Chapter 7: Apprenticeship

The auror I saw earlier came and took Granger away. She told me she'd be waiting for me at Kings Cross station. She was a very awkward child. She even confessed that I was her first friend. I didn't know what to say. It seemed that after her magical abilities were awakened she was banned from going out, which was the only way to keep her safe. So she only had her books as her friends for more than a year. Not like she had many before that.

I went toward Michael who had a handkerchief in his hand and was wiping his imaginary tears and in an overdramatic tone said: 

"My little boy is growing up. Already mingling with girls. How much time has passed, I miss the good old days."

I didn't say anything. Just smiled and walked upstairs to our room. He said:

"Nothing? Oh, the lady got you soft? Got you in a good mood?"

I took a deep breath. You see when Wormtail was caught for the first time and he told me that he could work as a double agent, I didn't believe he would betray them that easily. So I went through most of his memories to understand why he would eagerly betray them to save his ass. And during that time, I learned a lot from Harry's dad and Bellatrix's cousin. I wouldn't say that I mastered pranking with magic, but they gave me enough ideas to work with.

I went into the room and started chanting spells left and right. It would be a hellish week for the little Michael. He had to pay the price for trying to embarrass me. Not that he could. But I did feel something and for me who didn't feel for years, it was a lot. 

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I woke up the next day feeling refreshed. I planned a course of action for the upcoming months, and I just needed to execute them properly. I got up and washed my face and prepared myself for the day. I looked over to Michael who had pink pigtails instead of his usual short black hair and felt proud of my work.

I wanted to have a short trip to Olivanders' store before going to work in Gringotts. I knocked on the door of his store.

Nothing happened.

Knocked again.

Nothing.

I tried to push the door open. But it was locked. I waited for a minute and decided to come back after visiting Goblins. I started to walk away when I heard the low shaky tone of an old man:

"Who are you, boy?"

I looked back and saw the door of Olivanders' store was open only enough to see an eye trying to peek outside. Gerrick Ollivander, once a master wandmaker, now looked like a dark creature. I saw a small bit of his pale and wrinkled face and some stands of his hair that stuck to his face like he hadn't taken a shower for years.

I half-bowed to him and said:

"Mr. Ollivander, my name is Tom Riddle. I wanted to talk to you."

He replied fast with an annoyed tone like he was kicking me out of his lawn, "Go away. If you want a wand you can buy it from a pawn shop. Many fools are returning them to get one of the new fancy toys they have. Even the smallest pawn shops now have a bigger stash than me. Goodbye." 

He shut the door fast and was locking the door from behind.

I went in front of the door again and knocked. "Mr. Olivander. I don't want a wand. Please let me in. I want to talk to you."

"What do you want from me? I don't have any money." I heard his voice from behind the door.

"I want to learn from you. I think the wands are superior to other magical foci. I even studied all about the different wands and their cores. I know everything. I just want to learn more from a master. I want to create wands to surpass all other magical foci."

I could hear him unlocking the door and I saw his pale face again after he opened just enough to see me with one eye.

"And why would you want that?"

"I love magic, and I love wands. I feel the new foci cannot be compared to the wands. Wands have souls, the connection between a wand and a wizard is beautiful in my eyes. They are like a companion. But the new ones feel soulless. I want to prove to the world that what I see in the wands is correct."

A spark of curiosity and excitement appeared in his eyes, but it was pushed back by the darkness and trauma that was clouding his mind.

"Big words for a small child like you. Do you think it's that easy? You read a couple of books and think you can improve upon thousands of years of the wandmakers' work?" 

I said hurriedly: "Please, test my knowledge, I even have ideas on how to improve the current wands." 

I did have ideas. But I was not planning to tell him my ideas. You see, the Ollivander that I extracted Wandlore knowledge from was the one from 7 years in the future in my previous life. Considering that he had given up around 20-25 years ago, there were around 30 years of Ollivander wand-making experience and test results that this one had no idea about. I couldn't get access to his family legacy due to Ollivander Family/House Magic, but his experiments were up for me to grab. 

"Ideas at your age. Don't mock me boy." He tried to shut the door but I stopped it with my hand. He was surprised by my determination.

I looked at him with serious eyes: "Test me. Please!"

We looked at each other's eyes to read the reaction of each other and he said. "2 minutes, come on in." 

He opened the door and I walked inside his shop. The pungent smell of moldy wood hit me like a kick in the sac. The room wasn't cleaned for decades. I took a look at Ollivander himself and he wasn't in any condition better than his store. Half of his body seemed to be colored black. Burnt and rotting. He saw my eyes falling on black spots of his body and said:

"Yes, the magical mishap. 25 years ago I had this accident while trying to improve wandmaking in a daring experiment." He changed his tone fast and said, "Now, don't waste my time. The healers told me I had a year, or at best two years ahead of me. Let's make you leave me alone fast. I want to go to sleep again."

He continued with a mocking tone: "Now tell me, "Mr. Wandmaker", what kind of woods unicorn tail could be matched."

I recited his knowledge back to himself with a flawless flow. "All woods can be used with all wands. unicorn tail has a gentle temperament, using it on more flexible types of wood could lead to a better success rate in production and yields greater results. Using American Ash, White oak, and Cherry wood is preferred. There have been some wandmakers using fig wood, but the accuracy of the spells became way off. Also matching unicorns with fire essence wood or lightning essence is a big mistake based on the studies of Hachimaki and his wandmaster team. There is also the alchemical solutions used to bind the two, which must be perfect for both the core and also the wooden conductor."

He looked at me with confused eyes. No one expects an intelligent 11-year-old.

So to make sure it wasn't a fluke, he asked again: "Why don't we use the Thestral teeth or parts in wand making?"

This was a difficult question. Because no one knew exactly why there was a rejection from Thestral cores while binding it into a wand.

I answered calmly, "Even though the core appears to be completely fine, there is a lack of materials in the components of the core to balance the deathly essence of Thestral. Thus when the core is encased with the wooden conductor outside, the breach of essence corrodes the wood." Then I looked at his body and said: "And I think you were experimenting on Thestral core when the accident happened."

He sat down on a chair nearby, feeling defeated. After a minute he said: "Who are you? Did one of the dark lords send you?"

"No sir, I'm a muggleborn student at Hogwarts. Some wizard helped me get here and I've been working and studying here in Diagon Alley since then. In my studies, I felt an inclination towards Wandlore and I think it is my destiny to revive it."

He said "Go back now. Tomorrow come here again at 8 a.m. I'll be waiting. Don't be late. I'm going to teach you but if you fail to deliver, I'm not that tolerant. I don't want to waste my last one or two years teaching if you are not an absolute genius."

I lowered my head to show respect and said goodbye and went my way.

[Ding!]

[Apprenticeship with one Gerrick Ollivander is detected. due to his complications, a quest has been created.

Learn from Gerrick Ollivander (Wandlore level: 63/80)

!Prior knowledge of Wandlore is detected!

Current knowledge: 45/80

Current skill level: 0/80

Quest has been altered]

[New Quest!]

[

Objective 1: Bring your Wandlore skill up to your knowledge level.

Progress: 0/45

Objective 2: Bring your Wandlore skill up to Gerrick Ollivander's level.

Progress: 0/63

Objective 3: Exceed the level of Garrick Ollivander or impress him with your ingenuity before his demise.

Progress:?

Rewards:

Objective 1: You'll gain [Trait: Apprentice of legendary wandmaker] and your EXP and efficiency in wandmaking will rise by @.]

Objective 2: You'll gain [Trait: Master wandmaker] and your EXP and efficiency in wandmaking will rise by €. Also, you will experience 30% better results in creating new techniques in wand creation.]

Objective 3: You might get the chance to inherit the House of Ollivander.]

I walked to Gringotts. I had to finish my work here with the goblins as soon as possible so I could free up more time for wand-making. It's not like it was my priority to perfect Wandlore in this world, but Gerrick was on his deathbed. I didn't have a lot of time for that. Also because Grindelwald did not lose to Dumbledore it seems that he is still holding onto the Elderwand which is a super weapon in magical terms. When I held the wand in my hand, I could sense the immense power it held, but it only allowed me to use a drop of its power for my magics and I brought down the defense around Hogwarts.

And it betrayed me in the end. Such a sad ending.

Now, I needed a new weapon. If I wanted to create a new band of Deatheaters for myself, a new and powerful kind of weapon that worked well with the traditions of wizards would possibly be an incentive. 

But these, although important, were not my main reason for working on wand-making day and night. No, it was the Ollivander house as a reward for my hard work that was the main and the most important reason.

Old houses like Ollivander have something called house magic. Something akin to a spiritual being, a gene, an AI, that controls the family members, protects them, and keeps the knowledge safe. The creation of this House magic goes back to the Merlin era, but there was a plethora of knowledge on how to improve them in old families' libraries. I studied many of them to create my own, but sadly it didn't lead to any results.

My own family, the Gaunts, didn't have house magic, and I think Salazar even created a house magic. That's why I couldn't be recognized as his descendant.

I pondered over my lineage in this world. Considering my lack of innate Parseltongue I might even not be from Gaunts anymore. The system didn't show my name as Tom Marvolo Riddle. That was my first clue. But I didn't have a way to check my lineage without dabbling in Divination magic or some Blood magic.

I wish it could be so easy that you pour your blood on a piece of paper and it shows your family ancestry. I chuckled at the thought. Magic was way more complicated than that.

With that thought, I finished my work at Gringotts in 2 weeks, during that time I spent time with Ollivander in the afternoon and evening. After everything with the potions was running smoothly, I focused on my Wandlore 24/7.

And 8 months passed in a blink. It was the middle of August and I had around 2 weeks before school starts.