Not even a whole week after the first garden party, on a fine July morning, Harry was sitting at breakfast and stuffing his face with bacon when the morning post appeared at the end of the table. Alduin took it, as usual, and shuffled through letters to see which were for him and which were for other members of the household. Suddenly he paused, and with a glint in his eye, handed one of the missives to Harry.
It was the Hogwarts letter.
The boy actually squealed with excitement a little, and both of his cousins laughed. He examined the seal with the Hogwarts crest carefully before breaking it and looking at the letter. "This is so cool," he said, taking out the equipment list. Then he raised his eyes to Alduin and asked: "Can we go shopping? Please, please can we go? I want to finally have my own wand!"
Both adults laughed again. "Yes, Harry, of course we can go," Alduin said. "Just let us finish breakfast first!"
They set out within half an hour, and Harry couldn't help feeling that he had never been so happy in his life.
He was walking down the Diagon Alley with Alduin and his wife, to whom his cousin had offered his arm as soon as the gateway to the alley opened. It was a beautiful summer day, there was a light breeze playing with their thin robes, and Alexandra's wide-brimmed hat she wore to protect against the sun looked so impressive. Harry's and Alduin's were smaller, but they were enough to prevent the light from shining into their eyes too brightly as they looked around the shops.
"Can I get the wand first?" Harry asked.
"No," his cousin replied, "first, we are going to Gringotts."
"The bank? Why?"
"I recently got the key from your vault from Dumbledore. I think it's time you saw the finance at your disposal for yourself."
They reached the white marble steps, and Harry tried not to be too obvious as he stared at the goblins. He had seen them before, from a distance, but from up close they were even more interesting, and it took a slight clearing of Alduin's throat to remind him of his manners and help his tear his eyes away.
Alduin talked to one of the goblins behind the counter, giving Harry more opportunity to stare, and then there was an epic ride in a little trolley – it was what he imagined Muggle amusement parks were like – and his vault was opened, and..."Whoa!" Harry let escape, covering his mouth with his hands, shooting Alduin a guilty look. He knew one was supposed to treat any amount of money one had as completely normal and bellow one's regard, but seriously, this room was packed with gold!
Alduin smiled a little. "Take some of this if you want," he said. "I will obviously pay for your school supplies, but I won't be giving you any pocket money – since the entire purpose of that is ensuring that children have some money of their own, and you already have that – so take something for your personal expenses."
Harry wanted to argue, but knew it would be extremely bad manners in front of the goblin, so he just said: "How much do you think I should take?"
"For your first year, I think a hundred galleons should be more than enough. If you run out, we can stop by here during Christmas break."
Harry counted a hundred golden coins into the bag his cousin handed him and left the vault in a very pensive frame of mind. Alduin took one look at him and told the goblin: "Now take us to the Travers vault, if you please."
The bank employee frowned. "You did not indicate you wanted to visit that when you were at the counter. Your identity needs to be verified first, then you can come back."
Alduin hesitated, then nodded and the entire procedure was repeated, until they arrived to his own family vault. There, Harry watched in fascination as the door disappeared under the goblin touch. "What would happen if someone else tried this?" He asked.
"It would suck him in," the bank employee replied. "We would come over to get him out...eventually."
His curiosity satisfied, the boy now looked inside. He managed to control his reaction this time, but his eyes were very wide when he turned to Alduin. The man took some little money from the vault to justify the visit, and then they returned to the surface.
Once they were outside the bank, Alduin cast a privacy spell around them and said: "I wanted you to see my vault, Harry, to help you understand that I was certainly not depriving myself of anything by paying for your school things."
"But...I mean...why would you do it? If I can pay for it myself?"
Alduin raised his eyebrows. "If you received inheritance from a grandmother, for example, do you think your parents, were they alive, would let you pay for your things with that money? If they had enough of their own?"
Harry had to consider this for a moment. And to imagine what the Dursleys would do with Dudley. "Well, I guess not," he said at length, "but..."
"I'm your cousin and guardian, Harry, not a paid caretaker. Besides, you will need a lot of money to rebuild Potter Manor one day. You'd better save up for that."
Harry frowned. "Should I have taken this much money, then?"
Alduin smiled. "Do not worry about it. There is plenty for a reconstruction left, you do not have to limit yourself in what sweets and comics you buy. It's only if you were planning to buy a new racing broom or a house or something that you should consider these matters carefully. And now, do you want to start with the wand? What parts of the equipment do you want to buy in person? Apart form the wand, we can owl-order everything, but I assumed you might want to have a hands-on experience in your first Hogwarts shopping."
"You bet!" Harry took out the equipment list and looked it over. "I don't need to buy the robes in person," he said. "All the rest, I would like to – I mean, it wouldn't matter about the books, but I want to see if they have something new and interesting in the shop."
"Very well then. Let us go to Ollivander's."
"Ollivander's? The wandmaker is related to your friend Mr. Mercurius?" Harry asked curiously as they set out down the street.
"Yes. Mr. Garrick is Mercurius' first cousin twice removed – his grandfather's cousin. It's a family business."
"So the Ollivanders know how to make wands?" Harry had never heard anything like that mentioned during any of the visits. In fact, he had been under the impression that Mr. Mercurius was interested in healing, and his sister in charms.
"Not all of them," Alduin clarified, "though they know more about it than the average person. But the craft is traditionally practiced by side branches of the family – Mercurius' great-great-grandfather was one of the few exceptions. It depends, of course, on who inherits the talent."
"Do you need some sort of special power to make wands?" Harry asked curiously.
"Not precisely, but you do need to be very sensitive to magical energies, so the one who went into wand-making was usually the one who had the most sensitivity of the new generation. It's been passing from father to son for the last three generations, but that's more an exception than a rule."
Harry mused on this for a moment. "Have I seen this wand-making Mr. Ollivander somewhere, at a party or something?" He asked then.
"No. He is usually asked to the bigger gatherings, but he hardly ever comes. Social events bore him, I believe. He is fully engulfed in his work. You will understand when you see him."
They were approaching the shop now, and curious, Harry pushed the door open. An old man was standing behind the counter, and raised his head when he heard the bell.
"Oh!" He said. "Alduin Travers and Alexandra Burke – or I should say Mr. and Mrs. Travers now, shouldn't I? Welcome!"
"Good morning," Alduin replied. "I see you have kept up to date with the gossip, even though you never attend anything personally."
"I still see my own family, you know, and Mercurius mentions you from time to time. And this must be your cousin and ward, Mr. Potter!"
"Good morning," Harry said politely.
"Good morning to you, Mr. Potter." He stepped from behind the counter and approached the Traverses. "And how are your wands? Everything in perfect order?" He focused on Alduin. "Dragon heartstring, fir, eleven and half inches, am I right?"
Alduin smiled. "You know very well you are. And yes, thank you for asking, it works perfectly."
"I am glad to hear it. And yours, Mrs. Travers? Elm, dragon heartstring, ten and three-quarters inches, isn't it? A noble combination."
"I'm perfectly satisfied with it still, thank you for asking."
"I assume you are here to get a wand for Mr. Potter, then." Finally, he turned his eyes to the boy. "I remember you parents very well, you know," he said, "or rather, the wands I sold them. Your mother's was ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow and a phoenix feather, good for charms. Your father's, on the other hand, was mahogany and dragon heartstring, eleven inches, excellent for transfiguration."
"What are my cousins' wands good for?" Harry asked curiously.
"They are both very good dueling wands. Mrs. Burke's is also handy for charms. And now, let us see what your wand is going to be like, Mr. Potter!"
The wandmaker started to measure him in various unexpected ways. "Can you tell what wand I'm going to have based on my measurements?" Harry asked curiously.
"Not precisely," the old man replied. "It only gives me statistical probabilities. Knowing your parents' wand is important too. I have to narrow down what I offer you in some manner, because I have hundreds of wands here. But I think I have enough to work with for the moment...yes...try this one."
Harry took the wand offered to him, full of excitement, but to his great disappointment, nothing happened. He shot a questioning look to Alduin, who said: "Apparently, not this one."
So he tried another and another, and another one after that. It went on and on, and his frustration must have shown in his face, because Alduin came closer to him and said: "Don't worry. It is normal to take a while."
"I believe I was here for over an hour before Mr. Garrick Ollivander found the combination that was just right for me," Alexandra added.
"I would say almost certainly so, yes," the wandmaker agreed. "You were a tricky customer, and you husband's ward is proving to be just the same...but I have an idea...oh, yes, why not...unusual combination — holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."
Harry took it, and immediately smiled.
"Do you feel anything?" Alduin asked.
"Yes, sort of...warmth."
"Excellent! Now wave it, if you will," Mr. Garrick Ollivander directed him, and Harry obligingly did, only to give a small cry of surprise as a shower of red and gold sparks flew out of it.
Alduin grimaced. "Congratulations," he said.
"You don't look too happy," Harry observed.
"It is just that I can see you are a Gryffindor through and through. But, well, that was to be expected."
"Did you get blue and bronze sparks?" Harry wondered.
"No," his cousin replied. "Silver and bronze."
"Your cousin's wife did have blue ones, though," the wandmaker remembered.
"Yes, blue and silver."
"I'm curious to hear what Draco will have," Harry said. "To hear him talk, you would expect him to get green and silver, exactly in the shades of the Slytherin crest."
His cousins laughed. Mr. Garrick was concentrating on Harry's wand, though, muttering: "Curious...very curious..."
"The holly and phoenix feather combination is bound to be rather unstable, isn't it?" Alduin asked.
"That's not what I meant – I took care of that when I made the wand. No, it is simply that it so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in Mr. Potter's wand, gave another feather — just one other. It is very curious indeed that he should be destined for this wand when its brother — why, its brother gave him that scar."
Harry stared. Alexandra raised her eyebrow, and Alduin asked: "You mean that Riddle's and Harry's wands have twin cores? That might come in handy one day."
"Yes, certainly so. Nevertheless, it is curious."
Alduin shrugged, and told Mr. Garrick to bill the wand to his Gringotts account. They went to shop for the rest of Harry's list, but he couldn't get the visit at Ollivander's out of his head, for more than one reason.
"I was surprised to hear about your wand," he said to Alduin at lunch. "I wouldn't have expected that combination. I mean, dragon heartstring and made for dueling...it makes you sound...I don't know, really dangerous."
Alduin only smiled, but Alexandra laughed that light laugh of hers. "Do not be deceived by his calm exterior, Harry," she said, "he can be very dangerous."
Alduin gave her what seemed like a reproving look, and then commented equally lightly: "At least I don't hide behind a facade of charm like some people."
"It's true, you have dragon heartstring and dueling too, don't you? Have you ever? Dueled, I mean? I can't imagine it!"
Alexandra raised one eyebrow. "And why is that?"
"I dunno, it just seems so...undignified, or something. I just can't imagine you getting riled up about something enough to actually pull your wand out." Alexandra, he was convinced, would just laugh at everyone.
"There can be other reasons for dueling, Harry," she replied with an enigmatic smile, but then she said: "You speaking about Draco earlier gave me an idea. What would you say to an afternoon party for all the future Hogwarts first years from the Ancient families? In a few days? You could talk about the upcoming year to you heart's pleasure."
"All of them?"
She sighed. "Yes, even Ronald," she said. "It being this sort of party, we could ask only him, so that makes it less impossible."
"In that case, yes, absolutely! It would be great!"
"Then I will arrange it after lunch. And start thinking about what you want to do for your birthday, too."
Going out to fly in the afternoon, Harry thought about how much had changed in the house after Alexandra moved in. It was gradual, but very definite. She was a real lady of the manor. For some reason he had expected her to be almost as passive as he was, and Alduin to just continue running everything, but it seemed that, on the contrary, Alduin withdrew from domestic business almost entirely and left it to his wife. Harry supposed it made sense and he should have expected it, but Alexandra had just always looked like someone who could never be bothered with something so mundane. Then again, she also made it seem so very easy when she talked to the house-elves. She even planned a big garden party like it was a mere unimportant idea that occurred to her on the way to something bigger, or so it seemed to Harry. And after all, maybe it was accurate – he was sure that, compared to the things she normally thought about, arranging a party was childishly simple, in spite of how many things he had seen her taking care of as she prepared it, and how complicated it therefore seemed to him.
He thought again about what had been said at lunch. Could she really be dangerous? He remembered her as she had been at the wedding again. That woman he could imagine giving a regal order to have someone executed, but that was all. No, Alduin must have been making fun of her.
As for the matter of him having a similar wand as Riddle, Harry wondered if it should bother him. He had no idea what it meant, but Alduin seemed to think that it was useful, if anything, so he decided to put it out of his mind for now.