The Wand

I have a hard time letting things go. In my heart. I’m sure my two sisters know this about me. I’m a bit of a bleeding heart.

So it may come as no surprise to you that I’m still mourning Little Lion’s wand. As I write this, we are flying back from Orlando. And I’m STILL thinking about the wand that I know Little Lion isn’t thinking about.

Little Lion brought her wand to Florida. We got her this wand (like Hermione’s) when we went to Universal Studios in LA when it first opened 3 1/2 years ago. We were there for Mini Me’s tenth birthday. At Ollivander’s, Mini Me was the chosen one. Ollivander looked through all the wands, and eventually the wand chose her.

Some crazy amount of money later, we had also bought a wand for Little Lion. These wands are special because you can cast spells in certain areas at Hogsmeade. So, of course, I reminded both girls to bring their wands to visit Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade in Orlando.

But.

But LL’s wand wasn’t working. She tried and tried but it wouldn’t work for most of the spells. And there were a LOT of places to cast spells in Diagon Alley AND Knockturn Alley. (Yes, there was a Knockturn Alley too! And it was amazing!)

So a very kind person at Diagon Alley (Universal Studios employee) tried to help us out. After several tries with her wand, he told us we could have her wand fixed at Ollivander’s free of charge. The thing is.... when we got there, the wand inspector did say the core was broken and she could fix it. And then she took Little Lion’s wand and grabbed a box with her on her way to the backroom.

I. Was. Horrified.

What to do? Little Lion was right next to me. And Mr. Bookworm was outside.

And I fumbled.

I asked LL if it would be ok if she wasn’t going to get the same wand back. Because it was a possibility.

Her response?

“I’m okay as long as it’s the same wand.”

So I repeated myself. Again and again.

Her answer was the same.

But what did it mean to have the same wand? I meant the same EXACT wand. But she meant the same style.

Time was ticking about how I should react.

I was still fumbling.

And the wand-fixer came out. With the same wand that wasn’t the same.

Little Lion took it happily.

But my heart broke. The wand that she’s had for three and a half years, her very first wand, the one that she’s carried everywhere and had many adventures with and cast many spells with was gone.