Chapter 9: Weighing of the Wands
Summary:
The Potter Coven meets in full for the first time, Harry takes a trip to Diagon Alley and the next part of the Tri-Wizard Tournament takes place.
The aftermath of the Champion Selection Ceremony had not gone as Harry had thought it would. Despite being somewhat optimistic he'd expected the entire school to turn on him once more with his name coming out of the Goblet. In contrast to his expectations the exact opposite had happened as by that point the rumor mill had done its job and everyone knew that neither Harry or his girls wanted his name entered in the tournament. The only plus side that Harry could think of was that only three names had emerged from the goblet so at least he wasn't 'stealing Cedric's spotlight' this time. Even still his entry into the tournament served as a point of embarrassment to both Hogwarts and the Aurors and as such neither McGonagall nor Amelia were pleased with their failure to keep him out of it.
Ludo Bagman had been the only one excited by his entry into the tournament and it had only been McGonagall getting to him first that kept Harry from unleashing his building anger on the man in the antechamber. Following that instead of going up to the Gryffindor Common Room he'd stalked outside and proceeded to reduce a giant boulder into a pile of rubble with a single Blasting Curse. With the release of his anger he'd stalked back inside and to the Gryffindor Common Room not even realizing the effects his actions would cause at the display of power.
His entry into the common room had been met with a 'commiseration party' thrown by the twins. They'd handed him a butterbeer and set him down on a couch while the house as a whole tried to figure out how his name had been entered since everyone knew he'd been nowhere near the goblet. At one point Ron had approached with a familiar look on his face but rather than confront him the youngest of the Weasley boys simply said that he was really starting to hate Halloween now a sentiment that Harry and Hermione toasted him too. Eventually Harry had enough and dismissed himself to the boys dorm and crawled into bed where he'd been joined by Katie nearly an hour later.
That was a week ago and in that time Harry had only scarcely been seen within the castle outside of his classes. Instead he spent his free time sequestered within the Room of Requirement where subsequently his girls could also be found as he went through the process of remastering his spells. As a consequence of this the girls had all picked up and learned spells they wouldn't learn until their later school years normally and some they wouldn't have learned at all. Daphne for instance had rather quickly become proficient in the usage of Sectumsempra, Susan favored the Blasting Curse and Sue Li favored the Reductor Curse. That actually made sense to everyone as of all the girls at school those three were the ones who would end a fight quickly. Sue Li was a national ranked duelist, Susan wanted to be an auror and Daphne was Slytherin's Ice Queen.
At the moment this was far from the minds of all of them, it was the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year and as such they were all in rather cheerful moods. Within a reserved room in the Three Broomsticks the group of witches that had become known as the Potter Coven could be found, though they hadn't all come in together. Instead they opted to arrive separately in hopes of drawing less attention to themselves. Of the girls attending Hogwarts the only ones that had arrived together had been Hermione and Fleur while everyone else had wandered in on their own. The last to arrive were Penny and Dora making this the first time that all ten of them were together in one place.
When the door closed Hermione, Fleur and Dora were quick to cast protective charms around the room in order to secure their privacy both from students and a certain nosey reporter they did not want to encounter just yet. With that done the complete establishment of the bonds was the first order of business which mean Dora and Penny were soon kissing Padma, Parvati and Sue Li though in no particular order. They were only just settling into their seats when they were alerted to company incoming and with a flick of her wand Hermione removed the look on the door allowing Madam Rosmerta to enter easily after she knocked. It took a few minutes for their orders to be taken but soon enough the woman was leaving the room to prepare their lunch. Thanks to her lessons with Andromeda over the summer, especially after she and Harry bonded Hermione knew that as the primary wife she was supposed to lead the formal meetings which she began as soon as the room was sealed once more.
"So while its good to have everyone together in one room I think we should deal with the question I'm sure we have all been asked more than a few times since we were outed by the Prophet." Said Hermione.
"We have all had more than enough time to come to a decision on this point. We may as well deal with it." Said Daphne
"Should we though, I mean we still have three spots open. They deserve to be able to give their input." Said Dora.
"Or we can get it out of the way so they don't have to deal with it as well. Plus I think the pressure will mount with each of the next bonds are established." Said Susan.
"How will we break a tie; I mean Harry has left the decision to us." Said Katie.
"Flip for it." Said Penny producing a galleon and flipping it so that it landed on the table.
The girls traded looks around silently for a few moments before nodding. By mutual consent they muted the bond between themselves so that no ones thoughts could influence anyone else's.
"So let's get this started then." Said Parvati.
While the girls were doing this Harry was otherwise occupied with something a little more immediate which is why he could be seen walking down Diagon Alley with Sirius. During Charms class the previous day his wand had shocked everyone when it simply burst into flame leaving behind only a single phoenix feather in his hand. That led to an impromptu lecture from Professor Flitwick about wands, specifically that the wands that they received from Ollivander's as first years could be overloaded just as Harry's had been. According to the professor every witch or wizard considered as Enchanter or Enchantress level had experienced such a thing, it was the mark of a powerful witch or wizard.
He further explained that the wands they'd gotten from Ollivander's that day were known as generic as they were not a perfect match for anyone, which is why they went through so many before finding one that paired with them. He further explained that perfectly matched wands were custom made and required the owner to be part of the process. This he explained was one of the reasons why Neville had so much trouble in previous years as he'd been using his father's wand which had been custom made for him. Ollivander also made custom wands, but it was rare as there were not that many witches and wizards that were at the level power wise where they overloaded their first wand and as such often didn't bother acquiring a perfect wand.
Because of this happening Harry had been reduced to a spectator for the rest of his classes that day with the exception of Ancient Runes and his muggle studies courses. When Harry contacted Sirius about his problem that day the man had been happy, stating that he'd regretted missing his first trip to Ollivander's and the acquisition of his first wand as much as he regretted missing his birthdays. Harry was actually glad that the wand overloaded when it had as Sirius was leaving to the healing facility in just two days so if it had happened any later he wouldn't have been available.
Remus was already unavailable as he'd gone in for the trial testing for a cure to the Lycanthrope Curse just after Harry had left for Hogwarts. From what Harry understood, thanks to Andi the procedure was similar to a procedure used to cleanse the blood of cancer patients, at least part of it. The documents the ICW mediwizards had given Remus had been studied intently by Andi and then broken down into plain English to the rest of them. Following that they reached out to the two mediwizards responsible for the project and while they'd been impressed at what they heard had not been pleased that this was something they were working on off of the books and as such without ICW funding. Because of this he and Sirius combined had donated 4,000 galleons to the aid in the effort as Remus had already decided to take part, consequently this allowed Andi to become part of the team of healers working out the cure while Harry and Sirius had become the principle financial backers.
Shaking himself from his thoughts Harry pretended that he didn't see a witch in the red robes of an auror getting her ass groped and after Sirius opened the door stepped into Ollivander's. The shop felt even smaller than it was when Hagrid first brought him to get his wand and despite the passing of time thousands of narrow boxes containing wands were still piled within the shelves and stacked right up to the ceiling.
"Mr. Potter back again so soon." Came the voice of Garrick Ollivander as the man emerged from the shelves.
"Yes sir, I had a bit of a situation yesterday." Said Harry producing the phoenix feather from the inner left pocket of his robe.
"Remarkable, I've never had a forth year overload a wand before." Said the man accepting the feather from the boy.
"Well as you can imagine I was quite surprised it happened at all." Said Harry.
"Everyone is. Your father I understand was quite the sight when it happened to him." Said the man causing Sirius to chuckle.
"Your dads wand had a thunderbird tail feather for a core. After the wand overloaded all of his hair was standing on end for nearly a full day." Said Sirius.
Ollivander directed them deeper into the store and through the shelves until they came to a more open area with left and right walls lined with display cases like a jewelry store. The wandmaker flicked his wand and the top of each case opened presenting their contents.
"A perfectly matched wand is a more personal undertaking then the original selection you went through. Instead of an already created wand choosing you as happened before this time you must match with the individual properties of the wand. On the left are the woods simply hold your wand hand over them and you will be drawn to the correct one. As for the core you have the phoenix feather core from your original wand and as such it will be included in the construction of the new one. If you feel a second core is necessary however then that would be included as well."
With the instructions given Harry moved over to the wood displays. It took him quite some time to finish with the woods and the aid of Ollivander who was quite surprised with his question. Intrigued he told him to follow his instincts at which point he released the hold on his magic allowing to flow freely and fill the shop. The result of this was not what any of them expected and it was only his reflexes as a Seeker that allowed him to catch the wood that practically hurled itself at him surprising both Sirius and Ollivander. After nearly thirty minutes in the wood section he thought he was done only to immediately feel a pull coming from the cores. This process took nowhere near as long as he found it easily thanks to the pull he felt. With no other sensations coming to him he stopped channeling his magic and approached the wandmaker with his finds. The final thing the wandmaker requested was a bit of blood something that caught both of them off guard though Harry warily supplied it.
"Astonishing, I've never witnessed such a strong reaction. This will take some doing, come back in two hours and it should be ready." Said Ollivander before practically rushing them from the shop and flicking the sign to closed.
Two hours couldn't pass fast enough in Harry's mind. He and Sirius had spent the time shopping and while that would have normally been just fine with him he'd reached an entirely new level of embarrassment when his godfather guided him into what he quickly realized was a sex shop. While it wasn't on the main road of the Alley he wasn't naïve enough to believe that he hadn't been seen entering into such a place and entering to find his godmother inside with a phallic shaped object in hand had only increased that embarrassment, he didn't know how he was going to look Neville in the eye again. Thankfully for his peace of mind the purchases were rather tame but he had no doubt that one of the girls would drag him back once they found out about this.
Back in Ollivander's they found the man himself with a euphoric smile on his face, one which creeped Harry out so much he nearly turned and walked right back out of the door. Sirius had, however, seen such a sight before and managed to get the mans attention breaking him from his daze.
"Ah Mr. Potter, Lord Black welcome back." Said Ollivander
As he greeted them the wandmaker reached beneath the counter before pulling back holding a wand box which he placed on the counter almost reverently. As he opened the case he revealed a wand that was a blended mix of browns, one of which was so dark it was nearly black.
"13 inches made of a blending of Holly, Ash and Elder wood with twin cores of Phoenix and Dragon Heartstring. This particular heartstring is one I thought I would never use, from Aikom himself." Said Ollivander.
"Aikom was real!" said Sirius in surprise.
"Aikom?" questioned Harry.
"Aikom was a three-headed dragon, no one knew where he came from. Imagine a blue version of Ghidorah but nearly 700 feet." Said Sirius causing Harry's eyes to widen.
"This is quite possibly the most powerful wand I or any Ollivander will ever make. Your blood was used to bond not just the cores but the three wood blends which is why the appear braided. As a consequence this wand will only truly work for you. In time it may be used as an heirloom wand, but it will be nowhere near as powerful for anyone after you."
Upon returning to school Harry retreated immediately into the Room of Requirements and didn't emerge until nearly dinner time only to disappear once more the next day. His new wand was incredibly powerful, and magic came to it more easily than even the Elder Wand and as such it took nearly a full week to dial the power down to what he was used to working with. The problem was the wand wanted to cast powerful spells, it took in his magic incredibly easily and wasted none of it. It was like wielding a nearly weightless sword in that he'd needed to learn to control it. As a consequence he knew that he would soon be paying for custom wands for the girls, even if his own cost him 20 galleons rather than the 7 his first one cost. The high price was definitely worth it and if he couldn't put Riddle down at the end of the year it would more than double the worth for the girls to have perfect wands.
Speaking of the girls they had decided to have the mistresses, simply on the grounds that most of them didn't want to have more than two children and a few of the girls had even put names forward to fill those positions. Of course he still had three positions open to be Ladies but according to Luna two of those positions wouldn't be filled until the summer at the earliest while the last wouldn't be for a few years and by this point he'd learned to take Luna at her word when she spoke in certain tones.
At the moment he could be found in class specifically Potions though he was trying his best to ignore the rather obvious amount of cleavage that Professor Drake had on display, lest he accidently swallow or choke and spit out the Mandrake Leaf he had in his mouth. He wasn't the only one being careful of such a thing as all of the school age girls also had the leaves in their mouths. Luna, Astoria, Neville, Hannah, Lily Moon, Sakura and the Weasley's and the witches they were bonded to were also participating in the activity. The reason for this particular activity was that Harry had discovered the original process for becoming an Animagus.
Actually that was stretching things, he'd found the portrait of Godric Gryffindor within the Room of Hidden Things along with portraits of the other Founders and Godric had told him the process. The Founders had considered it a skill that should be known by Fifth Year and were not happy both that it was no longer taught, and that people had developed a potion to use as a shortcut. He'd of course had the portraits popped to the Headmistress's office by Dobby and after speaking with her she'd allowed him to do the meditations so long as he promised not to try to actually transform without her there as accidents have been known to happen. The difficult part was of course keeping the Mandrake Leaf within ones mouth for an entire month, he'd nearly chewed and swallowed it several times already.
Professor Drake certainly wasn't making it easy for him as she had taken to teasing him even more since the rumor had spread through the castle that the Potter Coven was open to mistresses. Beside him Daphne was clearly amused, something which he could feel through the bond quite easily. He had half a mind to pull her into the closest empty classroom or broom closet to the class and fuck her throat, especially since he hadn't gotten his cock sucked since they'd started the Animagus process as he didn't want to risk the leaf being swallowed or falling out of their mouths and the girls having to start the process all over again. His thoughts on the matter were cut off as there was a knock on the door interrupting the lecture.
Frowning Professor Drake walked to the door and Harry was positive he wasn't the only one to look at her backside as she did so. When she reached the door she poked her head out and spoke quietly though Harry already knew what it was. Sure enough when she came back she told him to pack his things as he was being summoned by the tournament committee. He cast a quick drying charm on his parchment to dry the ink then rolled it up and slipped it into his bag. Moving over to the door she quietly informed him of what the homework would be and when she turned and moved to walk past him he hadn't been able to resist grabbing her ass. Turning her head she winked before moving on.
Stepping out of the room he was not surprised to find Colin Creevey waiting for him. This year he'd tried to be nicer to the boy and while still easily excited he'd calmed down around him considerably. The hero worship had also stopped for the most part once Harry explained why he didn't like the Boy-Who-Lived stuff. Colin had been horrified to realize how it came across once he told the boy his perspective and had since become a pretty good friend.
The Wand Weighing Ceremony was happening in the same classroom and with the exception of Dumbledore, Crouch and Cedric had all of the same people present as last time. Seeing Rita Skeeter again hadn't been high on his to do list but luckily McGonagall was already there and as such was keeping the unscrupulous reporter on a very short leash. That reminded him he needed to get that woman something very nice for Christmas.
"Give her that dick!" came over the bond.
"Katie!!!" exclaimed multiple people at once nearly causing him to laugh.
"We'll figure something out Harry." Said Padma
While Harry managed to keep himself to just a amused smile Fleur hadn't been so lucky, Katie's outburst had caused her to laugh in the middle of her drink causing her to spew it as a result. Fleur was laughing so hard there were tears in her eyes something that was not going unnoticed. Grabbing his wand Harry made quick work of cleaning up the mess.
"Sorry about that, one of our bonded just told a joke and it caught us off guard." Said Harry.
"Wait are you saying that you can speak to each other over the bond?" questioned Rita.
"The bond comes with a few perks, but you should speak to Madam Tonks if you want that information." Said Harry.
At that Rita pursed her lips and Harry thought he knew why. Rather than start a new Magical House when Dora was born the previous Lord Black had pulled a fast one and secretly declared the Tonks family as a branch of the House of Black. Of course the way he'd done so meant no one had known this tidbit until Sirius approved his grandfather's will reading over the summer. As such the Tonks family had all of the perks of a Most Ancient and Most Noble House, though no Tonks would ever be a Lord in their own right. The announcement had only been made at the Wizengamont session a week ago and some considered it a slap in the face of tradition. This just meant that they were mad that there was now a muggleborn wizard with a higher status than many purebloods.
Looking over to Fleur he found she had recovered and was speaking quietly with Madam Maxine in French who giggled then immediately stopped it. Thankfully McGonagall chose that moment to enter the room with Mr. Ollivander as Rita had opened her mouth most likely to ask another question only to shut it quickly with a frown.
"Good everyone is here. This is Garrick Ollivander, the greatest wandmaker in the British Isles."
The ceremony went almost exactly how he remembered it with the wandmaker first testing out Krum's wand and producing a flock of birds. Fleur was next and thankfully the old man only said it was 'interesting' when mentioning Fleur's wand had Veela hair for a core before producing a beautiful bouquet of flowers from her wand. Rather than come to him the wandmaker stopped and eyed the two champions.
"While both of your wands are still in good working condition I recommend you both come to my shop prior to the First Task otherwise I predict they will overload over the course of the year." Said the man.
"Are you saying the wands are faulty?" questioned Rita.
"No, the wands are excellently made. I'm saying they themselves have grown powerful and these wands will not keep up with their rate of growth much longer." Said Ollivander before moving on to Harry who presented his new wand to him.
"I see you've been hard at work Mr. Potter; you've already achieved some level of mastery over this wand." Said Ollivander.
"13 inches tri-blend wood with dual cores of phoenix feather and dragon heartstring. This is my crowning achievement a wand unlike any Ollivander wand before it." Said Ollivander reverently before handing it back to Harry.
"You're not going to cast with it?" questioned Bagman.
"Mr. Potters wand is a custom-made piece that will only work perfectly for him. For anyone else it will fight back causing it to either not work at all or cast substandard spells." Said Ollivander.
Following this the three champions had to pose for pictures both individually and as a group, the later of which they switched positions so each of them were in the center. Then they had to sit for interviews which started with Victor Krum and Harry was pleased when not only was Rita reading from a list of what had to be approved questions but her acidic green quill was nowhere to be seen. Because Krum was an international Quidditch star it was no surprise many questions about the sport were asked and Harry was surprised to learn that he'd been selected for both his Local and National teams when he was only 15. Fleur was next where she revealed that not only was her grandmother a Veela but that her father was the Deputy to the French Minister of Magic and as such the second in command of the French Ministry.
Rita was not slow on the uptake and understanding dawned quickly that Fleur was one witch she didn't want to mess with in her usual manner. When asked how she knew Harry she simply stated they met at the World Cup, nothing more was said about that as everyone knew of the debauchery that had taken place there. Finally it was Harry's turn and with a deep breath he sat already applying the lessons that Sirius and Andi had drilled into him over the summer.
"So Heir Potter as the youngest of the champions how did it feel to be chosen?" questioned Rita.
"Honestly it was annoying. I had no desire to compete and I lost three galleons betting on Cedric Diggory to be named as Hogwarts Champion."
"But surely you expected to be named not only are you a Mage but you have already battled and defeated a Basilisk." Said Rita.
"True but I didn't want to compete in the tournament. The only thing I wanted to do regarding this thing was test my skills against Krum on the pitch." Said Harry getting the attention of Krum judging by the stare he received.
"Well now that you are part of the tournament how does it feel to be taking part alongside your bonded?" questioned Rita.
"It sucks. Even with her here we spend so much time training we hardly spend any time just hanging out." Said Harry.
"Do you have any idea how your name was entered?"
"According to Professor Moody someone ripped my name off of one of my old assignments and put it in the Goblet. I don't know anything more than that." Said Harry.
"One more question." Said McGonagall causing Rita to frown and look down at her notepad.
"Rumor has it that you grew up in a hidden location. What was it like growing up as we all know the books are pure fiction?"
Harry froze his eyes widening as his mind was suddenly bombarded with all of the memories of his childhood from the shouting, derisive comments, the cupboard under the stairs and much, much worse. He choked as he could feel a hand squeezing around his throat and it took everything he had including all of the girls shouting through the bond and Fleur physically coming to him to pull him out. When he looked up it was with haunted eyes that stunned everyone that saw him.
"My childhood, I wouldn't have wished it on Voldemort himself." Said Harry softly to Fleur before she led him out of the room.
As they left neither realized that Rita Skeeter had heard his last comment and had a new story she was determined to break.