Percy Jackson and the Triwizard Tournament (Goblet of Fire)

Chapter 5: Cheerio! Don't wanna be late!

"Wands?" the three all asked, Thalia scoffed and took one more cautious step away from the dog.

"Lady Hecate, this may sound stupid..." Percy began.

"It already does," coughed Thalia

"... but why do we need wands? Can't we just wave our hands and pretend like it's magic?"

Hecate crinkled her nose, almost disgusted by the question, "Listen closely you three, the wizarding world may seem powerful, but they also rely on their wands for practically all of their gifts. Even some of the greatest wizards, rely on what you would think of as a measly wooden stick," at this point, she began digging through her purse, and dropped the polecat onto the floor, "They are mortals. POWERFUL mortals, but mortals all the same."

Hecate then fished out four slender boxes, each around a foot long, and about 1/8 of a foot wide, "Now, who's first?"

Thalia shrugged, stepping  forward and reaching for one of the boxes. When she caught hold of the one stacked on top, which Hecate managed to still balance all of them (Annabeth bet it was magic, how else could she keep them all in place?) the goddess snapped, "No! Yours is here."

She 'dropped' them, freeing her hands. But the boxes didn't topple over, they just floated in midair. 

"Probably a godly thing," Percy murmured.

Hecate snatched one of the floating boxes swiftly, and carefully lifted the lid, "This wand is made of Ash Wood, with a Thunderbird tail feather at it's core," she shrugged slightly, "Rigid, 10 in a half inches." After twirling the wand in her hand, she handed the box and "gift" towards the demigod.

Annabeth began glaring around, noticing no unusual stares when there were just random boxes floating in the air. After a few more minutes, quite satisfied that the mist was doing it's job, she stepped forward.

"Ah, I believe it is this one!" Hecate plucked, yet again, another box from the air and stepped forward towards Annabeth.

By the time Hecate began taking off the lid, Thalia grasped her wand tightly. Strangely, a strong gust of wind filled the station, and then abruptly stopped. But Annabeth swore she saw a mortal drop his fork shouting on how it 'zapped him.'

"Here you are!" Hecate pulled her back to reality, handing her the wand. She too, grabbed hold of it. She inhaled sharply, as the tip of the wand brightened an luminescent hue of gold. It shone brightly, then faded to grey... and vanished.

"I thought that was a good fit, I usually don't suggest Fir Wood and phoenix feather... but it was a hunch," she pointed at the wand, still in Annabeth's grasp, "12 inches, unyielding."

"Now, only one more!" Hecate reached for another box, just as Percy began to step forward, "I personally suggested unicorn hair... but oh no! Poseidon had to poke his nose in, and INSIST on hippocampus hair...." she handed the third demigod the wand, and continued to talk, "That's cypress wood, 13 in a half inches, slightly springy."

Percy waved his wand a little too forcefully, and one of the water fountains below exploded.

"Whoops," he muttered, but not very apologetically.

"I guess that's that! I best be going now..."

"Erm, Lady Hecate?" Thalia stepped forward, timidly tucking her wand back in it's box and inside her backpack.

"What?" she pursed her lips, quite irritated at the question.

"I know this sounds weird of me asking, but why is there still one more wacky-wand-box floating in the air?" Thalia just pointed, as the remaining box slowly began to orbit in a spinning rotation. Just fast enough for them to notice it was still there.