Lily felt unusually nervous as she entered James's Wandmaking classroom for the first time.
"Wandmaking is a new subject at Hogwarts, " thought to herself.
The butterflies in her stomach intensified as it sank on her that she was part of a class that was making history.
She saw James sitting in a black chair at a black mahogany desk. He looked profoundly serious. The look that James's face was now portraying telegraphed to Lily that James was feeling unusually solemn and serious as he embarked on his inaugural journey of being Professor Potter.
Looking around to see which other students she would sharing this class with, Lily's eyes observed that she was the only girl in the class.
That was more of a random fact that anything else to Lily, what interested her far more was the fact that each house had EXACTLY one student from the year in this Wandmaking Class: Bryce Finnigan of Ravenclaw, Dansby Thomas of Hufflepuff, and a tall and chubby Slytherin boy with black hair and black eyes Lily hadn't had the opportunity to speak with yet but knew by name and sight as Patrick Dawson.
There were four induvial sized black mahogany desks with black chairs under them sitting in a row a few feet behind James's desk.
Bryce, Dansby, and Patrick were sitting in the second, third, and fourth desks from the leftmost wall respectively, so Lily found herself a seat at the leftmost desk.
"Ah, " said James warmly, "Welcome to Hogwarts first ever Wandmaking class. My name is James Sirius Potter, and I shall be your Wandmaking teacher. You can all just call me James."
Lily smiled.
"Do NOT take out your wands, " said James clearly, "We will not be discussing any of your individual wands today."
Bryce, Dansby, Patrick, and Lily all chorused, "Yes, James."
"Now," said James seriously, "There's something it's particularly important I make clear to all four you from the get-go: I will tend to be more critical than complimentary. If you do something 95% correctly, then I will focus more on the 5% you got wrong. The bottom line is that truth is always more important than tact, facts are always more important than feelings, and straight forwardness is always more important than sensitivity."
Bryce, Dansby, Patrick, and Lily all nodded in understanding.
Lily then raised her hand.
"Yes, Lily?" asked James.
"Okay, " admitted Lily, "I'm asking this question more as your sister and your friend than as your student, but are you disappointed to only have four students in your Wandmaking class?"
"Not at all, " said James confidently, "That's part of the process of starting a course from its inception. As incoming Hogwarts students are more aware of this class from the nanosecond they set foot in the castle, more of them will become interested in it and choose it as an elective. If I do an excellent job as a teacher, then I'll get a good reputation that will further encourage future students to take my class. I'm actually quite pleased to have a student from every house in this class."
Bryce, Dansby, Patrick, and Lily all smiled up at James.
"You won't be attempting to make wands for a few weeks yet, " said James in a businesslike voice, "I'm going to be taking you through some Wandlore first. I am going to asking you some questions about wands to see what your feel for them is. Please don't answer unless I call upon you. Lily, can you tell us what the key element of a wand is?"
"It's magical core, " answered Lily matter of factly, "I'm guessing that without a magical core, a wand wouldn't be able to channel any magic at all."
In response, James opened on the drawers on his desk and pulled out long strip of beechwood wood.
"This looks like a wand," explained James, "But it does not possess a magical core. "
James pointed this strip of beechwood wood directly at Lily and cried, "Crucio!"
Nothing happened, and Lily gave no indication anything had happened to her.
"I didn't feel anything at all, " said Lily matter of factly.
"This demonstrates that in order to channel magic through a wand, the wand MUST have a magical core. Without its magical core, a wand is just a strip of wood. This is the most fundamentally important fact about Wandlore; wands must be in possession of a magical core to have the ability to channel magic."
Bryce, Dansby, Patrick, and Lily all nodded quietly, informing James that they understood.
"Bryce?" asked James, "Can you tell us how important wand length is?"
"Wand length doesn't really matter that much, " replied Bryce, "I mean, a wand has to be long enough to comfortably hold and not misplace but I doubt wand length has much effect on wand performance."
"Wrong, Bryce, " said James bluntly, "The longer a wand is, the more powerful it is, that's very important."
"I shouldn't be in Ravenclaw, I guess, " said Bryce dejectedly.
"Yes, you should, " said Lily sharply, "We're all learning from the beginning here. There's no shame in not knowing everything right away. The reason James is asking us these questions is because he wants to know how much we either know or can figure out, but there's no shame in being unaware of facts about a subject you're tackling for the first time. Bryce, I remember from partnering you in Potions how alert and intelligent you are, and I know you're going to be phenomenally successful in this class."
"Thank you, Lily, " said Bryce brightly. He could not help but feel bolstered by Lily's words of support and encouragement.
"This is exactly why I'm starting with the basics, " said James seriously, "I know I can't take it for granted that any of you know much about this subject. In order to put the four of you in the best position to be successful, I need to make sure you know all the fundamentals. Now, Wands of lengths from five inches to six and three quarter inches are considered "very short" wands. Wands of seven to seven and three quarter inches are considered "short" wands. Wands ranging from eight inches to nine and three quarters inches are deemed average in size. Wands of lengths ten to eleven and three quarters are considered long wands. To be truly "powerful" a wand must be at least ten inches long. The rule in Wandlore is that short = finesse and long = power. Wands of lengths twelve to thirteen and three quarter inches are considered very long wands. Any wand of at least fourteen inches is dubbed an ultra-long wand."
"It's really a case of more length more power then?" piped up Bryce.
"Yes, " confirmed James, "Dansby, can you tell me whether a witch or wizard can use a wand that has not chosen him or her?"
"No, " said Dansby instantly, "Ollivander was clear when I got my wand that the wand chooses the wizard."
"Incorrect, " said James bluntly, "Any person who is any witch or wizard at all can channel his or her magic through any instrument. HOWEVER, and this is a very big however, the BEST results can only come when a wand and witch or wizard are paired correctly, which comes from a witch or wizard using a wand that has chosen him or her. In wandlore, wand-witch/wizard matches that are good pairings are said to be compatible."
I guess I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, " said Danby, shaking his head.
"Danby, it was complete reasonable for you to believe what you believed given what Ollivander had told you and your inexperience in Wandlore, " said Lily gently, "Keep your head up, Dansby, there's no reason you can't get the hang of this class as it progresses."
Dansby gave Lily a thumbs up and warm smile, looking more comfortable.
"Patrick, " called James, "What are the three main components of a wand"?
"The core, the length, and the texture," supplied Patrick.
"Two thirds right, " said James matter of factly, "The full correct answer is the core, the length, and the wood. Texture doesn't matter much in Wandlore and doesn't affect wand performance."
"But?" wondered Patrick, "Doesn't it matter that brittler wands would be easier to break?"
"No correctly made wand can be broken by hand and you'll why that is as this class moves forward, " said James in businesslike voice, "Over our next three classes, I' going to be teaching you about the different cores used in Wandmaking, the different woods used in Wandmaking, and the Wandmaking process. You will get the chance to attempt to make wands yourselves for the very first time in our fifth class meeting."
Bryce, Dansby, Patrick, and Lily all shouted "AWESOME!" in eager voices in response to that.
Bryce, Dansby, Patrick, and Lily all also sensed an unspoken bond forming between them.
The historical significance of being in this class was not lost on Bryce, Dansby, Patrick, and Lily.
With a few minutes of classtime to go, James said, "Bryce, Dansby, Patrick, and Lily I'm happy to have the four of you in my class. We'll pick up the pace more and get into more interesting stuff over the next few lessons. But it was super important that I started you all out with the fundamentals of wands. Now, I'll let you go now. See you on Thursday. "
Bryce, Dansby, Patrick, and Lily all walked out of the classroom grinning and beaming at each other.
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