Choosing a Wand

Both of them had plenty of money in their storage rings, especially Anna. Elisa had withdrawn a full thousand glittering Galleons from Gringotts, and setting everything else aside, if Anna used the money only for everyday expenses, she might not even spend it all by the time she graduated.

Snape stood expressionlessly as the measuring tape moved up and down over him. Across from him, Anna found everything fascinating and couldn't resist teasing the tape measuring her.

"Oh, lovely miss, I've never seen a young witch or wizard manage to subdue it before. You're a clever girl."

The owner of the robe shop was a beautiful, rather short woman. She put away the measuring tape, which had gone a little limp after Anna's teasing, and smiled.

"Thank you for the compliment, ma'am. It's very interesting."

Once the two had chosen their robes and paid an additional delivery fee, they left the shop together.

Next came the most important thing: their wands.

A wand reflected its young owner's personality, so for their privacy, each young witch or wizard went in alone to buy one.

"Severus, you go first. I'll wait for you at the door."

Anna stood obediently outside Ollivander's Wand Shop, watching the witches and wizards come and go along Diagon Alley.

Before long, he had chosen a wand all his own and pushed open the door to come out.

"Then I'm going in! Oh, and Severus, I want some ice cream. Could you please buy me one? Sorry for the trouble. You can wait for me there."

She pointed at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, which was crowded with people not far away. Her words made Snape's face darken, and before he could protest, Anna opened the door to the wand shop and went inside.

Ollivander's shop was small and shabby. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the window. The gold lettering on the sign above the door had peeled, and it read: "Ollivander: makers of fine wands since 382 BC."

The shop was tiny, with nothing in it but a bench. Thousands of narrow wand boxes were stacked almost to the ceiling.

"Welcome, beautiful miss."

Ollivander, who had suddenly appeared from behind the counter, was still young, or at least not as old as he appeared during the events of the original story. His silvery-white eyes gave him a particularly mysterious air.

"Hello, Mr. Ollivander. I'm here to choose a wand."

"Then, may I ask which hand you usually use?"

"My right hand, sir."

She spoke with the excellent wandmaker, and the unusual color of her long hair caught his attention.

"Oh, what a rare color for long hair. According to some ancient records, striking physical traits like yours usually come from a most unusual kind of magic...

"Miss, would you be willing to tell me the source of this powerful, unusual magic of yours?"

As Ollivander measured the length of Anna's arm, her forearm, her height, the circumference of her head, and so on, he studied her long hair as though fascinated. By the look of him, he was just short of pulling out a couple of strands to examine.

Anna had always thought her hair had changed from the gold Grindelwald had originally given it to silvery white because her alchemical body had undergone a mutation.

But hearing Ollivander's words today, she suddenly realized that it was more likely because of the Grim Reaper who had made a contract with her!

Reaching into her distant memories, Anna managed to recall her first meeting with the Grim Reaper. Hadn't the long hair that had slipped out from the deity's voluminous black robes been silvery white?

"Mr. Ollivander, there are many secrets in this world that are not known to others. 'Curiosity killed the cat' is not an empty saying. For your safety, let's end this conversation."

Since Anna had put it that way, Ollivander could only give up reluctantly. Though unwilling, he also understood that there were many secrets in this world that could not be touched.

"Try this one. Applewood, unicorn hair, thirteen and a half inches. It's very powerful, loyal, and best suited to people with high aims and ideals."

Ollivander drew one wand from the piles of wand boxes and gave it to Anna to try.

A few sparks came from the tip of the wand in Anna's hand. Clearly, it wasn't suitable.

"Oh, that's not right. What about this one?

"Aspen, dragon heartstring. In my experience, the owners of aspen wands are usually strong-minded and determined, and more readily attracted to novel tasks and missions than most people. This is a wand for revolutionaries."

Revolutionaries?

But this wand wasn't right for her either.

After that, she tried more than twenty different wands in all, but still failed to find a suitable one.

There was no trace of impatience on Ollivander's face. Instead, he looked a little excited.

"Never mind. I like a discerning customer. Powerful and unusual magic... let me think this over.

"That's right, how could I have forgotten that one..."

Suddenly, as if he had remembered something, he turned and walked to a shelf at the very back of the shop. From the neatly arranged boxes, he solemnly drew out a wand.

"Elder wood, phoenix feather. A very contradictory and powerful combination, and one of my father's proudest creations. Unfortunately, we never managed to find an owner for it, but today...

"It's fifteen inches long and very rigid. To better balance the power of the two, my father took special care to set a water-attribute deep-blue gemstone near the end. Give it a try."

The wand Ollivander handed her was long and slender, with a dark sheen along its entire length.

There were no unnecessary patterns on its surface. Its only ornament was the deep-blue gemstone set near the base that Ollivander had mentioned. Overall, it looked elegant and mysterious.

The moment she touched it, the magic in her body flowed smoothly into the wand, and a fiery red phoenix appeared at its tip.

The phantom phoenix circled once through the air in the wand shop, let out a clear cry, then turned to ash and slowly dispersed.

"Oh, that's the one. A contradictory combination of death and rebirth, possessing the most unusual power. It suits you very well."

Death and rebirth? Does that mean reincarnation? Or does it mean being born through death?

Considering her past and present lives, either meaning suited her quite well.

"How much?"

"Because it uses a rare water-attribute gemstone, it's much more expensive than other wands. Thirty-six Galleons in total."

Anna nodded in satisfaction. To be honest, unlike other people, she didn't have a normal body. She had thought she wouldn't be able to find a good wand and had even considered asking her father to have one made especially for her. She hadn't expected a wand actually to choose her.

Anna paid without hesitation. Just as she was about to leave with her wand, Ollivander suddenly spoke.

"May I have the honor of knowing your name, beautiful miss?"

She thought for a moment, then turned back to the middle-aged shopkeeper, whose face was full of anticipation, and parted her lips.

The door closed softly, setting the bell ringing with a pleasant chime.

"Welcome, Miss Grindelwald..."

As if to make up for a regret, Ollivander looked toward the empty doorway and spoke as though sighing.