Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I create.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 167: The three cores
"How expensive are we talking about?" Lily was somewhat worried. She had brought with her a small bag of Galleons but wasn't sure if that would be enough. She could only hope that Harry had come prepared.
"Here." Harry pulled something out of a pocket and enlarged it until it became clear it was a leather bag. Then he handed it to the old men duo.
They opened the bag and inspected its contents.
"Oh… not bad."
"Lots of good stuff in here…"
He had filled the bag with many rare materials that he assumed these craftsmen would find useful. He had spent a fortune on that, and he even included the heart of a Nundu.
"Yes, this will do quite nicely," one of the men said.
Harry was about to breathe a sigh of relief when the other one spoke.
"For half the payment, that is."
"Just half?!" Harry could not believe what he was hearing. These two were not so greedy in his previous life.
Lily didn't know what Harry had put inside that bag, but seeing how surprised he was, it must have been very valuable.
"If that is not enough, I have some Galleons with me… how much w-"
"No, no… my dear."
"We have no interest in your coins."
"Or use for them…"
"We only accept rare materials as payments."
"Rare materials?" She had none of that on her. Never meet anyone who would not accept galeons as payment.
"Normally, yes…"
"But perhaps there is something else you can offer us…"
The two of them said while staring intensely at Lily.
All of a sudden, the temperature in the room dropped drastically.
"Be very careful with what you say next..." Harry's voice sounded cold and threatening.
"Ho-ho… how dangerous…"
"Dangerous indeed."
The two old men moved their eyes to him.
"Harry?" Lily glanced at her son.
'Is that his magic lashing out? But… why does it feel so cold?'
"Calm down, young Lord, we would never ask for something inappropriate from a married woman."
"We merely ask for a kiss."
"On the cheek."
"From this beauty."
"Wait… that's all you want?" Lily was confused.
The temperature went back to normal, but Harry was still looking at them with a displeased expression.
"That's all we ask."
"You have our word."
"I mean… okay then." Lily approached them and gave each of them a quick kiss on their cheeks.
"Ah… how wonderful…"
"Such soft lips…"
The two men appeared to be delighted by such a small gesture.
"Will you make the staff for my son now?" She had no idea why Harry needed something like that, but it seemed to be important to him, so she wanted to help him.
"Yes, that was more than enough, young girl."
"You made these two old men very happy. "
The two said with wide grins on their faces.
"And had we asked for anything more…"
"That young Lord was ready to tear us apart."
They peeked at him.
"You can be sure of that," Harry told them without skipping a beat. Ha, they requested anything more than that, he was ready to forget about the staff and teach these two old fossils a lesson, despite knowing they would not have been easy opponents.
The two craftsmen have been around for a tremendous amount of time and Harry was sure they had a lot of hidden tricks.
"So, you have received your full payment." He told them.
"Indeed, the young Lord seems to be in a hurry so we can get started right now."
"The youngest are always in a hurry. I wonder why… you have the most time."
The duo started to walk out of the room and signaled for Harry and Lily to follow them.
They were led to a massively big basement, much bigger than the rest of the house altogether.
The basement appeared to be separated into several sections and was filled with all sorts of tools.
It became evident that this was their main workshop where they performed their craft.
"Over here, young Lord."
"Move your hand over those containers and let us know if you feel anything unusual."
They pointed to a large number of glass-looking containers stored on some wooden shelves.
"Are you trying to find the best core for him?" Lily asked. She was at least aware of this part of the process for custom-made wands.
"Indeed, but it's not just one."
"Yes… wands need one core, but staves use two."
"However, I believe in this case…"
"Yes, we will need three."
"Three cores?" Lily said with shock.
"To channel the amount of magic the young Lord has requested..."
"We will not ask questions on how he plans to accomplish that."
"Harry?" Lily looked at her son, waiting for an answer.
"Do you trust me?" Harry asked.
"Of course!" Lily did not hesitate.
"I will show you everything when it's ready...trust me until then." It would take too long to tell her about his artifacts and this was definelty not the place or time for that.
Lily stared at her son for a few seconds.
"Okay. I'll wait then. Go choose your cores, son."
Harry hovered his hand over the glass boxes until he felt some sort of connection with their contents.
"This one…" He called and continued to move under the careful watch of the two craftsmen.
"This one…" He called another one.
"And this one." He finally stopped.
"Let's see…"
"Mmm… interesting."
The duo started to write some notes.
"What materials did he choose?" Asked Lily with curiosity.
"This is going to be our most difficult work to date."
"I think that too, brother."
They looked at the names of the materials again.
"Unicorn horn, Thestral hair, and our last Phoenix feather."
"Life… death… and resurrection."
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