The next day, the first years went to Windmere to get their school supplies. Professor Mills, the first year Charms teacher, was in charge of the group consisting of Harry and his friends. The first stop, as usual, was at the bank. Harry and June joined Hermione, Dean, and Anthony at the exchange counter to exchange their pounds for Galleons, though Harry also went down to the vault his parents had left him to withdraw some extra spending money. The others either had the spending money their parents gave them, or they retrieved money from their own or their family's vaults.
After that, the group went to Magical Robes for their school uniform. Stella's maternal grandparents ran the store, and therefore she was given her school robes, gloves, and winter scarf for free, while everyone else got the student discount of ten percent. When they were done, the group headed next door to the Book Corner, which was run by the parents of Harry's Uncle Yun. Anthony selected a couple of extra books in addition to the ones required on the supplies list. Hermione, however, gathered up about twenty extra books, but Professor Mills made her put most of them back.
"Miss Granger, if you were to buy all these extra books, you wouldn't have enough money left for the rest of your school supplies. Also, the school has a large library and you would be able to find and check out all of them there. Just pick out a few and put the rest back."
With a sigh, Hermione did as told and only bought five extra books. Once the books were paid for, they went to Spelled Stationary, for the writing supplies. Mr. Lovegood and a woman that introduced herself as Sylvia Parsons, a reporter for the Daily Prophet showed up at that point and took a couple of pictures of Harry buying his school supplies. The two then wished Harry a successful school year and left him to his school shopping.
That was followed with a visit to Windmere Apothecary for potion supplies, and Charmed Cauldrons for pewter cauldrons. The next store after that was Magical Supplies for scales, telescopes for Astronomy, and the rest of the supplies on their list, besides the wand. Finally, the group headed to Nightwind Wands.
"So your family also runs the wand shop, Eileen?" asked Anthony.
Eileen shook her head. "Well, it was founded by Felicity Nightwind, sister of my many times great-grandfather Geoffrey. She studied wandmaking and wandlore under the Ollivander family, who are the premier wandmakers in Britain. However, when she died, she left the shop to her main apprentice, Judith Selwyn, and the tradition has continued ever since. The current owner is Madam Marta Olafsen, and when she retires or dies, she'll probably leave her shop to her assistant, Ms. Tran."
Finding the right wand, however, wasn't necessarily easy. While Kalea only had to try a dozen wands before getting a match and Frank and Arista tried about twenty each before getting theirs, it took a bit longer for the others. Harry, in particular, couldn't seem to get a match at all. He did manage to produce a feeble spark when trying a holly wand, twelve inches, with a unicorn hair core, but it didn't really fit him. After an hour and a half, Madam Olafsen threw up her hands in defeat. "Mr. Potter, you've tried all the wands I have in stock, and none of them have chosen you. Either I have to make a custom wand for you, or I'll need to refer you to another wandmaker."
"Let's try the other wandmakers first before you make a custom wand, Madam Olafsen," Professor Mills said. "Come along, everyone." She led the way to Magical Menagerie, where June and Harry bought a snowy owl and Eileen got a black and white cat. After that, they returned to the school and put their school things away. Harry, however, was asked to just drop off his purchases, and then Professor Mills escorted him, via Portkey, to the main wandmaker in France, which was where the students of Beauxbatons primarily bought their wands.
However, none of the wands at that store chose Harry, though he did get a feeble spark from a mahogany wand with a phoenix feather core. With a loud sigh, Professor Mills altered the Portkey so that it would take them to Ollivander's Wand Shop in Diagon Alley, London. Mr. Ollivander was very surprised to see Harry, and was even more surprised when Professor Mills explained why they were there.
"So you've been to two wandmakers and haven't been able to find a wand that really chose you, Mr. Potter? I don't recall ever hearing of such a case before. No matter. I'm sure you will find a suitable wand here." Mr. Ollivander began taking down boxes of wands.
It took an hour, and Harry was beginning to wonder if he wouldn't find a wand at all and would need Madam Olafsen to make a custom wand for him. However, Mr. Ollivander finally took down one box and handed it to Harry. "Perhaps this will work. It's holly, eleven inches, with a phoenix feather core."
As soon as Harry picked up the wand, he felt a warmth running down his arm, and red and gold sparks shot out the tip. "Oh, bravo!" cried Mr. Ollivander in delight, while Harry was relieved to finally get his wand and Professor Mills looked happy that the search was over.
As Harry paid for his wand, however, Mr. Ollivander muttered, "Curious," and after being asked what was so curious, revealed that the phoenix that had given a feather for the core had also given another one, which was the core for the wand that You-Know-Who had.
"So Harry's wand and Voldemort's wand are brothers?" asked Professor Mills, frowning. "Hmm, I suppose it could turn out to be useful. I shall have to tell Headmistress Nakamura about this. I suppose you will notify Headmaster Dumbledore?"
Mr. Ollivander nodded, explaining that the phoenix, named Fawkes, was the one that had bonded to Professor Dumbledore. Harry tucked his new wand in his pocket, deciding that its connection to Voldemort couldn't be helped, and anyway, a wand was a wand. Professor Mills thanked Mr. Ollivander and then altered the Portkey to take her and Harry back to Windmere.
Since it was now past one o'clock, she took Harry to Windmere Inn for a belated lunch, as the school lunch hour was over. The two had an enjoyable lunch, with Professor Mills paying for them both, and then they stopped by Nightwind Wands to let Madam Olafsen know that Harry had found a suitable wand at Ollivander's.
"That's a relief," said Madam Olafsen. "Wait, he was the second outside wandmaker you went to? I have never heard of anyone requiring a visit to three wandmakers in order to get a wand that chose him or her. You must be very special, Mr. Potter."
"I guess," said Harry. "But Mr. Ollivander said that I share wand cores with Voldemort. Headmaster Dumbledore's phoenix was the one that provided the feathers for the two wands."
Madam Olafsen raised a brow. "Well, from what I know about wandlore, brother wands have a connection of sorts. There was one case when two students at Nightwind School had brother wands, and during a Defense class on dueling, the two were partnered. They each shot a spell simultaneously, and instead of the spells hitting their mark, they instead collided against each other and produced the effect of Prior Incantum, where the 'ghosts' of the spells they had done previously manifested until they broke the connection."
"So if Voldemort and I got into a duel, the same thing could happen to our wands?" Harry asked.
"Only if the two of you shot off spells at the same time, Mr. Potter," Madam Olafsen responded. "I'll look at my notes about brother wands and pass on any other information to Headmistress Nakamura, who can then tell you if you need to know."
Harry nodded and then he and Professor Mills returned to the school. The other first-years were gathered in the Assembly Room, getting to know each other, and Harry joined them, explaining that none of the wands in Nightwind Wands had chosen him and he had to go to Ollivander's in Britain for one. He didn't mention the connection his wand had with Voldemort's, since Harry didn't want anyone else (besides his friends) to know this.
The other students nodded, and then a first-year named Joseph Hinkley resumed what he was saying before he'd been interrupted by Harry's entrance. Joseph, who had said yesterday that he was from the state of Utah in the United States and was Muggleborn, was explaining that he was Mormon, or in other words, part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The LDS Church had been founded by Joseph Smith in New York State, during the 1820's, and the main body of the church first moved to Ohio, and then Missouri, before ending up in Illinois due to religious persecution. After he was killed by a mob, the Quorum (or Council) of the Twelve, led by Brigham Young, was elected as the church's leading body, and most of them left Illinois for the Great Salt Lake Valley, located in present-day Utah, to escape persecution.
A main difference between Mormons and other Christians was that the former had, in addition to the Bible, another religious text called the Book of Mormon, which Joseph Smith had translated from a set of golden plates that the angel Moroni led him to. The LDS Church originally had also practiced polygamy, which allowed a man to take more than one wife, but eventually stopped the practice after clashes with the American national government over the issue, though there were still some fundamentalist groups (who the main church avoided) that insisted on continuing it.
Several of the other first-years exchanged looks, and Veronica asked, "So what happened to the golden plates after Joseph Smith translated them?"
"He returned them to the Angel Moroni," Joseph replied. "Eleven men also saw the plates, and their testimony is printed with the Book of Mormon."
"I see," said Veronica, but she looked a little skeptical. "Erm, I suppose Joseph Smith wasn't allowed to show the golden plates to everyone at large?"
"I guess," said Joseph with a shrug. "I never really thought about it."
"So have other Mormons attended Nightwind School?" a first-year named Tewodros Conteh, who was African, asked.
Joseph shook his head. "According to Reverend van Herten, who gave me my letter and explained everything, I'm the first one. My great-great grandmother, back in the late 1800's, was accepted to the school, but she and her family rejected the idea of magic and refused to have anything to do with it, and had the teacher that went to see her bind her magic. The ability didn't pop up again in the family until I came along. There was another person in the early 1900's, but he chose to attend the magical school in America rather than go so far from home."
The others asked a few more questions about the religion, and then Harry was asked to take his turn to further introduce himself. He took the opportunity to introduce June as his cousin, and cleared up the misconceptions that people might have about the night Voldemort was defeated. He then explained that he and June had grown up in both the Muggle and wizarding worlds, as his aunt and uncle (and her parents) were Muggles, but they had attended Windmere Primary School and had visited wizarding areas like Diagon Alley.
Two and a half hours later, the session broke up for dinner, where Harry, in a quiet voice, told his friends about his wand and Voldemort's wand being brothers, and what Madam Olafsen had said about brother wands having a sort of connection. "Maybe the connection will be useful," said Kalea. "If the Dark Lord were to ever return, he'd probably want to go after you again, since he failed to kill you as a baby."
"That's what Professor Mills thinks," said Harry. "Anyway, Madam Olafsen is going to review her notes on the subject and pass on the information to Headmistress Nakamura, who will tell me if it's necessary for me to know. Let's talk about something else now."
Frank brought up the subject of their beginning classes, and the sixteen of them then had a discussion about what they'd be learning as they ate.
Author's Note: All I know about the LDS Church is what I learned in history class or taken from Wikipedia. I apologize if there are any inaccuracies. Joseph Hinkley is not going to be a major character and will be nothing more than one of Harry's classmates. My main reason for including him is to show students of all religions, not just the main ones, and a reviewer did ask if I was going to include a Mormon student, as the reviewer was Mormon.