The next afternoon, Harry was wandering down the alley towards Ollivander's store. He had spent the last twenty four hours focused almost entirely on his new books, though he did spend some time with his new owl, who was named Hedwig. He found he shared a strange bond with the animal, able to perceive very general feelings from her, and he believed the bond was reciprocated. When he became frustrated with a particular chapter in his books (detailing the unfair treatment of muggleborns in many industries), his owl had hopped over to him from her perch and started to nuzzle him until his mood improved. He had already decided to revisit the bookstore to find a book on animals, particularly on their interactions with wizards, to find the root of this phenomenon.
He arrived at Ollivander's within a few minutes, and stepped into the store with only a small amount of trepidation. Ollivander was by all means a very kind man, but there was something about him Harry couldn't put his finger on that just creeped him out. Upon closing the door behind him, the sign flipped itself to display "closed" to the alley and the lock flipped closed, along with all of the blinds dropping to cover the windows. Harry spun at the sudden motions and was surprised to see Ollivander standing behind the counter holding one of his wand boxes.
"Mr. Potter, I believe this to be one of the finest wands I have ever crafted. You had a surprising number of materials react to your magic, but fortunately I just received some experimental wand components from the colonies and decided to experiment a bit," the man said in a somewhat rushed voice.
"Alright… well what's in it?" Harry asked, confused at the wandmakers excitement.
"The core is actually something resembling a dual core, which was thought to be impossible to create. In the center of the wand, we have the tailfeather of an American thunderbird. These creatures have immense power, and can switch from a corporeal to ethereal form. As such, wands with a thunderbird feather core are skilled at transfiguration, though are somewhat temperamental and thus difficult to master. This feather has been soaked in Re'em blood, which is a rare, bull-like creature that roams on the American plains. It has enormous physical strength, and upon drinking Re'em blood, a wizard will temporarily be capable of indescribable acts of physical prowess. With this in your wand core, I expect the wand to be excellent at spells that affect the caster," Ollivander explained, carefully but with anticipation evident in his tone.
"And you're sure that the wand is… stable? Why are wands with two cores impossible and why does this one work?" Harry inquired, somewhat worried.
"Wand cores are always from magically powerful animals. Normally, placing pieces of two powerful animals in this close proximity while they channel magic causes the magics remaining from the animals to come into conflict. It is simply because the magic of a dragon, say, is inherently different from the magic of any other animal, even another of its own species. When magic is channeled through the cores, the remaining magics of the animals fight each other in a… violent manner. This causes the wand to rip itself apart and release all the magic contained within simultaneously. Wandmakers have been working for centuries to find two cores with similar enough magic to be compatible in a single wand, but with no success."
"Before we get into why your wand works, I'll need to give a little bit of information on the animals involved. During one of his trips to the Americas, Newt Scamander spent several weeks studying a thunderbird in its natural habitat. As it turns out, when a thunderbird consumes a magical animal, it not only utilizes the physical nutrients of the animal, but also their magic. The magic of the thunderbird, for a short time, is slightly tainted by the magic of the consumed animal. A Re'em, on the other hand, is well known for how powerfully its magic affects those who consume their blood. Now, when I receive shipments of wand components, I ensure that the recent history of each animal is accurately reported, so I can determine any potential variations that could affect the wand performance. The thunderbird that this tailfeather belonged to was scared away midway through a meal, which happened to be a Re'em. And, the Re'em blood in the wand is from the very Re'em that the thunderbird killed. Taking into account the nature of the two animals involved, it would be very difficult to find two components more magically compatible," Ollivander explained.
Harry's head was spinning. It was clear that this was some rather advanced magical theory, and Harry was having difficulty fully understanding the implications of what Ollivander had just said. He sighed, knowing that he would just have to trust that the wandmaker knew his craft. "Alright, that kind of makes sense," Harry said, even though it really didn't. "Can I see it now?"
"One last thing," said Ollivander. "The wood for your wand is from a black oak tree, native to central North America. The oak tree is symbolic of strength, protection, and luck. No other wood would have been strong enough, physically or magically, to contain the core, and the geographic similarity to the animals serves to bolster that connection."
As he said this, Ollivander stepped around the counter and moved directly in front of Harry. He removed the lid of the box and held it out carefully in both hands. "Mr. Potter, I present your wand. Black oak, thunderbird tailfeather, and Re'em blood, exactly eleven inches, unyielding. This wand will excel at transfiguration, battle magic, and defensive warding. Once earned, the loyalty of this wand will never be lost, though it may be a struggle to earn it." Finishing his short speech, Ollivander bowed and extended his hands towards Harry.
Harry peered down into the box and gasped. The wand inside was beautiful, more so than any of the wands he had tested yesterday. The wand was very dark colored, nearly black but not quite. It had a somewhat marbled appearance to it, with lighter colors where there had been knots in the original tree. The handle looked as if it had been attached to the wand, but upon closer inspection it was a single piece of wood, masterfully carved. The handle was fractionally larger in diameter than the shaft of the wand, with a beautiful depiction of a thunderbird swooping down on a large beast carved lightly upon the length of the wand.
Shakily, Harry reached a hand towards the handle. The instant his fingers brushed against the grip, his vision went black. He heard the crash of thunder, shot through with the fierce cry of a bird. Then galloping hooves, accompanied with a roar of pain and anger. In his mind's eye, he saw the frozen image of a massive, dark blue and black bird diving towards an enormous bull, rearing up on its hind legs, both of their mouths open in cries of rage and defiance. Just as suddenly, his vision returned, and he was surprised to find himself holding the wand in one hand before him.
Ollivander looked positively gleeful. "That was the strongest initial connection with a wand I have ever witnessed. I have no doubts that you will become a great wizard someday, Harry Potter. There is one more thing I must discuss with you, however. If you would…?" Ollivander trailed off, gesturing towards the back of his shop. Harry nodded wordlessly, and moved to the door hidden behind the towering shelves.
Ten minutes later, Harry and Ollivander were seated across from each other at a small table in Ollivander's work area, each with a cup of tea before them. As Harry sipped, Ollivander began speaking.
"When I first began examining the blood you left with me, I almost mistook your for that of a muggle. None of my diagnostic tools to detect ambient magic detected even an iota of power from your blood. However, I saw the power in you when we first met, and you did not fake that reaction to the last wand. I eventually modified one of my devices to detect magic upon contact, rather than random ambient magic."
"It was then that I found a rather… interesting difference in your magic compared to most witches and wizards. The majority of human magic is bound to their core. Channels are also developed through each limb, with the one through the dominant arm being the strongest, so magic can be channeled to their wand. However, with the exception of the core, the magic is never bound to the actual body of the magic user. Your magic, for some reason I cannot determine, is intrinsically bound to your actual body, including your blood. With effort, the magic can be drawn out of it, but it is weaker and cannot last long without constant help from your core. Not to mention, after a certain point, your magic cannot exist beyond a certain distance from you, without some source to latch onto."
Harry cut in before Ollivander could continue his lecture. "So that's why I can't perform magic at any range? I figured it was just an issue everyone had, and wands were used to do magic at a distance."
Ollivander looked surprised. "Magic? What magic have you performed without a wand?"
"Well there's this," Harry said as he held out his hand. Focusing, he created a small flame in the middle of his palm. He bounced it around a bit, then tried to toss it across the room, watching as it fizzled out after only a few feet. "No matter what I do, I can't keep the flame alive any farther away from me. Actually, I couldn't even do any magic outside my body until yesterday morning."
Ollivander was stunned. The boy before him was performing wandless magic with practically no effort, and he thought this was normal?
"Mr. Ollivander?" Harry said into the silence.
Author's Note: Hey everyone, I hope the chapter wasn't too boring, but I didn't want to leave anything too vague. Next chapter we'll explore Harry's unique situation a bit better.
On another note, I've got a few questions for you all:
Would you prefer longer chapters with fewer updates? Or should I maintain my current pace?
If I reply to reviews, should I do it in author's notes each chapter or just PM the reviewer?
Finally, what amount of detail do you guys want? In the early chapters (i.e., with the Dursleys) I skimmed over a lot, but in the last few chapters I've been fairly detailed. Which is better?
Feel free to PM your responses, or leave reviews.
Thanks a ton for the support everyone, this is my first fic and getting positive feedback really helps the process. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter!