The Wand Chooses the Wizard…
By Andrea "TheCopperDragon2004"
Part 2:
Snape had constantly wondered, over the years, why this particular wand had chosen him; a shabby, poor, half-blood boy from Cokeworth. After all, it had undoubtedly been passed by thousands of witches and wizards over the years; certainly any number of them would have been more worthy of such a powerful wand?
Yet the wand had chosen him. It had always been a mystery why.
He had to admit, for the first several years of his education at Hogwarts, he had not even known the true identity of his wand. It was his sixth year of school before, on a weekend trip to Hogsmeade, he was able to discreetly slip away and Apparate to Diagon Alley to speak with Ollivander about the wand he did not make…
It was a fall day, that Severus found himself outside Ollivander's wand shop again. The soft tinkle of the overhead bell announced his presence as he stepped inside the seemingly empty shop, black school robes swirling about his feet. He breathed deeply; the scent of ancient lumber and magic instantly transported him back to the day six years prior that he purchased his wand.
A mote of dust stuck in his throat and he coughed, cursing under his breath.
Lumber, and magic, and dust, he thought. Merlin, he'd forgotten how much bloody dust there was in this shop..
"Mister Snape," Ollivander greeted him as he suddenly appeared from the back recesses of the aisles. "A pleasant surprise to see you again, young man. Not in need of a new wand, I trust?" Severus could not miss the slight accusatory tone the older man laced with his question.
"No, no, of course not.."
Ollivander nodded. "Excellent, what may I help you with, then?" The wandmaker was mildly surprised to see that the boy was now as tall as he was himself. He'd still not filled out much, but at least he no longer looked like a starved scarecrow. Severus did not, however, look any happier than the last time they had met; Hogwarts, apparently, wasn't doing him as much good as the Wandmaker had originally hoped it might.
"Actually, sir, I came to ask you about my wand." Severus held it out for the older man to take. "I was interested in learning about it. You never told me of its cores. You had said there are two?"
Ollivander carefully took the ebony wand from the young man, and nodded.
"I know that you were too young to fully understand, to truly appreciate, the unique qualities of your wand at the time," the old man said as he slowly rotated the wand in his gnarled hands. "However, I trust now that you can appreciate the full telling."
Eyes sparkling in the dim light of the room, Severus nodded, eager to understand more about a tool that was now as much a part of himself as his arms or legs.
"You understand, I assume, the very delicate and closely-guarded nature of what I am about to tell you? Wandmakers have always jealously protected their pool of knowledge, and I must insist that for numerous reasons, you entrust no one else with this information. I am afraid that your very safety could depend on your discretion, young man."
Was the old codger threatening him? Wandless, Severus eyed him, and after a moment, decided that he was not. There was something else this man feared, and it was not simply protecting trade secrets…
Severus nodded.
"Well, to begin at the very beginning, I suppose.." Ollivander conjured a pair of comfortable chairs out of thin air and they both sat, the older man's joints creaking as he did.
"The Ebony wands are historically noted for not only being very powerful," Ollivander began, "but for also being very indiscriminate when it comes to the types of energies and magic that they will channel; they will work with all types, freely, for any purposes. That is to say, the most noble, most moral of wizards could have used this wand with pure intent for good magic, and the darkest, most tainted wizard to ever walk the earth could have used this wand with malicious intent as well. An ebony wand would bond with one as readily as the other, and therein lies their danger. Ebony wands are not merely light or dark; they arelight, dark, and all shades in between. They are all-encompassing."
Severus nodded, wondering where he himself fell within that range. He was sure other people would disagree, but he tended to think of himself on the lighter side of the spectrum, though he was not unintelligent enough to think that there was absolutely no dark in him, either. He, at least, only tapped into the dark to protect himself from those in the world who wished him harm.
"Contradictorily, ebony is also an excellent wood for potent protection spells," the Wandmaker continued, "as is one of the cores in your wand. For this reason, I had hoped that this wand would serve you well, during those times when you are no longer at Hogwarts.." Ollivander gave the young man a knowing look. Snape flushed slightly, alarmed and embarrassed that the man had known or at least suspected of the miseries of his home life, but he remained silent.
"I remember the day you found your wand," Ollivander reminisced. "I was absolutely astounded to discover it had two cores."
Severus nodded, remembering the shocked expression on the older man's face. Now, as before, Ollivander turned the wand away from him and gazed down it's length.
"One of your cores, Chechen, or Poisonwood- which is quite unusual, by the way- is a wood that parallels and reinforces the magic of the ebony when casting protective spells, as I mentioned. It is also known for its use with hexes and curses; surely by now you have noticed that you can cast them easily?"
Severus nodded. "Yes, sir."
"You will, I think, also notice that you can remove them as easily as you cast them; another advantage of your Chechen core."
Severus didn't know why he would want to remove a hex he had cast, but he let it go for now.
"But I don't understand, sir. What is so unusual about Poisonwood?"
"Throughout history, it has almost never been used for wandmaking, as the sap is highly poisonous, and causes blisters and rashes to appear anywhere that it is touched. If left untreated, it could be devastating."
Severus nodded, he knew this from his Herbology classes.
"For Wandmakers, however," continued Mr. Ollivander, "it was a danger that could potentially cost them their career, and the wood was to be avoided at all possibility. Few wandmakers would take the risk that this wand would be the last they ever made."
Severus nodded to himself, bitter memories flooding his thoughts. He could understand how it felt to have the one thing you thought you could always count on in life, suddenly taken away from you. No wonder wandmakers avoided poisonwood. Suddenly, curiosity overtook his bitterness.
"And what of the other core, sir?" he asked as he shifted in his chair, excited.
"Mister Snape- Severus," Ollivander sighed, "again, I must stress to you the importance of telling no one what I've spoken to you of today." He watched the younger man nod, but Ollivander knew he still did not understand the absolute need for his silence. "Severus, have you ever heard of another wand with a dual core?"
"No, sir, but that's hardly my area of expertise-"
"Exactly," Ollivander interrupted him. "It is my area of expertise, and I can assure you, no one has ever made a twin-core wand before. I do not believe that most wandmakers have ever even considered the possibility." He sighed, and Severus thought that the man suddenly looked every bit as old as his hundred and eleven years.
"Think of the most powerful wizard you know," Ollivander instructed him.
The young man nodded.
"Now, think of that wizard owning a wand that would double his power, possibly increase it exponentially. He would be nearly unstoppable. The implications of a wand such as this, a wand with the successful joining of cores, is staggering." He met the younger man's eyes for a moment as Severus realized that he, obviously, owned such a wand.
Ollivander could tell from the boy's silence, from his slightly paled color, that he was beginning to understand the danger.
"Knowledge that such a wand exists," Ollivander continued, "that others like it could be made, would upset the status-quo the wizarding world has been in for a millennia. Your life would be considered forfeit by those who deem themselves more powerful, more worthy of such a wand. You would be in danger, Severus."
Silent, they both stared at the black wood, lying harmlessly in the older man's hands. Ollivander was suddenly overwhelmed by a desire to snap the wand in half, to throw it into the fire before anything untoward happened to this young man because of it.
"I.. I see." Severus said, very quietly. The older man had known the danger he would be placing in that young boy's hands all those years ago, yet he had still entrusted Snape with what was likely the most dangerous wand in all of Britain, possibly in the world. He met Ollivander's eyes with determination. "No one will ever know about this. I promise you."
Ollivander nodded, his expression grim, as he placed a hand on the young man's shoulder in both apology for burdening him with this responsibility, and thanks for keeping his silence.
Both men jumped as the front door to the shop slammed open with a bang, the cold autumn air swirled in through the shop, making the oil lamps gutter.
"Mister Snape!"
The green-clad, tartan-wearing form of Minerva McGonagall stepped through the door, and with just one look at the anger radiating off her, Severus visibly wilted in his chair a little.
"What on earth do you think gives you the right to disappear from a school sanctioned trip to Hogsmeade?" Her lips pressed so tightly together they all but disappeared. "You flit off to London? What if something had happened to you? We would have no idea where to begin even lookingfor you!"
Ollivander stood, Severus's wand still in his hand.
"Now, my dear Minerva, I must intervene on behalf of young Severus." Her green eyes snapped to him with lightning-quick speed. "I had owled Mr. Snape and requested that he come to pick up some wand polish that several younger students had ordered at the start of the year. We'd run out, you see. He was merely acting on my request. As I did not want to distract from his studies in any way, I had requested he come on a weekend when he had a free moment; Hogsmeade must have just seemed like the first opportunity the poor lad has had this year."
"Yes, and he's made himself quite comfortable while here," Minerva replied, eyes taking in the plush chairs they had sat in, as well as the wand still in Ollivander's hand. The two were clearly up to something, and trying to hide it, but she had no idea what.
"Oh, this," Ollivander waved a hand dismissively. "Merely catching up for a moment." He handed the young man back his wand. "Come, Severus, we do not want to keep Professor McGonagall waiting any longer, since she is so determined to see you back safely."
He gathered up a few tins of wax, placed them into a cloth carrying bag and handed them to the young man, then sent him on his way with a wave and a bid to come see him again, though to perhaps wait until over the winter holidays to do so.
"Go wait in the Headmaster's office for me, please, Mister Snape," McGonagall ordered.
Minerva watched Severus duck between her and the doorway, then Disapparate in the alleyway, headed back to Hogwarts. Now she turned her attention back to Ollivander.
"You watch yourself, Ollivander," she said, her Irish brogue clear in her agitation. "He may not be in my House, but I'll not have you turn this boy into an owl for your deliveries, or worse, into a lab rat for your magical experiments." The older man opened his mouth to defend himself but Minerva interrupted him. "This boy's had a hard life. I will not allow anyone to take advantage of him and compound those miseries."
"My dear woman, I am truly aware of what this boy has been through. I merely wished to check up on him, to ensure that he is doing well at Hogwarts. I meant him no harm, and certainly did not wish to inflict your wrath upon him. Do try to go easy on him."
And with a nod to the formidable woman standing in his doorway, he turned, and disappeared into the maze of aisles in his shop.
Later that evening, once safely ensconced in his curtained-off bed in the dungeons, Severus was shocked at how little he had been reprimanded. Yes, Professor McGonagall had been furious with him for sneaking off, and had verbally flayed him to bits for it, and both Professor Slughorn and Headmaster Dumbledore had been 'very disappointed' with him, but he had left the Headmaster's office with little more than their words ringing in his ears and a detention for the following evening with his Head of House.
He wondered if perhaps, Mr. Ollivander had spoken to Professor McGonagall after he had left. He wouldn't have mentioned his wand, though, right? Severus had vowed to the older man that he would not speak of it to anyone, but if the wandmaker had found reason to tell one of his professors, so be it. Otherwise, Severus himself would not mention it to anyone.
He mulled over what Mr. Ollivander had told him. Parts of the information fit with what he already knew of his wand. Indeed, he could cast hexes and curses easily; he had even been inventing his own curses, such as his beloved Sectumsempra, which he was still perfecting. What was the old Irish saying? Something about recognizing your enemies by their limp? Well, one day the world would recognize the enemies of Severus Snape by the twisted, bloody scars 'Sempra left on them.. Why on earth would he ever want to remove a hex or a curse?
At this thought, the sneering face of Potter blossomed in Severus's mind. The bastard had humiliated him, had stolen Lily from him-
Severus firmly derailed this train of thought, shut these fresh, painful memories down in his mind before he gave in to the depression and self-loathing that usually accompanied them. It had been a good day today; he had learned a lot about his wand, and even about himself.
As he rolled over in bed to try to go to sleep, the thought suddenly occurred to him that Mr. Ollivander hadn't told him of his wand's second core..
Authors's note: who do you think Severus pictured, when Ollivander instructed him to think of the most powerful wizard he knew? Dumbledore? Voldemort? Someone else?
Also, I wanted to write McGonagall as less of a discriminating hag towards the Slytherins, which is something I tend to see quite often. I *do* think that she dislikes them in later years because 'they' (Death Eaters= Slytherins, in her mind) killed several of her favorite students, as well as the Headmaster. Just my two cents. ;)
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