The last shop was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read 'Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC'. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window. A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as Charlie Brown and Hagrid stepped inside; Sally was asked to stay outside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a tiny spindly chair which Hagrid sat on to wait. Charlie Brown felt strange, as though he had entered a very strict library. He swallowed a lot of new questions which had just occurred to him and looked instead at the thousands of narrow boxes piled right up to the ceiling.
"Good afternoon." Said a soft voice that made Charlie Brown jump. An old man was standing behind him.
"Um, hello." Charlie Brown greeted in return. Awkwardly.
"Ah yes." The man said. "I thought I'd be seeing you soon, Charlie Brown." It wasn't a question. It was a statement. A statement that freaked Charlie Brown out slightly. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long. Swishy. Made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."
Mr Ollivander moved closer to Charlie Brown, who wished that the man would just blink. His staring was getting to be extremely creepy.
"Your father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favored it, it's really the wand that chooses the wizard."
"Um..." Charlie Brown was about to say something when Mr Ollivander touched the scar on Charlie Brown's forehead, making Charlie Brown feel very creeped out.
"I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did that." He said. "Thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Powerful wand. Very powerful and in the wrong hands... Well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do..."
Much to Charlie Brown's relief, Mr Ollivander spotted Hagrid. "Rubeus! Rubeus Hagrid-It's nice to see you again! Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it?"
"It was, sir, yes." Hagrid said, standing up.
"Good wand, that one. But I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled?" Mr Ollivander asked, suddenly sounding stern.
"Um. Yes. They did." Hagrid said. "I've still got the pieces though." He added.
"But you don't use them?" Mr Ollivander asked.
"Oh no, sir."Hagrid said quickly. Charlie Brown noticed Hagrid grabbed his pink umbrella tightly.
Mr Ollivander turned his attention back to Charlie Brown. "Well, well, well, Charlie Brown, let me see." He pulled a long tape measure from his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"
"I'm right handed?" Charlie Brown said.
"Hold out your arm." Mr Ollivander said. Charlie Brown lifted his right arm. "That's it." He then measured Charlie Brown in every way Charlie Brown knew possible-and some he didn't know was possible.
"Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr Brown. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers and heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are quite the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."
That was when Charlie Brown realised that the tape measure was measuring him on its own. Mr Ollivander was flitting around the shelves, taking down boxes.
"That will do." He said. The tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Mr Brown. Try this one. Beachwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. Just take it and give it a wave."
Charlie Brown took the wand and felt like an idiot waving it around. Mr Ollivander snatched the wand almost instantly. "No, no. That won't do. Try this one; maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy." Charlie Brown took the wand, but again, it was snatched by Mr Ollivander before he had the chance to do anything with it. "Here, try this one instead. Ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches. Quite springy. Go on, try it."
Charlie Brown took the wand. He had no idea what Mr Ollivander was looking for. As the pile of tried out wands grew higher, the happier the old man seemed to become.
"Tricky customer, eh?" He chuckled. "Not to worry, we'll find you the perfect match somewhere. I wonder..." He muttered to himself. "Yes. Why not?" He took another box off the shelf. "It's an unusual combination, holly and phoenix feather. It's eleven inches, nice and supple." He offered Charlie Brown the wand.
Charlie Brown, by now feeling like a failure because none of the wands worked for him, took the wand, figuring it would be the same as all the other wands. But when he took it, he felt a sudden warmth in his fingers. He swished the wand from side to side and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end, like a firework, to Charlie Brown's delight.
Mr Ollivander was clearly delighted too. "Oh bravo! Yes indeed! We've found your match!" He suddenly sobered up. "Well, how curious." He said, taking Charlie Brown's wand. He put it back in the box.
"What is? Curious?" Charlie brown asked, observing the old man.
"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr Brown." Mr Ollivander said. "Every single one. And it just so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather. Just one other feather. It is very curious then that you should be destined for this wand when its brother gave you that scar."
Charlie Brown's eyes widened. "Oh. Um..."
"Yes. Thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, Mr Brown. I think we must expect great things from you. After all, He Who Must Not Be Named did great things. Terrible things, but great."
Charlie Brown wasn't sure he liked Mr Ollivander too much. He simply took his wand, paid seven galleons for it and left, Mr Ollivander bowing them from his shop.
"Are you okay, Big Brother?" Sally asked. "Did you get your wand?"
Charlie Brown said nothing as he, Hagrid, Sally and Snoopy made their way through Diagon Alley, Sally carrying the birdcage. They walked back through the wall and back through the Leaky Cauldron, which was now empty. Charlie Brown didn't even speak when people were staring at them going through the Underground carrying their funny shaped packages and the birdcage with the little yellow bird of indeterminate breed. Up another escalator into Paddington station-Charlie Brown only realised where he was when Sally grabbed his arm and shook it.
"Big Brother, are you alright? You're spaced out." She said.
"Uh, yeah. I'm fine." Charlie Brown said. He wasn't sure he could explain it to her. He'd just had the weirdest birthday of his life. All the magic stuff.
"You sure yer alright?" Hagrid asked. "Yeh've been very quiet."
"I don't know." Charlie Brown said. "Everyone thinks I'm so special." He said. "Everyone in the Leaky Cauldron, Professor Quirrell, Mr Ollivander... I don't know. I'm just a kid. A kid who doesn't know anything about magic."
"But that's what Hogwarts is for!" Hagrid argued. "Everyone starts at the beginning there. "Yeh'll be fine there."
"I'm famous." Charlie Brown said. "But all I've ever been my whole life is Charlie Brown. And to make it worse, I can't even remember what I'm famous for."
"Don't worry about that, Big Brother, just remember that you're famous!" Sally said brightly.
"I know yeh'll have a great time at Hogwarts." Hagrid said. "I had a great time there. I still do." He handed Charlie Brown an envelope from his pocket.
"What's that, Hagrid?" Charlie Brown asked.
"That's yer ticket fer Hogwarts." Hagrid said. "First o' September. King's Cross Station. It's all on yer ticket. I'll see yeh soon, Charlie. And Sally, I'll see yeh next year."
"You're leaving?" Charlie Brown asked.
"Yeh have the go back to yer aunt an yer uncle." Hagrid said. "But I'll see yeh in a few weeks."
Hagrid helped Charlie Brown and Sally onto the train with their items and bird. They took their seats and the train pulled out of the station. Charlie Brown looked out the window to see Hagrid, but Hagrid had already gone. Charlie Brown sat back down in his seat opposite his sister and his dog.