Magical Studies at Hogwarts

Chapter 3 Cedar Wood and Unicorn Hair
Two days later, at nine o'clock in the morning, Professor McGonagall arrived at the Santa Maria Orphanage on time.Ike and Julian got up early and waited for Professor McGonagall to arrive.

After greeting each other, Professor McGonagall stretched out his hand and said with some seriousness: "Mr. Strider, please hold on to my hand. The next journey will not be so pleasant, and you will feel a little uncomfortable, but this is nothing serious problem."

"Remember! Don't let go of my hand, or something terrible will happen."

"Okay, Professor McGonagall." Ike knew exactly how Professor McGonagall would take him to Diagon Alley, and he knew the danger of apparition.

Professor McGonagall nodded upon hearing this. "Good-bye, then, Miss Julianne, and I will bring Mr. Strider back before lunch."

As soon as the voice fell, there was a "pop" sound, and the two disappeared into the room together.

When it reappeared, it was already in front of a bar that looked dilapidated and narrow.

Ike didn't go to see the famous Broken Axe Bar. Even though he had prepared himself before, he still didn't expect Apparation to be so uncomfortable.

It was as if a robust adult had been forcibly locked into a cramped suitcase and then shaken wildly.Ike kept taking deep breaths, and it took a while to suppress the food debris that blocked his throat.

"It's always like this the first time, and it will be much better afterwards." Professor McGonagall patted Ike on the back, and waited for Ike to recover before leading him to push open the door of the bar.

As imagined, the environment inside the Broken Ax Bar is not very good.Some wizards and witches were sitting or standing, holding a glass of unknown liquid in their hands, maybe mead, maybe butterbeer, or perhaps flame whiskey.

Wearing wizard robes, some are talking to each other, while others hide themselves in the shadows in corners.

Old Tom was standing behind the bar, wiping the table with a dirty-looking rag.Seeing Professor McGonagall and Ike come in, they greeted warmly.

"Professor McGonagall, why did you bring the freshmen here so early this year?"

"Yes, freshman." Professor McGonagall nodded slightly as a greeting.Old Tom naturally knew Professor McGonagall's character, and said immediately, "Then I won't delay you. Goodbye, Professor McGonagall."

"Goodbye."

Lead Ike around the bar and come to a small patio.On the surface, there is nothing but some weeds and a trash can, but Ike knows very well that this is the most prosperous place in the British wizarding world - Diagon Alley.

Professor McGonagall took out his wand and said while lighting it on the wall: "Mr. Strayer, you have to remember to count three yuan on the trash can, and then count two yuan on the horizontal. When you have the wand Tap three times, like this..."

A small opening appeared at the position pointed by Professor McGonagall, and the whole brick shook and rolled slowly to the sides, and an archway appeared in front of Ike.

"This order cannot be wrong. Although some naughty students will move the trash can away, there is magic here. Just wait for 5 minutes and the trash can will return to where it should be."

"Of course, it would be even better if you could remember exactly where this brick is. Now, let's go to Gringotts first and collect your bursary."

Professor McGonagall led Ike through the archway, turned around suddenly, and smiled.

"Almost forgot, Mr. Strider . . . "

"Welcome to Diagon Alley!"

Ike showed an excited look at the right time, Professor McGonagall nodded in satisfaction, and then led Ike straight to the conspicuous white building in Diagon Alley.

After passing through the dense crowd in Diagon Alley, Ike finally stood in front of this famous bank.A gleaming bronze door was opened, and at the door stood a goblin in a uniform with scarlet and gold trim, bowing to every wizard who entered Gringotts.

Passing through the bronze gate is a silver gate.There is a text carved on the door, full of warnings and threats.

Ike didn't deny it, and followed Professor McGonagall through the silver gate.

What caught the eye was a spacious marble foyer, where a hundred goblins were sitting behind a long tall counter, weighing money with scales, examining gems with eyepieces, and counting accounts with quill pens.

Professor McGonagall went straight to the inside and handed over Ike's admission notice.

"Mr. Strider's bursary."

The goblin took the notice, checked it on the record, and handed back a money bag.

"Twenty gold Galleons, please keep them."

Professor McGonagall nodded slightly, handed over the money bag to Ike, and led Ike away.

"Hogwarts will provide a stipend, not much, but enough to allow you to buy all the things you need to go to school. You can lead at Gringotts every year before the start of school, and you will need to come and collect it yourself next year , Mr Strider."

"Of course, if you have Muggle currency, you can go to Gringotts to exchange for Galleons. Gringotts has no exchange restrictions in this regard."

"Now, let's go buy a wand first."

All the way to the depths of Diagon Alley, I saw a dilapidated small shop.The sign reads "Ollivander's Wand Shop" and in small print "Making Wands Since 382 BC".There was a battered wand in front of the window, on a faded purple cushion.

Open the door and enter, and there are long boxes all the way to the ceiling, making the store even more crowded.

"Welcome, Professor McGonagall, is this a freshman this year? It's much earlier than in previous years." An old man with white hair appeared in front of Ike with a ladder.

"Buy a wand for Mr. Ike Stride, Mr. Ollivander." Professor McGonagall was as serious as ever, and nodded to Ollivander as a greeting.

Ollivander obviously knew Professor McGonagall's personality, nodded slightly, and then asked: "Then Mr. Strider, what is your dominant hand..."

"Right hand."

Ike replied.

"Right hands, of course, most of them are right hands." Ollivander took out a measuring tape and signaled Ike to stretch out his right arm, and the measuring tape automatically measured Ike's arm length, forearm length, height, and even head circumference .

"Every Ollivander wand has a super strong magical substance, that's the essence of it. We're used to unicorn hair, phoenix tail feathers and dragon heartstrings."

"Each Ollivander wand is unique because no two unicorns, phoenixes and dragons are exactly alike."

"We believe that the wand chooses the wizard, just as we believe that here you will find your own wand."

Ollivander put away the measuring tape, turned around and took a box from the shelf and handed it to Ike: "Try this, vine wood, dragon heart string, eleven inches."

Ike took the wand in his hand, but nothing happened.Ollivander motioned for Ike to wave his wand, again.

"It doesn't look like this one." Ollivander took back his wand, climbed up the ladder again, and took one from the shelf.

"Cedar, dragon heartstrings, eleven and seventy-five inches. Try again, boy."

After receiving the wand, a silver-white ball of light suddenly shot out from the tip of the wand, directly blowing down the mountain of wands piled up on one side.

"Restored as before." Ollivander took back his wand, then waved it, and the collapsed wand mountain was restored to its original state.

"In fact, almost every little wizard will do this when they buy a wand for the first time. We always have to go through some twists and turns before we know which wand is really suitable."

Ollivander babbled, "But I think I've got the answer."

"Try this one, cedar, unicorn hair, twelve and seventy-five inches," Ollivander said as he handed it to Ike. "I think that's it, I'm sure."

The wand master is the wand master after all. As soon as Ike got the wand in his hand, Ike felt as if it was originally a part of his body. A silver-white and soft shimmer emerged from the tip of the wand, and slowly rippled away.

"This is it, this is it!" Ollivander looked very happy, clapping his hands and said, "My father Gervais Ollivander used to say that the owner of a cedar wand can never be deceived, I deeply agree with that.”

"A cedar wand is always matched by a discerning owner."

"And unicorn fur can often cast the most stable magic, they are the most loyal."

"What a clever combination! Boy, I think you'll make an excellent wizard!"

Ike looked at the white smooth wand in his hand and was very satisfied.At least this is a top-notch wand.

"Thank you, Mr. Ollivander."

"It doesn't have to be." Ollivander smiled brightly.

"Sincerely, six Galleons."

(End of this chapter)