The cream-colored parchment of his Hogwarts supply list felt slick against Rion’s palm, the ink slightly blurred where his thumb had pressed with a white-knuckled grip. Around him, Diagon Alley’s magical thoroughfare was a frantic and dizzying gale. The pinstripe suits and velvet cloche hats of the urban world was a sharp contrast to the faded wool and salt-crust of Minster. To Rion, the crowd felt like a rising tide, one he wasn't yet sure he could swim against. His heart hammered against his ribs oscillating between the cold dread of the unknown and the excitement for what lies next.
He navigated the throng with a clumsy earnestness, nearly tripping over a stack of self-shuffling cauldrons before his eyes snagged on the sign he needed: ‘Elder & Ash’. He ducked inside, the heavy door cutting off the street’s roar with a satisfying thud.
The silence of the shop was a sudden, cool relief, like stepping into a sea cave away from the mid-day sun. He let out a long, shaky breath, feeling his shoulders finally drop from their defensive hunch. The shop was narrow and cavernous, its walls disappearing behind thousands of slender boxes that climbed toward a ceiling lost in velvet shadows. It smelled of dust and wood polish. Rion found himself in a peaceful state.
Rion stepped further in, his salt-worn boots clicking with clarity on the polished floorboards. He felt like a trespasser in a cathedral. He knew that for his mother, this place would represent a "bitter necessity", another withdrawal from the small pile of coins she had guarded so fiercely. But as he looked at the stacks, he could only feel the key to a new life.
Somewhere in the grain of a wand was the power to find the father she refused to name and the strength to build a life that wasn't echoed by the "wallowing" footsteps of her reclusive grief. He walked further into the store hoping to find an attendant.
He navigated the throng with a clumsy earnestness, nearly tripping over a stack of self-shuffling cauldrons before his eyes snagged on the sign he needed: ‘Elder & Ash’. He ducked inside, the heavy door cutting off the street’s roar with a satisfying thud.
The silence of the shop was a sudden, cool relief, like stepping into a sea cave away from the mid-day sun. He let out a long, shaky breath, feeling his shoulders finally drop from their defensive hunch. The shop was narrow and cavernous, its walls disappearing behind thousands of slender boxes that climbed toward a ceiling lost in velvet shadows. It smelled of dust and wood polish. Rion found himself in a peaceful state.
Rion stepped further in, his salt-worn boots clicking with clarity on the polished floorboards. He felt like a trespasser in a cathedral. He knew that for his mother, this place would represent a "bitter necessity", another withdrawal from the small pile of coins she had guarded so fiercely. But as he looked at the stacks, he could only feel the key to a new life.
Somewhere in the grain of a wand was the power to find the father she refused to name and the strength to build a life that wasn't echoed by the "wallowing" footsteps of her reclusive grief. He walked further into the store hoping to find an attendant.
Wand Quiz Answers
