Gateway 4

Arriving at Diagon Alley by itself was an event.

After a quick breakfast, we moved to the fireplace in the office/living room area. There, Xeno told me about Floo travel, and after a quick demonstration by Luna, it was my turn.

Honestly, I was kinda worried that it wouldn’t work on me thanks to my magical immunity, but everything went fine. Well, except for the tumble at the end.

The place we arrived at looked like a seedy bar, there were some weird people here and there, a few drunks from the night before, and a surprising amount of normal people with their families.

After Xeno arrived he led us to the back of the bar where, with a few precise taps of his wand on a brick wall, the wall opened to what I can only describe as a medieval fairy tale land.

As I looked around the Alley and saw the physics-defying buildings and the nonsensical items in most storefronts, it slowly dawned on me that Luna was downplaying how weird this place was last night.

I’m broken out of my thoughts by a snort at my side. Looking towards it I see Luna very obviously trying to hold her laughter.

It was a futile effort.

Looking at Xeno in confusion, he decides to explain.

“Someone’s first time seeing the Alley is always an experience.” He said with a smirk. “Luna saw some in the past, but your double take and look of confusion at seeing Old Ted’s gizmo shop were too much for her.”

After Luna calmed down, we started moving toward Garrick’s shop. Xeno didn’t bother to explain what it was about, but considering our conversation yesterday I figure it’s something related to wands.

I almost stop to stare at a shop selling flying brooms, but the instant giggle fit Luna has makes me think better of it.

As Xeno stops in front of a narrow and shabby building, I notice peeling gold letters over the door of the shop reading Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.

“Garrick!” Xeno exclaims upon entering the shop, the amusement he was radiating during our walk quickly replaced by an excitable air.

“Ah, Xeno! What brings you here in this time of day?” Garrick, an old man with gray hair and pale silver eyes replied while coming out of the back of the shop. “And little Luna too! Cherry wood with unicorn hair, 8 and a half inches, I hope there have been no problems with it.”

“Nothing of the sort! I have recently met the most curious young man and, after learning of his difficulty learning wandless magic, I decided that you’d be the best person to talk to see if a wand is the right path for him to start with.”

Xeno’s reply was almost baiting in how casual it was, and it seems Garrick thinks so too, going by his unimpressed look.

With a sigh, Garrick turns to me.

“I haven’t met your acquaintance yet, I’m Garrick Ollivander, wandmaker.” He said, extending his hand.

“Alexander Lupi, novice.” I replied while shaking his hand.

“So Mr. Lupi, what seems to be the problem? I doubt Xenophilius would have thought curious just by having trouble with wandless magic.”

“Well, I don’t know the difference between wanded and wandless magic here, but back home wands aren’t that common.” I start, noticing Ollivander’s eyes widening for a fraction before continuing. “And my problem is that I don’t have control of my magic. The first and last spell I tried, a simple candle-lighting spell, almost burned the Academy down.”

“And so you want to know if a wand might be able to either restrict your power or give you enough control to bypass the problem.” He nodded before moving to the back of the shop.

After a few moments, he returned with a few thin boxes in hand.

“Wands have different temperaments,” He started while settling the boxes on the counter, “Depending on the materials used, the source of the materials, or a myriad of other factors. Even twin wands have their differences.”

He opened one of the boxes and pulled out a short wand from it.

“In your case, we will use the weakest and most combative wands I’ve made, to counteract your power and forcefully teach you control.” He waved the wand and the tape measure on the counter barely moved an inch. “This one will do for a first try, Larch, 5 a half inches with kneazle whiskers as a core. A weak wand, more appropriate as a toy for a child than spellwork.”

He motioned me to take the wand and told me to give it the smallest wave possible.

Nothing.

I did a bigger one, but still nothing.

He quickly snatched it out of my hand and put another in its place.

“Pine, 6 and a half inches with kneazle whiskers.” Was all he said before motioning me again.

Nothing.

Another change, this time ebony with unicorn hair, nothing again.

And so it went, different woods and cores were tried, multiple combinations of both, but no wand gave a reaction.

“This isn’t working.” I said after a half-hour of trying.

“Yes, although I have no idea why.” He said before turning to Xeno. “Are you certain that he is a wizard, Xeno?”

“I am.” Xeno absentmindedly replied.

“Oh! I know why!” Luna exclaimed. “Alex, you told me yesterday that you had an immunity to magic.”

“Yeah. It’s not total immunity but there’s some pretty specific conditions for magic to affect me.”

‘Like divinity, power enough to hit a God, and bypassing, the, skin.’

“God fucking damn it! I’m such a moron!” I groaned.

“What would those conditions be?” Ollivander curiously asked.

“In this case? Divinity.” I replied with a sigh.

I wasn’t about to reveal that my immunity was focused on the skin and power was meaningless for this.

This isn’t like when I met the Lovegoods. At that point, I had no idea I was in another reality so just introducing myself as a Campione was a simple way to move things along.

And anyway, revealing myself as a Campione is very different than revealing one of my biggest weaknesses, especially in a world without them.

“Divinity? How did you manag-” He stopped himself, shaking his head with a mutter of ‘meaningless’. “It doesn’t matter, what matters is that I’ve only heard of one wand that has a chance to have it and, beyond it being more myth than fact, I have no idea on where it could be.”

I was already starting to think of how to go about searching for it when he continued.

“But, if you brought me the materials…”

‘Of course! He is a wandmaker, so while he might be curious about my immunity, he caught on that I have access to divine materials, and what craftsman wouldn’t want to have that to work on?’

“You’re a sly old man,” I replied with a smirk. “I can go search for it when I get back home, but I’ll only go back in a month and for me to get here from there it’ll take another. It’s just a pity it’ll take so much time for me to start actually learning.” I finished with a sigh.

“Don’t be so hasty Mr. Lupi, you’ll have to gather the materials yourself to facilitate the match,” Ollivander said with some amusement. “And as for your learning, I may be able to help, but it’ll take me two weeks to craft and be strictly temporary.”

“You can!? Please, whatever it takes!” I almost stumble in my excitement, thankfully Campione reflexes saved me the embarrassment.

Ollivander nodded and quickly went to the back of the shop after motioning us to wait.

It took a few minutes, but he returned with what looked like a very thin vase, a dark brown wand, and a small knife with runes on the blade.

“To make you a temporary wand, I’ll need to use materials tied directly to you.” He says while putting the weird vase down. “To tie the wood to you, it’ll have to absorb your essence until it is completely impregnated.”

He carefully inserted the wand into the vase before motioning me to approach.

The wand was set perfectly in the middle of the vase, leaving almost no space on the sides.

“And what is that essence?” I asked, already dreading it and having it confirmed as he extended the knife to me.

“That won’t work.” I sigh, approaching the vase.

‘Time to test a Campione’s healing’ I think to myself before taking a fortifying breath and biting my tongue with all of my strength.

Blood comes gushing out of the wound and I quickly stand over the vase to let it fall inside it.

By the time it’s full I pull back and start pushing my power into my tongue and almost instantly the bleeding stops.

Looking around the shop I can see both Xeno and Ollivander looking shocked, while Luna is by my side with a worried look on her face.

“Sowy about that.” It’s hard to make the words come out, the bleeding might have stopped but my tongue is still swollen.

It also hurts like a btich.

I look at Ollivander while he starts cleaning the area around the vase before waving his wand over it making the porcelain flow over the opening to seal it.

“So?” I ask, already feeling the swelling diminishing.

“Now we wait for the wood to absorb the blood, it shouldn’t take long.” He replied while carefully taking the vase to the back. “I’ll owl when it’s ready! Have a good day!” He finished from the back.

“Well!” I turned at Xeno’s exclamation. “That was productive! How about some ice cream? Luna? Alex?”

Luna and I turned to each other and nodded, ice cream would indeed be welcomed right now.

___

Over the following days, Luna took it upon herself to teach me the three subjects she knew that didn’t require a wand.

Herbology was already something she and Xeno regularly practiced by tending their garden every morning. After a few days of learning, I began to appreciate the zen-like feeling of the task.

Astronomy was pretty cool, if mostly boring. Spending hours late at night trying to catch a glimpse of a planet got old pretty fast. Of course, actually managing to see said planet washed it all away. Drinking hot chocolate with Luna on top of The Rook at night also helped, and Luna and Xeno’s faces when I told them about the moon landing and the ISS is a memory I’ll never forget.

But the one subject that I put most of my focus into was potions. As the most ‘magical’ of the subjects, it couldn’t be helped, and considering its interactions with both herbology and astronomy, it made me focus all the harder on all of them.

After I learned what I could from the books, we started brewing. Or, well, I started brewing while Luna played ‘Professor Snape’ so I’d get the ‘full experience’.

I’m pretty sure over half of the potions I botched were because I was laughing too hard to be able to focus, and the fact that Luna went in so deep she didn’t break character once was unbearably cute.

It was while Luna and I were updating our interaction chart in the kitchen that Ollivander’s letter arrived. Even after seeing them in action a few times I still couldn’t wrap my head around using owls as carrier pigeons, so I let her handle it while I read the letter.

It wasn’t much, it just said to come in the next morning, which was nice as Luna had to do her school shopping soon thanks to the World Cup happening next week.

“Well, I guess tomorrow is shopping day.” I said, passing her the letter.

“And you’ll have your wand when we go to the World Cup!”  She exclaimed while beaming at me.

“Eh, I don’t know how much I’ll be able to use it by then.” I replied, trying not to her and my hopes up.

“Don’t be like that Alex, everything will be fine! What’s the worst that could happen?” She said while giggling.

“Yeah, you’re right.” I said, relaxing at her words. “What’s the worse that could happen?”