Chapter 4
Mandy stepped out into the windy cobbled street utterly amazed. As they walked up the busy streets Mandy kept trying to look at everything at once: shops, the people who were dressed in strange cloaks and robes and the things outside the shops made her eyes pop.
"Where we going first?" asked Mandy breathlessly
"Gringotts - the wizards bank – to get some money out our safe." Replied her father.
"You never told me you had wizard money!" Exclaimed Mandy
Her parents didn't reply but lead her to a snowy white building, which towered over all the others.
After loading their pockets with gold galleons, silver sickles and bronze knuts, they headed off to buy Mandy's equipment.
"You can go in Ollivanders wand shop, I'll be back in a moment, I need to go and get something." Said her father, and left.
Mandy and her mother entered a narrow and shabby shop with peeling gold letters over the door, which read: Ollivanders: Makers of fine wands since 382 BC.
A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window.
The stepped inside, it was a tiny place, with thousands of narrowly piled boxes that went right up to the ceiling.
"Good afternoon," said a soft voice from somewhere within the shadows.
Mandy spun round. A man with wild pale eyes shining like silver stars in the gloomy shop was standing there.
"Good afternoon Mr Ollivander," said Mrs Hope cheerfully.
"Ahhhh, Mrs Hope nice to see you and this must be your daughter, yes, long time no see eh?"
"Yes, well, were here to buy Mandy a wand and I could do with a new wand myself."
"Certainly, Mrs Hope, come with me Mandy."
"Now let me see…" Said Mr Ollivander taking out a tape measure, "which is your wand hand?"
"Well I'm right handed…" Said Mandy
"Hold out your arm please," he said and preceded to measure shoulder to finger, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and around her head.
"Each wand has its own core of powerful substance, we use unicorn hairs, phoenix feathers and dragon heartstrings, and no two Ollivander's wands are the same. You will never get such good results with another wizard's wand. Now let's see…"
He started to search the piles of boxes.
"Here we are, dragon heart string, cedar, 13 inches, give it a wave."
Mandy, feeling rather stupid waved the wand wildly but soon had it snatched out of her hand with Mr Ollivander muttering,
"No, no, no… here: Willow, unicorn hair, 8 ¾ inches."
Mandy tried – but had hardly raised the wand before Mr Ollivander snatched it back again.
"No, maybe, this one." He said and handed her a 13-inch redwood and phoenix feather wand.
Mandy felt strange warmth spreading through her finger tips as she grasped the wand.
"Yes defiantly, nice little combination redwood and phoenix feather."
Five minutes later they exited the shop to find Mandy's father waiting there with a cage containing a snowy white owl.
"For you Mandy, useful for carrying your post and things."
The bird fluffed up its marvellous feathers proudly, Mandy reached through the bars and stroked it gently.
"I think I'll call it Shadowfax." She said
Two weeks past relatively quickly, Mandy had managed to keep herself busy by practising a few of the spells mention in her new school books, plus she had learned a few very interesting and useful spells from her parents, (these will be mentioned later in da story). She had learnt all the books off by heart as well.
She lay on her bed thinking that the next day, she would be on her way to Hogwarts learning new and exciting things and she would be able to use her powers not just for the sake of it, but to be what she had always wanted to be: a practical joker.
With these happy thoughts, she fell asleep.
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