The Butcher of Hogsmeade

Go to Ollivanders to buy your wand!

This is a habitual understanding that every British wizard develops from childhood. At least a century ago, almost every young British wizard received their first wand from a man named Ollivander—including Gideon and Sirius Black.

As a result, a man named Ollivander suddenly told them that he did not have any suitable wands for sale in his shop.

"Are you kidding me, Mr. Ollivander? Do you think this kid is too difficult to handle?" Sirius asked jokingly.

Ollivander's silvery-white eyes flashed with anger: "I would never joke about such a thing, much less risk Ollivander's reputation."

"But...you still have so many wands here..." Sirius looked around. He swore that there were enough wands on the shelves to give every student at Hogwarts three new ones, and there might even be some to spare.

"It's not about quantity, it's about the materials, the inherent qualities of each wand!" Ollivander looked at him like he was an unwitting idiot. "He has no reaction to unicorn tail hair, so unicorn horn is even less usable; Dragon Heartstring is slightly better, but only to a limited extent. Holding it is like a blind man holding a cane—it can help him walk, but it can't completely replace his eyes; Phoenix tail feathers have the most obvious reaction, but they still can't perfectly match the flow of magic in his body. And the wand itself—ebony is already one of the most suitable materials for a maverick's wand, but you just saw the result."

"If there really isn't a perfect match, I don't mind lowering my standards a bit..." Shen Hou suggested softly, but Ollivander glared at him and shut him up. The old man had the leisure to "correct" Sirius's misconceptions, but he didn't want to pay any attention to Shen Hou's suggestion, which directly violated the Ollivander family's life creed.

Providing customers with wands that don't fit properly? How could you even think of that!

Ollivander would rather admit his knowledge and skills in wand making than do something that would damage his reputation.

Sirius asked again, "Are these the only materials your wand is made of? Unicorn hair or horn, or from dragons and phoenixes?"

"It's always been like this since I took over this shop. These materials are stable and standardized. They are the culmination of experience accumulated by the Ollivander family over generations, through countless experiments and elimination of many other materials." Ollivander's silver eyes shone brightly as he spoke of the history of wand-making craftsmanship.

Sirius suddenly realized, and asked with great interest, "So, the wands you make are... how should I put it, more rule-abiding? And Shen is the kind of guy who isn't bound by 'rules'?"

"You could say that," Ollivander said dejectedly. "He's so rare! No, I should say I've never seen anyone like him since I started learning how to make wands."

"I knew it!" Sirius suddenly became excited. "I knew this guy was up to no good. No wonder he couldn't get used to James' wand! James is too rule-abiding, especially when he's with Lily... cough cough..."

Shen Hou and Gideon pretended to be deaf and dumb, acting as if they hadn't heard the second half of the sentence.

"Mr. Ollivander, you are a master wand maker, so I won't bother you with this; do you know where I can buy... a wand that's not so conventional?" Shen Hou asked.

"I don't know. Most of these wands are decades or even centuries old, so there's no stable supply chain. Or you could try looking abroad? The Americas won't work; they like to make wands custom-made, they're very rigid... how should I put it, maybe even more 'rule-abiding' than I am here? The French are more romantic and have more ideas, and the Germans are more tolerant of dark magic, they even use materials from dark magical creatures..."

As he was speaking, Ollivander suddenly stopped, his gaze seemingly lost in memories.

Before Shen Hou and the others could ask any questions, the old man said, "Wait a few minutes," and then climbed up to the second-floor loft of the shop. Soon after, various clanging and banging noises came from up there, and even a dull thud as something heavy fell to the ground. It was unclear what the old man was searching for.

After a while, Ollivander came down the stairs, trembling, carrying two old, long boxes. His sleeves, the hem of his shirt, and even his entire trousers were covered in dust, and the two boxes were covered in years of accumulated grime.

"Excuse me, I just remembered something. When my grandfather, Gerberd Ollivander, ran this shop, the materials for making cane cores weren't completely standardized yet, so he sometimes made things that seem unconventional to later generations. They were actually the result of various experiments, but most of the finished products were terrible and completely unusable, so they were destroyed as soon as they were made; however, a very small number of the finished products were preserved."

"Is it contained in these two boxes you're holding?"

"Yes, these two wands are works left by my grandfather, and they are the last attempt I can make. If they still don't suit Mr. Shen, then I'll have to let you go empty-handed today." Ollivander opened one of the boxes and handed it over. "Try this one first. It's made from the tenderest branch of the Willow of the Beating and the finest stinger of the Hungarian Horned Bee. The core is the crest feather from the head of a Thunderbird."

Shen Hou took the wand out of the box and found that it was very different from any wand he had ever seen before. Moreover, it was very calm when he held it in his hand, unlike the violent reaction he had when he touched the Phoenix Feather Wand.

The wand has two colors. The handle is made of several dark brown willow branches that are intertwined and wrapped around the lower half of a straight and sharp bone spike. The tips of the branches spiral upwards, like vines, and wrap around the middle of the bone spike. The upper half of the bone spike is exposed and shines with a grayish-white crystalline light under the light. The sharp and ferocious spike exudes a cruel and tyrannical aura.

"You just said that this wand uses three materials combined together, unlike other wands which only use two?"

"Yes!" Ollivander placed the two boxes together on the counter. "The most volatile plant, the most ferocious fire dragon, and the thunderbird most sensitive to magic and environmental changes."

Sirius exclaimed in amazement, "I think this wand would suit you perfectly, Shen; it looks like another 'devil's fang'."

"Maybe! I think so too. Maybe it'll really suit me." Shen Hou examined the wand. Although the shape was different, he could indeed feel a similar aura to the triangular bayonet.

Bloody, brutal, sharp, and swift.

This is a feeling I didn't get when I touched the first three wands.

"Give it a try?" Ollivander urged. "Oh, but not inwards; and, use some... gentle spells?"

The old man directed Shen Hou to turn and face the shop door, while he himself "hid" behind the counter. Seeing his actions, Sirius and Gideon, though confused, wisely followed suit and silently moved behind Shen Hou.