8A's Hogwarts Adventure

Chapter 3: The Wand

We were all put in groups of five as the carts could not fit anymore. I was luckily put with my four best friends, Felicity, Tamara, Marci and Lydia. Once the cart started moving, I felt like it was just another day at Dreamworld, having fun on the rollercoasters with my besties. Of course, I knew that this was a lot more than that, this was a whole new world, a world that I had been dreaming of since I was 10.

I had first read the books in grade 5 and was extremely excited as I turned 11 that year. When it reached July, I began to get excited and any tapping noise I heard, I would think it was an owl, tapping at my window. A few months past and the first of September had arrived, I hadnt gotten my letter. I was devastated. I then began to think positive thoughts, maybe I had to already be 11, and as I didnt turn 11 until December, maybe I had to wait until next year. Of course, deep down, I knew this was all just wishful thinking, there is no such thing as magic and Hogwarts, this is all just a fantasy that was thought up and created by J.K Rowling.

I thought about all of this as we headed towards the Hogwarts vault. I could hear some people screaming in terror and others in delight. I personally had a bright smile on my face, thinking that all of my hopes and dreams had not been just wishful thinking. This ride, had somehow proven that to me, whether it was the rush of exhilaration, or the time to actually pinch myself and think. Whichever, I was immensely excited and ready to begin my journey as a witch, along with all of my friends.

We arrived at the vault, and Mrs Somerville gave the key to the goblin. Now that everyone was standing on the same level, it was quite amusing to see how short the little goblin was. If he weren't so freaky looking, I might have actually thought he was cute.

The vault opened and mountains of money and jewels were everywhere. This vault had to be as big as the Lestranges vault in Harry Potter, maybe even bigger. I couldnt believe my eyes. Mrs Somerville began grabbing handfuls of Knuts, Sickles and Galleons and stuffing them into her little beaded purse. Those in the class who had never read or seen Harry Potter, were absolutely bewildered, but those of us who had, knew it must have been an undetectable extension charm.

Once she had finished, we all hopped into the carts and zoomed off again, a lot of us over the exhilaration and just chatting quietly among our groups. When we got outside, Mrs Somerville took us to many different shops, including; Madam Malkins Robes For All Occasions, where we were all fitted into our Hogwarts robes, Flourish and Blotts, where we got, not only the first year books, but also the second and third. We went to many other stores and bought all that we needed. The only item left on the list was a wand, and a pet if we wanted, but Mrs Somerville said we can get that in our own time, as we will be staying at the leaky cauldron until we head to Hogwarts.

We all walked quickly to Ollivanders, excited to be chosen by a wand. The store was only small so we had to go in, in groups of four. Tamara agreed to go with someone else so I was with Felicity, Marci and Lydia. We were the last group to go in. We all voted that Felicity should go first.

She tried 3 different wands before she had found the correct one. "I wonder if this is the correct wand." Mr Ollivander mumbled to himself, looking at Felicity and back to the wand. He must have agreed with himself as a moment later he was walking back to us saying, "Spruce wood with a phoenix feather core, 12 ¾ inches and slightly yielding flexibility." Felicity carefully took the wand and gave it a wave. Green sparks shot out of the wand, creating small fire works. It had chosen her. She carefully put the wand back in the box and payed for it. Now it was Lydias turn.

Lydia took a bit longer than Felicity, having to try 5 wands before obtaining her correct wand. Finally, Mr Ollivander came back with a wand. "12 ½ inches, phoenix feather core and mahogany wood." He told her. She swished it around and a green, snake like firework slithered out. She beamed happily, she had found her wand. Marci quickly shoved to the front, excited to find her wand.

She had been looking forward to this all day but it took her 7 attempts to find her wand. I was kind of worried at how long it was going to take me. Finally, she found her wand, 14 inches, Dragon Heartstring, Rowan wood. She had given it a wave and a tiny Norwegian ridgeback came out of it. She petted it a couple of times until it exploded into fireworks. She knew it was her wand.

Finally, it was my turn. The others had all been reasonably quick in their choosing, whereas I had a feeling mine would take longer, and boy was I right. Mr Ollivander turned to the shelves behind him and took out a wooden box. He opened it and said, "10 inches, Dragon Heartstring core and alder wood." I gave it a wave and all of the boxes behind him fell of the shelf. He lazily waved his wand and they all headed back to their places. This went on and on and I ended up trying 14 wands before we began to get impatient. "This is a wand I made a while ago, it has been sitting in my office for quite some time now, I wonder if it is you it seeks."

He went back to his office and got out a beautiful oak wood case. "Chestnut wood with a unicorn hair core, 14 ½ inches and hard flexibility." I flourished it in a twirling motion and the entire room glowed gold while I was showered in golden glitter, which disappeared a few seconds later, thankfully. "Now, each of your wands comes with a description." He told us, handing us each some parchment with a lot of writing on it. Mine said;

Chestnut

This is a most curious, multi-faceted wood, which varies greatly in its character depending on the wand core, and takes a great deal of colour from the personality that possesses it. The wand of chestnut is attracted to witches and wizards who are skilled tamers of magical beasts, those who possess great gifts in Herbology, and those who are natural fliers. However, when paired with dragon heartstring, it may find its best match among those who are overfond of luxury and material things, and less scrupulous than they should be about how they are obtained. Conversely, three successive heads of the Wizengamot have possessed chestnut and unicorn wands, for this combination shows a predilection for those concerned with all manner of justice.

Unicorn

Unicorn hair generally produces the most consistent magic, and is least subject to fluctuations and blockages. Wands with unicorn cores are generally the most difficult to turn to the Dark Arts. They are the most faithful of all wands, and usually remain strongly attached to their first owner, irrespective of whether he or she was an accomplished witch or wizard. Minor disadvantages of unicorn hair are that they do not make the most powerful wands (although the wand wood may compensate) and that they are prone to melancholy if seriously mishandled, meaning that the hair may 'die' and need replacing.

After reading this, I knew why it had chosen me. I really do love animals and feel I will thoroughly enjoy Herbology as well, hence the chestnut, and I dont believe I would ever turn to the dark side willingly hence the unicorn hair. Plus I will take good care of it so the core doesn't need replacing.

Once we had all payed and thanked Mr Ollivander, we went back outside to find that it was getting dark. Were we really there for that long? I saw Mrs Somerville heading towards us. "Sorry girls, you were in there for quite a while so I took the rest of the class to the leaky cauldron to get settled in. You four will be sharing a room with Miss Burney. Come on, lets go. I dont want to leave them on their own for too long." She told us. We nodded our heads and followed quietly.

When we got back, everyone was excited to see our wands and hear about why it took us so long. We showed them our wands, read out our descriptions and told them how many tries it had taken us to get a wand. They were all extremely impressed. Apparently it had taken Tamara 6 times, so she was up there with us.

We all ate dinner and then Tamara, Felicity, Lydia, Marci and I, all headed up to bed. They all sat chatting about the day whilst I quickly texted my mum about what had happened on my pink iPhone 5C (A/N; Yes, the electronics and things will work in the magical world, but only our class has them so everyone, except the muggle-borns, will be impressed and confused) and then started reading a History of Magic. My friends were used to this as well, we were all nerds, well, mainly Marci, Flic, Lyd and I, Tamara is sportier with brains. We are literally the complete opposites.

Sorry I didn't upload yesterday, I didn't have any time. Here is an extra long chapter for you guys.

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This chapter has 1656 words.