Quoting Novelidea:" Yes! I always try to remember to look to see if something is finished up, or updated at least recently. I got burned bad and a really great fic."
I'll share a bit from my fic I started. It's Hermione's memoirs and this is her buying her wand.
I just wish I could finish this damn story. I've been working on it since 2009. I'm quite proud of what I do have, I just wish it was more than what I have.
I walked into a dusty and dimly lit room. It was very small and the floorboards creaked with every step. I cautiously looked around for the owner and saw row upon row of long, narrow boxes stacked in high piles. They varied in color and most had a thick coating of dust on them. Since I was in a wand shop and wands were long and narrow sticks, I assumed that's what these boxes contained.
An opened box caught my eye and I made my way to it as quietly as possible. I didn't dare touch it because something told me it was very wrong to do so. It's quite an intimate thing, one's wand. It would be like me going through someone else's knicker drawer in their dresser. All witches and wizards feel very protective towards their wands and rightly so since it becomes a very large part of one's body.
The wand was a dark mahogany color with an intricate pattern of etched diamonds. When I read 'wand' on my list, I had seen imagined something akin to the wand a magician uses. This was nothing like that. It was exquisite beauty. A masterpiece of art. Whoever made these wands worked on them with a respect for the art, I could tell.
"Good afternoon Miss Granger," came an ethereal voice behind me.
I jumped, startled, and turned to see who belonged to the voice to find no one there. I gave a small sigh and turned back to the counter to see an old man with slightly glowing eyes. His eyes pierced me and I suddenly felt very vulnerable.
"You want to know how I know you Miss Granger? I have seen you before. No, not in this world. I have seen you in a world far different than the one we live in now. You have a very difficult path ahead of you but you are most needed in the years to come if we are to escape the darkening shadows on the horizon. You will be the light in his dark life--", here he paused. He closed his eyes momentarily and shook his head. "It's better not to speak of these things right now."
I can't say I understood a word of what was said. The eerie, creepy feeling crawled over me and reminded me of the time I had tried to play with a ouji board. Needing something to do to distract him from staring at me, I rubbed a hand over my face.
"You are here buying your first wand, aren't you? I have sold many wands over the years. Some did good and some did evil. I can see both sides. Now, let's see..."
He rummaged through a few boxes before pulling out a long violet box and tapping it with his finger. He removed the top and held out the box to me and I picked up the wand. I felt nothing and looked at him.
"Give it a wave," he said.
I must admit, I felt very silly waving a wand around. I felt even sillier when said wand blew a puff of green smoke into the air. The man cringed but said nothing as he took the wand from my hand. He went back and rummaged through different pile and pulled out a green box and tapped it. He took the top off of it and paused momentarily and smiled...a knowing smile. My stomach did a flip because, truth be told, I had no idea if that was a good smile or a run for the hills smile. Again, he held the box out to me and I picked it up. The response I got this time was very different.
It started in my fingers and tingled as it traveled through my body. As crazy as it sounds, I felt my blood singing to the object I held in my right hand. No wand waving was needed. I knew instinctively that this was my wand. I abhorred putting it back in its box but did so. The ache I was tremendous and I relished the thought of being able to pull it back out and feel that warmth again.
"Quite interesting. Ten and three-quarter inches. Vine. Dragon heartstring core. This wand will serve you well Miss Granger. A word of caution however. When light mixes with dark, a new wand you should seek for this one will no longer work for one living in the shades of grey."
Odd words to hear for an eleven year old but I brushed it off. The man seemed about as nutty as squirrel droppings and I felt sure that he was just blathering nonsense at me.
But...but I couldn't help but feel, even then, that I should take heed to his words. I had no understanding of the magical world at that moment and felt a 'what if?' moment. What if he wasn't nutty but just...indescribable. I felt and still do feel that divination is a woolly subject based upon a few lucky coincidences. Something was telling me that these man's words may or may not be right.
I paid for my wand and left it for the bright sunny cheerfulness of Diagon Alley. A wave of relief washed over me and I looked at the next item on my list: a cauldron and potion making supplies.
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