Nick wasted no time at all placing his luggage at the foot of the bed and setting up an area in the corner for Steve to put his hoard while they were here. Beyond that though he didn't have any change that he felt like making to the room. Walking out of the room with Helena behind him Nick quickly found Olivander in the main store dealing with an auror who seemed to need his wand repaired. The auror was a fit middle aged man with plain features and short black hair with a jagged scar on his cheek.-
"Oh? And who might this young man be Mr. Olivander , I thought you lived alone?" The auror asked curiously when he saw Nick walk out. "A student from Hogwarts who is going to be apprenticing under me for the summer." Olivander said not minding the reveal of him taking on an apprentice , even if only temporary. The auror looked surprised by the answer none the less "An apprentice you say? I wasn't even aware that that was an option when I went to Hogwarts." the auror said honestly. "It doesn't get as much publicity as it deserves in my opinion as it was quite the opportunity being missed." Nick cut in.-
Both Olivander and the auror nodded in agreement though probably for different reasons. "Well I suppose I should go do something to pass the time while my wand gets fixed , a pleasure to meet you young man." the auror said before leaving. Olivander turned to Nick once the man left "Due to the dangerous nature of their work I unfortunately tend to get many aurors in need of repair or replacement for their wands." he explained with a sigh before pointing to the wand on the counter.-
At first Nick didn't see what was wrong with it as it looked fine but when Olivander rolled it over gently , a deep gash much like that made by an animal went along the side of the wand revealing the red core. "This wand for example required a brand new housing for the core as you can see. This is a good opportunity to show you some of the basic techniques for wand making." he said calmly. "Speaking of teaching I will hold lessons on Monday through Thursday as business allows while Friday through Sunday is for you to do whatever you feel the need to." Olivander added.-
He then carefully picked up the wand and motioned for Nick to follow him before walking into the back of the store , more specifically the material storage. "When replacing a wooden housing for a wand it is always best to try and make sure that the wood used is not only the same type but also as close to the original as possible in terms of age. In this case elm with an age of about thirty years. It's for this reason that I have a thin cut out of the rings of each piece of wood so I can identify the best candidate for the replacement." He explained while pointing at the cutouts in question.-
Nick also noted that Olivander also had each wood placed in a specific location to make it easier to find the particular type of wood he needed easier. Walking over to a certain spot Olivander pointed at a cutout. "Do you know how to tell how old a tree is based on the rings?" he asked and Nick nodded "One ring equals one year if I remember correctly." he answered and Olivander smiled pleased with the answer.-
"Indeed! So why don't you look over these different pieces of elm and find me the closest to thirty years of age at the time of being cut down." he said motioning to the neat stacks of wood. Nick stepped forward and carefully looked at each cut out one by one until he found what he was looking for and reached forward to grab a piece of wood from that stack. "This wood is twenty nine years old and should do the trick better than the thirty one year old pieces next to it." Nick said while handing over the wood.-
Olivander smiled lightly "And why do you think this younger piece of wood would work better than the older one despite them both being near thirty years old?" he asked looking intrigued. Nick frowned as he didn't actually know it just was a gut feeling he had as a craftsman. Olivander saw this looked and laughed "No need to be troubled by it lad your instinct on the matter is correct in this case. The real reason a younger wood is most optimal is due to experience in the wood. A younger tree isn't as set in it's ways as an older tree you see so it can grow to match the core easier than a older wood that was more set in it's ways." he explained calmly.
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