Afterlife? ITZY's Journey after Hogwarts

Chapter 4

'Ah, Hwang Hyunjin. So long since I've seen you.'

Hyunjin laughed faintly side by side with Ollivander. 'I was wondering if you could help my sister over here to get her first wand.'

'Hogwarts eh?' Yeji's younger self nodded and gave a polite smile. 'I hope you'll become as successful as you're brother. Well, of course not the same.'

Hyunjin laughed while Yeji seemed a bit confused. 'Alright, let's see about this wand.' Ollivander scooted to the alley of shelves beside the counter. Both the Hwang siblings could hear the fiddling and bashing of the wand boxes.

'Not long after this, you'll get your wand,' Hyunjin announced in a mockingly royal tone; kneeling down to get to Yeji's height. Yeji laughed and Hyunjin rubbed his hand on his younger sister's head.

'Here it is.' Ollivander brushed the dust off the wand box with his own soft breathe. It was the time Yeji was most excited for. 'Try it,' he said while revealing the wand out of the box.

Yeji's eyes widened. She saw the soft brown wood that made the thin, extraordinary wand, soon to be Yeji's. She laid her hands on the surface of it and finally raised it in her right hand. 'Aspen, 13 inches, phoenix feather. Very rare..'

Yeji knew she felt some sort of connection with it. It was all she could think of at that moment, not knowing that golden rays of light laid on her body and the wand. Yeji could have sworn she saw glitters that circled the wand itself and her hand.

'Ah.. Perfect. Take care of it will you? A wand is a wizard's ally and companion. Never underestimate it.'

Ring!

The door bell rang as I step foot into the shop with a few other aurors. It was all empty, same old dusty as I first came here. 'Ollivander?' Jeongyeon, my auror partner for the day, called out. Footsteps, sounding like knocks on a door, came towards us from the messy alley of wand boxes. Then appeared an elderly, white haired man. As if he hasn't combed himself for a while. A long blue vest all covered in thin dust, probably from the wands.

'Yoo Jeongyeon.. Hwang Yeji.. Last time I met the two of you, you were jumping and smiling, overjoyed to get your wands.'

Jeongyeon laughed. 'Sorry if we are bothering your busy moment but we need help. Do you happen to know who owned this wand?' I dug out the broken wand pieces then unwrapped it from the lavender coloured cloth; holding it out so Ollivander could take a close look at it.

'Hmm.. Cypress wood.. Cypress..' He kept repeating those words until he gave back the wand pieces to my hands. 'I know every single one of my customers and their wands. It's part of my job, but this one..,' he inspected it much closer, 'I can only identify it's wood material. No core, also.. No owner. It has been left.'

'So you're saying it was.. Replaced?' I asked.

'Maybe.. Maybe not. I'm sorry, but I'm not able to recognize this wand,' he apologized hoarsely.

Jeongyeon and I switched looks, then broke the eye contact. 'T-thank you for your time,' Jeongyeon softly breathed out and thanked Ollivander.

'My pleasure.'

I wrapped the wand pieces into a piece of cloth and packed it back into my pouch. We left the shop and apparated back to the ministry.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

'No luck?'

I shook my head. 'He could only identify the wood.'

Lia sighed. As part of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, she was also concerned. She walked up to my desk, escaping the form that leaned on my office door. 'Then? What are we going to do about it?'

I started to try to figure things out. 'There's not much to do.' I fiddled with the wand pieces.

We both lowered our heads and kept silent.

Crack!

My door sounded as it opened all the way through—making Lia turn her head. Then someone came out of the door, holding a file in his hands.

'Yeji, there's a case.'

'Now?' I replied to Jaebum's statement.

'Tonight.'