Cored

Chapter 17: Taking Off

Katherine stared at her hands a while longer. The ring had left an imprint and a clear tan line behind, and the sight of it made her feel slightly exposed.

"Thank goodness you didn't explode," Mr. Ollivander said. "Would have been quite embarrassing."

No one laughed at this joke.

"What now?" Katherine asked. "What should I do?"

"Well," Mr. Ollivander said loudly, "we get you a wand, of course. We see what you can do!"

He walked up to the front of the store, and she could hear him speaking to himself. "Maybe dogwood, this situation seems quirky enough to suit. Or hawthorn, given the intrigue . . . Walnut always loves innovation, but for such a green witch it's hard to say. Ah, here's a start."

He came back with one of the long boxes in his hand. He opened it, pulling out a light-colored wand. "We'll start with Willow, since it was in your tempering. Might feel familiar. 10 ½ inch, yielding, with a dragon heartstring core." He held it out to Katherine, and she took it timidly.

"What do I do with it?" she asked.

"Give it a wave," Mr. Ollivander said.

"And say what?"

"You don't have to say anything," Vander said, kinder than his father. "Just wave it."

Katherine took a deep breath and grabbed the wand. It felt like it was vibrating in her hand. She looked at the three men dubiously but closed her eyes and nodded her head. She waved the wand. She immediately regretted it.

There was a loud bang and Katherine was thrown backwards. Her hand seared, and when she looked at it, she saw that the wand had shattered, leaving long slivers in her palm. The impact had thrown all of the men back as well. Papers were floating down to the ground, liberated from their orderly stacks. Katherine coughed as some sort of smoke that was emitting from the wand remnants filled her nose.

"I thought you said I wouldn't blow up," she said, looking at Mr. Ollivander.

"You didn't," he said, looking dazed. "The wand did."

"I take it this isn't what normally happens?"

"No," Vander responded to her, "no, definitely not. But I wonder . . ."

He hurried to his feet, grabbing a coat and hurrying out the door. "I'll be back," he called behind him.

Katherine stood, holding her hand up. George hurried over and helped her into a chair, before turning to Mr. Ollivander.

"I've got to get her home and cleaned up. What do you think? Should she put the ring back on?"

"No, I should say not. We don't know what it'll do. Katherine, did you feel okay before the wand?"

"Yeah," she answered. "I felt fine. Great, actually."

"Then I think she should leave it off. Maybe it will just take a minute for the magic to settle. But you'll have to keep an eye on it—big emotions, something startling, you never know what will set it off. Untrained magic is dangerous."

"I'll send a message to McGonagall straight away," George said. "She said she had a plan."

"Hopefully a little luck to go along with it," Mr. Ollivander said, staring at the state of his store and the wand remnants sticking out of Katherine's hand.

"Can we take the ring with us?" Katherine said, looking around until she saw it sticking upright in a crack of the floorboards.

"I'd love a chance to look at it," Mr. Ollivander gently protested.