January 7th, 1891 — Ollivander's, Hogsmeade

A week after the embarrassing trip to Paris — where she had masqueraded as Nemo's wife no less — saw Penny refocusing her attentions on her work. She had become distracted throughout the month of December, what with her mother's rogue announcement and her new cuckoo clock to reconfigure. But, no longer. Her workshop was (temporarily) closed up and she was determined for 1891 to be the year she graduated from an apprentice to a fledging broom maker. If for no reason other than a distraction from her recently resurfaced feelings for her best friend.

She knew if she was to move beyond Elias' shop that she would have to find her own niche. He was kind enough to take her on as an apprentice, she didn't wish to return the favor by potentially stealing his business. Relocating was also a possibility, she supposed, but she'd become attached to Hogsmeade throughout her years living in the town. She didn't wish to leave it, and certainly not for the likes of London. Which, admittedly, left very limited options. The first of them being the possibility of exotic wood brooms made for transportation rather than quidditch.

Or so Penny hoped.

She let herself into Ollivander's without any prior communication with the owner, perhaps a mistake on her part. Would he even be willing to discuss the different attributes of wood with her? From what she remembered of him he was a bit flirtatious, and the last thing Penny wished to do was encourage any sentiments on that front. No, she had had enough of that.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Ollivander" she greeted cheerfully, grateful that it was he and not another shop employee present. "How do you do?"

  

Gideon was restocking the shelves (which mostly consisted of organizing and making little notes on a sheet of paper rather than adding a good deal of new product) when she came in. The way that she greeted him implied that he ought to recognize her — not because she knew his name (that was fairly obvious from the sign over the door, after all) but rather from her tone. Still, it took him a moment to place her; they'd met and been mildly acquainted when he had been more active in society's events, before he'd met and taken in Billie, which meant it had been a while.

"Ah, Miss Fawcett," he greeted warmly once he'd remembered her name. "Very well today, thank you." A lie — he missed Billie, though he couldn't really mention that to anyone other than Quin or Miss Robbins. "And yourself? I hope your wand isn't giving you any trouble?"

  

It was clear she had surprised him, and Penny felt a wave of guilt at not having gave advance warning for her questions. Typically, she wouldn't have thought twice of it, but her thoughts were all sorts of off kilter this week. "I'm well," she answered in a lie of her own. "Oh, no, my wand is behaving just fine." Merlin, she was botching this up before even asking a most basic question!

"I was wondering if you had time to discuss wood — wand wood types with me? I'm wondering if there is a market for using different types on brooms." Wood was an euphemism for something else now, too, was it not? Did Mr Ollivander suffer from the same affliction as Nemo? She prayed she wasn't as flushed as she felt she must be. How embarrassing it must be to be a man!

  

He was surprised to hear that she didn't have any problems with her wand, since there was not much else that brought people into his shop. A sizeable number of people did purchase wand-care items regularly, of course, but anyone who had a housekeeper or other servants rarely did so themselves. There wasn't anything personalized about it, unlike one's wand; polish and oils could be purchased just the same way lettuce and carrots were.

"Oh brooms?" he repeated, brows knitting together. "Well, I couldn't claim to know much about that. I don't really know the first thing about a broom, except how to fly one," he confessed. "So I'm not sure how applicable anything I'd have to say would be. What are you looking to do?"

Had he known that Miss Fawcett was involved in making brooms? He didn't believe it had ever come up, because it was certainly interesting enough as a career — particularly for a woman — that he thought he would have remembered.

  

She nodded. "Of course." It made sense that he wasn't overly familiar with the mechanics of broom making. Wands were an entirely different branch of magic, after all. "I was more wondering if there was merit in matching the wood of a broom to an owner, much as you might a wand. It wouldn't be quite as magical a fit, seeing as there would be no cores and the lengths would be fairly standard. But, perhaps they might fly faster or be more agile should the wood match the user's personality..."

"Regardless, I thought I might ask you your opinion on the topic, given your profession." Penny added lastly. Focusing on her work was an easy distraction from the subject of male anatomy for sure.

  

"Well, certainly," Gideon said. He was happy to be of assistance however he could be with a fellow craftsman (craftswoman? craftsperson?), particularly since brooms were unlikely to compete for the pocket money of those in need of wands. That being said, he wasn't sure how he would go about helping Miss Fawcett with her inquiry. There were so many woods in use in his shop, and he couldn't just launch into his thoughts and opinions about all of them, could he? Particularly when he didn't even know if all the same sorts were used in making brooms. Some, he assumed, might be too delicate for regular transportation, but would hold up just fine to continued wand use.

"Though I'm not sure how helpful you'll find me. I'm afraid I don't have written notes," he explained. That was something he'd inherited from his father — and the reason Ollivanders were typically pulled out of school after OWLs so that they could begin learning their craft. There was a lot more to wandcrafting than one could learn from reading words on paper, and much of his knowledge had been acquired either through instruction or experience and never written down. "Do you have any particular wood types in mind?"

  

Had she not just recently had the encounter with Nemo, Penny would've been able to phrase her question without the slightest hint of a blush. However, wood and all its firmness qualities seemed to be an innuendo for something she was previously entirely unaware. Still, she could hardly go about her business without being able to discuss the very material of her craft, could she? Penny shifted on her feet, her discomfort hopefully masked under a guise of contemplation. Merlin, she was really about to ask a man for a piece of solid wood.

"Well, wood types have different attributes, no?" She had no particular choice in mind for the experiment, though supposed Laurel to match her wand was as good a start as any. "I'd imagine a hardwood would be better suited for bearing weight than something soft like pine or some cedars..."

  

"Mm, sure," he agreed with a nod. "Maple and oak come to mind. My wand's English Oak and stiff as they come," he said with a small bit of pride (and absolutely no trace of innuendo; he dealt with wand woods and discussions of thickness and stiffness so frequently that the euphemism would have been entirely lost on him unless someone were to point it out, either through words or incriminating looks).

"Do you need a special sort of wood to make brooms?" he asked. He knew that they responded to simple magical commands, as wands would even in the hands of an unskilled wizard, but he wasn't sure if that was due to the magical qualities of the wood itself or due to charms applied later. "With wand wood, you sort of get a feeling for it. For whether it has the potential to do magic. Is there something similar for brooms, or will any study bit of wood do?"

  

Penny's eyes widened into saucers for a split second before sense kicked in. As stiff as they come, was that what Nemo had suffered from? A stiff piece of wood in his pants? Elsie had done her best to explain the male anatomy to her, but Penny was still struggling to process it all. Never once did she suspect men to have such a ... crude piece of flesh attached to them. For her twenty odd years she merely believed the only difference between men and women was that women bled and men did not. Well, that and breasts.

(Nemo's chest was so firm beneath her head. Men definitely didn't have the soft cushions that women did.)

Clearing her throat, Penny glanced sharply about the store to ward off the blush rising to her cheeks. She was a professional, damn it. She could discuss wood without turning as red as a tomato. "I'm hoping to avoid oak for the time being. My hope is to not infringe upon Mr. Grimstone's business whilst still remaining in Hogsmeade." She explained. The Oakshaft remained the most commonly requested broom of the shop. "Any type of wood would do, I believe. There's more just a feel to it, is how I guess you would say. Every bit of wood has its own sensitivities."

  

"Maple, then," he said with a nod. He wasn't close with Mr. Grimstone, but was of course aware of his business and thought it both smart and respectable that Miss Fawcett wanted to avoid competing with him. "Maple's a tree that grows all over the world. There are varieties from Japan to Canada to Africa," he explained. He walked towards the maple section of the store by habit, but stopped short of actually pulling down wands of various maple varieties — what good would it to her to look at different wands?

"It makes for an adventurous sort of wand. Loves to travel and have new experiences. That might make it well suited for a broom, I'd imagine." Of course, it might not. He didn't really know the first thing about brooms except how to fly one, so what was to say anything he'd learned from his years as a wandmaker would be transferable?

  

A love for travel and adventures would be perfect for a broom. Especially if she could find a tree with magical qualities, then perhaps those brooms would be even more inclined to function beautifully. "Have you worked with all the different variants?" She asked curiously. Penny never really imagined that a wandmaker would do extensive traveling, but she supposed it made sense. How else could he source his materials if not on his own?

Merlin, was she going to have to go to Japan to source her wood?! Penny couldn't ask for Nemo to escort her this time, not after the fiasco in Paris. Bloody hell. Perhaps it would be best to remain an apprentice for another decade or two.

"Maple seems to fit exactly what I'm thinking. Thank you for loaning me your expertise." She continued without affording him much time to answer her initial question. "I truly appreciate it, Mr. Ollivander."

  

"Anytime, Miss Fawcett," he said with a smile. "I've got a few importers I work with regularly, if you're interested in those." Much as Gideon would have liked to have run off globetrotting every other weekend, he had too many responsibilities at the shop to manage it — not to mention responsibilities for Billie, before she'd left for Hogwarts. He had visited several places to source particularly difficult-to-find ingredients, but wood wasn't typically on the list. Without waiting for a response, he moved to the counter and took out a spare scrap of parchment.

"This first one is very reliable; you really can't go wrong with anything he's selling," he said as he scribbled down a name and address. "But he doesn't always have everything in stock, so if you're using him consistently you have to pay attention all year 'round and stock up when he's got what you're looking for. This second one, the quality is a bit lower — not always particularly up to snuff for wands, but it might be alright for a broom. I can't really speak to that, obviously. But he's significantly cheaper," he explained, handing her the little piece of parchment. "So if you're buying in large enough quantities, it all shakes out, I've found."

  

"Thank you again, Mr. Ollivander." Penny would've been lost on how to source the materials without the recommendations of suppliers. Really, she wouldn't have even known where to start to look for one. Elias had one for the wood they used, of course, but Penny was positive that that supplier carried only local varieties. "I sincerely appreciate your time today."

With that, she took the scribbled upon note and took her leave. Now to figure out the costs of it all.