AN: To address the theory mentioned in the reviews from last time, we see that over a hundred years before Harry got his wand, Ollivander's branch location was overfilled and had cobwebs covering the wands. The slow to craft and ego in spades seems to be a long standing 'family tradition'
My Way's the Fun Way
Chapter 6
-Harry-
Stumbling as the world stopped spinning around him, Harry looked around. Beside him, Dean and Hermione were just as disoriented, Headmaster Dumbledore seeming quite amused at their current states.
"Welcome to my old estate." The elderly professor stroked his long beard with a chuckle "I will say, I'm quite eager to see whatever it was you three had prepared for this in advance."
"You'll see." Harry smirked, feeling the bag that had their commissions in them, knowing Hermione and Dean had their own supplies as well.
"What? Not even a hint?" Dumbledore asked with a playful smirk as he led them to the orchard filled with different types of trees.
"It has to do with making our wands." Dean answered with a wide grin as Dumbledore snorted.
"Well, I walked into that one." The headmaster snorted as they reached the orchard, Harry sharing a glance with his friends before they took off in separate directions, all of them eager to find whatever wood would call to them.
He walked deep through the orchard, mostly keeping his eyes closed as he tried to 'open himself' to the magic around him. He felt the wind through his hair, smelt the scent of flowers and bark carried by the breeze.
Pressing a palm against a trunk as he worked to step over a root, Harry paused. The wood under his palm felt unusually warm. It felt powerful. It felt alive.
-Dumbledore-
"So, may I know now what you three brought with you?" Albus smirked as the three students returned, each with limbs from their chosen trees. To his surprise, they'd also set up pots with rich fertilized soil, three of them.
"I gueeeeeees." Harry gave an exaggerated sigh before reaching into his bag and pulling out three strange contraptions. They were the rough size and shape of a wand but hollow, made of flowing lines and swirls in a cage like form.
"Is that…goblin silver?" He inspected the devices confused.
"When we decided to make our own wands, we started looking into anything we could about what materials react with magic." Young Miss Granger spoke up proudly, "And we found out that goblin silver is not only magically reactive, but it helps absorb things that make it stronger. I even read about how it could store magic."
"So, I reached out to Gringotts to commission these once we'd figured out the shapes we wanted." Harry nodded pleased, the answer explaining why the trio had waited till almost Halloween before coming here, "It was a bit pricy but if this works the way we think then it'll be worth it."
"You're aware that Goblins view ownership differently than Wizards?" he cautioned, mind racing as he contemplated the idea of using Goblin Silver and its innate properties as part of a wand.
"We looked into that too." Young Dean Thomas looked very proud of himself, "That's only for completed items. They don't bother if what you commissioned is just a part of something. Since these are just parts of our wands then by their own culture's laws, they can't try to reclaim them."
"But how will you add the wood?" he could see the small hooks that were clearly designed to attach the cores to at the very least.
"We talked to Professor Sprout who taught us a spell to help cause trees to grow quickly the way you want." Harry piped in as he was putting the clipping of the wood he'd collected into the pot, his friends doing the same with their own "The idea was to use the spell to have the wood grow into and over the silver once the cores are secured. Then we could sand down any parts that stick out as needed since the sanding wouldn't hurt the silver."
"Ah, yes I remember that spell." He'd had it used to grow the Whomping Willow back when they'd created that tunnel into the shack for Remus Lupin during his time at Hogwarts, "If you struggle with the growth spell then I can perform that part for you."
"Thanks sir." Harry grinned wider as they got their trimmings set up, "But we need to find our cores first."
"Well, we're in my old Alchemy lab." Albus gestured grandly, "I have several reagents from when I made myself a wand or did my alchemical research in here." With that, he sat back with today's paper, letting the trio explore the collection of bottled and stored reagents, looking for what would react. He was tempted to more closely inspect what wand woods the trio had collected but wanted to let them collect their cores first, get the whole surprise at once. He'd finished the main articles and was halfway through the day's crossword when the three returned.
"Alright, let's see what you three have gotten." He smiled, approaching Miss Granger to help with hers first, "Hmm, Beech wood?" he mused as he glanced at the cutting. If used by a young with or wizard it would only go to one wise beyond their years from what he'd heard. A wand maker he'd met abroad once had told him that when properly matched, a Beech wand was capable of a subtlety and artistry rarely seen in any other woods.
"Yes sir." Hermione smiled bashfully as she pulled out her chosen core, a feather from a Sphinx. A guardian of knowledge and secrets, a fitting choice for the young bibliophile.
"A curious but fitting pair." He smiled at her, helping her carefully secure the feather in the clasps and hooks built into the goblin silver 'wand cage'. Leaving her to secure the frame to the wood cutting for the imminent growth, he moved over to Mr. Thomas next.
"Mine's Ebony." Dean smiled as he showed the cage already with its core secured, "And the core is a Griffin feather."
"Ebony, you say?" Albus chuckled, "You know, they say that an ebony wand is the happiest in the hand of those with the courage to be themselves; those frequently seen as non-conformist and those not swayed lightly from their chosen purpose." He shook his head in mock exasperation, "Why am I not surprised one of you troublemakers would get an ebony wand." The grins the trio gave him were unrepentant.
"Not to mention my core is the best one for a Gryffindor." Dean grinned, clearly enjoying the pun.
Admittedly chuckling about it himself, he approached Harry's, his eyes widening when he saw the combination in question. Young Harry had selected Cherry wood and a dragon heartstring, specifically a Hebridean Black. Cherry wands always created a magical tool of strange power, although they were admittedly more prized in Japan than England. In point of fact many people in his country, mistakenly, believed that the pink blossoms of the living tree would result in a frivolous or ornamental wand which wouldn't be farther from the often-lethal power a Cherry wand was capable of in the right hands. In point of fact, a Cherry wand would always be powerful no matter the core, but when paired with a dragon's heartstring like young Harry had bene then it would result in a focus of truly phenomenal capability.
Shaking himself out of his shock, he shared what he knew of their chosen wand cores and woods with the trio as he made sure all the cores were securely in place before coaching the trio on the proper use of the tree growth spell, taking over only when needed. If the three hoped to make more wands later, either for companions or as a business, it would do for them to get used to such a spell early.
Once the wood had grown enough, the trio broke the growth away and began carefully sanding away the excess wood, revealing the true wand underneath. The gleaming goblin silver stood out against the wood already, so he couldn't wait to see when they were finally done. Pulling out three long tubes, he opened the ends, carefully dropping the wands into the potion inside.
"That's the preserving potion, right?" Miss Granger asked, leaning in to glance at the liquid in question.
"That it is Miss Granger." He nodded, pleased she knew about the step that very few who bothered to make their own wands did. Just putting a magical focus into a bit of wood wasn't enough to make a wand, or else the Goblins who always complained at not having 'wand making secrets' taught to them wouldn't have to make such complaints. No. To truly 'awaken' a wand, the focus had to spend time soaking in a binding potion, to truly bind the innate magics together into a single focus.
"I'd suggest you three carry these with you until its time to bring them out." Albus mused as he returned the three tubes to their respective owners, "Who knows, perhaps that goblin silver will help the wand attune to your magic faster if you're carrying them."
"Um…sir." Harry looked somewhat awkward as he took his tube back, "There's one more thing. When making this it felt…well it felt complete but that it was missing something. Almost imbalanced. Do you know what that means?"
"Imbalanced you say?" he looked surprised, "That's a very rare result my boy. The only witches and wizards I've heard make such comments were the rare individuals who would wield two wands in tandem. If I had to guess, your second wand will be something to balance your first. I assume nothing else you felt here called to you?" Harry shook his head despondently, "Fret not, I'm sure you will find the other wand components eventually. And this one will still work by itself until then."
"Right!" Harry grinned, perking up at that mention.
"Now, you should be able to bring those out of the potion on the morning of the thirty first." Albus checked the date again, grimacing slightly at the anniversary of what it would represent for young Harry. At least this would hopefully be the start of the young man getting happy memories to go with the bad.
AN: So glad I got to finally show the wands! The goblin silver frame thing was an idea I got after playing Hogwarts Legacy and saw the metal able to store magic. I also already have the second wand fully planned out from what he is to when/where he's gonna get it. Been working on planning the wands for the rest of the group too but I'm still deciding on most of the cores for the remaining members as well as still deciding who the group's second Slytherin will be.