The Tree of Blacks (English version)

Choosing wand

Following the accident suffered by their daughter, Orion and Walburga decided to return home in London immediately, once Alya was strong enough to make the return journey.

Sirius's situation didn't improve at Grimmauld Place: he would remain under strict punishment until he left for Hogwarts. During that time at home, he was strictly forbidden anything that could be called leisure.

The only activities he was allowed - and that were imposed on him - involved exclusively helping Kreacher in tidying up the various rooms of the house, polishing the innumerable family trinkets and heirlooms kept in the glass cases in the living room, and studying the correct rules of behaviour in a respectable family of wizards.

Sirius once again had to hunch over the old yellowish pages of the large volume entitled Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy. The boy had already dealt with that dusty text and the experience hadn't been particularly pleasant.

Although they all lived under the same roof, Alya and Regulus met their brother very rarely and only at mealtimes, during which Sirius simply ate in strict silence, with a perpetual hard expression painted on his face. He spoke the bare minimum and only addressed to his parents (and just when asked) or to Regulus, although his tone was perpetually cold and steady.

Not once did Sirius address Alya, showing himself well persuaded to ignore her completely, not even glancing at her. In his eyes, his sister seemed to have become invisible, and on the rare occasions when their gazes crossed, Sirius gave her fleeting disgusted gazes before turning his attention to the walls or furniture of the house. Anything to avoid looking at Alya.

Ever since he had caught her speaking Parseltongue, their relationship suffered an irreparable collapse.

Alya also felt anger toward her twin brother. After all, he had unjustly attacked her and abandoned her in the woods, injured and unconscious. Regulus was right: he had acted like a real jerk.

Nevertheless, Alya also felt very sad about the whole situation.

The only exception that Sirius was allowed to set foot outside the house was on the occasion of shopping in Diagon Alley, in preparation for the start of the school year at Hogwarts. Although reluctant, Orion and Walburga couldn't help but let Sirius go out with them because of the choice of wand. His presence was absolutely necessary in such a circumstance.

Both twins felt very excited. Choosing a wand was considered the most important event in a wizard's life. It marked the end of a sheltered childhood and the entrance into the real magical society.

So, on a scorching day in late August, Mr and Mrs Black accompanied the two children to Diagon Alley, a hidden street of London reserved for magic stores only. Here there was also the Ollivander's shop, the famous wandmaker, renowned throughout Britain.

The small store was a tiny and cramped place, very dark and dusty.
Alya didn't have time to enter the store, when an aura of solemn magic enveloped her. She had the strange feeling that the wands kept inside the many boxes stacked around her were communicating, as if endowed with a consciousness of their own.

"Good morning," greeted them Mr Ollivander in a soft voice, emerging from behind a high shelf.

He was an old man, with wide, silvery eyes, which swirled piercingly first over Sirius, then over Alya.

"Good morning. My children require a wand for their entrance to Hogwarts." replied Orion, in an austere tone.

"Two young Blacks, I see--" observed Mr Ollivander, weighing the figures of the two children with an impenetrable gaze. "Mmm...let's check right away." he approached the twins with a long wooden tape measure in his hand.

He quickly measured Sirius from arm to finger, then wrist to elbow, then shoulder to floor. After that, Mr Ollivander disappeared behind a tall column of boxes and emerged with some of them in his arms. He handed the boxes to Sirius and in a languid voice, urged him:

"Right then, Mr Black. Try this one."

Alya watched carefully as her brother, with a very concentrated expression, grasped the handle of one of the wands. He tried to move it. Faint faded puffs spilled sluggishly from the tip. Mr Ollivander shook his head.

"No, not this one" commented the old shopkeeper, putting away his first choice.

Sirius tried quite a few wands before he found his own.

"An interesting connection. This wand is not easily wielded, but apparently, he has just found a young wizard who can tame it--" whispered Mr Olivander with satisfaction, more to himself than to his clients.

Sirius studied his new wand with eyes sparkling with joy and pride.

Alya's turn finally came. The shopkeeper proceeded in the same manner, measuring her height and arm length. He carefully selected some boxes hidden in a corner of the shop and invited the little girl to try them. With the first ones Alya felt nothing, as if in her hand she was holding empty sticks. But, fortunately, her search did not last long.

Alya grasped a long light-brown wooden wand. As soon as her fingers gripped it, an intense sense of connection, power and belonging invaded her, as if her whole body had been hit by a strong electric shock. She sensed the essence of that magical instrument as if it were an extension of her own body. She felt her own soul move, as if she had just met, after a long time, an old friend.

Mr Ollivander smiled smugly.

"Spruce and dragon heartstring. Eleven inches. Pliable. Another interesting wand--" he sentenced in his quiet, solemn voice. "The wands have chosen their masters, I'd say we're done." Mr Ollivander concluded, turning a wide, friendly smile toward Sirius and Alya's parents.

Walburga ignored him, impassively maintaining her perennial expression of austere indifference.

Orion approached the counter and paid the price of the two wands, fourteen gold Galleons, then he and the rest of his family left and Mr Ollivander bowed them from his shop.

After passing through the door, the four Blacks jumped into the crowd in the main street to finish the rest of their purchases. Both Sirius and Alya, though at an appropriate distance from each other, trotted joyfully along. Finally, with a wand in hand, both felt their magical pride growing within them.

Without wasting too much time, Mr and Mrs Black quickly finished their tour of the stores and soon returned to Grimmauld Place, much to the chagrin of Sirius, who irretrievably regained his usual somber air. Back home, the child was immediately banished to his room, with Kreacher hot on his heels.

Unfortunately, Alya didn't have time to show the curious Regulus what she had bought in Diagon Alley. Walburga abruptly demanded that all the spellbooks, the brass cauldron, her wand and robes be locked inside the capacious trunk which awaited Alya in her bedroom. No time should have been wasted. Everything had to be carefully prepared before the day of departure.

Regulus frown, disappointed; he wouldn't be going to Hogwarts until the following year and was dying for a peek at what awaited him. He would have liked to see some school books in advance. Regulus had always had a real passion for magic manuals.

But neither he nor Alya dared to utter a single breath of disappointment, and all two meekly obeyed the orders given by their mother.

That night Alya stayed awake for a long time. She was too excited to sleep.
She kept thinking about the extraordinary feeling she had experienced when she had claimed her wand, fantasising about the incredible spells she would perform with it.

Within a few days she would be boarding the Hogwarts Express, the train which would take her to the famous school of magic and, although she partly dreaded the separation from her family, Alya was looking forward to leave and found out what amazing things she would learn at the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry of Hogwarts.

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A/N: That was a short and quiet chapter, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway ❤