Ollivanders

"I still need... a wand", I told Hagrid as I looked through my shopping list.

"A wand? Well, you want Ollivanders. There ain't no place better. Why don't you run along there and wait, there's one more thing I got to do. Won't be long now...", Hagrid said after he pointed to the shop, leaving me alone to get my first wand.

*Ding-a-ling*

I stepped into the store and found that it was empty.

"Hello?... Hellooo?", I called out, wondering where the wandmaker was.

At this moment, Ollivander glided across the shelves with his ladder to the front desk. Staring at me, he exclaimed, "I wondered when I would be seeing you, Mr Potter..."

"It seems only yesterday, when your mother and father were in here buying their first wands." Ollivander said, as he started to choose a wand that would fit me without asking me what I wanted.

Quickly scanning through from a pile of wand boxes on the shelves, Ollivander opened one and handed me a wand. As I held it, I could suddenly feel a force flowing from me into the wand, as if the wand was a conduit. Is this how magic works? The magic comes from me and the wand translates and affects the real world?

"Well, give it a wave", Ollivander said as he watch me stare at the wand blankly.

"Oh!", I replied, giving a quick wave. I felt the magic in me coursing through the wand, but I felt a certain blockage in the path as a surge of magic came forth from my wands. Suddenly, boxes of wand flew out from one of the shelaves, creating a mess in his store. Shocked, I quickly place the wand back on the counter.

"Apparently not", Ollivander said calmly as he proceeded to choose another wand. I guess this must be a pretty common occurence for him. When I waved the wand earlier however, I was able to feel the sensation of magic. Is this normal? Harry Potter that was shown in the movie didn't seem to have felt anything at all. Somehow, I think my senses are better than they were before.

Ollivander climbed a ladder and reached for another wand from a higher shelf. Opening the box, he handed me the wand.

"Perhaps... this", he said cautiously.

I waved the wand again, this time, I think I actually saw the magic flowing from my hands into the wand. The magical energy looked white with a tinge of golden. It seemed to be amplifying the magic into a cascading wave... Before I could continue my train of thought, the vase that my wand was pointing at immediately shattered into pieces, feeling the blunt of the impact from the magic wave that I created.

"No, no... definitely not!", Ollivander said as he climbed down the ladder. He proceeded to search through his wand collection. He went deeper into the shelves and stopped at a certain point. As he picked up a particular box, he muttered to himself, "I wonder"...

Ollivander came to me and handed me the wand. As the tips of my fingers touched the wand, I could feel the magic in me surging outwards, amplifying to a higher degree than before. The magic in me seems to be harmonising with the wand. A small whirlwind seemed to have suddenly form around me, flowing softly through the shop.

"Curious... Very curious", Ollivander said after witnessing the phenomenon.

"Sorry, but what's curious", I asked, knowing that this was probably due to the horcrux attached to my soul.

"I remember every wand that I've ever sold, Mr Potter. It so happens, that the phoenix, whose tail feather resides in your wand, gave another feather... Just. One. Other. It is curious that you should be destined for this wand, when its brother... gave you that scar", Ollivander replied, pointing to the lightning bolt on my head.

Ollivander continued, "The wand chooses the wizard, Mr Potter. It is not always clear why, but, I think it is clear, that we can expect great things from you. After all, He-who-must-not-be-named, did great things. Terrible, yes... but great.".

Before I could continue asking him any questions, the sound of someone tapping on the window distracted me. "Harry! Happy Birthday!", Hagrid called out, in his hands, I saw a snowy white owl. Ah, this must be Hedwig. Although I didn't understand why wizards needed owls to deliver mail since they could teleport or get elves to deliver them, having a pet owl was novel to me. Moreover, this owl did save Harry Potter from a killing curse in the movies.

"Thank you, Hagrid!", I replied.

I placed the thought of how I was able to see the energy flow of magic to the back of my mind as I paid for the wand and met up with Hagrid. Interestingly, the wand only cost me 7 galleons, but I think phoenix feathers usually cost 10 galleons... So, does Ollivander make a loss on every wand he sells? Or is it because it was a 2-for-1 phoenix feather so it was cheaper? Maybe everyone in the wizarding world is bad at math? Thinking about it, I don't think they learnt calculus or trigonometry...

In fact, every wand seems to cost that much, and they are supposed to stay with the witch and wizard for a lifetime. So what kind of business is he running? The most money he makes is once a year when a handful of children show up for their first, and probably only, wands and then go off to Hogwarts while Ollivander probably sits in his shop all alone with little to no business for another year. And I don't think there are that many young wizards or witches too right?

Apart from that, I wanted to ask Ollivander more about the issue of wand ownership. He said that the wand chooses the wizard. Was that how the Elder Wand randomly chose its new owner? Draco Malfoy earned the allegiance of the Elder Wand because Dumbledore was holding it when he disarmed him. So he took the Elder Wand from Dumbledore. All right and good. Yet somehow Harry disarms Draco of a totally different wand… and yet becomes master of a wand he never took. What nonsense is this? Does this mean my wand can choose another wizard randomly? How do I prevent this? Or can I make other people's wand choose me too?

Also, Ollivander used extremely rare or expensive wand cores for his wands - unicorn hair, dragon heartstring, and phoenix feather. But why only one core in each wand? What if I had say, two unicorn hair in one wand? What if they were from different unicorns? What if the wand I had combined more than one core, like say, a phoenix feather and a dragon heartstring? And the wood used to create the wand, what if they were made of other materials? Plastic? Alloy? So many possibilities.

I made a mental note to myself to explore more on wandlore when I get to Hogwarts. But for now, I am done with my shopping before going to school...