Hi everyone! Sorry it took so long to update, but I completely forgot my plotline. Yesterday I was talking to Little Lily Granger, and she gave me an idea, which made me keep thinking about the story, and then I realized that all of a sudden, I had a plotline! Woot! So this story is now dedicated to her, and yeah. Oh, and also, I've changed the last bit of chapter two slightly, so you should probably go reread that before you continue with this chapter. Anyways, on with the fic!
The next day, Ron and Hermione took Jeremy out to get a wand. They were heading to a store called Periak Wands. According to Hermione, it was a family run business that was highly reputable in the Wizarding world, if not as well known as Olivanders.
They headed into a small suburb just west of their hotel. The winding roads were dotted with brightly coloured houses on both sides, all sporting large gardens and most had large trees in the front yard. There were children out playing, climbing the trees, running from house to house, and there were scattered noises of splashing and laughter that led one to beleive that more than one of these cheerful houses had a pool in the backyard.
After a while, they came across a large lapse in houses. There was a convenience store parking lot on one side of the street, and a large, dense hedge running along the other. The trio headed towards it. Ron glanced across the street. There was a group of young girls playing four square with a bright yellow ball. They appeared to be settled in to play for a few hours, and they really needed to get through the hedge without being seen, so he pulled out his wand and muttered something, pointing it at the ball, which promptly started bouncing down the street, much to the surprise of the girl who had been about to catch it. The girls scampered off down the street, following their ball, and Ron and Hermione hurried through the hedge, while Jeremy confusedly followed.
It was dark, pressing in from all sides. The smell and sounds of the hedge surrounded him. The prickly leaves were pushing against him uncomfortably, yet the hedge opened enough just ahead and behind him so that he could get through. Jeremy couldn't see Ron or Hermione in front of him, but he kept pressing onward. Just as he started to wonder how much farther the hedge went, he came through the other side. Ron and Hermione had clearly just come out ahead of him, and, miraculously, had no scratches or leaves in their hair. He glanced down at his own arms. Neither did he apparently. Hermione was lecturing Ron for using magic in front of muggles, while Ron insisted that nobody had seen, and that he had had to, so Jeremy had a bit of time to reflect on his predicament.
Why am I not more surprised by this? Jeremy wondered. He had forgotten everything about himself, yet nothing seemed strange or alien to him once it was mentioned, even all this talk about magic. In fact, the only thing that seemed to be completely unreal was, well, him. He didn't have time to ponder this further, as the three of them walked into the store that was in front of them. Jeremy hadn't noticed it at first, coming out of the hedge. It looked rather odd, as it was a triangular shaped building. The large brass letters above the door read, "Periak Wands". Ron pushed open the oak door and they walked in.
Jeremy blinked. Memories or not, he was quite sure he had never been in a place like this before. The triangular building had dozens of shelves and boxes stacked in each of the three corners, tucked behind counters that cut across the verticies. In the far corner of the shop, there was a group of people with a sales lady in a dark blue robe. A young boy was waving around a wand with no result, but certainly not for lack of trying. As Jeremy watched, the wand flew out of the boy's hand across the room. The sales lady pulled out her own wand and it came zooming back. She caught it and put it into a box on one of the shelves, then gave the boy another wand to try with a patient smile.
There was a desk in the middle of the room, which they walked over to. Another lady in a blue robe sat there. She smiled at them as they approached. "Good morning!" She said cheerfully. "How can I help you?"
"Well, my wand died, so I was hoping to get a new one." Jeremy held out the broken peices as it to prove his story.
The lady grinned. "You came to the right place! We've got more wands that you'll ever need. I'm Katelyn Periak, by the way, I'll be helping you today."
"Jeremy Brenin." Jeremy shook her hand. "And these are my friends Ron and Hermione."
"Nice to meet you all," Katelyn said, shaking their hands as well. "Alright, ready to get started? At Periak Wands, we have a unique system for finding the perfect wand for anyone. We've got them sorted by the type of core, and we can guestimate the length by your height, therefore minimising the amount of wands you have to go through before you find the right one." She said this all very fast, as though it was something she had memorized, and was trying to get it all out before it jumped out of her head.
"Anyways, we start by figuring out what core you need." Katelyn held up a box with three different wands, all of which looked quite worn. "Basically, you just do a really simple spell, and whichever one works best is the core we'll look at." She held out the box for Jeremy, who hestated.; He glanced at Hermione, who was looking a bit worried. He didn't know any spells. Ron poked him in the back, then said, very quietly so that Katelyn wouldn't overhear, "Just say lumos."
Jeremy turned back and picked up a wand. Katelyn raised her eyebrows at the delay, but said nothing. Here goes nothing. "Lumos!" Nothing happened. He bit his lip and put the wand down.
"Don't worry about it, some cores really don't work for some people. We just won't give you a dragon heartstring wand. Okay, next!" Katelyn held out the seccond wand, and Jeremy took it.
"Lumos!" A small, dim light appeared at the end of the wand. Jeremy could hear Hermione's sigh of releif behind him. He grinned and put down the wand, grabbing the last one. "Lumos!" The end of the wand lit up so brightly that it momentarily blinded him. Then it died down, and Katelyn laughed, saying, "Okay, I think we have a winner. Phoenix feather it is!"
Still blinking away spots, Jeremy, Ron, and Hermione followed her to one of the corners. On the way, the little boy across the room lost his wand again, and it flew and hit Katelyn. She tossed it back over, yelling, "Hey Tory, try a permanent sticking charm!" The sales lady, Tory, rolled her eyes at Katelyn, and the yound boy stuck his tongue out at her, a sentiment that she quickly returned. Hermione had a dissaproving look on her face, while Ron and Jeremy grinned.
Once they got to the corner, Katelyn stepped behind the counter and started pulling out wands, seemingly at random. Jeremy tried wand after wand, and after about half an hour, they finally decided that the best fit was beech, 14 inches, with a phoenix feather core. They paid and left, as Tory finished with her customers and came over to Katelyn with a look that promised scolding.
"Well, now that we have your wand, we can start teaching you some of the things you'll need to know until we can get your memories back. Basic self defence, mainly," Hermione was saying.
"Yeah Hermione, but on the bright side, if he runs into anyone unfriendly, he can always just blind them and run off!" Ron laughed.
End of chapter 3! Please review and let me know what you thought!