The Last Slytherin - Chapter 3

As the bell rang which indicates that a new customer entered the shop, the parents and the girl turned back while Ollivander is busy searching for new wands.

Seeing the boy, the man greeted them and asked, “are you going to join Hogwarts?”. Neal nodded, “yes”, while Edward ignored them.

Neal saw the bushy brown-haired girl with a few large teeth on the front and introduced himself, “Hello, I’m Neal”. She took his hand for the handshake and introduced herself in a bit of bossy voice, “nice to meet you, I’m Hermoine Granger”.

As Edward mumbled, “I knew it”, Neal turned towards him but got any explanation from him. Meanwhile, Ollivander returned with a wand looked like it’s made of wood.

After Hermoine grabbed it for a few seconds, he nodded and said, “10 3/4 inch long wand made of vine wood and dragon heartstring as it’s core. Perfect for you Ms. Granger”.

Then, he turned towards Neal and Edward. He greeted Edward, “Mr.Fawley, 11 1/2 inch, Pinewood and unicorn hair as a core, I suppose?”. Edward smiled, “it’s been more than 20 years but you still remember me, Mr. Ollivander”.

Ollivander replied, “I remember every wand I sold Mr. Fawley and also the person the I sold it to”. After he took the measurements of Neal, he went to the drawers and started to look for an ideal wand for him.

Then Neal asked Hermoine, “did you bought all the school supplies?”. She shook his head, “not yet. How about you?”. Neal nodded, “yeah. I have already bought it”. When he’s about to chat more, her parents said, “It’s nice meeting you, Mr.Neal and Mr.Fawley. We have to go now”, and dragged her away

As they went outside, Hermoine’s dad sighed in relief, “wow that guy with the boy sure so nerve-wracking just with looks. It’s like he looks down on us for some reason”.

Meanwhile, Inside the shop, Isle, who was coiled around his left arm came out of his sleeves and told him something. Neal nodded, “I see”. Then he looked at Edward and asked, “Isle says they are Muggles. What are they?”.

Edward replied in a despising tone, “those are non-magic folk, not our kind. We purebloods hate them for centuries. I’ll tell you about it, later”. Neal then looked at Isle in a questioning manner and asked, “how do you know the word Muggle?”.

Isle went inside his sleeves and coiled around his arm like before without answering his question.

Edward then said, “I suggest you not talk to your snake publicly in the future”. Neal asked in confusion, “why?”. Edward replied, “it’s because you speak in a Parseltongue when you talk to it. Believe me. Nothing good comes with it if it gets exposed”.

Neal was taken back, “Parseltongue? what is that?”. Edward sighed, “I know you have a lot of questions. I’ll answer one by one but not now. Later”. As Neal nodded, Ollivander brought a few boxes with him.

He opened the first one and gave it to Neal, “13 inches, Black Thorn Wood, dragon heartstring as its core”. Just as he touched it, he felt nothing but holding just a piece of a wooden stick.

He shook his head, “no, I suppose, it’s not”. Ollivander took back the wand and opened another box and took out another, “12 3/4 inches, Maple wood, Pheonix feather as its core”. When he touched it, he felt a slight repulsive force in his hand. Ollivander shook his head, “it’s not this one either”.

He took it back and opened a grey colored wand, “14 1/2 inches, Ashwood, Unicorn hair as its core”. As Neal took the wand, he felt a huge repulsive force and the wand itself escaped from his hand and fell on the floor.

Ollivander shook his head in a disappointment, “this one won’t do too”. Then he brought out one by one. For a few hours, Neal stood there trying different wands while Ollivander was bringing out every wand in the shop.

As Ollivander went into constant depression because he is failing to meet the customer’s fate wand, Neal asked, “excuse me but I’m curious how do you decide whether that wand is suitable for me or not?”.

Ollivander replied, “I’m not the one who decides it. The wand chooses the wizard Mr.Neal. It wasn’t clear always why though. I’m from the wandmaker family. So, I can connect with wands and their feelings. None of the wands you tried are willing to accept you as their master.

Don’t worry we still have some more left. I hope you find your right wand”. After an hour, while Ollivander depressed with a fact that none of the wands has chosen Neal, Edward nodded, “as expected”.

Ollivander then said, “I’m sorry but you won’t meet the right wand in my shop. You should look at other wand shops”. Neal then said, “can I use the wand even if it didn’t acknowledge me as its master?”.

Ollivander nodded, “yes, you can but it’ll be an unreliable wand”. Neal smiled and replied, “since you know the feelings of all the wands I tried, then please choose the one which tolerated me the most”.

Ollivander took out the box without any hesitation, “14 3/4 inches, Black Walnut wood, Dragon heartstring as its core. Black Walnut wands are hard to master”. As he took it in his hand, he slightly felt a connection but not significant enough though.

Neal paid the amount and thanked him as a courtesy. Both of them came out of the shop to find the sun was set. After they returned to the hotel with his belongings, Edward said, “don’t worry about the wand. I already expected it to be like that”.

Neal asked, “why?”. Edward replied, “because I think there might be another wand that you were fated with. But It’ll take time to track it down. Moreover, I’m not sure whether that wand is still available or has chosen a new master”.

Six weeks passed in the blink of an eye.

In this period, young Neal learned about the history of Wizard families and Wizarding world which doesn’t only consist of Wizards and spells but also various magical creatures that are hiding from the Muggle world for God knows how long.

On one fine morning, Edward returned with a smile and called Neal downstairs. As he went down, Neal asked, “what happened?”. Edward replied, “well, I’ve run into a few traps here and there. Nothing big. But look here what I’ve found”.

He took out something wrapped in a box that looks very old that has a few holes here and there. He opened the box and showed the wand that is resting inside it. Edward then described, “it’s a 14-inch wand made from snakewood and Basilisk horn as its core, The wand made and used by Salazar Slytherin himself”.

Curiously, Neal took out the wand and looked at it, “Wow, can’t believe its almost a 1000-year-old wand. It’s as good as new. Where did you found it?”.

Edward sighed, “somewhere in America. It was hidden in the grave of the last user who died three centuries ago. It was protected with enchantments and curses etc…To find the wand I had to track many of Slytherin Descendents and even became a grave robber… sigh…

Anyway, as far I know, only those who have Slytherin’s blood and can speak Parseltongue would be able to master the wand. I think you are destined for this wand”.

Neal replied, “but I don’t know how to speak it in Parseltongue. I didn’t even know that I’m a Parselmouth until you told me back then at Ollivanders. How am I supposed to command it in Parseltongue?”.

Edward replied, “well, there’s still a lot of time left. You can try to learn to talk consciously. And one more thing”. As Neal was wondering, Edward pulled out a photo frame and gave it to him. Neal saw two people inside the photo. The woman’s hand was on her huge belly and the other hand was caught by the man.

Neal asked, “are they…” Edward nodded, “your parents. I’m not sure what happened but your parents might likely have been killed by Death Eaters as, during that time, You-know-who was active and was hunting down wizards.

Anyway, putting aside those things aside, the boy who lived, Harry Potter is soon going to join the Hogwarts alongside you”. Neal replied, “Harry Potter? Who was that?”.