Core Four Fun | Location : Earth | TMC |

[18] ollivander's super cool wands

"Yeah this is not a good idea." Declan announced loudly, spinning around to face them all with a smile besides his blunt wording. At everyone's laughs, he said, "What? Oh come on, they're never gonna pick us over a bunch of teeny weeny doe-eyed looking kids."

"The harsh reality," Jordan sighed.

"Kaiden, I don't suppose you have any uh, age shifting powers in your arsenal?" Bear whispered with a cheeky glint in his eye.

"Even if I did," Kaiden chuckled, "I'd be concerned as to why someone was gifted with age changing."

"But you could get kids meals for life," Alex offered. Everyone twisted around to look at her strangely. "You get them here, like, in McDonalds and stuff. Have I not taken you to a McDonalds yet?"

"No, I think we got nuggets from there once. Just not kids meals — can we get back to the fact that age changing is a potential gift?"

"Or we could go in and get our wands?" Dix arched a red, judgemental brow. "I've been waiting for this day since I read the books in the Palace Library, okay?"

"What a nerd," Jordan announced teasingly. He wrapped a hand around Dix nevertheless and kissed her softly. "My nerd, though."

Alex and Bear reenacted their usual throwing-up act.

"I'm not your nerd. I'm my own nerd."

"Wands!" Declan reminded them loudly. Alex shook her head with a chuckle and turned towards Ollivanders.

The wand shop was painted a dark forest green, the two curved windows out front showcasing several different wands. Upon stepping inside, the six of them were immediately surrounded by boxes and boxes of wands stacked absolutely everywhere. Along the walls in hundreds of different colours, the long boxes stacked carefully on spare tables or shown off in glass cabinets, it was clear that Ollivanders was the wand shop around these parts. Alex spent a few minutes browsing amongst the wands available - the ones of the characters in spotlight, then a few others with no owners and only make. Acacia wood and unicorn hair, Blackthorn and dragon heartstring, Fir and Veela hair were amongst the random wands available.

A wooden staircase wound up one side of the shop, leading up to a balcony overlooking the ground floor; Bear and Dix had gone up the staircase to visit the upper floor of more wands, surprise surprise. Deeper into the shop were several backrooms to make space for people and wands - Kaiden, Declan and Jordan had gone off into one of the back rooms where a staff member was demonstrating the interactive wand part.

A kid was gawking at a white aspen wood wand (maybe he was drooling), tugging at his mother's arm impatiently. Alex noticed a corridor that split off the front room, where a few people were following another staff member in a cloth wizard's hat and vest. Deciding that everyone would be able to handle themselves for two minutes without their Freyan guide, she tagged onto the back of the group.

Mostly made of little kids and their parents, Alex stuck to the back as the employee revealed a hidden door in a dead-end corridor. The smaller ones were immediately enchanted, eyes wide as they rushed into the secret room with anxious parents trailing behind. The door swung shut behind her, the last person in the room.

The room, not surprisingly, was chock full of wands as well, with a small curving staircase that cast shadows over the lady standing behind the wooden desk below it. Alex peered through the lighting in the room - darker than the fancy lights out front and settled herself comfortably in the back. Maybe it was another one of those interactive experiences.

At the children's inquisitive curiosity, the lady behind the desk in purple robes cleared her throat.

"Just a wee reminder folks, we browse with our eyes and not our hands." That arose a round of light chuckles from the crowd. Once the chatter had died on, the woman clasped her hands together and gave them all a warm smile.