The Wandmaker

A Peculiar Wand

C H A P T E R o n e

It was on a quiet afternoon a week before Hogwarts would begin another year of schooling. There was the usual hustle and bustle of frantic shoppers cluttering the streets of Diagon Alley, hell-bent on finding their last requirements before schools started back. Ollivander himself rarely experienced the same degree of busyness within his shop, but he was content with the consistent trickle of new witches and wizards visiting his shop and keeping his pockets full. After all, everyone needs wands, no matter what year or trend is afoot, and every wizard and witch knew that if you needed a wand, you went to Ollivanders. Thus was the value of reputation, something Ollivander had worked very hard to maintain from his parents, and their parents, stretching far into the past.

The bell on Ollivanders shop door tinkled and a flustered and bright eyed child slipped inside, carrying a small bag stuffed with school books and equipment.

Ollivander looked up, studied the girl for a few moments, and began making preparations with several standard wands. As he worked, the girl fidgeted nervously. Ollivander strolled down the aisles of wand boxes, picking and choosing select wands.

"Chestnut... yes I ought to try it out... blackthorn, no... perhaps ash?" he muttered to himself, "But I think unicorn, yes definitely unicorn-"

He spun around and handed a few wands for the girl to try. As she picked up the very first one, a 9 inch unicorn hair and rowan wand, Ollivander could not help but notice that she looked positively alarmed.

She waved it once and a feeble spark fizzed out the end and faded. Ollivander bustled over and handed the plain girl another wand, a supple cedar wand.

"No, no, that'll not do. Try this one, child."

And yet again, the girl looked alarmed, and yet again, the wand issued a weak burst of colour.

Ollivander muttered,"Curious... very curious," and then out loud said, " My dear, this wand I want you to put all the effort you can possibly muster into casting a nice, neat, simple spell."

The girl followed his orders,  took the offered wand and waved it with a strange, grim determination. A beautiful clean line shot out, looped in the air, and shimmered to the ground.

Ollivander nodded, looking at the simple girl. A plain wand for a plain girl, he thought, seemed quite quaint. He always liked the easy customers, who came, tried a few, then found a match and left. Then again, the simple people could be quite boring. He took the wand from her and inspected it.

"Mahogany, a common but reliable wood, kelpie hair core, 10 inches and pliable. Yes, I think this is a good match."

He handed it back to her, and noticed she wore a strained expression. Her lips were pressed together tightly and her pale chin jutted out slightly. As she stared at him for a few seconds, almost in a daze, she seemed to deflate slightly and her pale face appeared to droop.
Then suddenly, in a spark of realisation, Ollivander saw that the girl was close to tears, though she was hiding it well. She gave a single, sharp nod, deposited the correct change on the counter, and made to leave.

Then the strangest of feeling struck Ollivander. Just as the brown haired girl began to push open the door, he called out to her.

"You are disappointed." It was a statement, not a question. He could see the disappointment in all her features now; her eyes shone bright with it and her defeated looking posture spoke volumes.

She paused, her hand still on the door handle, then turned slowly, surprised that Ollivander had spoken; she had already bought the wand, and yet Ollivander was bothering to talk to her. With a jolt, she processed what Ollivander had said, and a deep blush spread across her face. She stood there, embarrassed and startled, for a few seconds before she gathered herself and spoke for the first time since entering the wand shop.