In a candle lit room, Matthew stands in front of a bench, finishing the wand he had been working on for the past three days. The candle behind him lights up the moment he finishes creating the wand, only to immediately die back down. He picks up the wand and does a gentle swish and flick motion. As he did, a crack appeared on the wand and items all around him went flying.
“Well, that's another wand combination that doesn't seem to work.” Matthew let out a long sigh and picked up his notebook, writing down some notes. After writing in his notebook, a bell goes off from the other room. He pulls his wand out and points it at the mess he made. Everything starts to float slowly and go back to its designated area as he walks through a door to the opposite room. Once in the other room, Matthew smiles and looks over the three strangers that have come into his shop.
“Welcome to the Clearview Wand Shop, what service can I do for you, gentlemen?” He asked, mainly keeping his eyes on the young, skinny guy in front.
“I was wondering if you had any Dragon heartstring wands for sale for me and my associates.” The skinny fellow says as he gestures to the other two who accompanied him.
Matthew's pupils expand as he stares down at the man. “I do have some, but I'll be honest. You're not a full match with it.” He looks around and pulls out a small box from the shelf. “This is a 13 ½ English oak wand, with a Snallygaster heartstring core. I think this would be a better fit than a dragon heartstring core.”
“Well, they did say it would be a unique experience coming here, but to be honest with you, I'm not here to purchase a wand.” The skinny guy pulls out a sheet of paper and puts it down on the table. “My names Joe and I work as an Auror, and I'm currently tracking down this criminal. His wand was made here so we just wanted to get some information if possible.
The paper on the table had a moving picture of an average looking guy with long ratty hair licking his teeth. Matthew pulls out a large book from under his desk and puts it down.
“10 inch Redwood with a troll hair core. He came in about three weeks ago and didn't want to spend too much on a wand.” He flips the book and hands it over to the Auror.
“Impressive memory you have there” Joe says looking at the name and all the information.
“It's not too hard when you don't get as many customers as someone like Brown and Lobban.” Before he can continue, Matthew notices that Joe shows the other two Aurors something from the book.
“Sorry about that. We just found something of interest, but don't worry, in time you'll make your rounds in this industry.” Joe placed the book down on the desk. “Thank you for your help. We'll be heading out now.”
The other two leave out the door and before Joe has a chance to step outside, Matthew calls out to him. “Before you go, sir,” He walks up with a very nice looking wand box. “I felt that there was a better wand that was calling for you.” He hands the box over to Joe.
“I appreciate it, but I'm not here to purchase....”
“No need to pay, this one's on the house. However,” Matthew smirks. “If you find the quality to be especially exceptional, then it wouldn't hurt to tell your close friends who you got it from.”
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Joe laughs softly under his breath. “Alright, what type is it?”
“All the information is inside. Every wand sold at the Clearview Wand Shop comes with a handwritten note detailing how long, which wand wood, and which wand core the wand has.” Matthew finishes with the smile of a cheesy salesman you'd find walking door to door.
Joe nods and walks out the door while saying, “Well, I believe the wand will be of amazing quality, so if it is, I'll definitely let my people know.” The door closes behind him leaving Matthew once again alone inside of his shop.
After locking the door and flipping the sign, he walks into the back again. He walks past shelves neatly stacked with wood and each section labeled with the type of wood that is in each cubbyhole. Each piece cut into perfect rectangles ready to be worked. He removes his smock and hangs it up on a coat hanger in the corner. The back room is filled with tools all put in their place making it look like a new workshop. As he walks through, he grabs his wand and puts it into a pocket that looks custom tailored to the pants. A few moments go by while Matthew thinks. After a few moments of silent thinking, he disapparates from his shop.
On the edge of a forest, Matthew apparates into place and looks around. The nighttime contrasts the day that had just been blinding only seconds ago. He sees a red flag nailed into a tree. The flag has a symbol of the Nundu on it. He walks up to the flag and gently strokes it while smiling. He then takes his hand away and begins to walk into the forest. The darkness of the forest seems to seep into his every cell as he walks around the trees. He pulls out his wand and uses “Lumos”. A light illuminates the forest and shows just more trees.
A sudden sound cracks behind Matthew and he freezes. He turns around quickly and looks around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, just trees and some rocks. A small shimmer appeared near a tree and with that Matthew immediately started to run away. At this point he didn't know if he was running in a good direction or not.
A sudden hit slammed into Matthew's ribs causing immense pain to course through him. He stumbles for a second before staying on his feet and running as fast as he can. A small clearing about ten feet by fifteen feet slowly reveals itself to him. The moment his foot hits the boundary another hit slams into him. This time to the back of his skull, causing him to fall forward onto the grass.
“Ada!” Matthew screams as he starts to shuffle himself backwards away from a shimmering shape in front of him. The shimmering stops as a tall, silver haired creature suddenly shows itself in front of Matthew. The creature shambles towards him with its mouth wide open. Matthew clutches the wand in his right hand and closes his eyes as the creature gets two steps from him.
At that moment, a voice rings out saying, “Coecernam!”*
Matthew opens his eyes and sees chains burst from the ground and restrain the creature. Once restrained, the creature is forced to the floor. From the left of where Matthew sits, a beautiful dark skinned woman walks into the clearing. Her long curly hair blowing slightly on the wind as she walks over to Matthew.
“Hey babe, I didn't know you were hunting a Hidebehind or I would've stayed out.” He says as a sigh escapes his lips. The Hidebehind screams as it tries to break from the chains. Ada's arms wrap around his shoulders as he stands up, her needing to stand on the tips of her toes in order to kiss him.
After the quick kiss, she breaks away from him and says, “I'm so glad you came. I've been tracking this thing for days and nothing. It's been giving me the slip every twist and turn in this forest.”
“Well, glad my floundering was useful to you somehow.” They both let out a small laugh as the Hidebehind continues to scream.
Ada rolls her eyes and points her wand at the creature and casts a spell. The spell hits the creature dead in its face and it falls unconscious. “I originally wasn't supposed to be out here fighting it. I was just going to round up a small colony of Glumbumble that the Ministry here had yet to take care of. Suddenly I was attacked by that thing.” She walks over to the Hidebehind and strokes its head.
“Nothing like a surprise attack to get the blood flowing.” She says, smiling at the creature.