Arissa looked at the parchment on her hand, where the list of things for her first year at Hogwarts was written in a neat handwriting. Clothes, books and equipments, quite a a lot but somehow, she and her father had managed. Her eyes darted to the very bottom of the list, the only word that had yet to be crossed out.

Wand

"Scared darling?" Arthur Wright said, his face beaming in excitement, it's as if his hand weren't already full of his daughter's school stuff.

Arissa merely shook her head. "Nervous? Yes. But scared? Of course not. Mother won't get scared over something like this."

Her father let out a small chuckle. "Your mother have her own fears, Arissa. You have yours as well, you guys are different." He then pointed out at a narrow and shabby looking shop, with gold letters on the door that read: Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.

"That's our shop. And look who's coming over." A beautiful woman makes her way to them, her steps were graceful.

"Mother!" She called, running towards the woman, leaving the father in dust.

"Be careful now, wouldn't want you to get injured." Mellisa Wright chided. She turned towards her husband. "Want my help, Arthur?" She proceed to transfigure a nearby pebble to a folding storage box trolley. "Are you truly a wizard dear?"

Her father becomes sheepish. "Of course I am. I just wanted to train my body you know. I do have a tournament in two months. " A very acceptable excuse. Arissa let out a chuckle, tucking a strand of her blonde hair behind her ears.

As they entered the shop, they were greeted by an old man, with pale skin and gray eyes. He smiled. "Ah, Miss Wright, I have a feeling that you'll come soon enough. Stretch your arms so I can take your measurements." The process only took one minute, fortunately. The old man nodded. "Yes, I think I know what you need." He took out a rectangular box from the shelf." Try this one. 26.3 cm cherry wood and unicorn hair. Brittle, ideal in the hands of inventors and innovators, docile if handled properly."

Arissa give it a wave, which resulting in a broken vase, and the wand got snatched away. "Definitely not. Here - ashwood and unicorn hair, 22. 4 cm. Quite rigid, very balanced, and excels at hexes and healing spells."

"Hmm, sounds good", she muttered. But that wand, unfortunately, caused the same thing as the previous one, well except the fact that it's now a chair. She gave the owner a sheepish smile, while hearing a muffled laugh behind her. Turning her head, she found her father covering his mouth and her mother seemed amused.

"No. Perhaps we will have more luck with this one. Chestnut Wood and unicorn hair.,21.2 cm. Very powerful, but requires to be firmly handled and strong conviction from its owner."

She tried, barely raised her wand before it was snatched once again." That's definitely not it. I don't need to be a seer to know what will happen. Hmm, could it be that..." He walked to the end of the shelves, before returning with a rectangular box, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Here. Cherry Wood and dragon heartstring. 32.5 cm. Swishy, attracted to energetic wizards and easily wooed by others if its owner become lazy."

Arissa frowned as she took the wand, yet she felt a sudden warmth on her fingers and swing it, but unlike before, resulting in a light purple spark shot from its end.

"Yes, excellent! It's exactly what you need."

Arissa shot then owner a disbelief expression. "Exactly what I need?", she repeated. That wand sounds like a ticking time bomb!

"Excuse me, Mr. Ollivander. But isn't that wand..." Arissa turned around to find her mother's worried expression, and even her father become stiff.

The owner nodded. "Yes, dear. It almost goes without saying that Dark Magic, particularly the more insidious forms, is particularly well suited to this wand, though hardly inevitable, and it will offer little or no resistance to its use."

Her father interjected. "Then can she choose another -"

"Unfortunately, no. The wand chooses the wizard... It's not exactly clear why. "Then, he turned towards Arissa, who currently held the wand in arm's length. "Cherry wood often makes a wand that possesses truly lethal power, whatever the core, but if teamed with dragon heartstring, the wand ought never to be teamed with a wizard without exceptional self-control and strength of mind. Remember that. "

An advice. A warning. Whatever it is, Arissa knew that she ought to keep the advice in her memories forever.

This wand, may cost her more than just failure in exams. If she was not good enough, not strong enough, letting her mind become weak, it could cost Arissa her own life.