A HeraldWitch chapter 5

Disclaimer please see chapters 1-4 thanks uber much.

As soon as Ginny and Kora left the Gringotts building Ginny was off like a shot weaving through the crowds of be-robed people. Kora was only keeping up because she had grabbed the back of Ginny's t-shirt. They had to pass a large shop with a massive crowd of people about the age Kora liked to think of as trainee age which is to say about 12 to 16 all talking about some ditch and looking at the fanciest and most impractical sweeping implements ever. The crush of people began to thin as they got past that shop and into a slightly less populated area of Diagon alley.

"That's the place. Olivander's. the owner's kind of creepy but nice enough after you get done we'll go to the apothecary and"

"Apothecary, they sell herbs and things like that here too right."

"Yeah, also other things to make potions with, like belladonna."

"Isn't that poisonous?"

"Yep but Snape isn't allowed to poison us…. I think. If you were Harry though I think he'd make an exception."

"Who?"

"A friend of the family. Really nice guy. Maybe you'll get to meet him."

"So yeah, let's go in. I'll follow you."

"Nice try." With that Ginny opened the door and shoved Kora inside. There was dust everywhere and Kora rather liked the effect. It kind of reminded her of the work room in the castle where the hearthstone is stationed. All adept potential trainees were brought there within a week of actually beginning to learn about energy flows. It's a scare tactic and it works.

As Kora turned to head over to the desk she found herself looking into a large-ish pair of silver eyes. As she stepped back she took in more of the man's appearance. A bit shorter than herself and with a shock of white hair and an air of calm about him that if one wasn't used to being around working mages would definitely be disturbing or "creepy" as Ginny had warned her.

"Hello miss. Is there anything I can help you with? Ahh, Miss. Weasley one would hope that your wand is faring much better than those of your brothers did while in school?"

"Hello Mr. Olivander this is Kora Talese she's starting at Hogwarts this term and needs a wand. I'm sure there's something here for her."

"Well as you well know Ms. Weasley it is not the wizard that chooses the wand"

"But the wand that chooses the wizard yes I know."

With surprising agility the small man scrambled up a ladder and levitated four boxes of differing lengths down from a shelf near the ceiling, grabbed another three from about halfway up the wall, and scrambled back down setting all the boxes on the desk near the door. He grabbed the first one, "12 inch dogwood and phoenix, strong", and placed it into Kora's right hand. Nothing happened, not even a little, not even at all. The little man tried all the wands on the desk, levitated about 15 more down from random shelves trying what Kora assumed to be just about every possible combination of wood and material. Just about the time Kora was about to give up and scream that she didn't need a wand she heard Olivander mutter something about silver ash and saw him spin and exit the room for a smallish work room off to the side. She and Ginny traded looks that said "uhhhhh…right." The next minute he had come back to the desk and was telling Kora to try this wand. "silver ash and what I assume to be unicorn 16 inches." The moment it touched her fingers she felt a rush of energy not unlike when she accidentally got sucked into a leyline just a little to strong for her. Silver and blue sparks shot all over the room and Kora felt just the slightest brush of a mind on hers.

"Kora I've got to hand it to you. That was unofficially the coolest thing ever."

"Indeed Ms. Talese you have a truly unique wand there. The animal I got that tail hair from looked like a unicorn but didn't have a horn. I had wondered about that for quite a while and thought I should not sell it because it had never exhibited signs of any actual magic until now. I had believed it was my first defective wand in a very long time. And I am very pleased that it isn't. Now then let's get this wrapped up and ready to go."

Kora got an impression that there was more to that story but that impression was quickly usurped by the thrill of having a wand. Boy was Elspeth going to be jealous. As Kora handed over the correct amount of money and grabbed her now boxed and wrapped wand she and Ginny left to go get a cauldron, visit the apothecary which was exactly like the ones in Valdemar, and get the books on the list, Ginny saw and introduced Kora to all of her friends including Luna Lovegood and the Creevy brothers. Kora matched names to faces and tried to make sure they would stay in her memory for future reference. By the time they had managed to get everything on the list it was getting quite dark and both girls swore that their feet were going to fall off they had to stop in one last shop. It was tiny but brightly lit and there were two more people, who Kora had to assume were related to Ginny by virtue of the shocking red hair and freckles, shooing people out of the shop so they could close. As soon as the two girls were just close enough that the boys could hear their footsteps they ducked behind a trash can and Ginny stuck her head up and fired a small clay pellet at the twins which hit the one on the right directly on the back of the neck above the line of his jacket. He jumped and fired a jet of white sparks at the general direction of the trashcans and the other one ran up and conjured a small waterfall above the same general area soaking the girls. With a shout Ginny just vaulted over the cans and hurled herself at the twins and managing to get the one she hit with the pellet on the ground and sat on him while conjuring a rain cloud of marshmallow peeps over the other.

During this episode Kora had managed to use some of the weather magic Elspeth had been trying to hammer into her head to make the rain stop and the cloud dissipate. She poked her head up over the cans and heard one of the twins say "Oi look at the young'un our little Ginny is corrupting. I'm so proud I'm mffffmffmfmgack." and saw Ginny send one of the peeps flying into his mouth.

For now that's all folks. Sorry about not posting for so long classes and all. Meh oh well. Se la vie and all that jazz so thanks to satyr-oh, Janie Lupin, and the ever faithful MaraWeaves for reviewing. Until next time mischief managed!