[009]

"Huh, neat."

I blinked at the girl.

I had just spent the last thirty minutes explaining my situation. I had described my time at the Dursleys without going into just how bad it was, but Luna had probably seen through me, and had described the annual torture I had gone through which had greatly concerned her yet she had no clues as to the cause though she hesitated before suggesting some sort of curse was involved. I couldn't help but agree with that idea. It had been too regular to be natural.

She had accepted my explanation of my possibly dying and found the idea that I was some sort of amalgamation between two souls be fascinating. She had also accepted the concept of an out-of-context star-wrought Grimoire that divvied out magic from fictional realities (including her own) without even batting an eye.

While the Confession Perk guaranteed that she believed me, it didn't affect how she reacted. So, when I explained the possibility of another, alternate timeline where the Potters died and left only their son Harry who had gone on to experience dangerous adventures every year at Hogwarts her only response was 'Neat.' This girl was something alright.

"The first three years sort of match up." Luna said. "Hermione told me about her encounter with the troll in her first year and about the Professor who died. There were a series of petrifications in my first year and they did mysteriously wrap up by the end of the year. But last year was really quiet; no werewolf professors and no escaped Azkaban prisoners at all."

I frowned. "Did Sirius Black even go to prison?"

Luna shook her head. "No. There was a trial about him killing Peter Pettigrew but James Potter was alive to explain about the secret keeper thing so the murder was determined to be justified."

I couldn't help but shake my head slightly. Justified Vengeance? I'm not saying that I wouldn't have killed Wormtail myself if I was in Sirius' shoes, but the fact that the courts just handwaved lethal vengeance away was just so alien to me.

Luna took on a pondering countenance as she tilted her head and tapped her lips with a finger as she thought. "I'm sure there are other differences yet, as I've not read the books you speak of, I can't point them out. I'll admit the world you describe is oddly simplistic and yet weirdly astute."

I shrugged. It wasn't like I knew what was different other than the obvious. The Potters were alive, my brother was lauded as the Boy-Who-Lived even though I suspected that was still actually me given how my scar had never quite healed. The Goblins were arseholes, the ministry was still corrupt and the quality of education was questionable. There were as many things the same as they were different.

Luna took my silence as an opportunity to change the subject. "Can you still use a wand?"

I… didn't know. "I don't know. The only one I've tried belonged to that Death Eater who had us in the dungeon."

Luna shivered at the memory. "Well, you can try mine but we'll need to go back to Diagon to get you one of your own."

"You… you still want to be around me?" I asked.

She gave me a flat, if still sort of kind, look. "Harry, Holly, whatever you're calling yourself, you saved me from a fate worse than death. I don't think I've even thanked you properly for that."

I went to wave off the need for thanks but she spoke over me.

"I'm not normal. I don't have many friends but the ones I do have… well there's not much I wouldn't do for them." Her eyes were intense even if there was pain hidden in their depth. "And anyway, it seems like fun. I got to eat Royal Flying Elephant jelly from Wonderland." She laughed. "Who knows, you might even find me a crumple-horned Snorkack."

I couldn't help but let out a weak laugh that set Luna off and we ended up both giggling.

I hadn't realised how… alone and out-of-depth I had been feeling. Growing up with the Dursley's had ensured I'd never had any friends or gained any sort of support and I realised that ever since I had awoken in that cupboard, I'd been jumping from one thing to the next without any time to think or any real idea what I was doing. I really need someone, anyone, to help. If Luna was willing to be a rock, then I was going to hold on tight.

"Thanks." I eventually said.

Luna shrugged. "Don't mention it. Though I do want to hear more about this alternate time line with only you as the boy who lived. Did I ever find a Snorkack? Did we date? Who marries who?"

With all of her eccentricates, it was easy to forget that Luna was still a teenage girl at heart. She really hadn't been in the books enough for that to be seen. She only appeared for short moments to act as a sort of calming sounding board for Harry to empathize with and work out his own problems. You saw none of the gossiping and the giggling and only saw the bullying and the quiet sadness. I had a feeling that this Luna had had a better school life than her book counterpart.

"I don't know. The books only covered seven years and then a short epilogue where it only noted the pairing of the golden trio and Draco. If you find a Snorkack after Hogwarts it wasn't mentioned. You and that Harry didn't date but you were sort of friends. Honestly, he could have been a better friend." I admitted. Why on earth did I feel guilty for that Harry's actions?

"Let's see. Harry ended up with Ginny, Ron and Hermione paired up and Draco married some girl who was never mentioned in the story at all." Or at least I couldn't remember Astoria Greengrass ever being mentioned prior to the epilogue.

Luna just stared at me. "Were there love potions involved, because Ronald and Hermione would never work. They're at each other's throats like doxies and pixies."

I grimaced. "It was a common fan theory that potions might have been involved."

"I'm also now very concerned about Ginny." Luna admitted.

"Why?"

"She's had such a crush on James Junior for ages but now I'm not sure if that's because she likes him or just because of his title as the Boy-Who-Lived."

"It might be different here, remember."

Luna nodded. "They have known each other longer. The Potter's and the Weasleys have been friendly long before James Junior started Hogwarts."

I had to tamper down the flare of jealousy. I didn't know why I hadn't been raised with the Potters and wouldn't let myself stew. Still… it didn't look good.

Luna didn't know why I had been excluded from the family and the Goblins had said that James had disinherited me. Just thinking about it brought a sour anger to the back of my throat. I need more time to think about what I was going to do about them. Right now, I just want to shout and lash out. If they did deserve my anger, well… a dish served cold and all that.

I swallowed and decided we had strayed from Luna's suggestion. "The wand shop was called Olivander's right?"

"Mhmm" Luna nodded. "We can go as soon as you're ready."

"Right. Be right back then." I went and fetched the coin purses I had liberated from our kidnappers. They, along with my sabre, had been placed with the trunks that Pixie had filled. I took the moment to open those and have a peek.

The trunks were much larger on the inside than their outside would have suggested and each were filled with various valuables. One, alone, contained more gold and jewels than I could ever imagine actually spending while the others looked to hold the everything else in the manor that hadn't been nailed down. There was a library worth of books, a plethora of odds and ends, a stack of cauldrons and ingredients and lots and lots of linens and silverware along with some antique furniture. I'd trusted Pixie to grab what wasn't cursed yet it looked like she'd looted the place bare. The only thing I could see that was specifically not included were the magical portraits. Which made sense given that they were essentially a pureblood spy network.

Ignoring the assorted loot that I would have to go over in more detail at a later time, I topped up the two purses with gold from the appropriate trunk and then met Luna back in the kitchen, tossing her one of the coin filled pouches as I arrived.

"What's this for?" Luna asked, tiling her head at the hefty but magically not heavy coin purse.

"We both earned the spoils." I replied simply and Luna just shrugged and buried the pouch deep in the wicker basket she was carrying for some reason. I didn't ask but I did have a question before we left.

"I was meaning to ask earlier but where's your father?"

"Daddy? He's on Sentinel Island celebrating the Fertility Rites, he'll be back in a about a week. Just in time to take us to the World Cup."

That only raised more questions than it answered and so I hesitantly asked. "Aren't the people of Sentinel Island cannibals?"

"They only eat muggles, silly." Luna pranced through the kitchen to the overly large fireplace. "The Sentinelese are one of the last magical tribes to remain and they only allow certain magicals to visit, mostly for their Fertility rituals which keep the magic strong despite the inbreeding."

Luna's dad was off getting laid with a bunch of tribal islanders. I had to admit I was a little worried about Luna's homelife. Still, hundreds of times better than my own even if that wasn't saying much. At least I was going to get to spend some quality time with the fun and fanciful blond which I funnily fancied.

"Right… ok. Sure. And the World Cup thing?" I asked.

"Daddy has a Press Pass. It allows himself and up to two others. I had already asked Ginny if she would like to go with me but her whole family is going together already."

"Oh, ok… sweet." Seeing an actual quidditch match sounded fun and seeing the multinational gathering of magicals would give me a better idea on how this world I now found myself in actually worked.

I felt the Grimoire coming this time. A subtle pressure from within as the collection of stars already inside me shivered in anticipation. In a way it was like looking up into the sky and seeing a shooting star falling at just the right angle to become concerned that it was going to hit you and in a way it wasn't.

Deciding to try something new, I reached out with my… not my magic but something closer, something more. My soul perhaps? Likely. Anyway, I reached out and tried to touch the star that was coming nearer and clearer with each second.

It was hot. Not physically hot yet my spiritual touch shied away from the mote of potent possibility as if it was truly a burning meteorite. I got the vague impression of heavy and weapon that became clearer and clearer as the star fell closer. A heavy weapon? Like a mace or something? Whatever it was, I didn't think I wanted it.

Feeling time running out and also getting a better impression of the star under my tentative touch (a hammer?) I tried pushing the brightly shining star away… and was surprised when it shifted course and missed my soul.

+100 CP

800 CP - Rolling…

Megaton Hammer (Legend of Zelda: Hero of Worlds) – 300 CP

A supremely heavy hammer made of solid steel, wieldable by only the mightiest of warriors. Its weight can destroy armor, shatter bones, and crush any obstacle in your path. In addition, the Gorons have enchanted it to wield the elemental power of fire and magma.

…Declined.

800 CP Banked.

I paused. Did it just? Ha HA HAHA! Yes! I declined a perk! I couldn't help myself and danced a little gig until the sound of giggling brought me back to my senses.

"What are you doing?" Luna giggled my ridiculous little dance.

"Oh… I, that is, the Grimoire tried to give me something and I said no." I admitted.

Luna tilted her head to the side. "Was that wise?"

I thought back to the description that I had picked up as I pushed the perk away. A giant hammer that likely only I or Hagrid could lift? Sure, the fire magic part sounded cool and all but for three hundred points I'm sure I could get, you know, actual elemental powers without the need to lug around a giant hammer. That and I already had a sword and could make things explode with it. I'd be fine.

I explained such to Luna. And she agreed after a few seconds thought then turned back to the fireplace and grabbed a pinch of greenish powder from a small pot on the mantel before looking at me.

"So, you need to clearly pronounce the location before you step into the flames, alright?"

"Umm, ok. But why are we using the floo? I can just portal us to the Alley with my ring." I held up my hand with the Portal ring on my middle finger.

"Because it's too noticeable and the last time you did that you got stunned and kidnapped."

I didn't think I should be blamed for that but I didn't argue. "Alright."

Luna nodded then turned to the fireplace and threw the powder into the hearth and said clearly. "Diagon Alley."

Emerald flames roared into existence and Luna stepped into them with a surety of step the belied long experience and in a woosh of flame she disappeared which was really freaky to actually see in real life. I had almost reached out to pull her back since, you know, it had always been 'fire + touching = bad' all my life before this.

I took a deep breath and copied Luna's actions. "Diagon Alley." I said and stepped into the erupting flames and disappeared.

In the kitchen, Pixie looked at the table of dirty dishes that had just been left there.

"Pixie has bestest mistress, ever!" She hummed happily and got to work cleaning. "Pixie wonders what mistresses will want for lunch? Hmm sandwiches and cheeses maybes?"

She spotted the still full jar of Royal Jelly on the tabletop and picked it up to sniff at the contents and found the smell pungent yet sweet.

"Maybe scones and cream with sweet jelly? Is like honey, isn't it?" Fetching a small silver spoon, she gathered up a small amount of it and tasted the Jelly and feeling the powerful magics within spread through her small body like lightning, promptly fainted to the kitchen floor.

The jar of Jelly hung in the air for a moment before it meandered back to the table in a manner reminiscent of a drunken bee.

I half expected to have mispronounced the name of the Alley somehow and end up being spat out somewhere else along the way. With the way my luck had been going it would have likely been somewhere like an illegal fighting ring run by 'upstanding members of society' and then I would have been forced to participate under threat of death and rape… thankfully, that didn't happen.

The Leaky Cauldron resolved into existence as I was pushed out of the flames under the impetus of my own spinning entrance. Why witches and wizards hadn't put the time and effort into making comfortable methods of transportation I will likely never know; but I could certainly say that the Floo network sucked.

Luna was there to help steady me as the room was still spinning slightly and I could almost feel the stares of the people around me focusing in on us. I breathed onto the spark that was Silent Stalker and felt their attention waver and drift away as I blended into the background.

"C'mon." Luna pulled me after her and out the back of the pub and into the Alley proper.

The street was just as I remembered it from yesterday yet there was a different feel to the people out and about. Shoppers moved with a bit more haste as they eyed each other with a tinge of wariness and parents clutched the hands of their children tightly and hustled them from shop to shop. It seemed that the blatant kidnapping of two teens had people spooked. It was easy to forget that most adults in magical Britain had survived through one war already yet the audacity of the criminals who took both Luna and I seemed to have triggered some old instincts.

There were also Aurors patrolling the street, four that I could see, walking in pairs and reassuring people with their presence. I saw one pair talking to a woman who ran a booth selling flowers that shifted in colour and shape as you looked at them. One auror had a floating quill and notepad recording the conversation and I made the assumption that they were investigating the incident.

Now it was me who was pulling Luna along in what I hoped was the right direction while praying that no one recognised us as the girls who were snatched.

Thankfully we made it to the wand shop unmolested by any other kidnappers or questioned by the red robed aurors and I considered that a win as Luna switched our roles again and led me into the dusty store.

Magic. Magic filled the room like soft orchestral music from a tired gramophone. The room hummed with the colours that swam, swirled and serenaded through the dusty air and I struggled to contain the extent of it as the sheer variety of Colours threatened to overwhelm me.

All the winds were present. From airy and free Aqshy to the dreadful and inevitable Shyish and mixed through the deep and steady threads of the Winds were other more nuanced colours that waited, coiled within their wooden scabbards, waiting for their reflection in mortal flesh to come claim them.

So distracted by the harmonic chaos of the wandly choir, I didn't even notice Olivander sneak up on the two of us until he spoke.

"Ah, Luna Lovegood. English Oak and Unicorn hair, thirteen and a half inches. Nicely flexible and yet strong." The old man with wild white hair and disconcerting eyes stated and Luna held up her wand which she had been keeping behind her ear and the man's eyes followed it fondly. "Somewhat demanding for an Oak wand, it would not stop pestering me until I added the engravings along its length but they do fit it nicely."

I eyed the pale wand in Luna's a hand and true as he had spoken the pale wooden length had simple engravings of acorns on a branch starting from the base of the handle until halfway along the pale wood wand.

The man's silvery eyes then turned to me and I was confronted with the reminder that Silent Stalker always seemed to faulter slightly when entering a new location. Perhaps it needed time to blend me into the room or perhaps the increased perception of someone watching the door saw through the ability. Regardless, the wandmaker examined me with curiosity.

"Ah, yes. I would say that I've been expecting you… but I have no idea who you are. Curious." He tilted his head to the side. "Curious indeed. Too old to be seeking your first wand and yet here you are without ever having a partner to call your own."

I swallowed thickly. "Y-yeah. There were… circumstances that I'm still sorting out. But I would like to purchase a wand now, thanks."

He smiled broadly. "Excellent. We shall find your match then."

I was promptly handed a long wooden stick. It was a simple wand of a dark brown wood and had minimal decorations, only a slight change in the shape defined the handle. Feeling foolish, I gave it wave and the sum totality of nothing happened.

Olivander snatched the wand from my fingers and thrust another in its place with a muttered, "No, not chestnut, too finicky."

The new wand felt much the same as the other and I looked instead at the magic within it. Finding a deep brown with striations of green, I attempted to touch the magic with my own silver and green storm but the two magics slipped past each other without connecting and the wand flew from my fingers with the friction of the magic.

"Hmm, not spruce either."

Wand after wand passed through my hands and only a few reacted slightly to my magic, these rare few spluttering out a few depressive sparks or causing the surrounding furniture to be knocked over or in one particular case exploding a vase of flowers that I'm fairly certain the wandmaker kept in the store for the sole purpose of acting as a target.

I must admit I was getting tired of all the lacklustre wands that didn't match my magic and so I decided to go about it in my own way.

As Olivander was off fetching more of the elongated boxes from the shelves, so I turned to that ever-storm that was inside me and stirred the winds gently. Taking inspiration in the way I could see magic flowing through the air of the store, I sent my internal winds outwards in a soft breeze of magic with me as the epicentre.

With my eyes closed in concentration, I didn't see the way that Olivander cocked an eyebrow and took a cautious step back from me or the way that Luna shivered in delight as her grin widened into a smile on her face. Instead, I was focused on the way my magic was filling the room and lightly caressing the magics of the wands.

Invisible silver and green whisps slid along over a thousand lengths of magical wood and animal core. Boxes rattled on shelves and dust stirred on unseen eddies. Most wands here struggled to recognise me and only the ones containing dragon heartstring in their core reacted to me with any reliability. Yet there were a few notable exceptions and two of those stood out head and shoulders above all others in the room. My magic narrowed in on these two wands and their own magics of forest green and tarnished silver and bright reddish gold echoed back my melody with a counterpoint of their own that harmonised between three of us.

One box slid off the shelf and floated a waltz towards me and the other thumped aggravatingly against the wooden door of the cupboard in which it was confined… there was irony there I'm sure.

Olivander swished his own wand as the first box settled into my outstretched hands and the cupboard opened to allow the second box to follow. "Curious. Ever so curious."

I believed I knew what he was talking about so I let Luna ask the question while I unboxed the two wands that had reacted so well to my magic.

"What's curious, if I may so ask?" Luna asked the wandmaker.

Olivander stared between me and the wands before glancing at Luna and answering. "Just that I expected one of those wands to go to another, yes another who never came to collect it four years prior."

"Hmm." Luna simply hummed and tilted her head as she put the pieces together.

I didn't pay attention to the exchange. Too distracted by the mirrored pieces of my soul that I held in my hands.

One wand was an eleven-inch length of dark brown wood, the handle carved in such a way as to resemble the branch from which it was carved. This one I recognised as the Holly and Phoenix feather wand that was always destined for Harry's hand by the sweet phoenix song that sung within its magic. The fact that this wand still reacted to me so strongly both concerned and relieved me. This was a wand with a great and terrible destiny attached to it yet at the same time it assured me that I was still Harry Potter at my core.

The other wand was of a much darker lustre of a marbled deep brown with paler highlights. It was slightly longer than the other wand at about twelve inches and I could feel the slow and rhythmic beating of a Dragon's heart within its core.

I waved them both, one in each hand, and my magic poured through them and into reality. The gentle breeze I was extruding picked up into a localised whirlwind that had Luna's blond, Garrick's wispy white and my own black locks dancing wildly in the wind. Sparks of silver, green and red patinaed copper played in the storm and the air thrummed with the combined song of the wands and my magic forced into the audible spectrum.

Eventually though, I reigned in my magic and the winds died down through I could still feel the gentle humming in the two wands in my hands.

"Oh bravo!" Olivander clapped excitedly. "I've not seen a twin bonding in… well, ever?"

I could only nod as I stared at the wands, still feeling like something was missing.

"I'll combine them, post haste!" The wandcrafter exclaimed and deftly relived me of my wands faster and with greater ease than I was comfortable with.

"Combine them?" I felt alone without holding my new companions.

Olivander was already moving behind the counter and pulling an engraved slab of wood out from underneath and blowing the dust off of it. "Yes, combining. A wizard or witch cannot wield two wands together without some conflict emerging."

He placed the two wands on the engraved wooden board and started swishing his own wand over them as he spoke.

"While many Aurors and some of the more undesirable members of our society might carry a back-up wand on their persons in case of emergency, those extra wands are not truly paired with the caster and are specifically made to be used by almost anyone in exchange for a hefty sacrifice in quality and connection."

As he spoke, the engravings on the wooden board lit up with a soft orange glow and my heart stuttered slightly as the two wands seemed to melt slightly under that light. Thankfully before I could voice my discomfort, the softened woods were already moving towards each other like particularly large and disturbing worms intent on mating.

The wooden wands curled about each other and melted together without seeming to gain any mass. By the time that Olivander had stopped waving his own wand and the orange glow had faded, the two wands had become one which the wandmaker had already snatched up, examined for any minute defects and then passed onto me hilt first.

The new wand was a marbled black and silver wood that combined the two prior woods and somehow now looked nothing like either. I could feel the potency of the twin cores humming together in harmony within. Optimism and power, strength and fortitude, joy and anger, sorrow and possessiveness. The wand thrummed with the echo of my soul.

I waved the wand.

The store went still. The air didn't move, couldn't move and none of us could breathe for those few seconds. Around me, motes of silver and green flickered into existence in a cosmic swirl and an entire galaxy of stars burst into existence with all the whispered grandeur of the big bang in miniature. Life abhorred a vacuum but magic? Magic could not abide a lack of existence. What created the creation of the universe? Magic did. There could be no arguments and it wouldn't care even if you tried.

It was.

It is.

It will be.

"Glorious." Olivander breathed as he beheld the magic of my bonding. Lune watched with literal stars glinting in her eyes.

I looked down at the wand in my hands and felt my connection to it thrumming strongly. It was an awesome and heady feeling that was difficult to explain. It made sense now why the magical world treated their wands as sacrosanct. This wasn't just a tool for magic, it was a part of me.

"What did you say your name was again?" Olivander asked, his eyes also on my wand.

I glanced up at him. "I didn't… but it's Holly." I lied… sorta.

"Hmm… Holly." He tasted the name and looked up into my eyes. "Not Harry?"

I gulped. "Not Harry."

He kept the stare yet seemed to accept the lie. "Appologies. The one who I had thought to claim one of the wands that make up your own would be named Harry… yet while you do sort of feel like a Potter there is certainly other magics withing you. Veela, Dragon and something else… something I have never seen before."

I wanted to gulp again and my mouth was very suddenly dry. It's not like I was hiding who I was but I really didn't want to deal with it all right now, you know?

"That will be eighteen galleons, please." Olivander broke the staring contest.

The sheer normality of the request pulled me back to reality from where frozen with worry.

"Oh, right. Sure. Here you go." I pulled out my pilfered money pouch and counted out eighteen of the large gold coins. "And a wand holster too, thanks."

I concluded my transaction with Olivander and was glad he asked no more questions about my identity or my connection with Harry Potter and the wand that was intended for him. I could only hope that this was a Garrick Olivander who didn't gossip everything he saw to Albus Dumbledore but it wasn't like I could do anything about it even if he did. C'mon Grimoire, a hypnosis ability would be pretty nice right now, gimme!

The Grimoire was silent. Maybe next time.

Twenty galleons lighter, eighteen for the wand and two for the holder and polishing kit, Luna and I stepped out of the dim shop and back into the bright summer's day.

"Hey! Luna! What'cha doing here?" a feminine voice called out to us before we could adjust and before I could pull on Shadow Stalker.

The call drew our attention to two young teenagers walking along the street in our direction and I froze at the sight of the girl. She was stunning!

Vibrant red hair, lithe slender figure, hazel eyes that were edged in bright green around a starburst of gold-brown. Much to the ire of the stuffy witches and wizards walking the street in their flowing and colourful robes, she wore a pair of blue jeans and a midriff revealing black crop top that made her pale skin glow in the sunlight.

I was so distracted in my staring at the beautiful girl that the two newcomers were already next to us before I found my wits and the red-head was eyeing me up and down with a faint and attractive blush on her cheeks.

"Hello, we're doing some much needed shopping." Luna answered and allowed me to gather something resembling wits.

"Who's your friend, Luna?" the girl asked, eyes flicking between us.

Luna was smiling mischievously as she answered. "This is Ha- ahem… this is Holly." Luna started to introduce me as Harry yet switched tracks as I bumped shoulders with her.

"Ah." I failed to talk and tried again. "Hi. I'm Hottie- I mean Holly. Holly Greaves." There. Aced it.

The girl's blush only deepened but a broad smile split her face. "You certainly are."

I felt a blush of my own creep up my neck. Did I have a thing for redheads? Was this a Potter thing? Please tell me it's not a Potter thing.

"H-hi, I'm P-pim Jotter, I, fuck, I mean… Hi, I'm Jim Potter." The male teen of the two who approached spoke up and I looked at him for the first time as he stuttered his introduction and his name triggered my brain into actually working again.

"Jim… Potter. As in the Boy-Who-Lived?" I blinked at the youth who ran a hand through his messy brown hair and gave me what he thought was a dazzling smile. Oh no.

"Yeah, I see you've heard of me." He smirked as he found his confidence again with my recognition.

I turned back to the girl who was giving Jim a baleful eye while Luna just giggled at my side like she knew something incredibly funny.

"Please tell me you're Ginny Weasley?" I asked the red-head who gave me a confused look.

"No, I'm this idiot's sister. Rose Potter."

I almost facepalmed as Luna's giggles evolved into a deep belly laugh. I was crushing on my fucking sister! I'm a half-blood not a pureblood!