The Underground

Chapter 8 - "Pine With a Vine Brace"

"Diagon Alley!" Elizabeth stated very clearly into the fireplace, and throwing down her floo powder she vanished with a puff of green fire. 

She was spinning very fast through what seemed to be a mass of openings in the tube-like structure. She kept her arms at her side to prevent them from being hit by the bricks that stuck out from the wall. Suddenly, she was forced out an opening and onto a hard floor.

"Ophff" She grunted as she made contact with the stone. Her father helped her up and dusted her off. 

"Had a nice trip?"

"Not really." She still felt dizzy. Her father took her hand. 

"Come on, let's get your things."

He led her out the door of the shop whose fire they had used, and onto the bustling main street. After a dizzying trip down into Gringotts Bank, where she got out some money, they made their way to the street once more. On both sides where shops of all kinds selling the strangest merchandise. One store sold potion supplies, and they went into this one to buy a cauldron and some basic ingredients. Across from it was a shop that sold robes of all sizes and fashions. They bought two sets of school robes, all black, and a few jumpers. Then they walked own the street a little way, and bought her school books, quills and ink. They only had two stops left. A wand and a trunk for her things. They walked into the store that sold trunks, and she stared at the prices. Her father was also clearly aghast at the inflation. After a brief discussion, they decided that Elizabeth would be using her father's old case, since he hardly used it anymore. 

They walked out of the store and toward another. The display in the window was simple, a wand on a single dusty pillow. Ollivander's. 

An old man greeted them in the doorway, his hair grey and his features drooping. He waved his wand and a measuring tape zoomed to his hand from its place by the wall. 

"Here to buy a wand?" he asked in an aged, slow voice. 

"Yes!" Elizabeth cried with delight, "Yes yes yes yes!" 

"One 'yes' will suffice," He replied, and began to measure her. Her arms, her legs, her height, her fingers from tip to palm, her ears, her nose, her forehead, her kneecaps, her nostrils.....

"Enough!" Said the old man, and the tape measure flew back to the shelf from which it had come. "Now," He said, taking a box down from the ceiling high shelves, "Try this one, Walnut, 12 inches exactly, with a core of unicorn hair." He stood back and said, "Give it a wave."

Elizabeth waved it, then wished she hadn't when it made the chair in the corner catch fire. 

"Not that one then, hold on. Let's try this, Apple, nine and a half inches, stiff, dragon heartstring." He handed her another. 

It had similar results, as did the next seventeen. 

"Alright, try this one. Pine with a vine brace on the surface, eleven and a quarter inches, flexible but strong, with a core of unicorn hair."

As soon as the wand was out of its box, the tip let out a shower of silver sparks. Elizabeth gasped, and stared wide-eyed at the old man, who was eyeing the wand with curiosity. 

"hmmm," he muttered to himself, "Strange, strange, a vine brace. hmmm." He handed it to her, "Give it a wave, I don't think we are in any danger this time."

She waved it, and a tingle ran down her arm, she shivered with happiness and the wand let out more sparks, alternating between red and silver. Newt stood up a little from his armchair, looking pleased. 

"My dear, you will be quite a witch!" The old man said proudly, "Pine is a very sensitive and secretive wood, but mixed with the vine, which is less common but just as powerful, I think it has strong potential for you!" 

"Thank you!" Elizabeth managed to gasp out, clutching the wand and feeling the smooth wood, "Very Much!"

"No trouble my dear girl. This is my job, and I have just witnessed a peculiar phenomenon, It seems that this wand chose you the moment you entered this shop. The wand chooses the wizard you see. Or in your case, the witch. You have a great future."

Elizabeth was slightly befuddled by this, but chose not to mention this as her father paid and left the shop with her. They wandered toward the building that they had come from in the beginning of the afternoon, but her father decided at the last minute to buy her an owl. 

It was a beautiful brown owl, with raised feathers on the sides of its head. A Great Horned Owl. she named him Elim, and insisted on carrying him all the way back home, even when using the floo powder. 

When she got home she looked at her wand. It was sturdy, and the handle had odd little lumps on it, but otherwise it was like Thomas's, simple, but with its own flair. What interested her most, was the vine twisted around the main wood. It made it look elegant, complete. And what was more, It was hers, and she would be learning to use it soon!

(Author's note)

I spent a while looking for the right type of wood for Elizabeth's wand, and i couldn't decide between two. So I chose them both. The wand I chose to represent it is in the photo at the top, I was hoping that the 'Vine" would look like a different wood, but you'll have to use your imaginations for that. 

Here are the descriptions for Pine and Vine from WizardingWorld 

Pine

The straight-grained pine wand always chooses an independent, individual master who may be perceived as a loner, intriguing and perhaps mysterious. Pine wands enjoy being used creatively, and unlike some others, will adapt unprotestingly to new methods and spells. Many wandmakers insist that pine wands are able to detect, and perform best for, owners who are destined for long lives, and I can confirm this in as much as I have never personally known the master of a pine wand to die young. The pine wand is one of those that is most sensitive to non-verbal magic.

Vine

The druids considered anything with a woody stem as a tree, and vine makes wands of such a special nature that I have been happy to continue their ancient tradition. Vine wands are among the less common types, and I have been intrigued to notice that their owners are nearly always those witches or wizards who seek a greater purpose, who have a vision beyond the ordinary and who frequently astound those who think they know them best. Vine wands seem strongly attracted by personalities with hidden depths, and I have found them more sensitive than any other when it comes to instantly detecting a prospective match. Reliable sources claim that these wands can emit magical effects upon the mere entrance into their room of a suitable owner, and I have twice observed the phenomenon in my own shop.

(Did I choose well?)

Thanks for reading!

-JMSpy49