(iv) Wand Hissings

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. All rights are reserved to JK Rowling and Warner Bros.

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Chapter 4

Wand Hissings

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Birds were chirping few and far outside and there was barely any human activity in the village of Helnear. Reason being that it was still 5 in the morning, and most of the inhabitants of the sleepy village were not what you would call early birds - neither were the actual 'birds' for that matter.

Harry had woken up in a frenzy to start the preparation for breakfast in the kitchen. The Dursleys weren't the most forgiving when it came to a late breakfast. But then he had looked at his surroundings once, and then he had looked at his bed, and then he had realised…

'Yesterday wasn't a dream, then.'

He had actually somehow taken over the body of his counterpart in another world where his aunt Petunia was magical and her surname wasn't the abhorring Dursley, he wasn't the boy-who-lived and there was no Voldemort, Grindelwald wasn't a dark lord and was his Godfather, Dumbledore was an alleged dark lord who was supposedly responsible for his parents' death.

Lastly, his best friend was Draco Malfoy of all people.

'Unbelievable.' (The last part, mostly. The rest Harry had no trouble getting used to.)

He ceased his inner monologue at that thought and quickly got out of his comfortable bed to do his morning rituals; cleaning his bed took the short straw. After that he cleaned himself and was about to go downstairs to see if the breakfast was ready yet, when his aunt's voice beat him to it.

"Harry! Are you awake yet? Come downstairs, the breakfast is ready!" Harry promptly answered the question.

"Yes, Aunt Petunia! Coming!" With that he carefully walked downstairs, minding every single miniscule step he took. He sure as hell did not want the repeat of yesterday's incident again. ('Could it even be considered yesterday if it happened in another world?')

Entering the dining room, he soon felt the gaze of both Virtus and Petunia fall on him.

"Good mornin' Harry, how are you feeling? fine?" It was Virtus who asked first and then Petunia soon followed, "All good Harry? Take a seat, I'm serving just in a moment." He nodded and sat down, Petunia soon served him some chips and scrambled eggs, which he ate quietly and thankfully.

'This feels... good, eating with an actual family.' He still felt ever-so-slightly odd for calling them his family, and still believed that he had somewhat stolen them from this world's Harry, but in the end he did not want to upset the happy faces of aunt Petunia and uncle Virtus. They seemed oh so ever kind all the time and he couldn't bear the thought of their disturbed faces, if he were to tell them the actual truth.

So, he ate in silence giving them small smiles.

After a few minutes, as Harry was about to complete his breakfast, the comfortable silence was broken by Virtus who asked, "All done Harry?"

"Yes, what's the matter Uncle?"

"Brilliant. I had a few questions, actually– for your medical report, are you comfortable if I ask you right now?"

"Oh yes, no problem. A-Ask away."

VIrtus smiled and summoned his notepad from across the room and started to write with his muggle ballpoint, scribbling today's date and time, Harry presumed, "Hm, so how was your sleep last night? Were you comfortable on your bed? Did you have any pain or discomfort?"

"No, the bed was perfectly comfortable, and I didn't feel any pain other than some slight leg-ache, but other than that, fine."

"Good good, now have you felt any sort of flashes? Or did you ever feel your vision distorting? Perhaps a headache?" Asked Virtus, head still fixated on the notepad.

"No, I don't suppose I had any— although I did have a headache last night when I was trying to sleep, nothing much I couldn't bear to handle."

"Hm, that's good. The headache is expected to frequent for a few days, a side effect of the excess amount of potions you were getting for the last few days," he finally put down the notepad and pen, "It will dissipate now that the quantity is going to reduce. If you still feel any problems just come to me ok? Don't ever hesitate with your health Harry."

Harry nodded in affirmation and still quite taken aback by his very kind uncle.

"Ok, enough of your medical chatter Virtus! Harry, Gellert said he will be arriving earlier than expected, you should go, start getting ready." Petunia said, giving Harry and Virtus a pat on the shoulders and shooing them away from the kitchen.

Both Harry and Virtus took their prompt to leave the woman of their house to her domain, Virtus going to his office and Harry taking to his room.

In the room he took a quick hot-shower, the amazement of living in a magical-house was that he didn't have to wait a second for the hot water— nothing like the muggle-home of his… other relatives where he didn't get to take a hot bath, well ever really.

After changing into a pair of casual shirt and jeans that fit him perfectly, nothing like his baggy hand-me-downs from Dudley, he looked at the table-clock beside his bed. It was half past 9 and he didn't know when exactly Gellert was going to arrive so he surprised even himself by taking to the bookshelf of his, and browsed through for a light read.

'Magical Creatures (and where to find them)' piqued his curiosity when he saw it, the title seemed familiar yet off, upon looking at the author's name he was found with sudden clarity. It was by one 'Newt Scamander' , the author of the book 'Fantastic Beasts (and where to find them)' back in his original world.

Yet another strange discrepancy, he wasn't sure the reason behind and what might be the consequence but oh well.

It was a course mandate in Hogwarts so he was fairly familiar with what might be the content inside it so he picked it and laid on his bed.

The content, as expected, was familiar, the introductory chapters, then the AtoZ creatures, which contained the usual Nundu, Manticore, Griffin, along with a myriad of others, about all of whom he had practically memorised the details since he was first introduced to magic 3 years ago.

'You can't really get more magic than literal magical beasts.' That was his exact thought process when he had first laid eyes on the book, then he had proceeded to eat it away in his spare time at the Dursleys, and when Care was given as a secondary subject, he couldn't have been any happier. Although with Hagrid being their professor, he should have expected the unusual.

Blast-ended skrewts were too far off, even for him. Merlin only knew how Hagrid had bred a Manticore and Fire-crab.

His thoughts on Hagrid's hazardous hobbies were put on a halt when uncle Virtus called him.

"Harry! Gellert is here to pick you up!"

Picking up the wand holster from the desk, he made his way through the dreadful stairs to the living room of Reson residents

Where a wizard sat on a chair in his extravagant robes showing his outstanding status in society with a charming but stern face which screamed 'Respect me'.

All of this wouldn't have been that thought provoking if it wasn't his Godfather, Gellert Grindelwald he was talking about. From what little he had seen of him, this didn't seem the usual him.

"Good morning Gellert."

"Greetings Harry, how are you? Excited about getting a new wand?"

"Oh yeah, excited! You know it feels quite naked… without a wand and all."

"Unfortunate that, but it can not be helped. Putting that aside, I was just about to inform you that we will be partaking in portkey travel to Austria to get your new wand. I know of your dismal over that particular form of travel, but apologies it is the only plausible way of a one day trip back from and to Austria."

"That's alright, I will manage somehow."

"Great. Now you are ready right? If yes then just say your goodbyes and we shall leave immediately."

Harry nodded and made his way to the Virtus' study to say his byes.

"Aunt Petunia, uncle Virtus? I'll be leaving now, so, um, just wanted to inform you."

"Ah, very well just be careful ok? Not that I don't trust Gellert to do the same, but still if you feel even a bit unwell tell him immediately, alright?" Virtus advised, whilst Petunia nodded.

"Yes, I'll be careful." He replied and after giving Petunia a small smile he left the room.

"Love you Harry!" He heard the voice of Petunia and smiled on the affection, it was nice being loved for once.

"I'm ready, Gellert."

"Wonderful, let's go outside, I will Apparate us both to the ministry first, then we will go to the International Portkey Travel Bureau."

Harry nodded in response and followed Gellert outside to the front lawn and got his first clear view of the village. Uncle Virtus had told him a bit about the history about the place last night when he had inquired.

Helnear was a small magical settlement near Helston, its history traced back to around the 1700s when the statue of secrecy was first put in place, before that the village was barely there and most of the settlers had lived in Helston alongside the muggle population. Due to the statue, a lot of people opted to move out to a bigger magic-only population. Some preferred to stay, though, so they settled in Helnear and soon a healthy magical population occupied the village.

The Reson family was one of the original residents of the village, always acting as the de facto 'head' of the village, although that wasn't the case these days, at least not since uncle Virtus had married aunt Petunia, who was a muggleborn.

Yeah, it seemed like no matter the world, biggoted old fools will remain biggoted.

"—Harry?" Interrupted from his musings by Gellert's voice, Harry looked away from the village view.

"Yes?"

"Is something on your mind? I was asking if you would hold my hand as we have to move a bit more quickly than usual, the Portkey-officers are not particularly patient when it comes to anyone you see."

Embarrassed, Harry quickly replied, "Oh sorry about that. I was just taking in the surroundings, it's just that I don't remember the village at all, and now looking at it, it's quite beautiful. We can move, sorry again."

Gellert smiled at him, "It is, isn't it? I won't say the same for the residents though," He paused oddly for a moment then continued, "We cannot do much for people who refuse to change, though. Ah well, forget it, let us depart." With that he took Harry's hand and with a crunch, they disapparated.

—

Gellert looked at Harry who was looking around the ministry with amazement very much apparent on his face, around the massive underground structure that was the British Ministry of Magic. Even Gellert had to admit that it was a sight to behold. The ICW HQ was a quite big Greek temple-like structure in Athens, but it couldn't hold much against the Ministry when it came to the presence it created. The BMM was a 77 ft deep underground structure which comprised seven floors each dedicated to various departments or in the case of the 7th and the deepest floor, the Wizengamot Chamber, the Minister for Magic's office, and most importantly of them all, the Veil of Life, a mysterious stone archway that had a translucent wave like feature flowing from it.

"Gellert? What exactly is that?" Harry interrupted his internal musings with a question. He was pointing towards the bottom of the drop – as they were still on the first floor – towards the Veil.

"You do not remember? It is the Veil of Life, or as some call it, the Veil of the Mother– mother being Mother Magic. It has been a central piece to British Magical culture since the founding of the ministry," Gellert paused, looking at Harry, who donned a very interested expression, which he had rarely seen on him since mother knows when, "You really do not remember," Harry nodded, "Huh. Well, I used to take you to weekly visits to the Veil when you were a child. I remember how much you used to hate it. But I was determined to introduce my beliefs to you. In the end, by the age of 9 you had outright stopped accompanying me altogether, I should have figured that forcing a child to do anything would result in the opposite."

"Oh. Um, sorry about that too," Harry looked at him awkwardly then continued, "You are religious, Gellert? Is that common?"

"Yes, I suppose I am, and no, it used to be common but nowadays most just do not carry any belief."

The conversation died with that and both of them silently made their way to the Portkey Bureau. There, he made quick work of obtaining the portkey, which was… in the form of a key.

'How ingenious.'

"Do you remember travelling from a portkey?" Gellert asked.

"No… not really, is it like apparating?"

"Well, I could say that it is more comfortable than apparating, but unfortunately it is not by much, magical transports tend to be that way. So hold tight and just close your eyes, we will be there in no time." Giving an encouraging smile, he pointed the other end of the key towards him, and as soon as Harry took a hold of it, he muttered the activation word.

"Austria."

A familiar nudge and uncomfortable feeling washed over him as he and Harry both vanished from the spot.

—

Harry was feeling absolutely dreadful and downright uncomfortable after travelling through his new most distasteful mode of transportation; the portkey– the uncomfortableness might be because he was laying headfirst on the shining marble floor of the Austrian Portkey Bureau though. He should probably get up now.

And then with a groan and a little help from Gellert, Harry stood up and looked at his surroundings— the Austrian Ministry of Magic. It was, for the lack of a better word, different. The British Ministry of Magic had invoked a feeling of grandness when he had first glanced at the Merlin-knows how long-drop, then there was the material that it was built out of, old aged wood and a lot of stone dominated the rooms and chambers.

The Austrian Ministry was… just… bland. There was a blinding amount of concrete and marble used in the building and it just looked like a normal bureaucratic office. It didn't feel magical enough, it was oddly muggle.

"Let us move Harry, Amadeus is not a very patient fellow."

"Amadeus?" He inquired.

"Did I not tell you? Must have forgot, he is the wandmaker we are going to. His craft is not as old as Ollivander's but it is still nonetheless on par with him, if not better. My family traditionally have brought wands from him, that is why I insisted on you buying yours from him too." Gellert gave him a small smile that lasted a second before they were interrupted.

"Guten Morgen, Herr Grindelwald."

"Guten Morgen Dietrich. Würden Sie heute bitte auf Englisch sprechen? Mein Patensohn hat immer noch kein Deutsch gelernt."

"Kein problem. What brings you here Gellert? Not to be rude, but we rarely see you here these days."

"Ha, you are just stating the truth, nothing rude about it, I have just been busy with ICW and and Drumstrang, good to know you people miss me. As to the reason for my visit, I need to get my godson here, a wand. His last one is not functioning for him since an incident you see."

"That's terrible! I'm sorry to hear that, Harry. It must be very inconvenient for you, needing a new wand at such an young age," he turned to Gellert, "You're going to Amadeus' I assume?"

"Ja, it would be foolish of me I went anywhere else for my godson's wand."

"Good good… well I must take my leave now Gellert, otherwise Neumann is going to be after me all day."

"Yes, I won't hold you, we are also on a schedule. Good day Dietrich."

With a nod, Dietrich quickly left towards where he and Gellert had just came from.

"Who was he, Gellert? He seemed to know me." Harry asked curiously.

"He is an old associate. I started my work life in this very Bureau around the same time he did, I just moved on very quickly and he remained. And the reason why he knew is that you have met him before, on your 11th birthday, me and the Resons had held a decently sized party, he was one of the guests. You do not even vaguely remember that?" Gellert asked expectantly.

"Um, no… I… do not." He replied awkwardly.

Gellert didn't say anything after that, and silently led the way out of the Ministry. Although if he had focused on his face at that time, he might have been able to spot a disappointed expression.

—

After leaving the mundane Ministry building, Gellert apparated them both to a bustling alley much like Diagon but yet again, a lot more Muggle… just more modern than its British counterpart. The wand shop apparently wasn't on the main alley but in one of its offshoots, much like Knockturn. Gellert had explained to him that when the Austrian Ministry was renovating or modernising, a lot of old, traditional businesses relocated themselves to an outshoot. Blücher Wandworks was one of the firsts to do so, and that was where they were headed.

It took walking through a decently large crowd of Gellert's admirers - he was very famous around these parts - to reach the aged mossy brick building in the deepest part of the alley.

"We are here, finally. Let us not waste anymore time. Mother help us if anymore of those 'Fans' start to gather again." Gellert said with a tired sigh and pushed open the door– which made Harry immediately shrink in cringe because of the horrible creaking sound that it let out, "He still has not bothered to fix the door. Did you know the last time I was here it made the same exact sound, some people older than me have told me they had experienced the same thing. Makes you wonder if has just enchanted the door to make that sound. Y—" Before Gellert could continue a deep gravelly strained voice interrupted him from inside the shop.

"Cut out the chatter Gellert Grindelwald. Come in for what you have come for. I do not possess the prodigious amount of time that you have." It was an old man, presumptively older than Gellert by the way he had earlier spoken of the man.

"As cheery as ever Herr Amadeus. Hallo."

"Does the little one need a wand then?"

"Indeed. His previous wand reacted quite… violently let us just say, after an incident. He requires a new one."

"Hmm… violently you say. The wand was one of Ollivander's, I presume?"

"Yes, as with most Britishers. Though I protested, his legal guardians insisted upon it. Look where it got us."

"Bah! All of his wands these days are third-class at best. His work is but a shadow of his ancestors'," He turned towards Harry, "Now, tell me boy, what was your wand made out of previously?"

Harry blanked at that, he did not have a single clue, other than that he did not want to have to do anything with it. He turned towards Gellert who seemed to understand his situation.

"It was made out of Silver Lime wood and the core was a Dragon Heartstring I believe."

"Dragon Heartstring is quite temperamental but extremely loyal, and Silver Lime wood is said to be quite in tune with its owner too – seeing its association with the mind arts. Truly a wonder how your Godson here has managed to lose its allegience," He turned towards Harry, "Tell me child, what is this incident that your Godfather speaks for?"

"Well you se—" Gellert was about to explain the situation but was interrupted by Amadeus.

"The child can speak for himself, I believe. No need to be an overbearing guardian, Gellert. That's how you lose children the fastest."

Harry's head immediately turned towards Gellert to see his reaction. What he saw puzzled him quite a bit. From what he had gathered about the personality of Gellert, he did not seem to be one who would stand to anyone dictating what he should do. But strangely he was not offended or angry and simply quilted down in the face of Amadeus. This was the second time it had happened since entering the shop. It was truly making him quite nervous.

This Amadeus guy seems to even precede the authority of Gellert Grindelwald. He would rather have to watch his mouth when he spoke. Wouldn't want to embarrass himself.

"Speak child. Or can you not?"

"I-I can."

"Well then?"

"Apologies for the intrusion Amadeus, but I do not see how it is necessary for you to know about the incident— You, after all, do not possess the, uh, prodigious amount of time that I have, don't you? I think we should get to deciding the wand."

'And there it is.'

As expected, Gellert did retaliate over Amadeus' interruptions.

The wrinkly wandmaker stared at Gellert for a second. He seemed to have this unnerving quality to his eyes, which clearly was even working on Gellert, albeit not as effectively as it did on Harry.

"Indeed… well let us get to it then? Now child, tell me about any and every experiences you can recall that you have had with magical creatures, this is very important so do not attempt to hide any escapades, it will waste all of our times," He gave Gellert a side glance, "...and we know how valuable it is."

'Do Trolls, Basilisks, Phoenix, and Dementors count?'

He had almost blurted out that aloud too, but with much restraint, he held it all in. But, with withholding that piece of information, he would be risking his compatibility with his new wand. And.. if he were to tell, then it would open a whole can of worms that he would have to somehow explain away to Gellert. What was he supposed to do?

It seemed like Amadeus had sensed his dilemma somehow, though.

"Gellert, give us a few minutes alone. Go greet your ever-amassing number of followers before they start a riot in front of my shop," Gellert would have rebuked but Amadeus had already seen it coming, "And that's an order young man, leave us be."

'Young man? How old is this guy?'

Gellert tightened a smile on his face and gave Harry a nod before leaving.

"Well, now that we have some privacy. Tell me child, what have you seen that you couldn't say in front of your Godfather?"

Could he tell him? Should he tell him? Ultimately the decision would end up affecting his wand, and a wand was not something he could compromise, especially when he took into consideration his alien surroundings. Decision made, he spoke.

"I have encountered a troll, a pheon…. Um, I don't have to tell you how I encountered them right?" Amadeus gave a slow nod, "Ok, So I have encountered a mountain troll, a phoenix, and a, uh, basilisk." He probably had said basilisk too fast for comprehension, but oh well.

Amadeus just stared at his eyes in disbelief, but slowly his expression changed to a more accepting one, "Is that so. You do not seem to be lying. I can not imagine how you came across a basilisk and a phoenix but I digress, it is not my place to know. Let's get you your wand then. Follow me." He said before he started to move upstairs. Harry slowly followed him before they arrived in a room that he could only describe as a cacophony of chaos. Every bit of the room was covered in different boxes and jars and satchels. A single dark wood table stood in the centre, It had a few things on display.

"Now, what I want you to do is hover your hand in front of the cores that I show you and inform me of any reaction you experience with any of them."

After a few seconds of rummaging through various boxes, Amadeus presented him with 3 different cores.

"Go ahead, inform me if you feel anything."

Harry nodded and glanced at the cores as he was searching for any tingle. The first one was a vial of sickeningly green viscous fluid which he assumed was venom. Hovering his hand and internally concentrating. At first nothing seemed to happen so he tried even harder to reach out to something… and it worked.

"I feel a sort of… tingling on my palm. Is that what you were talking about?"

"Oh? A match on the first core? Quite lucky, and yes that's the feeling you should be looking for. Go ahead, try the other two. Maybe you have more than two cores in your fate."

Harry promptly started to do the same as previous for the other core that was now presented in front of him. It was a glowing feather that very obviously belonged to a phoenix. If any, he was expecting this one to resonate with him the most, after all his previous wand was a phoenix feather one. So he reached out, trying the same technique he had just used. A few seconds passed and he didn't feel anything, a few more passed and he was getting nervous. He tried a bit more harder before halting on Amadeus' voice.

"That is enough. Basilisk Venom… how interesting. You do not seem to possess an affinity towards Phoenix. You don't need to try the last one, it is another variation of a Phoenix core," He collected all of them and put them in their respective boxes carefully, "Just wait for a moment, let me fetch a few wands that I think might be compatible with you."

Harry nodded, not trusting himself to say anything intelligent after the shocker that, of a Phoenix and a Basilisk core, he apparently was more compatible with the snake.

In a few moments Amadeus was back with 2 generic green wand boxes.

"Here we are, Basilisk cores are very rare as you might be able to guess. It has been almost 700 years since a Basilisk carcass came into circulation— unless you know where another one might be?"

Harry gave him a firm no as an answer, which Amadeus clearly didn't like.

"Well, it does not matter. Let us focus on getting you your wand," He opened both the boxes, taking out the wands, "These two here were crafted by my ancestor, who was also the originator of my practice here. So far they haven't found their owner yet. Here, give this one a wave." He said, handing him the short black and crooked looking wand.

As soon as the wand was placed on his hand, Harry immediately felt coldness. A nearby glass also cracked too, indicating the clear dissonance between himself and the wand.

"Hmm, alas, it seems like it is not your size, too short. Give that back and try this one then."

Harry gave him the black wand back, and in turn was given a light brown medium sized wand. It didn't feel cold like the previous one, and he could feel a tingle going through his entire body as it gradually warmed up to a warm comfortable temperature. Sparks shoot out of its tip blinding him for a few seconds due to the surprise.

"Hornbeam wood, 13 inches with a solid Basilisk venom core, it seems like you have got your wand, child. Although I wonder…" Amadeus trailed off into thinking and spoke after a few seconds, "Please wait a moment, I will be back in a minute." With that he took off further into the interior of the room, searching for what Harry could only guess.

The Hornbeam wand felt warm in his hand, it had a different texture from his previous wand, a touch more smoother, it was a bit more darker in colour and a bit longer. He didn't know what properties a Basilisk Venom core might show so he didn't know what to expect. Overall the wand felt quite alright, it would use some getting used to and he would miss his Holly wand, but he liked his new one well enough– a lot more than the wand this world's Harry had.

Creaking of the wooden floor snapped him out of his musings, Amadeus had returned with yet another wand box, as to why? He had no idea.

"Give this one a try too, it has spent an even longer time sitting gathering dust in this room. The core's donor is close enough to a Basilisk that it might be compatible with you. The length is right too. Here, give a wave." Explained Amadeus as he handed him a wand which had a reddish tint to it, and was identical in length to the one he was currently holding. It was a bit bent near the handle too. But the strangest thing was that he could somehow hear a hissing sound coming from the wand.

As soon as he held the wand, the hissing exemplified, and became louder and more clearer. It was definitely parseltongue, how a wand was actually speaking it, he had no idea. Although 'speaking' might be a stretch, it was just hissing random words like 'good' or 'owner' and other variations of such.

It was bizarre.

Then suddenly a green spark burst out of the tip of the wand, accompanied by yet another loud hiss.

Amadeus gave him a creepy smile, "Alder wood, 13 inches, with a horned serpent core. Looks like we have another match."

'Why in Merlin's name could it not be something less ominous than a fucking snake.'

In the end he left the shop with not one but two new wands, along with a new wand holster, and the questioning gaze of Gellert.