“I think we should get books next.” Severus challenged.

“A wand is more important and the sooner we get him one, the better.” Bellatrix said. “And once he's got a wand he can start practising!”

“Books are more important. And he won't be able to concentrate on books and quills once he's got his wand. It'll be far to exciting.” Severus claimed.

“But it's a wand!” Bellatrix protested. “Severus, it's his first wand. I can always get his quills and ink while you take him for books.”

Harry watched the two adults bicker. “I'm not a baby!” He protested. “I can still do things after I get my wand!” He really wanted to get his wand first. I've been waiting for ages to get one. Practising with someone else's just isn't them same.

Severus scowled at the two of them. Once they'd teamed up there was no way he was going to win. “Fine. But you have to get him all the extra books too. After he gets his wand, and he has to come with us to get everything.”

“Okay.” Harry was filled with excitement. He just wanted to jump up and down in excitement. Finally a wand! 

He ran down the street ahead of his parents. Ollivander's was where everyone in London went to get their wands. There was almost nowhere to get wands, only larger wizarding communities had wandmakers and Ollivander was one of the best.

“Slow down.” Bellatrix grabbed his shoulder tightly. “Conduct yourself like as a gentleman, not a muggle getting his first pigstick!”

Harry slowed down, but only until she let go, then he was off running towards Ollivander's.

“Let him go Bella. He's a still a child. It won't last much longer.” Severus said when she made to call him back. “No one's going to blame you if he's allowed to be excited.”

Bellatrix ignored her husband and entered the little shop first. Severus and Harry followed in behind her. The sound of a bell came from the back of the store, from the workroom.

Ollivander emerged. He was wearing glasses and his robes had small splashes of what looked like blood on them. He looked over them. “Ah, Severus Snape. I remember your first wand it was. . .”

Snape looked mad enough to kill him. “No. Don't talk about that. My son needs a wand.” He pushed Harry forward.

Ollivander's gaze snapped to Harry. “Your son?” He looked between the two of them. “The two of you have a son already?”

Bellatrix snarled at him. “He's one of my cousins sons. He needs a wand. Not a history lesson.”

Ollivander grew back a step. “Of course, my mistake.” He pulled a charmed tape measure from his pocket. “Which is your wand arm?”

Harry led his right arm. “My right. Same as my parents.”

Ollivander's eyes widened. “Same as your parents?”

“Just get it over with.” Bellatrix snapped. “We haven't all day.”

The tape measure whipped over Harry on its own. He thought it was rather excessive. Could the space between his nostrils really affect his wand? It was probably just try and impress people.  But I'm not impressed that easily.

Ollivander was already moving around the shelves picking out boxes and boxes of wands. He returned to Harry and put them down on the table in front of them. “Try this one.” He handed him the first wand. “Ash, ten inches with a core of dragon heartstrings.”

Harry picked up the wand. He couldn't even feel the rush of energy that he usually felt when he tried his parents wand. He stabbed it forward, but nothing happened.

That wand was snatched and another placed into his hand. “Hawthorn, twelve inches, with a unicorn tail hair.” It didn't do anything either. What seemed like hundreds of wands were placed into his hand and snatched out a moment later. Oak, maple, elder, even fir. But none of the wood felt warm to him.

“Difficult, very difficult.” Ollivander handed him another wand that had been sitting on the top shelf. “Holly, eleven inches, with a phoenix feather in the core.”

Harry took the wand and thrust it forward. A bright streak of purple came out of it and crashed into one of the shelves, knocking it over. He looked down at the wand. It felt warm and comfortable in his hand. Sort of like a cup of cocoa on a cold day.

“Curious. Very curious.” Ollivander looked closely at Harry's face. “Harry Black, you said?”

Severus pulled his son behind him and stepped up to Ollivander. “What's curious?” His hand was on his own wand inside his sleeve.

Ollivander raised an eyebrow at him. “The phoenix that gave the feather that is in the core of that wand only gave two feathers. And the brother of your son's wand is the one that marked you.”

At the mention of the mark both Severus and Bellatrix's hands flew to their left forearms.

Harry didn't understand. “The Dark Lord? My wand is the opposite to the Dark Lord's wand?”

Ollivander nodded. “You-Know-Who did great things with that wand. Terrible things, but great.”

“Don't fill his head with lies!”” Bellatrix spat at the old man.

He just regarded her sadly. “I would not do more than you have done Bellatrix LeStrange.”

“It's Snape now. How much do we owe you?” She opened the money bag, wanting to get out of there as quickly as possible.

“Seven galleons.” Ollivander accepted the coins and smiled sadly at Harry. “Be strong Mr. Potter.”

But none of the family heard him, they were already hurrying down the street.

“Sow me a spell! So me a spell!” Harry cheered, waving around his wand.

“Calm down, we have to get books now.” Bellatrix told him before pulling out a small bag and resizing it. “This is for you.”

“Thanks!” Harry ripped off the wrapping. “Awesome!” It was a dragon hide wand holster. They were expensive and difficult to find, but both of his parents had them and now he did too. He pushed up his left sleeve and attached the holster to his arm before sliding his wand in.

“Come on.” Severus was in a hurry to get to the book store. “I've still got the book list.” He turned to Bellatrix. “How long do we have left?”

After checking her watch, Bellatrix frowned. “We're down to half an hour before we're due back at Hogwarts. The Headmaster was quite insistent that we be on time.”

“Very well.” Severus opened the door to the book store and copied Harry's book list. “I'll get the extra resources.”

“I'll take the core books.” Bellatrix snatched the list from his hand and headed toward the shelves.

“Harry, why don't you see if there's any books you'd like to get. You may pick out two.” Severus told his son. “You'll need something to read later this year and you won't be able to come back for quite a while.”

“Thanks!” Harry started toward the potions section.

“Thanks!” Harry started toward the potions section. Wait, Da will have any potions book that I want to read. And the Hogwarts library's got plenty too. He ended up standing in front of a section he'd never really looked at before. He picked up one of the books.  Human Magic? I wonder what this is.

Harry flipped through the book quickly. Chapter titles like 'Changing your appearance', 'Getting what you want', and 'Taking first' defiantly caught his attention. This sounds something that I'd like to read. He held onto the book and headed to the fiction section.

The Adventures of Martin the Mad Muggle have always been my favourites.

He thought when passing the comic books. His mother disapproved of them but sometimes one of his friends would bring a copy to school and he'd read them. But I'm older than that now.

The novels that always attracted him, but not today. Harry looked through the junior magic section, but he had already read most of the books that they had. I need something new and exciting.

“Try this?” A good looking boy with short black hair asked him. “It's one of my favourites.”

Harry looked at the book. 'Pure and Proud: The Purebloods', was the title. This looks interesting. And I could read it in the sitting room without mother getting angry. "It looks interesting.” He told the other boy. “Thanks for the suggestion. I'm Harry Black.” He offered his hand.

“Nice to meet you.” The boy shook his hand. “Kevin Entwhistle.”

Harry smiled. The Entwhistle's were a wizarding family. His mother had gone to school with a Mr. Entwhistle. That must be Kevin's father.

“Do you know what house your going to be in?” He asked Kevin.

“Sure I do. My whole family's in Ravenclaw and I love to read with them. I know I'll fit right in.” Kevin told him. “What about you?”

“Slytherin. All of the Blacks have been in Slytherin.” Harry told him. His parents talked about Slytherin more than anything and they had both been in Slytherin too.

“What about Sirius?” Wasn't he a Black?” Kevin asked. He flipped open the book Harry was holding. “See?”

The entry read;

Sirius Black- b. 1959-present. Gryffindor. Pureblood, head of the Black family, given a life sentence to Azkaban after murdering 12 muggle and Peter Pettigrew with a single curse and consorting with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. SEE ALSO: Peter Pettigrew, Death Eater, The Dark Lord

“Oh, I guess you were right.” Harry took the book back and closed it.

Kevin smiled. “That's why I'm a Ravenclaw.”

Harry tried to grin back. “I'll see you on the train then?”

“Sure.” Kevin waved and headed back into the rows of books.

Harry hurried back to find this parents. There was still plenty of things that he needed to get. Quills, ink, maybe he could even convince his parents to get him a pet. . .

“Harry!” Severus's face relaxed when he saw his son. “Where were you!” He demanded angrily.

Harry shrunk back in fear. “Looking at books Da. You said I could.” He reminded him.

“You've been gone for quite awhile.” Severus told him. “It's time to go now.” He dragged Harry to the front of the store to pay for his books. They were in such a rush that he didn't even bother to check what books his son was buying.

“Severus, it's almost time to go!” Bellatrix was looking anxiously at her watch. “I'll get his telescope and scales.” She turned to leave.

“Get his cauldron too, I haven't got a good one that he can have.” Severus called after her before hurrying off with Harry. “You need writing supplies and a larger book bag, I think that's all.”

Harry consulted the list quickly. “Yep, let's just hurry so you aren't late.”

Severus dragged his son into a writing shop. “Go pick out a bag. I'll get the quills and ink. Meet me over there when you're done.”

Harry took his time walking over to the book bags. There was a decent selection and almost all of the bags were magical. There were tiny hand purses spelled with wizard space, enormous travelling bags that were feather light and even a special line of satchels that could be attached to brooms.

The next row of bags were all school bags. Harry skipped the backpacks and briefcases. That wasn't his style and both his parents had told him that they weren't very practical. A small selection of shoulder bags was at the end. These look interesting.

Harry went through the shoulder bags. They were offered in red, yellow, blue, and green. All four house colours. I think I'll end up in Slytherin. He took the green bag off the rack and looked through it.

The main compartment was large enough to hold at least four textbooks and it had a lot of little pockets. One of them would hold a canteen, another was leak proof and quill sized, there was even special places to keep his quills from breaking.

This is the one I want. He decided. But when he turned around there was someone standing behind him.

“Do you think you could help me?” The boy asked him. “I think I've gotten lost.”

Harry looked at the boy's clothes. He was wearing shorts and a t-shirt that was promoting a band that Harry had never heard of.