Nerine's Wand
Throughout lunch, Charms, and Transfiguration, she found that seemingly every student tried to avoid Nerine and give her blank stares from across the room. In Charms, she was quietly told she was exempt from practicing Lumos with her confiscated wand. James Potter was across the room on the Gryffindor side, showing off his spell casting and thankfully distracting everyone from Nerine. Even though he was a second year, he had to be held back in charms, but he was more skilled in Lumos than the first years, creating a strobe light in the class and waving it around in his classmate’s faces, leaving them dizzy.
Luckily in Transfiguration, Mcgonagall just had them take notes on types of transfiguration and to what extent it is possible to transfigure something. James was not in that class, leaving everything more orderly.
That evening, Phoena dragged Nerine to the library, claiming it was to get her mind off the explosion. However, nothing would distract Nerine, or anyone else for that matter. In the library, it was like a trumpet started playing to announce her presence and everyone looked up from their desks to watch.
And they were in the library to find a spell that unlocked the restricted section because a compass with the same blue light from the blast, that only she could see, led them to it. Everything that she could ever think about, her wand, her parents, her classes, and her classmates, all led back to that blue light and that explosion.
While she looked through charms books, ones that sixth or seventh years would use, she found a Defense Against the Dark Arts book and started to flip through it, curious if any spells were like the one she cast that morning. This was a deviation from their goal of unlocking the restricted section, but she could not stop thinking about how that blast was possible.
She was at a desk, across the room from Phoena who looked at some section Nerine was not familiar with. She was engrossed in the “Bombarda” section of the book, a spell that Phoena had mentioned earlier. That’s when a boy with shaggy light brown hair walked up to the side of her desk.
“A Ravenclaw trying to learn how to fight?” he said, gesturing to the book that spread out in front of her.
“A Gryffindor retaking first year charms.” Nerine quipped, proud of herself for her response.
“So how did you almost blow up poor Steven?” He trailed off at the end, looking closer at the book. “Bombarda! Are you trying to just blow up the school?”
“No!” she closed the book quickly, “No, no. I was-”
“I didn’t expect to make friends with a terrorist.”
Nerine couldn’t tell if he was teasing or serious, “It was just my wand, I’m getting a new one tomorrow.”
“Well.. after you get your wand, if you’re interested in controlling your unchecked power, I do have a dueling club, it's kept pretty secret though so don’t go around telling people.”
“I am not dueling anyone, I can’t risk that.” Nerine replied, across the room, she made eye-contact with Phoena, she looked confused and tried getting an answer from her with her facial expression.
“It was your wand, right? Ollivander will straighten that out, you can trust that, his family has been in the business for years.”
“Well he didn’t do a good job with my first wand.”
“Mistakes happen, I bet there is a reason…” as he talked he seemed to think more about the predicament and the reliability of the Ollivanders, staring off beyond Nerine’s head.
“Well if you are interested just let me know." When he started to walk away, a rush of emotion led Nerine to call out.
“Wait, I will go.”
“Really? Well, it’s in the clocktower… and…” he looked around the library and spotted Phoena, “Ollivander can come too, hopefully she is better with her wand than you were!” He laughed at his quip and strutted off.
When he was a good enough distance away, Nerine closed her book and headed towards Phoena with it.
When she approached, Phoena sat at a desk with a giant book on magical instruments. She patiently waited for Nerine’s explanation of James’s appearance.
“James just invited me to a secret dueling club,” she said.
“What?” She scooted her chair outside the desk in a suprise flit.
Nerine nodded in response.
“Well, should we rat him out? Get points from Gryffindor?”
“No! No… he invited you too.”
“Really?” She looked at her book, then after some silence back at Nerine. “You’re not thinking of joining are you?”
Nerine shrugged.
“You saw what you did in Defense…” Phoena muttered
“It was my wand!” Nerine raised her arms before Phoena held up her hand, a gesture to Nerine to lower her voice.
“Do you know that?” she replied, bending her head down while she whispered, her demeanor coming off accusatory.
“What do you mean? I’ve never used magic before, there's no way I’m capable of that myself.” Nerine felt like Phoena didn’t trust her, or she was trying to act like she knew better.
When Phoena looked off in silence, Nerine spoke again, “You don’t really think it was me who did that?”
“My father… We don't know what his past is, and he isn’t the most reliable person right now… but our family has a real talent for wands. What scares me is not what happened in Defense, but the fact that my dad gave you the wand. If it is the wand, wouldn’t he have known, isn’t he the best wandmaker? There is a chance he may double down on that wand, that you won’t find any better.”
“Well then will I ever be able to use magic?” Nerine raised her voice again. She felt attacked by Phoenas position, she had more experience with magic but they were both first years. “Are you saying I did that myself? If that’s true, then maybe I should join, to control whatever is wrong with me.”
“Nerine…”
“Why not?”
“We need to get help from an adult about all of this… it’s serious now and this research is going nowhere.” She raised her book to show off its uselessness.
“You really think that? After everything we know about your fathers past?”
“That was coming from Iago who is now fraternizing with Slytherin families…”
“He is your friend.”
“Join it, Nerine.” She slammed the book closed and stood to walk away.
Nerine then recalled the story that made Ollivander a threatening presence in the first place. He had made his wife disappear with a wand that had the abilities that Nerine herself shares and in the shop that Penny the house elf owned. Penny… she warned Nerine in Diagon Alley about him, why? Maybe she could find out from her first before going to Ollivanders tomorrow, would Suzie Carrol allow that?
“Do you remember when you saw Penny with me in Diagon Alley, she wasn’t just helping me, she warned me about Ollivander, she said Miss Brunwill shouldn’t be trusted.”
“What?”
“It’s not just Iago, there is something more here, and I don’t want to reveal anything before I know for sure that he won’t use it against me…” Phoena didn’t say anything in response, so Nerine kept talking, “I know it’s your father…”
“That’s not it.” Phoena said. She was turned to the books, opening up another and flipping pages.
“You’re not telling anyone, are you?” Nerine stopped her, standing in front of the book aisle.
Phoena shrugged.
“Don’t do this, stop…” Nerine felt guilt and anger all in one.
Phoena took the compass out of her robe, “This whole deal is getting dangerous, we don't know where this leads,” she raised the compass, “if it was the wand, what you're capable of, and it’s ties to your abilities, we can’t figure this out on our own… we know nothing. We need an adult.”
“Phoena, I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I really want to figure it out before any adult does. You can avoid me and stop helping me, but please don’t tell anyone about this…” Nerine held out her hand, a suggestion for Phoena to give her the compass.
Phoena hesitated before lowering her tensed shoulders and putting the compass in Nerine’s open hand. “If we can’t figure this out, if one more explosion or injury or any kind of mishap happens, I won’t tell my father, but I will tell an adult.” She put the book she had out back on the shelf and picked up another.
Even though Nerine felt that Phoena was treating her as less of a friend and more of a burden, she was grateful Phoena obliged. Phoena was her only friend here, without her she would be completely outcasted, if each day continued like this, she would not last. Phoena was right though, what if it's her, not the wand.
What scared her was that it made more sense, she was the only one who could see the light on the compass, she saw it again in the blast. What if Ollivander found out about this secret light from his research… and how would he explain the wand’s power?
After lingering between the shelves with Phoena for a few seconds, feeling out her attitude towards Nerine, she took her book back to the common room and did the only thing she thought would make her feel safer. She started writing letters.
She first wrote back to her parents, explaining everything that has happened. At first, she was going to leave out her incident in her defense class, but she didn’t want to lie about anything else, no matter how hard it was or what she imagined their concerned reaction would be, she described what happened.
Then, she wrote to Callum. She had no choice but to lie to him. She wanted him to know how she was feeling, however, so the only equivalent to what she could think of for a muggle school, was kicking a soccer ball at someone’s face.
Lucy, her newly named owl since yesterday night, which felt like a millennia ago, was perched on the golden stand in front of her bunk. Its eyes were closed and its breathing was fast. There was a little gold tray just below Lucy’s Talons where Nerine put her two envelopes, sealed with a red wax provided by the common room. Lucy didn’t stir immediately, she opened her eyes to look at the envelopes, but closed them again in indifference.
Her roommates were all out, it wouldn’t be too long before Phoena returned from the library and the curfew for nine will have everyone in the room. Before that, Nerine wanted to test something with the compass. She pulled it out of her robe pocket and sat in the arm chair in the nook with the window. Through the window the night sky glowed with stars and she could see a hint of galaxy dust.
She closed the curtains that connected the nook to the dorm in case her roommates decided to come in, which was likely since curfew was in an hour. In her hand the compass’s blue lights pulsed and swirled. She rubbed it and shook it like Phoena had done on the train. Nothing happened, the lights just moved with the momentum of its container.
Then, she closed her eyes and tried to ask the compass to reveal its purpose with sheer willpower. To her shock, she felt it vibrate in her palm, when she looked up, there were strings of the blue light flowing through the air, they all exited out the curtain.
Nerine opened the curtain to see the strings flow out the door and when she peered out the door, they all followed the stairs. In her rush of adrenaline, she started to follow the strings, but one by one they started to fade, until the strongest glow faltered out. That’s when she met Phoena on the stairs, coming down with about five big books. Behind Phoena, Nerine heard chatter from other girls above, everyone was trickling in for the night.
“Nerine, the bathrooms are down there,” she held all the books in one hand so she could point behind the girl. That’s when she noticed the compass and her eyes got wide.
“I know, Phoena… wait, I can see the path where the compass leads, there were strings of light going up the stairs and-”
“What? Get in the room.” She interrupted, gesturing to behind Nerine with her head and following her back to their dorm.
“Phoena, the compass leads not only to the restricted section but so many other places, probably around Hogwarts, but maybe everywhere.”
“Well that’s not helpful if we don’t know why.” Phoena said, dropping the pile of books on a table in the dorm’s nook.
“I thought you would be more excited about it… don’t you want to know what happened?” Nerine felt like she was supposed to be offended by Phoena’s attitude, but didn’t want to be.
Phoena didn’t say anything to that, she went to her wardrobe and picked out pajamas.
“Phoena?”
“I just don’t know what will happen when my dad finds out what happened, he could have you sent to St. Mungos or… what if you have some fluke and can only be kept somewhere where no one can ever see you… like werewolves.” She started mumbling to herself it seemed.
“That’s why I won’t tell him anything, I won’t do anything that shows whatever this is.”
“You can’t do that, you won’t be able to, you’ll have to practice, that's how magic works, it’s unpredictable.”
“I know, okay,” Nerine relaxed her arms, the compass swaying with, “When I go to Hogsmeade, I’ll try to go to Penny first, maybe she knows something about my abilities and can help me hide it… or control it.”
“How are you going to get Suzie Carrol to let you go to her shop? And even if you get there before you go to Ollivander, Suzie is going to hear you and Penny and all of it would be for nothing.”
“I’ll figure it out… I’ll write a letter!” Nerine rushed to her desk and took out her paper and pen, the compass clattered in place of the pen she picked up. “I’ll tell her what happened and ask for advice.”
“Will she be awake?”
“That’s all we can hope for.”