"Aspen..."

The streets were absolutely crawling with Hogwarts students, weaving excitedly in and out of each other as they shared brilliant tales of their magical Summer holidays. Katherine and her grandmother Meri meandered between the suffocating crowds towards a tiny, slightly run-down looking shop at the very end of the street, labelled by a wonky signpost atop its doorframe: 'Ollivanders'.

"Yes, definitely Aspen..." Meri's voice was a low croak. Thin and unkempt locks of paling brown hair came to a rest at chin length. It was the same colour as Kat's father's hair, and the shade that she too inherited. Of course, she had asked her brother to change that fact at the start of Summer, to which he had eagerly obliged. The pair of them made their way past the broom shop, which appeared to be attracting plenty of attention.

"What are you on about?" Kat eventually replied. Everything was so distracting, making it hard to concentrate on her grandmother's muffled monologue. She had been to Diagon Alley before, of course. An annual visit was required to collect her brother's school supplies and she had keenly tagged along every year since he was first accepted into Hogwarts. Speaking of Levi, he was doing just that right this very second. "And here we are..."

Kat pushed the door to Ollivander's open and the bell chimed. At the sound, two pairs of eyes turned on her and her grandmother, who was hobbling in after her. Kat instinctively froze. The first set belonged to a blonde lady with a light complexion and soft features. The second to Ollivander himself, who seemed to be fitting a girl for her wand. She had dark choppy hair, and was dressed in all black. Kat suddenly felt rather awkward, and cast her eyes about the cramped shop, stuffing her hands into the tiny pockets of her skirt.

"Good morning, Ollivander," Meri greeted cheerfully, "We're just after a wand for Kat here, when you're free."

Ollivander smiled back, clearly familiar with the woman. "Of course, Mrs Cobwebbe. I'll be with you as soon as I can."

Meri took a seat in the dark corner of the shop, and Kat took that as her cue to make herself a little more comfortable. As the formidable looking blonde lady had turned her attention elsewhere, she moved deeper into the store and perched herself on one of the armchairs. It was torn, exposing the foam inside. She was now able to get a closer look at the dark haired girl, who seemed to take little interest in her.

"I like your nose ring," Kat said blankly, peering around at her.

Kat was trying very hard not to scrunch her face up at the girl, who was being a little rude. Maybe she’s not having a good day, Kat reasoned, averting her attention elsewhere. The shop itself consisted of endless rows of shelves, each compartment of which housed an assortment of thin, rectangular boxes that must have contained wands. There didn’t seem to be much order to these boxes, but that didn’t matter, as Ollivander could easily summon the wand he wanted to try out on the customer with a flick of his own. Other than that, the room felt cramped and quite cluttered, but maybe that was because there were four other people in there. Kat looked to see that her grandmother was still sat idly on the chair more towards the entrance of the shop, staring out through the window into Diagon Alley.

When Kat turned back, she noticed that the dark haired girl was now sticking a wand out to her, clearly offering it for her to try. Now she could get a better look at her, she could tell that she was a similar age, and build. Slightly twiggy, like Kat. “Oh, thank you,” she said politely, reaching out to take it by the handle and standing. She felt oddly empowered.

Then, she gave it a wave. Very little happened except that one of the books Olivander’s desk moved several inches forwards. He hummed and took it away from her.

“It’s okay.... but not perfect,” he mused, “Here, how about this...”

Ollivander motioned with his wand, summoning a somewhat smaller box. He opened it and handed her the handsome looking wand that had been sat inside, which he dubbed to be made of willow, with a phoenix feather core. When he handed it to her, Kat made some swishing movement with it and... absolutely nothing happened. It seemed that the wand just didn’t like her, and Ollivander confirmed her suspicions when he told her that phoenix feather cores can be very selective. Before she handed it back to him, she turned and offered it to... Judy? Had the other lady called her that?

“Here, you try it,” she said, “It’s not too fond of me.”

With piqued curiosity, Kat observed the careful way that Judy handled the wand she had just been given. She looked as though she was doing some incredibly deep thinking, judging by the tautness of her features. As soon as she turned around to face the other corner, wand directed at the far wall, green sparks sprung out of its end and trailed in the air, tossing a nearby pile of boxes hard into the wall. You could tell by the look on Ollivander's face that this was what he'd been waiting for.

Kat continued trying out various wands that Ollivander had set out on the desk for her whilst Judy and the blonde lady paid. Although she was having trouble making much happen, watching Judy had somehow spurred her on. Kat would know when she had found it.

Eventually, she came to a wand that was shockingly white in colour. It looked rigid, drawn out in a tight line with what looked like pale vines wrapping around its length. When Kat lifted it, an unmissable warmth flooded through her body. Optimistic from her initial reaction, she moved to somewhere more spacious to try it out, when she heard someone clearing their throat. Kat whipped around.

"I'm Judith Craiter," said a clipped voice. She introduced herself as a first year and declared that she was buying school equipment. She looked quite tense."I suspect you are, as well?"

"Yes, you're quite right. I'm Katherine Cobwebbe," Kat said flatly, directing her attention back to her wand. She then asked, "Is that your sister? The blonde lady?"

But before she could hear Judith's answer, her wand began glowing feverishly. Without warning it spat out a blast of light that burst across the room and shattered one of the hand mirrors propped up in a raised cardboard box to her left. Immediately, Kat retracted the wand and turned sheepishly to Ollivander, who had been talking to Meri. Instead of being angry, however, the wizard broke into a broad grin. With a swift wave of his wand, he muttered something under his breath and the mirror instantly repaired itself.

"23.8 centimetres, aspen wood, unicorn hair core. Excellent for duels and fighting spells." Kat startled a little. She certainly wasn't much of a duelist. Not yet, at least.

A quiet rumble of "Knew it, aspen wood..." came from the corner where Meri now stood, gathering her bags.

Katherine smiled, and reached into the right hand pocket of her black, jean skirt, tugging out two golden galleons and handing them to Ollivander. She then turned to Judith again, tucking her navy t-shirt in so that it was tight.

"Hey, where'd your sister go? That was your sister, wasn't it?"