Winifred was looking forward to this particular Monday. She was out of school (finally!) and her mother had taken the day off to take her shopping for the Egypt trip. But their first stop was actually going to be at Ollivander's- in the hopes, as they did every summer, that a real wand might actually choose her. Her grades this year had improved over the last two years- which was saying a lot, considering that her grades this year were still far from spectacular. Even so, she had ALMOST PASSED CHARMS! Exciting.

It was early in the morning- just before ten in the morning- when Winifred and her mother walked into Olivander's. Ivy was all smiles, proud of her daughter for doing better, but mostly proud that Winifred had gotten such an excellent grade in Muggle Studies- her own favorite subject and job of choice.

"I don't want to make you nervous," Ivy said to her daughter. "I'm going to go next door to pick up something for your father. Be nice to Mr. Ollivander." Try not to destroy his shop, was politely implied by her mother's tone.

Winifred waved as her mother walked out the store, and walked over to the rows and rows of wands. The little old man shuffled out[1] and looked... a little wary when he saw the young Hufflepuff so eagerly dragging her fingers along the boxes.

"Good morning Mr. Ollivander!" she greeted. "Here to try again this year! I've got a good feeling this time. I very nearly passed Charms this year! I got a Poor in it- first time I've gotten anything other than a Troll! I didn't even set anything on fire in my exam," she announced proudly.

"Good, good! We'll see what I can come up with then." Ollivander's measuring tape began to measure her, and he disappeared again to go gather some wands.

Winifred was just peeking into a box when she heard the bell over the door jingle. She saw an older Slytherin boy come in, and she smiled broadly at him. "I'm getting a new and!" she announced. "Because I didn't blow anything up in exams! Are you getting a new wand, too?" she asked.

1.

Ollivander was kidnapped shortly after Voldemort’s return was made public, in summer 1996; Voldemort was in search of information about his and Harry’s wands (HBP6, DH5). He was held captive in Malfoy Manor for a year and a half, tortured, and forced to make wands (DH24). He escaped with the help of Dobby (DH23) and hid at Auntie Muriel’s for the remainder of the war (DH26). From the HP lexicon, so I'm going to assume he's back to running his wand shop and have permission to NPC him from curators.

It was only a few days after the train ride home and Vulpes once again found himself in London. His mother had needed some supplies that she forgot to buy earlier that week, and he decided to tag along simply because he noticed a rather larch chip in his wand. So now seemed as good a time as ever to see if it could be repaired or should be replaced.

Vulpes flinched slightly as he was suddenly yelled at the moment he stepped through the door to Ollivander's. That wasn't really something he expected when stepping into any store, but for some reason it was slightly more shocking when entering the wand shop. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that Mr. Ollivander generally kept the store rather quiet and mysterious.

"Because I didn't blow anything up in exams! Are you getting a new wand, too?"

He fixed his eyes on the girl (whom he didn't recognize at all). That seemed like a rather... odd reason to be getting a new wand. But still, if that was the reasoning, that was the reasoning. No point in debating it. "Uh... no," Vulpes said before correcting himself with a "Well, maybe." He pulled his own wand out and ran a finger over the chip in the wood.

"Mine just has a chunk missing," he said, holding the damaged part up so she could see. "Just wanted to see if it could be repaired, or something."

Ambrose Pepper couldn't believe his luck. Diagon Alley, on his own, almost. He'd been trusted!

Well, actually, Theta was down the road in one of the robe shops, having today to get herself some new ones that would do for working at the Ministry in her new job as apprentice to Ambrose's dad, Francis. Ambrose was rather glad that Theta had taken up that responsibility within the family. He'd feared a life ahead of him of terrible broken time turners and being thrown in Azkaban for being the most awful time turner maker the Pepper family had ever produced.

With some money to burn in his pocket, Ambrose's eyes surveyed the alley, smug not to be tailed by his younger brother Tim on this occasion. Tim was hanging out with Philo or someone as far as Ambrose knew. Or perhaps one of the other people in his class. Ambrose was now beyond worrying about Tim, he'd survived first year admirably in Ravenclaw. Ambrose would just swoop in with a fist at the right moment some day in the future.

Hang on - had he just seen Winnie?

Ambrose stood on tip toes. Oh, Merlin please could he grow some inches this summer? Please?!

Yes! Down by Ollivanders. Heart lightening, Ambrose scurried down the cobbled street towards the wand shop which he'd last stepped inside a year or so ago when Tim had got his first wand. Ollivander had spent ages despairing at the wands with Ambrose.

Pressing his face to the window pane he saw Winnie inside, talking to... oh.. was that an older boy? OH MERLIN. Ambrose's heart sank. Please don't be her boyfriend.

Reaching for the door handle, Ambrose swung inside with gusto, appearing just behind Vulpes.

"Freddie!" He greeted joyfully, and embraced her warmly with no warning. "Missed you." He smiled and then shot a pointed look at Vulpes, who he recognised, but out of uniform found hard to place in terms of age and house.

"Oh hi, Ambrose by the way." He politely extended his hand to shake.

Winifred looked at the wand he held up where the chunk was missing, and nodded sagely- though she knew very little about wands and whether or not they could be repaired. Her own wand was an abomination of wands according to most people- most unorthodox, but she just hadn't found a better one yet.

"That's not very good, is it?" she commented, clucking her tongue at the chip. "I certainly hope it can be repaired. Finding a new wand is awful," Winnie informed him matter of factly. "I've been trying since my first year to get a wand- one better than the one I've got."

She was distracted when she heard her name- Freddie!- and then she was being hugged by Ambrose. Winnie was surprised to see him, and hugged back with equal ferocity, smiling broadly at him. "Ambrose!" she greeted loudly. "I missed you too!" she said with an amused laugh. It was a little unusual behavior for Ambrose- but friends were allowed to miss their other friends. She was just glad they were both going to Egypt so that she could see him over the summer- though truth be told she was hoping that she would get a chance to visit him and see some real live muggles outside of Egypt. Real live British muggles!

When Ambrose introduced himself to the boy, Winnie followed suit. "And I'm Winifred," she added before turning back to Ambrose. "I'm here for a new wand," she explained. "I almost passed Charms! So mum and dad think we ought to try again for a wand."

And, as if on cue, Mr. Ollivander reappeared with a few boxes. He rested them on a small table. "Well then, come give them a wave Miss Oliver. Perhaps this year will find you some luck."

"Vulpes," Vulpes replied to both of them, shaking Ambrose's hand. With slight confusion he turned to face Winifred. "What uh, what happened to your old wand?" he asked. And he was quite curious. To Vulpes the idea of having to get a new wand scared him, he himself went through quite a few before finally finding one. Which was probably why this tiny chip in his annoyed him so much. Vulpes always took such good care of it.

"Good luck," Vulpes said nodding at the wands on the table. 'Just don't wave any in my direction,' he thought nervously taking a few steps back. At the same time, however, Vulpes did his best to keep a close eye on the girl as she tried out new wands. The only person he ever saw buy a wand was his sister.

And Vulpes was fairly curious to see what kind of wand Winifred received.