Chapter 2

Nell turned and called out, "C'mon, Mum!" She had already walked three houses down from their home.

"Go on and wait for me by the corner, there," the woman shouted back, fumbling in her purse for something. She leaned through the doorway and impatiently called, "Marie! Hurry up! Don't keep your sister and me waiting for much longer!"

Nell continued to skip along until she reached the street corner, where she obediently stood waiting. She silently looked out over the housetops down in the street below, smiling to herself.

"You're rather pleased with yourself, aren't you?" The voice came from her jacket's large right pocket.

"Why, yes. Yes, I am. I'm not sure exactly why. I suppose I enjoy playing innocent child every now and again." She felt Gash squirm within the pocket a bit. "And don't you dare complain if you get uncomfortable. You're the one who insisted you come along."

"You never know when you may need me."

"Humph."

She heard the familiar and annoying clack of her mother's shoes against the sidewalk's pavement growing closer. Nell turned and clung childishly to her adoptive mother's arm as they walked along. The three continued on in silence until they reached a long vacant road.

"Go on, Marie. Hold out your wand now," Marie's mother said.

Marie reached down into her bag and began rummaging around in it. "Give me a moment—I know I put it in here somewhere…"

Nell let out a groan. "We're taking the Knight Bus?" she whined. Nell hated how it smelled of old men and rotten sandwiches, and there was always at least one unfortunate wizard or witch asleep on one of the seats or beds inside. "Couldn't we just have daddy drive us?"

"No. Daddy...," her mother hesitated. "Daddy doesn't like it there, so, yes, we're taking the Knight Bus. Plus, this way is faster."

Nell understood that. Her adoptive father was a Muggle, and he had never been comfortable around strange wizards or witches. The Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley, of course, were full of them.

Marie finally extracted her wand and held it out proudly over the street. A few seconds passed and a loud bang sounded. A blue triple-decker bus suddenly popped out of nowhere and jolted to a stop right in front of them.

Marie was the first to board. "To the Leaky Cauldron, please." Then followed her mother and Nell. Nell gave a passing glance at the driver and the other couple passengers and then took her seat next to Marie. Surely enough, one of the more disheveled-looking passengers was fast asleep and snoring loudly.

The speeding bus took on another several passengers, dropped a few off, and then stopped at their destination. Their mother handed over a few coins to the bus boy and then stepped off with her children. Marie led them through the bustling tavern and to the plain-looking brick wall in the back. She, as if she had done it a hundred times, began to tap bricks seemingly at random. In only a few seconds, it was like the wall had just melted away. Before them was a street lined with various lavish shops just as crowded as the Leaky Cauldron, only brighter and more open.

"Marie? Where do you think you're going?" her mother said just as Marie started off. "I told you to go help Nellie buy her wand. Find me over in that shop over there when you're done, and then you can go off on your own."

"Oh, please, Mum? Can't I just go now? I promised Penny and Rae I'd meet them—. "

"No, go help your sister, as I told you to. Then you can go."

Marie muttered something under her breath and then took Nell's hand roughly. "C'mon, Nellie. Let's get this over with."

Marie dragged her sister through the crowd. Nell wondered how badly Gash was getting tossed around during this whole ordeal, with Marie making her bump recklessly into another pedestrian every few seconds. Upon their arrival at Ollivander's Wand Shop, Nell confirmed Gash's safety with a quick exchange of hisses.

An old man was sitting stooped over at the front desk, examining a wand. "Mr. Ollivander, sir?" Marie said loudly.

The old man looked up and put the wand he was holding back away in its box. "Yes, yes, what is it? No need to shout, I'm not that old."

"A wand for my sister, here." Marie tugged Nell directly in front of the desk. "Please."

Ollivander tilted his head and examined Nell's face. "William, come here, will you?"

Nell heard a dull thud come from the back of the musty shop and saw a young man appear at Ollivander's side within seconds.

"What is it, Uncle?" the man said.

"Well, what do you think? Measure that girl for her wand." Ollivander watched carefully as Will pulled a measuring tape from his pocket. By magic, the hovering tape measured Nell's height, arms, the length of her nose, and all other odd places and extremities while Will called the measurements aloud to his uncle. When he was done, Will grabbed the tape from midair and stuffed it back into his pocket.

"Hmm," Ollivander said. "Right or left-handed?"

"Left-handed, sir," Nell said.

Ollivander sat in contemplation for a moment, and then said, "Go on, Will. Which wand do you think will choose her?"

Will hesitated for a moment and then marched into the maze of shelves stuffed with wands.

Ollivander gave a soft chuckle. "Will's my nephew's youngest son, you know. He took up an interest in the family trade of wandlore not long ago. He's not—"

The young man returned with a box in hand. He opened the box and showed the wand to Ollivander for a moment. Ollivander looked up at the man. "Well, you could give that to her, but it would be no good. You're close, though. Try one of the shelves below where you found this one." Will turned and disappeared again. "Anyways, as I was saying. He's not as bright as I'd hoped for, but he's learning quickly enough. I'm glad he came when he did—all this work of tending to each customer and keeping the shop in order almost has become overbearing for an old man like me."

Will scurried back and offered another wand for Ollivander to look at. The old man adjusted his spectacles and looked at it for a moment. "Nine inches, pear, unicorn hair. Interesting choice, boy. I suppose it could work."

Nell took the wand from the presented box and held it for several seconds. She looked up at the expectant man, hesitated, and then gave the wand a soft swish. A deafening crack was heard as one of the legs of Ollivander's chair violently broke in half and sent the old man toppling to the ground with a shout and a loud thud. William dove in to help, but Ollivander shooed him away and told him to find another wand for Nell to try. With a wave of his own wand, Ollivander set his chair upright again and mended the chair leg.

"No, worries, girls," he said with a moan as he seated himself again. "I've been doing this since before even your parents were born. I'm used to these things happening."

He gave Marie a long stare. "Say, weren't you in my shop just a year or two ago? A ten inch willow wand with dragon heartstring, am I right?"

"Yes sir, Mr. Ollivander. I'm heading into my third year at Hogwarts in a few weeks," Marie replied.

Ollivander nodded pleasantly and then turned his milky eyes to Nell. "This is your younger sister? You two don't look very much alike. She looks a bit young to be eleven already." At that moment, Will came back with another wand and Ollivander motioned for her to try it out.

"I'll be ten in a few more months, sir. I have a paper here from the Ministry saying—," Nell began. She picked up the next wand. Upon raising the wand, a torrent of sparks exploded from the wand, singing the edges of Nell's sleeves and burning her hand. She dropped it in surprise.

Ollivander shook his head and handed the wand back to his nephew. "No, no. Try hawthorn or a sturdier wood," he said hastily before turning back to Nell. "Apparently poplar and unicorn hair is not suited for you either. At any rate, I don't need to see any official nonsense from the Ministry. Whether I see young wizards or witches in a year or three doesn't particularly matter to me. I believe that the same wand would still be destined for the same person."

Nell glanced again at the old frail man. I doubt he would even live long enough to see me in a couple years, anyways. He looks like he's already standing in his grave. Nell set the wand back neatly in its box and pushed it aside.

Will was already back and showing yet another box to Ollivander. The old man nodded warily and said, "Give this one to her to try, too." He clenched the edges of his chair with one hand, as if bracing for another explosion.

Nell took the third wand from the box and held it for only a second. A warm feeling radiated up through her hand and arm and settled in her chest. A few white sparks sputtered from the tip of the wand. She let out a steady breath and felt a light breeze ruffle her hair against her cheeks.

Ollivander smiled. "There it is. That's your wand." He held out his hand. "May I?"

Nell handed it to the old man. After turning it around in his trembling hands and grunting a few times, he gave it back to Nell with his best attempt at another smile. "Eleven and a quarter inches, walnut wood, unicorn hair core, and it's yours now."

Nell took the wand and examined it for herself for a few moments and then affectionately tucked it into her jacket's right inner pocket.

An impatient Marie finally stepped forwards. "Thank you, Mr. Ollivander. How much?"

"That'll be eight galleons, miss."

Marie handed over the coins and then led Nell back out into the street. Only a few steps out the door, Nell paused and pulled out her wand again. She raised it and opened her mouth in preparation to say a spell. As Maria saw Nell do this, she made a quick lurch towards her.

"Are you stupid or what, sissy? You're still underage—you know you still have the Trace on you. I bet the Ministry will be onto you at any minute now if you do that," Maria said, snatching out to grab the wand out of Nell's hand.

Nell jerked her arm back just in time. "Haven't you read anything about the Trace, stupid? We're surrounded by magic right now, and that interferes with the Trace. Any magic the Ministry detects right now will be completely disregarded. And plus, I'm still only nine years old, so any magic I use will be attributed to the fact I haven't been taught to control it yet." With that said, Nell shrugged Marie away.

"No matter," Marie sniffed. She brushed a lock of her wavy brown hair away from her eyes. "It's not like you know any real spells anyways."

Nevertheless, before Nell could raise her wand again, Marie had her gripped firmly by the wrist. Marie again towed Nell back through the endless crowd. As she stumbled along, she made another mental apology to Gash for the rough ride. After nearly tripping over the feet and cloaks of a dozen people, she found herself standing right before her mother.

"Now can I please go?" Marie said as she was gasping for air.

Her mother ignored her and turned her attention to Nell. "So how did it go? Did you get your wand? Come on, pull it out! I want to see."

Nell drew the handsome wand from her jacket and held it out for the woman to see. "Eleven and a quarter inches, unicorn hair, and…uh…walnut wood, I think," Nell said.

The woman looked at it with wide eyes and then nodded. "Very nice."

Marie finally exploded. "Mum," she hissed in a low, slow voice. "I'm going to find my friends and buy my school supplies now. I'll find you again in a bit." Having said that, she turned and marched away into the crowd. Her mother reached out to stop her, but Marie had already disappeared.

"Now I wonder why that sister of yours is so eager to see her friends. She's never been so impatient."

Nell shrugged. "Haven't you seen all those letters she's been sending out and receiving nowadays? Her owl has been worked to exhaustion. I suspect it's her new boyfriend, you see, and—"

"What?! You stay here, Nellie," she said in a sudden fluster, cutting Nell off. "I'll be right back." In a moment, she too had run off into the sea of cloaks and noise after Marie.

Nell smiled, knowing her words had done their job well. She, herself, now spun and, without a second glance back, began walking in the opposite direction. She quickly became irritated at the crowd and noise, and escaped from it by dodging into a nearby alleyway. Crouching down behind a pile of thrown away merchandise, she finally pulled Gash out from his hiding spot.

"Sorry about all that," Nell said.

Gash began to untangle himself. "No need to apologize. I, after all, was the one who insisted on coming along."

Nell gently stroked his head in silence for several minutes.

Gash turned his small yellow eye towards her and examined her face. "You look happy again. I think you're actually genuinely happy to have that wand now, even after all of that reluctance to getting one."

Nell looked down. She had only realized now how her free hand had been clutching the pocket containing her wand. She drew it out again and looked again at the dark polished wooden wand. It was slightly bent in a few places from the stick's natural curves but was completely smooth except for a small rough patch in the middle of the handle for a grip. "Yew, twelve and a half inches, dragon heartstring core," she repeated.

Gash slithered forwards and flicked his tongue out at it. "I can see why you're already attached to it. It's powerful."

"Don't be jealous, Gash. It's just a wand. It chose me," she said. She felt herself smile. "I'm almost a real witch now." Her heart soared at the thought. Reading about all those famous witches and wizards had taunted her for years, and now, she could perhaps become as great as them. Perhaps even greater. She sat there in the shadows of the alleyway for a long while, grinning and dreaming of glory.

She suddenly heard a familiar voice shouting her name that snapped her out of the wonderful reverie. She held her breath for a moment and waited for the caller to pass. A few seconds later, she heard her name again, this time the voice was louder and nearer.

"You don't have to ride in my pocket again. Here, ride behind my neck. My hair will hide you and it's starting to get dark out." Nell lifted her hair up and waited for Gash to secure himself properly in her jacket's hood, his head peeking up over her shoulder just below her right ear. She slowly rose to her feet again.

"Coming!" she called back in a cheery tone. She began to walk away, but then stopped again. "Oops, I almost forgot..."

She pulled out the crisp paper from the Ministry from her pocket and then pointed her wand at it.

"Incendio," she said softly. The next moment, a ball of flame engulfed the paper. The paper shriveled and disintegrated within seconds. She watched the ashes fall to the ground and then die.

Nell, filled again with childish glee, smiled widely and ran after the caller.