Outporing of Admiration, Part the Second Making yourself a target on principle is a Gryffindor thing to do. I’m a Slytherin, Ollivander; we pick our battles carefully.
He is a firm believer in the need for both light and dark in the world, and his role as a wandmaker is to facilitate the use of magic, whether for good or evil. To deny either side would be to alter the balance of things and meddle in affairs much larger than himself YES.
All came to him as chunks of wood and bundles of cores, and all eventually spoke to him, told him the kinds of wands they wanted to be. I love this whole motif. It comes to such beautiful fruition in the duck scene.
He thinks of a cell, of damp and the stink of a chamber pot, and then he looks at the sky, and at her hair flashing copper and gold in the sun. "Nor do I." Now this is fine writing. Leaves me breathless.
Fred and George, however, look like Muriel. Of course they do. Of course.
"I can play the piano, too, though my other would have fainted if she knew half the songs I’d learned." So Muriel.
"For someone who’s supposed to be the saviour of our world, he’s not very bright, is he?" Hahaha! Wonderfully IC.
"When they get to my age, they’re almost certainly dead. Probably of boredom." Ha! That whole section, of Muriel's thoughts on Muggles and Ollivander's thoughts on Muriel's thoughts on Muggles -- inspired and revealing.
And somehow – some clever Slytherin trick of tone and smile, probably – he suddenly feels like he has not been playing whatever game they began at dinner, but is instead a piece in it, and she has just manoeuvred him into exactly the position she wanted. OMG! Yes!
"I’m a hundred and eight years old, Ollivander. I don’t think much about the long term." No comment necessary.
it twists him up along with her fingers and her mouth and he is absolutely helpless. Beautiful. Rather like the effect this story has on me.
the air seems full of her, the entire room seems full of her. She is that sort of woman Indeed.
"But the rest is just useless frippery for someone my age. Young women might be able to entice with a pretty nightgown, but it’s all false advertising once you’ve been wearing your skin for a century. You’ll have to take me as I am, or not at all." Oh, god, I'll take her. Wow, what a speech.
Magic twists in the air, wild, and snuffs the candle out before it fades. Guh.
Thank you, whoever you are. Once the reveals are up, I'm going to read every word you've ever written, right down to your shopping lists. (Please scan them into your IJ).
And I'm going to rec this to the skies, until Zeus himself reads it.