"Then why not just make wands out of metal or some other material if wood is so temperamental?" Julian asked, confused.
Ollivander chuckled at the question. "When I was a young man, barely out of Hogwarts in fact, I asked that same thing and went looking for the answer. As it turns out, wands can indeed be made from other materials, but each comes with problems that wooden wands do not. For instance, a wand made from metal cannot grow at all once it is bound to a wizard, because metal is, by nature, a stagnant thing," he said honestly.
"Metal is certainly strong and dependable, but those very traits are also what make it a dreadful choice for a wand. Stone suffers from similar issues, with the added complication that every type of stone carries its own affinities as well. In theory, bone can be used without those same drawbacks, but from what I have found, bone wands are extremely stubborn about whom they are willing to serve," Ollivander continued, explaining the various flaws of crafting wands from materials other than wood while Julian greedily absorbed every word and wrote it all down.
Before long, Ollivander noticed the time and brought the lesson to an end for the day, but not before crossing to his shelves and pulling down three books which he handed over to Julian.
The titles were {A Veritological Compendium}, {Wand Crafting for Beginners}, and {A Guide to Runes and Their Use}.
"Since it is Friday, I will leave you with these to study over the next two days. I shall quiz you on the material afterward. Aside from that, your time is your own to use as you wish," the old man said before making his way back to the front of the shop.
Julian stored the books inside Greed and sank into thought over everything he had just learned. If metal and stone truly cannot grow stronger over time as wand materials, then how does the growth enchantment in my rings function? Am I breaking some fundamental law of magic every time I enchant something, or is there some missing element in wandmaking that nobody else noticed, while I somehow added it without realizing? he wondered deeply, his brows furrowed as the answer continued to slip away from him.
Julian knew he was talented, and he knew his enchanting methods were somewhat unusual, but he seriously doubted he was the first person ever to notice the issue with metal being such a poor material for wands. The Ollivander family had been making and selling wands since 300 B.C., more than two thousand years, which meant they had almost certainly tried to uncover every detail of the matter and still failed to resolve it.
That thought alone sent a chill through Julian, because it meant an entire bloodline of wand specialists had failed at the very question he was now considering.
Forget it. I'll figure it out later. I've got time, after all, he eventually decided, giving up for now before leaving the shop to properly explore the alley, since he had not really gotten the chance before.
It did not surprise him at all that Diagon Alley was far more complex than it first seemed once he had the opportunity to examine it properly. For example, it was not only the major named stores doing business there. Julian discovered six different bookshops aside from Flourish and Blotts, and though they were nowhere near as busy, they were still active. He carefully checked the books in each of them and found that many stocked works that would have been treated as restricted ancient section material back at Hogwarts.
Not a huge amount, granted, but enough that Julian's personal collection grew by nearly thirty more tomes, all of which took up a notable amount of space inside Greed. Unfortunately, that only reminded him that he somehow needed to expand the storage space in the ring, because what it held now was no longer sufficient. The trouble was that he did not want to destroy the current enchantments on the ring just to reforge it.
As things stood, Greed's enchantments were still extremely useful despite it being one of the oldest enchanted items Julian had ever made.
I suppose a professional enchanter might be able to help with that. At least, I hope so, Julian thought as he stepped out of the last bookstore.
After that, he noticed it was getting close to dinnertime and began looking for somewhere to eat. Before long, he spotted a small establishment tucked around a corner, its faded sign hanging above the entrance while warm light spilled from inside.
{Crumonte's Culinary Creations - Family owned and operated since 1578}
The sign caught Julian's curiosity, so he walked over and pulled open the old wooden door, setting off the bell above it.