Becoming a recognized master of wand-making is rather simple, but that does not mean it is easy. To begin the process, the individual only needs to get a master wand-maker to agree to apprentice them. Then they learn from them until they say they are done with their training—two simple steps. Unfortunately, there are very few master wand-makers and fewer that they would accept as an apprentice. These days most wand-makers come from a family of wand-makers and it is a rather straightforward process because of it. The master wand-maker simply teaches their children who then inherit their wand shop.
And that is why three wand-makers trying to take on Harry Potter as an apprentice was so tricky. Not only was it odd that there were three of them, but none of them were related to Harry Potter. Harry had no obligation to inherit any of their shops, and none of them could figure out how to let Harry inherit three shops without letting one fall to the side. Now that Harry was officially starting his wand-making training, the problems that they had been ignoring flared back up.
How do three masters teach one kid? Especially since Harry had a rather unique way of making wands. They would need to create a schedule where all three of them could teach him without overlapping too much.
The one who ended up thinking of a solution to the problem was strangely Jimmy.
"Cosme only uses four wand woods but has a huge range of cores and Garrick, you, have only three wand cores and a huge range of wand woods. So why doesn't Cosme teach Harry about wand cores and Garrick teach him about wand woods? You can teach about your preferred cores and woods without overlapping too much."
Harry eagerly watched the proceedings. Up to this point, they debated what was important to wand-making (the answer seemed to be everything).
Cosme thought about it and nodded, but asked, "That is…surprisingly reasonable, but what about you, Jimmy? What will you teach?"
Jimmy smiled, glad that Cosme was trying to include him, "I think you're forgetting something. I am already teaching him something. Y'know the whole intro to the wizarding world? I can add more stuff like maths and English, no big deal. Between the three of us, I am sure that we have more than enough information to cover."
Garrick looked impressed, "Yes, that would be an ideal solution. I insist on being the one who teaches him the binding spell for the core."
Jimmy and Cosme looked a bit surprised. They both thought that out of the entire wand-making process, that was one of the simpler parts. It was incredibly vital, but not necessarily a glamorous part nor inventive.
"I don't mind that at all. I have always preferred going hunting for wand cores."
"Oui, I am also not opposed to that condition. However, I would like to add that I should be the one to teach him about pure-blood society, after all, I am probably the best-suited out of all three of us. Oh! and French! It would bring me shame if the child that I am raising does not know any French. He is living in France being raised by a French man and may even go to Beauxbatons! French is mandatory."
No one, not even Harry raised a protest to Cosme's strong proclamations. Cosme clearly would not settle for Harry not learning French. Though both Garrick and Cosme had ideas about what school Harry should go to in the future, neither wanted to broach the subject now.
Once all three of them nodded, they settled into silence. Each of them was trying to think if they missed something.
Cosme was the one to realize that they hadn't discussed scheduling, "Ah Sacre bleu, I think the real issue is when are we going to teach Harry? We all have our shops to run so unless we close during the day, we will have to teach him in the afternoons and the weekends. There is only so much we can squeeze in such a short time."
Garrick shook his head, "Yes, it will be a bit tricky. But, since the school year just started business will be at an all-time low. I've got a thought. Aleta probably wouldn't mind teaching Harry during the week."
Harry was following the conversation up to this point but he was once again confused. Who was Aleta? And would she be as nice as the three wand-makers?
"That brings up something that I wanted to ask you before. I would have thought that she would have knocked down my door as soon as Harry got settled." If there was one thing that Cosme knew about Aleta, it was that she loved children.
Avoiding eye contact, Garrick said, "Well she is aware that you got an apprentice, but I am not sure whether I told her Harry's age."
Jimmy burst into laughter, "You're going to be in such big trouble when she finds out!"
"What! It's barely been over a week since we found Harry. That's not too bad."
"You mean that it's been over a week and you still haven't told her!" Jimmy's laughter had toned down to chuckles at this point. "Why haven't you told her yet?"
Garrick let out a sigh and crossed his arms, "I will admit I am worried that she would go back and kill the Dursleys or smother Harry with food and affection. You two know her, she is a bit of a mother hen."
Harry wasn't sure if he wanted to meet her. Mr. Ollivander made her sound violent, but then again the Dursleys weren't nice, and getting food was good. Filled with conflicted feelings, Harry chose to stay silent. Harry was a quiet kid so his being a little extra quiet wasn't noticeable.
"So to make sure that we are on the same page, Harry will have instruction during weekday mornings with Aleta, and in the afternoon he will have some instruction from us. Are we going to have assigned days?"
Cosme was the one talking and normally Harry would pay the utmost attention to him, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw something. It looked like it could either be Silas or Jewel, Harry still had a hard time telling the difference with just sight. He looked back to the three and realized that they would likely be some time. He walked over to the staircase.
"Hey! What is taking you so long? I thought that you said it would only be a couple of hours. It has been many hours. Even the sun is no longer waiting for you!" Silas was still drawing out his 'S' sounds so Harry knew that this had to be Jewel.
Harry knelt to be at eye level with Jewel, "I didn't realize how long it had been. Sorry. I think we are done. They are trying to plan out how to teach me how to make wands now." He held out an arm for Jewel to climb up.
"While they are planning, you will go eat dinner. Hatchlings like you need to make sure that you eat properly. Silas is waiting for you in the kitchen. We tried to talk to the small female about getting you food, but it doesn't seem to understand us."
"What small female? Are you talking about Milly?" Harry wasn't sure who else he could be talking about.
"If that is her name then yes. I have only been alive for three days, I don't think I know all of the names yet."
Harry blinked at Jewel's answer. Harry hadn't realized that it had been such little time since he created Jewel and Silas. They both went upstairs and met up with Silas.
"It'sss about time that you got here! I wasss getting worried and alssso getting hungry." To showcase his impatience, Silas was tapping his tail impatiently. "What wasss he doing that wasss more important than eating?"
"I think that he and the rest of the adults were just distracted and didn't realize the time. What do you mean you're hungry? I am not hungry and I don't think the others get hungry." Jewel asked the question that Harry was also thinking.
"...well I sssupposse that hungry isss the wrong word, but I would like to try anyway. It looksss like a fun activity." Silas was at this point slithering up the table leg trying to get himself settled on the chair across from Harry's usual seat.
Harry didn't see any food on the table so he was debating whether he should cook something when Milly popped in.
"Young Master Harry is hungry? Your snakeys have been talking to Milly, but Milly does not understand." She was wringing her hands together and stepping from foot to foot.
"I know how to cook, so, you don't have to make me food. Do you know what snakes normally eat? Silas said that he wants to try to eat." Harry was trying to reassure Milly that she didn't have to make him food, but instead, his words caused her to start pulling on her long floppy ears.
"Young Master Harry doesn't like Milly's food? Milly can make anything the young master wants. Milly likes to cook." She was protesting heavily against Harry cooking for himself but did snap her fingers and an incredibly large egg popped on the plate in front of Silas.
Silas' tongue flicked out a couple of times to scent the eggs, "Yesss, thisss will do nicely for me." He opened his mouth far wider than Harry thought he should be able to. He then brings his body closer to hold the egg while he bites down on one end. As he bites the egg, he opens his mouth wider and wider trying to swallow it.
Harry pulled himself away from the odd sight of the snake's mouth stretching over the egg and turned back to Milly, "Your food is amazing! I would love to eat whatever you make as long as you aren't too busy."
Milly immediately starts cooking food for Harry so he sits opposite Silas and watches him try to eat the egg.
"Hey, Jewel. Can he eat that egg? It looks way too big for him to swallow."
Jewel unwound from his wrist and slithered closer to Silas, "Hmm yes, it should be fine. It is large, but we can open our mouths far wider than that egg."
The kitchen was silent as they watched him eat the egg. Silas had swallowed over half of the egg and Harry relaxed no longer worried about Silas choking on the egg. The egg was creating a large bulge so Harry could watch as the egg went down his throat. Harry did have a passing thought as to how Silas was going to breathe while swallowing, but he seemed to be doing fine so far.
Milly had finished making and Harry was pulled from the sight of Silas and the egg by the plate floating right in front of him. He looked down at his plate and smiled at the food. It seems that they were having American food for Jimmy's sake because dinner was a burger with fries. It looked delicious and Harry had never had one before so he was excited to try new food.
"Thank you, Milly. It looks delicious." Harry made sure to thank Milly for her efforts and then dug into his food. Milly bowed and then popped out.
Halfway through his meal, the three wand-makers must have noted Harry's absence because they came spilling into the kitchen. Harry opened his mouth to apologize for leaving, but he was quickly talked over by Jimmy.
"Ooo yummy! Milly, can I please have what Harry is having? I could go for a good juicy burger and those fried look nice and crisp on the edge." Jimmy sat down and eagerly waited for a plate.
Garrick looked at the food and Harry who was trying to make as little mess as possible with a burger. "Hmm, Aleta is expecting me for dinner and I need to tell her about Harry. If all goes well, Aleta will stop by tomorrow and if she is particularly cross then you may not see me for a while. Good day."
Harry's mouth was full so he waved goodbye to Garrick.
Cosme's parting message was far more ominous, "Good luck, you will need it." He then sat down to eat. Once Cosme sat down, food for both him and Jimmy showed up. Cosme picked up a fork and knife and began cutting into the burger. Jimmy looked at him with his eyebrows raised and then picked up the burger with his hands.
Cosme had managed to cut off a chunk of the burger and stabbed it with his fork, "Harry, we figured out a plan to teach you wandmaking and your normal schooling. However, I will wait to give it to you since I am sure that Garrick will come back with the revised version after Aleta sees it."
Poor Jimmy was taking a sip of water when Cosme said it so when he tried to laugh, he instead snorted the water and then choked. Harry would have thought that it was unfortunate timing, but Cosme looked a bit too pleased with himself.
Jimmy got his breathing under control, "Is that why you didn't argue with him that much? You knew that Aleta was going to make him fix it! I did think that you gave in too easily."
With a smirk, "Of course, there was no way that she would agree with it the way that it is now. I am sure that he will change it. After all, Happy wife, happy life."
Harry finally got the courage to ask the question that had been on his mind, "So…Aleta is Mr. Ollivander's wife? And she tells him what to do?"
"Yes, she is his wife and the second question is a bit trickier. She tells him what to do when he makes poor choices." Jimmy said this with a smile that reassured Harry a bit, "Garrick is obsessed with wand-making. And when we tried making your schedule, he argued for more wand-making than we think you should. You're a kid and you deserve to have time to be a kid. You have the rest of your life to make wands, but you are only a kid for so long."
Harry nodded at the answer, but he wasn't sure that he agreed with it. He loved whittling and wand-making was cool. Plus what did it even mean to 'be a kid'? Harry only had Dudley and Piers as examples and he didn't want to be anything like them.
The three of them finished their food. Jimmy stood up and said, "Well if I want to be able to stick to the schedule, then I need to head back and make some wands. Thank you for dinner Cosme and Milly and thank you Harry for teaching me how to whittle!" Jimmy pulled the two wands that he made from his pocket and waved them, "I couldn't have made these without your help. Have a good afternoon and I'll see you both tomorrow."
Harry said a quiet goodbye, but he was curious about what Jimmy meant about seeing him tomorrow.
Cosme wiped his hands with a napkin and then stood, "Well, I am going to have a cup of tea in the sitting room. I would enjoy it if you joined me."
Harry thought about it, "May I use the desk in the sitting room to reply to a letter? I was supposed to do it yesterday but was too tired from making wands."
Once he got the approval from Cosme, Harry ran upstairs grabbed the letter from his room, and brought it to the sitting room. Harry had gotten a letter from Juliette a couple of days ago and he kept forgetting to reply to it.
Joining Cosme, there was a cup of cocoa waiting on the desk for Harry. Harry sat down and pulled out a piece of parchment, a quill, and some ink. Cosme taught him how to use a quill a couple of days ago and Harry was sure that this letter wouldn't turn out as messy as the last one that he had sent to Juliette. He opened the letter from Juliette and re-read it. He rolled out the piece of parchment and dipped his quill into the inkwell.
Dear Juliette,
Thank you for your last letter. I am sorry that I have taken so long to write back. My bird's name is Linden. He was named after the wood that he was made out of. He is special, but I know where you can get a bird like Linden if you want one.
It is cool that you have a cat. What is your cat's name? I named my cat Duchess like the cat from Aristocats.
Harry Potter
There were a couple of times while writing that Harry turned around in his chair to ask Cosme how to spell a word, but Harry was pleased with how his letter turned out. Harry wasn't sure what he felt about making a bird for Juliette, but since she was his friend, he didn't think that it would be a bad thing. The letter felt short, but he was still uncertain about what you write in a letter to a friend.
Letting the ink dry, Harry moved to a seat closer to Cosme.
"All finished with your letter to your friend? She will be starting school this week, so I imagine that she will get busy soon."
Harry nodded and took a long sip from his cup of cocoa, "Yes, she said she is a bit nervous. I have a question about Linden. Could other people buy a bird like him from a store?"
Having expected this question, Cosme answered, "No, your bird is unlike anything that we have ever seen. There are similar items that you could buy, but none of them are quite as powerful. The wizarding world can create figurines that can do a set of actions that are predetermined. Your creations seem to be living beings with their thoughts and decision-making skills. So she could probably find a figurine of a bird that can fly in circles, but not one that can deliver mail, tu comprends?"
Harry opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by the sight of a bright green flare coming from the fireplace. They both turned and saw a woman's face appear in the flames.
"Cosme? Will you be a dear and open the floo connection?"
He quickly stood and went to the fireplace and threw in some more floo powder while muttering some words. Harry was watching the entire process in awe. Was this how Garrick arrived inside the house earlier that day?
With a cloud of soot, the woman arrived in the fireplace. She was a rather short woman compared to Aunt Petunia and her dress was a far brighter color than his aunt would ever wear. It was these two facts that reassured Harry. She smiled at Harry and for a brief second she reminded Harry of Miss Violet the librarian, they both seemed kind. Harry relaxed even more. That was until she turned to Cosme and her face became rather stern.
She pulled a paper from her pocket and waved it threateningly, "What are you thinking about agreeing to this schedule?"
Cosme threw his hands up in surrender, "I agreed to it because I did not have a choice. Garrick dug in his heels and I knew that the only one who could dig him out was you."
Harry realized that this must be the feared Aleta that he had been hearing about all day.
She stopped waving the paper and narrowed her eyes at him, "Hmm fine. You are off the hook, but a warning would be nice in the future." She turned to Harry, "Hello, dear. My name is Aleta Ollivander, you can call me Aleta."
Harry didn't say anything and neither of the adults seemed to expect him to reply.
Aleta handed another paper to Cosme, "This will be the schedule for Harry. I will come by tomorrow." Without another word, she stepped into the fire and shouted, "The Ollivander Cottage!"
Sitting back down in his chair, Cosme read over the new schedule. Filled with curiosity, Harry peaked over his shoulder. It was somehow both more full and empty than Harry thought that it would be. Every hour there was something for Harry to do, but a chunk of it was labeled things like 'Breaktime', 'Playtime', and even one labeled 'Family Time'.
Chuckling, Cosme pulled out his wand and cast Geminio and another identical copy appeared. He handed one to Harry and tucked away the other.
"It seems that you have a busy day ahead of you, you should probably get some rest for tomorrow. I have a feeling this week will be very different from last week."
Harry glanced at his letter still drying on the desk, but it was too fresh for him to send so he instead held the schedule to his chest and muttered a low, "Goodnight, Cosme." Perhaps he could send it in the morning.
When Harry awoke the next day, he pulled out the schedule from where he had tucked it away the night prior. The schedule was full for today. It was the start of the week so Cosme was going to be opening the shop. Harry is supposed to eat breakfast with Cosme and after breakfast, he has lessons with Aleta and Jimmy. After that, he eats lunch and there is an entire hour set aside for 'Playtime'. Harry wasn't sure what he was supposed to do then. There was more on the schedule, but Harry chose to look at it when he got to it.
The clock says that Harry has a few minutes to get ready before heading down to breakfast. Harry completed his morning ablutions and was mindful of the time dedicated to 'Playtime' when he dressed. Wearing shorts and one of the few t-shirts that Cosme bought for him, he went down the stairs. Waiting at the table was Cosme who was reading a newspaper and drinking tea. The newspaper was unlike one he had seen before.
"Good morning, Cosme." Harry sat across from him and noticed that the pictures were moving. It was odd, but not too confusing since Harry had seen the pictures move in his room.
"Bonjour, Harry. Today starts your lessons. You will like Aleta, everyone does. I will not see you until lunch so have a good morning." Cosme folded up the newspaper finished his tea and then left.
Harry wasn't sure where he was supposed to go or if he was running late, but he hurried either way. He was a bit nervous and each bite of food was eaten so quickly that he barely tasted it. Once the plate was clear, he was even more uncertain about where to go next. He decided to go to the sitting room since not only did it have a desk, but it was where the fireplace was located.
Walking into the sitting room, Harry first noticed that he had yet to send out his letter to Juliette. The room was empty so he pulled out an envelope, sealed it, and just as expected Linden appeared. The bird swooped from the ceiling and grabbed the letter. He didn't wait for Harry to tell him where to go, he just flew right out through the wall. Harry was thoroughly impressed by how quickly Linden adapted to being able to go through solid objects.
"Well, that was rather spectacular! I've never seen anything quite like that."
Surprised, Harry jerked his head to the entrance of the room. In the doorway was Aleta, she was knitting and didn't stop even while walking into the room and sitting on a chair. Harry was nervous so he wasn't the first to break the silence. He instead took in her appearance. She had a bag hanging from her arm near her elbow. The bag was large and made from canvas. Peaking out of the bag, there were three thin but large books. Her dress reminded Harry of Aunt Petunia in style, but the color was a bright sunflower yellow, a color that Harry could never imagine his aunt wearing. She had her tied up in a fancy up-do and also had a giant smile.
Seeing that Harry wasn't going to say anything (probably because she hadn't asked any questions), she sat down in Cosme's chair.
"Good morning, Harry. Right on time. So why don't you sit down and we will start with what you have already learned? Then I will see if I can fill the gaps." She then tucked her knitting into the bag and pulled out of the books. It was thicker than the other ones that he could see sticking slightly out of the bag.
Harry sat down in his normal seat and talked about the last school year and all he could remember. He was embarrassed to talk about it since he had long since stopped caring about school. Harry started school happy and eager to learn, but after the first report card where he did better than Dudley, he changed. The Dursleys were angry and he learned quickly that school wasn't worth the effort.
Aleta didn't shame Harry for not knowing a lot and he slowly relaxed as the lesson went on. She opened the book that was resting on her lap. It was titled 'The Tales of Beetle the Bard'. At first, the book was just used for examples. She talked about reading levels, sentence structures, and spelling and pointed at different words and sentences to demonstrate. It was a bit overwhelming after taking a break from school, but they took it nice and slow.
Harry even found himself enjoying it even when he was told to read aloud from a book. The book was easy for Harry to read and he thought that the stories were weird. He couldn't help but think that school would have been far more fun if it was like this.
Fortunately, after about an hour they took a break. She closed the book and took a deep breath, "Harry you are doing great. Thank you for your effort. I know that it must be difficult to be in a new home surrounded by new people, but you seem to be handling it like a champ.
Harry smiled a bit shyly and nodded at her, "Thank you, Aleta. You're a really good teacher and I like it here. After our break, we are moving to math, right?"
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and Harry noticed that her earrings looked like a sunflower, "Yes, so before we get to math. I want you to walk around during our break. If you sit for too long then the chair will eat you."
As if to demonstrate the fear, she stood. She walked over to the desk in the corner and began pulling out supplies.
Harry wasn't sure if she was joking, but he quickly stood. "May I use the restroom? I will be real quick."
"Of course, Harry. You don't have to ask, just let me know when you have to go." She waved him off and kept pulling out supplies.
He acknowledged her words but walked at a rapid pace. He was not going to be accused of lollygagging. Rushing back, Harry was a bit excited to see what was going to happen next after math lessons. Unlike the lessons with Aleta, they were not labeled with a topic, but just labeled 'Jimmy'.
Sitting back down, Aleta and Harry focused on math. Math was a class that Harry usually had to put extra effort to not pay attention to. Numbers made too much sense and if he paid too much attention then it would be too easy to get in trouble with the Dursleys. Harry must have gotten too good at ignoring his math teachers because he was struggling to focus on Mrs. Aleta. He endured as best as he could, but half of his mind was wondering if Jimmy was going to teach him more about the goblins or maybe he was going to learn about wizarding history.
It was close to the end of the lesson, but there was still about twenty minutes left. Aleta put her pen down. She had just finished writing out a multiplication problem. She chuckled, "I can see that we are done for the day." Harry felt a flash of fear at the words, but she quickly followed it up with, "No worries, we'll just continue tomorrow. Jimmy will meet you in the arboretum."
Sitting there, Harry thought that doing this every weekday wouldn't be too bad. Harry stood and went to meet Jimmy in the arboretum. Being outside would be nice.
The arboretum was well lit and the day looked like it was going to be clear. At the table, Jimmy sat on one side but didn't have books with him. Instead, he had a cylindrical leather case that had two buckles on the front of it and a handle. Walking closer, Jimmy caught sight of Harry.
"Great, this might feel a bit rushed but it's not because of you. The only time I have during the week to teach you is right before lunch or else I'll lose too much business." He said this all with a smile so Harry wasn't too worried about Jimmy.
"I am sure that you noticed that there wasn't a subject next to my name. That's on purpose, unlike Aleta, I get to teach you whatever I want. Since I'm American, I know more history than most of the locals so that's what we're going to start with."
Harry wasn't sure how much like school the lessons were going to be like so he tentatively raised his hand.
Jimmy chuckled, "You don't have to raise your hand if you have a question. What's up?"
"Why does being American mean you know more history?"
"Good question. The only wizarding school in Britain has a ghost for a history teacher and before you get excited, the only thing that he's good for is to help you get closer to the afterlife by being bored to death."
Harry's first thought about a ghost teacher was how he graded assignments, but he guessed that some people would think it could be cool. But, there was one other thing, "Even so wouldn't you only know American History and not British history?"
"Well some of the most famous wizards in American history are British and so we focus a lot on British history as well."
And with that, Jimmy began teaching him about what was known about the founding of Hogwarts.