Introduction

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It had been a busy day for the Ollivander's. First years had been crowding the shop for hours in the morning, trying out wands and making a mess. Aurora Ollivander had been tasked with putting any wands away if they weren't chosen and, of course, cleaning up the messes the young wizard's made. Papers were strewn about, books had flown off their shelves, and a few photographs had been knocked off the walls.

She was putting away the last of the wands when the bell rang, signalling a customer entering the shop. Making her way through the cramped and crowded shelves, Aurora peaked her head around the corner and saw a young boy with round glasses standing near the counter.

"Hello?" He said quietly before repeating himself. Garrick Ollivander, who had been on a ladder looking for a specific wand, rolled across the shelf to take a look at the boy. While the stranger gasped at the sudden entrance, Garrick's face lit up,

"I wondered when I'd be seeing you, Mr. Potter." Potter, Aurora thought as she continued to silently watch the interaction. It was a name everyone knew. Harry Potter, the boy who survived an attack from he-who-shall-not-be-named when he was just a baby. Garrick quickly scaled the ladder before looking through a shelf for a wand, "It seems only yesterday that your mother and father were in here buying their first wands." He pulled out a wand made of yew wood with a unicorn tail hair core. Aurora's nose scrunched up, that's the wrong one.

Her spot had not yet been noticed and she watched as Harry waved the short wand. Shelves of files flew from their cabinets, eliciting a small sigh from the girl as she knew she would be the one to clean it up. Garrick was quick to grab another wand from a higher shelf, handing it to the boy carefully. Fir wood with a dragon heartstring core. Wrong again, she thought as the boy picked it up. She took a small step back and waited for the chaos to unfold. Just as she expected, it didn't take long for Harry to shatter a vase.

This went on for some time, Garrick choosing a leprechaun hair core or sycamore wood wand for the boy and him making a mess of the store she had just cleaned. At the sound of another painting being knocked off the wall, Aurora decided she had had enough. She stepped out from her spot and cleared her throat,

"Grandfather." Her voice was quiet. The older man turned towards her as Harry surveyed the damage he had done to the store.

He stepped towards her, "Is something wrong, dear?"

"Harry Potter's wand." She pointed towards a shelf of old wands, "It's over there."

Garrick knew better than to question his granddaughter's words. She always had a knack for choosing wands for people. More often than not her first guess was the right one, but she had never spoken up about it until after the customer had already left. It was as if she was able to read them perfectly without exchanging a single word. She got it from her mom. He shuffled towards the shelf, surveying the boxes. Aurora followed behind, not realizing that Harry was watching the girl carefully.

"This one." She pulled out a dusty black box that sat eye-level with her, wiping off the dust from it.

Garrick stared at it cautiously for a moment before taking it in his hands, "I wonder..." He made his way back to the boy and handed him the holly wood and phoenix feather core wand. Immediately there was a rush of wind through the store. Aurora walked to the counter, careful not to make any noise as Garrick explained, "I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail father resides in your wand gave another feather. Just one other."

She listened carefully and smiled. It was the correct wand, she was sure of it, even if it's brother wand had almost killed Harry. There was a small frown on his face as he turned the wood around in his hand. Aurora, who had only spoken to a few of the first years that day, opened her mouth.

"The wand chooses the wizard," His head whipped towards her before returning to Garricks, who finished her sentence,

"It's not always clear why, but I think it is clear that we can expect great things from you." As the older Ollivander walked towards the back to begin cleaning up the mess Harry had made, Aurora continued to study him.

"Holly wands are considered to be rare," She said. The boy turned back to her, "They're protective of their owner and incredibly hard to match with a phoenix feather." Her voice was light as she recalled what she was taught, "They also work well with those who are reckless." There was a pause as her grey eyes shifted to meet his, "Are you reckless, Harry Potter?"

The boy opened his mouth to speak, but was quickly interrupted by a tapping on the window. He turned for a moment to see who it was and when he turned again to answer her she had already moved away from him, putting away wands and grabbing a broom to clean up the mess he had made.

She's quite odd, he thought, putting the wand back into it's box and grabbing the other packages he had by the door. But somewhere in the back of his mind he hoped that one day he would see her again.


Edited 5.25.2023

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