Though Verity did not intend to attend the New Zealand wizarding school, she happened to know that her cousin, Emmett, worked at the local wand shop. She didn't yet have a wand and so she saw no harm in acquiring one from him. Her mother was here anyway, doing, whatever it was she did when she wasn't in America, and so Verity had ample opportunity to look around the local wizarding shops. She was thrilled to note that, whilst America was much bigger, New Zealand did not lack for opportunity. Her accent clearly gave away her origin, though it was not the typical accent one would expect, and she smiled warmly to those that greeted her. She liked people, for the most part, and enjoy being in large groups. She didn't exactly belong to a small family after all.
Finding what she assumed was the wand shop, Verity looked around to find her cousin. There were a couple of students here who were her age and it was fairly obvious as to why they were all looking so disgruntled. Not all wands were cheap and in fact, many cost more galleons than half of these people were worth. Not that it was a problem for Verity in any way. She had enough money to buy two of every wand in the shop if she wanted to. She was definitely one of the lucky ones.
Spotting her cousin, finally, Verity ran up to him and grinned. "Emmett! Can you help me find a wand?"
"And that was when this goblin with a fake cockney accent walks in and demands a wand..." Emmett said, leaning across the counter as he recounted his week to his younger sister on the other side, ignoring the small handful of other children browsing stock or trying to get his attention. The other assistants were free to do some actual work for a change, rather than whatever it was they usually tried to pass off as working. The only employees who ever made sales in the store at any given time were he and Victoire. It was surprising how any of the other children students had managed to stay employed for so long. He didn't even know their names. Apparently, the situation had been exactly the same when Esme still worked in the store, but after her resignation, he'd been given the opportunity to take her place and further his studies of wandlore, seeing how the varieties of wands interacted with each new customer gave a lot of insight into the mechanics of the magical wood.
"...So then she called me a pompous wand dealer. Have you ever heard an eleven year old use the word pompous? I haven't. It must be a goblin thing. I still cannot believe the Ministry allows their kind to use and purchase wands." The Lancaster boy continued, appalled by his experience with the creature in the store. He did not envy the fact his sister attended Hogwarts. Meeting most of the customers once was enough, he couldn't have bared further seeing them at school. In comparison, Durmstrang had been a completely different caste of witches and wizards. Before he had a chance to further continue his shocking story, a familiar voice calling his name grabbed his attention. He broke his gaze from his sibling, shifting them instead onto a similarly looking young girl. It was remarkable how closely his younger cousin resembled his sister. "If it isn't Verity. You're a little far from home, aren't you? It''s been a while. Eleven years old already?" Time flew by so quickly, and the older he was, the faster it seemed to flow by. "Of course I can help you, right, Esme?"
The seer's complaints about the wretched brats whom she had served during her time at Ollivanders had never truly been understood by her brother, but now that he himself was in the same position she had been for so many years, experiencing the same problematic children she had. Goblins, no less. The filth bred faster than rabbits. "Pompous? It's utterly ridiculous how half of these children speak. All of these eleven year old witches and wizards having the audacity to backtalk, speaking as if they're adults. None of them act their age these days. It's inexplicable." Esme commented with a slight click of her tongue and shake of her head. At the very least, she'd no longer have to deal with it. "The magical world is slowly progressing, and with the Scitorari movement, it's only a matter of time before these goblin halfbreeds are banished to be with their own kind, or serving us like the elves, We'll get there eventually. The Ministry will see the error of their ways and the laws will change. It can't come soon enough."
The Lancaster witch diverted her attention from her brother as another voice joined them, a young girl who, unlike the other small witches in the store, was actually a welcome sight. "We can help you, yes. No doubt you'll bond with one of our more superior wands. You're a Lancaster, after all, and you're getting the best assistance Ollivanders can offer." The seeres spoke with a complacent smile, thankful that Verity hadn't come whilst one of the other, less fortunate assistants were working. To have her served by someone such as Fontaine would be an absolute insult. None of the other students employed there could tell the tip of a wand from it's handle either, for that matter. She had always questioned Keira's taste in assistants. The only positive decision she had made was hiring the Lancaster siblings. "So Verity, which is your most dominant hand?"
Verity was glad that though she had appeared to interrupt a conversation between her cousins, they were only too happy to put it aside for the moment and help her out. She loved her cousins and if she had her way, she would be with them all the time, but given that none of her siblings went to Hogwarts and her family seemed to dislike New Zealand as a whole, she was happy to be finally going to a school at least. She had feared for a while that her mother would wish to homeschool her, given all the stories coming out of New Zealand these days. Still, Illvermorny was better than nothing and of all the things she was most excited to finally have a wand of her own. She saw her parents with them and all she wanted to do was to cast her own spells. One to clean up her room might be very useful indeed.
She grinned between both Emmett and Esme. With both of them helping her, she was bound to find the right wand in no time. These things could take time she was told, but if they knew what they were doing, then she was sure it would take no time at all. Considering it was her cousins, she was sure she was in very safe and skilled hands. "Yep! My birthday was a couple of days ago. I begged mom to bring me with her when she told me she was coming to New Zealand, I'm glad you're here!" Verity had never really been out much and so the way Emmett and Esme spoke confused her a little. She only really associated with other family members when she was at home and so she hadn't ever thought about any one wand being more or less superior to another. It was all very fascinating indeed. "Dominant, well I use both, but I think I use my left the most!" She'd learned to use both hands as a young child and enjoyed the idea of being able to fake a weaker or stronger hand when she was equally skilled with both. She couldn't remember the word her mother used, but it was a weird sounding word, she knew that.
"I wasn't aware. Happy birthday for then." Emmett spoke, having never been too invested in keeping track of any of his cousin's birthdays. Emeric was the only one who got excited about them, whereas Lythande and Fenris had only celebrated their seventeenths. As the younger Lancaster informed them of her dominant hand, the wizard's attention turned to the counter top, where a leafy stick-like creature sat raking marks into the wood's surface with it's sharp fingers, peeling small curls of the wood with every scrape. "Phyll, please pass me the measuring tape." He requested of the creature, which appeared more than happy to fulfill the request. Once it had retrieved and rolled over a coil of tape, inscribed with runic lettering, Emmett reached down to pluck it from its needle-like hands, the lettering glowing faintly at his touch and unfurling in the air, as if held aloft by invisible strings. It proceeded to slither toward Verity, taking the required measurements as he contemplated what he knew of his cousin, and how that would translate to her relationship with a wand. "You could perhaps bond well with Hawthorn, or Ivy. What do you think Es?"
Esme frowned slightly, with what little she'd been able to see of Verity given their distance, it was difficult to be sure. The other siblings had vastly different wands - Fenris held a rougarou core, Lythande's was somewhat poisonous in nature, and Emeric's was floral. Then of course, the older members had varieties of Acromantula cores, from venom to silk. "Walnut is a likely possibility. Do we have anything with Acromantula? Or one of the three Ollivander preferences?" When it came down to it, dragon heartstring, phoenix feather and unicorn hair were all highly competent and popular choices. As the roll of measuring tape finished its job, the seeress pulled it from the air, eyes flittering across the measurements before handing it to Emmett, who disappeared into the back of the store. As he returned, she took the top box from the pile in his arms, delicately lifting off its lid as her brother set the rest down on the counter. "This one is nice. Ten inches of curled walnut wood, with acromantula webbing for the core. Give it a wave." The witch turned the length of wood over in her hand, before passing it to Verity and gesturing at another small child in the room. "Aim it at them."
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