Wish Upon A Star

Ollivanders

Ollivander pulled out boxes and boxes but none chose her and Ashlyn could feel the disappointment setting in. Maybe she wasn't a witch...But then her name wouldn't come in the Hogwarts register. Plus, there were hundreds of wands there, obviously, it would take some time...

"13 inches," Ollivander said pulling out another wand. "Yew wood, Dragon heartstring core, Unbending and flexible,"

Ashlyn took it and pointed it at the spindly chair. She shook around.

"No, not this one," Ollivander said and snatched the wand away from her and brought another.

"10 inches, sycamore wood and unicorn hair," he said. "Excellent for charms, rather bendy,"

Ashlyn took it and gave a small flick. The chair burst into flames.

"No, no," Ollivander muttered and put that wand away too, and brought yet another wand for her to try.

Numerous boxes piled up, each one just as disappointing as the previous one. Ashlyn felt her heart dropping as the boxes kept piling up. Boxes and boxes and boxes, but not one fit for her. . .

That reminded her of a vine, and she had to struggle to keep herself from laughing.

'All these ghosts. All these ghosts and I still can't find a boo.'

Ashlyn closed her eyes and bit her lip, her shoulders shaking slightly as she tried not to burst out giggling.

"Not to worry, not to worry," Ollivander said, apparently under the impression that she was crying out of disappointment. "We shall find the right wand for you,"

Finally, after quite a lot of time, Ollivander brought an old, dusty case. Most of the boxes were dusty, but this one was much, much dustier than the others. 

He blew on the cover, and a thick swirl of dust blew away.

Ashlyn stepped back, her face scrunched up, waving away the dust which had flown at her. 

"11 3/4 inches, alder wood, phoenix feather core. Slightly springy, flexible. Here you go." He said opening the box and picking up the wand tenderly.

The wand 

Ashlyn felt a spark travel from her fingers and ran up her spine the moment she held the wand. It was a weird feeling that spread through her bones. This was the one.

 Ollivander smiled, "A unique wand indeed. I made this one decades ago. Never has it chosen a wizard or witch before, although it had been tried numerous times. Unyielding yet loyal.  I remember, the Phoenix was a wild one, quite unwilling to give his feather. Do good things with it,"

Ashlyn put the wand in her pocket as she walked out of the shop after paying, the tingling still remaining in her fingers. She was a witch. She had a wand. Well, it should not be surprising seeing that she got her letter already. But it did put a cherry on top of her happiness.

She decided to visit Flourish and Blotts again, but her tummy let out the mating call of a whale. Strangers on the street gave her looks. She flushed slightly as she jogged to Florian and Fortescue's Ice creams. After buying a huge chocolate ice cream, she made her way to the book shop.

"Oh, sorry," she said as she bumped into someone and almost dropped her ice cream.

"Watch it," a voice grumbled. It was familiar...Ah, she should have known.

Draco Malfoy was glaring back at her with disgust as he dusted his robes off. Ashlyn stared at him for a bit, then sighed sadly. Right, she had forgotten. She was a muggleborn, and the dum-dum in front of her didn't really like her all too much.

"Sorry," she said and left. She'd pick Flourish and Blotts over Draco Malfoy any day.

The sun was setting, shining its last rays of the day onto the streets. Ashlyn sat in a corner of the shop, near a window surrounded by books. Books on potions, hexes, magical history, few storybooks. She yawned as she finished reading the Tales of Beedle the Bard. It was an old second hand, revised version of the story. She liked the original one of course, but that copy was with Dumbledore and he would give to Hermione in a few years, with the clue to the Deathly Hallows.

She took the book to the counter and bought it.

As she stepped out of the shop with all her purchases, the orange light hit her face. She squinted, trying to adjust her eyes as she walked away from Diagon Alley to the muggle world where her parents would be waiting.

The first thing she did after reaching home was, pack her trunk. After avoiding most of the questions thrown at her by her parents, that is.

 Once all her books had been arranged with her clothes neatly into the trunk only then did she realize that she would need the books that night. So then she took it all out and decided to arrange her clothes under her books. 

She didn't sleep that night. She kept practising spells she had to learn for her first year, some advanced spells she remembered from the Harry Potter books, and the books she had read at the bookstore.