[Dhanya Raveendran]

The ever-steady lull of slow days at Raveendran's Wand Shop continued. With the school rush behind her, Dhanya knew there wouldn't be a lot of customers for a while. As she saw it, the wand maker's year had two heigh points: the four weeks leading up to the beginning of term at Hogwarts and the four weeks leading up to Christmas. Outside of that, very few people bought wands. It was a shame really, but she didn't know what could be done about it. The rest of the year, she had to supplement her income by accepting commissions for other types of magical woodwork.

Today, she was working on a staff that a wealthy pureblood had ordered for ceremonial purposes. It was actually a fun little project. She'd never made an object capable of casting spells as large as this, and she doubted that it would be very efficient or pleasant to use, but it certainly looked impressive, even in its half-finished state. She'd gotten to use mango wood for it, which was very much a favourite material of Dhanya's to work with. Maybe she should make a second one of these for display purposes? See if anyone else would buy one? She certainly wouldn't mind making a couple more. They were fun.

Having finished a tricky area of ornamentation, Dhanya got up and vanished some of the wood chips and find dust that was sticking to her trousers and blouse. Some had even gotten onto her dupatta. She made a cup of tea, then checked the display in the front window. Everything was in order, like it always was, but Dhanya didn't feel entirely satisfied. Maybe, if she did something different with the window more customers would come in? She could never decide if displaying her carved woodwork pieces and non-traditional wand core materials was a good of a bad thing. Some customers seemed to really like it while others judged the quality of her work as inferior to that of British creators. Perhaps, if she didn't make it so evident that her approach to wands was unconventional for Britain, that would help with getting more work?

She bit her lower lip and peered down at the items on display. Yes, definitely. The little sculptures and masks probably needed to go. She reached down and picked up two of the items, relocating them to a shelf in the back of the shop. That was better. Just wands and furniture items. Nice, safe and boring, just like most of the patrons who liked to shop around here.

Dhanya returned to her carving. How late was it? Oh, only quarter past eleven? She still had a long day ahead of her. She resolved to do another two or three hours before checking up on Galen Yardley across the road. Her fellow shopkeeper had been missing quite a few days recently. Dhanya wondered if he was well. For as long as she'd known him, he'd always been a little fragile, but lately he seemed to be missing even more work than usual.

She lost herself in thought, not even noticing when somebody finally entered the shop. Had the bell even sounded? Oh well, it didn't matter.

"Good Morning, is there anything I may help you with, Madame?"

[Deitha Albron]

Deitha had had a day or two to ponder what to do about this. Since that... interesting... day in Frome, the excusion with Odhrán, she had found herself with a second wand. After all, its owner wouldn't need it, not even sure he'd necessarily miss it. And if he did, well, that was rather his problem. She was resolved that the confiscated wand would never do harm again.

But wands were peculiar things. One could snap a wand, certainly. But there were rumours that it was possible to fix snapped wands, especially if someone wielded a more powerful wand with a more powerful will. Certainly she'd heard whispers that Albus Dumbledore - the wizard who defeated Grindlewald - had performed such a feat at least once, but those were just rumours.

Better then to enlist the help of a specialist in its destruction, and maybe even putting it to better use. It had occurred to her that she could have gone to Ollivander's, but Ollivander had sold her her own wand when she was a child. She remembered that Ollivander made claims about remembering every wand he ever sold, surely he would remember that this was not the wand he had sold to her.

No, someone else - and she'd heard good things about this small place tucked away in the middle of London. And so she'd set out in a long cloak, somewhere she could stow the wand and reach it without having to obviously carry it.

The bell had tinkled pleasantly as she'd entered, and Deitha took a moment to admire the wands and other magical woodwork on display. It had a beauty and an elegance to it that seemed so rare in her travels. The wands in particular were beautiful, ornate, occasionally with gems set in them. Such a change from Ollivander's work, which was functional and practical but with no eye for aesthetics. Such a shame. Wands could be decorative as well as practical.

And when the shopkeeper's voice greeted her, it was unexpected. A shop named 'Raveendran's' had a certain expectation - but Deitha most certainly hadn't expected to hear a female voice. She'd noticed over the last fifteen years that people had arrived from the various disparate parts of the British Empire, ostensibly to 'rebuild the country' after the muggle war, and that had lead to more interesting people in and around town. It had pleased her to see that these people brought their own sensibilities and tastes with them, made the world so much richer.

But even with the richness that had come to Britain, some social rules hadn't entirely changed; a woman running her own business was rare - and Deitha knew all about that. Times were changing - but not quite so fast.

Her voice had a melody to it that was otherwise so rare. It was... pleasant.

"Good morning... I have to say I love what you've been making... why must all the wands be so boring?"

She drew the spare wand from her cloak, and laid it on the counter. "I was wondering if you could tell me a little about this wand. It's boring, I know, but I'd like to know a little more about how it's made."

[Dhanya Raveendran]

Dhanya looked up to find a young woman before her. She had the palest skin, big blue eyes and a charming smile. Dhanya thought she rather looked like the protagonist of a novel she'd recently read. Dhanya blinked slowly as of to check she wasn't imaging this, but the guest sure seemed real enough to her.

Apparently, the young woman was quite intelligent and kind too. The first thing out of her mouth was a compliment, which of course went down a treat with the owner of Raveendrans. "That's exactly what I would say," Dhanya agreed with the customer on the nature of wands. "They are meant to inspire and facilitate magic. It should do so not just through its form and function, but also through its design."

Dhanya set her whittling knife aside and gave a little smile. "One of my teachers used to say that it is up to each person to find the beauty in everyday things and that doing so is the key to happiness. As a maker and manufacturer I find there are ways in means in which I can help bring this process along and I like to think that I don't just seen wands, but little bits of happiness."

While she was talking, the customer producer an older wand, made by another maker. At first glance Dhanya assessed it as serviceable and not broken. She took the wand in her hand and felt a strange energy coil around the implement.

"Hmm, this one had not brought a lot of happiness," Dhanya sad with a matter of fact disappointment. It's made from Gaboon ebony and apparently and Ollivander make, though I dare  say not a very recent one." She turned the wand around, holding it by the tip, so Deitha could see the handle. "You can usually tell is an Ollivander make by the shape of the handle. Perfect uniformity and that appearance as if turned constantly while being worked on. Gregorovitch would never work against the grain of the wood like that."  

Dhanya bit her lip in concentration. "Now, the second way you can tell this is older is that it's not a surpreme wand core as Ollivander likes to call them." It was evident from the tone what Dhanya thought of the man's work regarding wand cores. She flipped the wand again and moved it slowly, producing a series of fizzling sparks. Her nose wrinkled. She then adjusted her grip and tried again, this time more carefully. The wand seemed to respond better. "Now I'd have to take this apart to know for sure, but I think it's a composite core. There is definitely some dittany stalk in here which would have made the wand great for healing, but I'm picking up something else too. I think it might be rougarou hair. An unusual combination really."

She paused and looked straight at the woman. "This isn't yours, is it?" No, Dhanya couldn't picture that, but she wanted to make sure. "I get the impression this wand was rather used against its nature for a long time. There's a lingering darkness to it that goes beyond what would be natural for a rougarou core."

[Deitha Albron]

Deitha found herself liking what she was hearing. She was in the presence of an artist; that things were crafted with skill, and love, and passion, not just necessity and function. It was pleasant and reassuring about the world.

Upon hearing that the wand had not brought happiness, Deitha grimaced inwardly. No, happiness was not the focus of that wand's work. There was a mention of Ollivander and a Gregorovitch, there was a blast from the past - she'd only come across the name when she'd been at Durmstrang, for the students that didn't have an Ollivander's wand. She hadn't been sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"No, definitely not mine." She pondered for a moment. "I suppose, I came to ask if you could do something with it. Perhaps it could be dismantled and the parts put to better use?" She pursed her lips, wondering how honest to be. Perhaps a modicum of honesty was the best policy.

"I took it off its former owner in a duel. He won't be needing it any more and I'd originally come in here to ask how to destroy it so it could never do bad things again, but you talk about the things that went into making it - I wonder if you could do something with it."

It was an odd thing to think about - could one dismantle a wand like it were a piece of furniture? It pleased her to consider that the wand that had done harm may yet do good.

[Dhanya Raveendran]

Dismantle it? This was intriguing. Few wizards or witches would have made such a request. It made Dhanya all the more curious how the woman opposite her had come by the wand in question. An explanation was offered, though it felt a bit archaic. Who got into serious duels in this day and age when there were better, peaceful ways to resolve conflict? It seemed odd to think of the woman in front of her as someone who'd been in a serious fight. She didn't seem the type, but of course appearances could be deceiving.

The question of reuse was hanging in the room and Dhanya pondered what could be done. "It's usually complicated," the wandmaker mused. "Once a wand core is bonded to a wizard it tends to be loyal and perform less reliably for another wizard. It's one of the biggest challenges in making wands for others, to prevent the materials from bonding with you and thus curtailing the wand's potential. However, it sure would be interesting to try."

She ran a fingertip along the wand, feeling the material. "This seems to be laminated in a couple of places. I think that is easily enough undone with the correct solvent potion. Separate the dittany from the rougarou and it might be possible to do something with the components. I don't think I'd want to keep them together though. It's bound to remember how it was once used and I don't think that dark twist is truly worth preserving. There are better ways of producing an instrument suitable for curse of blood magic." There was no judgement in her tone at the darker types of magic mentioned.

Realising she'd been rambling a bit she focused on the customer again. "Was there something in particular you would like this to be crafted into? I suppose it could be a wand again, though with an aged piece of dittany like that I think it could become a fine protection charm as well. Maybe as a carved pendant or a little figurine?"

Dhanya moved to show the lady a few smaller carved animals as well as a couple of charm using beautiful hand-carved mango wood flowers.

"Or maybe something big and statement. It might be possible to incorporate this piece into a larger staff, though it would need quite a bit of additional material. Staves need much larger cores to achieve magical potency than a simple wand."

"Anyway, did you have something in mind?"

[Deitha Albron]

Deitha hadn't really given any thought to the actual workings of a wand. She knew, like most did, about wand cores, about wand woods and what those meant. It hadn't occurred to her that wands truly bonded - while she'd heard that from Ollivander back in the day, that 'the wand chooses the witch or wizard', it hadn't quite registered. And she'd certainly seen enough wands that weren't bonded in her time.

The shop-keep's comments about laminate and the parts of the wand and how they might work sort of drifted over her head, until she started talking about turning the wand ingredients into pedants or figurines, and showed her a few examples.

They were stunning, intricately carved from mango wood, a rich wood not commonly found in Britain, with a much brighter hue than teak, and warmer than mahogany. There were wooden flowers, species that she only half recognised but clearly inspired by real blooms, what looked like giraffes and elephants - with a lighter wood for the tusks. There were other animals she didn't recognise, too, exotic and rare.

"A staff? That would definitely be big and make a statement, and in my line of work, making a statement is worth... many things. I didn't really have anything in mind - I just wanted a wand that had done evil things to either be destroyed, or be turned into something for good. You do such beautiful work, Miss Raveendran - if anyone could do anything with it, I think it'd be you."

She thought about it a bit more. "A staff, though... that would have some real potential - no-one I know is using a staff for magic... is it because it's not as good as a wand?"

Deitha was beginning to imagine herself wielding some kind of magical staff for those special occasions - it would hardly be practical for most of her work - and wondered what such a thing might look like. Part of her wondered about carving Bonehead's features at its top - such a thing needed a statement at the top to make the point - but her dog was far too cute for that. Ditto for elephants or other things.

The only idea that came to her was a sort of hooded cobra look, but it didn't feel right. Like that was someone else's motif, she'd never been fond of snakes in general.

"A staff could be amazing but it needs the right decoration at the top, and I don't quite know what that would be yet. I suppose I also ought to ask how much - before my finances can't afford the wonderful work I'm sure you'd do."