@siriusandharryweekarchive
day 4, Late Night Convos or Father/Godfather day
word count: 863 I Gen. np warnings
Read on AO3 or below (full ficlet)
Sirius promised that they would buy a magic wand before Harry gets a letter from Hogwarts. Harry is accepted; the boy sees through the spell that keeps Muggles away, can talk to snakes, and has caused Sirius a few grey hairs due to his baby magic. However, unfortunately for both of them, Hogwarts letters arrive in July. Unless, of course, you are Muggle-born, in which case you will be personally greeted by one of the Hogwarts teachers sometime in April or May.
Sirius promised that they would buy a wand before the letter arrived, and now, on the last day of the school year, Harry asks what time he needs to get up so that they can visit Ollivander's.
“We'll make it anyway, lad. Ollivander's always open. ”
Harry bounced on the way home. His hands were sweaty, and lips bitten raw. He was so excited about the idea of his own wand that he couldn't sleep and woke Sirius up in the middle of the night.
“What if no wand chooses me?”
Sirius heard him through the veil of sleep and had to force himself to focus on Harry and his words.
“That's impossible, Harry. Everyone finds their wand one way or another.”
Harry bit his lower lip again. He was sitting on the rug by the bed in the lotus position, hands resting on the bed. He thought for a few seconds and then rested his head on his folded hands.
“What if it won’t work perfectly?” Harry whispered.
Sirius suppressed a yawn.
“Wands tends to reveal their full potential over time,” he said hoarsely. “The more skilled you become, the more trials you face, the stronger you become and the stronger your bond with your wand as well.”
“You talk as if they're alive.”
Harry raised his head and frowned. Sirius sighed. He sat up on the pillows and turned on the lamp to see Harry better. The light hurt his eyes, so he rubbed them before answering.
“Wands are, above all, powerful artefacts, and they have their own minds and wills. You'll hear Ollivander say something like, ‘The wand chooses the wizard, not the other way around.’ They are made only from selected branches of special trees, and inside they are filled with a part of the powerful essence of magical creatures, such as unicorn hair or phoenix feathers.”
“Can Fawkes’ feathers be used to make the core of a magic wand?”
“Absolutely. And I’m sure it will be quite temperamental.”
Harry chuckled. He looked down at his hands and fell silent.
“When I was trying out wands to find the right one,” Sirius continued, “Ollivander started talking about the wands of my family. He's old. Ollivander, I mean. He attended Hogwarts when my great-great-grandfather, Phineas Black, was headmaster.”
“Your great-grandfather was headmaster of Hogwarts?”
“A very long time since, more than sixty years. The most terrible one, too. He prohibited Muggle-borns from entering Hogwarts, selected Prefects only from Slytherin, and ordered pure-blood passwords for the dormitories. Slytherins still follow this rule.”
Harry climbed onto the bed. Sirius noticed that he wasn't wearing socks. It was a chilly night.
“So what about your wand?”
“Oh, yes,” Sirius smiled and reached for the wand on the bedside cabinet. “This little thing chose me. It has dragon heartstrings inside. Ollivander said something about a strong heart, but I didn't listen to him. I was too caught up in the moment. The wand was simply mine. You'll understand when you pick up yours.”
Harry stared at Sirius's wand, mesmerised, and then became sad again by his own thoughts.
“What if none chooses me?” he asked quietly.
“It will. At Ollivander's, there's—“
“What if it doesn't?” Harry cried. His eyes were shining in the light, as if he were about to cry. He is worried, Sirius realised. He could not understand why Harry had woken him up in the middle of the night. He thought he was upset, but Harry was just a boy who would be eleven in a few days. That was the problem.
Sirius put his wand on the bedside cabinet and leaned over Harry, who was staring at him, twisting the blanket in his hands.
“We will go to Ollivander's and you will try every wand available in the shop. If you get tired, we will take a break and continue. And if you still don't find your perfect wand, we will go to another shop. If necessary, we'll go to every shop in Britain and Ireland, and if we still can't find it, we'll go to masters in other countries, even if it means running into trouble with Dumbledore.” Sirius cupped Harry's face in his hands and rubbed his thumbs under his eyes. “I promise you won't be left without a wand.”
Harry blinked once, then twice, and smiled. He pulled his face away from Sirius's hands and threw himself into his arms, burying face in his neck. Sirius hugged Harry back. He was surprisingly warm against the wind from the open window.
“Thanks, Sirius. You're the best godfather.”
“I'm your only godfather.”
“And therefore the best.”
Sirius sighed with a smile. “Let it be so.”
