The Wand Chooses the Wizard! (open)

[div style="width:50%;opacity:0.5;font-size:0.85em;border-bottom:1px solid #ffffff;"]TUESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2000, 6:00 AM[/div]

Garrick flipped the sign in the door of his shop from "CLOSED" to "OPEN," and just as the sign fell back against the glass pane of the door, Big Ben chimed six o'clock A.M. in the distance. "Hmph, you should set your time by me, Benjamin," Garrick grumped jokingly as he turned and made his way back to the counter. There was no denying now, unfortunately, that he was an old man, made older more quickly by the tortures he had endured at the hands of Lord Voldemort during the Second War. To say it was all behind him now was not an entirely honest statement; after all, his legs still quavered, his back had aches, and his knees threatened to buckle every now and again. But his hands and his fingers were as nimble and precise as ever, and as long as he had that, he could make and sell wands from a hospital bed in St. Mungo's and still be happy doing what he loved.

That it was Tuesday meant little to nothing to Garrick Ollivander, but that it was the first day of August meant everything. A month from today, young witches and wizards from all over the Island would be headed off to Hogwarts, including his own daughter Lesleigh one last time. The poor girl was continuing to have trouble with her joints, but she was thoroughly excited about her last year of real wizarding education and the hopes of getting an Outstanding on her Divination N.E.W.T. come June. Garrick, however, was currently more concerned with a precise wedge of the Hogwarts population - those little ten-, eleven-, and twelve-year-olds who would be, for the first time, entering the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

And that meant purchasing their first real wand.

He allowed himself a moment of pride that after all he and his family had been through, his was still the most successful wandmaking business in the British Isles, and venerated across the world, and that he was still doing most of the work himself with his son Grover apprenticing at his side. "Constantia Vocat Familia," his father Gervaise always said, "Consistency Calls Family." Eighty generations of Ollivanders had gone from a simple stall on the roadside to this classic and highly-frequented shop smack dab on the south side of Diagon Alley.

And then the moment passed, and the more important matters came back to Garrick. Business matters. Selling of wands, measuring and reading and watching the perfect wand choose its witch or wizard, over and over again. In truth it never got old, that spark in the eye of a young boy or girl when they realised that this wand had been made specifically for them, had chosen them. And that was why the Ollivanders had continued to pursue this business and this knowledge for so long. "If you aren't going to do your best for your customers, you oughtn't be in business at all," Garrick chortled.

No wandmaking for him today - Grover would be handling all the construction in the back room. Today Garrick was back in the public eye, eager to wait on whatever patrons might grace his establishment, old or new.

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Wizarding wands  ·  7 Galleons (119 Sickles)
[div style="padding-top:7px;"]Proprietor reserves the right to refuse obnoxious forms of payment. Patrons attempting to purchase wands with 3451 Knuts will be hexed and directed to Gringotts to exchange their denomination of currency.[/div][/td][td style="width:33%;"]

Ornamental wands  ·  6 Galleons (102 Sickles)
[div style="padding-top:7px;"]See above warning about attempted purchase using Knuts.[/div][/td][td style="width:33%;"]

Wand care kit  ·  2 Galleons (34 Sickles)
[div style="padding-top:7px;"]If by this point you are still trying to pay with Knuts, we will kindly provide you with a recommendation to the Janus Thickey Ward at St. Mungo's Hospital.[/div][/td][/tr][/table]

"Okay it's time to get my wand!" Tree said a bit louder then she wanted to. She looked around to see if anyone heard her outburst, but lucky for her it was so early in the morning that there went a lot of people around so no-one heard her make a fool of herself. Tree was very excited about the prospect of getting a wand. Seeing it was the only thing holding her back from doing proper magic it was the thing she wanted more then anything.

Tree walked down the street at a brisk pace. She got to the door of Ollivander's only to discover that it was still closed! Tree looked at her watch, it was 5:55 am. She groaned she had already been up for an hour at the inn waiting with excitement, and that hour had been the longest of her life and she the feeling this 5 minutes would be even longer. She stood there staring at her watch watching the seconds go by, "58... 59... 5:56" she mumbled under her breath. Was it just her or had time slowed down? Tree tore her eyes away from her watch to peer at the sky maybe if she didn't look at the time it would go by faster? After what felt like 10 minutes she looked down at the time again only to find it was 5:56 and 39 seconds, "oh come on!" She grumbled. The worst bit was Tree would have had her wand by now if her mom didn't take forever getting to diagon alley yesterday , when they had exchanged normal or as the goblin had called it, "muggle money" all the shops were closed. Forcing them to stay the night so they could get all her school stuff. On the bright side because her mom wasn't a morning person Tree could do all her shopping without her enactment of a mother around Her.

Tree gave another look at her watch, it was now 5:57 and 28 seconds. "Time for a different approach." She said to herself bouncing on her heels. She had to do something to occupy her mind. She looked at her reflection in a shop window, seeing herself in the glass made her frown. As always her hair had turned from the nice waves that took 45 minutes of brushing and styling to achieve, to a tangled mess. That had to be the fastest her hair had ever messed itself up. She brushed her hand through the mess and sighed, "you win hair I'm never brushing you again."

Apparently taking her mind off the time was the right idea because the last few minutes passed quickly. The sound of Big Ben let her know it was time. She looked at her watch just to be sure thay Ben was correct, it was 6:00 and 3 seconds. Her heart was racing now, she took a few calming breaths as she watched the shopkeeper walk to the store counter. She placed her hand on the handle, opened the door, and walked into the shop. As she entered the shopkeeper chortled something to himself but she couldn't make out what he had said. Tree took one more breath walked to the counter and said as calmly as possible, "excuse me I'm here to get a wand."

"Then you have certainly come to the right place!" Mr. Ollivander smiled at the young girl. "Let me have a look at you, my young girl." He came back out from around the corner and pulled up the spindly chair from the corner so he could sit in it and look into her eyes at her level. "An early riser, are you? Quite eager to get your wand? They all are, usually. It's quite an event, getting your first wand. Let's have a quick measure... oh, what did I do with that tape..." he patted around the pockets of his vest and his trousers before at last pulling out a long tape measure with silver markings.

"Just hold out your wand arm - that's the same as your writing hand, young lady, I can tell you're Muggleborn, I don't know how much you've been exposed to our parlance just yet," he chuckled. "That's very good." He started manually measuring Tree at various points, starting with her shoulder to the tips of her fingers, and then from the inside of her wrist to the outside of her elbow, before standing back up and saying, "Just stay still there while we get your measurements." The tape measure continued to move around and mark different lengths and heights while he got back behind the counter and took a few steps down the narrow hallway, almost out of Tree's sight.

"So, are you enjoying the sights of Diagon Alley, young lady?" he called down the hall as he half-pulled out several boxes from the shelves and stacks in his narrow corridor. Muggleborn, headstrong and impatient, he thought to himself, starting to pull out a fir wand and then, no staying power, and shoving it back in. "It's never a dull moment around here, and that's saying something since old wizards like myself have seen a lot in our time." Spruce? Mmm, put that in the maybe pile, she'll need a good sense of humour to be matched with that one. "Be sure you check out Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour if you haven't already." Birch perhaps. Not sure with that bushy hair. Mmm, no. "Never heard a bad word about his ice cream sundaes." Bloodwoodtree, I don't have many of those, this might be a good choice.

He stepped back out behind the counter and addressed the tape measure, "Thank you, that will do." It promptly rolled up and floated back over into Ollivander's pocket. As he continued walking toward the young witch he grabbed another wand made of hawthorn on a whim. "This one might do, but let's have you try this one first. I've got a good feeling about it. Twenty-eight and a half centimetres, bloodwoodtree and dragon heartstring." He opened the box and pulled it out with a flourish, presenting it to Tree with a little wink. "Give it a swish and tell me what you think."

Tree was trying as hard as she could to keep calm and that was proving very difficult. It was all set could do not to run around the store singing about how she was going to have a wand. She watched as he took his stool and sat in front of her. When he started to look into her eyes she wanted to look away, she wasn't a fan of eye contact, but if she had to make eye contact to get her wand she could deal with it. In response to the early riser question she replied, "Normally I would sleep until noon but when magic wands are involved it's hard to sleep."

Tree held out her arm to be mesured slightly shaking. As he started to mesured her she looked at his face, it was a very kind face that helped put her at ease, she started to calm a bit. That was until he got up and the measuring tape kept going. Her heart started pumping hard again, this was some of the first real magic she had seen and magic always got her excited. Tree watched the tape dart around her body with interest, only half taking in what Ollivander was saying. She occasionally made a noise to indicate she was listening but didn't really say anything.

When Ollivander came back with a few boxes her heart was going faster then it ever had, if she didn't calm down soon she may just pass out. When Ollivander opened the box to show her the wand she squealed with excitement. It was beautiful. It was a very deep red almost like blood, it was thick with intricate slver inlays . She took the wand from Ollivander's outstretched hand. She was so nervous and uneasy when a warm feeling crept from the wand into her hand she dropped it in surprise. Quickly picking it off the ground she gave Ollivander a pathetic little smile and said, "sorry..." she waved the wand and to her excitement and shock a small orb of light emitted from the tip hovered a moment and exploded in a bright red flash. Tree jumped backwards causing her to trip over herself falling onto her back. She lay on her back looking up at the ceiling in awe, "did it work? Was it supposed  do that? Did I do magic?"

Although Tree may not have realised it, dropping the wand was a good sign. Mr. Ollivander smiled broadly, giving her an "it's-okay" look even as she picked it up and apologised. That was no shaking hand or clumsy fingers, he thought. That was a reaction to the wand that she wasn't ready for. I may not need these other wands after all. As she waved the wand, Ollivander took a knowledgeable step back and was not entirely surprised to see her cast a Ball Lightning Charm. Loud and flashy, but not truly dangerous. Even so, it startled the poor Muggleborn girl so badly that she tripped and fell on her back on the floor of the shop.

"Good gracious!" Garrick yelped as he stepped forward to give her a hand, but before he could reach her, she spoke up to the ceiling in a voice filled with wonder. Ollivander's fears of injury were replaced by a sympathetic blush of excitement that rose up from his feet into his chest. "Yes, yes my dear, you just did magic. Here," he extended a hand to help her up, "up we go." He ushered her to the chair and had her sit down.

Only then did he examine the wand once more. "...yes, yes I do believe this was the right match for you, my dear. This wand was waiting specifically for you to come in that door. It was very eager to show you what it was capable of. Am I right in saying that when you first took hold of the wand, you felt a connexion with it right away? Sort of a comfortable, warm feeling?" He smiled again. No matter how many times he saw it, nothing ever took away from the joy of matching a wand and a witch together. It might sound trite, and it might be a monotonous life, but it was certainly never dull.

"Well I believe we've found your winner," he repeated, standing up creakily. "Let me box that up for you - it comes to 7 Galleons. Unless you'd like to purchase a wand care kit as well. As you can see that wand is excellent quality and like new, but you'll need to take good care of it for it to stay that way." He glanced at her face again, and added, "You can always polish it with any clean cloth as long as you do it gently, so it's not necessary to buy the kit, but the supplies in the kit will keep it like new for much longer."

Tree took Ollivanders hand as she repressed a case of the giggles, she sat on the offered seat beaming from ear to ear. She looked down to the wand in her hand excited she had done it she could do magic! The uneasy feeling she had before was replaced with a feeling of pure euphoria. As Ollivander explained she listened intently absorbing every word. When he asked if she had felt a warming feeling in her arm she nodded vigorously, "it felt like it should have been there in my hand all along and it was finally in the right place." She looked at her new wand again, "like it was coming home." She gazed at her new wand for a long time, they were connected, sisters in arms, together forever.

It wasn't until the mentioned payment that she snapped out of her trance, "oh yeah you need money for this." She said with a coy little smile. Tree pulled out her money from her bag and began to fumble around with the coins, "Galleons are the gold ones." She mumbled to herself as she tried to remember what the goblin told her the night before. She handed Ollivander the money for her wand plus the service kit, "one wand and one kit." She said with a smile, Ollivander should feel flattered a smile on Tree's face was very rare, most of the time she had a look of boredom and disinterest.

Tree almost told him not to wrap it up for her, she never wanted to let it leave her hand. But she thought it would  better to let him do his thing. A random quote from a muggle move, that she shouldn't have watched because of the rating, crossed her mind. She couldn't resist this was to perfect moment to say this, "This is my wand. There are many like it but this one is mine. My wand is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my wand is useless. Without my wand I am useless. " she left out the part about shooting true seeing as that didn't make much sense. Looking at she said, "sorry I couldn't resist." she said now blushing.

Garrick took the coins from the smiling young girl. "9 Galleons it is, then, and here is your wand," he bestowed her with the Ollivanders' Wand Box, tied tightly with scarlet ribbon, "and a premium wand care kit." He took one a proper specimen from the cupboard on his side of the counter, placed it on the countertop, and opened it up so that Tree could see what was inside it.

"This green cloth here is your polishing cloth. Remember to always be gentle with it - if you rub too hard your wand will start sparking and burn itself and the cloth. For top results, use a dab of this wand cream," he lifted out a small spade-shaped vial, "once every month to reduce the signs of use and age. There is enough in that vial for twelve treatments. Use this applicator sponge," here he lifted out a dark maroon foam-like sphere, "to put the wand cream on; the polishing cloth will just smear the whole thing."

Tree began reciting something with pride. Garrick listened with interest; he didn't recognise what it was from, but the sentiment was all too clear. When Tree realised Garrick had been listening and gave a blushing apology, he waved it off. "No need to be sorry. I think neither you nor the wand are useless, but you are certainly more powerful together," he corrected gently. "I am glad that you are so happy with your wand as well. It's quite a privilege to be able to match a wand and a witch together."

He cleared his throat and said, "Now then. Before you leave, are there any other questions I can answer for you about wand care or wand usage? I'm more than happy to make sure you're up to snuff before you start at Hogwarts this fall."

Tree tried to memorize everything Ollivander said about how to care for her new wand. She was going to keep it beautiful at all times. This shouldn't be too hard seeing as she was a bit obsessive compulsive when it came to keeping things clean. She pulled out a little note book she had in her bad and wrote the instructions down, she knew it was a nerdy thing to do but better safe then sorry.

Tree was about to turn around and head out the door but then Ollivander asked her if she had questions. Tree wanted to ask Ollivander everything he knew, every single little detail about wands, magic and what have you. How did he make wands? was making them hard? What was Hogwarts like? And about a million other things, but she didn't want to take up to much of Ollivander's time and her social anxiety was starting to creep back into her now that the excitement of getting her wand was waring off.

She stood there for a moment pondering what exactly should she ask, eventually it came to her, "first do you have any pointers or tricks on wand usage? Second what kind of dragon did my core come from, if you don't know that's okay? Third what books do you think I should get that aren't on my book list? And keep in mind I'm way above my grade level when comes to reading so don't hold back on your book choices because of difficulty." She thought for another second seeing if there was anything she missed, "oh and where should I get breakfast? I was to nervous to eat before I came here but now I'm so hungry I could eat an entire cow."

Brynn scowled. Why were wizard things so expensive? Her mum had told her that wands were seven galleons, and while that didn't sound like a lot, it translated to nearly thirty-five pounds. For Brynn that seemed like a million pounds. She'd changed her entire life savings into wizard money and ended up with ten galleons, two pickles and twelve knuts. Considering she'd begun with fifty whole pounds, this was very disappointing.

Regardless, the ginger was still a bit excited for her new wand. Also a bit scared. Would Mr. Ollivander recognise her? Probably. And then he would ask questions like "Didn't I sell you a wand last year?" And "What did you say happened to your wand again?" or lecture her about the "proper care of wands" and how she "shouldn't have left it lying around in the first place." Well whoop-di-do because he didn't have a four year old who shoves everything down the garbage disposal.

Technically, Eillyn needed a wand too, but Brynn had told her parents that she wanted to do her wand shopping alone. Of course she'd be back later with the rest of her family, but for herself? No, this was personal, and she didn't want anyone who knew her to be around for it. Plus, it was rather embarrassing that her wand had only lasted a year.

Brynn sulked into the shop, mangled wand in one hand, her mother's wand in the other (for her mother had insisted Brynn bring her replacement wand, just in case she decided not to buy a new one), only to see that someone was already there. Well then! So much for coming in super early to be the only customer. Mr. Ollivander looked exactly how she remembered: old and sort of scary. Brynn prayed, not for the first time, that he wouldn't give her a lecture.

Ollivander laughed. "Well I certainly walked into that one. Let me see." He took out a very old, thick, dusty book from one of the shelves on his side of the counter. "That wand that you have there was made by my late father many years ago, so I'll have to see if he has a record of the core." He started flipping through the pages as he tried his best to answer the other questions. "Wand usage is particular to the witch or wizard - magic will be best performed when you are being yourself. That said, certain spells react to certain motions, but your Charms professor will teach you all of those as you go along. For instance, there are spells that require small flicks of the wand, and spells that require long graceful loops.

"If you are looking for books that aren't on your book list, you need only ask the workers at Flourish & Blotts for higher-level reading in the areas you are interested in. There's no law stating you can't purchase books about your grade level. For general reading however, you might try A History of Magic on the boring but informative side, or The Tales of Beedle the Bard for a more entertaining read. It's full of the sorts of children's stories that wizarding children will have grown up with, rather than Muggleborn children. Ah, here we are," he said, stabbing with his finger at an entry of the ancient record book. "Your wand was created in July 1928 by Gervaise Ollivander - my father - with a string from the heart of a Hebridean Black nine and a half metres long, received from the MacFusty clan on the death of one of their elder hens. That's a female dragon," he added for Tree's benefit, raising his eyes to look at her and then seeing another young lady come in.

"Good morning, Miss Caines," he said with raised eyebrows. "I'll be with you in just a moment." To Tree he said, "For breakfast, I recommend going back to the Leaky Cauldron, as they have the widest variety of foods available. This young lady here might be of more help to you, as she is going into her--" he paused to think, "second year at Hogwarts. She'll have an opinion on what someone your age might like.

"Now then, Brynn, have you come in for a wand care kit? I certainly hope you're taking good care of that wand - hornbeam and dragon heartstring, same as mine, quite rigid, thirty-one and three-quarters centimet----" he cut himself off as he saw the remains of said wand in Brynn's hand. "Well it was thirty-one and three-quarters centimetres. Goodness, what happened to this?" he tut-tutted. "Let me see what we have." He held out a hand to Brynn, even while he saw that Brynn's other hand held another wand he recognised as Brynn's mother's, Erika Caines née Paige, a Hufflepuff, hawthorn and unicorn hair, 30 centimetres exactly. As always, Ollivander remembered every wand he had ever sold.

Tree continued scribbling in her notebook, Mr Ollivander was telling her some good stuff. Tree just finished writing the words MacFusty clan, when she heard footsteps behind her. A girl about her age entered the shop. Ollivander greeted her as Miss Caines, she had bushy red hair, round blue eyes skinny and about Tree's height. Tree looked at her own reflection in the shops window, Miss Caines and Tree looked so much alike, other then the color of the hair, they could be sisters.

Ollivander spoke again and Trees attention returned to him. She took one last note about food and closed her notebook. Was about to thank Ollivander when he suggested she ask Miss Caines where to go. Not bloody likely, Tree thought to herself, for the most part Tree had trouble speaking to people, whenever she did she always ended up rambelng or saying something stupid. So mostly she just avoided talking.

Tree put all her new things in her bag and said, "Thank you Mr. Ollivander." And bowed to him, as she did this she misjudged the space around her and accidentally hit her head on the counter with a thunk.  She grabbed her forehead and grumbled, "ow..." why had She bowed to him?! She could have just thanked him and left but unfortunately bowing was a stupid thing her mom and dad taught her to do to be respectful. Her mom and dad were two complete idouts they love anything Asian and observed a tun of Asian edict, even though they they both came from western cultures. Enbarsed Tree removed her hands from her forehead and acted like nothing had happened, she tuned to the door and left the wand shop.

(Tree out)

Brynn's face burned as brightly as her hair when Mr. Ollivander brought her decimated to attention. Of course, it was to be expected, Mr. Ollivander had been the one to make the wand. Or at least, probably. Nonetheless, it probably pained him to see such a beautiful wand completely destroyed. Probably more painful was the knowledge that it had only lasted a year.

"It broke." She offered weakly. It was all she could think to say for a moment. "I have a sister, well, two actually, you'll see one of them later with my, er . . . mother. But the other one, yeah, she broke it." Then, holding up her mother's wand, "My mum says I should use hers, but we don't exactly get along very well. My sister and I were trying it out to see who it liked better. Long story short, it didn't like either of us. When I tried to do magic it set my shoes on fire, Mr. Ollivander."

At this point, Brynn pulled of her left shoe to show off the scorch marks marring her sneakers. "And yet," she continued, jamming her shoe back on, "Mum still wants me to use it. So naturally I've come to buy a wand on my own. I wouldn't even have this one with me if mum hadn't forced me to start carrying it everywhere with me in hopes that we'll 'warm up' to each other. In case you were wondering," she continued, shaking her mother's wand for emphasis, "it isn't working."

"No, no it wouldn't work for you," Ollivander shook his head 'no,' but with a look of agreement and a faint smile. "Quite aside from the fact that its allegiance still lies with your mother and not you or your sister, that sort of wand works best for witches of a conflicted nature. And I would certainly not describe you like that." He reached out a hand, "May I?" and took Erika's wand, examining it closely. "Mmm. Disused. In relatively good condition physically, but in magical terms... it's sulking. And a badly handled hawthorn wand backfires, almost every time. It's a miracle all it did was set your shoes on fire." Ollivander frowned, not at Brynn or at the wand but at the idea of Erika. "I suppose it's not truly my place to have a word with your mother, but... well. At least I'll be ready for your sister then.

"But! First we need to find you a good replacement! Because, unfortunately, that wand," he pointed not in accusation but in identification, "will never work quite so well again. I would recommend selling it to the secondhand wand shop on North Side, or donating it to a charity." He set Erika's wand down before taking the measuring tape back out of his pocket and telling Brynn, "Go ahead and hold still, just as before. A lot can change in a year." He prodded at the tape with one finger and let go of it, whereupon it floated over the countertop toward Brynn and hovered in midair for a few seconds gauging her size, and then began making all the usual measurements. Garrick watched it for ten seconds or so, committing the markers to memory, and then said, "That'll be enough to start with. Let the tape finish up while I get a few wands for you to try." He went back down the hallway, certain wands already in mind, if he could find them.

"How was your first year, by the way?" he asked when he returned a minute or two later, startling the tape measure which extended its ribbon far out and fell in a heap on the floor. Ollivander didn't seem to notice. "I hope the wand served you well at least while you had it. I never had siblings of my own but I understand how young children are, having had two of them myself. I don't blame you Brynn. I'm sure you were quite careful. Here we are," he presented three wand cases on the countertop.

"I believe one of these will be your best match now Brynn." He lifted the first one out of the box by his fingertips, a shimmery light-wooded wand with a severe but elegant handle: "30⅝ centimetres, aspen and unicorn hair." Placing it back in the box, he showed off the second wand, a medium-coloured slightly S-shaped wand with a curved bell handle: "25 centimetres, fir and phoenix feather." Then once again he returned the wand to the box and presented the third choice to Brynn, a faintly tribal looking handle out of which a dark-coloured wood emerged in a very slow spiral: "31⅝ centimetres, ebony and unicorn hair." He put the last wand down and gently pushed all three boxes to the customer's edge of the counter. Go ahead and give them a wave, and see which one likes you the best.

No, really? It wasn't like she'd tried it a million times or anything. The bits about allegiance and conflicted nature were interesting though, and it certainly made sense concerning it was her mother they were talking about. The ginger reluctantly handed her mother's wand over to Mr. Ollivander and listened carefully as he examined it. She smirked. Well, disused was one term for it. In fact, Brynn didn't think her mother had ever used her wand. She almost voiced this to the old man but changed her mind at the last minute.

Brynn held perfectly still as Mr. Ollivander measured her arm. Oh yeah, her first year. "It sure was interesting," she snorted, "but the wand was fabulous! I learned so much with it! I was really sad when I found out."  She'd definitely remember to keep this one far out of Alys' reach.

Ooh, the wands in front of her were mighty fine looking, mighty fine indeed. Almost reverently, Brynn picked up the one she thought was prettiest. What had he called it again? Ebony? Well, whatever it was, the ginger gave it a quick flick and . . . "Ow!" It didn't appear as if anything had happened but it felt like the time she'd stuck a fork in the electricity socket. "Not that one." She frowned, placing the black wand back in the box. Hmmmm . . . two left. Brynn went for the middle one. It was the shortest, but something about it nagged at her. The moment she picked it up, the ginger felt the familiar warmth up her arm.

"It's this one," she said, breaking into a grin, "this is the right one." Brynn resisted the urge to hug Mr. Ollivander, instead digging seven gold coins out of her pocket. "It's still seven galleons, yeah?" Suddenly she felt very sheepish "And, Mr. Ollivander? I promise I'll take better care of this one."

Ollivander was very pleased with Brynn's cautious and careful treatment of wands. Even as a first year she had been very considerate of the wands in the shop; many first-years flailed the wands around, causing minor damage to the wands before they were paid for, or especially if the wand was a mismatch and was not even going to purchased (not to mention damage to the shop, but that was all part of the business). Brynn's flick of the ebony wand seemed to have given her a minor injury, or at least a brief pain. Ollivander started moving forward to make sure she was okay, but when she said "Not that one" and frowned, he settled back to his comfortable leaning position against the counter.

The young Slytherin went for the fir wand, and the very instant that she touched it to pick it up, Ollivander could feel the connexion being made between Brynn and the wand. It was as if the wand itself sighed in relief. This was one of the more curious points of wandlore - realistically, more than one wand could choose the same wizard, as once happened when future Minister of Magic Nobby Leach had three wands duel for his ownership right there on the counter. Minister Leach's case was highly unusual, however. Most of the time, a wizard had a bond with their first, existing wand, but their character or personality had changed to the point where it attracted a different type of wand. This was obviously what had happened with young Brynn.

"Very good, very good," he smiled at her as he placed the now-empty wand box under his counter and took the seven Galleons from Brynn. "Do not worry, Brynn. I have the utmost faith in you. Maybe, keep it further away from your sister than before?" he gave a stuttering wink and a conspiratorial grin.

"Oh, before you go," he said very quickly, reaching to open a desk drawer hidden in the wall behind the counter, and pulling out a piece of cardboard and a large rubber stamp. He stamped the top of the cardboard, and then his fingers nimbly unfolded the cardboard into an empty wand box, unmarked except for big bold letters that read OUT OF COMMISSION. "Put your mother's wand in that," he said, passing it over the counter to Brynn. "If she asks, I examined it and it's unfit for anyone to use. She could still use it herself, but don't tell her that. When she comes in with your sister later I'll mention that I sealed it and left it with you."