Chapter Four: Chasing a Legend

Though Ollivander lived in an average-looking apartment building, the moment they stepped through his door, Mimi could all but gape at the wonders that exploded before her eyes. It was as though someone had pulled a room out of a story book.

There were old, parched scrolls scattered about the wooden floor, a heavy, wooden table covered in alchemical equipment and vials of colourful, bubbling liquid. On the table next to it, there were piles and piles of very thin sheets of wood, all sorted by colour, as well as little bundles of strange, quivering strings that seemed to have a life of their own.
"Whoa- wooooow…" Mimi uttered in awe before dashing inside, "This is so awesome! Hey, Mr. Ollivander, what's this?"

"Er- wood for the wands…they're called wandskins and-"

"What are these?"

"Um- cores for the wands, don't touch, they might-"

"Oh, this is so cool!" Mimi giggled as she raised a corner of a dusty, brown tapestry and discovered a glowing mirror behind it. The second she uncovered a tiny bit of it, the room exploded into light and filled with nostalgic wails of hundreds of angelic voices.

It all disappeared the second Ollivander grabbed the tapestry and pulled it down again.
"D-do be careful, that's a very powerful magical artifact I'm supposed to deliver to the Ministry of Magic." he told the girl with gentle admonishment, causing Mimi to look repentful.

"Sorry…" she said miserably, all sad-blue eyes before perking up the very next second, "So what does it do?"

"Ng- we don't know." Ollivander replied with a helpless flinch, "The Ministry has yet to study it."

"Hmm…" Mimi seemed to ponder on this for a brief second before her dark-blue eyes got drawn to something else shiny and she lost her trail of thoughts as she patted away to explore it.

With a small smile, Ollivander shook his head and went over to a small furnace on the other end of the living room where he opened the little metal door and poked at the dying cinders with a stoker.
"Look but don't touch anything, dear." he called in the general direction of the faint scuttle in the next room, "Some things might bite your fingers off."

There was a faint yelp at this and a sound of something being hastily slammed on top of a wooden surface. After a moment of silence, the faint shuffling sound continued, but a little more hesitantly.

Though tempted to go check on his little guest for a moment, Ollivander thought better of it and instead took a small, brown pouch that sat next to the furnace. Retrieving a bit of gray dust from it, the bony man slung it into the cinders, causing them to instantly erupt into lively, blue flames.

"Dorian Wenlock," Ollivander spoke into the flames loudly, articulating every word carefully, "Ministry of Magic, Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes."

The flames heaved obediently and, a moment after, formed a round, friendly-looking, moustached face.
"Howard, old boy!" the face boomed with good-natured laughter, "Fancy hearing from you here! Did you finally set that Muggle-shack you live in on fire?"

"Very funny, Dorian." Ollivander snickered back to him, "How's the family?"

"Oh, can't complain, really." the flame-face replied fondly, "The missus has been chuntering on about a vacation. Suppose we'll hit the countryside come the Holiday season."

"She's right you know – you ought to recharge your batteries every now and then." the bony man chuckled back, but then winced as he heard a vague crash somewhere behind him, followed by a "soooryyy!". He cleared his throat awkwardly as he turned to his now bemused friend, "Uh…listen chap, I'm actually calling on business. I have a…uh…time traveler."

"What-whaaat?" Wenlock guffawed enthusiastically, "A real-live one? All limbs there and all that?"

"Yes, matter of fact, it's astounding." Ollivander said, spreading his arms, "She says she found a portal that could only be accessed through a mirror and went through."

"Hurm…that's some kind of advanced," Dorian pondered, "portal magic is still under heavy development even within the dimension of space, let alone time…could I have a word with her?"

"Of course, chap…" Ollivander nodded before calling out over his shoulder, "Mimi, could you come round for a bit, love?"

The sound of patting feet came rapidly closer before Mimi barged into the room, Patchy in her arms.
"Hey, what's up?" she grinned before her eyes got drawn to the head-shaped body of fire, "WHOAAA, that is SO awesome! How'd you do that, what is that thing, does it talk? Hello?"

"Mimi, this is what wizards use instead of a telephone." Ollivander replied patiently, "Come here and meet my friend, Mr. Dorian Wenlock from the Ministry."

"Hello, Mr. Wenlock, nice to make your acquaintance." Mimi said politely as she walked over and knelt in front of the furnace, "Sorry I called you 'it', I thought you were some kind of a cool trick."

"My word, you're but a wee lass." Dorian said, sounding troubled, "And you have never seen a floo-line? Are you a Muggle, by any chance?"

"Uh…I grew up with them, but then I got adopted by some wizards who told me I'm like them." Mimi replied, looking a little sad when she thought of her adoptive family, "I'd just started learning about the Wizard-stuff…"

"Hrrrummrhh…" Dorian sighed heavily, "This is…problematic. Tell you what, old chap – I'll do what research I can but we're swamped today and not to mention I'll need more information. Could you bring the lass over to the office tomorrow so we can run some tests?"

"What?" Mimi gasped, "You mean I can't go home today?"

"I'm sorry, lass." Dorian told her gently, "But time-travel is tricky business, we need to make sure it's safe before trying to send you anywhere."

"Uh, one more thing, Dorian." Ollivander cut in as Mimi fell silent dejectedly, "There's another time traveler who came here after her. I'm not positive what he wants, but he looks like…a Dark Wizard."

"Well it just gets better, donnit?" Dorian grumbled, albeit good-naturedly, "I'll have an Auror outside your building within minutes, just in case. And I'll check around with those snobs from the Department of Magical Transportation, you really should've called them first."

"I know…I just don't like the buggers."

"Pfeh! Nobody does, old boy, nobody does. Either way, I'll see you tomorrow, then. Bright and early!"

"Cheers." Ollivander replied fondly as the flames died down and then looked over to see Mimi still kneeling where she was dejectedly.

Suddenly the girl sniffed thunderously, startling the skinny man.
"I want to go home!" she snapped tearfully, sounding angry at herself, "What if I end up stuck here for good? I'll never see Teddy and Remus and Mr. Puppy again!"

She was sobbing between words know, huge tears rolling down her cheeks faster than she could fist them away. Poor Ollivander was utterly helpless – he was an utter failure when it came to dealing with the female population, period, let alone when one was crying inconsolably.
"Uh- I- oh my, d-don't cry my dear," he stammered lamely which just made Mimi bury her face into Patchy's back and sob even harder, "Er- w-we'll do everything we can to send you home. I-if anyone can do it, the Ministry can."

"But what if they can't?"

"Eh…um…well…I- ah…" Ollivander looked around helplessly to figure out a way to distract the crying child before he seemed to think of something and looked down at Mimi again, "Hey, you want to see something that exists nowhere else in the world at the moment?"

Mimi looked up at him with tearful, dark-blue eyes and managed to somehow sniff inquisitively.
"Is- is it a t-treasure?" she asked, still sobbing a little and Ollivander hesitated a bit before nodding.

"One of the rarest treasures in the world." he said and rose, extending his hand to her, "Come on, come see it."

He felt a little panicked as they went back to his work-room. The 'treasure' bit might have been exaggerated, unless you were a wandmaker per se. He could only hope the strange girl would appreciate it as much as he did.

Reaching into the inner pocket of his beige vest, Ollivander produced a pale wand from it, thin and long, pretty much like the wandmaker himself was. He tapped a spot above his work desk and a small square of the wood-paneled wall opened up obediently, making Mimi gasp.
"A secret compartment!"

"Yes," Ollivander nodded, somewhat proudly as he carefully reached in and took out a small rectangular object, wrapped in soft, crimson velvet, "this is a once in a lifetime find, Mimi. Many people – and not only wandmakers – would gladly get their hands on it."

"Why's that?" the girl asked, her blue eyes glowing with curiosity as they fixated the long-fingered hands while they were unwrapping the bundle.

Ollivander precariously took out a very thin sheet of wood from the velvet folds, similar to those scattered all across the room. It was almost pitch-black, with a grayish streak across the middle and had an oily sheen, unlike the other wandskins.
"This is magical wood, you see." the bony man explained almost reverently, "Magical wood is rare enough in itself, but this is blood-willow."

He adjusted his huge, round glasses before speaking on.
"Blood-willow only grows during the last full moon of the last year of a century," Ollivander explained, "And only on soil soaked with the blood of a powerful magical being. It doesn't grow out of seeds, there is no way to plant or cultivate it – it will only appear under these conditions. Once it does, it will grow to its full size – which is a little shorter than you are – within the hour and survive for exactly twenty minutes before drying out."

Seeing how the girl was now listening to him intently, wide-eyed and completely having forgotten about crying, the skinny young man continued his story enthusiastically.
"Blood-willow makes for the finest wandskin known to wizardkind," he said, "but only a thin layer of the entire tree is usable, the small bit between the bark and the core. It's usually enough for only one or two wandskins. The tree this came from had provided three and two of them have already been made into wands by masters of the craft."

"Wow…" Mimi uttered in awe, dark-blue eyes aglow with wonder, "How did you get it, if you're only an apprentice? And why haven't you used it yet? Isn't that, like, the perfect rare ingredient you need to pass your test?"

"Heh," Ollivander chuckled fondly as he placed the wandskin back to its bed of velvet and lovingly wrapped it up again, "this has actually been in my family for generations. I come from a long line of wandmakers and this is our greatest heirloom. My grandfather made me promise, when he gave it to me, that I was not, under any circumstances, to craft it until I've found the perfect core and have in mind the perfect owner for it."

He placed the bundle back into the compartment and closed it again so it left no trace of existing in the wall.
"Many wandmakers feel that the blood-willow wood is already magical enough that it doesn't even require a potent core." Ollivander spoke on pensively, "The other two skins that came from this tree were made into wands with mundane cores…unicorn hair and the somewhat rarer Fwooper feather, if I'm not mistaken. Still…"

He trailed off dreamily for a second before sighing.
"Something this precious deserves an equally amazing core." the skinny man concluded passionately, "And some day I will be the Ollivander to find it and I will craft a piece of magical art."

This time, Mimi couldn't help but grin full out.
"Wand-making is pretty fun, huh?" she said ponderingly.

"Er…well…" Ollivander turned beetroot red, suddenly on the spot like that, "Y-you have to be a certain type of person to appreciate it, but…yes. It's jolly fun."

He trailed off, glancing down at those insatiably curious and inquisitive dark blue eyes before smiling faintly.
"Do you want a tour around the workshop?"

"Yes!" Mimi instantly yelped happily, "Yes, please! Show me everything and tell me what it's for!"

"Very well then…let's start at the workbench…"

By the time Mimi even got to think of the time, it was well into the evening and she had been observing Ollivander as he worked on a wand for over an hour, until the young man got up to fix some dinner.

While Ollivander fiddled with the pots in an attempt to prepare a hot meal for two, as opposed to his usual instant dinner, Mimi patted around the living room in a vain attempt of finding something else interesting.

She found it in a small clipping from a bizarre sort of newspaper. The headline read "The Millennium Unicorn of Eastern France – Myth or Truth?" There was a blurry picture included – of a fog-veiled forest at night. In the distance, a horse-like figure could be vaguely made out. It moved across the edge of the photo over and over, like a miniature movie.

Mimi glanced at the skinny man over in the kitchen.
"Hey, Mr. Ollivander, what's a Millennium Unicorn?" she shouted over, startling the bony wizard into nearly dropping a pot of steaming spaghetti.

"U-uh…oh, that," he said, his face falling as he realised what the girl was pointing at, "It's just a legend, my dear. Apparently the ancient, immortal forefather of the Unicorn species still roams the forests of Eastern France. Legends say he is black as the night and that he travels the forest as softly as a ghost and as swiftly as the wind."

Mimi leaned in closer to squint at the small, printed letters on paper of poor quality.
"The villagers of the Montigny-le-Roi hamlet, Eastern France claim to have seen a ghostly, equine silhouette in the night between October 6th and 7th." she read aloud, "According to their testimony, they could see the galloping horse but even though he ran by closely, there was no sound to be heard. The Ministry of Magic has dispatched a team of experts, but they were unable to confirm-"

Suddenly the girl straightened up with a gasp and ran over to the kitchen counter, standing on the tips of her toes so she could peer over it at her friend.
"Mr. Ollivander, that's it!" she yelped happily, "Don't you think a hair from that Unicorn's mane would make the perfect core for your perfect wand? We should go find him!"

Ollivander shot her a cross look.
"N-now, my dear, let's not confuse legends with reality." he said, somewhat sternly, "There's no evidence that creature even exists."

"But those people've seen it!"

"They're just trying to bring some tourists to town with folk-tales." persisted the bony man stubbornly, "Don't believe it for one second."

He turned around to continue cooking, but Mimi clicked her tongue in irritation and ran around the counter to grab the end of his vest and tug on it.

"Oh, come on, you must believe he's real!" she accused angrily, "Look, you've put the story about him on your wall! I bet you were thinking the same thing I am – that Unicorn is perfect, Mr. Ollivander, come oooon – let's go find him!"

She promptly let go of the man's vest when the watery-blue eyes glared at her, this time looking genuinely annoyed.
"That's enough, y-young lady." he managed to sound strict while stammering, "I put that up a long time ago when I was much younger and much more foolish. These legends are just that. A-and, besides…"

He looked away sadly.
"Even if h-he were real," Ollivander grumbled, "I'm no adventurer. I'd get lost in that forest sooner than find him…and even if I did find him, how would I-"

"You're just making up reasons not to go!" Mimi exploded in irritation, "You shouldn't think about it that way – let's just go and try! It would be fun!"

Watery eyes gave her a shrewd look.
"Weren't you eager to go home?"

"Er- w-well…yeah." Mimi admitted grouchily, turning red in the face as she glared away embarrassedly, "B-but…you helped me out and I want to do the same for you! I'm sure I can find that Unicorn for you and-"

"Enough about the Unicorn, Mimi." Ollivander interrupted her as he poured a steaming pile of soft spaghetti into a large bowl, "He doesn't exist. And even if he did, you're only a wee lass, there's no way I'd bring you hunting for dangerous magical creatures even on the off chance I ever went."

"But-"

"Pack it in, lass." she was interrupted sternly again, "I don't want to argue over this further. Let's have dinner and tomorrow we'll see about sending you home to your family."

Mimi pouted as she helped Ollivander set the table and then while they ate. She mellowed up a bit when she got a huge helping of chocolate pudding after dinner, but still felt offended by the man's unwillingness to even try anything exciting.

What was he so afraid of? Having fun, heaven forbid? Even if he was nice, he was a huge stick in the mud, the girl decided. The sooner she went home to her fun family the better.

"If they'll have me back after all this…" a nagging thought remained even after she went to bed on the soft sofa in the living room. She slept that night, haunted by nightmares of rejection and loneliness.

~~~ End of Chapter 4 ~~~

~ Next Time~

"7:30 train for Montigny-le-Roi, France will depart in ten minutes from platform seven and 2/8s," it declared, "7:30 train for Montigny-le-Roi, France…"

"MONTIGNY-LE-ROI, can't you see!" Ollivander hollered up at the confounded Snape, "She's gone to chase the unicorn! She's going after it, oh – MERLIN, she-"

No time to wonder why or how he was obeying this order, Ollivander squeezed his eyes shut and just blindly steered the broom towards the sound of the running train.
"Oh Merlin - oh, Merlin, oh MEEEERLLLIIIIINNNN!"