This truths are learned at different paces, for different people, and the knowledge of this is tested at various points in life, some may not learn them till the very end, others learn it as soon as they’re thrown headfirst in the world, a wild place that doesn’t really care about the individual experience, it takes you along for a ride, never asks for consent, it just happens.
The acquaintances we make along the way, the memories of our loved ones, the grudges we hold on to, anchor our existence to this cruel world, giving meaning to our lives, giving us strength to carry on. We might die tonight, but the connection we made along the way will accompany us till the very end, at least in memory we never truly die, for every single one of our actions, leave an indelible mark in the fabric of reality. We as individuals are small, inconspicuous even, but together, we’ve built wonders, destroyed civilizations and entire realities, together we defy the very laws of nature, we defy time by letting new generations carry on with our will, never looking back, carrying the legacy of fools and of sages, defying this Wild, Wild World.
On the 27th of July, an expected unexpected visitor came to Jame’s flat. There standing at the door was a looming tall and dark figure, with shoulder length black hair, framing a pair of penetrating eyes that sat upon an eagle like nose. There, at his doorstep scanning him from head to toes, like a raptor analyses its prey, but deep within those eyes, there was a tinge of disgust, of almost uncontrollable hatred, waiting for an opportunity to unleash it’s wrath upon the him, and show him that hell isn’t a place down below, it’s right here.
- “Mr. Black, I suppose…”
His soft, yet authoritative voice resonated in my head, as if two woofers had taken residence in my tiny head, this reaper-like figure just looked at me, awaiting my reply.
“No sir, there’s no Black in this House sir, you should have gotten the wrong address, in this my humble abode, there isn’t anyone surnamed black, my name is James…”
- “James Black…”
He interrupts me with a sardonic as a sardonic smile sets upon his lips.
“No, no sir, you got me wrong, I am James Acrux Solé, I hope you don’t address me the wrong way once again.”
I replied fast, loud, and clear. I don’t know what’s up with people these days, they are unreasonable, they just assume you are a certain way, without even knowing you. Can’t they just take their time and don’t be so hardheaded?
- “The Book of Admittance says otherwise, Mr. Black.”
“In my reply to the school, I made my stance on my surname very clear, so I’ll be pleased if you refer to me the right way, it would be impolite of you to insist on calling me the wrong way sir”
- “Humph… well Mr. Solé, if you talk about our manners, you should at least invite me in, very impolite of you to have me standing at your door, don’t you think so…”
“Oh, indeed pardon my rudeness, and feel free to step in, Mr.? … Excuse, may I know your name Sir? Or how should I refer to you.”
The man enters my flat, so clearly disgusted, that when I signaled the couch for him to rest, he just stays still in the living room, examining the room in the search of something, then he turns to me and just stares at me.
- “Snape, Severus Snape, but for you Mr. Solé, it would Professor Snape, having said that, I would like to have a word with your irresponsible mother, it’s very impolite to ask for a guide to the school Mr. Solé, not even a day have you been to school, and you’re already asking for special treatment”
The nerve of this man, when did I ask for special treatment, and to drag my mother to his crass assumptions.
“First of all, Mr. Snape, I didn’t ask for special treatment, I clearly I do need help to get all the apparel needed for school, next, I will be grateful if you don’t refer in that way to my mother, you don’t have any right to assume or determine her qualifications as a parent, for she was an exceptional mother, so I would have to ask you to keep my mom out of your mouth, my dear mother passed away several years ago.”
I stood my ground and stared directly at his eyes, how could he dare to say that about my mother.
- “Humph… anyway, that being the case, we should get going, time has is different values for different individual, I shouldn’t waste anymore here.”
We left the flat, and got to the street, Old Bill was standing at the door of the record store, a pouch in hand, he beaconed to me and put the bag in my hand.
- “Take it… remember to clean your flat after you return.”
Same old Bill, says what he has to say, and gets back to the store.
I carefully inspect the pouch, and I almost got blinded by the gold, there’s so much gold in there, why didn’t I know that we were rich, but if I think about it, I have property in the center of London, a good cash flow business, and never, ever have I had to pay for anything in my life, Old Bill paid for everything. So, I never knew how much money we had…
- “Mr. Solé, I don’t know what value you give to your personal time, but mine is too precious to waste it here, waiting for your brain to grow back”
“Ah… coming, I’m very sorry professor, let’s keep going.”
- “I’ll show you the way Mr. Solé, just once, if you can remember and somehow manage to not get lost in such a simple endeavor, then I would assume there’s something more that garbage in that Troll brain of yours”
My patience had a limit, but I still needed him. The letter of admittance just gave me a list of the materials required for the school year, it didn’t say how or where should I acquire them, don’t they know how to recommend business, if I were the headmaster, I could take a little, miniscule, almost nonexistent fee, to recommend where to get each little wizard geared up for the school year, at least that’s how it worked in my last school, the Principal, got himself a nice new sportscar that Vaus Cali something red car was had it’s charm. Almost every teacher in school had to ride with the principal, at least once.
I walked alongside the reaper turned professor, it wasn’t that far, but we could have taken a Bus or something, but we didn’t walk too much because, before I even knew it, we were entering a pub, I’ve passed this shabby old pub in my way to school every day, I sent a complaint to the municipality, how could they allow it to continue running, when they don’t take care of the fa?ade, who will want to eat in a place like this at least it affects the competence not my fine and respectable establishment, how can there be customers if the first thing they see its this shabby place next to your store.
My visit to this poor establishment ends shortly after we get to the backyard.
- “I’ll show it to you, so remember it with that troll brain of yours, to enter Diagon Alley you should count from the rubbish bin, three bricks up, two across and tap with your wand”
As he finished explaining, the bricks began rearranging themselves letting us pass
“Well, I don’t have a currently have a wand, but I’ll remember it professor don’t worry, it’s just that I didn’t know it was so close to my flat”
- “Maybe, if you put that tiny brain of yours Mr. Solé, you wouldn’t need a guide to explain something so simple to you, don’t you think so?”
“You Have a good point Professor, but you wouldn’t expect a child entering a pub, would you? I’m not age appropriate to start drinking, and who will like drinking in a place so shabby like this ?Leaky Cauldron?, I would like to believe that magic would be a great tool to clean up the place.”
- “Don’t worry Mr. Solé, ill take your suggestion to Tom, I believe, he will be glad to have a new trophy to decorate his fireplace.”
Don’t know why my throat it’s a little dry, we should keep the pace, so I can enjoy a good ol’ glass of chocolate milk.
As we briskly strolled through Diagon Alley, he took me to a dilapidated store front, there’s a solitary wand laying on a faded purple cushion, when was the last time someone gave a good dusting to this place, don’t they know that a clean storefront attracts more customers. Over the door of the shop there’s a sign that reads “Ollivander’s: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.” at least they should reapply the gilding to the sign, even if this place has so much history, they should take care of it…
“Tsk, tsk, tsk...”
- “Hurry up, my time is limited, I won’t wait for you all day.”
I entered the shop, its crammed to the brim of little crates, almost as dusty as the exterior, if they have magic, why don’t they clean their places, or is it that there isn’t cleaning magic, maybe that is, maybe I should develop cleaning magic, then publish my findings, and live a carefree life, living from royalties. Note to myself: “Develop, publish, enjoy, Operation Mr. Clean”
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Then an old man approached us from the back of the store, his wide and shining pale eyes, illuminated his gloomy store.
- “Ah… Severus, it has been a while, I remember the first time you set foot on my store, I still remember your…”
Professor Snapes cuts the old man’s gossip and calmly states the purpose of our visit.
- “I’m just accompanying a freshman Ollivander, I’ll leave him in your hands”
He turns to me, stares for a few seconds, and with his somber voice, he prepares to give me his last indications.
- “Once you get your wand, you can proceed to buy everything else in your supplies list, here is your ticket, remember to engrave it in that troll brain of yours, September 1st, King’s Cross Station, Platform 9?, get there before eleven in the morning. One last thing, don’t go around swinging your wand like a headless beast, take the Knight Bus if there’s any problem, and maybe you’ll have the honor to attend my class once you get to Hogwarts.”
And just like that, he turned around and left the store. He left me flabbergasted Ollivander remained silent this whole time. A good explanation, precise, concise, short, but what′s the Knight Bus, where do I take it?
“Excuse me, Mr. Ollivander, how do I take the Knight Bus?”
- “Ah… good question kid, but don’t worry, you just need your wand, stick it in the air, and the bus will get to you before you can say Stinky Merlin’s Dirty Socks, you can try later, but first things first, we should get you a wand, just remember kid, it is the wand that chooses the wizard, not the other way around, so let’s begin your name and what hand do you use kid?”
“James Acrux Solé Sir, and I use both hands, sir.”
I stretched my hands for Mr. Ollivander to see, I’m not lying, I am part of a selected group of talented individuals, I’m ambidextrous.
- “I must say, that’s a clever pun Mr. Solé. But with what hand do you tend to write with kid”
“I use both sir”
- “Oh, what a curious case, not every day I have such a peculiar guest, you know people like you are rare, even on the Muggle world.”
“I know sir, of al the people in the world, only one percent has the ability to use both hands skillfully.”
- “But don′t worry Mr. Solé, you aren’t the first guest of your kind in my store, our Ollivander family has a long of history and have attended the necessities of all kinds of wizards through our thousand years serving in the British Isles. Did you know, my great, great, great, great grandfather once had guest with inverted hands, He was truly an interesting guest, and an interesting wand.”
He takes a measure tape, magical I suppose, and it automatically begins taking my measures, the length of my arms, from shoulder to fingers, the distance between my nostrils, between my wrists and elbows, and more, its just that the tape goes so fast that I can barely see what’s doing.
After that, Mr. Ollivander starts rummaging in his shop, he takes some crates and lines them up in front of me.
- “Well… let’s see how well do you fit with this one, 10? inches Ash wood, Thunderbird tail feather, it has a preference for determined wizards, a loyal companion to the end, some say it may cast curses when it senses danger, protecting its wielder, common, swing it.”
It’s a Beautiful Wand, light colored, its adorned with beautiful lightning like inscriptions at the base. I tried swinging it, and it spewed a red lighting, am I a Sith?
- “Oh… you’re a certainly tricky little wizard, let’s see try this one…”
I tried two more, they felt good, but Mr. Ollivander said that it wasn’t a perfect fit, vine wand with dragon heartstring core, just spewed smoke, the cypress wand with unicorn tail hair just went soft, I’m seriously starting to believe that Mr. Ollivander gave me a toy wand.
- “Hmmm… well, let’s see, you need a loyal wand to give you company, to guide you and let you confront yourself when in need… really tricky… but like I said earlier, we at Ollivander’s have seen all kinds of wizards, you don’t last this long as the greatest and best wand makers in the magical world, without some challenges, so let me see…”
“Monopoly” I muttered almost whispering, that explains the state of the store, Mr. Ollivander just looked at me for a second and continued searching for a suitable wand. After a while Mr. Ollivander returned with a seven crates in hand.
- “Huff… One of these three should do it, you know, Muggles have strange thinking patterns, my father taught me to never stop innovating, so he taught me how to hybridize some trees, the wand wood these tree produce are certainly something, the same tree may produce wood of completely different temperaments, depending on when did you prune it, the position of the stars, etc.”
When Mr. Ollivander talked about wands, his eyes shined with an almost blinding glimmer, putting aside his monopolistic practices, Mr. Ollivander’s knowledge of wands it’s unparalleled.
- “Well, these seven wands were made from the same tree, but at completely different stages of its life, you know Mr. Solé it was a vexing task, the tree almost died several times, you should know that wand appropriate trees are rare, they need time to be ready to embark in that particular journey… so you should try, maybe one of these will select you, and mark a new chapter in wand making history.”
Mr. Ollivander continued talking, completely fascinated by the topic to see that I couldn’t understand half of what he was saying, not to show off, but I been the gatekeeper in the top 3 of my classes since ever, without even trying… so, so nothing, two to three hours ago I didn’t know anything about wands so how did he expect me to understand what he is saying, anyway I should just try and feel which one of these picks me.
“Ip dip sky blue, Who’s it? Not You, Ip dip sky blue, Who’s it? …”
My hand hovers over the fourth crate and I decisively take the wand 12? dark with two strips of honey gold wood, at the base I can see an engraving of a strange creature, short stocky, two long fangs in its roaring mouth and a long serpentine tail that he’s chasing. I swung the wand and instantly felt a deep connection with the wand, like a phantom pain, an extension of myself, resonating with my heartbeats, I changed hands and swung it again, I felt the same connection, but it was ever so slightly different. As I ponder about the meaning of these feelings, maybe I’m the chosen one, the one prophesied by the ancients to bring peace to the galaxy, to take down the evil empire… Ahem… the magic world. Mr. Ollivander just stares at me, I swung my wand, constantly changing hands, sometimes it spews confetti, sometimes flames of different colours, and other times it does nothing, well nothing that I could see.
But Mr. Ollivander could see it, with the right hand, my hair and eyes stayed the same, black hair, and blue eyes, but with the left my hair turned honey gold, and my eyes pitch black.
- “What an interesting little wizard you are Mr. Solé, a Dark Walnut and Cypress Hybrid, the first and biggest branch from the tree taken when it’s life cycle was coming to an end, I remember picking it under a new moon, symbolizing an end and new beginnings, it has the disposition of the Cypress for Noble wizards, it appreciates boldness but not recklessness, if you are willing to face the shadows in your heath, it will prove itself to be your perfect soulmate, but don’t forget that it also has characteristics and tendencies of Black Walnut, it favors a wizard with keen insight and a decisive hearth, once you try to deceive yourself, it will warn you, guiding you to the truth, but if you refuse to confront the truth, then I must strongly warn you to be prepared to afront the consequences of your actions, remember the core of this particular wand it’s the heartstring of a Chimaera, an unusual core for an unusual wand”
“Ah, thank you Mr. Ollivander, I think this should be my wand sir”
- “Let me repeat myself Mr. Solé, it’s the wand that chooses the wizard, and this wand has chosen you, it fills me with joy that it finally got a companion, you know every wand is waiting for their wizard here at Ollivander’s”
“So, it’s free, right sir?”
- “Ahem, you know kid, you’ll have to pay its lodging, so it isn’t free, seven gallons, you can take home a maintenance tool kit just an extra two gallons and ten sickles.”
I took ten gallons from my pouch and gave them to the enthusiastic old man.
- “You see Mr. Solé, you’re my first client today, so I don’t have change, what do you think about taking this case for your wand, just seven sickles.”
I couldn’t believe it, this is daylight robbery, maybe I should go to the Gringotts Wizarding Bank, I should familiarize myself with wizards currency, and save my money, gotta carry just enough for my expenses, its dangerous to carry so much money, I can be mugged just after leaving Ollivander’s no one knows what the future entrails for us, it’s a wild world.
“Have a good day Mr. Ollivander, I have to finish my shopping list…”
- “Take care Mr. Solé, come back if you need anything related to wands, ill be a pleasure having you at my store”
I left Ollivander’s with a clear goal in mind, to bring down the empire and peace to the galaxy, just kidding, ever since I left Ollivander’s I feel like I’m being watched, it’s a creepy feeling. And just like that I ran walked to Gringotts.
There I saw the secret masters of the wizarding world, the wizarding world should be glad, that goblins keep their words, their daily work, keeps the magic world spinning, just imagine one day you go to your local bank, and you find them closed, is shudder just thinking about it.
Anyway, the goblins treated me well once I said that I wanted to open an account, gave me some hot tea, some biscuits and patiently explained to me the different types of currencies that the magic world tended, mainly being knut, Sickle and Galleon. The exchange rates and how to spot fake currency. At the end I opened a personal account, I don’t need a family vault at the moment, the only drawback to opening a personal account with them is the need to paint a key with my blood and a tear. First class security. They gave me a checkbook and some bank notes, my current balance Five Thousand Three Hundred Fifty Four Gallons, I took seven gallons worth of sickles and four hundred ninety three knuts, just enough to get by, I will pay for my expenses with the banknotes.
Exiting Gringotts, I felt so free, I can swear to god that this feeling was intoxicating, I strolled around Diagon Alley, finishing with my errands, I bought everything I needed, and even had lunch at the Leaky Cauldron, I gotta say, Old Tom sure has a special touch, he could get more people if he just cleaned the place, Operation Mr. Clean has to be prioritized.
As the day went by, I just window-shopped, at Magical Menagerie, something caught my eye, at the window of the shop, they had some little creatures, they resembled moles, but with duck like beaks. One of the caught my eye, he was a little smaller than the rest of them, but he was chubbier, his body was black, but he had a tuft of blonde spiky fur in its head, what can I say, the Niffler stole my hearth, Biggie Idol, I named him Biggie Idol, I didn’t want to be demanded more so, with Old Bill at the home…
I didn’t pay much attention to time, and didn’t realize that it was time for Supper, so I ran out of the Leaky Cauldron and decided to try the Knight Bus… Oh Boy I gotta say, baby, baby what a wild ride.