A Completely Unsuitable Wand

Chapter 8: A Completely Unsuitable Wand

Hermione sat there in confusion, not knowing why Silvan cared so much about that form of address.

But seeing how serious Silvan looked, she said nothing more and simply nodded. "All right, no problem."

She was just a little stubborn and self-righteous, not completely devoid of social awareness... Though she did not have much, she still had some.

Since he did not like it, she simply would not say it. Besides, it was only a different form of address. It was not complicated at all—far too easy.

"Then, are you also a wandmaker?" Hermione asked again.

Silvan thought for a moment. "Right now, I can only be considered half of one."

As one of the future trio, Hermione was someone Silvan did not mind chatting with for a while. Besides, the train was shaking too much. Reading while being jolted around made him feel awful.

Even Tom, who usually was not picky about his surroundings, could not take it anymore. He crawled out from between the two suitcases and lay woozily on the table.

Silvan picked him up and smoothed his fur as he continued, "Strictly speaking, I'm still an apprentice. Only after I officially sell ten wands can I change my title to wandmaker."

"How many have you sold so far?" Hermione asked, though her eyes kept drifting toward the cat in Silvan's arms.

No wonder he had used a cat as an example earlier.

And she had not expected Silvan's pet to be an ordinary mixed-breed cat.

It was ordinary enough to pass for a stray.

Hermione rarely saw anyone keep such a stray cat. Most people she knew preferred prettier purebred cats.

Like shorthairs or Persian cats.

Silvan's family made wands, so they must be quite wealthy.

So this was a personal preference?

Of course, she could not ask that. It would be far too rude.

"If we're talking official sales, one," Silvan said absentmindedly, scratching Tom beneath the chin without knowing what she was thinking.

"Oh, then that really isn't much," Hermione blurted out.

"Hm?" Silvan stared at her, briefly wondering whether she was smart or foolish. "Have you considered that I'm only eleven?"

At eleven, before even attending a magic school, he had successfully made a complete wand and sold it. Did she not understand how impressive that was?

...Well, apparently she really did not.

Seeing Hermione's blank expression, Silvan rubbed his forehead.

He had nearly forgotten. Hermione's parents were both Muggles, and she had never been exposed to the magical world before. It was perfectly normal for her not to know.

As for Neville beside her... he did not count. Skip him.

Honestly... Merlin's pants. The rare time he tried to show off, and it had failed.

Silvan no longer wanted to chat with them, but Hermione clearly did not intend to let him off so easily.

It was rare for her to meet a wizard willing to talk to her, and she had many questions she wanted to ask.

What, Neville?

He did not know anything when asked. He did not count.

Neville: ...

To make the conversation more interesting, Hermione took out her wand.

That beautiful grapevine wand.

Though Neville still had not figured out what was happening, when he saw Hermione suddenly bring up wands, he took his out as well.

Silvan glanced at it.

[Cherry wood, unicorn tail hair, eleven inches]

[Status: Damaged]

[Traits: Rejection: spell effectiveness -50%, spell success rate -50%, high chance of backfiring.]

Silvan raised his brows and asked cautiously, "This wand of yours... wasn't sold to you by Ollivander, was it?"

Though it seemed unlikely, Silvan felt it was necessary to confirm. If Ollivander had truly been blinded by greed and sold Neville something like this, he could still remedy the situation in time.

"No, it wasn't."

Neville immediately became nervous when Silvan spoke to him.

"Th-this is... my... my father's wand," he said with his head lowered, stammering.

His voice was quiet, and his face had turned bright red.

Both Silvan and Hermione could tell that he was resistant to the subject.

So Silvan did not bring it up again.

As long as his family had not sold it, that was fine.

Still, out of a wandmaker's sense of responsibility, he gave the boy a reminder.

"I suggest that you get a wand of your own. This wand doesn't suit you at all, and it'll be very difficult for you to use."

Taking a wand like that to school... Was he finding the curriculum too easy and raising the difficulty for himself?

"But this is my father's wand." Neville looked up, and this time, he did not stammer.

"Wands aren't clothes or shoes, and they aren't Galleons. It has nothing to do with who it belonged to. A wand belongs to only one person, at least most wands do," Silvan said, shaking his head as he patiently explained.

He was not making this up.

Fred and George were similar enough, right? They looked alike and had highly similar personalities. They were practically identical twins, and in some ways, they were even closer than a father and son.

But their wands were different.

Fred's was dogwood, thirteen and three-quarters inches.

George's was beech, thirteen and a half inches.

Other than their standard unicorn tail hair cores, everything else was different.

Neville lowered his head. He wanted to refute Silvan, but he did not know what to say.

His grandmother had said that he needed to become like his father and become the pride of the Longbottom Family, so he had to start by using his father's wand.

Besides, he himself wanted to use this wand. Only when he held it could he feel even the faintest illusion that his father and mother were always by his side.

Neville lowered his head further and further, his unseen face flushing red and then turning pale.

"Don't say that..." Hermione, overwhelmed by sympathy, could not bear to watch any longer and spoke up to defend Neville.

"It's only a wand. I've never heard of a weapon becoming unusable just because a different person used it. I think the most important thing is learning spells."

"I've read Spell Analysis and Detailed Explanations and The Most Popular Spells of the Twentieth Century." Hermione lifted her chin and said earnestly to Neville, "Their key points were all about incantations and wrist movements. They never mentioned wands at all."

That's because the people who wrote those books never imagined that someone would use a wand so obviously unsuited to them... Silvan grumbled inwardly.

Choosing a wand that suited oneself was already common sense in the magical world. There was no need to specifically mention it.

Just as Muggle books would never tell readers on the first page that a nearsighted person could not wear reading glasses to look at the contents.

But... seeing the two of them, Silvan held back.

One was a new student from a Muggle family, while the other let emotion outweigh reason. Saying more would be useless and would only make him seem cold-hearted.

Once they experienced magic firsthand at school, they would understand just how important a suitable wand was to a wizard.

(End of Chapter)