Title: Miss Memory: Of Wands, and Ancestors
Chapter Summary: Olivander is a wierd place, but where else do you go for a wand for the wierd?
Remembering her first chance to go through her school shopping with vivid images and memories the others would never experience, she knew the best place to take them. At that age, most young wizards and witches would have been most eager for a wand. Though this particular group would not necesarily need wands for waving their magic, it was still key to their adventure.
They had just stepped into Olivander's wand shop, 'Selling wands since 983,' when an old man with whitening hair and odd eyes stepped up onto his stool and leaned over the counter as if he was not able to see more than a foot in front of him; most went through it and he always did the little stretch to see who they were. What he wasn't expecting was a girl who was supposed to be dead standing in front of him. Buffy smiled at his wide eyes.
Then he smiled in return, knowing the universe must have a thousand mysteries and knowing he would never be aware of how she came to be back. "Well well, Miss Potter. I hear you're supposed to be dead." He said jovialy. While the man usually unnerved most of those coming into his shop, she and James had just looked at one anothe and smiled at the mystery.
It turned out he used a version of mage sight in order to match wands an cores to people much better than those who randomly tossed the pretties around.
She shrugged without giving anything away. "Hasn't stopped me before." She said. Dawn didn't know whether to smile or frown. Thomas, Alonna's son, had been mostly quiet through his adventuring, but he was getting as eager to look around as Liam was to use a bathroom.
Olivander slowly leaned back and relaxed against his arms on the counter, smiling at the girl that he always liked. "Of course, should have known," the old man mentioned as if it was something that happened every day. He turned his attention to the others. "And who are these?" He looked at Dawn and the twins.
"This is my little sister, Dawn." He tilted his head as he looked at her, back to Elizsabeth, and then back at the younger girl. "Yeah I know, I don't have one, except for the fact that I do." She directed at her sister. Dawn blushed and smiled at him kind of in a funny way to show she was embarrassed.
"And this little girl is my youngest, Elisabeth, and her older, twin, brother, Liam."
He smiled down at them, knowing he was about to have some fun. Oh yes, did he love his job. Well, except the times when those annoying little buggers yell and scream and ruin a good wand, he thought, remembering that the Malfoy Lord had to have a new wand quite often.
"Generational?" He asked, referring to the twins.
She shrugged. "I guess so. James only ended up with one," (meaning Harry) She said, "and we weren't quite identical like my two are." She looked at her kids.
She motioned to the other little boy. "And this is Thomas. His parents were squibs, he got it somewhere in his line." She said, meaning his magic, twisting her hand to show that they weren't exactly sure.
"Ah, now, wand hands?" he motioned to the younger of the six, leaving Dawn, Liam, Elizabeth, and Thomas to all hold out their right hands. A tape measure flew out of Olivander's grasp and the four of them couldn't help but gasp a little at the sensation. It felt like the hairs on their arms wanted off of their bodies when the charmed tape measure touched them.
He checked Dawn first, and then Liam. Elizabeth was then fully measured, followed by Thomas.
"Ah, yes, I think I know just the things." He said to himself as he stepped off of his stool, and prepared himself to go into his stacks of magical foci. As he did so, the three children and Dawn looked at one another and wondered how, after everything they had been through, they could still be so surprised at the things that people came up with.
Buffy laughed slightly at the looks on their faces. She had the same one when she came in with James, and Buffy suspected that everyone did that. SHe and her brother just had a need to unravel mysteriious that was greater than their uneasiness or fear.
When he came back up, he had his arms full of wand boxes. He opened four and handed them over. Directing them to do so, he never told them what was in the wands. But when the first few they each tried were not suited for them, he glanced at Buffy. "You Potters sure know how to not pick your average wands," he digged
She threw him a smile mysterious smile. Maybe she hadn't been a Marauder but she caused enough problems for others and settled all her debts before James could win a game of quidditch. And her wand defenitly hadn't been average. "Yeah, but Thomas is only a Potter by guardianship." Well, a Summers by any other name...
The other five looked at her curiously, not knowing what her wand was made out of. Somehow, that just had never come up. She saw the looks, and knew what it meant. She had never told anyone what her own wand was made out of.
Anne spoke up first, taking her wand, one she got from an American shop a few years earlier, and said, "Mine's a simple six inches of Cherry wood and a serpent eye."
Having been given a second to breathe, Buffy was ready to tell her own wand ingredients. "Kiendrae'd Willow with my blood, the First Slayer's blood, vampire blood with the aura of my soul mate (your father)" she said, motioning to the twins, "griffin feather, and phoenix tear."
The others were silent. That was a lot and definitely not what any of them were expecting.
"Very strange, I had never heard of a wand with that many ingredients, and had never suspected it to be used." He said, eyeing her. It had been years but even still, custom wands were only supposed to use a little blood and specified ingredients. Her wand, with so many bits and pieces, could not be held by another.
Buffy reached into her pocket where Mr. Gordo was, and reached through the magic pocket, and took out her wand. Maybe if she hadn't had her hands tied together, she could have reached into her pocket for the cubby with her wand. There had been no such luck. Taking it from her favorite stuffed animal, she held it out for the others to see. It was a pure white color, which was odd in itself, and looked smooth and more spherical around the edges. Most were just wood, like stakes that were long and decidedly breakable. It was solid and almost seemed to glow in the dim room.
"What's Kiendrae?" Dawn asked.
"It's an ancient form of Kiendrae plant, which comes in trees, bushes, roses, and flowers, that has been magicked a lot, and makes the wand unbreakable. Because of its mystical properties and the fact that it is nearly alive, wands aren't supposed to be able to use it, because they're just foci." She said.
When he saw the look on Buffy's face, he knew that she knew many of the properties, and changed the subject. "So, do you think your wands will be anything like your mothers?" He asked the twins, as Buffy put her wand in the familiar bundle in her hair. They shrugged.
He swept all of those wands onto the floor as if they were scrap wood and went back into the stacks only to come back with a single white box. He opened it and took two wands out that looked identical, except for the color. They were both almost red, but one was slightly lighter then the other.
He handed them over to the twins, and they took them, knowing which one was meant for them. Both of them felt a small jolt in their system, and simultaneously gave the wands a wave. A golden, red sparkle, a white light, and a homey feeling came to them for a moment.
"Both also have Kiendrae in them." He told them. "But the cores are very odd, seeing as how they have all differences. Phoenix tear, griffin feather, snake scale, badger breath, and a wing feather from a night raven."
They were a little awed at their wands and stepped back to Lily-Anne, so that the other two could get their own wands.
Buffy smiled. She had gotten the same reaction when it was her and James standing there.
"Well, who was your ancestor?" he asked Thomas.
The boy blushed and looked at him. "Jim Greavidge."
"Greavidge, hmm? I haven't had a one child from his family in a good long time. His children were all squibs or something, and they went over to America." He said aloud. He eyes Buffy. "So, are you bringing all of the hidden descendants over?" he asked sarcastically.
She smiled and rolled her eyed. "Like I could find all of them." He laughed, and looked back down at the kid. "Well, I'll be right back." He left into the stacks again and came back with three boxes. "It should be one of these."
He handed them to Thomas, one by one, and the third one was the right one. A golden aura surrounded them for a second, and then dispersed. "The wood is a good wood to use in weapons, and the core is a hair of a bear, a drop of blood of a master vampire, and a piece of metal, which is odd in itself. Its good for enhancement spells and defense."
"You are a warrior." He said to the boy as he stepped back.
He looked at Buffy. "Where do you get these children?" he asked sarcastically with a smile.
She laughed and asked back, "When did you get a sense of humor?"
He gave a quick smirk back, thinking 'about the time you came in with your brother' and nodded to the boy that it was a fine wand, and turned to Dawn.
"Well, you have a special energy, none like I have seen unless you count your sister and James." He took a good look at her, and thought about it. "Actually, you do look a lot like your sister." He said. Seeing as how she was made out of her sister, it wasn't hard to look like her.
"Hmmm… I have just the thing." He said as he headed back into the stacks to look for a wand.
When he came back a moment later, he put a box on the counter, and took out an ordinary looking wand. He smiled like he knew something she didn't and handed it over.
As she touched it, it transformed and looked almost identical to her sister's. She gasped as it did so, and the others watched.
She waved it and again, an identical reaction to her sister's own occurred, but it was slightly different. She was her own person after all.
"Willow'd Kiendrae, with mint spring parcel plant, and a phoenix feather with a raven's claw." He said.
Now that they had all the wands given out, Olivander was looking slightly tired, but he felt somewhat happy. These people were important, and he was happy that Buffy Potter was alive. He was just sad that her brother wasn't here to meet her.
She paid and made small talk. The others left a few seconds ahead of her, and Olivander told her so. She smiled and Olivander saw an old woman in her eyes. She left him with one thought. "Me too. But let me say it this way; Heaven is what you make it."
And with that, she left the shop, and Olivander trying to piece together what she said. He sat there for a minute, and got up to let the magic do its work, when Buffy poked her head back in.
"Oh, and Olivander, do you mind not telling anyone about us being here?" He smiled and nodded.
She smiled back thankfully, and nearly skipped out of the shop, and over to the others.
This time when he was left alone to his shop, he smiled. He wasn't one for gossip, but he could just picture everything that would happen when this came out.
He was glad she was alive. Ever since she dissapeared, nothing had been the same. It was funny what effect an adolescent young woman could have on a society.
As the sun felll just enough to touch the edge of the mountains, Olivander, a find maker of wands since the year 983, closed his doors for the way and grinned. Things were about to get itneresting.
TBC. Well, that was vaguely okay. It seemed to take forever though. Grrr. I still have a bunch to edit slightly.