Magic is as magic does.
Richard thought as he waited on the couch. Magic had made their little castle into a warm house.
The blue bell flames at the doors, the magical fire at the hearth, the moving pictures of cats and portraits of dragons and knights, and those glowing bubbles of golden light that slowly spun around...they were all Tonks's selections.
On the other hand, his room remain untouched by her as explicitly mentioned. And it looked like a haunt used by a dark wizard.
Black wooden tables and chairs, candles at the points where light was needed, books and papers either stolen, bought or taken by force scattered everywhere.
Also there was the magical beasts part collection.
There was the Graphorn horn he got from hagrid, basilisk skin leather, broken bow of the centaur,
It was an accidental collection.
With the Christmas holidays at hand, Richard had decided to go back to his dwelling. When he compared his largely untouched room with everything else, the room felt like home. He wanted some place to crawl into after spending years in a golden palace.
His man hole, and the contrastingly decorated house together provided that to him.
He sat there admiring it.
And now, he was waiting for Tonks to finish preparing so that they can go do their Christmas shopping. It was hard work, but someone had to do it.
"You ready?"
"Yup"
She jumped down from the upper floor, courtesy of the devil physique. She was dressed for the cold, with thick cloak, a purple scarf and thick boots. Very different to his much lighter long sleeved shirt .
"Aren't you gonna wear anything else, its freezing out there." Tonks asked.
"It'll be useless."
His bishop would beat any coat there is.
They walked to the fireplace with a pinch of floor powder.
"Diagon alley "
They had a lot of shopping to do.
...
"We got the ingredients, decorations, new clothes , presents.." Richard listed off the items on their list while Tonks just sat on the shop bench lifeless.
Shopping sucks. Richard arrived to the conclusion. It sucks harder when the person who you came with, is just as bad as you are when it comes to shopping.
Tonks was an impulse buyer.
He was a prepared buyer.
They were different. And neither had the proper experience to do planned shopping. That's how they had ended up spending nearly a hundred galleons in four hours. That was nearly everything Tonks had saved up till now.
It wasn't just once Richard saw the same items sold at completely different prices in different places. And the pain he felt each time never reduced.
Richard had about a hundred galleons on hand as well. That was money he had taken as a stipend from Tonks, because he was underage and nobody would give him a job.
And because he was a student who was too busy to work. Despite his failings and his downright thuggish behavior, he fulfilled his duties as a student well.
With everything else done, and safely packed into their spatially extended bag, it was time for him to get the last thing needed.
His eyes turned to the darker alley at the next turn.
"I'll be back."
He said to Tonks, who still looked as if she had lost her soul after exhausting all her savings, and walked towards the not so sunny part of the wizarding world.
Knockturn alley was where the sediments of the wizarding world ends up settling. Here, laws were treated like guidelines to avoid, and almost everything had a price, even breaking those guidelines.
Tonks had once taken him to Knockturn alley after he had insisted for nearly a dozen times.
She was familiar with the place,as a junior auror. There were werewolves, drunks, criminals,unemployed and those who thought dangerously hidden in the shadows.
Practically everything that did not fit the perfect image of a wizarding world, but existed all the same was pushed here.
Which was exactly why Richard came here. You can't look for XXXX grade magical beast ingredients in that sunny side without getting into trouble with the fuzz.
He walked up to the store of his destination. If was deep, much deeper within the alley than expected.
Mr Mulpepper's apothecary
The door was shut tight, but the open sign and the moving light inside suggested that the store was open.
Here courtesy was a sign of weakness.
Richard opened the door without knocking.
"GET OUT BRAT"
Richard dodged the glass ornament, which shattered against the door.
"Get the hell out of my store!'
Richard didn't move immediately. Instead he stepped into the room, and drew his wand. Magic formed in the tip of his wand on command.
'Dismantle'
The shelves and the floor ripped as if it was clawed, leaving massive gashes.
Clink clink
Flutter
Broken glass and ripped paper became the only sound in that blackened shop.
Looks like the shop owner didnt expect him to attack.
"Come out. "
Silence
"Last warning.." Richard lifted his wand once again.
"Stupefy"
Swipe
Bang!
Richard blasted the spell away.
"Freaking brat! No one messes with my store!"
"Stupefy!"
Swipe.
"Dismantle."
Crash
Richard saw a shadow of a man running.
"Incarcer-"
"Dismantle."
CRASH
"Stupe-"
"Dismantle"
Crash
"Dismantle"
Crash
"Dismantle"
Crash
"Dismantle"
"Dismantle"
"Dismantle"
"STOOOOPPPP"
A yell came from the shadows, and Richard finally stopped.
"STOP DESTROYING MY SHOP!"
"I told you to come out, didnt I" Richard spoke without a care for the wrecked shop.
"I just came to do some business, but you had to force my hand now."
"Your tricks are getting old ministry brat. Everyone in the alley knows about you. Do you really take us for idiots? "
"The hell are you talking about mate?" Were they mistaking him for someone else? Because this was the first time he was doing something like this.
"Please" the voice scoffed. "After that stunt you pulled at Gor and Got's potion shop, everyone knows about your metamorphomagus powers."
Oh, so it was the heroic deeds of Tonks thats come to bite him?
Richard chuckled. But his wand never left the position of the man who tried to hide behind the shelves.
"Don't be stupid. Do you really think I'm as considerate as the auror, after the mess I pulled in your shop?" Richard said as he gestured at the store that looked as if a maledictus had run through it. "I'm here for business. Or maybe you would like me to demonstrate my other spells as well?"
For a moment, there was a pregnant pause.
'Crunch'
Glass and splintered wood made a sound as the owner of the shop finally stepped out of the shadows.
He was old. Probably as old as Olivander. Or maybe it was the wrinkles, the crazy hair and those old and wild eyes that made Richard think so.
The man was probably a dark wizard. Richard could see those marks under the eyes and in that slightly crazed look. But he probably held himself back because using dark arts against aurors was like throwing hay into a bonfire.
They probably knew Tonks was under Mad Eye as well.
"Who are you?"
The man asked without lowering his wand, and Richard grinned.
"Now if I wanted to tell you that, I wouldn't be wearing a disguise now would I?" He intended to use his own inconspicuous appearance as the disguise. "Besides, when someone who can whip up a polyjuice potion comes to a place that can sell some unusual ingredients, they probably come for important business."
"What do you want?" The man finally relented, making Richard's grin wider.
"Snalligaster claws and Fangs. The best you got and a few occammy feathers."
His vision showed him of parts he improved in his wand. Besides, he had something called common sense as well.
He had spent much time on wand lore and materials before he finally chose Occammy wings.
He looked at the man who was stating at him.
"What?"
"You trashed my store for magical beast parts ? Those things barely cost eighty galleons! "
"So?" Richard shrugged. "I came in for business. You were the one who started attacking me. Besides, its not like anything important was destroyed. I made sure to aim properly, unlike a certain someone."
Richard noticed the man's fingers twitching.
"You want to go another round, big man?" He looked at those crazy eyes with eyes that matched the intensity. "I have been dying to see the effects of some spells on real living people."
The damage was superficial. Sure, it was destructive, but a few chants of the reparo charm should fix things up.
Tsk
The old man put away the wand and grumbled as he went to get the things Richard wanted.
Half an hour later, he was out of the shop. And because he had repaired most of the broken areas, the old man didn't seemed too angry, nor did he try poking his nose into unrelated business.
Before he stepped out of the alley into Diagon alley, he turned back, he had to address the company who had followed him after all.
Unlike before, where he had used an improved and neutral version of the shredding spell, he touched the sin of gluttony, the desire to consume as he prepared a curse.
Cleave
"Aaagghh"
People toppled in the shadows. But Richard didnt care about that. Nor did he care that those people, who were cut badly would have their strength sapped as the curse would continue to grow, if untreated ,cutting deeper slowly as it grew.
They would soon admit themselves to saint mungo's hospital, where their wounds would be cleansed with great effort after many many trials and errors, that brought them close to life and death's edge changing them into new men.
But Richard truly cared for not of that. He used the Floo network to return home, where Tonks was already unpacking and threw himself to crafting.
He had to work his magic circuits to the limit, especially the skills of alteration, enhancement and structural identification as he tried to bind the rough surface of the grown wand with the new material. The trick was not to use them as cores, but rather supporting items.
But even then, if it was not him, the person who tried to do what he did might have ended up dead in an explosion.
But he was built different. Or more accurately, the circuits he chose were built for things like these.
Richard gingerly touched his new wand. It wasn't just his effort.
The wand shimmered like polished black metal, revealing iridescent feather like patterns when it caught the light.
He needed Tonks's help in the end, because no matter how he altered it, he couldn't get the proper resonance and completion. It was her circuit, 'imposed imprint', made those bits and pieces become one, like heat that welds assembled iron together.
This felt even more perfect.
Tang!
He flicked the wand, and it resonated in a metal like sound.
It didnt just fit his hand. This wand felt like it was a part of him he was born with.
He tapped it against the table.
No outbursts, no explosions.
Very unlike those records of the experimental wands made by using Snallygaster core.
He wanted to test it, and his eyes were drawn immediately to the thrown away papers at the corner of his room.
His charms were the most uncontrollable aspect of magic. Like that time when he used leviosa.
He remembered a charm he wanted to use on its own, but never did, because of the damage it might cause.
But the confidence he felt now was the same confidence an adult would feel about be at in a three year old.
"Fiend fire"
Woosh
A jet of fire flew from the tip of his wand, and began to grow the moment it touched the paper.
It was alive, and it wanted to devour.
Shaaa
A snake like flame head reared up and Richard flicked his wand.
Dispell
The fire, one of the most feared uncontrollable spells in the magical world snuffed itself out with that simple flick.
And Richard felt a grin form wide on his face.
This was it. The greatest wand.
His wand was a part of himself that understood his intentions through thought alone.
If its this wand.... Then he might be able to overcome the hurdle he was facing. He clenched his fist.
That soul sucker will be in for a nasty treat the next time he gets his hands on it.