Well away from the ice cream shoppe, Lily hugged her son. "Well, no one can accuse you of being slow on your toes, honey," she said. "That was some fast thinking. I know I shouldn't say this, but I loved your insult. I know as your mother I shouldn't be encouraging this behavior, but I nearly bust a gut when you said he was a loser. You don't know how long I've wanted to say those exact words."
"Then why didn't you?" Harry replied, genuinely curious. He hadn't known his mother to back off anything in the month he'd come to know her.
"It's a little complicated. Suffice to say your father technically works as a subordinate to Frank Longbottom and if I'd said anything it would have meant repercussions to him. But you saying it doesn't have the same bark as if I'd said it. You understand?"
"Sure. But let's face it, mum, he was a stuck-up kid. Spoiled too."
"Yes, and unfortunately you'll probably see more people like that. At least, those raised solely in the wizarding world. That's why your father and I decided to raise you where we did. It our ancestral house but still surrounded by muggles. Anyway, so that was your first meeting with the Boy-Who-Lived."
"Mum, it looked like you and Mrs. Longbottom knew each other. Did you know them… before the event?" Harry said delicately.
His mother stopped and looked at her son. Nodding, she said, "Yes, we knew them. Were friends with them in fact years ago. The Longbottoms worked with your father and I worked in the Department of Mysteries at the ministry. Then, October 31, 1981 happened and their son was marked for destiny. Since then, they've become difficult to work with. Their heads have certainly gotten bigger.
"They act like they run the ministry. Their son does this, or does that. When it was discovered that their son survived the Killing Curse, Frank was promoted to Captain of Magical Law Enforcement over many other qualified individuals. They'd actually sacked Mad-Eye Moody to make way for him. It was a political appointment through and through and Frank let it go to his head. He and your father had started out at the same rank and it took your father years to make Captain, and that's only because no one else wants the weekend shift. To this day, Frank still treats everyone under him as well as those of equal rank as underclass.
"Alice used to be sweet but she changed as well. She left the Aurors to raise her son but soon accepted a position as Special Representative to the Minister."
"Another political move?" Harry said.
"You got it. And it went to her head as well. To think we used to be friends to them, and now they act as if they were the Malfoy's. I swear, they are so…" Lily trailed off slightly angry while mumbling angry phrases.
"But that's neither here nor there, son. Come on, let's get you a wand," she brightened up.
Harry smiled, got a better grip on his things, and together they made their way to Ollivander's. She looked down at her son. He was certainly growing up. Harry smiled at her. For some reason, out of the entire family, he was closest with her nowadays. Prior to his accident a month ago he hadn't been close to anyone, preferring to do things by himself. Now, he was always nearby.
As they entered the shoppe, Harry sensed the old man in the corner under an invisibility spell. Harry and his mother walked around the store looking at things but not touching any wands. The moment Ollivander decided to turn visible, Harry turned on him with a dagger in his hand ready to strike.
The dagger Harry had found in the attic weeks before. It wasn't enchanted, drat the luck, but it did have the Potter embalm on the hilt. It wasn't much compared to his old stash of weapons he used to carry on his body, but it had been a start.
The man gave a surprise look. So did Lily. Her surprised look immediately went to disapproval and shock and then outrage as he was holding a dagger, a weapon ! That just wouldn't do!
"Harry James Potter! Where did you get that knife?!" she said angrily, hands on her hips.
"M-Mum… it's for protection. And it's not a knife, it's a dagger," Harry said trying to soothe his mother while Ollivander watched them with amusement.
His mother wasn't having any of it. "A dagger or a knife; they are both the same," she huffed.
"Actually they're not," Ollivander admitted. "One is for cutting, and the other is for stabbing."
She gave him an icy stare. " You're not helping ," she stated matter-of-factly.
Harry immediately felt the old man trying to probe his mind, so he immediately increased his mental barriers to full power. He'd suspected Ollivander of being an Occlumencer (how else did he know so much about someone when they entered his shoppe?), perhaps as strong as Dumbledore or Snape, so knew he'd have to be careful around the old man.
Ollivander showed no surprised; even though he was inwardly shocked. From what he could tell, Lily didn't know Occlumency, and she didn't know her son knew either. "Hello Mrs. Potter. Ten inches Willow with Unicorn hair correct?" Ollivander said still eyeing Harry with a delightful look. Harry didn't trust that look, so he stayed quiet.
"Yes that's correct Mr. Ollivander."
"Yes. Let's get down to business shall we? Mr. Potter, which arm is your wand hand?" Ollivander asked.
Harry smiled and answered. "I'm ambidextrous. I can write with both hands, will that help?" Harry ignored his mother's gasp.
"Harry, you can write with both hands? You never told us!"
Harry nodded and gave her a warm smile to calm her down. "It never came up actually. I just thought it was silly that I only ate with my right hand years ago so I started using my left. And it just went from there to doing writing." It wasn't necessarily a lie; he just started learning how to use both hands when he was taught how to duel with right and left-handed by Nicholas Flamel and his wife. It was true that he started eating with his left hand, and started writing with it shortly thereafter.
"Yes… that's interesting," Ollivander said while the tape measures were working furiously, flying over both arms.
Soon enough he was trying out wands. For some reason, it felt forever, Ollivander was getting excited. Oh, how he wanted to just get his Holly and Phoenix feather wand. That would end this sure enough.
After an hour of trying out wand after wand, Harry'd had enough and said, "Mr. Ollivander?"
"Yes?"
"I know I don't know anything about wand crafting, but the other night I'd had a dream about a Phoenix. Do you think that might be a sign? Like I should have a wand made with something from a phoenix?"
....
Read ahead by more than 60 chapters on my p@treon.
Link: pa*treon.com/GalaxyWonder (Remove the *)
Free members an get up to 2 free chapters.
Have a great day....