NOVEL WEB Chapter 13
Disclaimer: If you recognise it, surprise, I don't own it
Chapter 13– Changes.
"Brand new wand. Fourteen inches, willow, containing one unicorn tail hair." Ollivander says, handing the spindly wand over to Ron, who excitedly grabs it, and immediately colourful sparks fly out the end of the wand to the boy's visible amazement.
"A brilliant wand for a future brilliant wizard. Willow is an uncommon wood with healing power, and they are usually owned by capable wizards who doubt their own abilities. Unicorn hair produces the most consistent magic and is the least subject to fluctuations and blockages. They are the most faithful of all wands and remain strongly attached to their first owner, no matter who they are. And while they do not make for the most powerful of wands, the wand wood can compensate for that. However, if seriously mishandled, they are prone to melancholy, meaning the hair may 'die' and need replacing. So look after your wand, young Weasley." Ollivander informs though Ron doesn't really listen, more entranced by his new wands.
"Mr Lockhart, we couldn't possibly-" Molly comes forwards, reaching into her bag, and I can already tell she is looking for the galleons in her purse to pay for this. Damn, this woman is weirdly prideful. But I cut her off before she could finish her words or bring out any money.
"Please, Molly, your child is just one of many whose wands I will be paying for this year. Now come, you and your children should really be getting home. I am sure the rest of your family is waiting for you. now go." I start to shuffle all three Weasleys out the door, Molly and Ginny not knowing what to do except go and Ron not even looking up from his wand, mesmerised by it. I am sure the boy doesn't even know where he is right now.
When I hear the door close behind them, I take a moment to breathe it all in because I just made a change to the entire timeline. A small insignificant change that probably won't change much at all, if anything, but a change nonetheless. If this wand does end up breaking in Ron's second year, then he will have to get yet another wand, which he never had in the cannon.
Not to mention the fact that this wand is more suited to Ron, which means he will be performing his spells better, so maybe he will be getting better grades in his first year and overall become a better student, which would then have an effect on Harry Potter who will be his best friend. A tiny little change like this, yet the ramifications could differ in magnitude. It could be as small as Ron just having a better wand, and that is it, or it could make both Ron and Harry better wizards and much more capable in time for beating Voldemort.
"So, Mr Lockhart. That will be seven Galleons, if you don't mind. I can't hang around here all day. I have more wands to make." Ollivanders voice breaks me out of my reverie, and I look towards him and see that he is resting on the top of the counter with his palm out, waiting for me to deposit the correct amount in there.
"Just wait till you have sold all the new first years their wands, and then send me the bill. I will pay it all at once then." I tell him, opening the front door of the shop myself, ready to go home after this long tiring day.
"Okay then, but you better not complain when you see the entire amount after I have provided the wands for all the new students," Ollivander calls as I walk out, but I don't design to give him a response. The price will not scare me.
With it costing seven galleons a wand, I will be fine. That is chump change for a man of my financial standing. However, if I recall correctly, forty students are going to join Hogwarts this year, which means it would cost me two hundred and eighty galleons. However, I do remember reading something about there actually being around one hundred and forty-three students in each year, which I don't think is actually correct. But, even if it is, it will be fine. It is just one thousand and one galleons.
Now, time to go home and rest for a while. This day has genuinely wiped me out. Meeting all those people is tiresome, and even the propositions-
Actually, I have another way to relax tonight. Employing my Occlumency, I searched through my memories for the first woman to extend me an offer today. So, instead of going home and being alone, I think I will enjoy some company tonight.
Walking the street of Diagon Alley is an unlikely pair, an odd duo made up of a giant of a man and a scrawny little boy. The giant is actually a half-giant by the name of Hagrid, and the scrawny little boy is the future saviour of the wizarding world, the boy who lived, Harry Potter.
Harry and Hagrid are walking through the street, and while the jolly half-giant walks on, Harry is reading through his Hogwarts list. He has already bought most of his equipment, and now only one thing remains.
"I still need...a wand," Harry confirms, looking up at the grizzly keeper of keys to direct him and give him further guidance, not yet familiar with the wizarding world.
"A wand? Well, you'll want Ollivanders." Hagrid points to the store that was coincidentally nearby, a shop with two big windows, each displaying a different colour wand on a purple cushion. There, written in golden lettering, was Ollivanders, Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.
"No place better. Run along there, but wait. I just got one more thing I got to do. Won't be long." Hagrid pushes Harry towards the door before turning around and disappearing into the packed crowds, off to do whatever he has to do, leaving behind a vulnerable young boy in an unfamiliar place.
Harry had no other option, so he tamedly went into the store, quietly opening and closing the door. He looks around, but there are no people around, only shelves of wands in boxes. It is entirely deserted.
"Hello? Hello?" Harry calls out softly to the empty store, practically whispering, repeating himself when he receives no answer the first time. Then, suddenly, a noise came from the back, a series of clunks before a ladder rolled along the shelves and appeared, a man upon it with scraggly grey hair and wide eyes who looked at Harry and smiled.
"I wondered when I'd be seeing you, Mr Potter. It seems only yesterday that your mother and father were in here buying their first wands," The man, who is obviously Ollivander, the owner of the shop, says as he hops off of the ladder and waltzes over to harry, picking a wand off a shelf on his way.
"Ah. Here we are." Ollivander holds out the wand for Harry to take, which he does. Harry holds it but does nothing with it, looking down at the wand and then back up at Ollivander when nothing happens.
"Well, give it a wave." Ollivander prompts when it is clear Harry does not know what he is doing. Harry is hesitant, but he waves the wand anyway. Unfortunately, the motion causes most of the boxes inside the store to come flying out of their spots and crashing down all around the store. Shocked, Harry jumps and hurriedly puts the wand back on the counter and backs away from it.
"Apparently not," Ollivander says, stating the obvious, but the man is not phased in the least. This event probably occurred multiple times in the past. Then, placing the wand to the side, he goes to another shelf, picks up a box, and gets another wand out.
"Perhaps this." Ollivander hands the wand over to Harry, and knowing what to do now, Harry cautiously gives the wand a wave, knowing what might result from it. Harry finishes his wave with the wand pointing at a vase, which shatters, startling Harry.
"No, no, definitely not! No matter..." Ollivander panicked and snatched the wand from Harry's grasp, not used to having such a mishap happen twice. Placing the wand to the side, he goes to get another wand from a box but suddenly stops and looks thoughtfully at a box on the side.
"I wonder," Ollivander mutters before picking up the box and walking back to the counter, placing the box down with extra special care before taking the wand out. A smooth, light wooded wand with a nice handle. Ollivander hands the wand over to Harry, and no sooner after he touches it, the wand starts to glow effervescently, illuminating Harry and his surroundings, blowing his hair up as well as all the loose sheets of paper in the shop.
"Curious, very curious." Ollivander looked a bit surprised and deep in thought at the result, his eyes drifting off and focusing on seemingly nothing.
"Sorry, but what's curious?" Harry is brought out of his fugue state when Ollivanders talks and notices Ollivander's strange reaction.
"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr Potter. It just so happens that the phoenix, whose tail feather resides in your wand, gave one other feather, just one." Ollivander plucks the wand from Harry's reluctant hand and examines the wand he had just given to Harry, regarding it with a curious but cautious eye.
"It is curious that you should be destined for this wand when it's, brother..." Ollivander reaches out his finger inching forward towards Harry, the boy's eyes crossing, trying to focus on it before it stalls less than an inch away from touching his skin. "...gave you that scar." Ollivander points to the lightning bolt scar on Harry's forehead, the one he has had for as long as he can remember that never seems to fade.
"And..." Harry gulps, faced with a terrible unknown that has suddenly appeared. "...who owned that wand?" The wand that had forever marked his skin, that etched in the terrible jagged scar that has been displayed on his forehead for all of his life, that got him the nickname he so disliked: Scarhead.
"Oh, we do not speak his name. The wand chooses the wizard, Mr Potter. It's not always clear as to why, but I think it is clear that we can expect great things from you. After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things...terrible, yes, but great." Ollivander hands Harry back his wand, not saying the name of the man who marked his flesh but giving him the infamous moniker feared throughout the British Isles
Harry wants to ask more, to find out more about this He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, find out how his forehead was marred and how this involves his parents, but before he can, he is interrupted and hears a knock on the shop window.
"Harry! Harry! Happy birthday!" Hagrid excitedly bellows, holding up something in his hands p to the window for Harry to see. In Hagrid's hand is a beautiful snowy white owl in a cage, which hoots as if calling for Harry as well.
"Wow," Harry says, amazed, astonished at the birthday present that has been gotten for him by the most giant man he has ever seen that he had just met today, let alone the fact that he is actually getting a present on his birthday, his first present ever. Excited, the boy rushes to leave the store, wand in hand, when he stops, remembering something.
"Oh, sorry. How much do I owe you? For the wand?" Harry turns back, remembering that he has to pay for his new wand. He starts to dig around in his pocket for his galleons while walking back to the counter but is surprised to find Ollivander stopping him with his palm raised.
"There is no need Mr Potter. Your wand will be paid for by someone else, same with all other wands purchased for new students this year." So Ollivander informs Harry, the first time he has had to notify a customer, all the others knowing this already after it having been reported in the Daily Prophet.
"Oh, really. Might I ask who that is?" Harry enquires politely, letting the galleons fall back into his pocket and pulling his hand out, interested to know just who is providing all the wands for students this year.
"Gilderoy Lockhart, a magical adventurer and world-renowned author, his books detail many of his adventures. In celebration of his new book release, he has decided to pay for the wands of all new students this year." So Ollivander tells Harry, coincidentally introducing Harry to the first ever famous wizard he has ever heard of. A famous magical adventurer that is doing a tremendous act of kindness.
"Wow, a magical adventurer. Gilderoy Lockhart must be a powerful wizard to have books about his adventures and kind as well to spend so much of his own money on new students." Harry comments, in awe, that such a man exists when before all he had known was people like the Dursleys, Petunia with a neck like a giraffe, Vernon who looked like a purple whale and Dudley, who was a miniature version of Vernon, and they were all terrible.
Sure, he had met Hagrid, but the man was larger than life, and while a terrific person, he could be relatively not so bright sometimes, and with his height added, Harry didn't really regard him as an average person. he saw him as more than human. But this is a person who is the same as him. He had witnessed a moving picture of the man when he went to get his books for the year though he didn't pay much attention to it. Gilderoy Lockhart intrigued Harry, who had yet to see much of the magical world.
"Mr Potter, perhaps some advice is in order, especially to a young soul such as yours that is new to this world. Not everything is as it seems, especially when there is magic involved. You can see something, hear something and even feel something, but it might be as illusory as the wind. You cannot always trust your eyes or your ears, for magic is capable of anything imaginable." Ollivander cryptically says, staring off to the side at things unseen. However, Harry does not have much time to ponder on his words.
"Harry! Come along now. We've not got all day!" Hagrid shouts through the shop window, reminding harry of the beautiful snowy white owl, which also hoots for him. Excitedly Harry runs out of the shop and toward Hagrid, who smiles, seeing his enthusiasm and moves the cage closer to the ground for Harry to see.
"Happy Birthday, Harry!" This was the first birthday present Harry had ever received, as the Dursleys never celebrated his birthday. He very quickly grew attached to the owl, and he hadn't even named it yet.
Harry could tell that life in the wizarding world would be much more enjoyable than life at number 4 Privet Drive could ever be.
Closing the door quietly, I quickly walk off down the hallway and out of the apartment building, ready to get home. I had a lovely night last night with this woman who I can't seem to recall the name of, and I could probably use my Occlumency, but I don't want to waste my time on a woman I probably won't meet again.
Of course, I am not an asshole about it, I have been spending every other night with a different female fan, and I have perfected a perfect system. Before I go to meet my partner for the night, I bring with me several pepper-up potions and the purpose of these potions is several.
I had learned to prepare after my first time with the first woman to extend an offer to me, and she was a heavily experienced woman. So I was pretty wiped out falling asleep before her, and then it was a somewhat awkward experience in the morning. It was my actual first time when I wasn't on an aphrodisiac, and I wasn't on dragon blood this time.
So I decided to put my new skills to the test and erased this memory from her mind, making her think she had just had a calm night and went to bed. And then, I contacted her again the next day to hook up, but this time I went out and bought several pepper-up potions using a disguise since I didn't want to affect my reputation and brought them with me.
Some people might look down on me for using such a method, but to them, I say fuck off. Unlike muggle alternatives that have different, sometimes serious side effects, pepper-up potions only have one side effect, which is making steam burst from your ears when you ingest it. So all it does is energise you. with such a magical and practical solution before you, why wouldn't you use it?
Needless to say, the second time around was a much different experience, much more enjoyable for both my partner and me. First, I took a pepper-up potion before I met her at her place, right outside the door. Then if I needed to take it again in the midst of our activities, I would transition us so that she was on her hands and knees, and then I would take a pepper-up potion again, where she wouldn't see the steam erupt from my ears.
And then, in the morning, while my partner is thoroughly tired out, I would wake up and take another pepper-up potion. Then, thoroughly energised, I would check out the kitchen and what food there was and perhaps make myself some breakfast and then make some breakfast for my partner and leave them a note that I had some business to attend to. Of course, the food might be cold by the time they wake up, but it is the thought that counts, and it leaves them with a good impression of me.
Of course, I take the opportunity while they are still asleep and exhausted to check out their minds to see if they have any nefarious intentions, I do this when I first meet them as well, but that is just a brief look to see if there is anything dangerous they have planned for me since I want to get straight to business.
Some of them actually have plans to get pregnant and then marry me, but that won't work since I always use contraceptive spells. Then there are even some of them planning to go to the Daily Prophet and make up stories and lies about me for fame and attention. So I make some slight alterations there to make sure that they don't, and I also make sure that each of my partners will never tell anyone about their night with me, regarding it as a special secret.
However, over time and the more experience I gain and the more women I meet up with, the fewer pepper-up potions I need. Usually, I just have maybe one during our night together and then one in the morning so that I can get out of there before they wake up and want to actually do other stuff. I don't need anything like that right now. I am young and have other worries on my mind.
As I make my way home, I begin to think about my next course of action because while it has been fun sleeping around with all these women for a time, I need to start getting some of my objectives done. Hogwarts has just started now, which means that both Dumbledore and Voldemort are directly tied up at the school, and I won't have to worry about running into them while I take care of business. So it is time for me to start dealing with all the traces old Gilderoy Lockhart left behind.
The published works of Gilderoy Lockhart are a collection of what appeared to be autobiographical books containing the highlights from a life dedicated to the eradication of dark forces and dark evil magical creatures. They were written as though the heroics described in them were accomplished by Lockhart himself and rife with exaggerations and embellishments to make said accounts sound even more impressive than they were initially when he first heard them from the dozen great witches and wizards.
With their feats of bravery, he stole the credit by modifying their memories to make them forget that they themselves had accomplished what Lockhart would go on to proclaim to have done himself. Yet, despite the revisions he made to these tales and the exaggerations he made, they were actually believable.
They accurately described how to confront and handle a myriad of dangerous situations. This is further proved as Gilderoy's books received best-seller status, and even his former Hogwarts professors thought they might have misjudged him in his school days when word reached Hogwarts of all the feats of bravery he was said to have been credited with after his graduation.
However, old Gilderoy did not do as good a job cleaning up his mess as he thought, as Dumbledore would somehow find out about Gilderoy's fraud when visiting his friend, one of Gilderoy's victims. Since I don't know which victim that actually is, I need to go and see all of them and adequately modify all of their memories and cover all my bases so this won't hang over me and won't affect me in the future.
So I had to go to the capital of the Surat Thani Province in Thailand, where I supposedly saved the city of Bandon by banishing a Banshee that was terrorising the locals, while in fact, it was done by a witch with a hairy chin. This is the book Break with a Banshee.
Then I had to travel to the Australian city of Wagga Wagga, where I am known to have defeated a werewolf that was attacking the townspeople. This is the book Wanderings with Werewolves which I quite like. However, I am pretty exasperated when Lockhart states in chapter twelve that his ideal birthday gift would be harmony between all magic and non-magic people. The book is mainly about Lockhart saving a village from werewolves. However, the real person who saved the town was some ugly old Armenian warlock to whom I would have to pay a visit.
Next up is a visit to Romania, which is the setting for my book Voyages with Vampires. In the book, Gilderoy ventures into the black, vampire-infested forest of central Romania to hunt vampires attacking humans. Even dealing with one of the vampires in a weird way, that vampire was left eating nothing but lettuce after their confrontation. Again this was done by another wizard, who I had to find and memory cleanse.
Gadding with Ghouls, unsurprisingly, is another story that Lockhart again stole, though he did exaggerate and embellish it heavily as Ghouls aren't the most frightening creatures. However, the information within is factual and accurate when dealing with Ghouls, or to be more precise, Chameleon Ghouls, as regular ghouls are just XX magical creatures. In contrast, these ones can disguise as household items. Again I have to visit the real wizard behind this event.
Then we have the rest of the books, Travels with Trolls, which involved encountering Trolls in an expedition to and near the Maris Profondus, the Archipelago Ridiculus, and the Maris Cristallus. Then, finally, the year with the Yeti, which come people could argue is the same as my new Abominable Snowman, but I made mine up while this one is true, Holidays with Hags, which involved yet another trip to yet another foreign country.
And all of this without even mentioning Marauding with Monsters or Gilderoy Lockhart's Guide to Household Pests. Because these two books include a lot of short little stories focusing on different magical pests and creatures, each stolen from a different wizard or witch. This is actually going to take me a long time to find all of these ones, but I cannot risk one of them being the possible leak to Dumbledore, so I have to track them down.
And so, thus, begins a journey to wipe out the last vestiges and mistakes of my previous self and properly start anew.