Magic and Mystery

Chapter 3: Wands

Dazai squinted down at his supplies list before folding it back up and sticking it in his coat. He smiled emptily at the building Snape had stopped in front of.

"Ollivander's?" he hummed, "That's wands?"

Snape shot him a scathing look, but that sort of anger wasn't as impressive compared to the mafia members Dazai was familiar with. For now, however, he didn't mind going along with the professor's whims. Until he had some more concrete research on magic, following orders was a safer play.

He would make even better decisions if Mori would just tell him what in the hell the plan was. Bastard.

"Right," Dazai hummed, "I'll just go in then."

He almost expected Snape to scamper off, but the man followed only a half-step behind. Dazai must have made a curious expression at that, because Snape sighed.

"It seems I can't trust you to shop on your own." He hissed, "Besides, the idea that any wand would willingly put up with you boggles the mind."

"It's not my fault the goblins don't like me!" Probably. " Wait—does that mean the wands are sentient?"

Snape shot him another look just as the opened the door and entered the shop.

Immediately, Dazai was greeted by towering shelves, filled from end-to-end with small boxes. He blinked up at what he presumed to contain wands with a look of awe usually reserved for things of particular interest. So these were the items that allowed people to manipulate magic! He'd love to crack one open and see what made it work—if only just to have something to do in this tedious world. Dazai reached out to take one off the shelf.

"Excuse me."

An older-looking man suddenly appeared directly to Dazai's left. Not having heard him approach, Dazai startled and pulled his hand back with a hiss.

"Ollivander." Snape greeted with a passive grunt over his shoulder.

"Severus." The wandmaker smiled, "It's not often you come to my shop. I trust your wand is still in working-order?"

"Indeed." He stuck his chin out, "Unfortunately, a foreign muggle-born requires more delicacy than our groundskeeper can manage, so I have the task of delivering him around Diagon Alley."

"I suppose Hagrid does tend to make a scene... A wand for the boy, then?"

Snape made a noise from his throat.

With a nod, Ollivander spun on Dazai. His eyes were narrow and assessing in a way that made Dazai's spine snap a bit straighter. Still, he was familiar with heavy attention like this enough to school his expression.

Dazai blinked sluggishly at the older man, offering an expression perfectly dull. For his part, Ollivander only continued to study him, a look like optimistic interest in his eyes. After a moment of silent staring, Severus cleared his throat loudly.

Ollivander nodded abruptly. "Your wand hand?"

A bit off guard at the non-sequitur, Dazai held out his right hand. The old wandmaker probably meant dominant hand, and while that technically meant he could use either hand, Dazai was eager to get a move on. Ollivander's eyes held nearly the same level of cryptic calculation of Mori's, and that meant all his secrets were easily fair game.

Without warning, a long stick was being shoved into Dazai's hand. He stared at it for a moment before looking back to Ollivander. "Walnut and dragon hearstring. 8 ½ inches."

"Well, give it a wave, boy!"

He did. Despite how little he appreciated the lack of information, he had to admit he was curious. Giving the wand a swish and a flick—