Compulsive

Bren

Story Summary:
When Charlie was young, Ollivander captivated him with wands. As Charlie grew, so did his love of wands. Dragons got in the way. Charlie-centric one-shot, explaining why Charlie gave Ron a wand with its core sticking out.

Posted:
08/30/2005
Hits:
353
Author's Note:
My many thanks to Liz, a wonderful beta who managed to understand my complete lack of grammar. Thanks! (Also, apologies to those who read the un-betaed version, which somehow snuck onto the first submission form... I am useless with these computers)


Charlie Weasley was a compulsive wand-polisher.

Every Sunday evening, without fail, he polished his wand. To keep his wand in the best possible condition, he first lightly sanded the wood, along the grain, to remove any guck that might have accumulated over the week. Then he placed it in water for a few moments, to remove the dust, and gently dried the wand with a soft towel. Then, with a special wood soap, he rubbed the wand down. Once it smelled lemony he reapplied the polish, rubbing it in with small circular motions, until his wand gleamed. With a particularly complicated charm, he tuned the dragon heartstring centre straight.

It was an obsession that carried over into other magical equipment. His broom received the same treatment, every Sunday, even if he hadn't used it that week. His cauldrons were scrubbed mercilessly after each and every potion. Whenever Charlie had received a detention he was sure Snape danced a little jig - it meant that the next day would probably be accident free in the dungeons.

When he had joined the Dragon Reserve in Romania, his first probational task was to care for all the Reserve's equipment. As anxious as he had been to get his crack at the dragons, Charlie had felt a shimmer in his heart as he saw the condition the tack was in. So much to scrub, scrap and polish, he'd be in Heaven for weeks! The Head Keeper had been so impressed by the gleaming leather, polished wood and shiny steel that he had taken Charlie under his wing especially, teaching him absolutely everything he could about dragons.

There were only so many times you could polish a wand before the center began to peek out, but it was more important to keep your wand in top shape. That he had learned his first year, after nearly failing his Transfiguration and Charms exams. Perplexed at their obviously bright and talented son's remarks, his parents had taken him to see Ollivander. Was it possible that he hadn't received the wand best suited for him?

Ollivander had scoffed at his parents and asked to see his wand. When Charlie had pulled it from his pocket, pulling oddly moist lint from its ash wood, he had thought the wand maker was having a heart attack.

"Fool! Turn out your pockets!" Ollivander had demanded. Obeying immediately, Charlie watched the old man's face go from ashen white to a deep ruddy puce. "Sweets? A Chocolate Frog? A real frog! Flobberworms? Gobstones! Is that chewed Drooble's Best Blowing Gum?"

"Well, yes. It still has bubbles in it, you know..." Charlie had managed feebly.

"My boy, it is no wonder that wand will not perform for you! You mistreat it," Ollivander had said, scandalized.

Charlie, having heard stories about how exactly wizards abused their wands, shook his head. "I haven't... I mean, I'd never do that! That's disgusting, that is!"

Charlie wasn't the only person blushing.

"No, Mr. Weasley, I mean you do not care for your wand properly. Come into the back and I'll show you the proper care regimen for an ash wand," the wand maker said.

That was the day Charlie learned how important it was to sand and clean and polish and tune his wand every week. Ollivander had even given him his own polishing kit.

The next week, Charlie begged his parents to take him to Diagon Alley again, to see Ollivander. For three days he had whinged, until finally his mum gave in. She sent an owl to the wand shop asking if Charlie could visit, and Mr. Ollivander replied that Charlie could spend the day at the shop, if he promised not to be a nuisance.

In retrospect, Charlie was sure he had been a nuisance, bombarding the old man with questions about wands. What kind of wood did Ollivander use? What kind of magical cores? Do you clean different wands differently? What about tuning?

By the end of the summer, Charlie had learned more about wands then he had in History of Magic all year. He returned to Hogwarts with a perfectly polished and tuned wand, beautifully operational. He joined the Gryffindor Quidditch team as Seeker, and took top marks in both Charms and Transfigurations all year.

That July, Mr. Ollivander offered to take him on a trip to collect wood for new wands. Charlie learned how to spot the best trees and to find the best branches for wands. It was important that the tree be strong, healthy and not housing Bowtruckles - they tended to attack.

Then, Ollivander allowed him to watch as he made new wands. It was best, for an aesthetic value, if you used the nicest grain you found. It was important to make the grip exactly one third the overall length of the wand, and that you took care to evenly curve the grip. But there were plenty of things you could do to the grip for flair. That summer, Charlie perfected his own technique and re-grooved his grip so that it was even easier to flourish.

In third year Charlie began Care of Magical Creatures with Professor Kettleburn and fell in love with the class. Caring for beasts and creatures was just as exciting as caring for his wand, and without the chance to learn from Ollivander, Charlie poured into Care of Magical Creatures and, along with winning the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup, took top marks in four classes.

The summer after his third year, Ollivander let him join him in the Forbidden Forest while he and Hagrid looked for unicorn hair. Hagrid showed Charlie how to approach the unicorns and not scare them, and taught him a bit about caring for the creatures. When Ollivander and Charlie had collected all the hairs they needed, Ollivander handed Charlie a Galleon, the first money he had ever earned.

Returning to Hogwarts in September, Charlie continued making money. His reputation as a wandsman growing, students paid him to polish and sand their wands. Charging only a few Sickles a wand, Charlie had enough money to ask Nymphadora Tonks to Hogsmeade. She said yes.

Gryffindor took the Quidditch Cup again that year and Charlie only got top marks in Care of Magical Creatures, but he didn't mind, as his parents had owled him saying Ollivander wanted to take him to the Hebridean Black Reserve in the Outer Hebrides, to gather some heartstrings. Tonks thought it was very cool, his "thing with dragons."

Dragons were stunning. Charlie stood awestruck at the sight of the enormous black bodies gracefully swooping through the air. Dragon heartstrings could be taken from a dragon while it was still alive; the Head Keeper explained that dragons were easier to control if they were "groomed" often. Charlie was torn - his old love of wands and his new, obsessive adoration of dragons dividing him.

"Don't worry, my boy," Ollivander said kindly. "The best strings come from those that die of old age. They're the strongest, and the only ones I'll deal with

Pulling him along, Ollivander showed him the storage room where the hearts were kept clean and frozen, waiting for someone to come and make use of them. The skin, livers, horn and blood had all been sold, as soon as possible, to help finance the research at the Reserve, but the hearts took an expert to make use of.

While Charlie went to Ollivanders, his best mate Adam, who lived above his mum's antique shop, went to Florien Fortescue's where he ate ice creams and played wizarding chess with other patrons. By Thursday midday, Ollivander also lost his temper and demanded Charlie go and "have a childhood, and stop pestering me about willow and unicorn hair being an unlucky combination!"

Charlie protested that willow, which represented mourning and unlucky love, was obviously a bad wood to make wands with, made worse when paired with unicorn hair because unicorns had little protective magic. Yet, while Charlie thought arguing over wood/core combinations was fascinating, by Thursday he was more than ready to head out and play Quidditch with Adam and whomever they could shake loose.

Charlie became a Prefect and Gryffindor Quidditch Captain in his fifth year. He continued polishing wands for four Sickles and Nymphadora - who now refused to be called Nymphadora - was his girlfriend. Bill was Head Boy, and Gryffindor was tops all year. By May, Charlie stopped his trade, focusing on gaining as many O.W.L.'s as he could.

That summer, Ollivander let Charlie mind the storefront every day while he cared for the thousands of wands in his inventory. For the first time, Charlie got to help place new students with their wands - it was harder than it looked. His average sale time was thirty minutes at the beginning of summer and twenty-seven minutes at the end of summer. Ollivander almost had an apoplexy when he realized Charlie hadn't shown a single unicorn and willow wand.

He had managed ten O.W.L.'s, and in September he began N.E.W.T. classes in Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies. By the third week of classes, he had dropped Potions. Bill was gone, but the twins had arrived, and Percy was driving him mental. Tonks - as she was now called - broke up with him for a Ravenclaw seventh-year, and they ignored each other all year. His best mate Adam cheered him up by introducing him to a Hufflepuff girl named Chloe who Tonks had always hated.

That summer Ollivander let him mind the store for a week while he attended business in Hungary. Terrified, Charlie spent most of his time stuttering to customers about the qualities of wands they were looking at. He slipped up and sold a unicorn and willow wand to an elderly witch. He managed to survive until Ollivander returned and promptly escaped from the shop to run wild with Adam. They tried, with varying degrees of success, to use an Aging Potion to sneak into pubs.

Nothing the older students had said prepared Charlie for seventh year. He hadn't made Head Boy, but after the prank he'd played on Snape after dropping his class (though no one would ever be able to prove anything), Charlie hadn't been too surprised. And N.E.W.T.'s and Quidditch and a side business were quite enough to be getting on with, anyway.

By the time June came round Charlie and Tonks were speaking again. Job offers from different Quidditch teams rolled in - England even offered a spot on its Reserve line! But Charlie wrote all the managers back and respectfully declined. The first day home as a fully qualified wizard, Charlie Apparated to Diagon Alley and asked Ollivander for a proper job.

"No," Ollivander said.

"Er - what?"

"You're young, my son. Go have an adventure!" Ollivander said. "There'll still be wands to make when you return."

And so Charlie made himself a new wand and left his old one with his brother Ron, and traveled to a Dragon Reserve in Romania. Not too long after, Ron and his friends sent Charlie a letter about a dragon Hagrid was keeping and Charlie had sent Adam and Tonks and their friends to get him. A nice holiday during the Quidditch World Cup, a return to Hogwarts for the Tri-Wizard Tournament... for five years Charlie stayed in Romania, having his adventure, taking a few holidays, breaking a few hearts, until he received a letter from his mother.

Ollivander had disappeared.

At first, Charlie had thought to disobey Dumbledore's order not to return to England. The old man didn't understand what Ollivander meant to him. But, in the end, he couldn't think what he would accomplish by returning, and decided to obey both men - he'd stay in Romania and have his adventure, while Voldemort reigned terror on England.

When he came home for Bill's wedding, a letter arrived for him at the Burrow from a law firm in Diagon Alley.

It was directions to Ollivander's Gringotts vault, where his supply of wands could be found, as well as the keys to 23 Diagon Alley. Apparently, Charlie was the new Ollivander.

"Sorry, Charlie," Bill said, his mangled face genuinely sympathetic.

"Yeah. It's too bad," Ron agreed. "Creepy old man, but I liked him. Gave Mum a good deal on this wand, said he missed you." Ron showed Charlie the wand- it was willow and made with Charlie's special grip.

"Ron... What's this wands centre?" Praying he was wrong, he ran his hands over the sticky wood.

"Unicorn hair. Ollivander said it'd be good for curses."

But not too good with the counters, Charlie said as he braced it in both hands and snapped.


Author notes: Please review. This will actually be "back story" to a new schnoogle I'm planning. Tell me what you think of Charlie.