TWO YEARS LATER

Chapter One: The Wand Maker

The light of the full moon illuminated even the darkest corner of Diagon Alley, streaming through the windows of the dozens of businesses that packed it and brought the wizarding world to life. One of these businesses was Ollivander's old wand shop. The former owner Garrick Ollivander had passed away a few years ago, and the one who has run the store since then was his grandson, Gelrok Ollivander.

Gelrok was standing in front of one of the wand shop windows, gazing at the moon, his graying locks of hair falling around his face. Since he was a child he had always been fascinated by the moon, so when he was a student at Hogwarts his favorite class was always Astronomy. During his childhood, and many years after, he felt as if the moon had more magical power than believed. As if someone from up there was watching what was happening in the magical world. He shook his head; how could he think such nonsense. The moon was just the moon. And his refuge. He had always found calm on the moon during the most difficult moments, such as the death of his son a few years ago in that tragic accident with dragons in Romania.

Gelrok was never a good student, nor did he excel in sport, and he was never interested in the family business, but his dueling skills and even more so, his ability to work with all kinds of beasts, especially dragons, were out of the ordinary. That's why as soon as he graduated from Hogwarts he went to Romania and traveled through the rest of Europe as a dragon breeder. Decades later his son Gorrick followed suit. And 6 years ago he passed away.

It was a real tragedy, the accident in its entirety. One night, after working with several dangerous dragons, a Hungarian Horntail broke free from his bonds and began destroying everything in his path, freeing more dragons in the process. Several people died, Gorrick included. Many others suffered burns of varying severity and injuries of all kinds, like Gelrok himself, who ended up with a knee as shattered as his career as a dragon breeder.

The accident was attributed to human error, someone must have forgotten to check the Horntail chains, but Gelrok always suspected that someone had released the dragon on purpose. They never believed him. They called him crazy. They said he just wanted to find a culprit for his son's death.

After that, condemned to use a cane for the rest of his life, the only thing left for him was to return to London and take over the family business. He had never made a single wand in his life and to be honest he was lousy at it. Fortunately, his ancestors had left thousands of wands to sell, and his granddaughter Gwen, Gorrick's daughter, was showing a true talent in the art of making wands.

That same night she was in the workshop behind the store making her first wand. For only being fourteen, she was proving to be truly talented. Gelrok knew she would be successful and the wand would be of good quality. Gelrok might be bad at making wands, but he was good at passing on the knowledge to make them.

And despite being a lousy wandmaker, Gelrok could boast that he had made five good quality wands, maybe not as good as his grandfather's, but they were good wands.

And best of all, all five wands had been sold that same summer. He would never forget the five children who bought them.

The first wand was sold to a boy with brown hair who came with his mother and younger sister. It was a wand of dogwood, with a phoenix feather as a core, slightly bendy, and of an impressive length, fourteen inches; it would have been longer, but when Gelrok created the wand, it twisted off the handle, making the wand look like a question mark.

The second wand was sold to a red-head girl with wild hair. Her wand was made with red oak, unicorn hair as core, stiff, and 12 and three-quarter inches long. It had been twisted a bit in the middle, and Gwen once made a joking comment that it looked like the half of a bow. The wand itself looked as wild as the girl who bought it.

The third wand was bought by a skinny boy, with brown hair and at the height of the ears. The wand was made of walnut, dragon heartstring as core, rigid, 10 and three-quarters inches long. This wand he made it as if dozens of dragon scales covered it. Gelrok knew it was a suitable wand for a beast tamer.

The fourth wand was a special commission. Several months ago, the girl who bought it —who was strangely barefoot— came in the company of her parents, and they had a very precise specification. The woman, half veela, asked that a bit of her hair was used as a core. Gelrok had to be very careful when making the wand as her grandfather never wanted to work with that type of core. He used willow wood and the length was 9 and a half inches. The wand was wider at the handle and as it reached the tip it became thinner, almost looking like a brush without lint. A somewhat unstable wand, but Gelrok felt that his healing magic was powerful.

The last wand to be sold was also the last to be made. That was bought by a girl with blonde hair, almost white, who was accompanied by Minerva McGonagall herself. It was an elder wand, white in color, and as fine as the phoenix feather that gave it its core. Eleven inches long and stiff as Gelrok has never seen before. It was completely unyielding.

Gelrok sighed. It was good to know that his wands would be used by five Hogwarts students that same year. His best wands.

A shadow covered the moonlight for a brief moment, but long enough for Gelrok to notice. He scanned the darkness that covered Diagon Alley and could see a tall, slender figure in the shadows. He felt a strong pressure on his chest, it was as if that shadow was watching him directly, and inside his head.

A small explosion was heard in the workshop; the ceiling chandeliers and the wand-laden shelves shook.

"It's everything alright? " He asked without turning, he didn't want to lose that shadow of sight, but in a blink, the alley was as empty as seconds ago.

"Yeah… sure", Gwen coughed, "I'm almost done."

Gelrok glance at the darkness of the alley, trying to find the figure, but saw absolutely nothing. Imaginations of an old man, he thought and, leaning on his cane, he turned around to go to the counter. Lately, he had been limping more than usual, age was beginning to weigh on him, and the pain in his knee was getting harder and harder to bear.

"Grandpa." Gwen's voice startled him, causing him to stagger, he would have almost fallen, if not for holding onto the counter. Despite the shock, Gelrok noticed how Gwen's voice was full of emotion.

"Gwen, do you want to scare this old man to death?"

"Excuse me", she laughed, "I didn't mean to. I already finished my wand", She added, raising her wand in the air at the height of her face.

Gwen was the spitting image of Gorrick. She standing there with the light from the workshop outlining her figure and face, Gelrok seemed to see his son. Gwen had the same green eyes as Gorrick, the same wavy brown hair —which at the time looked like a bird's nest from the hard work of wand-making—, and a fascination with wand-making. One of her earrings was missing.

"Well, what are we waiting for, let's try it". Excitement at Gwen's success made him forget about the discomfort in his knee and, almost running, he entered the workshop, with Gwen behind him. He dropped into the chair by the worktable with a snort. "Let me see it", he said and reached out to his granddaughter. She gave it to him with a smile on her face, she sat on the other side of the table, waiting for her grandfather's opinion.

Gelrok held the wand close to his face and examined it closely. Gwen had used ash wood, dragon heartstring as core, twelve and a half inches long. Relatively flexible. Gelrok laid the wand on the table with both hands. Wow.

"So? " Gwen seemed genuinely eager to know her grandfather's verdict.

Gelrok thought for a long time what words to say to her granddaughter. After locking himself a few times and babbling some more, he said, "It's perfect. To say the least".

Gwen couldn't contain her excitement. "Are you serious?"

"Of course I am. Good to know that someone with your talents will take over the family store in the future". Gwen grinned from ear to ear and raised her arms in victory. Gelrok noticed her trembling with excitement; she tried to contain a triumphant cry. "You can do it," he said.

And without waiting a second, Gwen screamed so loud that it wouldn't be strange if they had heard her all the way to Hogwarts. "I feel so happy hearing you say that."

"And you should". Gelrok saw the clock hanging on the wall, it was past midnight. "And another thing you should be doing is packing your things and get your way home. Your mother must be waiting for you".

"Yeah, right", Gwen replied. With a huge smile still on her face, she put all her things in her backpack. When she was about to take the wand she had made she stopped in her tracks. She doubt.

"It's something wrong? " Gelrok asked.

"I made it here," Gwen replied. "I was thinking of taking it home so my mom could see it, but it better stay here until someone buys it. I'll bring mom later so she can see it".

Gelrok nodded. "Splendid idea".

He walked Gwen to the door and watched her get lost in the shadows of Diagon Alley. When he couldn't see her anymore he went back to the warehouse and examined the wand a little more. Wow, he thought. It's better than most of my wands. He tucked Gwen's wand into one of the pockets of his robe. It was time to find it a suitable case. But first, he cleaned the warehouse a bit. He found Gwen's missing earring in the box with the unicorn's hair and put it in the same pocket as the wand. Gwen could be very good at making wands, but being messy, she was better at that.

He returned to the counter and just at that moment he heard the store door open. "If you're coming for your earring let me tell you I've already pawned it", he joked.

"No, old man", the voice that answered was cold and harsh. Gelrok felt a chill run through his body. "What I want are names".

Gelrok gave a quiet sigh to reassure himself and slowly turned around. The hooded figure in the doorway was tall, slender, and undoubtedly had an evil aura surrounding it. He was a Death Eater. "I'm afraid I can't help with that, sir", he said. "Not even with anything else, the store is closed. If you want a wand you can come back tomorrow, or never.

The figure seemed unfazed by Gelrok's aggressiveness. "I've already got a wand, old man", he said, drawing a wand the color of bone from his tunic. "What I want are the names of the children who bought your wands".

"I repeat; I can't help you." Gelrok was not going to be intimidated, his hand slowly reached into the pocket of his tunic where he kept his wand. "I sell hundreds of wands every year, I can't remember so many people".

"You lie! " The hooded figure screeched. "Wand makers always remember who buys their wands. And you, Gelrok, never did many. So you can tell me who those four children were", the figure pointed his wand at Gelrok, "or I can pry it out of you".

Gelrok held his wand tightly, it's been years since he had a true magic duel, but despite his shattered knee, he could still boast that he had talent. I have to do it fast. He drew his wand and pointed it directly at the figure's chest. "Expelliarmus!". The Death Eater dodged the attack with impressive dexterity— no, it was as if the shadows had protected him. The Death Eater took a few steps forward and cast a spell without saying a word. Gelrok quickly used the Protego spell, but the impact sent him stumbling backward.

Gelrok managed to regain his balance and counterattack with several more spells, but the figure dodged every one of them, he was very skillful moving through the shadows.

"I know your weak point, old man," the figure said as it cast a spell directly at Gelrok's knee. The old wandmaker was unable to dodge or protect himself. The spell hit him and brought him to his knees. He tried to get to his feet as fast as he could; but the figure, with inhuman agility, was already behind him, Gelrok felt how the Death Eater pointed his wand on Gelrok´s back. "You shouldn't have resisted". The hooded man's breath was as cold as ice. "Expulso!"

The shock wave from the curse sent Gelrok to the other side of the store, through the window pane and into Diagon Alley. He lost his wand, he was helpless.

"Cruccio!"

The pain he felt in his body was unbearable, it made him writhe, he felt as if his bones had caught fire and as if his eyes were going to pop out of their sockets; and his knee, he felt like it was about to explode. Gelrok did not know how long it was, but he no longer had the strength to move. The Death Eater was over him. He saw the Death Eater straight in the face: that gray skin, the yellowish teeth, and those black eyes with a golden ring around the pupil. It was Pitch Black.

Despite not being able to move, he squirmed as much as he could when he felt how Pitch used the legilimency on him. He tried to retain the appearances and names of the children, but it was useless, he never managed to be good at the art of occlumency.

When the dark wizard got what he wanted he stood up and laughed. He pointed his wand at the moon. "I know who they are, Tsar! You will not be able to protect them. I'll get rid of your Guardians before you even manage to name them. This time I won't leave any of them alive! "

Gelrok didn't know what Pitch was talking about, but he had to make one last effort to stop him. But how? Without his wand and with the knee as he had it, he would not get to the store in time. Unless… Gwen's wand. Gelrok scrambled to his feet and took it out of his pocket carefully, trying not to alert the Death Eater, who kept yelling nonsense at the moon, and, with what little strength he had left, aimed at the Death Eater's back. If he killed him now, he would save many lives.

"Avada—!" Pitch Black disappeared.

"Bloody hell, old man". Once again, Pitch Black's voice was behind him. I was really planning on letting you live. Pitch Black pointed his wand on Gelrok's back. "Avada kedavra!"

Gelrok's body ended up on the other side of the alley, a look of horror on his face, and Gwen's wand still in his hand, broken in half and only held together by the fine dragon's heartstring.

A/N: The first chapter is here! I had real trouble writing this one because I really liked Gelrok and it was hard to do what I did to him. Maybe I will use Gwen in the future. Actually, I already have planned more of her appearances in the series. Hope you enjoyed this! See ya!