The Beginning of Greatness (1)

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Chapter Begins:

"Core Resurrecting…" Darcie repeated, thoughtfully.

Mr. Ollivander's smile showed no hint of vanishing. "Indeed," he said. "The ancient wizards found that taking a part of the magical creature to create a wand was a crude process at best. The ingredient itself was magical, true enough. But it lacked the connection with the Nature which its parent magical creature shared."

"So," Darcie inferred, "the wand cores… the ingredients lose a part of their magical properties when separated from the actual self?"

Mr. Ollivander's eyes narrowed as he ruminated over Darcie's words. "Sleep, I would say," he said after a few moments. "Isn't that true for all ingredients, though? You take a magical crystal, break it into two, and measure its magical potency by brewing a Crystal Essence. You would find that, when combined, these two Crystal Essences couldn't measure to the Crystal Essence brewed from the original crystal without the breakage."

Darcie had to nod. She had tested it herself as a part of her training.

"The wand cores are nothing but the tiniest part of magical creatures," Mr. Ollivander continued. "The loss is much greater in their case. To properly use them, we must first awaken them, minimizing the loss. In Core Switching, it happens by perfectly replacing wood's innards with the wand core, awakening it with a mere touch.

"In Core Aging, it happens by quenching the wand in the Sealing potion. The awakening is much more proper and thorough, but not complete. Not as complete as it can be, yes."

"What about Core Resurrecting, then?"

Mr. Ollivander filled his lungs with a direly needed breath. "You must be familiar with the Law of Contagion?"

Darcie's brows stood up on their ends. She nodded. "The belief that once two people or objects have been in contact, a magical link persists between them."

Mr. Ollivander smiled. "Good," he praised. "In Core Resurrecting, we strengthen this magical link by letting the ingredient interact with an alive magical being. Or, a magical tree capable of giving wand woods in this case.

"When such a tree is found, preferably a plant, we cut a branch near the node on the stem. Then we hollow both parts of the branches in such a way that when the wand core is put there, half will remain on one side and half on the other.

"The middle of the wand core, now within the branch, will roughly align with the place where the cut was made. The current principle of Grafting has evolved from the Core Resurrecting method."

Darcie felt awed. "Then…"

Mr. Ollivander's smile broadened. "You are good at inferring details, I knew," he commented. "Yes. Then we let the plant grow, nourishing the wand core, awakening it. Meanwhile, the wand core interacts with the wand wood, becoming something more than the individual parts. This is the resurrection of wand core, Darcie. At its core, we resurrect the wand core, making it behave as the magical creature from which it had been taken."

Darcie put a hand over her mouth.

Mr. Ollivander stood up. "Magnificent, isn't it?" he said, his eyes gleaming. "The wands created in such a fashion possess a might like none before or after them. They are unique, formidable, and, in the right hands, a symbol of power and peace.

"In the wrong hands, a tool of death and destruction."

Darcie felt her breathing going awry. "But…"

Mr. Ollivander frowned. "You are guessing right, child," he said. "Time. It is time that makes this method impractical. The more time you leave the wand core within the magical tree for nourishment, the greater the link. But beyond a limit, the link will begin deteriorating. A wandmaker must know when to graft the wand core inside the tree and when to collect it.

"Each magical tree and wand core is unique. So is the time needed. Some take dozens of years. Some decades. But the truest wands, the ones which could rival its ancestors in might, took centuries."

A wand which could rival scepters and staffs? Darcie thought, shocked. Hundreds of years…

"No such wand exists, now," Mr. Ollivander said. "One, almost none knows the spells and potions needed in the process. Two, there are few wizards or witches who can Cultivate such a wand. Three, you need to prepare ahead for such wands; decades ahead.

"What makes us Ollivanders stand out in Wandmaking is this method, Darcie. An Ollivander carefully and secretly grafted wand cores into magical trees, and then the grandchildren collected them in their times. My grandfather did this, too. So did my father. So have I. And today, I will show you the Core Resurrecting method using one of these wand logs."

Darcie gaped. "You must not," she protested. "Why waste…"

Mr. Ollivander laughed. "It's not a waste if you get to learn it, dear," he said, nodding to himself. "Which I am sure you will, given your brilliant mind. Now come. I have already made preparations."

"Preparations?" Darcie asked.

A rueful smile lingered on Mr. Ollivander's face. "Hmm," he grunted. "It takes months to years to prepare such a wand log for carving. I have been preparing for this moment for a long time."

Darcie was stupefied. "Since when?"

Mr. Ollivander's eyes gleamed again, impressively red, like an obsessed, mad wizard. "When you came to visit me that evening… Since then. I knew such a time would come. Even if it hadn't, I had rather gambled on it just in case. Prudent, no? Blimey! Here we are!"

Darcie didn't know. How could she have ever known or guessed the implications of a chance visit during an uneventful evening? She didn't get to think over it, either.

Mr. Ollivander brought Darcie behind the shelves with the cases of wand cores. There was nothing here but an empty floor. The old wizard waves his wand, casting dozens of spells.

The air rippled and fumed. A grand, arching trunk materialized, laced with gold, silver, and lead.

With another wave of the wand, an eerie clinking noise came out of the trunk, gears spinning and locks opening.

A bang.

The trunk opened, revealing the treasures stored in it.

Three 3 ft long wooden logs were resting on a purple, sparkling cloth, each a width of a palm. At one glance, there was nothing special about them. At another, one could taste the old magic rippling within and about them.

Yes. Treasures, indeed.

The old wandmaker had done something to them. The preparation, he had called, Darcie noticed. No matter how she observed or scrutinized the wooden logs, she couldn't tell the nature of the woods.

"Well," Mr. Ollivander said, "would you like to select one?"

"Can I?!" Darcie jumped, excited. "But how to choose?"

The old wizard chuckled. "Just select one at random," he said. "The preparation procedure is lengthy and exorbitantly demanding of wealth. I couldn't afford to do it for all. So I selected three of the best from my collection. These should suffice, for there's no demand for them anymore, anyway. Perhaps you will not have to worry about prices, eh?"

Darcie blushed and looked down at the wooden logs.

If her master wanted to show her the complexity of spells involved in the Core Resurrecting method, then it didn't matter which particular wooden log she chose, right?

Darcie bent and touched the rightmost one.

And her ears exploded with a cry.

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AN: Break Tomorrow

Mass Release Goal Progress: 60%...