On Monday, October 19th, 2020 at 11 p.m. Hogwarts time, James had another Wandmaking session with Olivander in the History of Magic classroom.
"Mr. Olivander, " said James firmly when he walked into the classroom, "Tonight I am making a replica of my brother Albus's wand to give to him as a gift of brotherly love. My relationship with Albus is complicated and I do not wish to discuss its history with you."
"I respect that, Mr. Potter, as a teacher, private lives of my students are none of my business. It's your right to choose not to talk about your personal issues with me if you don't want to, " answered Olivander respectfully.
"Do know that Albus and I have become much closer brothers recently and I wish to make a replica of Albus's wand to give him as a gift of brotherly love," said James warmly.
"Good call, Mr. Potter," said Olivander approvingly, "Twelve inches, cedar and unicorn hair, stiff. I don't have any cedar wood here so you will need to use Transfiguration on an existing block of wood in order to obtain cedar wood."
This was a first in James's Wandmaking lessons, but he was glad it had come up.
"I need to get my feet wet with idea of sometimes having to transfigure wood in the Wandmaking process," said James matter of factly, "It can only be good for me that this issue has come up early on in my lessons."
Olivander nodded in agreement and then absentmindedly opened a bottle of Strengthening Potion and pulled out a random block of wood. This random block of wood turned out to be willow and James pointed his wand at the willow block and performed Transfiguration.
Next nanosecond, the formerly willow block of was perfectly 100% cedar.
"Great job, Mr. Potter, I can see why you got that O+ in your Transfiguration O.W.L." said Olivander happily,
"I'm awesome at Transfiguration!" bragged James, "I'm better at Transfiguration than Ainsley Cochlain and that's saying something."
Truthfully, no one was better than Ainsley at Transfiguration. James was just as good though. But he couldn't pass up on opportunity to heap significant praise on himself in front of a legend like Olivander.
"Indeed, Mr. Potter you are a Transfiguration prodigy," said Olivander, now handing James a piece of unicorn hair he had taken out of a bottle of Temperament Potion while James had been transfiguring his block of wood from willow to cedar.
James set the piece of unicorn hair aside for the nanosecond and pointed his wand at his cedar block.
"Detachio!" cried James.
A strip of cedar of exactly twelve inches detached itself from the block and James repeated the process with the same results to obtain a second twelve inch strip of cedar.
"Piece of cake," smirked James.
"Cedar is a pretty easy wood to work with in Wandmaking," explained Olivander, "You'll find unicorn hair easier to work with than dragon heartstring but harder to work with than phoenix feather."
"Got it," said James simply.
James set one of his cedar strips atop the unicorn hair on the side nearest him and cried "Attachio."
Some motion of the cedar occurred but no attachment to the unicorn hair took place. James kept trying and on his fourth attempt the cedar did attach itself to the unicorn hair. This was a far cry from his instant success with phoenix feather but better than the seven attempts it had taken him to nail down dragon heartstring.
"Just like I said," Olivander reminded James, "Unicorn hair is easier to work with than dragon heartstring but harder to work with than phoenix feather."
"True," agreed James, "But my goal is to be nail all three on my first try by the end of the year. That is what the profession I hope to embark on next year demands of me."
"You'll get there," said Olivander confidently.
James now took the step of heating his half done wand on the cauldron on high heat for five minutes.
When it came time to repeat the process, James's required attempts to attach the wood to the unicorn hair dropped from four to three.
"Oh bravo!" beamed Olivander, "You're making quick progress."
"Yes!" smiled James, "I'm getting better already. I'll be a true master of all Wandmaking before you know it!"
After heating the full wand in the cauldron for five minutes, James used Lumos Maxima to apply the needed light to finish the wand and Olivander set it in a bottle of Cooling Potion as James departed for the evening.
No sibling time was held that night because Albus hadn't been feeling well and had chosen to go to bed early.
James and Lily respected this choice and took some one on one brother-sister time in James's room watching the 2005 film The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe on James's DVD player.
Per usual, Olivander allowed James to use Wednesday, October 21st to write to the recipient of James's gift replica wand and gave James a brown bag to carry it in.
Fortunately, Albus felt much better by Wednesday night and the three Potters were definitely having sibling time that night. James had also informed Lily that he had made a replica of Albus's wand on Monday night and would be presenting it to him before their sibling time that night.
When he was settled into a seat at the desk, James wrote:
Dear Albus:
Albus, in my most recent Wandmaking escapade, I made a replica of your wand to give as a gift to you. Each of my gift replica wands has a different meaning behind it. My gift to Lily of a replica of her wand was meant to inspire and motivate. My gift to Amy of a replica of her wand was meant to express appreciation and emotion. My gift to you of replica of your is intended as a gift of brotherly love. After dad's visit to Hogwarts, I asked myself what I could do to be a better brother to you in a moving forward kind of way. Like dad, mom, and Pamela, I concluded the best way I could be a better brother to you was to allow you to feel more love from me. I wasn't sure how to go about that, but the sibling time sessions provided a natural opportunity for us to bond and for obvious reasons Amy's surgeries on us brought us closer together than ever. I present you a gift of a replica of my wand as a gesture of brotherly love in the hope that it will endure in your heart as an object of love. I don't question the past but I am 1000% committed to being the most loving brother I can possibly be for the rest of our lives and it was this love that fueled me to make you a gift replica of your wand. May this gift born from love fill your heart with the feeling of my love for all eternity.
Sincerely, with love in brotherhood.
James.
At midnight, James met with Albus and Lily in the Gryffindor Common Room.
James pulled the brown paper bag out of his right hand pocket and handed it to Albus.
Lily looked on with a radiant smile on her face as Albus opened the bag and discovered the replica of his wand and James's letter to him.
Lily lifted the replica of her wand that James had previously made for her out of its bag and into the air with her right hand.
Noticing this, Albus simultaneously raised the replica of his wand that James had just presented into the air with his right hand.
Both Albus and Lily continued to hold their replica wands in the air and smiled at each other and James.
Finally, Albus spoke up.
"James," said Albus emotionally, "It means more to me than I can you tell you that you would include me on the list of replica wand recipients. It is precious that you would put both time and effort into making me such a gift. This replica of my wand will now forever be a cherished possession of mine. I will let it serve as a permanent symbol and reminder of the genuine love that you have for me. Ever since you and Lily recovered from Magical Core Depletion Virus with donor cores from me, I have felt love from both of you in a way that is indescribable. I was starting to feel that love you talked about in your letter more and more as we had more and more sibling time together after dad, mom, and Pamela saw to it that the issue of our relationships with each other got the attention it needed. But something happened inside of all of us after Amy's surgeries on us. But I think the reason this replica wand means as much to me as it does is that it represents a feeling of being loved by you just as much you love Lily. Prior to dad's, mom's, and Pamela's intervention, I am guessing that I would not have been on the list of people to receive a replica wand from you. But now, I see that you've made Lily a replica wand and now just two weeks later you've made me one too. This gift really gives me that feeling of being an equal Potter."
James smiled at Albus.
"Albus you are absolutely right," said James honestly, "You were not one of the people on my original list to make replica wands for. After we started our sibling time sessions, I considered adding you to the list. But after our Magical Core Replacement surgeries it became an easy decision to add you to the list and to also bump you towards the front of the line. The best thing that ever happened to all three of us was when Lily and I got Magical Core Depletion Virus. I too have felt that "indescribable love from you and Lily that you just talked about. It means the world to me tonight that I could you present you with that gift"
"And I too have felt that same indescribable love from both of you ever since Amy operated on us," added Lily, "Remember, we are no longer normal siblings. We are siblings who share siblings inside us. There is something special and wonderful about us all having magical cores inside of us that came from the same magical core."
"Albus," said James meaningfully, "I'm really gratified that you have taken my gift of a replica of your wand as a symbol and reminder of my love. That's exactly what I hoped it would represent to you."
"James," said Albus, "I have felt your love more and more recently but tonight when I read your letter and received your gift of a replica of my wand was the moment I truly felt I was the equal of Lily in your eyes."
With Albus and Lily still holding their replica wands in their hands in the air, James picked up Albus in his left hand and Lily in his right hand and held them both above his head.
Still holding both Albus and Lily with just one hand each, James took a jog around the Gryffindor Common Room.
It was a wonderful feeling for both Albus and Lily to share this experience with James. An awesome view provided by their loving brother.
Albus and Lily relished the view from atop their brother. It was the perfect combination of love and beauty.
And it didn't end there. James walked towards the portrait hole and with his hands full and Albus and Lily not in position to help him with the door at the height they were at, James opened the portrait hole with his right shoulder and prowled out onto the grounds with big bro and big sis still soaring on his hands.
James gave Albus and Lily a complete magnificent tour of the Hogwarts grounds.
It was a clear crisp night with a cool breeze, and you could see some stars.
The whole experience gave James, Albus, and Lily amongst the warmest hearts they had ever had. They would NEVER forget tonight.
Seeing the castle, Hagrid's hut, the Quidditch pitch, the courtyard, the Forbidden Forest, and more from this view with James holding them was gorgeously surreal.
James ended the tour by the Black Lake.
Finally setting Albus and Lily down, James pulled his wand out of his left hand pocket, raised it, and cried, "Accio rafts."
Three rafts came zooming towards them.
"Albus, Lily, if you two are okay with it, I'd like to spend our sibling time tonight rafting on the Black Lake," requested James.
"But of course," chorused Albus and Lily in literal unison, "After what you've done for us how could we not grant you the favor of making that choice!"
James, Albus, and Lily all striped themselves naked and each took a raft.
Lily pulled her real wand out of her right hand pocket and cried "Currentify!"
Next nanosecond, a strong current was produced on the Black Lake.
James, Albus, and Lily took off rafting and laughing.
They had so much fun rafting together and were so enjoying the thrill that it was past 3 a.m. before the walked back to Gryffindor Tower and they hadn't had a clue how late it had gotten or how long they'd been on the lake.
And that was okay. They didn't regret it and were sure Harry and Ginny would be pleased that they had taken an extra-long sibling time session.
On this night, James, Albus, and Lily all realized the meaning what had happened.
On this night, they had finally reached that point where as much as they were James, Albus, and Lily, they were equally Potter, Potter, and Potter.