35 A wand II

I came back to the front and I met a familiar figure, it was the boy I had met in Madam Malkin's robe shop. The boy with sleek dark hair, Nathan.

His father was standing behind him with an impatient look, ''Hurry up Nathan!'' And he smacked the boy on his head. Nathan rubbed his head and looked at his father with a face full of anger.

They went to the counter but they couldn't find Ollivander. ''Where's Ollivander?!'' The boy's father said in a demanding tone. He walked towards me and was just about to grab me by the collar when my mum intervened. She looked pissed.

''If you even touch my son with one finger I'll make sure you'll never be able to use that finger.'' My mum said in a threatening tone. She was pretty awesome for standing up for me like that, although it's probably natural to do so for one's child.

The man pulled back his hand and asked me with more patience in his voice, ''Where is the wand maker boy?'''He tried to say it kindly but he still spat out the words. I wonder if he's a pureblood, must be with that temper.

''He's in the back, he's making a custom wand. He said it'll take a little while. You're welcome to wait.'' I said with a polite tone, I wasn't going to degrade myself and act as impolite as he was to me. Manners maketh man after all.

The man looked furious that he had to wait, maybe he should buy a fast travel pass like those one's in Disney World. I couldn't even imagine what would happen if he had to wait in a line for too long. He probably would curse everyone to get to the front of the line.

''I'm not waiting here! I promised I would go to the pub, here Nathan! Buy your own wand.'' He handed Nathan a sack of galleons and stormed out of the shop. Nathan had a guilty look on his face, he clearly wasn't like his father.

''I'm sorry about that, he just doesn't act rational if he talks to commoners.'' He eyed me up and down. ''But you guys don't look like commoners, you have some good clothes.'' I gave him a blank stare.

If this is how you compliment someone on their fit by telling them they don't look like a commoner then he had a long way to go. ''Ahh.. Thank you. You also don't look like a commoner.'' I told the boy and he had an awkward smile on his face.

He clearly wasn't used to talking to boys of his age. But neither was I so this conversation couldn't really get more awkward. My mum turned to me, ''Where did you get that thunderbird tail feather from?'' My mum inquired with her piercing red eyes shining brilliantly behind her sunglasses.

I had planned for this question but I couldn't really find a good excuse. Where would I even find a thunderbird in England? ''We found one when I was training my Occlumency and Legilimency skills, it was hurt so we nursed it back to health. It was probably lost and in thanks it gave me one of his tail feathers.'' I responded to my mum's inquiry.

She eyed me with suspicion but decided to let the topic go. It was very unusual to find a thunderbird all the way in the UK. That means it would've had to cross the sea. Nathan looked at me with big eyes.

''You met a thunderbird?!'' He asked me and I nodded. I described what it looked like and how strong it's magic was. We quickly began chatting about all sorts of things and we became friends pretty quickly.

Suddenly Nathan had a stunned look on his face and facepalmed, ''I forgot to introduce myself! How rude of me my mum would beat me if she saw me!'' Nathan quickly recovered from his stupor and bowed.

''I'm Nathan Selwyn, the heir of the Selwyn line.'' Nathan said whilst facing the ground. I grabbed his shoulders and just grabbed his hand for a fist bump. ''This is also fine, no need to be so formal.'' I told him and he smiled awkwardly once more.

So he's a Selwyn huh, one of the sacred 28. If I remember correctly they were specialised in necromancy and made sure the big V got his materials, along with that guy that Hisoka was working for.

I decided to return the favour and mimicked his bowing, ''Goodday ye sire, I'm Anthony Alucard, It's a most joyous day that you can bequeath us with your presence.'' I said with a posh voice.

Nathan laughed at my antics and I also couldn't keep up the facade anymore and started laughing as well. ''Nice to meet you Anthony.'' Nathan said whilst wiping a tear away from his eye. ''Nice to meet you Nathan.'' I responded and we did another fist bump.

Suddenly Ollivander came back, ''It is done! Feast your eyes on this beauty!'' Ollivander nearly screeched at the top of his lungs. He handed me the wand but I already knew it was right for me. It basically called me to it, it lightened up when I held it and I gave it a wave and yellow and black sparks emanated from the wand.

Ollivander started explaining the minor details of the wand like he was talking about stats from a RPG game, ''It's 11 inches long, sturdy but really flexible. That's because it's made of vine wood, which gives it ancient powers, much like wands made from Elder wood. But vine wood means life where as Elder wood stands for death.'' Ollivander gasped for air, he had spoken that entire sentence in maybe 2 seconds so I could barely understand what he was saying.

Ollivander continued, ''But that's just a myth of course, the thunderbird tail feather core strengthens the ancient magic even more and it's very talented at transfiguration and the dark arts. It's also good at charm but not that good as the former two. With this wand you might even rival the transfiguration of Grindelwald, he was able to change into an entirely different person!''

At this point I noticed that Ollivander was like a mad scientist. He doesn't care if magic does good or bad, he only cares if it's powerful or not. He cares about the genuinity of magic, and he clearly thinks I'll be able to raise his standards. Which I was kind of scared of doing.

I kind of stood there awkwardly listening to Ollivander and nodding and tried to signal my mum to quickly pay for the wand before he went full Smeagle on me. My mum saw my pleading and ignored me, she apparently liked to see me suffer.

After a 10 minute rant on how good the wand was made and how he was an expert on his craft we could finally pay for the wand. Of course it cost more because it was custom made. But before I wanted to head out Nathan grabbed the fabric of my coat.

He had a nervous look on his face but I could make up from the look of his face what he wanted. He was too nervous to stay around Ollivander alone and wanted me to wait with him. I turned to my mum, ''I'll wait for Nathan here, maybe you can take Alaric to Florean's and get some ice cream for us?'' I asked my mum.

She analyzed me for a little bit but then agreed and kissed me on my forehead. ''I'm happy that you have a friend dear.'' And she left the shop, leaving us to ourselves and Ollivander of course. I flushed in embarrassment and Nathan laughed at me, but I just ignored him.

Nathan went up to the counter and let Ollivander inspect him, meanwhile I was giving my wand a closer look. It felt good to touch, like it was a part of me, the design was well-made and you could see several runes on the side.

What they meant I wasn't sure of but they were probably to maintain the integrity from the wand somehow. I could also sense some charms on it to keep it clean and such. If I focussed some more I could that the wand was probing me.

The wand felt stubborn, but I didn't really care. I was pretty sure that the wand will acknowledge me sooner rather than later. When I looked up I saw that Nathan was done with picking a wand. A gold light surrounded him and made the air vibrate, just like when it's hot outside.

''Fir, dragon heartstring. It's 10 inches and not really bendy. But still a very powerful wand in it's own right. My grandfather always called Fir the 'Survivor's wand.' because he had sold it to three wizards who subsequently passed through mortal peril unscathed. Yes, definitely a great wand…'' Ollivander said with his eyes looking straight at the wand.

You can say a lot of things about Ollivander but he is a great craftsman. He builds the greatest wands and has a great eye of pairing the wand with the witch or wizard. Even though most of the time the wand chooses its owner.

We headed outside and Alaric and my mum were both eating an icecream and Alaric handed me and Nathan one as well. Nathan and I also fed Invicta and we chatted more about Hogwarts.

Nathan was pretty sure he would become a Slytherin but I wasn't too sure about that. Nathan didn't really look like a Slytherin to me. He was kind and a bit awkward, he obviously cared about other people but didn't want to stand out, even though he also had this secretive air about him.

Nathan saw his dad walking towards us, he was clearly drunk, and Nathan quickly bade farewell before his father could make a scene. I gave him a last concerned look but there wasn't much I could do so we headed back home.

It had been a good day...