"What do you know about your parents?"

Harry had never been more confused by a question. What did his parents have to do with anything?

"I don't really know anything about them. I think I saw a picture of my mom once, but Aunt Petunia snatched it away before I could look at it. The only thing that Aunt Petunia always told me was that they died in a car crash. I wanted to ask more, but they always told me not to ask questions….I know my mom's name was Lily but I don't know my dad's name."

Cosme waited to give Harry time and only spoke once it seemed that Harry had gotten it all out. He was stunned. The situation was worse than he thought! He had assumed that Harry would know little to nothing, but he only knew maybe two things about his parents. And not knowing his father's name? Cosme, as a pureblood, had been told about his family and their proud history his entire life and to see someone know so little about his own parents was heartbreaking. This conversation was going to be more difficult than he thought it would be.

Harry wanted to ask Cosme why they were talking about his parents, but there was a lump in his throat that wouldn't let him. His bravery had gotten him this far, but hopefully, Cosme would let Harry take a break from it.

Cosme felt like he had to voice his thoughts, "Oh mon dieu, this is worse than I thought. Your parents James and Lily Potter were magical just like we are."

Oh. So Harry was named after his father. His name was Harry's middle name. Harry felt a bit warm from having something from his father.

Cosme was trying to figure out what to say next and while he was thinking Harry relaxed seeing that Cosme wanted to have a talk and that he wasn't being scolded. Harry didn't know why he was doubting Cosme so he relaxed and asked a question, "So they were wand-makers too?"

"Oh…non, I guess they weren't exactly like us. I meant that they had magical wands and used spells." Cosme smiled but it quickly faded. "The magical world is not without its flaws. You see we have wars and politics just like in the muggle world. The last war was a war between the light and the dark. Your parents were light wizards who fought on the front lines, they were definitely prominent figures in the war even though they were so young. Here in France, I had nothing to do with the war but we heard stories, so many stories. There were tales of their bravery and the horror of the attacks. We French wizards did nothing to help with the war effort, but we were still paying attention. The leader on the dark side was a monstrous wizard. The stories that reached us were probably exaggerated a bit, but some of it was true. His name was Voldemort."

Harry was completely focused on Cosme's words. But Cosme had to take a breath after saying his name. He didn't have the paralyzing fear that the British had about his name, but he knew why they were so scared. He knew that there was a taboo, but it never extended to France during the war.

Cosme couldn't help but scoff at the thought that went through his mind about the name, "Voldemort, flight from death, a lofty title that laughed in the face of death. Of course, Death wouldn't let him escape for too long. The name eventually became so feared in Britain that no one used his name. They instead called him You-Know-Who. Later, after his name became so feared that few spoke it, he cast a spell. Any who said his name would catch his attention. His power was so immense that British wizards were beginning to distrust everyone. Neighbors turned against neighbors and even friends were looked upon with suspicion."

Harry shivered at the thought, "That sounds horrible. But he isn't around anymore, right? So how was he stopped if he was so powerful?"

"Ah…I am getting to that. I will admit that I do not know what exactly happened, no one does, but we have suspicions. He attacked a family one night. Many believe it was because they had defied him too many times, others would say that they had information or a weapon that would hamper him. Nobody really knows, but what we do know is he attacked them on the last day of October. He must have caught them completely off-guard because the fight itself was over before anyone could take note of it and he killed the parents. It is believed that while he tried to kill the baby, he somehow failed. He used a dark curse that has no counters so it is a mystery how it was turned against him. He disappeared that night, believed to be dead, but unfortunately, it can't be confirmed."

Harry felt like Cosme was trying to say something without saying it.

"Who was that family?"

Cosme sighed again, "It was your family, Harry. You are the only known survivor of the killing curse and the legendary vanquisher of the dark lord."

Harry gulped. He was the vanquisher of the dark lord? That sounds impossible.

"How did that happen?"

Cosme shrugged, "No one knows. Though your scar is a legendary mark of your survival."

Harry's head pulled back and he pointed to his forehead, "This is because I survived?" Well, Harry guessed that it made sense. He had thought that he got the scar in the car crash, but if there was no wreck then how else would he have gotten it?

Harry was thinking about how that night might have gone and he felt like he could remember a blinding flash of green light and he could almost hear a high, cold, cruel laugh. Though it almost felt like a bad dream.

"You said that I vanquished him, but you also said he was believed to be dead? How else can someone be vanquished if they aren't dead?"

Cosme had to admit that it was a pretty clever question. "He disappeared and has not been seen in nearly eight years, but there was no body, no sign of him being dead. Many assume that he is dead, but how could one tell? He was an incredibly powerful wizard so to this day many doubt that he would die so easily."

Harry sat back in his chair and felt like there was a chill running down his back.

"Don't let it trouble you too much. I know that it is a difficult thing to ask after telling you such a horrible tale, but even if he is still alive, there is little chance that he would look for you here in France. Plus, you have us. The only thing that you should worry about is learning and making magic."

"Why did you tell this to me, Cosme?"

"Because your fame is not limited to Britain and is spread throughout Europe. I did not want you to find out from anyone else. You deserve to learn the news from someone whom you can ask questions. I have no reason to lie to you and I hope that you will be comfortable asking me questions, even if takes you time to get there I will be here."

Harry thought that was the nicest thing that anyone had ever said to him. That was all that he wanted, someone to be there for him because they want to not because they are stuck with him as a burden. Harry's eyes began to sting but he blinked until the sensation went away.

"Now that we got that nastiness out of the way, we are going to drink hot cocoa by the fire and you will listen to me tell you a story. A nice story this time."

Harry nodded and they did exactly what Cosme said. However, as Cosme bundled him up in a soft blanket and the warmth of the fire fought the chill from earlier, Harry couldn't stop thinking about the green light and the laughter. Surely, he was too young that night to be able to remember it.

Garrick was sitting at the very back of his shop but he still heard another customer try to open the door to his shop and then heard the silence as they paused to read the sign. The sign read "Closed today. Come back tomorrow." Garrick put the sign up so that people wouldn't try to knock, but every time they ignored the sign and immediately tried to open the door. After reading the sign, they would leave either in the direction of Jimmy's Wonderful Wands or back to the pub to take the floo home. Normally, Garrick would be irritated losing customers to Jimmy and his subpar wands, but he had more important things to worry about today.

The book open on his lap didn't have the information that he sought so he shut the book and put it in his pile of discarded books. It had at least a dozen books that he already looked through. The pile of books that he had yet to look through was only two books high. He grabbed a book from that pile and flipped through the pages. It was called "Core of the Wands: The Seeds of Magic", and it was written by Aurelia Ollivander. He didn't care much for the book since it was probably one of the oldest in his collection and much of the information in the book was no longer relevant or proven wrong by new techniques. On the other hand, there was a lot of information that was considered obscure or ancient. He found a section titled Noble Serpents and he was skimming through it when he saw the word for parselmouths. The author conceded that it was information gained via word of mouth, but it spoke of a tale of a serpent that glittered with gems on its crown. A parselmouth had befriended the serpent and was granted a boon that would sing when danger was near. While interesting, the information was incomplete. Garrick couldn't confirm if it was a Horned Serpent, but it did sound like it. There weren't many snakes that could be described as having a jewel or a gem on its crown. However, that really depended on whether that was more literal or metaphorical. Aurelia also didn't write what exactly the boon was and she categorized it as a potential myth.

Frustrated, he closed the book and added it to the stack of failures. The last book was his family grimoire. Garrick had read the Ollivander Grimoire many times and he was sure that it made no references to Horned Serpents, but it had been some time since he had read it and there were literally no books left for him to check. He opened the book to the first page, deciding to take a shortcut. He grabbed a nearby letter opener and stabbed his finger lightly. Letting the blood drip onto the page he thought about the horned serpent and parselmouths. The blood formed words on the page and once the blood stilled, Garrick took a closer look. The information was three pages long. That was a lot more pages than he had expected. He leaned toward the book and read attentively. This was it! Horns from a Horned Serpent were exceedingly rare and only one other member of the Ollivander family had encountered it. Amusingly enough, it was the child of Aurelia Ollivander, Nikostratos. He had gone seeking confirmation of Aurelia's information and found the parselmouth that she had heard of. The boon granted was indeed a horn from a horned serpent and the parselmouth claimed that only another parselmouth would be able to wield it. However, if they met no others, then there was little to no way to prove whether that was true or not.

Looking through the information, Garrick realized how odd it was that Cosme had the horn. It was so rare that he had to look through his entire book collection just to find two measly incomplete references and if it wasn't for his family secrets then he wouldn't have known the significance of the horn. Actually, now that Garrick thought about it he wondered what it meant. Is it true that only a parselmouth would have such a reaction to a horn from a horned serpent? Was Harry Potter a parselmouth?

The ancestry of the Potter Family was not something that Garrick studied, but he was sure that he would not find Slytherin in that line and there were so few lines that could speak parseltongue. So the question of Harry and his potential parselmouth abilities was one at the forefront of his mind. If the boy was a parselmouth then how did he come by this trait? If he is not a parselmouth then what did it take for a wizard to have a wand made from the horn of a Horned Serpent?

Garrick's thoughts were interrupted by a tap tap at his window. He recognized the owl. It was a huge demon of a bird with bright orange eyes and an evil expression. It frequently pecked Garrick and clicked its bill at him. He grabbed a few crickets from a jar on the counter to distract the owl. It quickly pecked at the crickets trying to eat as many as five crickets in one bite but still tried to peck at his fingers when he reached for the letter. Garrick dodged with an experienced hand. He managed to get the letter after a few attempts at baiting and dodging. Tired from the experience, Garrick almost put the letter aside for later. The owl took flight in his shop, dive-bombed Garrick, and then left the shop entirely.

Garrick sighed at the bird's antics and decided that after dealing with the bird, the letter should be easy enough. He opened the letter, read it, and let out a few startled chuckles. He didn't know why he thought that the letter would be easier to deal with than the owl. Few could startle him as Mykew Gregorovitch could. He had sent Garrick a letter that was making jabs about Hawthorn wands while bragging about the opportunity that he had to study a wand that he could have let Garrick study since it was surely a unique wand (of course, he still hasn't told Garrick what wand it was so Garrick doubted his claims). At the very end of the letter was a thinly disguised attempt at finding out how the visit to the potential apprentice went.

The response would be tricky and full of landmines. If he didn't reply without reverence over the wand or ignored his jabs then he would be cross the next time that they met up. Garrick had to wonder what he should respond with. He knew that he would have to talk about how it was too bad that he missed out on the opportunity to study the wand that Mykew was bragging about. He should also say something about Hawthorn wands. It was the one thing that they agreed on, but that didn't mean he should agree with him. He didn't want Mykew's ego to get much larger. Though Garrick finally had something that he could hold over the other man. He wanted to brag about how the trip couldn't have been more of a pleasant surprise if he tried. He wanted to brag about how the apprentice was not only a prodigy but also a revolutionary. Of course, the fact that Cosme was the only one to bond with the boy would have to be left out, but he still got to teach and learn from the boy. Though now that he thought about it longer, he didn't want Mykew to stick his nose into their business. Then again, they have been having conventions every year so it wouldn't be long before Mykew found out they were hiding something. So should he prolong the inevitable or get ahead of it now?

Garrick reread the letter and decided. He couldn't tell Mykew since the man couldn't keep a secret. Sure, he hadn't told Garrick what wand he had studied that was supposedly an experience of a lifetime, but he made way too many hints at it. Shaking his head, he scribbled out a reply and made a note to tell the other two that Harry would be a secret from Mykew, at least until the next convention where it would be unavoidable.

Speaking of unavoidable, Garrick glanced at the letter that he had gotten from Albus Dumbledore that morning. The two of them exchanged semi-frequent letters usually about wands and the new students for the year. Almost every Hogwarts student for the past six decades had gotten a wand from Garrick himself. So Garrick knew a thing or two about British wizards. Usually, there was little reason not to reveal the information to Dumbledore, but he now had a conundrum. He didn't want to share Harry's location with Dumbledore, but he wasn't sure if that was the right thing. Dumbledore had been the one to tell the wizarding world that Harry was safe and with family; however, the Dursleys weren't safe nor were they family to Harry. If Dumbledore found out that Harry wasn't with his family, what would he do? Garrick wasn't sure and that was why he kept hesitating. If there was even a chance that Dumbledore would try to take Harry from Cosme then he should keep it to himself.

Jimmy was having the best day of his career. So few could easily pinpoint their successes but Jimmy knew that today was one. His day started off marvelously. He slept deeply and without interruption. He woke up and even did a little dance. His clothes were just right and he even had a full English breakfast, which he didn't always enjoy but today it hit the spot. He remembered the conversation that he had with Cosme and Garrick about apprenticing the boy and smiled even more. Jimmy wasn't the best wand-maker, but he thought that he was the hardest-working one. And now he could repay the Boy-Who-Lived about wand-making and maybe even some transfiguration. He smiled to himself, again and then he changed his sign from 'Closed' to 'Open'.

Jimmy was probably far too eager when he heard the bell above his door ring. His shop had been open for only five minutes and he already had a customer! It was an elderly gentleman who broke his wand after taking a tumble. The poor man looked devastated.

"I had this wand since I was a young boy. It's been with me through everything." He sighed.

"Well, don't you worry at all. We'll find you a replacement in a snap! What kind of wand was it?"

This seemed to upset the man further. "You can't tell what it is? Hmm well, it was 10 ½" Cherry wood with a dragon heartstring."

Jimmy's eye twitched at the question but he pushed right through it.

"Actually most wandmakers probably couldn't tell just by looking at it. Mr. Ollivander is a bit of an oddity even in the wand-making community."

"I didn't even know there were other wand-makers than Mr. Ollivander, but Tom told me to take a look at your shop since Ollivander's is closed for today."

Jimmy had to restrain himself from letting out a joyous cackle. If Ollivander stays closed then anyone who needs a replacement on short notice will have to come to his shop! Jimmy made a mental note to tip Tom more money the next time he stopped by the Leaky Cauldron.

Jimmy set to grab some of his cherry wands with dragon heartstrings to see if they paired with the man. The man picked up the first wand and then set it down with a shake of his head. He then grabbed the next one and repeated the process until all of them were rejected. Jimmy went to the shelves and then grabbed some more wands but this time with a variety of woods and cores. The man kept rejecting the wands until he finally smiled.

"Oh, that's a very good wand! 9 ½" English Oak with unicorn hair." Jimmy was very pleased that it only took 7 tries to find the right wand! What an auspicious number.

The man's smile fell and he seemed to look at the wand as if it had betrayed him, "...that's nice."

"What's wrong, sir?"

"Well I suppose it doesn't matter, but my late wife had a holly wand."

Oh…Jimmy hated magical superstitions. Wands can be a good indicator of personality but personality wasn't the only reason to fall in love. Just because there was a superstition that a person with an oak wand shouldn't marry a holly wand, doesn't mean you should change your mind.

"It's okay. Thank you. 7 Galleons?"

"It was my pleasure! It'll actually be 6 Galleons."

The man paused in surprise but handed over the 6 gold coins and left.

Jimmy smiled and waved the man farewell.

The process repeated itself two more times. Each customer seemed surprised that Jimmy couldn't instantly tell what wand they had before and then surprised again at his price. All of his customers were there for replacement wands and all of them made references to their first trip to Ollivander's. At this point, Jimmy wasn't sure what he would do with a customer if they came for their first wand! He only ever got customers who were there for replacements.

Sighing, Jimmy scribbled out 'Out for lunch, be back by 2'. He spent lunch talking to Harry, Cosme, and Garrick. It was like a dream come true, for the most part. He got to get Garrick to admit that Jimmy was right about something and to tease them about having Harry inherit three shops. He wasn't actually serious, but he thought it was funny how huffy Garrick got about it. He knew that Garrick thought he was an idiot half the time, so he might as well have fun with it. He had no clue how one person could inherit three shops and he didn't think it was a good idea anyway.

After lunch on the way back to his shop, Jimmy couldn't stop thinking about wand-making. Could their expectations be really holding them back from achieving grander results in wand-making?! It was a bit of a head-scratcher. Though it made sense, it would make a horrible mockery of the literal thousands of years spent studying wand-making. Not only did Jimmy leave lunch with the realization that his entire life studying wand-making was potentially useless, but he also shot himself in the foot with his suggestion. He had no clue what he was thinking when he suggested that they should wait longer to teach Harry!

Jimmy was so excited to teach the boy and he can't believe that he literally blocked himself from doing it! He felt like smacking his forehead. He returned to his shop and once again smiled.

There were two people at the door. They looked grumpy and kept looking at their watches, but they were still customers.

It was three hours later when he waved away his last customer of the day. There was a grand total of six of them! What a grand success. He had six customers in one day AND he had lunch with his friends and new apprentice! He made 36 Galleons and all he had to do was be open when Garrick was not. He didn't even have to work through his lunch break as he so often did.

The one blemish is that he had to wait for Harry to make a couple of wands before they could do anything with wand-crafting. He wished that he could either speed up time or say screw it and teach him anyway. If Jimmy has to wait much longer to teach Harry then he is going to start getting nervous. Once he gets nervous, he will turn into a bumbling wreck. Then again he doesn't want to rush Harry or ruin his chance of revolutionizing wand-making. After all, there were so few people who got into wand-making without having preconceived notions of wand-making. Even Jimmy who was a muggleborn was taught all of these limitations before he even started wand-making.

Even in his youth, Jimmy had always heard of wands having wand cores. It would take someone truly special to try to make a wand without having any idea that magic existed.

Jimmy's mind wandered back to his shock that someone so famous in the wizarding world had no clue about it. He was just like Jimmy when he first got his letter, so clueless about their new world…

…No clue about their world… Jimmy felt like he had an idea on the tip of his tongue, but what?... something about Harry…

Aha! Jimmy was an idiot but he was an idiot with experience! He could teach Harry about the wizarding world. Cosme and Garrick could try and probably have a decent attempt, but they both were raised in the wizarding world so there would be some things that they don't even realize that they need to teach because it comes incredibly naturally.

Jimmy could teach Harry about the magical world and what it is like to be included as someone who is muggle-raised. He could explain the fun stuff like wizards' chess and leave the more detailed stuff like dining with pure-bloods to Cosme.

Jimmy was going to pop by Cosme's shop to tell him about his idea when he realized that it was too late to stop by and be polite. He instead changed his sign from 'Open' to 'Closed' and went up to his flat. It was small but a cozy one-bedroom. It was perfect for him especially since he didn't need to have an extra room for guests. He decided that if he had a list of topics to teach Harry, then Cosme would have less of a reason to say no to his idea.

Jimmy spent the rest of the afternoon eating and coming up with ideas of things to teach Harry. He may not be able to teach Harry wand-making yet, but there are a lot of things he can teach in the meantime.