Seeing that his sales pitch had worked, Old Ollivander was so delighted his white eyebrows practically vibrated off his face.
"You truly have an eye for quality, dear! The wand is seven Galleons, and with the maintenance kit, that brings your total to nine."
Hermione, still holding her nose, quickly fished out her money bag and clattered about twenty Galleons onto the counter.
"Harvey, you keep the change for your own. Mom, let's wait outside—I need to breathe some fresh air!"
With that, Hermione couldn't wait to drag her parents out of Ollivander's Wand Shop.
Once the shop was empty, leaving only Harvey and the old man.
The two of them stared at each other for a long moment.
Eventually, it was Ollivander who broke the silence, flashing a practiced, professional smile as he asked, "Tell me, child, which is your wand arm?"
Harvey swore he would never let that dusty tape measure, which looked like it hadn't been washed since the Middle Ages, touch his body.
He asked tentatively, "Mr. Ollivander, can we skip the measurements and go straight to picking the wand?"
"Absolutely not!" the old man flatly refused, stating that it was an essential part of the process.
"Fine, just make it quick. I don't want to keep them waiting too long," Harvey said, gesturing to Hermione and the others outside.
"Are they your family?"
Ollivander asked curiously about Harvey's background.
Simultaneously, the tape measure on the counter flew up again and began zipping around Harvey's frame.
The markings on the tape were almost obscured by layers of grime.
As it moved, Harvey felt the dust shaking off the tape and floating right into his nostrils...
"A-choo!"
He couldn't help but sneeze.
After witnessing Hermione's terrible experience, Harvey finally understood why she had been in such a hurry to flee.
"Here, child, try this one."
Ollivander pulled several boxes from the shelves, randomly selected one, and handed the wand to Harvey.
Harvey took it.
A long pause followed—
Nothing happened.
Just as Harvey began to wonder if there was something wrong with the wand or something wrong with him.
Ollivander snatched the wand back.
"Apparently, that's not the one. Try this."
Another long pause—
Still no reaction.
"Well, no matter. Let's try this one."
Ollivander's expression shifted from neutral, to interested, to genuine surprise.
"Extraordinary! It is rare to see such a picky young wizard. You must be very special indeed!"
"Let me think... hmmm..."
"I remember a very unique wand, locked away for many years. It should be right..."
Muttering to himself, Ollivander turned and headed toward the very back of the shop.
From the very top of a high shelf, he pulled out a deep purple wooden box.
He returned to Harvey, his eyes drifting into memory as he wiped the box with a dark cloth.
"This was the masterpiece of my great-grandfather, inspired by ancient wand legends."
"Yew wood, with a Thestral tail hair core, ten and three-quarter inches long."
"The conditions for this wand to recognize a master are... incredibly demanding."
"Not only must the bearer have witnessed death, but they must also have experienced the reincarnation of the soul."
"Witnessing death is possible for some, but the reincarnation of a soul is something no wizard has ever achieved."
"Even that second condition was merely a deduction my great-grandfather made based on the properties of Thestral hair; its accuracy was never proven."
"Consequently, since the day it was crafted, this wand has remained sealed away."
"Two hundred years have passed, and it has never found its master."
"But today... perhaps this wand shall..."
Harvey had stopped listening to the rest of the speech.
The moment he heard "reincarnation of the soul," alarm bells started screaming in his head.
This old man wasn't bluffing; was the process of a wand choosing a wizard really that mystical?
Logically, no one should have known about his soul being from another world.
Was magic truly this profound?
Thinking about certain spells from the Wizarding World, Harvey wondered if the old man was secretly using Legilimency to sift through his memories.
With a racing heart, Harvey took the wand from Ollivander's hand.
A surge of warmth flowed from his core, traveling through his arm and into the tip of the wand, where something felt ready to explode.
"Hummm—"
A mysterious, scarlet light—the color of death—blossomed from the tip of the wand.
An overwhelming sense of spiritual harmony washed over him.
"Yes! Perfect! Simply perfect! This is undoubtedly the wand for you!"
The old man's sudden outburst startled Harvey.
"Since this wand was first made, you are the very first to make it react. Remarkable! Simply remarkable!"
"Child, your future is destined to be anything but ordinary!"
Ollivander's shock was infectious, and Harvey couldn't help but let a slight smirk play on his lips.
Even though the Marvel world was dangerous, and the Wizarding World wasn't exactly safe either.
Knowing the future was his greatest asset, and that was even before learning magic.
His future was indeed destined for greatness!
...
Harvey walked out of the wand shop, carrying the cat carrier in his left hand and his new wand—plus the maintenance kit—in his right.
It had cost him twelve gold Galleons in total!
"What took you so long?" Hermione pouted impatiently. "Give me Cthulhu!"
Realizing he had been successfully upsold on a maintenance kit he probably didn't need, Harvey's expression was a bit sour.
As he handed over the cage, he asked tentatively, "Could you maybe change the cat's name?"
Hermione gave him a flat look. "Why? What's wrong with it?"
Harvey said with a straight face, "The name Cthulhu... it has an indescribably creepy vibe to it."
"I strongly suggest you pick something else, unless you want to spend your nights plagued by eldritch whispers in your head!"
By the end, Harvey had lowered his voice to a gravelly whisper, trying to spook her.
Instead, Harvey's cracking "puberty" voice just made Hermione burst into giggles.
"Haha! Your voice sounds so weird..."
Harvey, face burning with embarrassment, tried to maintain his dignity. "I'm serious, names have power. There are many taboos in the magical world that you shouldn't mess with!"
Seeing how serious he looked, Hermione tilted her head curiously. "Is that another one of those taboo magical terms?"
"Uh..." Harvey thought for a second. "Yes. You could say that."
"Fine." Since she had only picked the name half an hour ago, Hermione didn't mind. She poked at the Persian cat in the cage and tossed out a new name.
"Then you shall be called Crookshanks!"
Harvey's lip twitched. Why was it still something so... crooked?
Were there no normal names left?