Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and the American Incoming

Chapter Seven - Witchful Wonder

Well I hope this didn't take too long and I hope you enjoy it! Side note, I have noticed I tend to write very short chapters, however, there will be a lot of them! I work fairly hard on this, so I would really appreciate some comments. Love you all. - Alex

Piper was in shock.
Not only was she stunned by the boy's rudeness, but by Alli's speech as well.
Never had she heard her say so much.
These thoughts were interrupted by a gentle tap on her shoulder. Turning around, she saw Jason standing there smiling gently at her.
"I finished collecting my books, do you need help with yours?" Piper felt her heart swell with joy at the request, so often lately he had seemed so distant, perhaps this trip was all that would be needed for them to rekindle their old spark.
"Absolutely. Thank you, Jason," she said sweetly. She glanced down at her list. "I only have one left, and it's been giving me trouble, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, by Newt Scamander."
Jason frowned. "How did you miss that? It was one of the biggest displays."
Piper smile slid of her face like warm butter. It was the little things like this, none of them intending to hurt her, but all the more awful for it.
Jason didn't seem to notice. "Come on then, I'll show you."
Plastering a smile back on her face, Piper nodded and followed. After paying for all her books, she went around with all the other demigods to get the supplies they needed. Finally they headed back to the leaky cauldron to drop off their things and get some lunch.
Piper sat between Jason and Alli, and though she wanted to speak with Jason, he was busy trying to get Percy's attention, so she turned to Alli instead. She had been intending to start a conversation, but became distracted by the fact that Alli had simply ordered a plate of fruit for lunch, and was happily picking out the strawberries.
"Alli, I know you like fruit, but is that really enough for lunch?" Piper asked cautiously. Alli gave her a look before returning her attention to the strawberries.
"Hey Alli!" Leo shouted from across the table. Alli ignored him. "Did you know they have special chocolate here?" Her head shot up. Leo grinned. "You should go ask for some."
Alli hesitated for a moment, her love of chocolate warring with her silence. Chocolate won. When she came back, Piper saw that her plate was not only heaped with several bars of milk and dark chocolate, (dark was her favorite), but also with at least three extra helpings of strawberries. Piper simply stared.
After a few more attempts at starting conversation, Piper gave up and simply watched in fascination as Alli melted chocolate onto every piece of fruit.
Finally, Audrey gathered them all back up to head out and finish their shopping. Piper felt a twinge of excitement. There was only one thing left on the list that they needed to get. A magic wand.
The entire walk there, the girls chattered excitedly about what wands they might get, and the boys boasted of the powers they were likely to receive. Up front, Audrey ranted on about different qualities of wands and their histories, while Alli listened contentedly, apparently done with her speech making for the day.
While Piper was dreamily considering the possible properties of her future wand, Audrey stopped the group abruptly, which she only noticed when she crashed into Jason. "Be careful!" he hissed at her.
Piper dropped her head and nodded in embarrassment. "Sorry."
Jason's gaze softened a bit. "It's okay, just don't do it again."
Piper nodded hurriedly before hastening to catch up with Annabeth, who was already in the store.
"Welcome to Ollivander's." A reedy voice came out of the back of the store, and a man with papery white hair came up to the front. He studied them all with creepy silver eyes.
"There are quite a lot of you, aren't you all a bit old to be receiving your first wand?"
While Audrey proudly explained the situation to the man, Piper used the time to observed the inside of the shop. It was dusky and cluttered, with the only piece of furniture being a spindly chair, and all available wall space was covered by shelves overfilled with long boxes. It reminded Piper of a cross between a shoe store and an antique store.
When Audrey was finally done talking, Ollivander looked around and asked who wished to go first.
Everyone glanced at each other, for all their bantering earlier, no one was really eager to go first. Piper had just steeled herself to volunteer when Annabeth stepped forward. "I'll go."
Mr. Ollivander nodded. "Excellent. If everyone else could please move out of the way..." There was a scuffling sound as everyone attempted to squash themselves against a wall.
Mr. Ollivander then brought out a measuring tape which began to measure Annabeth on its own, while he scoured the walls for a suitable match. Finally, he brought out a long box and produced a long light wood wand. He held it out. "Try this, hickory, unicorn hair, twelve and a half inches." Annabeth took the wand from him and after a brief hesitation, flicked it purposefully.
Ollivander quickly snatched it out of her hands however, muttering, "no, no, that won't do."
Five wands later, which seemed quite a lot to Piper, but didn't seem to faze Ollivander at all, Annabeth found her wand, a gorgeous walnut with dragon heartstring, thirteen inches, slightly pliant, great for transfiguration.
Percy went next, receiving an English oak wand with a unicorn hair core.
Then Reyna went up. She appeared calm and collected, but Piper was sure on the inside she was just as nervous as the rest. Sixteen tries later, it was even showing on the outside a bit. The oddest thing was, the more failures, the more excited Mr. Ollivander became.
He was going deeper into the shop storeroom, trying out more and more unlikely matches. He began to mutter to himself. "Perhaps... no, but perhaps to try..." He disappeared into the back room for a while, and almost ten minutes passed before he returned. When he did, he carried a wooden box and placed it on the counter.
Ollivander turned to face Reyna. "Now, as you may know, I generally only use phoenix feathers, unicorn hair, and dragon heartstring, as those are three most powerfully magical creatures, and for the unicorn and phoenix, there is little else we can use, except for the horn, but that has additional complications. With dragons, however, there is the opportunity to use more, as is the case with this. This contains a shard of horn from a Romanian Longhorn. I have two others, but I thought this would be the best match.
He pulled out a wand of a rich orange color. "Laurel, dragon horn, exactly twelve inches, unyielding." He watched her intently as she stretched out her hand. When she held it, a change came over her expression, and she looked at peace.
"This is the one," she said confidently.
A creepy smile spread across his face. "Excellent. Use this well, it has great power." Reyna nodded and moved back with her friends.
Leo pranced forward now, while everyone else was still watching Reyna in awe. This time Ollivander smiled instantly. "Ah, I know just what to do for you, another one of a kind." Leo wriggled with excitement. "An extremely unlikely combination." He handed Leo a wand with an unfamiliar dark wood. Leo waved it and sparks flew out of the end. "Dogwood, phoenix feather, nine and a quarter inches, springy, good for mischief."
Leo grinned and looked around at his friends, immediately promising to live up to his wand's intended use.
Next it was Thalia, with an ebony dragon heart-string wand. Then Erica, who received an acacia and unicorn hair wand.
Next Nico stood up. Ollivander seemed shocked. "Extraordinary. Such a large concentration of unique wands in a single group!" He went to the back and came back with a pale greyish yellow wand. "Yew, twelve and three quarter inches, brittle... thestral hair core." He stretched out the hand with the wand to Nico very hesitantly, never mentioning it's best use.
Nico took the wand and nodded, appearing satisfied. "This will do."
Ollivander nodded in return. "Of course, of course." He fixed Nico with his penetrating gaze. "Careful with that one," he warned.
The solemnity was broken a Jason hurried up to the wand maker. Mr. Ollivander squinted at Jason and nodded. He immediately pulled a box off one of the shelves. "Poplar, unicorn hair, ten inches, unyielding."
Jason looked at him, surprised, and grasped the wand. He nodded once. "Yes, this is perfect."
Jason stepped back and waved Piper forward.
Piper stepped up and took a deep breath, staring into Ollivander's creepy silver eyes. He smiled at her. "And your name is?"
Piper swallowed. He hadn't asked anyone else. "Piper McLean."
"Hmmm," he murmured. His footsteps seemed unnaturally loud to Piper, as did her breathing. He came back with a reddish wand. "Walnut and unicorn hair, ten and a half inches, firm, good for transfiguration. Try this." Piper did, but as she waved it, she felt her heart sink. She didn't feel anything from this wand. How had the others been so sure? Shaking her head, she handed it back to him.
The next one he brought out was darker. "Mahogany and dragon heart-string, eleven inches, supple." When she took it, Piper's hand felt warm. Perhaps... but Ollivander had snatched it out of her hand almost instantly. "No, no, not quite..." he muttered. Next he pulled out a light brown wand, and Piper noticed a faint feather design etched into the wood. When she held it, a tingle ran up her arm, and she knew it was the one. "Apple wood, dragon heart-string, ten and a half inches, supple."
Feeling perfect, Piper went back to stand with her friends, and was still in a happy daze as Frank found a larch and unicorn hair wand, Hazel got willow and unicorn hair, Calypso received an elm and phoenix feather, and James got a sycamore and unicorn hair.
She came back into focus as Rachel was nervously stepping forward to receive her own wand. After six failed tries, she seemed on the edge of a nervous breakdown, and Piper attempted to catch her eye and reassure her. Fortunately, the seventh wand, a spruce and dragon heartstring, was the perfect match, and Rachel was beaming.
Ollivander observed the their group. "Is that everyone?"
"No," Annabeth answered. "We have one more."
She pushed Alli up in front of her, where she stood studying her feet. Ollivander stared at her with more intensity than he had so far.
"Alli Verika?"
Alli jerked her head up and stared with wide brown eyes. "You wouldn't remember me, but you lived here for awhile when you were a baby. Your mother, Amanda, was my apprentice for a time. She was interested in all forms of magic."
Piper was staring at Alli, shocked by what she was hearing. Alli's face echoed this emotion, and she seemed temporarily speechless. "You mean my mother was a witch?"
Ollivander nodded. "Of course."
Annabeth interrupted. "So Alli is the only true witch among us?"
"No," he stated, then pointed to Hazel and Rachel. "They are witches too."
The girls looked stunned, and Piper couldn't help feeling the same way. In the last few weeks, the demigods worlds had turned upside down, and now this would change everything further. For some of them, their godly parents were not their only source of magic, they had a branch all their own. It was a monumental discovery.
"Please sir," Alli begged, "can you tell me more about my mother."
Ollivander appeared thoughtful. "Well, I don't know much about her history, only that she was an American born witch who went to Ilvermony school of witchcraft and wizardry. I remember her boyfriend, scraggly fellow, and they parted ways shortly before you were born. I'd guess he was your father."
Alli started, but shook her head. "No, I know who my father is."
"Hmm, that's more than your mother did."
"What do you mean?" Alli asked desperately.
"She was raised by her mother, never knew her father."
"But, that makes it sound as though my mother was a demigod as well," Alli said tentively.
"Demigod?"
Annabeth jumped in. "Half human, half god," she explained.
"I do not know what she was," Ollivander admitted. "I can only tell you she was a wonderful witch."
"How did you recognize me?" Alli asked quietly.
"You are the image of your mother," he said with more tenderness than Piper had thought possible. "In fact, I think I know the perfect wand for you." He hurried into the back room, while Alli glanced around nervously.
He came out holding a light wooden box. "You see, Verika, when your mother left to return to America, she bought a new wand from me, and left her old one here. This is her first wand." He pulled a dark, reddish wand from the box that seemed to almost glow in the dim light. "Holly, unicorn hair, eleven and a quarter inches, springy, and incredibly loyal." Alli took the wand with the most wondering expression on her face.
"Thank you," she whispered.
"My pleasure," he replied. "And you don't need to pay for that one."
Alli nodded, her gratefulness clearly inexpressible.
As everyone lined up to pay for their wands, Piper couldn't help but wonder what other surprises this trip had in store for them.