"Two of you in total—let's see what kind of wands suit you."
Ollivander examined the two boys. "Which of you would like to go first?"
"Let Harry go first," Louis offered voluntarily.
"Ah, a courteous child. Very good. Then Mr. Potter shall go first." Ollivander glanced at Harry's measurements, turned, and picked a wand from nearby.
"Here, give it a wave."
Harry took the wand and gave it a flick as instructed. A sudden gust of wind erupted—almost like the wand was throwing a tantrum—and it blew over an entire stack of wand boxes.
"Clearly not the right match," Ollivander said calmly, unfazed by the chaos of scattered wands. He turned around and handed Harry another one. "Try this."
Harry looked nervously at the boxes all over the floor and gave the wand a cautious wave.
BOOM!
A compressed air blast shot from the wand's tip, exploding against the wall and blowing a hole right through it.
"A picky customer indeed," Ollivander muttered, showing no concern. He retrieved a third wand. "Keep going."
Mr. Wilson winced and patted Louis on the shoulder. "Looks like magic can be pretty dangerous."
"Sure is," Louis nodded.
The third wand finally caused no incident. As soon as Harry held it, a soft golden glow lit the room.
That was the moment Ollivander's expression turned serious. He took the wand from Harry's hand and began explaining its connection to Voldemort.
Mr. Wilson and Harry listened attentively, but Louis had heard this tired tale before and wasn't interested. His attention was on the pile of wand boxes Harry had knocked over.
After all, he was a Muggle—his effects would all come from illusion magic anyway. Might as well pick one that looked cool.
With that in mind, Louis's gaze landed on a wand that stood out from the rest.
Unlike the other smooth and uniform wands, this one had distinct rounded nodules along its shaft. It looked strange… and oddly familiar.
Louis just couldn't quite remember where he'd seen it before.
"Whatever, you'll do," he muttered. The more he looked at it, the more intrigued he became. He grabbed the wand—and as he did, a ripple spread from his left eye. An illusion enchantment instantly activated.
A faint golden glow shimmered around him, catching Ollivander's eye just as he was explaining Voldemort's wand core connection to Harry. He glanced at Louis, didn't think much of it at first, and assumed the boy had simply gotten lucky and picked a good match. But then he paused.
A second look at the wand in Louis's hand made his eyes go wide.
"Wait a moment!" Ollivander stared at Louis, stunned. "You… how could you possibly resonate with that wand?"
Louis's heart skipped a beat. Wait, what? Did I just step on a landmine? Don't tell me I picked up something I shouldn't have!
"Is something wrong with the wand?" Mr. Wilson quickly stepped in, blocking Ollivander who looked like he was about to rush forward. "Mr. Ollivander, what's going on?"
Hagrid and Harry were both looking at Ollivander in confusion. Even when Harry had picked a wand with the same core as Voldemort's, Ollivander hadn't reacted this strongly.
"Do you know what wand that is?" Ollivander asked Louis sternly.
"Uh… no, not really," Louis said, forcing a calm expression. "I just thought it looked nice, so I picked it up."
Ollivander nodded slowly. "Right, you're from a Muggle family—it makes sense that you wouldn't know. Let me tell you: that wand is none other than the legendary Elder Wand!"
"That's ridiculous!" Hagrid burst out. "That's just a fairy tale!"
Elder Wand?
As soon as Louis heard the name, he looked at Ollivander like the man was joking.
Of course he'd heard of the Elder Wand—it was one of the fabled Deathly Hallows, the most powerful wand in the entire Harry Potter universe!
But wasn't that supposed to be in Dumbledore's possession? What do you mean you've got an Elder Wand just sitting around in your shop—for sale?
Even Voldemort's coffin lid can't hold him down at this point.
"Tch, no fun," Ollivander sighed and shook his head. "If a pure-blood wizard had stumbled across this wand, it would've been far more entertaining. Imagine—some fool thinking he'd struck gold. Now that would've been amusing."
Louis twitched.
For a split second, he felt like he was staring at a reflection of himself.
Loves drama. Lives for chaos.
"Mr. Ollivander, what do you mean by that?" Hagrid asked, confused. "What's a pure-blood got to do with this wand from a fairy tale?"
Harry looked equally lost, and so did Mr. Wilson. Neither had any knowledge of wizard lore, so the name "Elder Wand" meant nothing to them.
"It's not just a fairy tale, Hagrid," Ollivander said nonchalantly. "I thought you'd know better. The Elder Wand—also called the Deathstick—is the most powerful wand ever made. Every wandmaker has dreamed of crafting something like it."
"So you made a knockoff to mess with people? And even came prepared with a matching performance?" Louis asked flatly. "Isn't that fraud?"
---