Weakness

"Come along Ellietta, we've still got to go to Ollivander's," a tall witch with bouncing chocolate curls and wide set eyes called over her shoulder to the little girl who was several steps behind her.

People often stared at little Ellietta Widdersham when she was out and about, muggles more so than witches and wizards. On this sunny July afternoon her hair was a pale shade of pink and cascaded over her shoulders in soft waves. Though her mother did wish her daughter would choose a more normal hair color she was glad, at least, that she had done away with the duck bill she'd had for a mouth all last week.

"Here we are," the mother pointed to a sign with peeling gold letters which read Ollivander's: Makers of Fine Wands Since 382 BC. She pushed the pink haired little girl through the door and into the shop. Upon the only chair inside sat a morose looking witch with long blonde hair. "Narcissa, dear! How are you?"

"As well as can be," Narcissa replied, "I can't believe the children are off to Hogwarts already."

At that precise moment a haggard old man with unruly grey hair and misty silver eyes appeared behind the counter. He had in his hands a narrow box which he opened and withdrew a plain brown and black wand from.

"10 inches," Mr. Ollivander stated as he placed the wand in the hands of a little boy with milky skin and hair so blond it was almost white, "Hawthorn with a unicorn hair core. Reasonably pliant. Give it a go."

Ellietta watched as the boy flicked his wrist. A few small golden sparks erupted from the tip of the wand and the boy smiled. Ellietta smiled too and a strangely warm feeling settled into her stomach. With a small pop! her light pink waves turned a happy sunshine yellow. So busy wondering what the unfamiliar feeling could be, Ellietta forgot her surroundings.

"Get out of your head, girl!" her mother snapped, "I'm trying to buy you a wand here."

"Sorry," Ellietta mumbled.

She turned to find that that the blonde boy and his mother were being ushered out of the shop in a rush by a tall wizard with an ornate walking stick and hair which matched the other two, muttering something that sounded like "dirty half-blood" under his breath. As the little blonde boy bounced down the street and out of sight the warmth in Ellietta's stomach disappeared too.

"How about you try this one?" asked Mr. Ollivander, unsheathing a wand from a box and holding it out to Ellietta.

She reached out to take the wand but before it had touched even the tips of her fingers Mr. Ollivander had snatched it back saying it just wouldn't do. This process went on for a while, six or seven wands simply didn't fit the bill. Finally he found a particularly dusty box and extracted from it a darkly colored wand with a swirling pattern carved around the base. He held out to Ellietta with a cautious look on his face.

"9 1/2 inches. Hazel and Unicorn hair. Quite flexible," he told her, "Hazel wands are also quite sensitive. Best for a witch or wizard who knows how to handle their emotions. The wand picks up on these things, you see, and if you should lose your temper it will absorb that energy and discharge it in a most unpredictable manor."

The wand seemed to mold itself into Ellietta's palm. It felt oddly warm, she noted, and seemed a great deal softer than it looked. She marveled at it a moment and then mimicked the flicking motion the little blond boy had done earlier. Instead of the golden sparks she'd been expecting a fine pink mist oozed from the end of the wand.

"That'll be the one then," Mr. Ollivander smiled.

As her mother rummaged through her coin purse for galleons Ellietta's mind drifted back to the pale little boy with white blond hair. She was vaguely aware that her mother had hold of her arm and was tugging her out of the shabby little shop, probably scolding her for something, but she didn't care. She wanted to know about the boy. What was that strange sensation she'd felt when his wand had chosen him? Why did it leave with him? She hoped she might feel it again, it was quite nice after all.