The Wandmaker

A Peculiar Witch

C H A P T E R  t w o

It was nearly a two weeks later when Ollivander heard about the ancient vine wand and it's master again.

The news came in the form of the headmistress of Hogwarts, Professor Lampurn. She had strode into his shop, steely eyed and serious, and struck up a debate about the obtaining of wand cores with Ollivander.

The wandmaker suspected that this was not the true reason of Lampurn's visit, and he was proven right when she had spoken during a pause while they were debating the best way to harvest unicorn hair.

"I have been led to believe, and I think I am quite correct when I say, that an ancient wand you have been trying to match for many years was sold two weeks ago?" she asked.

"That is true," confirmed Ollivander, "And it has been a very strange wand in all the time that I have had it here. Would you believe it didn't even conjure a spark for hundreds of different witches and wizards for decades? I am very intrigued. How did you hear of it?"

"There is an average young Ravenclaw named Symbida Norbold who has a very remarkable wand. It is a reasonably rare wand, vine and dragon heartstring, I believe?" Ollivander confirmed this with a nod, " and it has been behaving unlike any other wand I have ever seen.
In her first Transfiguration lesson, she claimed that she looked at the pin she was supposed to be turning into a match, thought about how interesting it would be to make it a lamp, and then her wand pointed at it and did just that! Without her even concentrating on it or anything of the sort. It was rather rude and disrespectful, in my opinion."

"It did occur to me that it was a very remarkable wand, and a remarkable master as well. When she first came in, she seemed like a simple minded child, and when she experimented with a few wands, she was chosen by a plain mahogany wand! But she looked so disappointed and when I asked her why, she revealed that she hated the idea of being simple and average, and wanted to prove that a muggleborn could still do remarkable magic. So I experimented a bit more, then I remembered the old vine wand, and I thought that she was such a queer character that it might match up. And it did! It put on quite a splendid show as well." Ollivander remarked, still impressed by the firework display that the wand and Symbida had performed.

But Lampurn was not impressed. "So she was chosen by two wands. And you allowed her to go off with the better one? I expect she faked it. And even if she didn't, it was extremely inappropriate for her to ask for another wand! Going against the rules of magic, and questioning a wandmaker's judgment! Well, I am thoroughly disgusted and disappointed."

"I disagree with you there, headmistress. I don't believe it is the young lady's fault. In fact, I do not see any fault! I also have the strangest sort of feeling that she may have been picked by a few different wands if I had continued matching."

"You do? Humph! She has the making of a Slytherin, I'll say! Cunning and ambitious, wanting to be the greatest! Despicable!"

"I think not," Ollivander began coldly, "She was humble and curious. Besides, she is a muggle born."

"Well, well, even Miss Perfect has a flaw. A muggleborn, that makes a lot of sense." Lampurn sneered at Ollivander, who swallowed his retort and tried to remain calm in the face of this headmistress' ridicule. Searching his mind for a harmless topic, Ollivander suddenly remembered the feeling of avoiding a great tragedy after matching the wand, and explained the idea to Lampurn, who merely frowned.

"Are you sure you didn't feel like you had caused a great tragedy, letting such a powerful wand go to such a stupid girl? If I were you, I'd be ashamed with myself!" Lampurn quipped. Overcome with frustration, Ollivander snapped, not withstanding the taunting any longer.

"I know a great deal more about my wands and my customers than you do, Headmistress. And in this case I am absolutely positive that I am right. Now, if you would so kindly leave," he gestured to the door coldly, "It would be greatly appreciated."

Headmistress Lampurn cast one cold look around the dusty wand shop, sneered at Ollivander, and strode out.

But Ollivander didn't forget about the wand. Once again, he pondered the feeling of avoiding disaster. After a few minutes the answer struck him. He thought that he may have prevented a tragedy in the form of granting the wizarding world a wonderful witch. He thought that perhaps, if he had let her leave with that mahogany wand, that plain wand for a plain girl, her potential would never have shown in such a spectacular way. She spoke of her dislike of being normal, average. He thought that with the plain old mahogany wand, she would have not been able to do magic other than the average sort of magic.

In granting her that remarkable wand, I aided a remarkable witch in the making, he thought.

It was quite an unbelievable concept, but still, it is a concept that Ollivander was proud to have aided.

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The vine wand was on Ollivander's mind all through that day, and the next, and the next. But by October, he was busy crafting some tricky wands using a particularly stubborn batch of blackthorn and badger claw. By the time he had finished them, he had forgotten completely about the strange situation.

In fact, it was almost a year later that he considered the occurrence, and it was brought back to mind when he heard that Ravenclaw had won the house cup for the first time in years. Flitwick was ecstatic and was bubbling with pride wherever he went, so naturally it wasn't long until the whole wizarding community of Diagon Alley heard about it.

Thoughts of succeeding Ravenclaws brought the thought of one particular Ravenclaw to mind, and Ollivander once again pondered the wand in his spare time.

The only apparent differences that made the wand any different from the others that he had sold was the length and it's flexibility.
The vine wand was quite a short length for that type of wand wood, and remarkably rigid, considering what it was made of. Ollivander considered this, thinking that this might be the mysterious trait that set it apart. Vine, although not really a wood, was still used a reasonable amount throughout many wandmaking practices, and Ollivander could name at least one other popular wandmaker that used it frequently in wands. So throughout all these shops and workshops, surely there would be at least one wand with the same characteristics? He was intrigued by the idea of a unique length and flexibility, but after a minute or so he cast that idea off with casual disdain. It was impossible. It was absurd.

He was going to find out the truth. By Merlin, he swore he wouldn't stop until he found the secret to the ancient wand.

This is set before Headmaster Dippet, and Professor Lampurn is my creation. I would love to hear your thoughts! Cheers, PotatoSink.