Tonks stares around the wand shop with wide eyes as her parents usher her inside. She's been waiting eleven years to buy her wand, and she can't believe the day has finally come. Her palms are sweaty as she rubs them against her robes. There's a fear in her mind that she'll somehow screw up and not be able to find a wand, forcing her to go to Hogwarts wandless.
She's never heard of it happening, but perhaps she'll be the first. They won't know what to do with her; completing coursework will be all but impossible.
Ollivander appears behind the counter and gives them a small tilt of his head in acknowledgement. He looks down at Tonks as if he knows her, and she can't stop herself from gasping loud enough for it to be heard throughout the shop.
"Hello, Miss Tonks," Ollivander says with a small smile. "I thought it was about time that I'd be meeting you."
Her eyes widen further, but when she looks back at her parents, neither of them are surprised by Ollivander's greeting. Her father is even smiling, so Tonks steels herself and faces the wandmaker again, giving a nod of her head for reasons she's unsure of.
Ollivander begins taking measurements, and Tonks lets him work without snapping at the way the measuring tape floats beside her as if it's taunting her about her height. If Ollivander thinks she's rude, maybe he'll refuse to give her a wand, and she desperately needs one.
As soon as her measurements are done, she lets herself relax just a tad. Her eyes stay glued to the wandmaker as he moves deeper into the shop.
"Let's see, let's see," Ollivander mutters to himself as he walks past the shelves of wands, scanning the boxes.
To Tonks, they only look like boxes, but Ollivander knows what wand each holds without looking at any labels. He pulls one box in particular off the shelf and pulls the lid off.
"Six and a half inches, holly, with a unicorn hair core," he says as he approaches Tonks. "It's not unlike your mother's wand."
Tonks looks up to see her mum smiling at the wand in question, and Tonks agrees that it looks similar in design to Andromeda's wand. She reaches out a shaking hand to take the wand, only to have a cascade of boxes fly from the shelves the second her fingers graze the wood.
Ollivander snaps the wand back from her, placing it in its box and firmly returning the lid.
"Not that one then," he declares, sticking the wand back on the shelf as if they were at a clothing store and Tonks had merely told him she'd like a differently coloured blouse.
He hums to himself before pulling a different wand off the shelf.
"Ten inches," he says. "Cedar and a phoenix feather core."
This time, Tonks manages to wrap her hand around the wand and really grasp it before anything happens. Then, her father's robes burst into flames, and Ted, cursing, jumps around until Andromeda douses the flames with her wand. Ollivander snatches the wand back again.
Tonks slumps as she watches him inspect the shelves. She's becoming more certain than ever that they won't discover a wand for her.
Ollivander comes back with another one, but Tonks frowns at the box. When she reaches out for the wand, she's prepared for the worst, but a feeling of warmth radiates down her arm once it's in her hand. She gasps, looking between her parents and Ollivander, who are all smiling at her.
"Another one of unicorn hair," Ollivander says with a nod. "Seven inches and made of aspen. Quite a nice wand to have chosen you."
Tonks feels pride blossom in her chest as she grips the wand, determined to never let it go.
"It's good for defensive magic and transfiguring," Ollivander continues. "It's a particularly good choice for Aurors, as a matter of fact."
Tonks gapes at the wand with greater wonder. Becoming an Auror hadn't been something she considered in her childhood fantasies, but if that's what her wand was good at, maybe, just maybe, she stood a chance at achieving it. She tries to imagine it in her mind's eye, and she thinks she likes the idea.
As they leave the shop, she keeps her wand clutched close to her chest.
Prompts:
Hogwarts Challenges and Assignments
Seasonal Challenge - Audrey's Dessert Challenge: lemon - Nymphadora Tonks
Seasonal Challenge - Ravenclaw Prompts: Garrick Ollivander
Word count: 730