Dylan didn't have much money.
But it was his parents' life savings,
after all. Two thousand Galleons was more than enough.
However, Dylan didn't plan to exchange it all.
He needed to keep a small amount of money.
In addition, he spent five hundred pounds to exchange for one hundred Galleons, which he carried on his person.
This earned the goblins' glares.
As expected, these young wizards from Muggle families were each one poorer than the other!
"Let's go, let's buy tickets."
Professor McGonagall led Dylan to buy the tickets to Hogwarts.
At the same time, she reminded him, "At King's Cross Station, you need to look for the third pillar between platforms nine and ten."
"Don't be afraid then. Just run through the pillar and you'll reach platform nine and three-quarters,"
Dylan nodded.
Then, under Professor McGonagall's guidance, he went to the wand shop.
Dylan looked up.
He spotted the sign hanging in front of the shop: "Established in 382 BC?"
He scanned the seemingly small and cramped space.
Dylan clucked his tongue. "Has this place remained unrenovated for centuries?"
"Don't worry, a wizard's house is supported by magic,"
Professor McGonagall smiled at Dylan. "The Ollivander family's craftsmanship extends beyond wandmaking. This house won't collapse."
Professor McGonagall pushed open the door.
Dylan followed him inside.
Upon entering, he saw an elderly man with his butt sticking out, sorting through a pile of wands.
He heard the doorbell ring.
Ollivander stood up and turned to see Professor McGonagall.
"Nine and a half inches, fir wood, dragon heart tendon... Oh, Professor McGonagall, I'm so glad you've brought another young wizard to look after my business."
Professor McGonagall took Dylan's hand and pulled him toward her.
"Then please choose a wand that suits him,"
Professor McGonagall said, lowering her head. "I just need to buy some magic materials. You can wait for me outside after you've chosen your wand."
"Okay, Professor," Dylan nodded.
The doorbell rang.
Professor McGonagall left the wand shop.
Ollivander saw a brand new wizard standing before him, a smile on his face. "Child, are you ready to become a real wizard? I wonder which is your dominant hand..."
"I look forward to it." Dylan raised his arm. "I'm right-handed."
"Oh! Okay, just a moment." Ollivander walked over to Dylan and measured him with a ruler.
Finally, he picked out a wand from a pile of wand boxes.
"Try this one."
Dylan took the wand and waved his arm around instinctively.
The next moment, muscle memory made him almost throw an Avatar at Ollivander.
"Oh my god!"
Dylan was startled, quickly suppressing the curse in his mind and gently shaking his arms.
"Crashing!"
A gust of wind suddenly erupted, and then the shelf of wand boxes that Ollivander had just arranged was thrown into chaos.
A pile of wands and clatters fell down.
But Ollivander seemed to be used to it. He gently waved his wand.
"Restored!"
The wand box was bound by magic and then floated back to its original position in the air.
"It seems that this one doesn't suit you."
Ollivander frowned and turned to search the shelf. "What do you think of this one?"
Dylan took it.
"Swish!"
A burst of magical flame erupted.
"It seems the magic within you is quite violent."
Ollivander retracted his wand and then tried seven or eight more on Dylan.
Almost every one of them caused considerable trouble.
Dylan felt a little uneasy.
Could it be that he had already mastered the Unforgivable Curses at full level before even mastering them?
Were those wands resisting him because of this?
"Don't worry, child. I have many wands here. There's bound to be one that suits you." Ollivander
, noticing Dylan's dismay, offered soothing words.
However, he missed the point.
Dylan could only force a smile and let out a dry laugh. "That's really troublesome, sir."
"It's my duty to serve my guests, and you're not the pickiest customer I've ever met," Ollivander chuckled.
He began searching for a new wand,
from the first floor to the highest.
"This one doesn't work. This one doesn't quite suit you... How about this one?"
Ollivander plucked a wand from the wall.
Dylan took it and waved it gently.
"BOOM!" A
surge of magical power erupted.
A shockwave hurtled towards Ollivander.
Dylan was startled.
However, Ollivander deftly neutralized the shockwave with his wand.
While Dylan breathed a sigh of relief, a puzzlement welled up in his mind.
"How could a young wizard, who hadn't even learned spells systematically, unleash a power comparable to offensive magic just by choosing a wand?"
Dylan took another wand from Ollivander
and waved it again.
This time, a violent explosion occurred.
Ollivander quickly employed emergency measures to quell the blast.
At this moment, Dylan couldn't help but sense the magical power pulsing within him.
"It seems like there was a momentary, chaotic shift?"
This shift caused the flames, the shockwave, and even the explosion.
Why did each wave of his wand, without casting any spells, produce such strong and varying effects?
Dylan tried each wand one by one
until Ollivander noticed something amiss.
"Wait! What are you doing?"
"Huh? I'm trying to feel the moment I grasp the wand, the magic power unleashed. Is there some way to control the effect?"
"What are you talking about? Oh my god! You little wizard are a lunatic!"
Ollivander's eyes widened, his expression growing serious.
He even dropped his wand box, strode over to Dylan, and grasped the young wizard's wand-holding hand.
"Don't do that again! You're researching spell invention, but that's extremely dangerous! And it's not something you should be thinking about right now!"
"Spell... invention?" Dylan raised an eyebrow.
He let Ollivander take the wand from his hand.
"Yes, the earliest wizards who studied spells had to go through this. Back then, my ancestors hadn't even started making wands." He
seemed frightened, as if he was worried that Dylan might secretly continue his research on spell invention.
Ollivander warned, "Wizards in ancient times believed that magic had its own spirituality, so they would let it flow freely and explore some visible patterns in it, which eventually extended to form spells."
"But letting magic flow freely can be fatal!"
(End of this chapter)