Chapter 2: Experimental Wand
August 1987
"Remus, Remus!" an excited voice of a child, which belonged to that of Novela Mary Black, called to her guardian with haste. This was soon followed by the booming noise as the little girl in question practically broke down Remus' bedroom door and jumped on his bed.
At this, Remus groaned in retaliation. He was tired, having a very late night yesterday with his new job. He peeked one of his eyes open and looked to the small child that gave him a goofy grin, and then to the bedside table where a small alarm clock lay. "Novi… it's seven thirty in the morning. Go back to sleep," he tried, feeling his heavy eyelids droop down. He wanted at least another two more hours of sleep before he had to drag himself out of bed. However, the idea of that was thrown out when Remus received a hard shove and he fell off of his bed, face first, to the cold ground that waited below.
"Come on, Rem, you promised you'd take me to Diagon Alley today to get my stuff for MY FIRST YEAR IN HOGWARTS THAT'S STARTING NEXT WEEK!" Novi boomed, starting the sentence with a regular voice before almost screeching the last part like a banshee with excitement.
Remus sighed, defeated by all the pent up energy the little girl was emanating with glee. He knew she wouldn't let him sleep more even if he tried. "Go take a shower, I'll make us something to eat," Remus said, to which Novi obeyed immediately as she squealed and stomped out to the bathroom.
Remus chuckled as he watched the retreating figure of the small girl. He soon removed himself from the comfort and warmth of the bed and left to the kitchen in his very boring plaid bathrobe. He sat off his task to making some eggs, ham and beans, also boiling water while listening to Novi taking a shower, probably trying to make herself decent at a record time. And with that thought, Remus couldn't stop himself from smiling a very fatherly smile.
It seemed only yesterday to Remus that Novi came crashing to his world. On that fateful day in Leakey Cauldron, 'Mr. Dumbles' had gifted him with the responsibility of a small girl who carried the essence of his once best friends. It was hard for Remus to comprehend, how that little girl grew up to be eleven, setting off to Hogwarts so soon – next week, he reminded himself.
Novi had been a constant reminder of the grief that Sirius had caused, but she also had been a bundle of delight and joy to Remus and various shop owners of Diagon Alley, who always insisted on babysitting Novi when Remus was busy hopping from one Muggle job to another. Her personality greatly reflected that of Sirius when he had been younger, she was brave, kind-hearted, outgoing, clever, but also temperamental and mischievous. Her signature Black family's gray eyes possessed the same glint that Sirius carried when he was about to cause a disaster on the poor boy, Snape, when they had all been an arrogant, adolescent gits. And despite the reminder of the sad past she brought, Novi's presence filled the gap left in Remus' heart after deaths and imprisonment of his once best friends.
Just then, Novi strolled into the kitchen, wrapped cosily in her white fluffy bathrobe. Remus gave a little chuckle at the still excited face of his adopted daughter and motioned for her to sit. Novi was bouncing up and down in her seat as he put down the two plates and poured both of them a cup of strong tea and settled down onto the small, round, wooden table and began to eat.
"So what are you most excited for? When we get to Diagon Alley," Remus asked, taking a long sip of the tea. It was an attempt to calm Novi down from wolfing her food down her throat any faster.
"Well, my wand, of course!" she stated excitedly. Wandlore has always been a fascinating subject for Novi. She often could be found fiddling around with the details of Remus' wand, sometimes causing small explosions accidentally. She read upon the history of wandlore, even, despite the complexity of the material, and would constantly run up to chat with Mr. Ollivander during their outings in Diagon Alley.
"Well, I should've known," Remus laughed before he started to reminisce about his friends. "I remember the first time I met your father on the train. Caused quite the extravagant show with his wand, he did. Managed to almost kill us all with an explosion, but then again, knowing him he may have intended that to happen. Anyway, what I'm trying to tell you is that we're going to save the wand for the last, so you may not be tempted to follow your father's example."
Novi laughed at this. She knew of her father, a member of the Order of the Phoenix turned mass murderer, which ended him up in Azkaban. However, the stories Remus told of him were always light and happy, which only made Novi more curious as to what her father had been like. "Well, alright then. I will save you the embarrassment until we get home, I suppose," Novi grinned, pushing the thought of her father aside. She knew that she wouldn't be able to use magic until she boarded the train at least, but it was fun to torment Remus by planting the notion that she may do something incredibly stupid.
Finally, after the meal and relaxation, the two dressed hurriedly. Novi fastened her traveling cloak with the broach that had once belonged to Mrs. Black and she hurried over to Remus' room. He looked at the broach pointedly with distaste but did not say anything as Novi's beaming face looked up at him with no less anticipation and giddy as she had when she woke up.
"We're going to do the side-along apparition to The Leakey Cauldron," Remus said as he held out his arm for her to take.
"Please, Rem, we've done this a thousand times. Spare me the boring details," she laughed, smirking a true Black style smirk which often made Remus's blood run cold. Novi was unintentionally reminding Remus constantly of Sirius today. But as gentle hand touched his elbow, he knew she was no harm, nothing like the traitor, Sirius.
And with a bit of a lighter heart, he apparated the two of them straight into Tom's inn where the two had met many years ago, letting the melancholy settle in both of them, just like every time they apparated here. Tom greeted the two with a friendly wave and a booming hello as they made their way to the back door and to the entrance of the Diagon Alley.
Diagon Alley was no different from any other times she had visited but the excitement rushed through her veins as she followed Remus close behind, dodging pedestrians and strange animals alike. Greetings and smiles were sent her way as fellow witches and wizards gave a knowing look to Novi as they made their way to Madam Malkin's.
Madam welcomed Novi with enthusiasm, having babysat Novi on multiple occasions. She set off to find 'the perfect traveling cloak' she had saved for Novi when Remus kindly informed her that Novi was here to get her first school robe for Hogwarts. Madam nearly burst into tears when she heard this, not being able to comprehend 'our baby' was finally old enough to attend a magical school, but she set off soon, getting all of the required uniform fitted for her, before she added on the traveling cloak for free.
The same happened when they entered the Flourish and Blotts and the Apothecary. The owners, so used to seeing Novi lurking around Diagon Alley could hardly believe she was off to Hogwarts already and encased her in bone crushing hugs. All the while leaving Remus to purchase her required books and equipment by himself, grumbling as he cast a shrinking charm and shoved them all into his pockets which weighed his cloak funnily.
Finally, they stood in front of Ollivanders. Though Novi had been inside the shop many times before, she stood to admire all of its dusty and old glory. Her eyes glistened with happiness at the thought of purchasing her first, and hopefully last, wand. So with an encouraging smile from Remus, Novi entered the shop, the ever pleasant tinkling of the bell sounding as the familiar sights of wands stacked up high to the ceiling filled both their eyes.
The old, barmy wizard came from behind the shop. His wide, pale eyes smiled as he saw who it was. "Ah, yes. I was wondering when would be the next time you would come to give this old cracker a visit. Hello, Remus," Ollivander acknowledged. Ollivander always showed Novi a different side to him, the more kind and less crazy side, Novi supposed.
"Actually, Mr. Ollivander, Novi is here to get her first wand," Remus said proudly, giving Novi a side-hug.
"Crikey, you're eleven already!" Ollivander bellowed. "Well then, let's get to work shall we?" he suggested as he swished his own wand. The measuring tape, parchment and quill getting to work on its own as it measured her. Remus sat down on a spindly chair in the corner.
"I remember when your mother came to get her first wand. Your uncle was very jealous that his sister was going to Hogwarts first. Twelve and half inches, unyielding, made of hawthorn and unicorn hair. Tricky wand, that one, very temperamental," Mr. Ollivander said as he began to read the measurements. "Whereas your father's wand, fifteen inches, pliable, made of dark grey oak, was a much more stable wand. Very good for powerful wizards such as him, beautiful design too. Now, let's try this one, mahogany and dragon heartstring, twelve inches, supple."
Novi gave it a wave, only seeming to clear out the stuffiness that was inside the usual store. Novi, unknowingly, was thinking of the cleaning spell as she did so, and had managed to clean the air in the store.
"Well, as impressive as that was, this is a 'no'," Ollivander said as he snatched the wand away from her and replaced it with another. "Cherry and unicorn hair, eleven and half inches, springy."
Novi raced her hand once more, bringing it down. It seemed to glow for a second before it died pathetically.
"No, definitely not, that was worse than last time! Here – yew and dragon heartstring, twelve and three quarter inches, inflexible."
Novi tried. And tried. With spending so much time here, and fantasizing about her first wand, she thought this would be an easy task – it certainly looked it when she saw other customers getting their wands in the past. Her pile grew and Novi managed to clean the air, make sad little sparks and, and the greatest success yet, put Remus to sleep from the sheer boredom of it all.
"Not to worry Novi, you've got an incredible amount of magic in you, we'll find you a match somewhere in this store," Ollivander laughed, seemingly growing happier as the pile grew. However, he stopped abruptly, as he began to think harder. "Now, let's see – yes, why not give it a go – my newest experiment," he said as he went to the back and brought out a beautiful wand. "Never used these wood or core before, but for a brilliant and creative girl such as you… here, gingko and Abraxan feather, thirteen and a quarter inches, stiff."
A warm feeling embraced all of Novi as she took the wand into her hand. She smiled a little before the wand became an extension of her arm and she gave it a wave. Loud exploding sound came from her wand, scaring Remus out of his chair and on to the floor, and a thousand glittering white and gold sparks erupted from the tip of the wand. Both the older wizards gave a little cheer as a sheepish grin appeared in Novi's face.
"Brilliant, simply, utterly brilliant," Ollivander cried, seemingly ecstatic.
"Thank you, Mr. Ollivander," Novi beamed happily, admiring the intricate detail on the handle of the wand.
"It seems quite fitting, really, that you, Novi, should get an experimental wand. I see a bright future in you, should you study wandlore when you grow up, being the creative soul you are," Ollivanders said. And with a blink of an eye, he was gone, leaving the pair to admire the new experimental wand.
(A/N) Hello everyone, sorry if this chapter was a bit of a bore compared to the first one, it is kind of a filler, but I thought it necessary to give a little background information on Novi.
Also, if people could either Review or leave me a message on how the story is and where I can improve, that'd be fantastic. I have never written a fanfiction before so I'm super paranoid about what I'm doing. Thanks!