Chapter 21: A Round Wand — A Little Shock for the Professor

Half an hour later, Dumbledore rose from the High Table and left the Great Hall.

Watching him go, Silven's thoughts drifted again to that utterly unreasonable mending spell — a pity he hadn't been able to spot any wand information on Dumbledore.

Perhaps Dumbledore simply wasn't carrying one on him, or perhaps the Elder Wand was special in some way.

Snape left the Great Hall as well, followed by Professor Flitwick, then Professor McGonagall…

At that point, Silven suddenly stood up.

"Silven, what's wrong?" Harry and Ron beside him were startled.

"Nothing, I just remembered something." Silven said casually, then turned and ran out of the Great Hall.

"Where did he go?" Ron looked at Harry.

"How should I know." Harry said.

"Honestly… what a weirdo." Ron muttered, grabbing a chicken drumstick and stuffing it into his mouth.

He hadn't eaten his fill yet.

Meanwhile.

After dashing out of the Great Hall, Silven sped up and caught up with Professor McGonagall just before she went up the stairs.

"Mr. Ollivander?" Professor McGonagall looked at Silven with some surprise. "Is there something you need from me? Don't tell me you want to switch dormitories again."

"No." Silven shook his head. After a moment's consideration, he said, "Sorry, Professor McGonagall, this might come across as rude, but could you give me a few strands of your hair?"

"My hair?" Professor McGonagall frowned instinctively.

This request had actually gone beyond mere rudeness — it was positively outrageous; a wizard with a shorter temper might have drawn his wand on the spot.

Because in the Wizarding World, a single strand of hair could be used for many things — the most common being Polyjuice Potion, followed by all manner of bizarre Dark Magic spells.

"What do you want to do with it?" Perhaps because of Silven's status, or perhaps because of his age, Professor McGonagall didn't refuse outright.

"A wand," Silven said.

"A wand?"

"Yes — to be precise, a wand core."

"…"

Professor McGonagall was silent for a long time.

How should she put it — this was the first time she'd ever heard such an absurd request.

But even so, she still didn't refuse.

"Come to my office, Mr. Ollivander, if you've finished eating."

"Of course." Silven said.

Professor McGonagall turned and went up the stairs, with Silven close behind her.

The bottommost staircase began to move upward, and soon they emerged on the second-floor corridor. That wasn't the end of it — the staircase kept shifting, rising floor by floor; Silven barely had to walk before he was delivered to the eighth floor.

"Keep up, what are you thinking about?" Professor McGonagall prompted him, which also brought Silven back to his senses.

"These staircases…" Silven said. "Why is it that every time we go up, they run off in all directions? Several times I was almost at the classroom, and the next thing I knew I'd been sent back to the eighth floor."

"It was the same when I was a student." Professor McGonagall said. "We're here."

She pushed open a door at the end of the corridor and walked in.

Professor McGonagall's office was very much like her personality — simple, clean, with no superfluous decoration.

Inside was a broad desk, neatly arranged with student assignments, ink and quills; the bookshelf beside the fireplace was filled with all manner of books and magazines on Transfiguration.

"Well then, Mr. Ollivander." Professor McGonagall walked around behind the desk and looked up at Silven.

"I don't wish to question your research and understanding of wands, but I have never heard that a wizard's hair could be used to make a wand core."

"It's just an idea of mine," Silven explained. "The inspiration came from the Delacour family in France."

"Delacour?" Professor McGonagall said. "Apolline Delacour?"

"That's right — a wizarding family with Veela blood." Silven said. "Three years ago, my grandfather made a special wand for the Delacour family, with a Veela hair as its core.

"According to the description in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a Veela who hasn't transformed is almost identical to a wizard in body.

"If a Veela's hair can be used to make a wand, why not a wizard's?"

Professor McGonagall looked at the spirited Silven; she had been about to say something, but after a moment's hesitation, she switched to a tone that sounded a little less cutting.

"But as far as I know, no one has ever managed to make a wand core from a wizard's hair — including your grandfather."

She hoped this would discourage Silven and make him abandon such a fanciful notion.

But Silven didn't mind in the slightest.

"Just because no one has done it before doesn't mean I can't — let me show you the wand I've made."

Professor McGonagall had been about to say something when she saw Silven produce a… bamboo ring?

Professor McGonagall wasn't even sure what it was.

Although Silven called it a wand, how could a wand possibly be round?

"African arrow bamboo, core of a Graphorn brain, thirteen inches."

Professor McGonagall's eye twitched.

This bamboo ring was really a wand?

But it didn't even have a tip.

Seeing that Professor McGonagall still didn't believe him, Silven simply gave his wrist a shake.

"Lumos!"

The instant the words left his mouth, a ball of Bai Guang lit up at the bamboo joint directly above.

Professor McGonagall's eyes went wide — but she hadn't expected this was only the beginning.

The next second, the bamboo joint on the left, and the bamboo joint on the right, lit up as well.

This time Professor McGonagall couldn't sit still any longer. She sprang to her feet so abruptly that she knocked over the ink bottle on the desk…

"Three spells…"

It had been a long time since Professor McGonagall had lost her composure like this, but a single wand firing three spells at the same time was simply too incomprehensible — it overturned everything she knew.

"As you can see," Silven said. "Every segment of an African arrow bamboo is independent of the others, so it was never really suited for crafting a standard-length wand. Until, by chance, I discovered that the brain of a Graphorn could bind the segments together in another way — like this."

"Oh, right — it can also be used like this." Silven flicked his wrist again.

"Reparo."

The overturned ink bottle returned to the desk, and the spilled ink drifted back into the bottle.

Looking back at the bamboo ring, only two clusters of Bai Guang were still lit.

"So this wand can cast three different spells?" Professor McGonagall was even more astonished, so much so that for a moment she overlooked the fact that Silven had just said Graphorn brain, rather than the more reasonable brain nerves.

"In theory, yes," Silven said.

"In theory?"

"Because it requires extremely precise magical control." Silven shrugged. "To be honest, right now I can only use Lumos and Reparo at the same time. Anything more complicated and I can't manage it."

Hearing Silven say that, Professor McGonagall quickly calmed down.

Indeed — using three different spells simultaneously couldn't possibly be that easy.

And thinking more carefully, the three Lumos just now — the size of the light clusters wasn't normal either.

When the two sides lit up, the middle orb of light had visibly shrunk a ring.

But even so it was astonishing enough — Silven was only in his first year now, and he would certainly grow stronger later.

Or, on the other hand, what if it were Dumbledore holding this wand…

(End of chapter)