CHAPTER 7: A wand- and a friend
"Okay, now that we've got your money we'll need robes, wand, then your potions and astronomy supplies… right, let's go to Madam Malkin's first."
Penelope just nodded, only understanding half of what Harry was saying.
Soon enough, they arrived at Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions.
"Hogwarts, dears?" asked a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve.
"Just her," replied the green-eyed boy, and after excusing himself from Penelope saying that he needed to go do something, left the shop.
Madam Malkin slipped a long robe over her head and started pinning it to the right length. Penelope was a bit nervous, but stood in silence as the lady did her job.
After paying for her new robes, which were now in a black shopping bag with a silver "MM" printed on the side, the girl left the shop behind and looked around the street for Harry, who suddenly appeared in front of her carrying a grey owl in with dark green eyes in his arms.
"She's for you," he grinned, and Penelope felt all her worries wash away as she stared at the beautiful creature and then abruptly pulled Harry into a tight hug.
"Thanks! I'm going to call her Athena. Her symbol was the owl. You didn't have to, you know."
"I know. It's for the two of your birthdays I've missed," he said, smiling.
After hugging him for the third time, she asked what they should do next.
"I don't know- how about Ollivander's for a wand?" he suggested. Penelope's eyes widened as she nodded vigorously, making her new friend laugh aloud.
"Ah, we meet again, Mr. Potter. And you- you must be Miss Jones, so like your mother. It seems like yesterday the day she came through that door. Maple and phoenix feather. Twelve inches. Great for Charms, I remember. I am guessing that the wand will be for Miss Jones?"
Penelope nodded. Ollivander was freaking her out with his dreamy wandlore.
"Let's see. Which is your wand arm?" he said, taking a silver tape measure out of his pocket.
"I'm right handed…"
"Hold out your arm. Yes." He measured Penelope in every way possible, and as he did so he explained, "every Ollivander wand has a core of powerful magical substance, Miss Jones. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get good results with another wizard's wand."
Suddenly, the tape measure, which had been measuring the girl on its own, stopped doing so and dropped to the floor.
"All right…" called Mr. Ollivander from the back of the shop, where he had been inspecting some boxes that looked like flat shoeboxes to Penelope. He took them out, put them back in, went to another of his many shelves of wands and looked a bit more. He suddenly appeared behind the counter with a bunch of boxes in his arms.
"Why don't you try this one. Oak and unicorn hair. Eight inches. Small and light. Just sort of wave it."
Penelope took the wand, with a funny expression on her face, as if she would wake up from a dream any minute now, and waved it at Mr. Ollivander, who immediately took it out of her hands.
"No, no... Hmm... Ash and dragon heartstring. Try it." he said, handing it out to the girl.
She took it again, but as soon as she started to wave it around, Mr. Ollivander snactched it out of her hands yet again, with an inquiring expression on his face. Penelope let out a sigh. What was he looking for?
Mr. Ollivander was now in the back of the shop again, when he suddenly stopped, went back a few paces, and took out a small wooden box.
"Can't be… I thought… Well, I suppose we could try…" he voiced aloud. He brought the wooden box to the counter again, and gave Penelope yet another wand.
"Try this one," he said, with a curious expression on his face.
Penelope simply took the wand, and was greeted with a sudden feeling of warmth shooting through her body, and as she waved the wand, red and green sparks erupted from the end. Harry smiled, and Mr. Ollivander looked triumphantly at Penelope, and then his face changed to that thoughtful expression of his.
"You must know, Miss Jones, in the process of making wands, I do not use the wood of the same tree twice, and very rarely the core of one same animal. A long time ago," he continued, with both Penelope and Harry equally interested in what he was saying, "when I had gone well with my shop and people were happy with their purchases, I decided to take on an apprentice, who would get the shop once I passed away. Ah yes, my apprentice was aspiring, intelligent and innovative; everything I thought my profession needed. Alas," he continued, with a grave face, "he soon turned to the dark side, and started making wands that were unique, and their features terribly dark. My apprentice made five wands in total. Three when he was in his normal state, and which work perfectly well for the wizards that they picked. And the other two in his not-so-sane period. He went out of all ethics, and used the same tree twice, as well as the same, well animal."
Mr. Ollivander took a pause.
"This particular wand is one of the ones of his darker phase. I thought perhaps it had been destroyed after his death in the First Wizarding War, but I stand corrected. Your wand, Miss Jones, is made of the wood from the bark of a lightning-struck dead tree; and its core holds a thin sheet of basilisk fang."
Penelope didn't know what a basilisk was, but it didn't sound very friendly, and Harry shuddered beside her.
"You may think that it is very peculiar that this wand has chosen you, but I think that, in spite of the evil that its contents hold, it is trying to prove it has a better journey for itself. Perhaps the tree and basilisk, in a desperate cry for justice, have chosen you to clear their name. We can only expect the best from you, Miss Jones."