Another Ordinary Day?

[Nick Taylor]

Looking up, Nick's eyes met with the sign above the door that read Ollivander's: Makers of Fine Wands Since 382BC. Underneath hung a newly christened sign that stated Nick Taylor, proprietor. He was now a proprietor... and it felt good. After his years and years of learning and studying, he was finally ready to go it on his own.

Entering the shop, he flicked his wand at several candles, lighting the room. He made his way behind the counter, hanging up his coat on the way.

Today's goal, aside from selling wands (of course), was to make sure the stacks of already made wands were stacked in a neat and organized manner. Additionally, Nick wanted to add a seal to all the boxes of the wands Mr. Ollivander had made before he retired.

As he tapped the boxes with the tip of his wand, a small golden seal with two intertwined O's (standing for "Ollivander Original") affixed itself to the location where Nick tapped. He had made his way through nearly fifteen boxes when he heard the magical door chime ring behind him.

Turning around, he smiled and spoke: "Good morning!"

[cronon]

"Mum, I told you. I don't need a new wand. That's not why I did so poorly on the OWLs." Alexander never had the heart to tell his mother that he in fact did not like being a wizard. He never had the heart to tell her that a muggle lawyer was what he wanted to be, just like his father. And he especially didn't have the heart to tell her that he did so poorly on his OWLs because he found it a waste of his time to be attending Hogwarts.

That wasn't to say he didn't like the school, he just wished he could live a normal life, with normal kids, and not have the acne problem that he did most all of the time. Was that to much to ask from whoever was running the show? Dear Merlin, he said to himself as he shoved his hands in his pocket and looked into his mother's blue eyes.

"Then why, Alex?" Alexander looked at his mother with a look of disbelief. Irritated with her son's excuses, or lack there of, Patricia sighed. "Sorry. Why then Alexander have you not done so well at school? You said it wasn't your classmates. It's not your wand you keep saying. So, what is it?" Her American stubbornness was showing through. It was worse, Alexander thought, than even his father's. Finally, he gave up. He wasn't about to tell her the real reason and let her down. "I'm not sure what it is, Mum....maybe your right."

Alexander took out his want. It wasn't anything to special, he had actually bought it in America before starting school there years ago. Red Wood with the core of hornback dragon scales.......Or at least that was what the box said. Not even his mother was to pleased, but it had chosen Alexander. After it had, and with as much as he didn't want to be a wizard, Alexander thought it probably chose him because it knew it's have an easy existence. When others asked what it was, and he told them, they usually gave him looks of belief at Hogwarts. He chuckle like it was nothing and would say don't ask, it was made in the Unites States. Sure, he was only being funny, but a few students caught the jokes. Others from the sates only looked at him like...what does that mean?

Alexander learned quickly to keep him mouth shut about the wand, and only get it out when perfectly necessary. Entering the wand shop in Diagon, he followed his mother as she said to him, "Exactly, we'll just see if it's right for you or if there is something better. It won't hurt," she tried to calm her son's spirits. To her, it was like pulling teeth for him to do anything magical, and she just didn't understand. Patricia smirked at the boy, her fushia robes as brilliant as always and her blond hair down her back as always. As she heard the man's greetings from the front, she smiled brightly at him. Alexander held himself up dignified and followed behind his mother's every movements.

"Good morning," she replied sweetly to the man at the front. Neither of the two had been in the store before. With Patricia not originally a citizen of the UK and Alexander buying most of his supplies in a town in America when he started school, none of them had any reason to go into Olivanders. Patricia walked slowly, getting the whole view of the store. She had always liked all of the places in Diagon, not as modern looking as in America, and she felt that way they kept their true magical charm. As she reached the counter where the man stood behind, Alexander followed. Keeping up, and also looking around.

"I was wondering if you could help us," she asked the man calmly.

[Nick Taylor]

Nick watched as a teenager and presumably his mother approached the counter behind which he stood. Still smiling, Nick sensed that the mother wanted to be there more than the young man did.

Quickly glancing down while his customers continued walking through the store, Nick noticed a piece of fuzz on his navy blue work robes. Silently, he picked the fuzz off his robes and let it fall to the floor before looking back up.

As the mother-son pair reached the counter, the woman said, "I was wondering if you could help us."

Standing up a little straighter, Nick replied, "I'll do my best! Who are we buying for?"

[cronon]

Patricia smiled kindly at the man's enthusiasm to help and gestured for her son to move up more to the counter. Alexander tried not to be rude and roll his eyes, but he couldn't help himself. His mother hit his arm lightly. "Alex, come on up here." He walked up beside her next to the counter and smiled his mother's smile. Patricia held out her hand to Alexander and then looked back toward the man behind the counter.

"I'm not sure if my son's wand is right for him. We never bought it here, we bought it elsewhere. And I think there may have been a mistake," Patricia explained, not really wanting to go into the reasons of why she thought the way she did. Alexander just looked around, hoping that his face wasn't going to turn any shade of red out of embarrassment. It wasn't that his wand wasn't working, it was that he wasn't working his wand, he was sure of it. But mother's knew best, as the saying went, so there they were standing in front of the clerk with his wand now placed in his mother's hand where he had placed it.

Alexander now could only imagine the questions they would recieve about it. Patricia, still smiling, held the wand in her hand. As she looked at it, she sighed. It was as if it were brand new, never been used. She knew that just couldn't be the case. Holding it out, she started to show it to the man. "But, I'm not quite sure how one tells if the wand is working properly or not."

[Nick Taylor]

While the young man looked around the shop, Nick listened as the woman explained what the problem was. It seemed the wand just wasn't working for the teenager. Simply looking at the wand, he could tell it wasn't made at Ollivander's -- Nick had never seen that style of handle before. Finally, Nick took the wand from the hand of the woman and began to examine it.

Redwood with a core of... dragon scales? Nick thought, eyebrows cocked. Often you saw wands with dragon heartstring cores... but only once had Nick ever seen actual scales used, and that was in Egypt. This seemed to be a special wand, one that Nick wouldn't mind having more time with to study.

After turning the wand over in his hand several times, the wand maker looked up and asked, "Where did you get this wand? It's incredibly rare."

Before anybody could respond, Nick turned slightly and pointed the wand. "Lumos!" Immediately, the tip of the wand began glowing. Shrugging, Nick tried another spell: "Orchideous!" This time, a banquet of flowers appeared at the end of the wand, which Nick laid on the counter.

"The wand seems to be working properly on simple spells," Nick said, looking up at the young man. "Are you having problems with just more complex magic, or are simple spells like these giving you problems too?"

[cronon]

Before Alexander could even open his mouth, his mother spoke again. "We purchased it in America, where I grew up. That's where Alex first went to school." Alex nodded in agreement and watched as the man worked some spells with it. The wand was fine, and Alexander knew it. It was himm that wasn't really into it.

"I keep telling her," he spoke up finally. His mother sighed and crossed her arms. "It's not the wand. There's nothing wrong with it."

Patricia looked at her son in disbelief. They had gone through this argument before. How he had no problems using the wand, yet had no explaination for his low OWL scores. "I'm sure there's something wrong with it, Alex," his mother said somewhat annoyed. "You're a fine wizard."

Alexander looked at the man and shook his head. Almost wishing he could apparate from that very place.

[Nick Taylor]

Nick glanced nervously from mother to son. To him, it appeared that the mother wanted something to be wrong with the wand, far more than the son did. Knowing there was something going on, something deeper than what he had been told, Nick felt bad for the family. For a second, Nick considered telling them the wand was bad and giving the teenager a new one. He knew, however, that it wouldn't do any good in the long run. Besides, that was dishonest.

"Let's try some more advanced magic," Nick said as he pointed his wand to the empty space towards the front of the shop. "Expecto Patronum!"

Instantly, a silvery patronus in the form of a turtle appeared and moved about the front of the shop. When Nick dropped his wand, the patronus disappeared.

After a brief moment of silence, Nick said, "The wand appears to be working properly, as I usually find it quite difficult to produce a patronus in a wand that I am not used to."

"However," Nick continued, now making eye contact with the teenager, "this just may not be the right wand for you. If you'd like, we can try some other wands and see if they produce better results."

[cronon]

Alexander bit his lip a bit and tried to figure something out. He had to talk to the man alone. That was the problem. "Mum, can I have a word with him alone about my wand? I should be able to do this on my own a bit?" Alexander smiled, and a warm content look upon his mother's face appeared. Alexander figured it was because he was supposedly showing initiaitive in magic, or something that had to do with it. Patricia nodded at her son, smiled and said, "Ok, I'll let you do your thing. I'm going to go look at the quidditch supply store."

Alexander almost groaned out loud as he watched his mother leave. He had told her that he was an alternate on the house team and he hadn't heard the end of it since then. He reminded himself that the next time a pretty girl asked him for help with anything, Alexander was either going to refuse, or never tell his parents. That was for certain.

Turning back to the man behind the counter Alexander smiled and sighed. "Sir, there's nothing wrong with the wand. I can use it perfectly fine. My mum is just a bit up tight because I haven't been scoring so well on tests at school. I really am sorry for all this bother we've caused you." Alexander almost felt a wave of shame come over him. His expression was upset, though he knew what he wanted to do with his life and magic wasn't really apart of it. Though his mother would have never understood, so even bringing it up with her was pointless in his eyes.

[Nick Taylor]

As the teenager explained the situation, Nick understood completely. Simply put, his mother expected him to do better in school and when he didn't meet her expectations, she thought to figure out the source of the problems. Unfortunately, she came to the wrong place - Nick had never been in such a situation and had no advice to offer.

As these thoughts raced through his mind, Nick noticed a look of embarrassment come across the young man's face.

"It's absolutely no bother," Nick responded, offering a smile.

For a moment, he paused, considering his next question and offering how to word it. "If you don't mind me asking..." Nick began, "why are you doing so poorly that your mother thinks its your wand?"

Realizing the way the question came out, Nick started speaking again, having no idea what he planned to say. "Not that it's my business or anything, no! I was just wondering if maybe it is your wand that's causing problems, and you don't realize it. Sure, it could be a perfectly functioning wand - but maybe it isn't the right wand for you?"

[cronon]

Alexander sighed. He'd only told a few people that he knew that he actually wasn't to keen on being a wizard all of his life. It just was soemthing handy if you needed something quick, right? Well, that's what he thought about it anyways. "I just don't find myself very into being....well," he snorted a bit looking away from the man. He tried to occupy his mind and say the next part of his explaination as though he really didn't care. Unfortunately, when it came to the subject, he did care. "I'm not sure I'm cut out to be a wizard. I don't actually want to be, I guess."

Soon, it would go back into the fact that he wanted to be like his father. A born and raised muggle. Actually, it went further than that. He wanted to be a muggle lawyer. Help those in need who didn't need magic to survive. "I guess, I just haven't been trying that hard in school cause I don't know where it's going to get me....knowing magic and stuff." He just hoped the man wouldn't blackball him from the store. No, better yet, he hoped his mother wouldn't walk in as they spoke of it.

[Nick Taylor]

He doesn't want to be a wizard?! Muggles would KILL to be wizards... but he wants it the other way around? thought Nick, as he came to the realization that this was the first person in his life he had met that was born a wizard and wanted to die a Muggle. This would take some time getting used to.

When Nick didn't say anything, the teenager continued: "I guess, I just haven't been trying that hard in school cause I don't know where it's going to get me....knowing magic and stuff."

Once again, the wand maker was blown away. He used magic for nearly everything. And yet here was someone, standing in front of him, who couldn't find enough uses for magic to make it worth it. Nick was simply blown away, he just couldn't comprehend it. This was definitely something new to Nick.

"Wow... you're the first person I've ever met who wanted to give up a magical lifestyle." Nick paused as a dark realization came to him. "Your mom doesn't know this, then?"

[cronon]

Was it really that shocking? The man's tone and words made Alexander feel even more ashamed of what he wanted to do with his life. "Yea...I doubt anyone has ever heard of it...." he trailed off, filtering a hand through his hair. And as the store keeper asked about Patricia's knowledge of the circumstance Alexander felt as if he wanted to die right there on the spot.

"No...she doesn't know a thing. I can't tell her...she'd.....she just wouldn't understand..." Alexander picked up the wand and pointed it at a trash can behind the counter. "Wingardium Leviosa!" Alexander lifted the basket above the man's head, looked at him sort of nonchalant like, and then put the basket back down again. After a moment he thought of another spell to show the man that he was quite capable of using spells with it, "Agumenti!". A quick stream of water was released from the tip of the red wood wand, and filled the bucket completely. Sitll, Alexander's expression didn't change.

"I'm not expecting anyone to understand it...I just wish she wouldn't make such a fuss over my grades...." Alexander moved back his black robes in order to replace the wand in a holster that was attatched to the boy's waist. The blue lining glistened a bit as it fell back against his body.

[Nick Taylor]

Nick stood, motionless, as the young man in front of him preformed spells to prove that he could do magic with the wand. Slowly, the wand maker began to understand the situation more clearly -- it was obvious that he could easily preform magic, he just wanted to live a life without it. Still, this came as a surprise to Nick, who had ever heard of a wizard voluntarily living a completely Muggle life.

"I'm not expecting anyone to understand it... I just wish she wouldn't make such a fuss over my grades..." the young man said, and Nick offered a smile.

"Yeah, I can see where your coming from, I'm just surprised." Nick paused. "I could never live a non-magical life, but I'm actually really impressed that you'd even consider doing it. I imagine there's much more work involved, being a Muggle?"

[cronon]

Alexander nodded. Other than the magic his mother used to make life a bit easier, they were basically the most muggle family around their neighborhood. It was assumed that Alexander went to a high upstanding boarding school when not around during the school year, and with his father's job as a lawyer, and his mother's as a school teacher, it was one many believed that they could afford.

"My family basically lives the muggle life, any ways. You see, my father is a muggle, my mother, a witch, and both have muggle jobs to which they call their own," Alexander shrugged and continued. "I just don't understand what my mother expects me to do with it, when I'm already accustomed to having to work more manuelly to attain all that I want. I'm not saying magic is bad or not useful, I just...." Alexander trailed off. He wanted to live the story-like life his father seemed to have. All the stories his parents ever told him, had amazing outcomes, without even the use of magic. He wanted to find a sort of.....natural magic to life.

"Have you ever heard of natural magic? Or magic without the essence of what we consider to be as such?" he asked the storekeeper.

[Nick Taylor]

As Nick listened to the teenager explain how his parents already lived a Muggle-ish life already, he felt better. The boy knew what he was getting into, knew what it was like without using magic most of the time. Nick realized he wouldn't be getting in over his head; the young man would probably have little problems adjusting to a Muggle job.

"Have you ever heard of natural magic? Or magic without the essence of what we consider to be as such?"

Nick paused. He didn't really understand what he was trying to ask. "I'm not really sure what you're trying to ask, but you see magic happen naturally in younger, untrained wizards and witches all the time. When they feel extreme emotions, they make things happen without much thought. It just occurs naturally."