They arrived at the far end of the market, and the pair both shook the soot off. Gran took her scarf off, gave it a shake, and put it into her shoulder bag. "Very good. Now, where would you like to start?"
That question was rhetorical, as Gran knew that Vivi wasn't overly familiar with her surroundings. She had been to Diagon Alley a few times with Gran or Papa, picking up books for Mum or ingredients from the Apothecary, but those occasions were few and far in between.
Gran took out Vivienne's Hogwarts letter, and said, "Well, why don't we start right here at Ollivander's?"
All of a sudden, everything felt very real, and she thought that it was too soon to go to Ollivander's. That was for when she felt more like a Hogwarts student, more like a witch, like Gran and Mum. They barely used magic as it was at home, did she really need a wand? However, Gran was leading the way, and Vivienne hurried to keep up.
The little bell tinkled above the door, and she felt much better after she took in her surroundings. There was no one at the front tending the shop, so Gran settled herself into the small chair in the front corner, and Vivienne stood looking around the shop. It was dusty, and full of slim boxes, shoved all kinds of which way in the shelves behind the counter. This wasn't too bad.
She was looking intently at some of the opened boxes on the counter, but she felt something watching her. When she looked back up, she gasped loudly when she saw a pair of big, clear eyes looking back at her.
"Hello," the man said. "Welcome to Ollivander's. I am Mr. Ollivander."
Vivienne took a moment to catch her breath before she replied. "Hello Mr. Ollivander. My name is Vivienne Beaumont."
"Vivienne, what a beautiful name. I think you are here to buy your first wand?"
She swallowed, but replied, "Yes Mr. Ollivander, I am."
"Well then, let's get some measurements." He said, turning to his shelves as he flicked his own wand over a tape measure, which leapt up and started measuring across her shoulders. "Which is your wand hand?"
"Left," she said as the tape measure repositioned itself.
"Hum," Mr. Ollivander said, pulling boxes. "Your mother was a Cypress, I believe."
He had five boxes on the counter before he was pleased enough, and flicked his wand again to call off the tape measure. "Let's start with this one. Willow, unicorn hair, ten and a half inches."
Vivienne tentatively picked it up, not knowing what to expect. She held it, and it felt… like nothing special.
"Go ahead and give it a wave dear."
She did as she was told, giving it a flick. She wished she hadn't, because it didn't do anything. Feeling foolish, she put it back down on the counter.
"No worries, let's try this one. Ash, dragon heartstring, eleven and a quarter."
She tried that one and nearly set its box on fire. Next was a cypress, like her mother's apparently, with a phoenix feather, which resulted in a puddle of water to form on the floor. She tried another and another, until Mr. Ollivander patiently handed her another.
"I have a good feeling about this one. Rowan, dragon heartstring. This heartstring came from a Ukrainian Ironbelly, and paired with the rowan wood, this will be a strong wand, capable of special things. Twelve inches exactly."
Vivienne thought that she might cry, she was so frustrated. She thought that if she had such a hard time matching with a wand, maybe she shouldn't be a witch after all.
She picked it up, expecting more of the same, but she immediately felt different. It felt right in her hand, and she took heart when she waved it. With the wave came a long garland of wildflowers, and Vivienne spun in a circle until the end fell to the floor and the string of them burst into puffs of golden dust.
"How wonderful," Mr. Ollivander said, and she thought his big eyes might have started to mist up. "Beautiful, truly beautiful."
"Thank you so much," she replied, handing it back to him to box back up.
"I want to impart one more thing to you, Miss Beaumont. I meant it when I said that this wand will be a powerful tool. Newt Scamander himself delivered the heartstring to me. It came from a mighty Drangoness, and I hope that you use her spirit to do noble things."
"I will Mr. Ollivander, I promise," she said, feeling the need to make him believe her. "I'm so grateful for this wand."
"I believe you, my girl," he said, handing her box to her. "I believe you."
Gran paid for the wand and thanked Mr. Ollivander before they both walked out of the shop and back out into the street.
"Well, how do you feel?" Gran asked, also indicating that they should keep moving along the path.
"I thought I was never going to find the right one," Viviene said, clutching the box closer to her body.
"Well, you know, it's not the witch that picks the wand, but the wand that picks the witch."
"You think that my wand picked me?"
"That's what they say," Gran said with a shrug. "Either way, I heard that it took your Papa a long time to find his wand too, so don't feel left out."
Vivi chuckled, thinking about how her grandfather must have had a really hard time when it was time for him to go to school. He grew up in Belgium, and Papa joked that his witch mother 'forgot' to mention anything about it to his muggle father. Papa had essentially grown up as a muggle child, until his Beauxbaton admittance.
They didn't get much further when Gran grabbed Vivienne's arm, pulling her into an abrupt stop in the middle of the sidewalk. Vivienne looked around for the danger that must have prompted the sudden stop, but didn't see any.
"Are you ok Gran?" She asked.
She didn't respond for a moment, but then finally said, "Yes, I'm sorry dear, I'm just fine."
"Cora? Cora Beaumont, is that you?"