Arthur was almost caught by his wife due to the slight angry ticks he had but convinced her that it was just a particularly nasty case at work. Molly Weasley was skeptical of this but trusted her husband to know what was good for his family and thus didn't mention it again though she noticed that he seemed to be watching their youngest son Ron closer than usual. Other than that nothing was all that different at the burrow save perhaps the antics the boys got up to with Harry living here for the next two months of summer break.-
Nick meanwhile was being tested on the information within the books by Olivander back at the wand shop. "And what is this wood?" the old man asked while pulling out a unworked piece of wood from his storage. "pine." Nick said after looking at the wood carefully. "And this rune word?" the old man asked showing a written word on a sheet of paper. "Bind" Nick answered easily. Olivander nodded with a smile "Very good , it seems you truly did memorize the information in those books. That knowledge will make my job much easier in the long run." he said honestly.-
"My goal is that by the end of the summer break you will be able to craft a functioning wand from start to finish. In that spirit the first step I am going to teach you is wood tapping." Olivander said calmly as he lead Nick back to the workshop area. Nick was surprised to see a tall pile of woods of various types stacked against the wall but he also noticed that they were not of the magical sort but the nonmagical versions of the same types of wood that were likely going to be his practice pieces.-
Olivander soon confirmed exactly that "Every wand maker worth anything is capable of taking a piece of wood and finding the most optimal parts to be crafted into a wand or wands if one is lucky. This process is known as wood tapping and is a crucial step to make sure the wand created is stable throughout it." He paused to grab a piece of oak from the top of the pile. "Take this piece for example , how many wands does it look like it could make just based on it's size?" The old man asked while handing the wood over to Nick.-
"Just based on material three or four easily but I assume the actual number is different right?" Nick said while handing the piece back. Olivander nodded his head with a pleased expression "Yes in fact this piece of wood can only make a single wand , though of poor quality due to the unmagical nature of it as you have likely noticed. The part capable of being turned into a wand is discoverable by looking at the grain and cracks in the wood." Olivander said before pointing out various tiny details Nick never would have known to look for in any other situation.-
Olivander made him repeat this information back so that he could make sure Nick learned it right which also allowed him to correct a few mistakes Nick made in the process. That was how nick spent the next six hours before Olivander was satisfied with the information he had crammed into Nicks head. The student in question however had a massive migraine from the sheer amount of details that went into this single part of the crafting process alone. Nick knew that if he wrote this information down it would fill two decent sized books easily.-
Nick went and got food from Crumonte's before turning in mentally exhausted from the information he had received. He knew that the subject was deep and very detailed but this was a frankly crazy amount of information to constantly keep track of just to make a wand. 'No wonder there are so few capable of it , the talent needed and/or dedication needed to pick up the craft is very large.' he thought as he slipped into a dreamless slumber. The next day was no better as Olivander first reviewed the information he had taught before having Nick tap various pieces of wood to get him used to implementing this knowledge.-
This is were Nick failed a lot however as he kept getting his information on different types of wood crossed as the information changed based on the wood in question. For example oak was much sturdier than pine and thus needed a different approach to tapping. He was getting better but it was slow going , not that Olivander seemed to mind as he said he expected as much. The next two days were spent with Nick reviewing his information and attempting to tap each piece of wood handed to him correctly.
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