August 29th, 1888 — Ollivander's Wands

Joella would be off to Hogwarts in a few days - without her twin. That was going to be weird. Her twin didn't have magic yet she did. How was that even possible? Had she somehow stolen her sisters magic from within the womb? Joella didn't know but what she did know was that she was going to need things. A lot of things she had gotten from older siblings and second or third hand.

The one thing she had refused to get used and had scrimped and saved for was her very own wand. She was standing in the wand shop, not really having found one that fit her yet. What if she never did? Was that possible? Her sister was a squib, after all. Maybe she was one too and that was why none of the wands suited her.

  

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mj is a graphics goddess

It was really rare for a young witch or wizard to find a wand on their first try. As it was, Gideon was quite used to having to offer a variety of many different wands to the younglings that entered his shop to get their first wand. It was why he always came back with an armful of boxes to offer.

This young witch was no different from the rest. Already a handful of tried wands stacked on the counter, none of them having to be the right fit. Sensing a bit of frustration from the young girl, he offered her a broad smile. "No worries, miss," he said as he offered another wand to her, "It can take several wands before we find the right fit for you." He watched as she looked over the latest wand before adding, "This one is eight inches even, a bit stiff for a wand of mahogany but still quite efficient with its dragon heartstring core."

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"How do you even know when a wand is the right one?" She asked curiously. Was it just some sort of weird 'you just know' type of thing? She took the latest wand that he had to offer and gave it a whirl. Nope, not the one. She didn't care if this was a 'common' thing, she wanted this over and done with. Plus, there was a chance that no wand would be the right fit because maybe she was a squib too. It was a very real worry.

  

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mj is a graphics goddess

Her whirl of the wand sent an ink pot skittering. Luckily, over the years Gideon had perfected his reactive abilities and he manages to catch the pot before it crashed on the floor and made a large mess. Grinning widely, he simply set it back and took the wand from her.

"You'll see," he said with a nod as he handed her another one to try, "A bendy nine and half inches of birch with a phoenix tail feather core."

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"My sister was a squib," Joella stated bluntly as she took the other wand from him. "What happens if a squib touches a wand?" She gave the wand a whirl but it too would prove to not be the right match for her. If a squib touched a wand did it just do nothing or did it also cause things to go wild like she had experienced in her wand attempts thus far?

  

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mj is a graphics goddess

Gideon raised a brow at the blunt response. "Absolutely nothing," he answered, "The wand needs your own magical power to bond with for it to be of any use. If you've no magical power, it wouldn't react at all." He hoped that was a good enough explanation for it. As it was, she clearly had some powers to have had any results from the wands even if they weren't what he was seeking.

Taking back the wand, he offered another to her. "I think this may be the lucky one," he said with a cheery grin, trying to bring something out of the awfully morose and serious girl, "Ten inches of blackthorn with a kelpie hair, quite swishy."

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Okay, so that meant that she did have magic, then. Joella was starting to get skeptical at this point and she accepted the wand for him and expected the same things as before to happen again. Only this time it was different. It felt different, there was a sense of connection with this one that she hadn't felt with any of the others. There was a still, small voice inside of her that said that this was her wand.

She swished the wand and instead of chaos like the previous wands, a beautiful burst of sparks danced gracefully over them. "What's that mean?" She asked, her eyes on the vanishing sparks.

  

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mj is a graphics goddess

Still grinning slightly, Gideon waited patiently for the girl to give it a try. He truly did have a good feeling about it and that good feeling soon proved correct when she gave the wand a wave and it set a shower of beautiful sparks around her. His grin widened then though he was shocked not to see her smiling widely herself.

"That means, miss, that you've just been chosen by your wand," he said, grinning still as he slowly moved back behind the counter so that they could get the proper paperwork settled and so tat he could get her name down on the register with her wand.

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Joella was definitely not a smiling sort of person but she did manage a slight one at finally having found her wand. She was magical and going to school, obviously a wand was needed. She didn't understand the excitement other people her age had about it. "Thank you," she said politely. "So it's entirely mine?"

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mj is a graphics goddess

The slight smile was good enough for Gideon's books. He knew it wasn't an overly exciting thing for some children, just a basic necessity, but he'd take what he could get whenever he could get it. "You're quite welcome," he said with a grin as he dipped his quill in an inkpot, "Entirely yours. It'll just be one sickle and three knuts. And I'll need your name as well, for record keeping purposes of course."

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All hers. There wasn't a lot in her life that Joella had absolute, individual claim to. Everything was usually shared with her siblings but this wand was all her own. "I'm Miss Joella Wood," she supplied as she dropped the needed coins up on the counter. Soon after she was on her way out with her shiny new wand clutched close to her chest as she made her way home.

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mj is a graphics goddess