Chapter 8

Author's Note: k

Brandon's note to Hope contained pamphlets and maps of Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, and the Ministry of Magic in England – along with how to get to each one. He also instructed her – as always – to keep this information about the magical world to herself, which she reluctantly did.

She wasn't one to keep secrets from her parents. She had no problem telling him about her days, her classes, her grades, her friends, and the shenanigans they got up to, and even her relationship with Andrew. She called them every day, at least for a few minutes.

She never lied because she never had any reason to.

Except… she hadn't told them about her ability to transform into a unicorn. And she hadn't told them about her possible abilities as a witch.

So the fact that, once she'd healed from her injuries by early September, she wanted to go work in England for a year, came as a surprise to them.

"Guys," she explained, "I'd wanted to study abroad in college but when I got elected to be Student Body Vice President for my junior year, it wasn't an option. I thought I'd give life in another country a try for now."

"And… you'd be doing this for a year?" asked her mother.

"For just under one year." She nodded. "And then I'll come back to the US to attend law school. I've taken the LSAT, I've asked some professors for recommendations, and I've prepared my personal statement. I've made a list of several law schools I want to apply to. It's all set."

"And this is… a government agency you'll be working for?

"Yeah, the Bureau of Statistics. That's where I got my job offer. Time to put my Math Major to use, right?"

"Okay. I see. All right. Well, we'll miss you. But we're so proud of you. You've always been a go-getter, Hope!"

"We're very proud, even though you'll be so far away. And we'll pay for international calls between here and the UK every day, for as long as you want to talk to us!"

"Thanks, guys. I love you and I'll miss you, too."

Where Hope was really hired to work as a statistician was at the British Ministry of Magic. It was a low-level position that wasn't exactly paid very well, but all Hope wanted was something to get her to England to be able to explore the Magical World for a while.

As it turned out, the Ministry's Bureau of Statistics had existed forever, but hadn't actually been staffed by anyone in over a decade. After she sent in her application, she was accepted and thus, became its only member. Apparently, she could work remotely if she wanted to. Hope wasn't sure what would become of the job, and she was very unsure about how it would go.

Hope had also been uncertain about finding housing in London, but a friend of her parents had a small townhouse there that she hadn't used much lately. Miraculously enough, Mrs. Susan Marsh was happy to lend the place to Hope free of cost – as long as she took care of it while she was there and didn't mind the occasional visit from its owner. It was an amazing deal – which Hope's parents were able to secure for her because of how they'd bragged consistently, over the years, about how responsible and smart and generally wonderful their daughter was.

She moved into the house easily and spent a week seeing London before she had to start work for the Ministry of Magic. The job had no instructions as to how she was to train and prepare herself for work and the dress code just specified "appropriately professional wizard's/witch's robes," though Hope wasn't sure what those would look like.

All she had to do before starting work, it seemed, was wait. And maybe get some robes and a wand.

The day before she was due to start at the Ministry, Hope stood just outside Ollivander's Wand Shop, paralyzed about going in. The little shop looked so familiar! Had she been here before?

She also wasn't sure how to go about purchasing a wand as an adult without looking suspicious – considering that 90% of Ollivander's clientele were 11 years old and about to start at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

A wiry-looking wizard with bushy eyebrows and messy white hair poked his head out of the door. But despite his disheveled appearance, kindness radiated from his face. This must be Mr. Ollivander.

"Are you coming in, Miss?"

"Oh. Yes, Mr. Ollivander."

"And what's your name?"

"I'm Hope. And, ah, I need a wand."

"Well, don't dawdle, then! Tell me, what kind of wand was your last wand? Are you here to replace it?"

Hope wasn't quite sure how to respond. While she knew that it wasn't strictly illegal for someone to purchase a wand without having a magical education, it wasn't looked well upon by wizarding law, either. "Uh… how about we just try a new wand to suit my new personality?"

Ollivander blinked but didn't protest. "Very good, Miss Hope. Let me get a look at you, let's see…" He looked her up and down as if he could not only take an inventory of her features, but also see right through her. She wondered if he knew that this was her first wand.

He then darted to a shelf and pulled out a couple of boxes. "Here we go for starters. Maple, eleven inches, dragon heartstring core. Give it a wave!"

Hope did as commanded and fire shot out the end, incinerating half the boxes in the store.

A thought occurred to her: she had done this before. Not in this lifetime, obviously, but she knew that somehow, somewhere, she had done this before.

"Aah! I'm sorry!" She'd even said that same thing before when she'd caused a fire in the store.

"Never you mind, Hope, that happens all the time. It's fortunate for me that wands don't incinerate very easily." He waved his own wand and in moments, the fire was out, the boxes had re-materialized around the wands, and the ash from the fire had disappeared, making it look like nothing had happened.

He proffered another wand. "Now, try this one. Phoenix feather, also maple."

Hope waved it and an earthquake-like force shook through the wand shop. This time, she couldn't help laughing.

"Trying out new wands is rather fun, isn't it? Let's see, maybe something with a unicorn hair core will suit you better. Try this one: Willow, unicorn hair, plucked from the tail of a sleeping foal." He proffered a third wand to Hope.

She waved it and a couple of weak smoke rings emerged from the tip, fading quickly afterward.

"Hmm, it might do, but it is a bit weak," pondered Ollivander. "Say, let me get another look at you. You know, it's odd, but you remind me a bit of a boy who came in here six years ago to buy his wand for Hogwarts. Your face looks a lot like his, you know, and you have the same gray eyes. But I see I'm making you uncomfortable. Perhaps you need a wand like his. Hmm-hmm-hmm, here we are – the twin of his wand might be a good start – twelve and a quarter inches, ash, and a unicorn hair plucked from the tail of a very strong male unicorn. He had to be at least seventeen hands, and he nearly gored me with his horn after I plucked his tail. You know, I never did fine that unicorn again, so these are the only two wands from his tail."

"I'm honored," said Hope. She gave the wand a wave. No specific spell was executed, but the air seemed to electrify with magic all around her, and suddenly, she wasn't just holding a wand – it was like the wand was part of her.

"Would you care to try a couple of spells, just for good measure?" he asked.

Hope racked her brains, trying to remember any spells. She got the feeling she knew some, but they just weren't coming to her memory yet. Just trying to remember spells was enough to make her head hurt.

"How do you match wands to wizards, anyway?" she asked, trying to buy herself some time.

"Oh, just an intuition, a feeling," said Mr. Ollivander. "Some would say lucky guess work, but it's really just all about reading people. Of course, you've still got to get them to try it on, since it is the wand that chooses the wizard, after all."

"Who got the twin of this wand?" asked Hope. She had this eerie feeling that the answer somehow mattered.

Come to think of it… she had a memory from her unicorn life about this man trying to pluck her tail. Was her unicorn self the donor of the wand she was now using?

"The boy who got the twin of your wand was Cedric Diggory and his is a rather sad story, I'm afraid. A wand made from the hair of such a powerful unicorn would only choose quite a powerful master. And he was powerful, indeed! He was a good student at Hogwarts who did well in all his subjects, especially Transfiguration. He was also quite good at Quidditch, because of course the wand of a strong unicorn would want an athletic master, no? I was so very proud to see him compete in the Triwizard Tournament last year. He did so well. The whole wizarding world was so sad to hear that he died."

"Do you believe that Lord Voldemort murdered Cedric? Do you believe he's back?" asked Hope. She didn't know much on the matter, but she'd started reading The Daily Prophet the moment she set foot in England, so she knew a little about the rumors that were flying around.

Ollivander just looked at her with shock and horror.

"I'm so sorry!" said Hope. "I clearly just crossed a line there! I just got here from the United States a week ago and it's taking me a while to adjust to things. I really didn't mean to upset you."

"No, no, dear girl, you didn't make me angry. I'm just unaccustomed to people calling He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named by his actual name. And to answer your question: yes, I do believe that he is back and that he murdered Cedric Diggory."

"Would you mind telling me what he looks like?" asked Hope, unable to help herself.

Ollivander hesitated, but only momentarily. "Come, take your wand, step inside my office. I'll show you. Though I'm not sure why you would ever want to gaze upon the face of one so evil."

Ollivander opened a door to an office behind the back of the shop. The door was narrow and the office wasn't exactly spacious, either. It was as higgledy-piggledy as the shop itself, but it had books and papers strewn everywhere and stuffed every which way into lopsided shelves, rather than unruly stacks of boxed wands. She wondered how the man ever found what he was looking for.

An additional door in the office provided entrance to Ollivander's wand-construction workshop/laboratory, which must be where he stored his wand-making materials and tools.

Mr. Ollivander shuffled about with purpose to seek his quarry, which told Hope that he probably had one of those "it-looks-like-a-mess-but-I-know-where-everything-is" kind of organizational systems. He yanked a scroll and proffered it to Hope. "I can't think why one as sweet as you, dear Hope, would wish to gaze upon the face of You-Know-Who, but here you are."

Hope nervously unrolled the scroll and when it was unfurled, she gazed upon a tall, thin wizard in long black robes. He had pale skin, a chalk-white face that looked almost like a skull, snake-like slits for nostrils, and the same red eyes Hope remembered from her last memory of life as a unicorn. That face and those eyes had emerged from a turban on the back of someone's head and those thin lips had placed themselves upon her dying throat to drink her blood. It was him.

It was official: her past life as a unicorn had ended in slaughter at the hands of Lord Voldemort. This was so weird. Was Hope going to face the same fate?

Hope dropped the scroll as her hands shook in terror. "He's back?" she breathed.

Ollivander took her hands. "Aye, lov. He is. You've chosen one hell of a time to come to wizarding England. But if you're brave and true like Cedric Diggory, and if you want to see You-Know-Who defeated, then I daresay you chose just the right time to come."

"I want to help defeat him," said Hope, and she realized it was true. And the fact that he'd killed her past self was only a small part of the reason why. It was as if something greater was rising up inside her, calling her to her fate, summoning her to fight.

"I know you have it in you," said Ollivander.

"Thanks."

Ollivander nodded and made to lead her back to the shop when it occurred to Hope to ask something else: "Do you know where I could find some basic reference books on spells? I'm out of practice. And I'd also like to do a bit of research on unicorns. I start work at the Ministry of Magic tomorrow, so it'll probably be pretty busy, but I'm sure I'll have some spare time to touch up my spellwork and learn about unicorns out of personal curiosity."

"Why, of course!" he replied.

He dove back into his office and yanked out a copy of The Standard Book of Spells Volumes 1-7, several volumes on unicorns, and An Overview of Magical History. "Here you go," he said, handing them to her along with a book bag for her to stuff them into. "Borrow them for as long as you need, but try not to rough them up too much, if you please. I took the liberty of including a book on history for you as well – I thought it might excite your curiosity."

"Thank you so much, Mr. Ollivander!" said Hope as she let the wizard shepherd her out into the main shop. "How much do you need for the wand? Wait, it's 7 Galleons, isn't it?"

"That is what I typically charge people, but not for you. There's something about you that makes me glad to be giving you that wand. Take it for free."

"You don't have to!" she protested.

"I insist! You mustn't pay me! Now, did you say you'll be starting work at the Ministry of Magic tomorrow?"

"Yeah. As the first staffer to work for the Bureau of Statistics in over 10 years."

Ollivander laughed at this, but it was an affectionate laugh rather than a "you're-so-stupid-and-you're-totally-screwed" kind of laugh. "Heavens," he remarked. "Well, work at the Ministry's no picnic, I'll tell you that! And there's something about you that makes me want to help you on your way. Let's see here," he said as he dug through the drawers beneath his cash register. "I've got a few more things for you. Vouchers for a few nights' stay at the Leaky Cauldron and dinner, for whenever you like. Here are a few for free sundaes at Florian Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor! Oh, and here are a few for you to get witch's robes at Madam Malkin's! Not that your Muggle clothing is offensive, but it never hurts to look your best at the Ministry of Magic."

"Thank you so much!" said Hope. Instinct was telling her to protest Mr. Ollivander's favors, but she'd learned over time that when people offered you favors like this, it made them feel better if you just accepted it and thanked them. Besides: something about Mr. Ollivander told her that he wasn't about to use this favor as something to hold over her head.

"It was entirely my pleasure, Miss Hope. Where will you be off to next?"

"Madam Malkin's for some robes, and then Florian Fortescue's for a peanut butter and strawberry ice cream sundae with copious amounts of chocolate fudge and plenty of whipped cream."

Ollivander blinked several times. "Oh my heavens! I do recall that was Cedric Diggory's favorite thing to get there, too! At first glance, I didn't notice it, but it's uncanny how alike you two are! In any case, do enjoy! And good luck at the Ministry!"

"Thank you, Mr. Ollivander," said Hope as she took her wand and books and made her way out onto the streets of Diagon Alley.