Months passed quickly, and before Ven knew it, it was the last week of August. It was almost time for him to embark on his journey to Hogwarts. Ven eagerly anticipated Mr. Longbottom's visit, which was scheduled to happen soon. The excitement was building up inside Ven. Despite not knowing exactly when Mr. Longbottom would arrive. The anticipation only made the experience all the more thrilling, and Ven was counting down the days until they finally met.
However, Ven's excitement was tempered by his worry about the seemingly endless list of supplies he needed to acquire before he could even think of setting foot in Hogwarts. He had no idea where to start, that's why he's glad for Mr. Longbottom's help.
Despite this, Ven was determined to watch for him by the window every morning and the thought of getting his hands on a wand filled him with delight. He knew that it would all be worth it in the end.
The next day...
As the sun peeked through the window, Ven woke up with a sense of unease. Tomorrow was September 1st. It was the last day that Mr. Longbottom could arrive, and Ven couldn't shake off the feeling that something was going to go wrong.
He got up and dressed quickly, his hands shaking slightly as he buttoned up his shirt. He tried to shake off the nervousness as he went to help Wallace get ready. Wallace was always calm, and Ven hoped that some of his friend's composure would rub off on him.
Together, they made their way down to the dining table, where the rest of the orphans were already eating breakfast. Ven sat down next to May and kept his eyes on the door. He wondered if anyone else was feeling as anxious as he was.
As they finished their breakfast, Ven tried to prepare himself for what was to come. He didn't know what to expect from Mr. Longbottom, but he knew that it was going to be a life-changing experience, but that was something he was going to miss. He took a deep breath and tried to push his worries aside. He was ready for whatever was to come.
"Aren't you going to eat anything?" May asked.
"Oh right," Ven said, looking away from the door, and started grabbing and eating food.
As Ven sat in his chair, his mind stopped wandering. Suddenly, he heard a creaking sound and his heart started racing with thrill. Just then, the door opened and Ven stopped what he was doing, eagerly sitting up in his chair in order to see who was there.
Ven recognized the man and ran to him saying, "Mr. Longbottom!"
"Ven, so good to see you again," Neville said with a bright smile.
Ven was lost in thought when he suddenly realized that he had cut off the caretaker who was speaking. He felt a little embarrassed and quickly apologized to the caretaker.
"As I was saying," The caretaker said rolling his eyes and ignoring Ven's apology, "How long do you think the two of you will be?"
"All day."
"To get some supplies?"
"Yes."
"Alright then," The caretaker said, "Have him back soon."
"Will do," Neville said, then he spoke to Ven, "You ready to go."
"I was born ready."
Ven followed Neville out the door. Ven had the biggest smile on his face. Neville looked at him and smiled.
"Excited, are we? You haven't seen where we're going yet!"
"It doesn't matter. I'm glad you came."
"What do you mean? Why wouldn't I come?"
"Well, tomorrow is the first day of school. I just-"
Neville stopped in his tracks and faced Ven. "Surprisingly there are a lot of muggle raised wizards that are going to Hogwarts, but that doesn't mean we'd forget you Ven."
"Thanks Mr. Longbottom," Ven said with a closed mouth smile, as the two started to walk again, "Where are we going anyway?"
"Diagonally."
"I'm sorry, where?"
"Diagonally. It's in London."
"London, I've never been to London before and Diagonally sounds unusual," Ven said with a small smile.
"Well, there's loads of things about the wizarding world that are different from the muggle world."
"Like what?"
"Like there's a bank, in Diagonally, that's run by goblins."
"Why goblins?"
"They're very greedy. That's why you'd never want to mess with one."
"They run a bank?"
"Yep, Gringotts. The safest place in the world for anything you want to keep safe!"
"Wow sounds grand."
"It is. It's never been robbed before. Well actually there was this one time-"
"OH, will you tell me the story! Did you rob it?"
Neville slightly chuckled and tried to remember, "No, not me. A friend of mine robbed it, for good reasons of course. This wasn't too long ago. Once there was this dark, evil wizard and he created a horcrux and-"
"What's a horcrux?" Ven said with genuine confusion.
"A horcrux is created by a form of dark magic to achieve immortality. It basically splits a dark wizard's soul into separate pieces."
"It's possible to do that?" Ven said somewhat uncomfortably.
"Yes. So, this evil wizard created many horcruxes and one of them was at Gringotts. So, my friends and a goblin went to steal it and destroy it. They promised that the goblin would get the Sword of Gryffindor if he helped them get into the vault in the bank, but you should never mess with a goblin. That goblin went back on his word and left them."
"Wow."
"Yeah, and they had to escape on a dragon who was the "'guard dog'"."
"A dragon?"
"Yes."
"Well-"
"I'm afraid that's all for now. We're here."
Ven didn't know what he was looking at. It was basically a random alleyway. Nothing special. Even though there wasn't a cloud in the sky, it was dark and Ven could barely see.
"Is Diagonally over this way?" Ven asked.
"No, this is where we apparate."
"Apparate? Sounds fun."
"Not for the first couple of times, but you'll get used to it."
"Okay."
"Now grab ahold of my arm and don't let go."
"Alright."
Within an instant Ven's surroundings adjusted. Apperation felt like being forced through a very tight rubber tube. The feeling of being stretched and squished was destressing. After apperating, Ven and Neville appeared at the London train station. Ven looked around and was curious. There were English men and women of all shapes and sizes, and their voices were equally varied. People were scurrying to get to their train, some angry, some stressed, and some pleasant. Neville looked at the clock on the wall and spoke too Ven.
"Well, come on. Let's get our tickets before we miss our train."
As Ven trailed Neville, he kept looking around the station. Eventually, they got to the ticket booth where Neville received two tickets from the ticket clerk. Without delay, they then rushed towards the train which was almost departing when they arrived. Ven and Neville running in a sprint to get to their destination on time. The conductor was not very welcoming and had a round, wrinkly face. He spoke in an old-fashioned manner which made it clear that he wasn't happy with the situation.
"This way Ven," Neville walked along the aisle in front of and nodded at the people they passed.
Neville stops at an empty seat and ushers Ven to sit down. Ven sat quickly with Neville following behind.
"So, where are we headed?" Ven asked.
"The Leaky Cauldron. It's quite famous you know."
They got off the slow train and soon they were at a mall with book shops, music stores, fast food joints. There was an also a movie theatre. Ven wondered where the leaky cauldron was. How could there be a world full of magic? Ven wanted to know if Professor Longbottom really was well—his doubts made that impossible.
"We're here. That is the leaky cauldron," Neville said pointing to the pub.
It was a tiny, grubby looking. If Neville hadn't pointed it out, Ven wouldn't have noticed it. The people hurrying by didn't glance at it. Their eyes slip from the big book shop to the record shop as if they couldn't see the Leaky Cauldron at all. In fact, Ven had the most peculiar feeling that only he and Neville could see it.
"Let's go," Ven said modestly.
For a famous place, it was very dark and shabby. A few old women were sitting in a corner, drinking tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was smoking a long pipe. A little man in a top hat was talking to the old bartender, who was quite old and toothless. The low buzz of chatter stopped when they walked in. Everyone seemed to know Neville. They waved and smiled at him, and the bartender put both of his hands on the edge of the counter, and said, "Is this another one of those muggle born wizards kids you're showing around Neville?"
"Not exactly, but I am here on Hogwarts business," Neville said with a straight face.
"Ah, I see," The bartender looks to Ven, "And what is your name, young man?"
"Ven," Ven holds his hand out and shakes the bartender's hand, "Ven Degrad."
"Well, nice to meet you Ven," For a second the bartender squints his eyes, "Say, have we met before?"
"No," Neville said ushering Ven out of the Leaky Cauldron quickly, "We must be going."
Through the bar and out into a small, walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a trash can and a few weeds. He tapped the wall three times with the point of his wand. The brick he had touched shook, and in the middle a small hole appeared. It grew wider and wider, a second later they were facing a large archway, into a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight.
Ven's mouth had a big smile on his face. Neville smiled at Ven's reaction and said, "Howay."
"Alright."
Diagonally was busting and Ven trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping. It was definitely different from the train station. A tall, skinny woman was outside an Apothecary and shaking her head as they passed, saying, "Venomous Tentacula, Twelve Sickles an ounce, that's outrageous...."
A low, soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign saying Eeylops Owl Emporium – Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown, and Snowy. Several boys of about Ven's age had their noses pressed against a window with broomsticks in it. "Look," Ven heard one of them say, "the Firebolt! fastest ever–" There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Ven had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon...
"I'm sorry to say, but you'll probably only able to get second hand stuff."
"I'm cool with whatever," Ven looked at Neville's sympathetic look, "Truly I am. I'm just happy to be here. To get away from that orphanage and finally live a normal life."
"Okay then let's get cracking."
They went to potions supplies, a telescope, all the books, and all the clothes he needed that were on the list. Lastly Ven needed to get his wand.
Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 381 B.C. Ollivanders was narrow and shabby. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window.
A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair. It felt as if Ven entered a very strict library and looked at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic.
"Good afternoon," said a soft voice. Neville jumped.
An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.
"Hello, Olivander," said Neville Joyfully.
"Oh! I knew, I'd be seeing you soon. Ven Degrad. You look just like-"
"Olivander, I'm in a bit of a rush. So if we could start right away." Neville said, but Mr. Olivander wasn't listening.
Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Ven and didn't blink. Those silvery eyes were a bit creepy.
"Hmm...Interesting – it's the wand that chooses the wizard, you know."
"But how can a wand choose a wizard?"
Again, Mr. Ollivander wasn't listening and had come so close, that he and Ven were almost nose to nose. Ven could see himself reflected in those misty eyes.
"I wonder if you..."
Mr. Olivander touched Ven chest with a long, white finger. He then turned to Neville as if he had just noticed him.
"Neville! Neville Longbottom! How nice to see you again....Cherry, unicorn hair, wasn't it?"
"Yes, it is," said Neville.
"Good wand, that one. But I suppose that's your second one?" said Mr. Ollivander.
"Yes," said Neville slightly uncomfortable.
"Hmmm," said Mr. Ollivander, "Now, Mr. Degrad. Let me see." He pulled a large tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"
"Well, I'm left-handed," said Ven realizing that the tape measure was doing this on its own.
"Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Ven from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round his head.
"Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful substance, Mr. Degrad. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand," Mr. Ollivander said while he was flitting around the shelves, taking down boxes.
"That will do," he said, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Mr. Degrad. Try this one. Acacia and dragon heartstring. Eight inches. Nice and flexible. Just take it and give it a wave."
Ven took the wand and waved it around a bit, but Mr. Ollivander snatched it out of his hand almost at once.
"Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try –"
Ven tried – but he had hardly risen the wand when it, too, was snatched back by Mr. Ollivander.
"No, no – here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, go on, try it out."
Ven tried. And tried. He had no idea what Mr. Ollivander was waiting for. The pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher on the spindly chair, but the more wands Mr. Ollivander pulled from the shelves, the happier he seemed to become.
"Tricky customer, yeah? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere – I wonder, now – yes, why not – unusual combination – vine and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."
Ven took the wand. He felt a sudden warmth in his fingers. He raised the wand above his head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls. Mr. Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well...how curious...how very curious..."
He put Ven's wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering, "Curious...curious..."
"Sorry," said Neville, "but what's curious?"
Mr. Ollivander fixed Ven with his pale stare and said, "I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Degrad. Every single wand."
Ven swallowed. "Yes, twelve and a half inches, Vine with a phoenix core. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember....I think we must expect great things from you, Ven..."
Ven likes Mr. Ollivander more than he should. He paid seven gold Galleons for his wand, and Mr. Ollivander bowed them from his shop.
The late afternoon sun hung low in the sky as Neville and Ven made their way back down Diagon Alley, back through the wall, back through the Leaky Cauldron. Ven didn't speak at all as they apperated back to the orphanage.
"Ven before you go in. Tomorrow I'll be back to bring you to Hogwarts. Tomorrow is your first day," Ven's smile was bigger then ever before, "Now, don't get too excited."
"I won't," Ven said giddily.
"See you tomorrow, Ven."
"See you tomorrow."
And with that Neville apperated into thin air as Ven turned back to the Orphanage.
His smile never left his face.