July, 1890 — Ollivander's, Diagon Alley

From an outside perspective, no one would have thought to accuse Domitian of being an overly involved father. His conversations with his children were just the same as his conversations with anyone: brief, concise, cool and logical. It might have been perplexing, then, that he insisted on being present for all of their Hogwarts shopping that summer, particularly when that meant scheduling shorter trips on each weekend rather than accomplishing the list all in one go. Domitian was, however, invested in his children — and therefore in their magical education — and, it followed, in their choice of wand.

"Go on," he said to his daughter as they approached the exterior door of Ollivander's. "You're their customer, today."

He curled the fingers of his left hand up just enough to touch the tip to the butt of his own wand, hidden away in the interior of his sleeve as it always was.

  

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Bree made this!

Zenobia wasn't close to her father. At times, she felt like she knew more about him through eavesdropping on him than from interacting with him. Which meant that she didn't understand most things about her father most of the time. The general impression was that he was always somewhat tense, which made Zenobia tense in turn. Probably why she didn't mind it too much that they didn't interact with each other that much.

In any case, she was happy that he was taking her wand shopping that day. Most of her friends had gone with their Papas. It was a great honour in general for a father to take the time to have alone time with his daughter, at their circles.

"Am I going to be the only customer they'll admit all day?" Zen asked with childish naivete. Had her father arranged for exclusive and private service, just for them? That would be too extra even for a family like the Zabinis, who fought tooth and nail to be on par with the other Extra Families. The halfblooded ones, that is.

  

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set by mj <3

Domitian's mouth twitched just slightly at the comment; had things been different, he might have smiled, but he seldom smiled on the street anymore. "The only important one," he answered, without a trace of irony, as he held the door open behind his daughter. The wand shop wasn't crowded. August would be the busiest month, if he had to guess, since some parents would wait until they had a Hogwarts letter in hand to buy anything. For some it would be because they didn't have the shopping list at hand until they received the letter, but for others it might be that they wanted to be absolutely sure their child was actually destined for Hogwarts before setting them up for disappointment.

Zenobia was a witch, he had no doubts on that front. She would be a powerful witch, too, someday.

"You should start with an elm wand," he suggested as the door closed behind them. The wand tucked into his sleeve was elm, and it had served him very well throughout the years, despite the rumor that elm wands could only produce magic for pureblooded wizards.

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   Zenobia Zabini

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Bree made this!

Papa had an elm wand. Zenobia had asked a maid once. She didn't know what the significance of an elm wand was, though. If anything, it seemed like a rather plain wand to her.

"I want a silver lime one!" Zenobia told her father. It was the most fashionable wand wood and Zenobia was only but a small girl. She didn't know a thing about wandlore.

  

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set by mj <3

Dom's lips twitched again, this time in the opposite direction; a subtle indication of a frown. There was no particular reason silver lime was desirable, he thought, unless she fancied herself a Seer. He thought his daughter was destined for a prestigious education at Hogwarts, no doubt, but if she had that particular talent it would have shown itself by now. But he wasn't a wand maker, so what did he know about it?

"Whatever you want," he said with a shrug. A wand shop employee had approached during this exchange and he nodded towards them to fulfill his daughter's request.

  

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Bree made this!

Soon, Zenobia had a silver lime wand in her hands. There was a phoenix tail feather in its core and it was flexible, according to the employer. It was very pretty and Zenobia would have liked to have it as a wand for looks alone, the wand however didn't seem to take a liking to Zenobia's hand. It didn't really do anything in particular even though she'd waved it a bit.

She handed the wand back to the employee, disappointed. "Give me an elm wand next, sir," Zenobia requested, to appease her father as well. "But it should be pretty!"

The employee was back with an elm wand with an intricately carved handle.

  

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set by mj <3

Oh, she was just being vain; he supposed that explained the inclination towards silver lime. Hopefully this was more the sort of shove towards establishing her individualism that was common for young children, and not an indication of her future character. Domitian would work hard to see that both his children were lavishly cared for whether they inherited the Zabini legacy or not, but it would do her no favors if she reached her debutante years and thought, as his sisters apparently seemed to, that she would appeal to the same brand of staunch purists their own father belonged to. Cosmo Zabini had divorced his wife on the discovery that she wasn't pureblood, which ought to have been the end of any dreams Bellona or Camilla had of marrying into the Sacred Twenty-Eight. Matilda hadn't divorced him when the news came out, but Domitian was under no illusion that she would have married him if she'd known before their wedding. It might have been different, two, if the news had broken before the two children were born — there was a stigma associated with a divorced woman that would likely have prevented her remarriage anyway, but towing behind two halfblooded children would make it frankly impossible.

That, and there was still the suggestion that Nicodemus might someday inherit, which Dom thought was probably at least half the reason his wife was still by his side.

"You can add a handle to any wand," he told his daughter. "But how it looks is not half so important as how it performs."

  

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Bree made this!

Zenobia liked for things to be pretty, especially if that thing was to become an extension of her arm for the rest of her life.

She thought that she took after her father in regards to vanity. He'd always been impeccably dressed, up to the final detail. Watches and cufflinks and things. In any case, Zanobia didn't remark on that and said instead: "Yes, Papa."

She took the elm wand and pointed at a prop the employee had taken out for them.

The wand floated itself out of her hand and rolled on the floor towards a corner.

"I didn't even do anything!" Zenobia half complained and half explained herself as she ran after it. She picked it up and set it back to the counter.

  

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set by mj <3

Seeing an elm wand fleeing her hand rather than performing even a minuscule act of magic had him disheartened. They were only two wands in, and he knew logically that it might take much longer for them to find the right wand for her, but couldn't the failures at least have been spectacular ones? Things bursting into flame, or causing boxes to whiz around the room, or the employee to break out in boils?

"Bring her a selection," he said to the employee, rather shortly. "Ebony. One of each core." So far the man had made no suggestions at all, so if they were going to have to direct this search on their own Domitian supposed it would be best to begin it more aggressively then they had done so far.

When the man left to retrieve the wands, he turned towards his daughter. "Focus, Zenobia," he said severely. "When you get the wand in your hand, tell it what you want and demand results."

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   Zenobia Zabini

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Bree made this!

Zenobia cringed slightly at the tone her father used on the employee and grimaced awkwardly when he turned his severity on her. It wasn't her fault that the first wands she had tried weren't a fit! According to Flora and her other older friends, it had taken them a while to find a wand too.

She would have preferred her mother's company that day, Zenobia thought. Her father barely spoke to her at all and when he found the time for her, he was so cross. It had been his idea for her to try out the stupid elm wand!

"Yes, Papa," Zenobia said demurely, not letting her inner turmoil show.

"An ideal wand for a duelist. Ebony with a dragon heartstring core," the employee explained as he handed her the wand.

She was still annoyed at her father and it was with these feelings in mind when she waved towards the box it was being kept in. Her intention had been to make it fly and it did fly, though it was a rather agressive flight towards her father. This hadn't been her intention, but as she registered in shock what had happened, she couldn't help but feel somewhat pleased with herself.

"The dragon heartstring must be too aggressive for the young lady," the employee said diplomatically.

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   Domitian Zabini

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set by mj <3

Domitian had excellent reflexes, but even so the wand box might have caught him off guard had he not been paying attention, since it came flying at him so forcefully and suddenly. He knocked it aside with his hand, and it clattered to the floor at his feet.

Aggressive, hm?

"It's the best reaction she's had so far," he told the employee, in a cool tone. "Fetch her another one. A wand ought to be a little aggressive."

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   Zenobia Zabini

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Bree made this!

Almost being hit by a box had gotten the best reaction from her father so far. If Zenobia was a little bit older and more experienced in the ways of life, she might have pondered on whether he was a masochist.

"Hawthorn wands are known to be aggressive," the employee said as he handed Zenobia a rather unattractive wand. It was crooked and seemed like a more fitting wand for a bog witch, than someone tasteful and elegant as Zenobia.

She'd just do something very aggressive and be done with it. With a flick, Zenobia cast: "Incendio!" an incantation which she knew to produce flames. The wand was indeed aggressive, for it started flaming non stop. Zenobia jumped at that, but then she started twirling the wand dramatically so the fire could get on as many surfaces as possible. If Papa wanted drama, she'd give him that.

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   Domitian Zabini

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Domitian had high hopes for the hawthorn and dragon heartstring wand — it had a rugged look and a powerful feel. His eyes widened, however, when Zenobia tried to perform an actual spell as opposed to just giving it a flick. She wasn't supposed to know any magic, obviously, but he wasn't surprised that she'd picked up a few spells. She was a precocious child, who was intelligent and observant, and she'd lived her whole life surrounded by magic. Of course she knew spells — it wouldn't have even surprised him if she'd been practicing them in her room with a hairbrush standing in for a wand, or something of the sort. She was ambitious, she was smart — all of that he knew already.

She was also reckless, which was something he hadn't anticipated. As the flames jumped from the wand Domitian snatched it away from her, slamming it back down on the counter as the employee frantically began to quell the flames.

"What are you thinking?" Dom hissed at his daughter, taking her roughly by the arm and pulling her away from the fire. He prided himself on being even-keeled, but this had pushed him beyond what he could handle while remaining cool and collected. The outburst was short-lived, however, and after only a moment's pause he continued in a much more level tone, "We're going home. You can get a wand in August."

  

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Bree made this!

There was a short-lived smile on Zen's face until her father started screaming at her. Granted, he was right to do so — she had nearly set the shop ablaze. Figuratively speaking, because the flames weren't that powerful.

He had been the one desiring aggressiveness and drama! He had kept pushing for the employee to bring her aggressive wands!

Her eyes were wide and her lower lip was trembling. "No!" Zenobia screamed and tried to pull herself out of his grip. If they left the shop now, without a wand having picked her, she could never get a wand. Ever. Her father could decide to send her to finishing school instead of Hogwarts.

"NO! I was being aggressive like YOU TOLD ME TO!"

  

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set by mj <3

They'd reached the door, with Dom still holding firmly onto his daughter's upper arm. "You were being reckless. You performed magic illegally," he pointed out, tone neutral. This was the sort of deadpan he adopted when reading charges to criminals, when he did field work as a hit wizard. "You set fire to the shop, apparently intentionally. That's arson, which is a crime as well. Do you intend to head to Azkaban instead of Hogwarts this fall, Zenobia?" he asked archly. He was being melodramatic, of course, because no one was going to come after a child for having a tantrum, but he wanted her to understand the severity of her actions, and that there could have been consequences for such actions.

They were out the door and back into the street, leaving the chaos she'd caused at the wand shop behind them. "I thought you were mature enough to get your wand," he continued severely. "But it appears I was mistaken. We'll see if your governness can do anything to remedy the situation over the next month and try again." At least if she was still prone to dramatics in a month, she'd be shortly off to Hogwarts where she could cast spells without causing a public spectacle.

Either way, though, this behavior was concerning.

  

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Bree made this!

She was only done what he wanted! He had been the one looking for an aggressive wand and now he was accusing her of being an arsonist!

It was so difficult to please her father. When she sought a pretty silver lime wand which was popular amongst her peers, he was displeased. When he wand didn't do anything, he was displeased. He wanted her wand to be aggressive and he made the employee give her that ugly Bog Witch wand, but when she showed that she could actually do something with it, he shouted at her!

"That's not fair!" Zenobia shouted, causing for some heads to turn towards their direction. "You wanted me to be aggressive! That's what you said! I only WANTED TO MAKE YOU HAPPY!" She was ugly and angry crying by now and she tried to aggressively pull herself away from his grip.

  

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set by mj <3