitting Harry at once, this man had known him as a baby and had known his parents. Did that mean his mum and dad had been magical. Asking Hagrid exactly that and seeing the confusion on the man's face.
"Are you telling me that the Dursleys never told you about your mum and dad being magic, not even when you got your letter?"
"I don't think Aunt Petunia liked to talk much about mum and dad. I know they died in a car crash. Dad was apparently a drunk but that is about all I know about them."
"Dursley!" Hagrid Bellowed. Loud enough that Harry worried his uncle might have actually heard all the way back in Surry. "Lily and James Potter were the greatest people I have ever known. They were both brilliant witch and wizards. Come on, let's get inside and I can tell you about them properly."
LINE BREAK
It wasn't until much later, after Harry had left the bank and after he had completed most of his shopping. It had been mostly uneventful other than robe shopping where he had encountered Draco, a pale boy who had been very stuck up, that everything began to properly sink in. He was furious. Not only had his Uncle and Aunt hidden everything from him but they had spent so much of his younger years telling him about how much of a failure his father was, how his mother had given up on a hope of a bright future by marrying him. To find out that his parents had left more money to him than Vernon would ever hope to achieve had been funny. Finding out he was actually a celebrity hadn't been as fun to find out. He had always preferred his privacy. Not getting a lot of it from the Dursley's meant those moments of peacefulness had always been something he treasured and it seems that this world would take even more of that from him. It made sense, everything good came at a price and if the price for getting out from under their control meant giving up a little bit of his privacy wouldn't be too bad. Well he hoped it would be.
Hagrid had agreed to meet him after he had gotten his wand. Apparently it was a private thing and Hagrid felt he deserved to get it without him watching over Harry. Harry greatly appreciated this kind gesture. Hagrid had seen how uncomfortable Harry had been with the attention and Harry suspected this was his way of apologising which was really kind of him. Honestly Harry wasn't sure what to make of the big man who had looked after him today. The last thing he had said was still running around in Harry's head. 'Don't worry about getting your pet sorted. I have an idea.' Harry couldn't help but think over what he was going to do.
A few minutes later Harry stood outside, in his opinion, the most important building in all of Diagon Alley Ollivanders wand shop, he spent a minute taking in the outside appearance of the shop, it was a narrow, tall building and the front was painted in black paint and the above the store was written in peeling golden lettering: Ollivanders: Makers of fine wands since 382 B.C and from the looks of it the shop front had been painted around then. In the small windows sat on the purple cushions rows of what Harry guessed must be wand boxes. Walking inside he took in the sight, there were small lamps lining the walls and the store was a disorganised mess, the same boxes that were in the windows lined the shelves towering over him.
Ringing the bell Harry stood back and waited, waiting was a skill Harry had to learn to master but one he hated putting into practice. "Good afternoon" said a soft voice, Harry calmed his instinct to jump in surprise, stepping out from the shadows an old man stood before him, the man's bright pale eyes shone like moons in the gloom of the shop "Harry Potter. I did think I would be seeing you yesterday."
"Sorry sir." Harry said, confused since he certainly hadn't made an appointment with the man.
"No worries. It was only a guess. I suppose I can't always get it right, though that wand was certain you would be here to claim it yesterday. It didn't matter however since someone else picked it up. Now that was a surprise."
Deciding against trying to understand his rambling, Harry just moved past them. "I am here about getting my wand"
"Of course of course, it seems like only yesterday your mothers was in here herself buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charms work" Mister Ollivander waved his own wand and no more than 20 boxes flew from the shelf, Harry noticed that this whole time the man hadn't blinked once, which was slightly creepy but he couldn't judge as he himself had been told he could be rather unsettling "your father on the other hand , favoured a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent with transfigurations, well I say your father favoured it but I suppose they favoured each other, the wand has just as much say in the matter as the wizard."
Mister Ollivander had come close to Harry at this point, close enough that Harry could see himself reflected in the man's moon-like eyes "Which is your wand arm?"
"Well I am right handed sir."
"Hold out your arm then, that's it" a tape measure then flew over to Harry and began to take note of the length of his arm from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and then for some reason around his head. "Now I am interested to see how this goes, half-blood customers are always the most fascinating. Muggle-borns are unpredictable but that in itself is something I can predict but half-bloods now they can truly be unexpected."
Six wands were placed in front of Harry, who was very confused as to half of what the old man was talking about yet Mister Ollivander continued as if he was giving a lecture on the subject. Where are all the Wizards this strange Harry asked himself.
"You see Mister Potter, when a pure blood walks into my shop, I have a fair idea of which wand will be there, it will most likely be one of two wands. A wand with their father's wand core and mother's wand wood or a wand with their mother's wand core and their father's wand wood." At this Ollivander tapped the first two boxes revealing a one wand which seemed to be made out of a brown wood Harry assumed was Willow and another wand which Harry recognised as mahogany as it was the same colour as the table at the Dursleys "Give both of them a try for me please."
Harry picked up both wands individually and feeling foolish gave them a twirl, nothing happened and then Ollivander quickly threw the wands which Harry had placed carefully back in the boxes behind him. Harry heard them crash into a pile and Harry understood why this shop was such a mess. While the old man handled ever wand with such care while it was in his hand. He seemed to have a lot less care for those wands in boxes.
"See this is brilliant, now we come to the interesting bit, the principle about pure-bloods and their wands, imagine this idea over generations of wands, do you understand the implication"
Harry didn't understand at all but nodded his head, not wanting to appear foolish in-front of the wand maker.
"Wonderful. Now this wand was made with Griffin tail feather as used by your father and hundreds of generations of Potters before him, the wood is from a pear tree which has provided wood for my wands for my entire time as a wand maker, would you care to give it a go" Lord Ollivander's voice was filled with an excitable energy, clearly he had been looking forward to this for a long time.
"What happens now?" Harry asked worriedly. If a wand which should have worked for him didn't work, that means he wasn't going to get a wand.
At this the mad old man's eyes seemed to shine even brighter. "Well I could get you to try wands that share both wood and core with your parents but since you seem to have no connection with the fusion of both I am going to say that would be a waste of time."
With this two of the boxes shot back to the shelves leaving only one wands left "now you see Heir Potter, another explanation for the recurrence of wood types and core within magical families would be the exposure theory, the idea that if a young child is exposed to a wand over and over again there magic will be shaped by said wand and want a similar one, you young Potter were greatly exposed to another wand in your childhood" Ollivander's eyes flicked upwards to Harry's scar, "I am sorry to say I sold the wand that did that, the wand that did a great number of many terrible things. Thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful and in the wrong hands… Well you understand better than most what the master of that wand did"
"Voldemort"
"Yes, I knew him by a different name but yes Voldemort, the wand I mentioned early. It and I had thought it to be yours holly and phoenix tail feather, the brother wand to Voldemorts but it went to another, so in haste i prepared this one" Ollivander pulled out a pale white wand from the last box and handed it to Harry, who with a trembling hand took it and waved it, yet again nothing.
"I am okay with not having a wand so similar to his"
A small chuckle escaped Ollivander's lips "well yes, I suppose that would have been quite morbid" quickly he put away the wand, leaving only one box unopened "now we get back to my original point, why Half-bloods are so fascinating? You see I have a theory, one that other wand makers share but it is widely considered to be nonsense by anyone outside of the field. You see if that one parent is a pure-blood, meaning they have a history of wands which work for that family, and one parent is new to the magical world, meaning their magic is new and not refined by generations of magical influence, this can in some cases introduce an element of chaos into the child's magic. This could mean new wonderful magical abilities or could be old forgotten aspects of a family's magic to return. Which means your wand could be anything. We might be here for a while, Mister Potter."
And they were. It felt like an hour had passed before the strange old man muttered something under his breath and disappeared into the back of the shop. He had been gone for about ten minutes before Harry began to worry. Eventually around fifteen minutes or so he reappeared with a box in his hand.
"I will admit to Mister Potter that today has been a very strange day for me. I have sold some truly strange wands that I had never expected to and I believe you are going to keep this trend going. You seem to have a more favourable reaction to wands made from Blackthorn wood, it represents battle, war, protection and…" the old man trailed off as if not sure if he should continue. "It is a powerful wood for those who wish to practise the more aggressive magic and bonds best with those who have faced hardship in their life."
At this point Ollivander stopped talking and gestured for Harry to open the box and Harry looked upon the most beautiful wand he had seen all day, made out of a dark wood that looked almost black, the handle twisted looking like a gnarl of a tree, little thorns littered the length of the wand. As Harry picked it up it fit perfectly into his hand. A great wave of cold flowed through his body, entering the wand and remaining there, giving the wand a wave and all of the lights in the shop dimmed. Harry smiled.
"The core however is very rare, in fact I have only made 3 wands with such a core and others of my name have never made more, the core is Basilisk skin and it makes such a wand suited for many obscure branches of magic while not having the best reputation these wands are extremely powerful"
Harry was too entranced with his wand to see the flicker of worry that had flashed through the wand maker's eyes "Thank you sir, for everything" paying the Mister Ollivander Harry walked out the shop. Hagrid stood outside, having turned up at some point during the search for his wand with a beautiful snowy owl.
Garrick Ollivander closed his shop for the day, which was strange since it was only the late afternoon and normally he was open until the evening. In fact this was the first time in his entire career as owner of the family business that he had ever shut early. However today hadn't been like any other day as today he had sold three wands which all had a touch of the oldest of magical powers within them. All three are extremely powerful and all three extremely old.
One designed to cause great change.
One made to restore what was lost.
One created to bring chaos.
Blackthorn wood, a symbol of winter, death and the coming darkness, a core from one of the most uncontrollable and evil creature in the world, a combination that would excel in the darkest and most obscure of arts, a wand he had now given to some who possessed the blood of a family who had all but been exiled from history forced to only exist in legend. He hoped he was wrong, hoped dearly this wasn't a sign of their return and that the young Potter was just a fluke. Others might have forgotten the darkness that lived within the Potter family but the Ollivander's hadn't.
Taking some deep breaths he stilled his beating heart. The boy was the champion of light, the one who defeated the terror of the dark lord. The Weasley was from one of the most light magical families in Britain, the ones who had always pushed against the old ways. The girl was a Muggle-born, one who simply wanted to make things better. Yes, everything was going to be fine, Olivander told himself, but he wasn't sure he believed himself.
Dear Readers,
Well I do hope you have enjoyed these three chapters. I am especially proud of that last one and the wand shop scenes. It was one of the original ideas that I kept from my first idea of this fanfiction. While I understand that it is a cliche to have the main characters with special wands, it was a cliche I just couldn't resist and the amount of research I put into it meant I just couldn't scrap it.
This story will be a slow builder. Starting with the golden trio in a very similar place to cannon and ending with them in very very different places. I have the plans for 8 books so it is going to be a whale of a project and take a rather long time to finish so I hope you're willing to stick with me. I promise it deviants from cannon a lot after book 1 and I have some ideas that I am very proud off. It was orgiaianly meant to be a very stereotypical Dark Harry story but after reading a few others namely:
Harry Potter and the Perversion of Purity by ACI100
Sarcasm and Slytherin by anonymousmagpie
Which are two brilliant stories which I may borrow ideas from but I will make them different in my own way. If I use ideas from any other stories I will credit at the end of the chapter.
Well that is all from me.
Goodbye dear reader
Padington123
