In need of a little elbow grease

[Prof. Phoenix Valentine]

Phoenix walked down the street of Diagon Alley, passing the last few remaining visitors that just so happened to still be shopping as most of the shops were closing. Normally Phoenix would have no real reason to be in Diagon Alley at this time of year, but with all of the recent news that the Ministry released he finally convinced himself that it was time for his wand to be correctly repaired. Stopping in front of Ollivander's a small chuckle escaped his lips, since it had been nearly forty years since he had last stepped into the building.

Looking down at his slightly splintered wand, he slid it through his fingers before pushing his way through the door. Just like his first time the wand shop still appeared to be cluttered with no apparent organization. There also seemed to be a few more years of dust on a few of the older appearing boxes. Walking over to a shelf of wands he picked a random box, slipping his hand across the top to remove the layer of dust and dirt.

Placing the box back in its original position and with a small shake of his head he finally made his way over to the aging counter. He was sure that Ollivander was in the back getting to ready close shop, but now was probably the best time to get this done. Giving his wand a small flick the bell above the door rang once again. Smiling at the sound he placed his wand on the counter, waiting on the wand maker to appear.

[Diagon Alley Shopkeeper]

With a flick of his wand the broom came to life and began sweeping up the chunks of woods and shavings that littered the floor around the workbench. The wandmaker was about to finish putting some stray wands away when he thought he heard the door bell. Glancing at the clock he shook his head, he must have heard things. Everything was closing for the evening and the streets had practically been empty just minutes ago.

There it was again. Admitting defeat, Ollivander placed the remaining wands back on his workbench and made his way to the front of the store. As he got closer his eyes landed on a familiar face. Not a young one at all, but the former Auror and these days, Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

"Let me guess, you're not here for your first wand?" he joked with a smile as he took his place behind the counter. "What can I help you with today Mr.Valentine?"

[Prof. Phoenix Valentine]

Just as Phoenix thought the wand maker must have been busy cleaning up the back of the shop. He rolled his wand from hand to hand, as he noticed a broom slowly sweep itself past the door. If he happened to be getting his first wand, the sight would more than likely cause him to run out of the shop in fear. After waiting a few more minutes Phoenix was about to turn and head for the door only to try again tomorrow, when the faint sound of footsteps caught his attention.

Placing his hand down onto his wand to keep it from rolling, he slipped it back into his robe while he watched the clearly tired wand maker make his way toward the counter. Phoenix chuckled and shook his head slightly at the mans statement, "Well, I certainly hope that is not the case." As Ollivander settled himself behind the counter and asked what he could be helped with. Phoenix once again pulled his wand from his robe placing it in front of Ollivander. "Well, I have finally decided that its time for my wand to properly be repaired if possible," He paused and glanced down at his wand, "as you can tell its splintered and probably has a few thin cracks from all of the wear and tear over the years."

[Diagon Alley Shopkeeper]

"You have put it through quite a bit haven't you..." Ollivander murmered as he reached under the counter and pulled out what appeared to be a small jeweler's magnifying glass. Holding it close to his eye, he began to examine the various cracks and the splintering in detail. "The cracks are rather small and look repairable themselves but how did the splintering occur? Physically, or from the casting or blocking of a spell? They look recent..."

[Prof. Phoenix Valentine]

"Yes, me and that wand have been through a lot of things," Phoenix nodded at the wand makers statement as he slowly began to meander his way around the shop. Walking up to a shelf of wand boxes, he glanced over toward the counter to see Ollivander peering down at the wand rather intently. Putting his attention back on the boxes of wands he had been eying, Phoenix plucked one as Ollivander talked. "Thankfully the cracks are not to serious," his voice faded thinking of the correct way to answer, "I guess you can say its a combination of them all.." Pulling the top from the wand box, Phoenix pulled the wand from the box examining is pristine condition.

[Diagon Alley Shopkeeper]

Pursing his lips he nodded and continued to turn the wand this way and that. Laying down the magnifying glass, he used Phoenix's wand to make it levitate for a moment. "Well, it seems to be casting well so that's a good sign. I was worried with that kind of wear and tear that there might be some core damage but it seems you brought it in just in time," he stopped as he said that, and gave Phoenix a look that said he wasn't pleased with that. "You should have brought it in after your Ministry days so I could fix it up. You Aurors put your wands through a lot."

"Follow me and we'll get started," he said in a happier tone as he made his way to the back with the wand in hand. "We use a potion that my great-great-great-grandmother invented that will essentially regrow the wood. Fixes splintering, fills the cracks, etc. I'll do some minor carving and shaving to fix the shape of it after that, then you'll give it a try and make sure it works well."

Placing the wand on his workbench he wandered farther into the back where he dug through some cauldrons before choosing one, and setting it beside the wand. "Feel free to have a seat," he motioned to a couple wood chairs against the wall as he hurried about. "This will take a bit." He procured from a cabinet a bottle containing a dark green liquid. The wandmaker laid the defeated wand in the cauldron and popped the cork from the bottle, pouring just enough to halfway cover the wand.

It took a minute but very slowly, tiny bubbles began to form around the wand, as if the liquid was boiling. It soon turned into a bubbling green mixture that hid the wand from sight. "Once the bubbling stops we'll know it's done regenerating and we'll be able to start the next step," he explained as he put the potion back in the cabinet, locking it tight.

Sitting down at his bench chair he allowed them to lapse into silence and his focus to remain on the bubbling cauldron for a few minutes. "So...how is a former Auror like yourself feeling about these recent happenings?"

[Prof. Phoenix Valentine]

With his attention still on the wand that he had plucked from the shelf Phoenix spun it around between his fingers, before pointing it at the wall as if trying to cast something. He had been expecting it to go off and cause a sudden mess to startle the wand maker but sadly that did not happen. The random thought of someone being able to use two wands at once passed through his mind, and seemed to amuse him quite a bit. Glancing back at Ollivander he gave him an apologetic shrug of the shoulders, "Although I am retired, the Ministry can keep one busy."

As the wand maker asked him to follow him Phoenix placed the wand back into its box, before placing it onto its shelf once again. Cleaning his hands of the dust he followed him into the back of the shop, "Thankfully I wasn't the one who had to invent this potion. Probably would have killed myself." Laughing to himself he watched as Ollivander rummaged around for a cauldron, before placing his wand in it. Keeping an eye on the wand maker his brows raised slightly as he poured a dark green potion over his wand.

Looking around he took himself a seat in one of the chairs that he was offered. Phoenix leaned back slightly slipping his hand through his hair, giving the back of his scalp a scratch. He began to hum silently to himself while leaning his head back against the wall with his eyes closed, waiting on Ollivander to tell him that his wand was ready. His eyes opened at the sudden break of silence, "That is a slightly odd question," Phoenix pulled his head from the wall, looking the wand maker over.

"It was bound to happen sooner or later to be honest. Anyone would want to know about what happened all those years ago and what caused it if it intervened with their lives. I like to think that the Ministry is doing the right thing by releasing it to us all, but there is a part of me that thinks it being made public could potentially be a bad thing. And plus the Ministry never really tells us everything." Phoenix paused for a moment while crossing his arms, giving Ollivander a slight shrug of his shoulders, "What do you think about all of this?"

[Diagon Alley Shopkeeper]

His eyes were still on the cauldron as Phoenix replied and he nodded as he listened. "I agree with the part that it was bound to happen. I knew there were many questions raised by it but I was hopeful they would accept the government's excuses as they had so many times before. I myself, am highly uneasy about it. In part because I just happened to have a run-in with one of those Believers," he said, turning a bit to look at Phoenix. "Didn't hear about that one yet have you?"

[Prof. Phoenix Valentine]

The moment Ollivander mentioned that he had a run in with one of the Believers Phoenix's brow rose as his sudden interest in the subject rapidly increased. "Oh..? Is that so?" he asked while crossing his arms, looking the wand maker over once more. "Since the Ministry is keeping all of the information close to their chest, what might have happened with this so called encounter?" Phoenix questioned while he continued to keep his eyes on Ollivander wondering if he was going to give him a little information.

[Diagon Alley Shopkeeper]

Ollivander smirked at his comment about the Ministry. "They are trying their damndest to hide it all aren't they? They didn't even want to believe me when I first visited the Ministry to tell them. Thought I was going senile," he shook his head. "Apparently, the Believers are doing their best to watch for our kind. Trying to catch glimpses of us and such. Well, there is a muggle religious group who call themselves, Wiccans, I believe, and apparently some of these Believers are under the impression for reasons beyond me that many Wiccans are really witches & wizards. Or that they have some connection or something."

"Oh let's be honest, I don't understand it. But anyways, one of these Believers decided to camp out and explore in a forest that Wiccans use for their ceremonies. That also just happens to be a forest that has a few trees I harvest wand wood from. I have never in my life seen another human that far in so naturally, I don't give it much thought and go about my work. As I was about to leave I heard some odd rustling and then a voice called out, 'I know what you are!" She was trying to sound brave but was shaking like a leaf, and holding up some odd...camera like device."

He paused for just a moment to lean forward and get a closer look at the wand that was finally beginning to show through a little before continuing, "At first, I thought she was just somebody spying on me and trying to take pictures of where the trees I use are. They're a closely guarded family secret you know. Of course I was angry and went on a whole spiel before it dawned on me that she had no idea what I was talking about. I raised my wand, and her eyes went wide as saucers. That's when it hit me; she's a muggle. That confused me even more but I did the only thing we have been taught to do for so long in an emergency situation. I used a memory charm, retrieved the electronic she had, and went to the Ministry. It was when they finally figured the device out and watched the, pictures I guess you would call them, that they believed me."

[Prof. Phoenix Valentine]

Laughing silently to himself he nodded his head about the Ministry not wanting to believe anything anyone says, "Yes that is just like them." Turning his thoughts back to what was at hand he began to listen to Ollivander talk of his encounter. Phoenix only caught bits and pieces of the Believers thinking that the wizarding world was somehow intertwined with these so called Wiccan religious groups. As the wand maker got to the meaty portion of his encounter Phoenix stood stretching his legs.

Listening to Ollivander continue he slowly began to walk to the other smaller work benches that were scattered around the room. Stopping at one he gently picked up what seemed to be a small carving tool. Examining the small tool he gently shook his head, before placing the small object back down where it once was. Walking over to a locked glass counter with what seemed to be the future cores of wands. Tapping the glass with his finger he turned to face the wand maker, "I figured you would have some kind of barrier or charm around the place to keep the trees protected from the outside world even from other wizards. It would have helped it seems."

Phoenix walked from the counter over toward the small cauldron that his wand was laying in. Peaking down at his wand and the green liquid he nodded his head before heading back toward the chair he was sitting in moments ago. Taking a seat he crossed his arms pondering what was said, "Thankfully there was only one, if there were more it might have been a little more of a problem. Did anything besides the lady being there seem out of place?" he paused for a moment to rub his jaw, "normally wizards know someone is around before its to late." Phoenix gave a small shake of his head at the thought of another wizard helping these Believers. "The Ministry happen to say anything else to you once you showed them the device that the lady had?"

[Diagon Alley Shopkeeper]

Ollivander raised an eyebrow slightly at the former Auror, "You know as well as I do that spells frequently wear off or lose strength after a while. When you're dealing with trees and an area that has magic of its own, it can protect itself from most things. Typically, other wandmakers do not try to spy on each other. There are so few of us that we have our own set of rules, hence the reason I was so upset at first."

He carried on as he stood up and prodded at the wand in the cauldron with his own, "As I said before, I have never seen another human so far in. It's a 3 day walk to the specific place, if you can't apparate of course, and muggles can't exactly use their vehicles to get to it. No trails, too many roots and rocks. Too thick to get through. The woman was bedraggled and looked as if she had been there a while. I didn't hang around to investigate though. I'm not a young man and my gut instinct was to get out and go to the ministry."

With a jab of his own wand, Phoenix's floated into the air and unto the workbench beside the cauldron. Ollivander used his own wand to siphon off the excess potion and picked up a slender carving knife. "At no point did anything appear off, there was nothing that struck me as odd," he said as he set to carefully reshaping the wand. "As for the electronic, not really. They looked at a tiny bit of the film on it while I was there, and said they would watch the rest later. I don't know if there was more on there from before I arrived or not. Hell, I don't even know if they looked at the rest of it or even went to the forest. All I know is what happened to me."

[Prof. Phoenix Valentine]

Seeing that he might have hit a small nerve of the wand makers he slowly nodded his head, "That is true, I meant nothing bad by what I said. A simple spell might be needed is all, if one of the muggles can find their way that deep into the forest where your trees are hidden it doesn't mean that more might happen to stumble across the area." Phoenix tapped his fingers against his arm for a moment, "Knowing them they just might be stubborn enough to send more than one person the second time." He watched Ollivander levitate his wand from the cauldron, before slowly going to work carving his wand back to what it once was.

Phoenix nodded slightly once Ollivander finished and continued to work, "Well I am sure that even if they didn't look into it properly, with all of these new happenings they might have by now." Glancing out of a small window in the back of the shop he watched as darkness finally began to fall over Diagon Alley. "All we can do is wait and see what the Ministry plans on doing if it happens to get worse."

[Diagon Alley Shopkeeper]

He sniffed at Phoenix's "more than one person" comment as he worked, "They very well might. I suppose that could be why the ministry has asked me not to go on any more trips unless absolutely necessary, and only then with an approved ministry babysitter. They admitted if it does get worse, I may not be able to visit certain areas as often as needed, if at all."

Pursing his lips, he stopped speaking for a moment to concentrate on a particular spot. "My shop seems like it's overflowing with wands to the average person, but this is merely a normal inventory. Should there be a shortage of supplies, wood or cores, we could have a wand shortage. And that won't just affect Europe like it did during the second war. It will affect the wizarding population of the world," he explained as he buffed the wand up a bit. "I don't want to even imagine the results of not being able to get enough unicorn hair. That is one core there has yet to be found a decent replacement for."

Swiveling around in his chair, he held Phoenix's wand out to him. "Levitate something then do a simple transformation. That should tell us if that fixed it or not."

[Prof. Phoenix Valentine]

A unexpected laugh escaped Phoenix at the mention of a 'ministry approved' wizard or witch, "The babysitter would probably end up doing something irrational causing the entire thing to blow up." He half smirked while slowly nodding at the wand makers comment about a possible shortage of wands. Glancing around at the small glass cabinets he stood as Ollivander began to polish his wand. "Yes a shortage would be one bloody problem. If you end up having a gut feeling that it will happen, you might want to go ahead and try to stock up on things," Phoenix looked toward Ollivander as he offered him his wand, retrieving it.

Although it was the same wand it felt as if it was lighter than it was before this visit, not that it was a bad feeling. Looking it over Phoenix slid his fingers across the newly polished wood giving it a small nod in approval. Taking the advice he pointed the wand toward the small carving tool he had examined earlier, levitating it a few inches above the table. Letting the tool gently fall back onto the table. Phoenix pointed his want at a small pile of shavings that were in the corner. Muttering, "Avifors" under his breath the shavings turned into a small flock of blue birds. "Hmm, it seems to be working."

[Diagon Alley Shopkeeper]

He nodded in agreement to Phoenix's comment about the ministry official. "More than likely," he said, rolling his eyes. "I'm doing my best to stock up but it's not easy. There are naturally limits to how often you can take wood from a tree and same with cores. I frequently buy unicorn hair from people who search forests for them, & pull them out of bushes & such."

Watching as he gave the repaired wand a try, he nodded as it seemed to work well, "Looks good to me. If you have any problems with it then come back in and I'll modify it."

Standing up he stretched his stiff back. "I'll see you out. It's time to lock up anyways," he said, making his way to the front. He looked out the front window and shook his head. "I remember the days when the streets would be this dead during the day. I hope we don't see that again."

Holding his hand out to shake Phoenix's, "Well, nice seeing you again. Hopefully we'll have a good year."

[Prof. Phoenix Valentine]

Slipping his wand back into his robes pocket once again hiding it from view, he turned toward Ollivander with a small nod, "If I do end up having a problem with it, it would probably be me accidentally stepping on it," Phoenix shivered at the thought of the idea, "hopefully it wont happen." Following after the wand maker he stopped beside him, looking out the window at the empty alley before them both.

"The only way that will happen is if something horrendous happens. And if it does ill be one of the few trying to get it back the way it should be." Giving the wand maker with a small smile, he returned the hand shake. "If anything happens to come up, let me know if I can help." With another small nod of his head, Phoenix gently patted Ollivander on the shoulder before walking out of the shop, disappearing behind the wall that lead to The Leaky Cauldron.