Trivial Pursuit

Flashback:

Peter Pettigrew was afraid. Standing in the long Muggle street with his former best friend, Sirius Black before him, his voice was rising to levels that he had never dreamed that they could.

"How could you betray us!!!" he squealed, and in a moment of rare inspiration, blasted the street behind him quickly. Taking out a long knife, he hastily cut off a finger. Ignoring the blood that dripped sickeningly to the pavement and the pain that nearly made him faint, he transformed into a disgusting brown rat and ran quickly into the ditch with the frightened street rats, Black's frighteningly amused baritone laugh echoing spiritedly through the ruined lane.

His wand, a long length of pine, lay unheeded on the wet ground.

* * * * * *

Julia Summers was walking beside her mother through the familiar streets of Diagon Alley. This particular visit, however, had an undercurrent of excitement to it that wreathed even mundane stores like Fourish and Blotts with a rosy glow of expectation. She was to go to Hogwarts this September!! What excitement she felt, what honor. Julia was already planning her life there- she would be sorted into Gryffindor like her loving mother, and would make lots of friends. She would excel at her classes and everyone would love her. She would even get a boyfriend!

The best part of it all, though, was that she was finally going to get a wand. No practicing on the sly ith Mum's wand any more. Just pure, unadulterated fun, filled with pranks, pranks, and more pranks! Julia and her mother stopped in front of Ollivanders. They were 'Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.', huh? The creepy guy with the silver eyes looked just about as old as that, too. She had been there once before, when her mother's wand had been broken, and she hadn't liked it at all.

The two ladies stepped into the shop, and Julia's mother, Octavia, stopped her with a quiet hand on her arm. "My dear, I love you, whatever happens as a result of this visit. If you remember nothing else, remember that."

"Yes Mum," she said, mystified. "I love you too. Any particular reason why you needed to tell me that so urgently?" She knew her mother was a powerful Seer, so there must have been a reason for that strangely cryptic message, which sent shivers down her spine.

"I can tell you nothing more, my child." She lightly rested a hand on her daughter's light brown hair and sighed. Octavia's Gift was nothing but a burden at times.

Interrupting this tender moment, Ollivander came forward himself from the dark depths of the dusty shop, carrying an armful of thin boxes that presumably contained wands.

"Julia Summers. I have been looking forward to your visit. You look just as excited as your mother did when she came here for her first wand. It was cedar, 8 inches, rather stiff, and with a penchant for Arithmancy. But your father..." He was cut off by the glare Octavia gave him over her head, but Julia was livid.

"Yes, yes, tell me about my father! Everyone just avoids the subject around me! What is this! I'm his bloody daughter!"

"You'll find out when you're ready, dear," said Octavia, nodding in acknowledgement of Ollivander's sympathetic smile.

"Hrrumph." Julia loved Octavia, a single mother of two who worked much too hard for her own health, and didn't want to add any unnecessary pressure to her life, however infuriating that effort might be. Strangling a rude comment, she turned to Ollivander, smiling. "So, how do I try these?"

The old man grinned gleefully at this sudden interest in the job at hand, and soon Julia was trying wand after wand. She and her mother had already made up their minds that they would buy a used wand if possible, so as not to deplete the minimal family funds. Finally, there were only 3 used wands left to be tried, and Ollivander was getting very happy. "Here you go!" he said. "This is a most unusual wand- the original owner, I am sad to say, is dead,"- at this the silver eyes misted over- "but his wand has outlived him, one of the few pine wands that has survived for any length of time. It is relatively fragile, but it might work. Thirteen inches, pliable, core of unicorn's hair and dragon heartstring, good all- purpose wand. Very rare, though- I own no other double core. Give it a wave."

Doing as she was requested, she was surprised to feel a freezing feeling run through her arm and to see the whole shop shake, causing wands to fall from the racks. Ollivander seemed pleased. "I think you have found the proper wand. Give it here, I'll pack it up."

Minutes later she exited the shop with her new wand. She passed a handsome red-haired, laughing boy in the company of a black haired boy and a bushy haired girl, who had a rat on his shoulder. Unknown to her, the dirty brown animal watched her intently as she walked away, oblivious to the importance that boy and his pet would later hold in her life.