Dandelion was amazed at what happened next. She watched in disbelief as measuring tape, seemingly of its own accord, measured her. As well as doing normal measurements like height, it measured the distance between her nostrils, the width of her earlobes, and the length of each of her pinkies.
When the measurements were done, Mr. Ollivander seemed to ponder them for a minute. Then he flicked the stick he held in his hand, and a box zoomed from a shelf to Dandelion’s left into the old man’s hand. He opened it “ lovingly, Dandelion thought, and took out its contents. It was another stick, though of a deeper colour than his own and somewhat longer.
“Mahogany, nine inches long, with a unicorn hair core,” Ollivander told them. “Lift it, child.”
“Why?” asked Dandelion.
“Just do it,” Lily counciled.
So Dandelion did. She felt like a fool there, standing in the middle of a dusty old shop with a stick with the eyes of more than half a dozen people fixed on her.
“No, that’s certainly not the one,” Ollivander said after an agonizingly long several seconds. “Why don’t you try the maple, twelve-and-a-half inches, with dragon heartstring?”
Once more, she stood with the stick in her hand, nothing happening. She felt like a fool. This spectacle repeated itself several times, until finally one let out a small spark when she waved it weakly.
“Ah,” Ollivander said sagely, “I think I know just the one.”
As soon as the twelve-and-an-eighth inch hazel wand with a phoenix feather core was handed to her, she felt an instant connection. The tug, the warmth, the connection she felt with this stick, though, inspired a stronger feeling in her than the blanket she’d dragged along everywhere she went until she was five.
Hardly even realising what she was doing, Dandelion swept the wand in an arch, and the arch of a rainbow swept out of her wand.
“You, child, have found your wand,” Ollivander pronounced.
Dandelion watched in a daze as Harry handed over the money to Mr. Ollivander for her wand. Yes, she’d seen some inexplicable things since she’d entered Diagon Alley, but being the cause of something inexplicable was completely different. Magic was undeniably real.
As the group walked out of the shop, Lily made her way over to Dandelion. “That was a pretty little piece of magic you performed back in Ollivander’s,” she complimented.
“Really?” Dandelion asked.
“Yeah,” said a redheaded boy who looked rather painfully tall and thin. “Most people just shoot off a bunch of sparks when they find their wand. I did. Even Uncle Harry did, and he’s the saviour of the wizarding world.”
Savior of the wizarding world? Dandelion wanted to ask what he meant, but Lily and tall boy continued telling her about magic. While she was measured for robes “ yes, robes! “ by a young blonde shop assistant at a place called Madam Malkin’s, Dandelion learned all about the different subjects she’d be studying at Hogwarts, like Transfiguration, Potions, and Charms. Dandelion was a bit doubtful that she’d ever be able to make a pineapple tap dance, but she decided not to worry about it. Why would she want to do something so silly in the first place?
Still, when they arrived at the bookstore called Flourish and Blott’s, Dandelion couldn’t wait to get her books for all these exciting-sounding subjects. She was too busy beginning to leaf through an interesting-looking booked called 1000 Magical Herbs and Fungi to catch what Hugo (that was the tall redheaded boy’s named, she’d learned) and Lily were telling her about the time their granddad had brawled right where they were standing with a guy called Lucius Malfoy, who just happened to be the grandfather of Rose’s maybe-boyfriend, Scorpius.
After going to Flourish and Blott’s and making quite a number of stops “ it felt to Dandelion like they’d walked the alley up and down three times “ they made a stop a Fortescue’s ice cream parlour. The middle-aged woman behind the counter insisted on giving all eight of them free ice cream sundaes “in memory of my dear old dad, may he rest in peace.” They were the best ice cream sundaes that Dandelion had ever eaten in her life, with mounds of creamy vanilla ice cream drowning in lakes of chocolate sauce.
On the car ride back to Surrey, Dandelion sat between Hugo and Lily. The two of them were having a noisy debate about which magical sweets that could be bought on the Hogwarts’ Express Dandelion would enjoy more, cauldron cakes or Berty Bott’s Every Flavor Beans. However, Dandelion couldn’t hear them because Rose and James were having an argument about Scorpius, and Harry and Hermione’s attempts to calm them down only added to the noise level.
Really, Dandelion didn’t care that she was missing out on what Hugo and Lily were telling her. So much had happened to her since she’d left home earlier in the day that she was just trying to process it and decide what to tell her grandfather first.
When she stepped out of the car, she was almost sad to be home. Then Lily hopped out of the vehicle and gave her a big hug. Dandelion then knew what she was going to tell Grandpa Dudley as soon as she got in the door. She was going to tell him about the wonderful new friends she had made.
Eyes Wide Open by sorrow_of_severus
Chapter Endnotes: ------------------
Despite my irregularity in updating this story and her official retirement from beta'ing, Becca (twilightHPgirl18) speedily beta'd this chapter for me. Thank you! Thanks are also owed to several people in Gryffindor Tower, who recently gave me encouragement to keep going on this story despite my difficulties and misgivings. You would not be reading this chapter if it were not for their kind words.