The First Wand

October 5, 1991, Saturday evening.

Inside Greenhouse One behind Hogwarts Castle.

A wand carrying the fresh scent of green wood was born.

Wand wood: willow.

Wand Core: Unicorn tail hair.

Length: eleven and three-quarters inches.

The anticipated joy and satisfaction did not arrive on schedule.

All Luan felt now was unease.

He could not even enter the trance-like state he had just experienced during Wand Making.

It was a wondrous state. Once Luan immersed himself in it, there was only one thing in his mind: the wand.

Luan even felt that, in that state, all his movements had slowed down, giving him ample time for every step.

But Luan knew that in reality, his movements had not slowed at all.

"What a strange and wonderful kind of magic."

After sighing in admiration, Luan carefully examined the wand in his hand.

The new wand was a little shorter than the one he had bought from Ollivanders, and it still carried a distinct bluish dampness.

"It looks fine for now, but I still need to test it."

He tucked the wand into his Wizard Robe, picked up Bouncing, and headed out of the castle.

He was now at the final step of Wand Making: verification.

When he had bought his wand at Ollivanders, Luan clearly remembered the scene when it had been tested.

Back then, he had merely waved the wand casually, and every wand box in Ollivanders had leapt into the air.

Something like that absolutely could not happen in the Greenhouse. Otherwise, the consequences Luan faced would be far worse than simply losing points.

The evening scenery outside the school was exceptionally beautiful. Along the way, Luan ran into three pairs of older students.

Only after following Bouncing's directions to the edge of the Black Lake was there no one else around to disturb him.

"Chirp chirp!"

"So this is where you catch fish."

Luan looked around and found that this truly was a blind spot. Only the castle's distant upper floors could see this place.

After making sure there would be no interruptions, Luan had Bouncing run into the distant grass.

Luan had no confidence at all in the new wand's activation test.

For safety's sake, he could only have Bouncing hide far away.

Holding the new wand, which still carried a damp freshness, Luan gave it a gentle wave.

Uh... nothing around him reacted.

He tried again.

Still nothing.

"Ah, looks like it still doesn't work." Luan turned around somewhat disappointedly.

Just as he was about to call Bouncing out and return to make another wand, the little fellow came chirping out of the grass.

Its tiny paw kept pointing behind Luan.

At that moment, Luan noticed something strange as well. He heard waves lapping against the shore behind him.

Splash~

Splash~

Luan abruptly turned his head and saw that the Black Lake, which had been calm only moments ago, was now rippling in layers.

"Did it work?"

Still unable to believe it, Luan raised his wand again and cast a Transfiguration spell at the dead branches scattered on the ground.

A long silver needle appeared.

"It really works!"

"Chirp!"

Luan no longer remembered how he had returned to the castle that night. He only remembered that the Lumos cast by his new wand had lit the path through the darkness.

But the new wand's activation test was not over.

Not long after Luan left the lakeshore, an enormous black shadow surfaced from the water.

A giant squid searched the spot where Luan had just stood for a long time. Only after that peculiar magical power dissipated did it reluctantly return to the lakebed.

The squid was not the only one disturbed. That very night, the leader of the merpeople lodged a protest with the school.

But Luan knew nothing of any of this.

After testing the wand, he went straight to the Great Hall.

Some Young Wizards who ate late were still dining at the time, and Luan joined them.

After finishing a serving of jam pudding, Luan was about to set down his cutlery when his hand froze in midair.

In the reflection of his silver spoon, Luan discovered that his Wizard Bar had actually passed the halfway mark.

He brought the spoon closer and examined it carefully, then picked up a golden dinner plate to inspect himself in it.

Only then did Luan dare confirm that his Wizard Bar had indeed exceeded half.

Turning to look at Malfoy at the Slytherin table, Luan found that his Wizard Bar was now the same length as Malfoy's.

In other words, one month after enrolling, his Magical Strength had caught up to the second tier among the new students.

"What are you looking at, poor boy!"

Malfoy's voice interrupted Luan's thoughts.

"Nothing. Good night!"

Luan had no interest in arguing with anyone today, because he did not want to ruin the immense joy he had just gained.

"Is he... is he sick or something?"

Malfoy was also left somewhat at a loss by Luan's response.

For the entire Sunday, Luan did nothing else. He quietly finished all his Transfiguration and Potions homework in the library.

The immense joy had not clouded Luan's judgment. He knew he needed to bring himself into the best possible condition next.

Only then could he ensure that Xilin would also complete a successful Wand Making.

At dinner, Luan gave the remaining magical wood to Cedric.

It took Cedric quite a while after Luan left to recover from his shock.

"No way..."

Cedric had actually long prepared himself not to receive the wood before Christmas.

Because he had never believed that a First Year student could make a wand.

Yet he was now holding a perfectly intact piece of willow wood in his hand, which could only mean that Luan had succeeded.

After returning to the Hufflepuff common room, Cedric barely slept that entire night. He decided he would get an answer from Luan the next day.

But Luan could only give Cedric the answer he wanted seven days later.

That night, Luan returned to Xilin's cabin. Only after confirming that the branch gifted by the Great Willow Tree was still there did he sleep peacefully.

Over the next two days, while waiting for news from Brad, Luan polished three rough wand blanks.

Their proportions were polished entirely according to the shape of the wand he had bought from Ollivanders.

Just as he was preparing to start cutting them apart on the third day, Brad arrived with a map.

"This map was really hard to find. I turned the old house upside down, and in the end, I found a small booklet in the cellar. The map was tucked inside it."

As he spoke, Brad plopped down onto Luan's small bed and casually picked up a roasted sweet potato from the fire.

"This is way too abstract."

Once he unfolded the map, Luan's delighted expression vanished without a trace.

Because he discovered that not only was the map badly tattered, its contents were especially

The rivers and mountains drawn on it were still easy enough to recognize, but what were all those densely packed black dots?

And there were △, Y, (), ,, , three

These strange symbols were everywhere on the map.

"This is the doodle map my grandfather drew on a whim."

A doodle—yes.

Luan remembered that the last time he had seen artwork in this style had been in his cousin Sophia's textbook.

"But I can't understand it at all." Luan tossed the map back to Brad.

This young groom clearly valued the map greatly. Seeing the paper fly toward him, he hurriedly let go of the sweet roasted potato in his hand and caught the map securely.

"Careful! This is the secret of our horse-herding family. Of course outsiders aren't supposed to understand it."

Although he had become a monastery's stable servant, Brad clearly still yearned for his family's past.

"Brad, I really need to know where that herd of mysterious wild horses is."

"I know."

"Then why did you give me this thing?"

"But didn't I come here in person?"

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