Chapter 17

The shop inside felt quiet. There was a pin drop silence which was broken by a voice next to me, "Good afternoon."

I didn't get startled as I had seen Ollivander staking out by the window. The windows were tinted but not opaque so I had noticed him.

So without flinching, I replied, "Good afternoon Sir."

"Ah...so you are the young Prince…" he said before coming out to the open.

Ollivander more or less looked as described in canon. He had grey hair though not quite as much as he had in canon.

"I remember your mother walking in here to get her wand you know….Maple and unicorn hair, nine a half inches, rigid."

"Cool…" I replied unsure of what to make of that.

"Well then I assume you are here to get your wand?" he asked.

"Yes…"

"Right..let's get to it then." he shuffled across the floor and began pulling out some boxes.

"What's your wand arm boy?" he asked, placing the boxes on a short stool.

"Um...right I guess." I said.

"Alright give me your hand." he asked and I complied. He stared at it for a few seconds and then made his way to the back of the shop leaving me to my own devices.

The silence was oddly uncomfortable so I began looking around the shop. The shop itself wasn't massive and except the counter, the rest of it was disorganised with stacks of boxes everywhere.

I spotted a table with some sketches on it and went to take a closer look. They seemed to be rough sketches of wands and some formulaic things were written that I couldn't understand.

I also saw some notes about wand cores with dates to use them. This made me wonder if Astronomy played a role in making things. I recalled that the animagus potion needed specific conditions to work so this seemed like a plausible idea.

As I was pondering, I heard footsteps approaching from the back of the shop. I quickly made my way to my previous location just in time for Ollivander to arrive with a stack of boxes that reached over his head.

Pulling out one box, he took a wand and handed it to me.

"Ash, with unicorn hair, 11 inches stiff...give it a try." he said.

"Okay." I gripped the wand and gave it a light flick. A small spark formed at the tip and whizzled within a few seconds.

Before I could give it a try, he snatched it from my hand.

"No that definitely won't do." he pulled another wand out. "Here try this, Ebony with an old Hungarian horntail core, 9 and a half inches, flexible."

I held it once again and this time the wand had a slight curve to it and had a rubbery feeling. I gave it a harder flick.

A red light struck a vase in the direction I had pointed at and it exploded into pieces.

"Sorry?" I quietly handed the wand back to him.

"Ah no worries my boy, this happens sometimes. It seems you are a tricky customer." he said with a smile.I felt that he was happy that I was a 'tricky' customer.

"Hmm...have a try at this. Elm, with a ukranian ironbelly core, 10 inches rather bendy.." he flexed it in his arm and handed it to me.

"Are you sure this will work?" I asked, not wanting to damage more things.

"Maybe it will maybe it might but the more wands you use, the more I can sense what kind suits you...so give it a try. Don't fret as I am sure we will find something for you. In all my life, I haven't had a customer who was walked out of here without finding a wand suitable for them."

"Right here I go then." I gave the wand a twirl this time and a strong gust of wind knocked some stacks of boxes over.

"Oh dear, this won't do either." he took the wand away and went back again. He soon came back with a few more boxes muttering something about unusual combinations.

"Right...I have a good feeling about this, here have a go." he said and gave me another wand. This one looked like a typical wand with a black polished body but was the longest of all the others he had shown.

"Hawthorn, with phoenix core, 13 inches, rigid." he stated.

I held the wand and immediately could tell that this was different from the other ones. It felt cool on my skin but I felt a warm feeling running up my arm.

I clutched it tightly and gave it a gentle flick.

I had pointed in the direction of the vase again and this time a zap hit the pile of broken glass and they all started floating to each other. Within a few seconds, they attached and the vase was restored.

I raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Ollivander. He was sporting a curious expression.

"Well it seems the wand has chosen the wizard...but I must say it's quite an interesting combination."

"How so?" I was curious to know about my wand.

"You see...the feather of the phoenix used in the core was from a phoenix that gave it just before its burning day or in simple terms, its rebirth so to speak and as for the wood, it's a contradictory one."

"I don't use hawkthorn much but my rival who has more experience with regard to hawkthorn described it accurately."

I listened with rapt attention. The word 'rebirth' had pulled me in.

"He said that hawkthorn makes for a strange, contradictory wand, as full of paradoxes as the tree that gave it birth, whose leaves and blossoms heal, and yet whose cute branches smell of death. It is a curious wand to say the least but it as they say, it is the wand that chooses the wizard and the wizard that puts it to use."

"I see…" I replied absentmindedly. The wand was oddly ominous. From what I heard, I was positive that my 'rebirth' had made me get this wand and this was not Severus' wand in canon.

"How much do I owe you , Sir?" I asked already knowing the amount but I wanted to make sure it remained the same.

"7 galleons will do my boy. Nothing more nothing less."

"Oh..how much does a wand maintenance kit and a holster cost?"

"1 galleon and 7 sickles." he answered.

I nodded and pulled out the required amount and handed it to him.

After getting the things packed, I left the store and was back into the buzzing streets. It was a bit jarring after that short period of absolute silence.

…

I was so dazed and deep in thought that I didn't even notice Eileen until she was right in front of my face.

"Did you get your wand Severus?" she asked, pulling a trolley behind her with a grey owl in a cage on top of it.

"Ah..yes, I got it." I said, showing her my wand.

She examined it and handed it back to me. "What core is it?"

"Phoenix, with a Hawkthorn body" I said, recalling Ollivander's words.

"Oh..phoenix eh, quite rare from what I heard..good wand Severus." Eileen said.

"Yes...so what did you name the owl?" I said pointing to the grey owl.

"Diana is her name. Do you like it?"

I shrugged, "Sure..sounds nice."

We walked around a bit and visited some other stores. I observed the shops in the alley and noticed that most were aimed at students as their main customers.

We bought some supplies for me like a telescope, quills and other miscellaneous items.

I saw many kids around my age and older roaming about dressed in robes and some even in muggle clothes.

It was Hogwarts season so naturally it was crowded. The queue around Flourish and Blotts hadn't reduced so Eileen suggested another bookstore which wouldn't have all the books I wanted but would have at least some.

I agreed to go there since I didn't want to be in that long queue so I followed Eileen who led me to a small place called Obscurus books.

She explained that Obscurus was a publishing company and had published many well acclaimed magical books.

They only had books published by their company so I couldn't get some of the books I wanted but managed to get my hands on a few.Newt scammander's Fantastic Beasts and where to find them was a bestseller and still sold like cakes. I bought one to browse later on. The second book that I luckily managed to procure was a book about alchemy for beginners written by none other than the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore with afterword by Nicolas Flamel.

That was about the last place we visited. We left Diagon Alley and since I hadn't had my breakfast, we apparated to Hogsmeade.