Chapter Eleven
Trunks, Teas and Cherry Trees
Tucked into a corner of the alley, Truckle's Trunks was much larger than its facade would indicate. Interestingly enough, this was not a result of expansion charms, but a simple quirk of the architecture. The proprietor hurried over once they entered.
"Welcome. Welcome. Hogwarts, eh?" Without even waiting for an answer, he continued. "Got em all here. Three? No problem. The base model? Or do you want something more advanced?" Harry and the Grangers seemed completely stunned by his energetic approach to salesmanship and McGonagall and Hagrid seemed too busy stifling their laughter to do anything productive.
As such, it fell to Sunset to answer. "Define 'advanced'?"
"Well, I can put a whole host of rune charms on them, but I can add the four basic ones for a galleon per trunk."
"And those are?"
"Undetectable expansion, featherweight, self-shrinking and muggle notice-me-not. Wouldn't want a random muggle coming by and seeing you shrink your trunk, would we?"
"Fair enough." Sunset giggled. At seeing the expressions of those around her she explained. "Sorry, I just can't get over the fact that you call perception filters notice-me-nots."
Mr. Truckle still looked confused, but continued on regardless. "I see. Now I can show you the trunks, if you want." He continued to do just that, demonstrating how to use the trunks, trigger the auto shrinking and showing the effects of the featherweight charm, much to Sunset's interest. She noted that last one as something to look up later.
Not long after, they had three new trunks and one more matter to attend to in the shop. "Mister Truckle," Harry spoke up. "I also need a bag to carry my books. I don't have one right now."
"Oh, of course, I carry bags as well. A bit above standard fare if I do say so myself. Come with featherweight and undetectable expansion charms and an illusion charm that lets you alter the colour to your needs. I have a few models to chose from. Come along."
The others watched with slight amusement as the two walked off deeper into the shop, the proprietor keeping up a running commentary all the way.
Emma turned to McGonagall, amusement clear in her face. "Talkative one, isn't he?"
"Less now than during his school days, but still quite a bit yes."
"Oh my."
Sunset meanwhile contemplated what she had seen of Harry. The boy was supposedly eleven, just as they were, yet both of them were taller than he was. Not to mention he also seemed to be a bit underweight for his height as well. She was starting to get a terrible suspicion.
Once Harry and the proprietor returned, now with an additional book bag, Harry insisted on taking his robes and carrying them himself. He was polite if nothing else.
Once they left the store, McGonagall suggested that they eat a small lunch at the Leaky Cauldron before continuing their shopping. It didn't take long before everyone agreed.
Back at the Leaky Cauldron, everyone ordered lunch. Somehow they all ended up ordering a cup of tea as well. Hagrid's cup was noticeably larger. Taking a sip from her cup as they waited for the food, McGonagall, started up the conversation.
"Normally I'd save getting wands for last, but a wand matching always takes a while and with three of them, I'd like to get that out of the way first." She turned to Emma and Dan. "One of you can accompany the children and I to Ollivander's and the other can go with Hagrid to Flourish and Blot’s and take care of getting the books."
"Normally I'd agree," Emma laughed, "but Hermione would go berserk if we didn't take her along to the book store."
Sunset simply giggled and placed an arm on Hermione's shoulder. 《It's fine, sis. We can come back whenever we want, remember?》
《Right, phoenix. I forgot.》She turned to Emma. "That's alright, mom."
Dan just sighed. "I really wish you'd teach us Equestrian. I hate it when you do that."
Sunset grinned. "Now might not be the best time for that. Or do you want to be shopping with a headache?"
Hermione, nodded. "She has a point. That wasn't exactly pleasant. It's more annoying than painful, but I wouldn't want to have to deal with it on a shopping trip."
"Not to mention," Sunset added, " I could always teach her ancient Thessian and talk with her that way."
"Gettin' the feelin' there's some stuff I don't know about." Hagrid pointed out.
Harry and McGonagall looked on in curiosity, but didn't say anything.
"So." Emma turned to her husband. "You get the books with Mister Hagrid-"
"Jus' Hagrid is fine."
"Very well. You get the books with Hagrid and I go with the kids to get wands for them?"
"Sure. That works."
Once they had all finished their food and tea – Sunset might not have been British, but she was a student of Princess Celestia, a position none could hold for long before developing a love for the beverage – the groups returned to the alley and split up.
As they headed for the wand store, Sunset's thoughts wandered to Harry again. When the food had come he had seemed eager, but also nervous, as though afraid that someone would steal it from him. None of that really helped alleviate Sunset's suspicions, it only made her more suspicious that in Harry's home something was not at all going as it should. Seeing that all his clothes, without exception, were several sizes too large for him and in appalling condition, didn't help either.
She might have to investigate later, but for now it was wand time. She had been looking forward to this all day.
The store wasn't pretty, but it looked like it had always been there. 'Well worn' might have been a good way to describe it. There was no sign. Instead, peeling gold letters on the door itself proclaimed 'Ollivander's: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC.'. A single wand lay on a purple cushion, in the window. After a quick charm, Sunset recognized it as the anchor for the powerful wards that surrounded the shop.
As they stepped in, a bell tinkled somewhere in the depths of the shop. The shop was small and empty save for a small, spindly chair that didn't look entirely stable and rows upon rows of shelves. The entirety of the walls, save for two more doors was covered in shelves as well, stacked to the ceiling with long, narrow boxes. No one needed to guess what they contained.
"Good afternoon." The soft voice startled Emma, Harry and Hermione. McGonagall had apparently expected it and Sunset had sensed the man approaching through his connection with the wards. He was old and his wide, pale eyes seemed to glow in the dim of the shop.
"Good afternoon Mister Ollivander. I've brought another group."
"That I see, Minerva. And what a group it is. Three of them need a wand. The fourth isn't quite there yet. Though that may change." As Minerva looked to Emma in puzzlement who herself only returned a mischievous smile, Ollivander turned to the three children. "Garrick Ollivander, at your service. I see you brought your phoenix along. Is she here to make a donation?"
Philomena trilled slightly as he dismissed the illusion with a wave of his hand. "Gorgeous. Truly gorgeous." Philomena trilled again, lifting of off Sunset's shoulder, before vanishing in a flash of flame above Ollivander's head, leaving behind a single golden feather floating down to be caught by the wand maker. "Am I to presume you want this as your wand core, Miss Shimmer?"
Sunset could only nod. "Very well, we'll see about finding a fitting wood for you in a minute. Now." With a snap of his finger, three measuring tapes came from one of the doors and floated over to the three children. "Yes. I thought I'd be seeing you here soon Mister Potter." He smiled a barely visible smile. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."
Ollivander moved closer to Harry, staring at him unblinkingly. "Your father, on the other hand, favoured a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration." Sunset noticed McGonagall give a sad smile at that. "Well, I say your father favoured it – it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course.
"And that's where ..." Mr Ollivander had come very close to Harry now, laying a long white finger on a scar on Harry's forehead. Sunset's eyes widened as her charm revealed extremely dark magic clinging to it, tightly focused as if contained. She winced as she focused more closely and, for a split second, saw a flash of green and heard insane, high-pitched laughter.
Unaware of her, Ollivander continued. "I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it. Thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands ... Well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do ..."
He suddenly backed away, motioning for Harry to follow. "Now Mister Potter, which is your wand hand?"
"Uhm, I'm right handed." A tape measure immediately floated over and wrapped around his wrist, tugging on it slightly until Harry stretched out his arm which it then proceeded to measure.
"Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance. We use the tail hairs of unicorns, the heartstrings of dragons and, as you've seen, the tail feathers of phoenixes. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just like no two dragons, unicorns or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course you'll never get such good results with another wizard's wand."
As he spoke, the old man went from one shelf to the next, pulling out boxes by a system he and he alone understood. "That will do." The tape measuring Harry fell to the floor and curled itself up. "While we're at it," He turned to Sunset and Hermione. "What are your wand hands?"
Hermione held out her right hand. Sunset looked at both of hers for a moment before looking back at Ollivander. "I'm – what was the word? – ambidextrous."
"Balance ... I see ... good." The tape measures went to measure Hermione's right arm and both of Sunset's. "Now Mister Potter. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heart string. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. Just take it and give it a wave." He absently snapped his fingers, causing the two remaining tape measures to join the first on the floor, before snatching the wand back from Harry.
And so it went. Ollivander gave Harry wand after wand, taking them back sometimes before he had even moved. "Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere – I wonder, now – yes, why not – unusual combination, holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."
The moment Harry touched the wand, a smile started to spread on his face. He brought it above his head and let it swoosh down, spraying red and gold sparks across the room.
"Oh bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well ... how curious ... how very curious ..." Even as he gently placed the wand back in its packaging and wrapped it in brown paper, he continued muttering. "Curious ... curious ..."
"Excuse me," Harry finally spoke up, "but what's curious?"
"I remember every wand I ever sold, Mister Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix who donated the feather for your wand, gave one more. Just one. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother – why, its brother gave you that scar." He cleared his throat and pulled out his own wand, waving it in a circle to cause all the discarded wand boxes to float back to their shelves. "Now, Miss Granger, I believe you are next."
Once more he bounced through the shop, pulling out box after box, while Harry joined Emma and McGonagall in the corner by the door. The process then repeated, Hermione didn't take as long as Harry had, but a few minutes passed regardless. "Let's see here, elm and Opaleye heartstring, nine and five sixth inches, elastic, powerful yet sophisticated, well suited for charms and transfiguration."
Hermione's eyes widened as she touched the wand. She twirled it in a circle and vanished in a flash of green, reappearing on the opposite end of the shop. "My, my. Impressive. That wasn't apparition, was it?"
"No. That was the teleportation Sunset taught me."
"Very good. I'm impressed. Good to see that nonsense disproved once again."
"Pardon?"
"Oh, my apologies. The common wizard isn't exactly knowledgeable on wandlore. There is the persistent myth that only a pureblood wizard could produce magic with a wand made from elm. I've seen it disproved several times in this very shop. Every time is a special joy." As he spoke, he packaged Hermione's wand, as he had Harry's. "Now, Miss Shimmer, if you would come along to the back please, we'll find the perfect wand wood for you." He delicately picked up the golden feather and walked off through one of the doors.
With some trepidation Sunset followed the old wand maker. In a flash of flames, Philomena reappeared above her head, alighting on her shoulder. Before long the arrived in what was clearly a supply room. A shelf held jars with what she assumed to be dragon heartstrings, next to it were two filing cabinets. One of the drawers was open to reveal a row of envelopes, holding unicorn hairs, each meticulously labeled.
The main attraction, of course, were the rows of shelves, not unlike those in the shop itself, holding various lengths of wood. Once more, Ollivander began flitting between shelves, pulling pieces of wood from it and placing them in a row on a table. "Now, move your hand over these, let me know if you feel a pull."
Sunset did as she was asked, floating her hand over each piece of wood in turn. Every once in a while she felt a pull and let Ollivander know about it. He took the indicated pieces of wood and placed them in a row on a second table. After she was through the row, he called her over and asked her to find the one with the strongest pull.
After a few minutes of testing, she had isolated two potential candidates. "This one, or this one. What do you think Philomena?" The phoenix hopped onto the table and placed a primary feather on each of the two pieces of wood, then rather strongly indicated towards one of them, a smooth length of reddish-brown wood, rather beautiful to look at. Sunset moved her hand over it again. "Yes. This one."
"Oh my, Cherry and Phoenix feather. Not a combination I've sold before. Cherry is a wood that is often underestimated by western wizards, but very popular in Japan. The classical combination is, of course, Cherry and Dragon, both materials with great power. But combining the power of Cherry with the versatility and potential of a Phoenix core? That is a combination with potential. Very intriguing. I'll have it ready in a few days.
"Not to mention that this wood stems from a cherry tree that was rather dear to me, it was planted out behind the shop by my grandfather. Take good care of it. Now, come along."
Sunset followed him back to the front of the shop. "Now that will be seven galleons from each of the two of you and a two galleon deposit from you, Miss Shimmer." After Emma and Harry paid the old wizard, he returned to the back and they left the shop, once more squinting into the bright afternoon sun, before they spotted Dan and Hagrid, the latter carrying three bags of books.
In other words, don't try to teach your grandmother to suck eggs!
Interesting with the unique wand choice, surprised it hasn't been tried before.
Ah, we appear to have reached the point where this fic will get to the featured box with almost every update. Or we will soon, anyway.
But to actually comment on the fic, I'm somewhat surprised Sunset didn't consider not getting (or using) a wand. I imagined she'd try and challenge herself without one, or maybe believe she didn't need it with her horn and wandless magic.
So does Sunset have any difficulty using magic without a wand? Generally, magic is supposed to be hard to use without a tool to channel magic with and without her horn Sunset should logically have difficulty using magic or at least more difficulty than she would normally have with her horn.
Normally I'd dismiss it as her having been a unicorn so normal rules don't apply but that wouldn't explain Hermione.
Nice to see Sunset being courteous about learning magic.
9526146
Probably different form, because unicorns have a natural focus they know what to do without an additional one and can teach others.
Would be funny if she has difficulty USING a wand though.
9526162
I actually like that idea, like she tries to levitate a pencil only to fling it into the ceiling. I doubt it will go that way but it would be funny.
9526146
Dumbledor is known to use wandless magic, so it is likely to be an have or dont have apptitude thing and all exadental magic is wandless so everyone can do it it just vary hard for someone whit out the apptitude for it.
As for Sunset, her horn is THE most effective fockus she has, but she can use magic whitout it but the wand will make it more effisiant.
Say a 95% whit horn, 60% whit wand and 30% (but traind) fockusless magic
9526194
To borrow from an older post of mine:
Its not matter of efficiency, canonically it's just really hard to use magic without a focus. Now Sunset has her horn true but assuming she doesn't have access to it in her human form then using magic should be harder for her, at least somewhat. Obviously, it would vary from spell to spell but I'm just curious if Sunset has been challenged at all when it comes to using magic in her human form.
9526087
The main reason Sunset didn't consider that is that a wand is on the list of items required to attend Hogwarts, whether she chooses to use it is another matter entirely.
9526146
Basically speaking, both a wands and horns act as foci. They make casting spells easier and more stable, less volatile, but at the same time more restrictive, to the point where the wizards of earth (or at least most of earth) are so used to casting with said stability and restriction that wandless magic, to them and in comparison to wanded magic, seems a lot more difficult than it actually is, Hermione's wandless abilities are as much due to her lacking said handicap by learning wandless magic first as they are due her status as a magical prodigy among the likes of Twilight, Sunset or Starlight. Sunset's wandless abilities, beyond the same prodigy status are also due to the fact that while more focused and restrictive than casting without one, casting through a horn is still much less so than casting through a wand.
9526209
I'm going along similar lines as IWWP, I won't deny that. However in said story, Hermione learned to teleport from a spell matrix alone, with Twilight's guidance, in about fifteen minutes with little to no prior experience with magic, here it took Hermione, a confirmed magical prodigy under the effects of a memory enhancing spell and with several months of magical experience with more or less daily training two weeks to learn it, and that is only mid range teleportation, Hermione is not capable of long range teleports at this point in the story, nor at the point to which I have written it thus far (Chapter 43).
As for why so few unicorns learn it? The same reason so few wizards become animagi. Complacency, they can do it, most of them just don't. With enough training, almost any unicorn can learn to cast almost every spell (with exceptions like Sunburst whose natural magic is exceptionally weak) but most simply don't bother to learn anything beyond basic utility spells.
It should be mentioned that a wand massively reduces the energy requirement compared to using a horn or no focus at all, so while useful, teleportation (especially over longer ranges) is simply not practical for most unicorns to learn and constantly use, especially as the average unicorn, without the advantages Hermione had, would take months to manage it.
9526250
Most wizards don't become animagi because:
Granted being able to fly would be useful but it's not like you have any control over what animal you become so it's still not worth the hassle.
9526261
However, the study of the animal they turn into comes before the actual process to do so. That so few wizards even bother to find out what kind of animal they would become and, if it is one that has a useful skill like flight, actually proceed to become animagi is a clear sign of complacency.
That animagi are significantly more common in other areas of the world, (primarily in the catchment area of the Wizarding School Uagadou in Uganda) further indicates the same. That they could bring a group comprised of only Elephant and Cheetah animagi (a group of twenty, I might add) more or less confirms that they have far more animagi there than there are in Britain, and by a significant margin.
And again, most unicorns simply don't have the power to teleport more than once over any meaningful distance. A long range teleport (which is significantly more complex to learn and practice than a short or mid range teleport) from, for example, Ponyville to Canterlot, which is a comparatively short distance, would leave most unicorns magically exhausted (which is very uncomfortable) and unable to make the return trip for several hours. With their wands, the humans have a far better starting position for widespread use of teleportation (which is how they got so far with a brute force method of semi mid range teleportation as apparition does actually involve some spacial warping as well, only less than a proper long-range teleport)
I would also like to take a moment to appreciate your username. How very appropriate indeed.
9526087
Or even be self centered enough to demand a wand made of her own tail hairs. Although, being her the one to hatch Philomena, maybe she feels is even more appropriate.
9526290
This is more indicative of the difference in school curriculums. If Hogwarts had students become animagi as part of their lessons then of course there would be more of them. As it is, it's something that most wizards have to devote their own time to and it isn't really considered worth the hassle.
Thanks I thought so too.
9526250
This is kind of the problem. As you say horns basically perform the jobs of wands for unicorns. As such Sunset should not be able to use magic without her horn because as we see on multiple occasions in the show if a unicorn loses access to their horn they can no longer cast spell. Now we can excuse this if Sunset still has access to her horn even in human form but that would still mean she's incapable of true wandless magic as it isn't something unicorns are known to do. Which means she wouldn't be capable of teaching Hermione to use magic without a wand because unlike Sunset she lacks access to a horn.
Another thing to keep in mind is control, namely children lack it. That's why wizard children perform accidental magic and why unicorns have surges. As such, they need to learn control before they can cast a more complex spell. There's a reason one of the first spells they learn is levitation, less chance of something blowing up.
9526326
The same could be said for unicorn teleportation, even at Princess Celestia's school it's likely a high level elective at best, so most common unicorns don't have enough motivation to learn the skill.
9526358
As far as unicorns without horns go, I take it that by 'multiple occasions' you mean 'Bridle Gossip', 'The Return of Harmony' and 'MLP: The Movie'. (At least I can't think of any others.) In the first two Twilight (and And Rarity in the second) were fully aware or at least hoping that the lack of their horn was temporary and were actively working to fix it, so while they could have learned to use magic or even cast spells without their horns, the effort would have been pointless once they got the use of their horns back.
As far as Tempest in the movie goes, she isn't without her horn. She still has a horn, it's just broken, as such she isn't casting without a focus, but with a broken focus, much like Ron throughout most of the Chamber of secrets. They're still powering up their magic, but rather than correcting the instability problem, their broken foci exacerbate it. It's never established in either canon whether unicorns can cast spells without using their horns while they still have one, or if wizards can perform wandless magic while holding a wand, for the purposes of this story I'm going with 'no' in both cases.
And indeed, children lack control, which is why Sunset only taught Hermione how to teleport after she had had sufficient time to learn that control.
9526394
There is also the season 3 premiere where Sombra directly attacks Shining Armor's horn to keep him from casting spells.
I agree with what you're saying but not sure how that relates to my point. If they can't use their spells without using their horns while they still have one then my point about Sunset not knowing how to perform wandless magic still stands. It would be a concept completely foreign to her and pretty much all unicorns. It would be something she'd need to learn rather than being able to do it immediately.
9526416
As far as I'm concerned it's less a matter of it being difficult, and more one of figuring out a way to do it by trial and error. A unicorn would always have the handicap of being used to channeling magic through their horn. Sunset had the advantage of being unfamiliar not only with using magic in her new body, but also with her new body all together. So she just let her magic flow to see where it went and then tried to guide it based upon that. With the human body being so wired to use hands, that's the way the magic went as well. At the time, anything beyond a simple light or levitation spell was beyond her, but she slowly worked to get her control back to a more useful level (passively over the day even while not actively casting spells)
As far as Sombra and Shining Armor go, that's another case of the horn being unusable, but still there, as such, Shining would instinctively try to focus through his horn, despite the fact that it's blocked. His magic would still flow to his horn, only the horn would block it from going further.
9526431
I get the idea but it doesn't make much sense. Casting magic without a foci is meant to be difficult if it wasn't then there would be no point to wands or unicorn horns. Pegasi and Earth Pones would all be equally capable of casting spells and wizards wouldn't bother with wands, to begin with. Saying Sunset just figured it out with trial and error removes the difficulty that is supposed to exist when casting spells with no foci. It can't be that easy if even Voldemort, the self-proclaimed most powerful wizard in the world, for all his arrogance still required a wand to unleash his full might.
Granted you've turned teleport into a level 1 spell so it's not like Sunset has done anything crazy with no wand but at the same time, it hasn't really seemed to slow her down. I know you say she had to struggle to figure this stuff out but that's no replacement for actually seeing her struggle.
9526448
He didn't though. He could unleash his full power just fine without one, but amplified and focused by a wand it was much more dangerous. The same reason why a 60W light bulb can't burn through wood, but a 1W laser can.
A horn or wand is a focusing aid, making casting easier. Without one, the same things can be achieved with enough mental focus, but that is, obviously, more difficult.
That aside, Sunset had the better part of a week to build up enough mental focus to teleport, additionally to already having a trained mind.
The reason Wizards learn wanded casting first (if they learn wandless casting at all) is that it's almost impossible to learn wandless casting if you don't have any way to tell where the magic is going and whether it's doing anything or not. Sunset had prior expertise at sensing magic helping her, and the exercise with the orb of light was specifically intended to help Hermione find where the magic was going. How to get it to go there and building up enough mental focus to keep it stable without a focus was also part of that and without Sunset's expertise it took Hermione hours of practice to make it happen (again, with the help of an experienced spellcaster adept at sensing magic.)
9526482
The term is banishment. And as far as I'm concerned, treason is basically the national level equivalent of betrayal.
And I said a magical education. I never specified the kind of magical education.
looking forward to the next chapter and nice work.
Out of curiosity, I wonder if sunset could have gotten some galleons for some tail hairs from an Equestrian unicorn? I imagine that would get Ollivander's attention. ºVº
9527341
And we know what happens when you make a wand with alicorn hairs...
Three Tail Hairs
Quick question: Is Sunset a little filly in pony form or do ponies age differently in your story?
Please - everyone knows Princess Celestia hates tea.
Missing "
This is the first mention of the tape measure... and does not read as such.
The entire Olivander sequence feels disjointed to me, and it's... Well, disruptive. Not enough to break the story, but still.
Wouldn't nine and five quarter inches, just be ten and one quarter inches?
Was kinda hoping Sunset would get a wand with her own unicorn hair...
9663200
Phoenix feather might be easier to explain
A note: you keep having the leaky cauldron in lowercase letters. As it being the name of the plave, it should be The Leaky Cauldron.
I just realized that Sunset is speaking perfect English. Without mention of a noticeable accent.
Now I can't stop trying to think of Sunset with a British accent.
"fare" is the proper spelling in this case.
Also, most of the chapter seems to be pasted again.
Did you intend to repeat the whole chapter twice? Seems like a copy paste error there.
...Uh oh...
9663200
Anonymous unicorn hair donations?
Olivander totes knows more then he's letting one. Then again he is a "Doctor" lol.
Every chapter makes me giddy and wanting more!
The comment about the cherry being popular in Japan was interesting. It does make sense given the cultural significance of the Sakura.
And cakes