Author Notes - Thanks for all the reviews last chapter. Each one was appreciated.

Onward...

Chapter Four

Hours later, Harry found himself in the back of a large van heading to the Sunnydale Zoo. He had decided to wait until much later before beginning his mission because he hadn't wanted the Zoo's staff to get in his way. Apparently, the Zoo did not have any overnight security guards. So if Harry and the others arrived late enough, the place would be deserted.

Oz and Willow were sitting in the front of the van while Angel, Buffy, Xander, and Harry were crammed in the back. Unlike the last time Harry traveled with the group, Buffy and Angel were not sitting on either side of him but had chosen to give him some space, and in doing so a little bit of trust.

Harry had spent most of the morning, afternoon, and evening reading the pile of books that only seemed to grow as Giles thought of more and more valuable reading material for him. The first book, a large tome about vampires, was an interesting read. It started explaining their origins as a hybrid creature from the union of a demon and a human. The offspring had the ability to produce more of its kind with a simple transfer of blood. There was still speculation on whether the transfer of blood would create the vampire, or just allow a demon from another plane the opening to possess the body of the once human. Harry didn't know enough to form an opinion of his own on the matter but either way, it didn't change the fact that vampires seemed to be inherently evil.

Harry knew that people had the tendency to label anything dissimilar to themselves as evil, regardless of their true nature. Many witches and wizards would argue that all werewolves were evil and deserved a quick and ruthless death. The fact that Angel was a vampire himself, and had unequivocally said that all vampires except for himself were soulless and irredeemable did help Harry get used to the idea of a kill first ask questions later mentality that seemed to be required when dealing with the demons of this world.

The book, after explaining the origins of the race, began to go into a rather detailed history of some of the more famous vampires in existence. Harry tried to remember many of the names in case he ran into one of these stronger than normal vampires, but he knew he wouldn't be able to name them all. The book went into a brief summary of a uniquely vicious vampire nicknamed the Scourge of Europe, but more commonly referred to as simply Angelus. He had plagued all of Europe until his sudden disappearance. The name, Angelus was referring to his face, which was described as being angelic.

Harry stared at Angel for a moment. Harry could tell that the man was attractive, but he would have trouble describing it as angelic. However, it was far too much of a coincidence, and Harry finished the book with the assumption that Angel and Angelus were one in the same.

The details of the book made Harry further trust that Angel was being honest about his reformed ways. Harry didn't think the Angelus described in the book would be able to go a hundred years without being caught bathing in the blood of his innocent victims just because he decided to play the role of a nice vampire. Angel must have received a very pure soul in order for him to remember the countless horrors that he had done and yet still refused to drink human blood or go back to his old ways. Harry could easily imagine someone trying to ignore a developing conscience, especially after doing such horrific things for so long. There were humans with perfectly good souls that would find joy in some of Angelus's actions, yet Angel only found horror. Harry was actually quite surprised that only Buffy seemed to find the strength in that. The rest of the group looked at Angel with more distrust than respect. Harry supposed Buffy just had an easier time than the others at forgiving the face that had done such evil things.

The last section of the vampire book was both the most useful and least useful part. It went through all the different ways to fight against vampires. The guide had separate sections for humans and vampire slayers because of the tools and strategies suggested varied depending on the strength and abilities of the user. Because of that, the book was virtually useless to Harry. It was nice to know that holy water and crucifixes could repel some vampires, but they were also the least liable to work. Many older vampires could ignore a crucifix and heal quickly from the burns of Holy Water. It appeared that the best way for a human to live through a vampire attack was to get into a home that had not invited them in and get into it as quickly as possible. That, or to form a decent sized mob to overwhelm the vampire with force in numbers. Mobs with pitchforks were the only tools that humans had to fight off vampire attacks for centuries.

Like Harry had originally assumed, decapitation worked fine when dealing with vampires, as well a complete dismemberment, fire, and a stake through the heart. Harry didn't know of any good fire spells. The Fire-Making Spell, also known as Incendio produced a decent amount of fire, but it was more of a flashbang than a steady stream. Unless the vampire was walking around in a heavily flammable garment or had previously rolled around in a flammable substance, then it would merely annoy the vampire with a small targeted flame rather than set his whole body on fire. Fiendfyre could be used to take down hundreds of vampires at once in a controlled area, but trying to use it in an open area with other people would be homicidal. You were also likely to get yourself killed in the process. It would be more of a last-resort option. No, during his Auror training, fire based offensive magic really wasn't touched upon. He knew that he knew enough magical theory to perhaps invent something given enough time. However, in the meantime, he would need another method of attack.

Harry wondered how much blunt force trauma was required to bring a vampire down because that seemed to be Harry's best bet. The book had stated that they, like all demons, had some magical spell resistance. A spell that would mortally wound a human, might instead such give a vampire a shallow scratch. How much would a Bombarda Maxima spell do to a vampire for example? Harry almost wished he had one to test it on. Harry began to think that Transfiguration might be his best friend in this world. Conjuring a blade and banishing it at a vampire's neck would be considered a magical attack, but a vampire's magical resistance wouldn't matter if the blade being banished was of solid mass. Banishing a stake of some sort probably wouldn't be ideal, however. The heart and the stake were both relatively small objects. Harry would more than likely miss the heart, and possibly even the vampire himself. It was, however, something to practice with for the future.

The van ride to the zoo continued with Harry being oddly silent, thinking about ways to kill or trap a vampire with his magic. Unknowingly to Harry, his thoughts were using Angel as a visual aid. Glancing at his neck or chest area when picturing ways to kill a vampire. These looks did not remain unnoticed by the two fighters of the group, and Angel had even started to fidget at the strange intense glances.

"Welcome to the Sunnydale Zoo," Oz exclaimed suddenly in a dry manner as the van rolled to a stop, "please exit the vehicle in the same organized manner that you entered it."

Harry took out his wand, glanced out of the van window and Apparated. The van was a little too crowded and Harry didn't feel like waiting for his turn while trapped in the stationary vehicle. One by one his companions jumped out of the vehicle, with Oz being the last one to leave. Willow quickly walked up to Harry.

"How far can someone teleport?" Willow asked excitedly, yet quietly. She seemed to know not to attract any unwanted attention. Harry smiled at her. He had expected this to be one of her first questions the night before, but her sleep deprivation must have overwhelmed her interest in magic.

"Depends on the user," Harry answered honestly. Willow raised an eyebrow as if to say that there was only one user she cared about.

"I haven't found my limit," Harry admitted.

She frowned. "Aren't you curious? I would spend all day just teleporting around until I knew," she confessed. Harry chuckled as he pictured her doing that very thing. Apparating across the country hundreds of times just to find the distance in which she started Splinching herself.

Chuckling one last time in amusement, Harry began walking to the gate of the zoo. It was a standard gate, far shorter than he expected, and he imagined he could simply climb over it if he needed to. Harry checked the handle and was surprised to see it swing open. Apparently, the Zoo was even more relaxed in their security than the gang had even guessed.

"Anyone know where the birds are?" Harry asked as they all gathered at the entrance.

"The Aviary is in the center," Willow answered after Harry received shrugs from everyone else. Willow led the way while Buffy walked alongside her. Angel hung around the back, completing a standard formation for escorting someone. Harry noticed they never even exchanged words to make it happen. It was merely instinctive. He could hear Buffy and Willow chatting about nonsensical things, but Harry could also see that Buffy's attention was never fully in the conversation. Her eyes would dart around corners and into the distance very regularly.

It was only a short walk before they came upon a building with a large dome protruding from the top; the dome was built almost completely out of glass. Even at night with no visible light sources, Harry could see movement from within; probably birds flying from tree to tree. The building was locked, and before Harry could offer to unlock it, Buffy grabbed and yanked the lock loose, giving Harry his first glimpse at what a vampire's strength would be capable of doing. She held the door open for Harry with a smug look on her face in response to Harry's widening eyes at the display.

"After you," she said. Harry didn't have the heart to tell her that the brute force had been completely unnecessary.

Harry didn't need to enter the large dome portion of the Aviary itself to know that those wouldn't be the birds he was looking for. There were plaques everywhere detailing the species of birds available for viewing with the life expectancy of each species listed. None of which were all that impressive.

"Over here," Angel said from the other side of the building. Harry walked around the dome and over to where Angel had called from. That's when he saw the large individual cages holding what the Zoo considered their prime specimens. Most of them were birds of a larger size, yet some small colorful birds were among the selection. Each of them had names and their ages listed.

"This is the oldest one," Willow said, pointing to a cage containing some kind of parrot. Harry read the plaque. It was a cockatoo named Jack and it was sixty-three years old. It was a regal looking bird with a yellow mohawk. It was still asleep on its perch as if it didn't quite give a damn that there were people looking at it in the middle of the night. Reading it further, Harry sighed. The bird was only recently transferred from another zoo farther south. This bird wouldn't be what he was looking for. Still, he noticed that the display case had a loose feather pressed under a section of glass in order for the customers to have a closer view. Harry vanished the glass and picked the feather up. He frowned as he felt nothing special about it; it was just another bird feather to him. He put the feather back and encased it in the glass once more before moving on.

He went from cage to cage, trying to find what he was looking for. There were plenty of birds there. Some were too young, and some, like Jack, had only recently transferred there from another Zoo. Most of the birds had a sample of its own feather on display like Jack had, and Harry made sure to test each one. Each one was a disappointment. There was either no reaction or a reaction similar to what he found at the Magic Shop.

However, after a good ten minutes, he finally found what he had been looking for. Sitting in a large cage was a beautiful large white bird with black feathers on its wings and a pink beak. The plaque said it was a Southern Royal Albatross. It weighed twenty-five pounds and was wide awake, staring at him. Harry's heart stopped when he saw the bird's name. Albus. Harry continued to stare at the plaque in shock for a moment before shaking his head. Harry didn't believe in coincidences but he quickly decided that he'd have to let this one go before he lost his mind at the possible implications.

Further to the side was a large white feather contained beneath a layer of glass, the same as all the other cages. Inexplicably nervous, Harry quickly vanished the glass and carefully picked the feather up. Harry could feel his magic reacting to it almost immediately and smiled. He could still remember that feeling, almost eight years ago when his Holly Phoenix Wand was first given to him. The reaction was very similar, and Harry let out a pleased sigh as he lost himself in the feeling of the magic and the relief of having such a viable option suddenly open up to him. It took a minute before he was able to refocus his attention to the information displayed about the bird.

Albus was fifty-five years old, and was delivered to the Sunnydale Zoo fifty-four years ago; merely six years after they opened. It was the longest living resident at the Zoo. Its caretakers were not expecting it to live much longer.

"You just needed a feather?" Buffy asked skeptically from behind his right shoulder. He jumped as he remembered that he wasn't alone before answering with a shake of his head.

"I need as many feathers I can get without hurting the bird," he explained while thinking of the best way to do that. One feather wouldn't be nearly enough.

"Well," Xander began while pointing at various places within the cage, "It looks like the bird is quite the shedder."

Harry noticed it too. Throughout the cage, there were quite a few loose feathers. It appeared that Albus's caretakers hadn't cleaned out his cage in a while. Deciding on a course of action, Harry walked to the corner of the cage.

Before he could do anything else, Albus stood up and fully extended his wings. He stared directly at Harry as he shook himself. Harry watched as another feather sprung loose and slowly drifted down before settling at the bottom of the cage.

"Spooky," Buffy whispered as she stepped back, creating some distance between her and the bird. Harry agreed but reasoned it was probably normal bird behavior. This conclusion, however, didn't stop the goosebumps from spreading across his arms. Harry touched his wand to the surface of the cage and closed his eyes. He brought forth images of the many feathers that he could see in the cage to his mind while making sure not to think of the bird itself.

"Accio," he whispered while moving his wand in a half circle. He tried to keep the spell underpowered in order to not harm or scare the bird. The feathers began to move towards the corner of Albus's cage. They jerked out of their resting spots quickly at first before slowing down and floating softly to the corner Harry was standing at. There were more feathers than he had originally thought. By the time all feathers wormed themselves out from hidden crooks and dirt, Harry counted about twenty of them. When they were all finally resting against the cage, Harry canceled the spell and looked up to see five identical looks of awe.

Getting back to work, Harry vanished the corner of the cage before grabbing the large collection of feathers gently, being careful not to bend them. He then repaired the cage once more; leaving it as it was. He could feel the feathers tingling in his hand as he gently placed them in a conjured bag before tucking it into his trouser pocket.

"Alright," Harry said, "let's go." The others nodded and made their way back to the bus. Harry picked up the crushed lock that Buffy had ripped apart and repaired it, locking the door behind them. Buffy frowned at him. "I'd rather they don't increase security." Harry reasoned. It was possible that the feathers he grabbed wouldn't be enough and he'd have to come back for more. Harry knew he left other things out of place, but he hoped the staff would reason that one of their visitors from the day before had stolen the feather that was encased in glass.

They made their way back into Oz's van without any further excitement. As Oz shifted the van into gear and took off, Xander released a heavy breath.

"Alright there Xander?" Buffy asked with a knowing smile. Xander nodded and Harry gave him a questioning look.

"There was this Hyena thing a couple years ago," Xander explained before shivering in memory.

Harry accepted the answer before losing himself in thought. He was half tempted to Apparate ahead of everyone else but figured it would have been rather rude to save himself the trip back when they had only made the journey to help him. He slipped his hand into his pocket, feeling around for the bundle of feathers to make sure that they were still there. Their initial reaction had dimmed considerably, but what remained was still a sensation of comfort that he could feel down to his bones. It was similar to the feeling he'd get from his wand. Harry knew this was normal. If you felt the same thing every time you picked up your wand as you did the first time, it would be hard to cast any spell without first becoming lost in the pleasure. Still, he knew that each one of the feathers in his pocket contained the potential for a wand just as strong as the wand currently sitting in the hostler on his wrist.

He, however, couldn't for the life of him explain just how it was possible that an ordinary animal had so much magic in its feathers. It appeared that there was a lot of potential in the magic of this world and he had a lot to learn.

They found their way back to the school quickly enough. Harry was just about to offer them his thanks and leave; far too excited to start working on his staff, when a strong overwhelming scent of food hit him. His mouth began to water and his stomach started to growl.

"Hungry much?" Buffy quipped with a glance at him. Harry shrugged with embarrassment as the rumbling grew louder. He realized he hadn't eaten all day.

The sight that greeted them was interesting, to say the least. A dark-haired girl with tight-fitting clothing was attacking Wesley. Wesley was equipped with pads on almost his whole body, yet, even with the added protection, each swing of the girl's fists would cause Wesley to wince as if his whole body expected immediate pain.

"Hey, gang," the girl said with a cheery smile before she left Wesley and skipped over to the table where small white containers rested. She grabbed a fork and shoveled something into her mouth that looked remarkably like pasta before she headed back to her Watcher.

"Chinese food?" Xander asked in excitement, making his way over to the table. He saw the meager two box offering and frowned.

"Don't you dare," the girl said with a warning glance before aiming a kick at Wesley's shin. Wesley let out a little squeak as her foot impacted her target with a loud thwack.

"Come on Faith," Xander whined, "didn't anyone ever tell you to share?"

"A Slayer needs her energy," Faith began in explanation, "For dusting vamps and other late night activities." She gave Xander a suggestive wink and chuckled harshly when he turned red.

So, this was the other Slayer, Harry realized. She was almost night to Buffy's day. Or at least, that was the initial impression he got from her. Harry walked up to the table, his own interest lying there. "Ooh," she exclaimed as she noticed his approach along with the rest of the group. "Wes told me about the magician, but he never mentioned how delicious you were," she said with a look far more suggestive than the one she had given Xander while her eyes roamed his torso.

Harry gave her an unimpressed stare. "Thanks," he responded politely.

She frowned and huffed in response. "No fun," she pouted before returning to her previous action of pummeling Wesley. Every cringe he showed only seemed to amuse her.

Harry peeked inside one of the boxes in order to get a better look. He took out his wand and waved it at the table. The white boxes and utensils multiplied ten times to the surprise and delight of Xander. Harry noticed that Faith was eyeing him closely as though she was trying to gauge his threat level. Harry put the wand back into the safety of its hostler. Still, she didn't take her eyes off of him, which had the result of unnerving him more than he would have admitted to out loud.

"I like you," Xander informed him as he grabbed a couple of boxes from the new stockpile of food.

"Did you just create food?" Willow asked, staring at the table in shock.

"Not quite," Harry answered as he took some food for himself in order to calm his stomach, which had let out another rumble in protest.

Giles came out from the side office after hearing the commotion and took one look at the table. "Interesting," he said before walking over and taking a seat for himself. "Is there any sort of limitation to this magic? Or can you create an infinite amount of duplicates? Could you fill up the room for example?" he asked. Harry noticed then that he had a pad and pen with him. Harry smiled at the man's inquisitive nature.

"Creating a duplicate requires some energy. Filling up a room with copies would be very tiring and probably require multiple casts," Harry explained, taking a bite of the strangely packaged food. It was better than he expected it to be but was a little cold. Harry waved his hand over the container to heat it up. Harry didn't bother to explain that there was a similar curse that duplicated the item with every touch.

"If I could just magic myself up some food, I don't know if I would ever stop eating," Xander said wisely as he looked at his container with love.

"Then it's a good thing you can't," Buffy said, grabbing some for herself before walking away to stand with Angel as they watched Faith work on The Wesley Draining Dummy.

"I can't conjure food from nothing," Harry corrected, "I can only duplicate what's there."

"But you can create other things," Giles said, correctly remembering bits from the night before, "what makes food so different?"

Harry frowned as he tried to figure out a way to explain it. Once again he was glad for the last year or so that he had spent as an Auror because he had used a large portion of his downtime trying to reestablish his magical education. He finally found words that would make sense to someone unfamiliar with magical theory. "Conjuration comes from the mind. I can Conjure up a living animal . . . let's say for an example, a dog. The dog would look like a dog and act like a dog, but if you cut it open, it would be obvious that it wasn't a dog. I would have to have advanced knowledge of the workings of biology to achieve such a thing, and even then, the Conjuration would also require a lot more effort and be more tiring. It's never worth doing," Harry said, pausing to see if Giles was following. Once Harry saw that he wasn't having a problem, he continued, "Food works the same way. I could create something that looked like food and tasted like food easily enough. However, in order to create something that would give me the same nutrition as food, I would need to understand every single ingredient and would have to keep all that information clearly focused on before creating it. The energy required to make it happen would probably be more than the food could even give me in return." After he finished explaining what he knew, he was happy to see that most of the group seemed to understand.

"What makes a duplicate so different?" Willow asked.

Harry smiled at the question, "Think of it as a blueprint. In my mind, I'm looking to copy, not create. My magic uses the original item as a blueprint to create a copy. A copy won't be as good, and will even deteriorate over time, but it's close enough to the original that it's hard to tell them apart. If the caster is proficient anyway."

"I can't tell the difference," Xander stated.

"Thank you," Harry smiled at the unattended compliment.

"So. . ." Xander said, pausing in thought, "you're telling me you could conjure up food that looked like food and tasted like food but wouldn't give you any of the calories or energy that food would give?"

"Umm? Yeah? With some practice," Harry said.

"I changed my mind," Buffy piped in with a jealous look at Harry, "I'd give up a lifetime of electricity for magic now."

"Yeah . . ." Willow said in awe. "Endless junk food nights without the calories," she said dreamily, seemingly lost in a fantasy. Harry shrugged. Not many people in the Wizarding World had such a relationship with food. Except perhaps for Ron when he was younger; but he had long grown out of it.

"Well," Faith said suddenly, "I'm out of here."

"Hold on a moment!" Wesley exclaimed, taking off his protective mask, "We aren't done yet! Where do you think you're going?"

"You made me all worked up Wes," Faith said with a smirk, "I'm going to go find someone to play with." Her teasing made Wesley's face turn red and she let out a smirk of satisfaction. She was out the door before Wesley could recover or respond.

"That was weird," Buffy observed as she peered at the doors that Faith just exited out of, "I thought Faith would be all over Harry. A new boy toy to play with."

"Did you just call me a boy toy?" Harry asked with a smirk.

Angel raised an eyebrow at her and Buffy grew slightly pale, "I only meant that . . . she would think that . . ." Buffy tried to find words but Willow interrupted her with a giggle; which earned her a heated glare from the blonde.

Giles decided to give Buffy mercy. "She has been isolating herself since the accident," Giles said, "We may just have to give her some time."

Harry remembered then that they had mentioned something about Faith accidentally killing an innocent man. Yes, Harry thought; It would take quite some time to recover from that. He didn't, however, think that letting her remain in her own mind for a long period of time was a very good idea. Harry knew from past experiences that when you were alone and isolating yourself, dark thoughts began quick and festered over time.

The room quieted down as everyone dug into their meal. All except for Angel, who seemed to use the peace and quiet to sit there and brood about one thing or another. Harry soon finished and stood up. "Well, I am off to see if I can do something with these," Harry said, gesturing to his pocket, which held his bag of feathers.

"And you'll let us know all about it if you're successful?" Giles asked.

"Of course," Harry answered. He could see Wesley's face pinch in anger which brought a smile to Harry's face. He gestured at the young Watcher while looking towards the rest. "Have fun with him," he said sarcastically.

He chose to Apparate just as Wesley opened his mouth to speak. No doubt to try and order Harry to tell him all of his secrets. Harry laughed to himself as he pictured Wesley berating the group for allowing Harry to keep things from them. He tried to feel bad, but he couldn't. Buffy and the others chose to take orders from this Council of theirs. Yet, besides giving Giles to Buffy as a guide, they seemed to have offered very little in ways to support them.

Harry appeared back in the factory and the first thing he did was check all of his wards to make sure they were still intact. It was probably an unnecessary gesture. Anyone who used brute force to get into the factory would have sprung the ward, alerting Harry instantly. It would take a witch or wizard of decent skill to dismantle his wards without first triggering them. Still, it was a habit that Harry had developed as an Auror, and it was a habit that he wasn't inclined to break; just in case someone in this world eventually figured out how to counter his magic.

Afterwards, he conjured up some candles around the factory before lighting them with magic. Harry would need as much light as he could for the upcoming task. Making a wand, or in this case, a staff was not a simple thing. A wizard couldn't simply collect any appropriate magical item along with any piece of wood and wave his wand around to create one.

Although it only took an incantation to infuse the two together, it required for more than that to create the wooden shaft of the wand. If you tried to use magic to form the shaft, you'd get two forces of magic fighting for control, rather than one working in harmony with the wooden vessel. Your own personal magic would become mixed into the wood, interrupting the infusion process.

There were many reasons that wood was the clear choice when it came to wand making. The first thing was that it was simply a natural conduit for magic. Magic flowed through it the same way electricity flowed through water. Wood didn't block, dilute or manipulate the magic in any way. Whatever flowed through a wooden object left it the same way it went in, and that was a necessity. The only case that this wasn't true was if you used magic to change the wood in some way. The magic residue would then cling to wood the same way it clung to anything else.

The second reason was that wood was good at bending, yet not breaking. A wand spent a majority of its use bending slightly during casting, as well as when being handled during its day to day use. A wand needed some flexibility, and wood offered that. The third reason that Harry was personally going to work with wood was the simple fact that it was all he knew how to work with at the moment, and he needed a backup weapon more than he needed to experiment with different materials.

His first task for the staff's creation would be finding a good source for the required wood. If he had to, he could explore the outside wooden area around the factory, but the easiest option available was the many broken wooden objects lying around the factory. If he was lucky there would be something just sitting around, waiting to be used. He didn't need to make sure the tree that the wood had originated from had grown in Sunnydale like he had to do with the feather. The wood part of a wand had no magic requirements, and the fact that wood was a conduit of magic led Harry to believe it wouldn't matter either way. Unrefined magic should, in theory, pass through the tree unhindered rather than be absorbed into it. If his theory held, it didn't matter where the tree aged, it wouldn't contain any magic; even in this world. If he was wrong and magic was indeed absorbed into the tree over time, then the creation of the staff would be a total failure. During the infusion process, the magic of the feather would fight and lose to the strong, stable magic of the wood.

Now he just needed to find the right variety of wood. During Harry's previous case of staff curiosity, he was able to learn a few important things that would make this process far easier. The first was the ability to identify many different kinds of wood. He had bought a few Muggle books for that purpose alone, and it took him quite awhile before he was comfortable in telling one wood from another.

The type of wood was almost as important as the type of core you used. Where a wand core was selected based on the reaction and compatibility with a wizard's magic, the wood of a wand was chosen based on the personality of the user itself. A wand user had many facets in personality, so a user could find many different kinds of wood that would work perfectly fine for them. Harry's own wand was made of Holly, which tended to choose users who were quick to anger and impulsive. Along with those who were engaged in some sort of personal or spiritual quest. These traits perfectly described him when he was a teenager. He had since grown as a person but most wands tended to be loyal. Once a wand chose a user, the wand's initial characterization tended to change and develop as the user did. Which was why that even once Harry had adjusted to life as an adult and many of those attributes had faded, his wand was still just as reliable now as the first day he held it. It usually took a quick change in attitude, ambitions, or behavior for a loyal wand to reject their user. Also, some wood types were less loyal than others and were more inclined to reject a user who had changed.

Although the general description of Holly described Harry's personality to perfection when he was eleven, he still could have easily found a wand with another type of wood. It was the Phoenix feather itself that held such a strong connection to Harry. If it had been contained within a wand of another wood type that fit Harry's personality even a little, then that wand would have chosen him all the same.

Thankfully, Harry had also long since memorized many of the user characteristics for the different wood types. He just had to hope those characteristics remained the same in this world. Deciding to get to work, Harry began to identify some of the wood scattered around the factory.

Elmwood; for users with a certain sort of presence and an air of elegance. Harry shook his head. That wouldn't work.

Chestnut; for people who have an affinity for magical creatures, Herbology and flying. One out of three wasn't too bad, but it would hardly be the perfect match.

Birch; Harry shivered. He didn't know much about the wood except for the fact that Dolores Umbridge had been quite proud of the fact that she had been selected by the relatively rare wood type. That alone would take it out of contention for Harry.

Cedar; for people with a strength of character and unwavering loyalty. Harry winced. This might have been strong for Harry once, but he had just left every single one of his friends in order to jump blindly into this world. A Cedar wood wand would no doubt figuratively turn its nose up at him.

Maple. Maple could work. Maple chose travelers and explorers, those who were ambitious in nature. Harry had just traveled to a whole new dimension, he couldn't imagine a bigger travel than that. Also, what he wanted more than anything at the moment was to prosper and excel in this world. His ambitious nature was currently at the forefront of his mind and desires. Maple wands were also one of the more loyal wood types. If Harry decided to settle down at a later date and stop exploring or traveling, the wand would accept it. Yes, Harry thought, this would work nicely.

Unlike the wand core itself, Harry wouldn't be able to run a test to see if it was compatible with him. His only option was to use the knowledge of his own personality in order to choose the best option available and then craft the wand and hope for the best. If Harry wasn't in a rush, he would have ignored the option of crafting a staff; for it wasn't all that reliable. However, crafting a staff to use would be a relatively simple process and would be a good safety net just in case something happened to his wand. Crafting a wand, however, would require a lot of failures before eventual success. The process of learning to craft a wand could come later; after he felt a little more secure with a backup weapon waiting for him.

Getting started, Harry used a Cutting Curse to cleave off a long piece of wood from a table made of Maple. He conjured a knife and began to carve. The first thing he did was carve off the side that had been hit with the Cutting Curse. The magic residue would still be there, attempting to interfere with the staff's potential. It was important that the wood from the staff wasn't exposed to any direct magic because it would interfere with the fusion of the magical core and the wood. Conjured tools, however, did not transfer magical residue, which was a blessing. Harry prepared himself for a long session with the blade as he began to carve the wood into the shape of a staff.

There was only one reason as to why a staff was easier to make than a wand. And that was that there wasn't much you could do wrong with a staff. They were large and bulky. The only skill involved was making sure the staff was straight for casting accurately. If you failed to do that, then you could always take a little more off in one area in order to fix your mistake in another. A wand, however, was much smaller and came to a point. Making a straight wand with the right amount of spring and length was a very difficult thing to do when all you had to work with was a carving knife. Harry wondered if he could hire someone to invent a machine that did this all for him. muggle machinery had come a long way since wizards first started handcrafting wands. He supposed it was likely. He would just have to find the money to fund the job first.

It was hours later that Harry was finally done. He quickly healed the blisters and small cuts that had been inflicted upon his poor hands during the carving process. He admired his finished project. It was a better-looking staff than his first attempt, all those months ago had been. It was straight, but with a curved area in the middle for the easy gripping of his second hand when using it for aiming spells. The top of the staff was shaped to fit into the palm of his hand. He had also conjured sandpaper in order to smooth out all of the rough edges; it almost glimmered in the light of the candles. Harry removed one of the feathers from his bag and placed it onto the staff which was resting on the floor. He pointed his wand at the two objects before moving his wand in three circles and then pulling it back and slashing it forward.

"Iuctimindo" He ordered loudly with his intent clear in his mind. The magic reacted instantly. Harry watched as the feather fell away into a fine dust that sprinkled down and quickly covered the staff. The two objects flashed brightly.

The only thing remaining appeared to be a simple, ordinary wooden staff but Harry knew better. Holstering his wand, he picked the staff up. The staff seemed to know that Harry already had a wand and refused to give him any sign of acceptance. Still, Harry could feel the calming effect it had on him.

He pointed the staff at the door that he had only just repaired the night before. "Bombarda!" Harry said, trying to throw as much of his will and power into the spell. The small explosion was slightly off target but still managed to tear the door off of its hinges with great force. The explosion was only a fraction smaller than what Harry could accomplish with his Holly Wand. The power was clearly there and that pleased him. He quickly repaired the door once more.

However, one more test was required, and that was finesse. Harry placed both of his hands on the top of the staff and tapped the floor with it. A large wood carving appeared. The carving was that of a life-sized shaggy dog. Harry knelt to the floor to inspect it. A life-like dog would have actually been simpler to conjure and less of a test. You learned a lot about an animal by just interacting with it. How a dog smelt, how it acted, how the fur felt in your fingers. All of these helped with the visual and concentration required to conjure an animal. Imagining a carved wooden object that you had never seen or interacted with before was much harder to get correctly. Those kinds of conjurations never tended to contain as much detail.

Harry squinted at the patterns in the fur. It too was similar to what Harry could have done with his wand. Harry let out the first genuine laugh since coming to this world. He wasn't feeling humorous really. It was a laugh of pure relief. As long as he kept spare staves, he would never be completely useless. Harry realized only then that the fear of losing his wand and his magical powers had been far stronger than any fear of death that he had experienced in the past. He clearly had strange priorities.

Harry took one last long look at the dog carving. "Goodbye Sirius." He whispered before vanishing it with another tap of the staff. Now that Harry was satisfied that the staff could be of use to Harry, he quickly found a spot to hide it for safe keeping. He knew that he wasn't done yet. One spare staff was hardly enough insurance. Harry had a rather large task in front of him. He needed to craft multiple wands and stash them in various locations. He needed the security blanket that it would provide. He realized with a grimace that this must have been how Voldemort felt about his Horcruxes. Voldemort did everything he could do to hide the objects preventing his death, and Harry would now do the same for objects that prevented his helplessness.

Harry was debating whether or not to begin his first attempt at a wand when his magic flashed with a warning from within his mind. Harry recognized the feeling immediately. His proximity ward had been breached. Someone was trying to get inside.