Ch. 13 A wand and a core

The rest of my week after the shopping spree was done was greatly fulfilling. I spent my time going through the first and second year textbooks and understanding the basics of magical education in the theoretical aspect. The clothes and supplies I had custom ordered also arrived and I was pleased by the finished products. Finally I also inspected my order from Gringotts: the package contained a perfectly forged, goblin made knife.

A year into my deals with Ragnok, I decided to order a weapon for my own self defense in case I am unable to use magic properly or have my wand taken from me. And so I commissioned it to be based on modern combat knives, with it being unbreakable, bonded to me, and that it should always return when taken or lost. I also added some difficulty when I wished for it to be possible to further enchant it by myself later in the future. This resulted in a beautifully made silver combat knife, with goblin Runes engraved into the blade, hidden through the Phoenix,with a small ruby in the place of its eye, they crafted into it. The note that came with the knife said that to bond with it I simply needed to cut my palm with it and let it absorb some blood, and that if I want to further enchant it I can do so by targeting the handle or the ruby itself. They also made sure to state that the blade would return to the goblins after three generations as promised, unless I ,or those I pass it on to, pay for an extension. It was exactly what I had requested, so I immediately strapped the dragon leather sheath to my forearm, which is enchanted to shoot the knife into my hand with a thought as per ordered. I am not ashamed to admit I played with it for a long time.

It's now July 7th 1988, three years before the Harry Potter plot starts properly and the reason I'm mentioning the date is because I forgot that something important was going to happen today: my magical maturation. The reason why one must be eleven years to properly practice magic.

If that was all that would happen then I'd be happy to gain more strength and control like my peers. My only problem is that, according to all the magic theory books I've read on the subject, I've already gone through my first maturation as a result of my first ritual and it was refined to the extremes due to the second. So from my understanding, what I am currently experiencing inside of myself right now is the transformation of the incredible condensed gas changing into its phenomenally more potent liquid form. Something which is only supposed to happen in the properly magically endowed witches and wizards, basically Auror or skilled hit-wizard level. This is why most wizards are just basically useless in real combat anymore, they've got nothing to back up their spells.

And so I was meditating, focusing on the representation of my core within my mind, trying to aid my cores in their transformation. This is when an issue occurred, my twin cores were striking each other in their agitated state as they constantly attracted each other. I felt pain in my heart every time they did so, as if the energy would explode from within it. I had to do something or at this rate I might become a squib if they break or die. I thought and thought as I forced the two energies away from each other. The tug-of-war between me and my cores kept going for I don't know how long until I realized that this wasn't going to work. It was at that moment that I had a flash of inspiration.

If they want to go towards one another, why not redirect their trajectory slightly to make them chase one another?

Instead of forcing them apart, I let them head towards each other only to divert them off their courses slightly so they would miss. And so the process repeated itself countless times until they were in contact with each other, but were also constantly moving as they were chasing one another. They resembled magnets in a way. And as they chased after themselves, they started merging, slowly but surely they became a single entity. I don't know how long this process lasted, I felt mentally exhausted by the trial but I stayed awake because I had to see this through. Soon enough the two spheres slowed gradually until they found a comfortable pace, not too fast nor too slow.

It was quite shocking to see the results. My two cores had almost fused into one, but kept a small barrier between the two, with both filled with different colored liquids: one golden and the other silver. And well, it basically looked like yin and yang, with the whole thing being around the size of a large softball and the liquids inside moving with their rotations.

And then I simply fainted. Don't judge me. You try and keep your heart from exploding due to magical energies, see how it feels.

I woke up with the sun directly in my face. I got up and heard a yelp coming from my left.

I turn around and see a really nervous Tilly.

"Hey Tilly, what's wrong? Oh and what time is it?" I asked groggily while rubbing my eyes.

To which her reply was to run out of the room yelling "Mistress! Young Master Aedan is awake!" In her squeaky voice.

"What the?" I asked myself in confusion

Until I heard the sounds of people rushing up the stairs in a great hurry and my door burst open with the 8 year old Susan in front and aunt Amelia behind her.

"Big Brother, you're ok!" Susan said as she tackled me back into my bed and started crying.

"Well yeah I'm ok. Why wouldn't I be?" I asked while trying to sooth the crying little sister.

"You've been unconscious for the past three days Aedan." Amelia said, dropping the bomb.

"Three days!!" I yell out in surprise.

"Yes, we even had a healer come in to check up on you, but all they said was that you were keeping yourself asleep and couldn't force you awake in case it made things worse." She explained with a bit of anger a her voice. "So what happened?" She finally asked.

"Well, because of the rituals that I went through my core is somewhat different from most people my age and when it was going through it's maturation some issues happened. So I went inside of myself to makes things work properly." I tried to explain.

Her gaze softened, like it always does when I mention my time in that place.

"Alright dear, as long as you're ok now." She said softly.

"So you're ok?" Susan asked while looking up at me from my chest with tears threatening to fall out of her eyes again.

"Yes I'm all ok. I actually kinda feel great right now." I replied with all honesty.

"Well good. Unfortunately for you though, you missed the weekend and I even took a day off to make sure nothing wrong would happen to you, so you'll have to wait until Saturday evening before we go and get your wand." Said aunt Amelia back to her normal tough but fair self.

"It's alright I understand. Thanks for worrying aunty, it means a lot. You too Susan and Tilly." I said with a smile and warm feeling in my heart.

"We are family, all that we have left and I treasure you both." She said as she walked over to me and Susan, and hugged us.

It was really nice.

But since I had to wait another week for my wand, I went back to studying and testing spells out wandlessly. It really shocked me. It takes less magic, for a stronger effect, quicker execution and the magic was recovered at a pace incomparable to the previous one. So I ended up spending the week spamming spells like it was going out of style. You know, until I just fell asleep due to the exhaustion that came with it.

That was until Saturday came and it was time to go to Ollivanders.

Aunt Amelia took me and Susan to Diagon alley through the Floo network. We reached the narrow and shabby shop with peeling gold letters over the door of the shop read: Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.

"Go on Aedan, everyone goes through this little initiation. We will wait for you a Florean Fortescue's." Said Amelia as she held Susan's hand.

I nodded and stepped into the shop. It was a tiny space for the shop, empty except for a single, spindly chair in the corner. Thousands of narrow boxes containing wands were piled right up to the ceiling of the tiny shop, and the whole place had a thin layer of dust about it. With an old man with pale silvery eyes, should length gray hair and white skin, who I assumed was the famous Garrick Ollivander.

"I did not expect to see a new customer this late in the evening, but no matter no matter, it is always a pleasure to match a child to its wand. I hope you make things challenging for me." He chuckled to himself

"Now then young mister..." "Bones. Aedan Bones." I finished for him. "Ah one of the survivors, a shame about what was done to them, sold the whole family their wands." He basically muttered to himself.

He then spent the next half hour handing me wand after wand, containing all of the Ollivander classics of Unicorn hair, Dragon heartstring and Phoenix feather, but nothing was fitting properly.

"Well I've asked for difficulty and you've certainly provided Mr. Bones." Ollivander said quite happily despite all his failures.

"It seems I might have to make a custom wand after all years." He mused.

I was kind of prepared for this situation. I mean, I have the essence of a Wampus cat and a Phoenix in my body. It would be strange if any random wand would bond with me properly.

"Um mister Ollivander." I said to get his attention. "If you can take a vow of silence I can probably help with why the wands aren't working properly." I said to him.

He raised an eyebrow at the request, but I know the mans curiosity will get the better of him. It's just who he is. And just like I thought, he pointed his wand upwards.

"I, Garrick Ollivander, swear on my magic that the information giving by Aedan Bones shall remain between us and that I shall tell none. So I say, mote it be. Lumos." He recited and with the lighting of the wand signifying a valid oath I was relieved.

"Basically, due to events outside my control, I was imbued with the essence of a Wampus cat and deeply bonded with a Phoenix. I also currently have two magic cores." I explained to the man.

"My word!" He exclaimed. "No wonder none of my wands bonded with you. Do you happen to have any feathers of said Phoenix?" He asked in an excited and hopeful manner.

"I had a feeling that I would be difficult so I prepared in advance." I said as I took out a few boxes from my bag.

"This box contains a heart feather of my friend, freely given. And these are a collection of Wampus cat hairs I ordered from America, because I've heard they aren't really used here and thinking it might connect with me better than other materials due to my circumstances." I explained to the man.

"Yes, I much prefer unicorn hair or dragon heartstring, but a good wand maker should strive for the best match, not the preferred material. If these are what matches you then it is what you shall receive. Now come with me, I need you to choose a wood and which of these hairs truly resonates with you." He said as he guided me towards the back.

He laid out a bunch of different wood samples and said to close my eyes and feel which one was calling me. Quickly doing so, I focused and felt a piece draw me in strongly as i moved my hand towards it. I opened my eyes and found myself grasping a jet-black block of wood.

"Ebony wood, good with many things, especially combat. It prefers those with great courage and generally matches well with people who are outside the norm or outsiders. Truly interesting. Now the cores." He said as he laid out more boxes.

This time I felt two pulls. One was brilliant and warm, while the other was subtle and calm. I opened my eyes again and find what I guessed would happen: the feather and one of the boxes of hair.

"Phoenix feathers make for very individualist wands, strong wands, while the Wampus hair tends to be good at the more subtle side of magic, preferring to find new paths instead on focusing on the ones others see." Explained Ollivander again

"Come back tomorrow evening Mister Bones. I should have it ready by then." He declared with fire in his eyes.

"Thanks Mister Ollivander. I'll leave the leftover Wampus hairs for you to experiment with if you want." I said as I began to leave.

"I think I'll take you up on that, keep the skills sharpened." He answered with a laugh.

I explained to aunt Amelia why it took so long and that my wand should be ready tomorrow.

"Really, why is it so hard to get you a single wand young man." She said in a fake anger voice.

I returned the next day and Ollivander took out a black box and put it on the counter in front of me.

I open it and take out a beautiful black wand with a comfortable handle, sleek and straight body without a single flaw in the wood. And then I felt it connect to my cores, making multicolored lights flow around me and a Phoenix cry being heard.

"Ebony, Phoenix heart feather and Wampus cat hair, 11.5 inches, slightly flexible. One of the finest wands I've ever made." Said Ollivander with pride.

I thanked the man after paying for the wand, arm holster and maintenance equipment, and left.