On Tuesday, October 12, 2021, James finally set Bryce, Dansby, Patrick, and Lily loose and allowed them to attempt to make wands for the first time.
"Do you all have all of your materials with you?" James asked Bryce, Dansby, Patrick, and Lily.
"Yes," chorused Bryce, Dansby, Patrick, and Lily and they each dug into their school bags and retrieved three bottles of potion, as they had each brought a bottle of Temperament Potion carrying the magical cores they were to use, a bottle of Strengthening Potion carrying the woods they were to use, and a bottle of Cooling Potion for the end of the process. They all also got out their cauldrons and tongs. Bryce, Dansby, Patrick, and Lily then all retrieved their wands from their right hand pockets with their right hands. They set all their materials down on their desks.
"Excellent, " piped up James approvingly, "Did you all remember to put your woods in your Strengthening Potions at least ten hours ago and your cores in your Temperament Potions at least five hours ago?"
"Indeed," replied Bryce, Dansby, Patrick, and Lily in unison.
"I'm very proud of you all," smiled James, "It's good to see you all handle that responsibility successfully. Now, because supervision is important early on, I'm going to have each of you make a wand one at a time. Now, Lily, I know you normally volunteer to go last in anything and everything, but today I would like to have you go first. It would mean the world to me if my beloved sister was the very first of my students to ever make a wand."
"I understand," said Lily quietly, "I'll go first today, for you."
"Thank you, Lily," said James gratefully.
Lily calmly uncapped her Temperament Potion and pulled out a phoenix feather. She then opened her Strengthening Potion and ejected a block of cedar wood.
"As you all know,' said Lily sadly, "We recently lost Professor Flitwick. His wand was cedar, ten inches, phoenix feather core. As a tribute in the loving memory of Filius Flitwick, I will be making a ten inch cedar wand with phoenix feather core.
Bryce, Dansby, Patrick, and James all felt their eyes water at that.
It became rather quiet as Lily placed her phoenix feather down in the center of her desk.
Picking up her wand, Lily pointed it at the block of cedar and cried, "Detachio!"
Unfortunately, twelve inches of cedar managed to detach themselves.
""You weren't locked in enough because of your emotions," said James gently. This was not the time to be too critical. The emotion of the moment was understandable.
Lily took a few deep breaths and told herself, "Focus, Lily, focus, think of nothing else except a ten inch strip of cedar wood. "
After a few more minutes and a few more nanoseconds, Lily tried again.
"Detachio!" called Lily a second time, once again pointing her wand at her block of cedar wood.
This time, it was true, Lily had herself a ten inch strip of cedar wood.
Realizing she was in the right mindset now, Lily again pointed her wand at the block of cedar wood and called out, "Detachio!" again.
Once again, a ten inch strip of cedar wood detached itself from the cedar block.
Lily placed one ten inch strip of cedar wood on top of the side of her phoenix feather that was nearest to her.
Pointing her wand at it, Lily yelled, "Attachio!"
The attachment process was successful, but what came next was the hard part.
Lily placed the half wand into her cauldron and turned on the heat.
However, the five minute wait brought all her emotions out of her as she thought about the life and death of Filius Flitwick.
Lily thought about Flitwick was the greatest Charms teacher that Hogwarts ever knew, how he'd always been fair and friendly, and the very sad nature of his death.
James was worried that Lily, drowning in emotion, might forget to take the half wand out of the cauldron when five minutes had passed, especially after tears began to flow down her cheeks after three minutes had passed.
This was one reason to have the students do this one at a time, he'd be paying attention to the student's entire process and could intervene if needed should a safety issue arise.
However, Lily, though emotional, proved to be a very responsible student.
Exactly at the five minute threshold, Lily picked up her tongs and lifted the half wand out of the cauldron.
Setting the half-finished wand so that the unfinished side face her, Lily set her other ten inch strip of cedar wood down upon this side of this side of the phoenix feather but did not attempt to attach it right away.
"I need to take a few minutes to calm down, otherwise I will mispeform this Attachment Charm," said Lily wisely.
Returning to the strategy of using deep breaths to calm herself, Lily waited another three minutes and then finally pointed her wand at the side of the wand she needed to attach and called out "Attachio!"
Once again, the Attachment Charm was successful, and once again Lily struggled with her emotions after she'd set the wand in the cauldron. This time she wept the entire five minutes, the heartbreak and sadness obvious on her small and kind face.
Still, she remained attentive enough to pull the wand out of the cauldron at the right nanosecond.
Setting the wand in the middle of her desk with her tongs, Lily pointed her wand at it and screamed "LUMOS MAXIMA!' hysterically.
A large beam of light shot out of the tip of Lily's wand and twenty seconds later they heard the distinctive snapping sound that meant the wand was whole and ready to be cured in Cooling Potion. Lily unscrewed her Cooling Potion and used the tongs the newly made wand into it.
Bryce, Dansby, Patrick, and James all burst into applause.
"Lily, that was outstanding work!" said James proudly, "I'm particularly impressed at the way you took your time to compose yourself and control your emotions when you needed to. You also were very attentive and responsible even through those emotions. "
Lily stood up and brought the Cooling Potion now carrying the wand she'd made up to James's desk.
James smiled as he took his own wand out of his right hand pocket with his right hand and placed and Anti-Theft Charm on the Cooling Potion.
Meanwhile, Bryce, Dansby, and Patrick had all packed up their things and left.
James and Lily knew at once why they had, and they were extremely grateful.
Between the significance of Lily being the first of James's students to make a wand, and the fact that this wand was a tribute to Professor Flitwick, Bryce, Dansby, and Patrick all felt that this should be the only wand made on this date.
James and Lily were left in the room to feel each other. They stood side by side at James's desk with the Cooling Potion holding Lily's newly made wand sitting atop the desk. They didn't utter a syllable, but they completely felt each other inside of each other.
For James, it was a proud moment, seeing Lily be the first of his students to make a wand and seeing her do it successfully.
For Lily, it was a proud moment as well, knowing how she'd been the first of James's students to make a wand, what that meant to her, and who she'd honored.
There was a tent of sadness mixed in, but more than anything, it was just pure emotion.
James feeling Lily and Lily feeling James.
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