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2 August 1942
I have finally finished all my preparations and I am ready to go to Diagon Alley. I had originally planned to go yesterday, but something very important forced me to delay my plans. Collecting pine branches, that's right. The last time I was in Ollivander's I had seen a job advert in the window for the purchase of wand materials and there was a pine tree in the garden of my house that was literally perfect for wand making.
It took me all day to persuade Faye but I finally persuaded her to part with some of the branches. Yes, unexpectedly Faye was very strict about protecting her tree. In the end, though, Faye couldn't resist the temptation of owl snacks. Seriously, what was wrong with bowtruckle? The books didn't say anything about owl snacks. There didn't seem to be any problem at the moment. Maybe I should write to an expert. Well, these are the problems of your future Rubeus.
I stood in front of my fireplace and checked everything again. The pine twigs were in my pouch with the untraceable extension spell. Faye was in the breast pocket of my coat. My wand was in the inside pocket of my coat and my gringotts safe key was in my trouser pocket. After entering the fireplace, I took a deep breath and after dusting off the floo, I called out where I was going by saying diagon alley. With the familiar feeling of traction, I found myself looking at the familiar surroundings of diagon alley. After I walked away from the fireplace with quick steps, I walked towards Ollivander's with slower steps. When I opened the door and entered, Ollivender was talking to a small wizard who was probably there to get his new wand. The little wizard paid for the wand just as I was walking through the door, then turned around and left the shop with running steps. As he ran, he was holding his wand tightly with both hands and pressing it tightly to his chest.
Seeing me, Ollivander called out.
'Hello Mr Hagrid, I hope your wand is working fine. Frankly, I'm not used to seeing my customers so often.'
'My wand is working fine, Mr Ollivender. I came here last time because of an advert I saw in your window. I wonder if you still buy wand supplies. I have discovered that a pine tree near my house has recently given birth to bowtruckles (for lack of a better term) and I decided to bring some of its branches to you to see if you would buy them.'
'Well, it can't hurt to have a look, but I hope you haven't damaged the tree or the bowtruckles. That would render the trees useless.'
'Don't worry, Mr Ollivender.' pointing to Faye, who had come out of my pocket. 'I never took a branch that Faye didn't authorise.'
Looking at Faye for a moment, Ollivender continued to speak with a relieved expression. 'This is very good news, Mr Hagrid, you would be surprised how many people carelessly kill Bowtruckles and render trees useless as a result. Whether it is the creatures from which the material for the wand core comes or the wand wood, if the material is taken by force, it becomes contaminated with anger and hatred, rendering it useless for wand-making. That's why here at Ollivander's we only use parts from magical beasts that died naturally and parts from animals that donated their parts voluntarily, if the bowtruckle was damaged, the wood would be useless. I would have refused to buy it.'
I nodded, while at the same time I was pulling the tree branches out of my cut, although the way he spoke and his tone of voice gave me the impression that he cared more about the staff materials than the bowtruckles.
Ollivender quickly began to examine the trees. He tapped them with his fingers and listened to the sound. He took out his wand and cast some diagnostic spells I didn't know. He measured their length and thickness with a tape measure. When he had finally finished testing the trees, he turned to me and began to speak.
'To be honest, Mr Hagrid, the total value of the trees here is 20 galeons at most, and that is entirely due to my good intentions, but most wand makers will not buy these wands at all or will pay very little for them.'
'I expected it to be worth more, you told me on my last visit that wand materials were extremely expensive.'
'Under normal circumstances, but the tree from which these branches were taken was still very young. As you know, trees fill with magical energy over time, which causes bowtruckles to be born, and the older the tree, the more bowtruckles it gives birth to and the more magic it is filled with. This is why old trees make better wand material.' Pointing to the trees on the table. 'The tree from which the branches were taken must have given birth to barely one or two bowtruckles, so these branches are barely qualified. If they came from a tree with twenty or thirty bowtruckles on it, then I would gladly pay a thousand galeons or more.'
After thinking for a while, I decided to sell the trees to Ollivender. After all, I didn't know any other staff makers in England and it seemed like a better idea to carry these tree branches for 20 galeons rather than carrying them for nothing.
'Alright then, let it be 20 galeons, next time I will try to find older trees.'
Ollivender nodded with a smile on his face and started counting the galeons he had taken out of his desk drawer to pay for them. 'I hope, Mr Hagrid, that people have no respect for nature these days. Old trees are getting harder and harder to find, at least here in England. Any suitable wand materials you bring here will be most welcome.'
With a small smile, I took the galeons and put them in my pouch. After saying goodbye to Ollivender, I left the shop and headed towards Gringotts, I needed to withdraw money for today's shopping. I took quick steps through the stairs at the Gringotts entrance. I headed towards the teller but when I saw the queue in front of the teller I let out a silent groan, there were 3 times more people than last time. Now that I think about it, Diagon Alley was also quite crowded compared to my previous visit. I had hoped that it wouldn't be so crowded since the Hogwarts letters had just arrived, but apparently I was wrong. When I thought about it, people received the letters at different times depending on the speed of the owls and the distance of the houses from Hogwarts. This thought took me back to the absence of telephone and internet. For someone born and raised in the 21st century, the absence of telephone and internet was a disaster. I don't know what I would have done if I didn't have my magic. There was a limit to what a person could do alone at home. While I was deep in my thoughts, I had already come to the teller without realising it, and the grumpy voice of the goblin in charge brought me to my senses.
'What is the purpose of your visit to the bank?'
'To withdraw money from my safe.'
'Key please?'
I handed the key I took out of my pocket to the attendant and waited for him to examine it.
'Please proceed, Raznok will take you to your safe.'
After I got my key, I turned to the goblin I thought was Raznok. After I came to him, he signalled me to follow him with his hand without speaking. When we came to the same black stone corridors, we waited for a vehicle to come and pick us up. Thus began our bumpy journey. For Merlin's sake, were all creatures with magic running through their veins this crazy? You literally had the power to change reality at your fingertips and you go and find the most uncomfortable and crazy way of transport, I know that goblins cannot use magic like us wizards, but I am sure they could find a more comfortable method of transport if they wanted to. While I was lost in thought, as I often am today. We continued our silent journey with Raznok through the identical black stone corridors. This time it seemed as if we had travelled further than before, but I couldn't quite understand it. it was almost impossible to determine distance and position in these almost identical corridors. When we finally arrived in front of my safe, we stopped with a hard and sudden brake on the rails. I was thrown forward rapidly due to the sudden brake. After recovering my balance with difficulty, I quickly got out of the car after suppressing my urge to curse the goblin who was apparently quite amused by the view he saw and laughing at me under his moustache. After the goblin opened the safe, he gave me back the key he took from me when he got out of the car. I went into the safe and took 250 galeons and came out of the safe. I had decided to withdraw a maximum of 250 galeons a year from the safe, as my father had told me, except for urgent needs. All other expenses would be made later from the money I earned myself. Frankly, I didn't want to go broke halfway through my student life. I quickly left the vault and returned to the car. The sooner I left this cursed bank, the better for me. If gringotts started doing customer satisfaction surveys, they certainly wouldn't get a good answer from me. The return journey was just as awful as the first one, but this time I was prepared for the brakes. I was not going to give that damned goblin the pleasure of laughing at me one more time. After getting out of the car, I headed for the doors to leave the bank. Halfway there, a familiar voice I heard from behind me forced me to stop.
'Mr Hagrid, excuse me.'
I certainly wasn't expecting the sight that awaited me when I turned round.
A slightly older Jude Law turned towards me after having a quick chat with the parents of a muggle-born child, judging from his clothes.
When he got close enough to hear my voice, I started to speak a little nervously.
'Good day, professor. Good to see you.'
'Thank you Hagrid, I hope you're well, I'm sorry to hear of your father's passing, he was a good man. Do you need any help?'
'Thank you, Professor. I'm doing all right now, but I didn't realise you knew my father. He never mentioned meeting you.'
'We weren't close. We met a couple of times at the Hog's Head Inn, but I never heard anything bad about him.'
'I understand, professor. The Hog's head inn is definitely the kind of place my father would go to.' I leaned slightly and looked at the family waiting anxiously behind him and then continued to speak. 'It seems that you are quite busy today. I don't want to keep you here.'
Dumbledore, who turned round and looked at the family, began to speak quickly. 'I have to accompany some muggle-borns and their parents to Diagon Alley today, but I should be finished around three o'clock in the afternoon, so if you're free I'd like to sit and talk to you for a while in the knight and wizard ice cream parlour.'
'Sure Professor, I'm sure my shopping will be done by then. I will wait for you there.'
'O'Time to see you, Hagrid.'
'See you soon, Professor.'