Harry Potter and the Whittling Knife

by LunarPsycho

Harry Potter is only 9 years old when he finds some tools in his shed that were forgotten. The whittling knife he finds as a child allows Harry to carve a new path.

15. New Beginnings

Harry Potter had never felt so rested. Sleeping in clean and comfortable sleepwear on what must be the world's softest bed was something that Harry could have imagined. There was a warm glow of light coming from the window that might have been uncomfortable for others but only served as a reminder that Harry was no longer stuck in his cupboard. After sleeping in such a nice bed, Harry couldn't possibly second guess his decision to trust the strange men.

The light from the window was strange. It was pre-dawn light, but Harry couldn't believe that he had spent that much time asleep. Uncertain about what to do next, Harry froze with indecision. Harry sat upright in the bed staring at the morning sky trying to decide. Fortunately, Harry was spared further ponderings by his bladder. Harry may not have felt like he had rested for so long, but his bladder had an urgency that he usually only experienced after spending many hours in his cupboard.

Reminded of the washroom, Harry stood and opened the door that Cosme pointed out yesterday. The washroom was just as lively as the bedroom. Though there were plants that seemed to cover every surface. The counters, window ledge, and even the shower area were all covered by green plants. Their leaves were a lively green and made the room feel fresh. Harry found a toothbrush and other amenities for him to complete his morning ablutions. Harry went through the motions and decided to risk a shower. He wasn't sure if he was allowed, but Harry figured that there was little risk.

Harry walked out of the bathroom only wrapped in a towel, which was ridiculously soft and fluffy and realized that he may have to change back into his sleepwear if he found no additional clothing. He probably should have thought of that before he got into the shower, but the hot war quickly distracted him. He was spared from the decision when he found a pile of clothes on a chair that was tucked into a corner of the bedroom. The clothes were a bit large for him but were made of soft, thick fabric. The plain white shirt was easily pulled over his head, but the pants were a bit of a head-scratcher. The most confusing part was that there was no zipper. It was buttons and some drawstring-looking things. He eventually put them on and decided to explore more of his room. Harry had only noticed the bed and the wardrobe yesterday, but as he looked around, he realized that there were smaller details that he missed. There was the chair in the corner that held his clothes. It was big and Harry might even be able to lie down with how wide it was. And there was a chest at the foot of the bed. It was sturdy looking and the same dark purple that the wardrobe was.

The other door that Harry was told to leave alone held Harry's attention. Cosme said that he would show it to Harry later, but Harry really wanted to know what was behind it. The situation was too new for Harry to test limits, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to see what Cosme was like when angered. Then again Cosme did not seem like the kind of person that got angry like that.

The chest was probably safe to explore, Harry decided. He wasn't told that he couldn't touch it and it was in HIS room. Harry opened it, noticing how light the lid felt. It was his stuff! Harry's other wand, his drawings, his notebook, his yellow crayon, his little green man, his incomplete cat, his whittling things! All of it was Harry's and once again they were all together. His belongings looked a little sad sitting on the bottom of the large chest, but Harry was too pleased by their reunion to notice it for too long.

Chirp! Chirp! Harry looked up and saw that his bird was perched on the footboard of the bed. His bird didn't like being ignored.

"I'm sorry. There was so much going on yesterday and I should have paid more attention to you. Are you okay?" The bird seemed to nod at his words.

"I should figure out a name for you. Do you have any ideas?"

Chirp!

Harry took that as a no. He was going to start giving name suggestions when there was a knock at the door. Startled, Harry jumped.

"Come in!"

The door swung open to show, unsurprisingly, Cosme was there. Cosme did not go further in the room beyond the entryway and had a welcoming smile.

"Bonjour, you look incredibly well rested. And I am pleased that you found the clothes that I left for you. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, I did. Thank you for the clothes. They are amazing! Um...I don't know where my shoes are though."

Cosme thought the clothes were a bit unremarkable and a bit ill-fitting, but compared to his old clothes they were better. He waved his wand and conjured a pair of slippers. There was no way that he was returning the muggle shoes to the boy…probably because they no longer existed, but still.

"My pleasure. We will get you shoes and more clothing later today. Come and join me for breakfast. It has been too long since your last meal and I am sure that you are hungry."

Harry was startled at the thought of Cosme spending money on Harry and opened his mouth to protest. However, without waiting for confirmation, Cosme swept out of the room expecting Harry to follow.

Following closely, Harry shut his door behind him.

"Garrick, Jimmy, and I sorted out the whole apprentice thing yesterday, so you do not have to worry about that. They are going to join us this afternoon. If you are feeling up to it, we were hoping that you could share more about your wand-making technique. Garrick was nearly foaming at the mouth wanting to know about core-less wands and I think you made Jimmy a bit jealous with your experience with Spruce."

Harry couldn't imagine Garrick foaming at the mouth, but the image felt funny to him. Harry's wand, still in his pocket, seemed to agree with Harry. It sent warmth and amusement to Harry. He stuck his hand in his pocket to hold it.

Cosme reached the bottom of the stairs and seemed to press something on the right side of the doorway frame. There was a low purple glow throughout the edges of the doorway frame. When it disappeared, he walked through. Harry stood in front of the doorway and realized that he couldn't see through it. It looked like pure darkness and there was no hint of Cosme. Harry shrugged it off once again as magic and stepped into the darkness.

Harry had shut his eyes with nerves, but after stepping through he opened them. It was the kitchen. It looked very elegant and rich, but it was still very clearly a kitchen. There seemed to be no refrigerator but there was a sink and a stove that looked familiar enough. It was decorated with more gold and blues than the rest of the house, but the ever-present purple was there as well. Towards the back of the kitchen was a little nook. It had bench seating and a table which was in front of a large circular window.

Cosme walked through the kitchen and sat at the breakfast nook. In the center of the table, there were small jars and plates filled with jam, butter, spreads, and other frivolous ingredients. As soon as Harry was sitting across from him, he waved his wand and plates flew from a cupboard to the stove. The food flew out of different cupboards and some of it was from a bread box that Harry didn't see when he first entered the room. Once the plates were full, they sat themselves in front of Harry and Cosme.

"Brilliant! Thank you for the food, it looks incredible."

In front of Harry was a plate with a pastry, fruit, and an egg. Cosme grabbed some of the condiments from the center of the table and Harry attempted to mimic each of his choices. Harry had no clue what he was doing. Taking the first bite, Harry hummed with enjoyment. The pastry was soft and warm with flavorful toppings. It was sweet and the first taste caused Harry's mouth to water.

Smiling at Harry's hum of enjoyment, Cosme poured a glass of milk for Harry. He had his mug of tea already.

"Eat as much as you like. This is one of my favorite pastries and I wanted to share it with you."

The rest of breakfast was silent other than the soft clinking of silverware. Harry felt content. He was well rested and now well fed.

Harry had just finished his food and glass of milk when the moment was broken by Cosme. "Before the other two get here, I want to show you what is behind the door in your room that I told you not to go into. I had to go into the wardstone to make sure that the door was connected to the right room."

Harry nodded as if that made sense and Cosme didn't seem to notice his confusion. They both went back to Harry's room. Cosme walked into Harry's room and stood in front of the door but stopped before opening it.

"This is your private workshop. You can use it for your woodwork. I only ask for two things. One, you will not go in here before breakfast or after dinner. Those times will be for rest and to make sure that you do not overwork. Two, you let me know if you have any accidents. Even a small accident like if you nick your finger then I want to know."

That was reasonable and more caring than Harry had expected. Cosme waited for his nod before opening the door. The workshop was even brighter than the other rooms. It was narrow and rectangular. On the far end was a ceiling-height window. Outside the window was a large tree filled with birds. It blocked out some of the light, but more of it still reached through. Other than the window, the rest of the workshop was rather plain, especially compared to all of the other rooms. There was a long workbench with a stool in front of it. The only item on the bench was a small clock. Above the workbench, were three completely bare shelves.

"It is a bit plain looking right now, but I wasn't sure what you would need for whittling and most wand-makers prefer to gather their materials. You can change anything at all and please let me know if I can help make it more yours."

Harry knew that he would not be taking Cosme up on that offer anytime soon. It was a nice idea to decorate his room or workshop, but Harry never had a room let alone the ability to decorate it.

"Garrick and Jimmy will be here in an hour to talk so feel free to do some whittling or organize your belongings until then. I will come and get you when it is time so do not worry about being late."

Cosme waited to see if Harry had any questions, but left when he didn't say anything. Yesterday was plenty overwhelming and Cosme wanted today to mostly be about getting used to his surroundings.

Harry went back to his chest and grabbed his notebook, drawings, his incomplete cat, and his whittling tools. He first opened the box with his whittling tools. He laid the knives in a line at the top of his desk. There was a drawer that was directly in front of the chair where Harry put his polish and strop, he figured it was just a good idea to put them close at hand. He found drawers to the left that were empty so he put his wood blocks and drawings in it. Harry looked around and then went back to the chest. Harry had forgotten his sticks! He was going to make a snake out of the sticks, but now Harry would either have to find more sticks or change his plans.

Pulling his notebook close to him, Harry opened it up to see what plans needed to be changed. The sticks were going to be used for the snakes. His notebook had two main hypotheses to be tested and four projects that he wanted to work on. Harry had started on the first hypothesis which was two cats created with two focuses. He was currently whittling a cat while focusing on a companion to relax with. The next cat was just going to be a cat with no other thoughts on its behavior. The sticks were for his second hypothesis which was the level of detail on a whittling project. Thinking, Harry decided that he would worry about his missing sticks later. The first project of the cats would be easy to work on since he still had his two wooden blocks.

Harry opened the drawer and pulled out his polish and strop. He rubbed the green polish over the strop until he felt there was a thick enough layer. He grabbed the larger knife and ran it back and forth at an angle to sharpen the blade until it shined. Grabbing the smaller knife, Harry redid the process. He held the knives up to the light of the window and was satisfied with the way they gleamed. He put the strop and polish away. The cat was going to keep him occupied for now.

The cat was supposed to be resting in a tight curl and Harry had been working on rounding the block. The edges were already partially rounded, but Harry found that he kept having to rotate the block to make sure that he did it evenly. Sighing, Harry decided to use the sharp edge of the knife to lightly cut a line to make sure each cut was even. He used the larger knife to make the line and then chipped away the corners. The knife kept catching on small splinters of the wood so Harry rotated the block. Sure enough, it caught less. Harry had been whittling against the grain. Irritated, Harry went to grab his crayon. He drew a dot on one end of the block. Harry had a hard time remembering which direction the grain was when he kept having to rotate. He would try to only make sweeping cuts in the direction of the crayon mark since that was the direction of the grain. After a few more cuts Harry's knife was not making the cuts as easy as it was earlier, the knife must be dull. He pulled out the strop and sharpened it further. The knife getting dull was a gradual process so sometimes he had a hard time noticing when it needed to be sharpened again. He almost cut himself trying to force a cut so he once again pulled out the strop. The process was done three more times before Harry felt the cat was round enough to try to use the smaller knife for the smaller details.

The larger knife was swapped for the smaller one. When Harry picked up the smaller knife, he stretched out his fingers and felt a bit of irritation on the joint of his thumb. His fingers almost hurt to straighten them out. This was the longest length of time that Harry had been able to whittle without interruption and his fingers were feeling it. He sighed and laid his cat and knife down. Deciding to rest his fingers, Harry looked under the desk for a trash bin. He saw one tucked in the corner. He grabbed the bin and tried to wipe the wood shavings into the bin. He had a pile that was the size of his hand full of shavings. The bin was returned to under the desk and Harry grabbed his block. Knife in hand, Harry cut deeply in the shape of a V to carve out the shape of the cat's ears. After all, being able to hear people coming would be useful to have in a companion. His cat would be able to sit with him and even if Harry was distracted by a task or book, the cat would still notice that someone was coming up to them. The second cut was interrupted by a knock on the door.

Guess it was time to talk to Garrick and Jimmy. Harry stood and opened the door, Cosme was on the other side. "Please excuse my interruption. How is the whittling?"

Cosme peeked over Harry and saw the rounded block and had no clue what it was supposed to be. It sort of looked like a misshapen egg at the moment, or maybe a skipping stone.

"Going pretty well, I have been working on the basic shape of a cat and I was just going to start on the details."

"Good, we will be eating lunch with Garrick and Jimmy. Please wash up and then join us."

Harry briefly stopped by the washroom and then the two of them went back to the kitchen but this time there were two additional placemats. The four of them sat together and got ready to eat lunch. It was a heavier meal than breakfast but with more greens than Harry usually got. He savored every bite. His enjoyment of the meal was noticed by Cosme and Jimmy with a hint of bittersweetness. It was good that Harry enjoyed his food, but unfortunate that it was so enjoyable to him. Having finished eating, Cosme used magic to clean the table and prepare them for their discussion.

Jimmy was the first to break the silence this time, "Yesterday, when you took a nap, we talked about master-apprentice bonds. Originally, it was agreed that we would all get a chance to bond." He gave a pointed look to Cosme, but Harry didn't know what emotion was behind the look. "But Cosme convinced us that there was little to gain from that. We each have our own preferred ways of wand-making so even if you were to share our methods, we wouldn't use them. I am STILL convinced that there are more cores to use than Garrick's three and Cosme has his four wand woods that he refuses to experiment outside of."

Garrick scoffed at the idea of using any core outside of his prepared three. They were supreme so why would he go backward and use inferior wand cores?

Harry nodded, he didn't care if one or all of them bonded. "So are all three of you still teaching me? Or no, because you won't be protected by the bond?"

Garrick smiled, "I'm a Ravenclaw and I would not be content with not knowing the secret of your core-less wands. It is also as Jimmy says. You could tell me all of Cosme's wand-making techniques but I don't know why I would want to use an inferior wand-making technique." His smile seemed to soften the insult against Cosme.

Jimmy decided to point something out, "Aha! You said I was right! So now you have to agree that my idea about Harry inheriting all of the shops is a good idea!"

Both Cosme and Garrick gave sighs. Cosme was the one to refute Jimmy, "Mon Dieu! No! it makes no sense to have one person inherit three shops!"

This felt like an argument that was repeated far more often than any of them would like.

"Oh come on, it could be a good idea. He doesn't have to work at all three shops, just maybe work at one but make wands for the other two."

Cosme gave a deadpan look, "Jimmy, stop. That makes no sense. Why would anyone shop at Wonderful Wands instead of Ollivander's if they have the same wands and they are both in Diagon Alley? It makes no sense. One of those two shops would be closed down! Plus, you know that I was waiting for a solution before we brought Harry into this. That is not what this conversation was supposed to be about. We are here to find out more about Harry's wand-making so we can teach him better."

Harry explained all that he could about making his wand. He explained what he was thinking about, the method of shaping the wand, what changed from the first wand to the second, how he found the wood for the wands, and how his current wand was responding to him. The information that intrigued the three of them the most was what Harry was thinking about at the time of creating the wand.

"Hmm, feelings of safety coming from a friend who would help you face the world. Those are lofty goals." Jimmy was the one to put words to their thoughts. Jimmy was also trying to remember what he last thought about while making wands. "Are our expectations of wand-making prohibiting us from creating wands beyond our own expectations?" The last bit of the sentence had been murmured so quietly that it was nearly missed, but the others still heard it.

Garrick dismissed that idea because he had pushed the boundaries of wand-making so he couldn't have limited himself. Cosme was thinking about it longer, but he decided that it was impossible to push beyond his own beliefs without knowing fully what those are. And Harry was mostly confused, how was he supposed to know how much was within the rules of magic and which were based on his own beliefs? Harry didn't think magic was possible and he was still able to create a magic wand.

Jimmy continued to think out loud, "Wait, if it is our own imaginations that contribute to our wand creation then we need to be careful with what and how we teach Harry wand-making, right?"

"It depends on how much of the wand-making is Harry and his own mind compared to the wood and its own magic. This would require Harry to make more wands and compare the results with our expectations."

Harry's wand wasn't really sure about what the conversation was about, but it did know what 'make more wands' meant and it was NOT happy. Harry sighed when he felt the wand heat up again, he had a feeling that the wand's jealousy would flare up again. He pulled it out of his pocket and put it on the table.

"Uh… I don't know if this is weird, but can you talk some sense into it? I tried yesterday, but the wand is still getting jealous! I don't know how to convince it that I am not trying to replace it." Harry was looking down at his feet, which were dangling above the floor. He didn't know what to do, it's not like he had experience dealing with jealousy like this.

Garrick had experience with all kinds of wands, but not any sentient ones. He figured that he had an idea though, "Harry is your friend, yes?" Garrick seemed to be waiting for a response and Harry wasn't sure what he was waiting for until the wand reached out to Harry.

Harry felt the emotions and realized that he was expected to be the translator. Harry nodded for the wand.

"And you want him to be safe and happy?"

Harry nodded again.

"Do you think wand-making can make him happy?"

There was a pause but then Harry shook his head.

"Well, why not? You made him happy and you are a wand."

Harry paused but nothing was forthcoming.

"Just because he enjoys wand-making does not mean that he will keep each wand. I am a wand-maker and I only have one wand."

Harry nodded but there was still a pause before the wand responded.

"You won't be a good friend if you stop Harry from doing the things that he enjoys just because it is not what you enjoy."

The wand was thinking about what Garrick was talking about and it felt a bit embarrassed. It didn't think about it like that. It just didn't want to be replaced and it knew that it would be the only wand for Harry.

Garrick continued his persuasion without waiting for the wand to respond, "Good. I am glad that you agree. Now there's an old wives' tale that the first wands made by a wand-maker are always the ones with the most connection with the creator. And since you are the second wand created by Harry, you are definitely going to have the most connection with him."

Jimmy and Cosme were listening with amusement to Garrick's words until that moment when Jimmy said, "Wow! I've never heard about that! That's kinda cool."

Garrick wasn't sure what to do. He actually lied about that old wives' tale to reassure Harry and the wand, but he didn't think he would convince Jimmy of it as well. Garrick resolved to tell Jimmy the truth later.

"So do you think you will be okay if Harry continues on the path of wand-making?"

This time Harry's nod was more enthusiastic. The wand was still scared, but it knew that being angry would get it nowhere. Harry only took notice of the wand's acceptance and not the lingering fear, "That was brilliant! Thank you. I think it will be a lot less jealous now. Thank you!"

"Quel soulagement! Well done Garrick. Now back to wand-crafting. It is decided that we will have Harry make his own wands and test them to see how they measure compared to our expectations with common wand knowledge. Depending on the results, we will decide how best to teach him."

The entire group nodded in agreement.

"Good. Now get out of my house. Harry and I are going shopping and we need to hurry if we want to finish before dinner. Will you two be by tomorrow?"

"I would if I could, but my competitor is out of town so I am actually selling a decent amount of wands," Jimmy smirked.

Garrick rolled his eyes, "It has been one day and they were desperate. I am sure that the number will go down when I open up tomorrow,"

Jimmy fake pouted, "Why do you take all of the fun out of this? I don't know what I was thinking when I opened up in the same Alley as you. You're no fun." Jimmy huffed and left the room after waving to both Cosme and Harry.

"I don't know what he was thinking either. I will not be by tomorrow. I would prefer that you firecall when he is done and then we will go over the results together."

Cosme nodded in agreement and waved farewell, "À plus!"

Once Cosme heard the two of them leave, he turned to Harry, who looked a bit nervous.

"We are going shopping and you are going to love it! Come, I will shrink some of my clothes for you."

Cosme left the room and Harry was more nervous than before. He followed Cosme up the stairs and into the first door on the left. This was decked out in rich purples with gold and white accents like the rest of the house. Harry's only thought was: what is with all of the purple?

"Uh, Cosme. I don't have any money though. Also, what's wrong with the clothes I am already wearing?"

"Nonsense! I will pay for this. In fact, it will be my pleasure. And those are for lounging, we are going shopping. Plus we need to buy clothes for you to wear regularly and we cannot keep shrinking my clothes for you without damaging them" Cosme was pulling clothes out of his wardrobe, holding them up to Harry, and then putting them back. Harry thought that he had never seen nicer clothes or more colorful clothes. The clothes confused Harry a bit since they were made in an older style that Harry had seen in his history class but since Garrick wore something similar, Harry wondered if it was just wizarding clothes. Then again, Jimmy dressed more normally. Jimmy was still dressed more formally in vests and button-downs but he didn't have the long outer coats that Garrick and Cosme seemed to favor.

Cosme seemed to find something that pleased him since he had laid out a green outer coat with a black vest and slacks to match.

"This is just for you to go shopping in so don't worry about how they fit."

Cosme shrunk the clothes and then pushed Harry into his room. Once again Cosme waited for no response before waving and shouting, "I will see you in the kitchen when you are done!" Then shut the door behind him.

Harry stood there awkwardly with the clothes. He had a feeling that living with Cosme was going to be like living with a force of nature. You didn't always know what it was going to do and had little say in its actions. However, something was reassuring in his actions.

Harry dressed in the clothes. He went to his own wardrobe and opened the door. Just like in Cosme's, there was a mirror. Harry took a couple of steps back and looked at his reflection. It felt like looking at another person. He couldn't help but giggle to himself as he thought that even the Dursleys would say that he looked like a respectable young man. The best was nice and smooth and Harry felt like running his hand over it again and again. He didn't want to leave Cosme waiting for too long so he shut the door and went downstairs.

Standing at the foot of the stairs, Harry took a moment to look at the doorway a bit longer than before. It still had that odd darkness that didn't allow Harry to see beyond the frame. He looked at the place where Cosme had touched the frame. There were little symbols etched into the wood and Harry wondered if they were for different locations. Harry was about to step through when Cosme popped through. Harry jumped at his sudden appearance.

"My apologies, I just remembered that since we are walking to the store, it is best if we go through the shop."

Cosme unintentionally confirmed Harry's guess. He pressed a symbol on the door and then walked through it again. It was now the shop instead of the kitchen. They walked through the store and stepped outside. It was pleasantly warm and Harry was sure that this was the most excited he had been just to go outside. Before they could walk, Cosme held his hand out for Harry to take.

Harry took his hand and they were off to go shopping.

It didn't take long for Harry to realize that he was in another country. Harry stopped walking when he realized that the shop signs were all in French. He was surprised that he was sure that his mouth fell open. Then Harry thought about it and realized that it made sense. Why was he surprised that Cosme Acajor, a very obvious French man who owned a shop called Baguettes Magique lived in France? After that, Harry quickly recovered from his shock.

Harry continued walking with Cosme and went about shopping like they had planned to. Then, Harry came to a new conclusion: he never wanted to go shopping with Cosme again. He was sure that the man was obsessed with clothes and he seemed to know more about clothes than Harry knew about anything. There were so many different fabric choices, style decisions, and color options that Harry felt like he was going to explode. Though Harry supposed it could have been worse. When Harry was starting to feel overwhelmed by all of the choices, Cosme just smiled and pulled the other man aside so they could talk about clothes without Harry. All Harry had to do was pick which fabrics he wanted. Harry just ended up picking the softest ones. Every time they bought something, it was placed in a bag and then shrunk. The then shrunken bag was put into a normal-looking bag. Harry was in awe of how easy it was to hold so many bags with magic.

The next shop was shoes, and Cosme said he had a surprise after that. Cosme had meant for the thought of a surprise to bring up Harry's energy, but instead, the anticipation made shoe shopping a bit more unbearable. Harry was grateful that he would get new shoes that fit him properly but he had a hard time holding onto that gratefulness in the face of anticipation.

They had been shopping in the magic section of Paris, but Cosme pulled Harry through to the muggle side. Harry knew purely based on the clothing. Both Cosme and Harry got a few more lingering looks, but nobody commented on the oddity. Harry was pulled into a store so fast that he couldn't see the name, but as soon as he walked in he knew where he was. It was a craft store! There were reams of fabric, paper for scrapbooking, and most importantly a row of wooden blocks. They walked to that section and Cosme turned to Harry.

"We are getting more wooden blocks! I saw that you only have two wooden blocks and I am sure that you will need more soon. What type of wood are those blocks?"

"One of them is basswood but I don't know the other one. I found it with the whittling tools and they weren't labeled."

"That is fine. I do not know anything about whittling, but I do know about wand-crafting so we should get wood that is good for both."

The store had basswood, balsa wood, white pine, poplar, walnut, and cherry. They looked at the labels and Cosme smiled.

"Oui, these woods are familiar to me. Pine, poplar, walnut, and cherry are all traditional woods. I am not familiar with basswood or balsa though….Hmm, I was hoping for acacia or perhaps ash. Well, I guess since we are still trying new things then we will get two of each of the woods that are familiar to me and then go from there."

Harry tried to remember what he was told last time that he bought wood.

"I don't need 12 blocks of wood! That's a lot. Last time I was at a wood store I asked for help. The worker was the one who encouraged me to get balsa and basswood. The basswood is supposed to be the easiest to whittle with and is considered the wood for whittling but balsa was apparently a cheaper alternative. I used the balsa for the cat and I have been saving the basswood. I don't know what the bird was made from because I used the wood from the kit."

Cosme nodded, "I will see if any other wandmakers have ever used basswood or balsa, but until then I was hoping you would experiment with the woods that are common in wand-making. Garrick and I were hoping that your creation would tell us how important the wood is for your whittling. It might tell us more about what magic gives your bird life."

Cosme picked up the woods but lingered over the basswood, he was curious to see if it felt familiar. He picked it up and smelled it. He couldn't put his finger on it but it felt like there was something that he was forgetting. He then picked up the balsa wood.

"Oh! This is incredibly light." He tossed it in the air as if to confirm how light it was. "So spectacular, I wonder how such a light wood would react to a wand core."

They put all of the wood in the shopping basket and went to pay for the wood. Cosme was used to going into the muggle side of Paris so he had no trouble with paying and leaving.

They arrived back at the shop and Cosme froze as soon as he entered.

"I think I have an idea of what kind of wood came in the kit. Please call your bird down."

Harry went to the foot of the stairs and called, "Bird! Please come down!" Harry felt it was a bit rude to just call it 'bird' but he still had yet to name it. The bird came down and they both moved to watch Cosme.

Cosme was at the back of the store and put all of the newly purchased wood blocks on the workbench in a row. He then went behind the workbench and grabbed a book from a drawer that Harry hadn't seen before. He opened the pages of the book, paused, and then flipped to a different page. He nodded to himself and then grabbed another book from the drawer.

"Aha! I was correct." He clarified nothing for Harry. He turned to Harry and held a finger out for the bird. It jumped onto his finger and Cosme got really close.

"Looking at the bird, it reminds me most of Linden wood. It is not a wand wood, but it is used for furniture. In fact, the chest at the foot of your bed was made of Linden wood, it holds magic rather well. I am used to seeing it in different contexts so I didn't think of it earlier. The thing is that it may be linden wood, but not the specific kind that I am used to." At this, Cosme lifted a book. "Quelle chance! Jimmy got me this book to prove a point showing that I was wrong. It's muggle. Normally, I would not use it as a reference but the muggles made a study of trees and learned how trees are related to each other. The Linden wood that I am familiar with is related to the basswood that we just purchased! It makes sense that the whittling kit had the wood that you proclaimed as one of the most optimal woods for whittling: the basswood."

Cosme looked quite excited at his realization. He eagerly pushed the books to Harry showing that linden wood, basswood, and lime wood were all related to each other so closely to likely have the same magical effect.

"I suppose they are distant enough to have the same magical effect while having different textures. You see the linden that I am familiar with is usually a lighter color, heavier, and a bit more sturdy. I wonder…It's no matter. I will talk to the others about this when we are done testing out the woods and your carving. How exciting!"

What Cosme paused to wonder over, Harry wasn't informed of, but it seemed like whatever it was, it changed things. Cosme shooed Harry out of the shop and sent him to put away his new wooden blocks. Though Cosme wanted him back.

"We have one more thing to do before we eat dinner." Cosme once again led him to the foot of the stairs and pressed a new symbol on the frame. There were only five symbols on the door and Harry would now find out what was behind the third one. They went through the door and Harry let out a gasp.

It was a courtyard that was surrounded by a forest, but the trees were different species. The most common trees that Harry could see were a short tree with leaves so dense that you could not see a single branch and trees that had so few leaves that the tree had more branches than anything else. The short dense trees had small white flowers. As Harry stepped into the courtyard, he realized that they may be far shorter than the other trees but they still towered over Harry. The smallest tree was still twice Harry's height.

"This is the Acajor Arboretum. It is mostly elm and elder trees and the walls have a lot of vine and ivy for my wand-making. However, there are other trees mixed in from other Acajors. I do not come from a long line of wand-makers like Ollivander so we have plants like a Wiggentree that is used for potion-making. You can keep and use any stick that you find on the ground."

Harry couldn't help but gape at Cosme, "I can use ANY of these sticks?" He picked up one that was close to him. Cosme nodded and Harry immediately set about picking up some for later. He had planned to make snakes from his sticks and now he can.

Cosme chuckled at his enthusiasm. Of course, Cosme thought his enthusiasm was for making wands from these sticks and not snakes.

Harry had collected his prizes and looked at Cosme for approval. Cosme summoned a bag and gestured for Harry to put it into the bag. Once they were placed safely in the bag, Cosme gave Harry all of the bags that were filled with his new clothes and shoes.

"Here. Take these up to your room. I am leaving you in charge of maintaining your room. You can keep it as clean and organized as you wish."

Harry smiled at the thought of having the freedom to be as neat and orderly as he does or doesn't wish. He doubts that he would ever have left a mess since Aunt Petunia did manage to teach him some things. Harry took them to his room and then ran back downstairs. Cosme had said that it was time for dinner and Harry was really looking forward to it. He wasn't hungry but he was excited for new foods. Harry had eaten both breakfast and lunch so there was no way that Harry would be able to eat that much for dinner. He had thought about telling Cosme this when Cosme told him that dinner was soon, but Harry didn't want him to think he was ungrateful.

"After dinner, we have an important talk to have before the day is over."

Cosme never had children of his own so he didn't realize that those were poorly chosen words. The thought of delicious food fled from Harry's mind and every bite of dinner tasted like ash. Harry never had an important talk that went well and this was clearly a sign of impending doom. All Cosme saw was Harry eating more food than he thought he would be able to. Plate clean, Harry turned to Cosme in fearful anticipation.

Cosme took a breath in an attempt to fortify himself.

"What do you know about your parents?"