On monday Olivander tested Nick's skill level and finding it acceptable decided to move on to the second to last step of wand crafting , rune carving. "The runes most commonly used in wand creation have been chosen based on three factors , power , efficacy and efficiency. To be more specific how strong they make the wand , how well they worked regardless of magic channeled into them and how little smoothly they allow magic to go from wizard to spell." Olivander explained before writing out a set of runes on a piece of paper that consisted of four words.-
In a sentence these words would make no sense but as part of an enchantment they worked just fine. They were focus , spirit , small and pull , specifically if they were translated to english which Nick knew since he could read them easily. "Now the key to carving runes is consistency and precision , watch." Olivander said and split a housing before taking an engraving pen and carefully carving these words perfectly. "As you can see I carved the runes at the exact same depth and width apart. Right now I could put a wand core in this housing and close it up to make a weak but functional wand , like so." Olivander said.-
He then took a unicorn hair from the jar of them on the workbench and placed it carefully in the center of the wand before canceling the splitting charm causing the housing to close. Nothing happened but then Olivander picked up the wand and flicked it at a wood chip. Sparks came from the tip of the wand and Olivander nodded. "Oak , ten inches , rigid and prefers charms. All and all a useable wand." He said before handing the wand to Nick to examine.-
Looking it over Nick couldn't help but be surprised at how simply it looked and yet he could tell that it was anything but. "I will say that most wands actually have more runes than that on them based on the wander makers skill and research into the subject. My wands for example have no less than seven runes on them at any time with my more complex works going up to even thirty four runes." Olivander said proudly. "That sounds like a lot to be written down on such a small surface." Nick said honestly as he tried to image such a thing.-
Olivander nodded "If the writing was of this same size you would be correct but should a rune scribing technique called minimizing be used it is actually not much." he said honestly. "This has nothing to do with you however as your task for now is to put the four runes on a housing correctly. Once you are able to do that adequately I shall take you to the ministry to get your veritology license which will let you sell any wands you make." The old man said with a smile.-
Nick quickly discovered that carving the runes on wood instead of metal was pretty much the same thing only slightly more prone to failure due to the softness of the material. As a result he already had a fairly good grasp of the carving process needing only two more days before he successfully made a wand using some of Steve's shed fur as the core. It was an elm wand at nine and a half inches , whippy and with a preference for transfiguration. Olivander himself harshly looked it over but after finding no real flaws in craftsmanship declared it a fine first wand and let Nick keep it as the first wand made always held sentimental value.-
The next week started out on a slightly sour but not unusual note as another town had been sacrificed. The rest of the week though was dedicated to Nick honing his rune carving to be able to consistently create new wands. By Friday Olivander had decided that it was time to get him licensed and just in time too as according to Olivander the first years will start to show up at the start of the new month that was just around the corner. His final real lesson in veritology was apparently how to match a wizard to a wand.-
Nick could only chuckle at how the old man was planning to use the first years wand matching as a teaching opportunity. Still the ministries test to get a license for legal Veritological work was actually pretty strict as Nick needed to craft a wand from scratch with the ministry's provided materials. All while being scrutinized and graded by a team of three experts from the department of magical creation. He took his time and made sure to do his work in a neat and orderly fashion allowing him to finish the unicorn hair elder wood wand with no problems.
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