Birthday
After returning home, Harry went straight to the living room, eager to try out his new practice wand. He quickly opened the accompanying book and got lost in its pages, absorbed in the instructions for casting his first spell.
Meanwhile, Wanda sat silently at the dining table. In front of her lay the notebook Ollivander had given her. Her eyes scanned each page swiftly, but with an unusual depth, as if she were reading not just the words, but the intent behind each stroke of ink.
She clearly remembered that moment in the shop"how the wand had opened on its own when it touched her hands, revealing its core with an almost reverent obedience. And then, an idea sparked in her mind.
Wanda looked up. Harry was still completely focused, clumsily waving his childish wand while the book's instructions came to life before his eyes.
She turned her gaze forward.
Without making a single gesture, a section of reality began to distort. Light bent, and darkness curved until it formed a figure. From that rift emerged a hideous demon, its body twisted by chaos: skin like liquid shadow, claws as long as swords, and a single glowing eye that radiated intelligence… and obedience.
It had no mouth. It didn't need one.
"Give me your heart," Wanda ordered calmly, as if asking for salt.
The demon did not hesitate. Its single eye blinked with devotion, and without a sound, it plunged its claws into its own chest. With a sharp pull, it tore out a black, pulsing heart that beat with raw, dark magic.
It offered the heart to Wanda with both hands. She accepted it without hesitation. The moment her fingers touched it, the demon began to burn from within, turning to ash and vanishing completely"consumed and returned to the primordial chaos.
It would not die. Not truly. As a creature born of Chthon's chaos, it would return to its origin and reform. But its heart, for now, belonged to Wanda.
She raised the heart.
One of her hairs, glowing with a vibrant red light, gently detached from her head and floated toward the dark heart. The two began to merge. The hair shone intensely, curling around the organ until both fused into a liquid mass of crimson and black, bubbling with living energy.
The mass changed shape, deforming and twisting until it slowly stabilized into the form of a wand.
All around it, multiple runes floated in the air. Wanda observed them, recognizing some she had seen inside Ollivander's wand, others from the notebook. She accepted them, and the runes"almost as if they had been waiting"embedded themselves into the wand's surface on their own.
If Ollivander, or any other wandmaker, had seen this, they would have wondered if they had wasted their entire lives studying the impossible.
When the process was finished, the wand floated before her, complete. It was a deep red with dark veins. It looked like wood, but it wasn't. Not a single piece of wood had been used in its creation.
Wanda extended her hand, and the wand responded with the ease of an old friend. As soon as she touched it, she felt her magic flow with almost alarming ease.
And then something else happened.
In the night sky over Europe, red northern lights ignited with violent beauty, dancing in spirals above the clouds. Wizards and witches across the continents watched in awe. Some knelt. Others trembled. All felt that something had just changed.
Back in the living room, Wanda pointed her wand at a simple cup on the table.
"Let's test you," she murmured.
The cup trembled, rose into the air, and in a flash, transformed. It swiftly turned into a small scarlet dragon, barely larger than Harry. It flapped its wings with excitement and spat out a playful flame. It had golden eyes and spiraling horns.
Wanda observed it closely.
"Mmm… using a wand definitely makes magic easier," she said quietly. "It doesn't require as much focus. But… isn't this kind of like cheating? Like taking the easy way out? It could even become a dangerous dependency."
The high-pitched roar of the little dragon caught Harry's attention.
"Wanda?! Is that a dragon?!" he shouted, running toward her, his eyes gleaming with excitement. "Can we keep it!?"
Wanda looked at him, the dragon perched sweetly on the table, snorting gently.
"Mmm… sure," she replied with a calm smile.
And the little dragon, as if it understood, curled up on the table while its tail burned like a living candle.
...…..
"AUNT WANDA!!" Hermione shouted, rushing into the backyard where Wanda was sitting in a charmed chair that rocked gently with the breeze. From there, she watched Harry laughing as he ran after the little red dragon, which was playfully shooting sparks across the grass.
Hermione approached with a serious expression, her brow furrowed.
"You can't have a dragon. It's illegal. If the Aurors find out… they could come to arrest you! And the neighbors might see it!"
Wanda let out a small laugh and, without taking her eyes off the boy, replied calmly,
"Don't worry. The dragon can't leave the property, and no ordinary person can see what's going on here, even if they're standing right outside the fence. I've protected the place."
Hermione scrunched her nose doubtfully.
"Mmm… but it's still illegal," she insisted in that tone she used when reciting a regulation word for word.
"It's not a real dragon, Hermione," Wanda said softly, now turning to look at the girl. "It's a transfiguration."
Hermione stood there thinking, clearly uncertain… until she finally sighed.
"Well… then it's okay," she accepted at last.
And without another second of hesitation, she joined Harry in chasing the dragon, which did a flip in the air before releasing a harmless flame that exploded into a shower of golden sparks.
Convincing children was far too easy… Sometimes, it made you feel guilty just how simple it was to win their hearts.
"I must say," said Susan Granger, appearing through a door connecting the two gardens, "wizards and witches really do have a natural gift for getting pets that protect the home."
She sat beside Wanda, watching Hermione and Harry run back and forth across the lawn, their laughter filling the air.
Since Wanda had moved next door, everything had changed for Susan. Her daughter, who had always struggled to make friends, now had a best friend she couldn't be separated from. And Susan… had found something like a sister in Wanda.
"Are you doing something for Harry's birthday tomorrow?" she asked while tucking her hair behind her ear.
"Harry doesn't want to invite any other kids. He only wants Hermione to come. He says it's hard to hide magic… and he doesn't want to hide it. He wants magical decorations everywhere, without worrying about what others think," Wanda replied with a mix of understanding and sadness, her eyes still on the children.
"Hermione told me that both of them struggle to make friends in preschool," Susan said with a sigh. "Now I understand why magical children are homeschooled."
She was quiet for a moment, then, as if struck by inspiration, she added:
"Maybe we should move to a magical village. That way, the kids could make friends without having to hide."
"Could be a good idea," Wanda murmured.
"And if we do, we could install one of those Floo networks in the clinics. That would make going to work even easier," Susan said with an enthusiastic smile.
...
The next day, Wanda's little living room was filled with light, magic, and bright colors.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HARRY!!" everyone shouted"the Grangers, Hermione, Wanda… and of course, the red dragon, who roared joyfully before launching colorful fireworks that exploded into star shapes.
The place looked like it had come straight out of a fairy tale: ribbons floating in the air, enchanted balloons dancing to the rhythm of the music, tiny fairies flying around Wanda, leaving a sparkling trail of magic dust.
"Open the presents!" Hermione said, bouncing with excitement.
"Yes!" Harry exclaimed, throwing himself at the packages the Grangers handed him.
Simple magical toys and… a surprising number of toothbrushes.
"Thank you, Uncle, Aunt," he said with a polite smile, fully aware they were dentists.
"Now mine!" said Hermione, handing him a package messily wrapped, with crooked tape and torn paper at the corners.
Harry took it as if it were treasure and carefully unwrapped it. Inside was a book: The Tales of Beedle the Bard.
"Thank you," he said warmly before giving his best friend a tight hug.
There was only one package left. And even before touching it, Harry's eyes lit up with excitement. Something inside him already knew what it was.
He tore off the wrapping quickly, and in his hands appeared a child-sized flying broomstick. His eyes sparkled in wonder.
"Thanks, Mum!" Harry shouted, running to hug Wanda so hard he nearly knocked her off her chair.
It was a special training broom, and Wanda had asked for it to be fitted with more comfortable seats"just in case Harry wanted to carry someone… like Hermione. Though the seller insisted that the invisible seats would magically appear when needed, Wanda still thought that was a flimsy excuse for poor design.
Harry climbed onto the broom, which began to float gently. He made a slow circle through the air in the living room, shouting with joy. Everyone watched him with smiles and pride.
The broom had safety charms: it couldn't rise too high, and it stopped before hitting anything.
As Wanda had suspected, it wasn't long before Hermione joined him. Now they were flying together, laughing nonstop, looping around the house with the dragon following them from below.
Wanda watched them, her eyes softly shining. It was a modest birthday, with only a few people… but it was full of love and magic.
And that… made it perfect.