Arthur nearly got caught by his wife because of the small angry tics he kept showing, but he managed to convince her that work had simply handed him an especially nasty case. Molly Weasley did not look entirely convinced, but she trusted her husband to know what was best for their family and so let the matter drop. Even so, she noticed that he seemed to be keeping a closer eye on their youngest son Ron than usual. Aside from that, not much was different at the Burrow, except perhaps for the trouble the boys got into with Harry staying there for the next two months of summer holiday.
Meanwhile, back at the wand shop, Julian was being tested by Ollivander on the material from the books. "And what wood is this?" the old man asked as he pulled an unfinished piece of timber from storage. "Pine," Julian answered after examining it carefully. "And this rune word?" Ollivander asked next, showing him a word written on a sheet of parchment. "Bind," Julian replied without difficulty. Ollivander smiled and nodded. "Very good. It seems you truly did commit the contents of those books to memory. That knowledge will make my work much easier in the long term," he said honestly.
"My intention is that by the end of summer break, you will be able to make a functioning wand from beginning to end. With that in mind, the first thing I will teach you is wood tapping," Ollivander said calmly as he led Julian back into the workshop. Julian was surprised to find a tall stack of different kinds of wood piled against the wall, though he quickly noticed they were not magical varieties but the mundane versions of the same woods, which were most likely intended for practice.
Ollivander soon confirmed as much. "Any wandmaker worth the title can take a piece of wood and determine which sections are most suitable to become a wand, or possibly several wands if fortune is kind. This process is called wood tapping, and it is a vital step in ensuring the finished wand remains stable throughout." He paused and picked up a piece of oak from the top of the pile. "Take this piece for example. Based only on its size, how many wands would you think it could produce?" the old man asked as he handed it to Julian.
"Judging by the amount of material, three or four easily, but I assume the real answer is different, right?" Julian said, giving the wood back. Ollivander nodded, looking pleased. "Yes. In truth, this piece can only produce a single wand, and even then it would be a poor one due to its nonmagical nature, which I assume you already noticed. The section that can actually become a wand is found by examining the grain and the cracks within the wood." Ollivander then began pointing out tiny details Julian would never have known to pay attention to under any normal circumstances.
Ollivander had him repeat the information back so he could be sure Julian understood it properly, which also gave him the chance to correct a few mistakes Julian made while doing so. That was how Julian spent the next six hours, until Ollivander was satisfied with how much information he had managed to force into his head. Julian, on the other hand, ended up with a splitting migraine from the sheer amount of detail involved in this one part of the process alone. He knew that if he wrote all of this down, it would easily fill two reasonably sized books.
Julian got food from Crumonte's before heading to bed, mentally drained by everything he had learned. He had known the subject would be deep and highly detailed, but this was honestly an absurd amount of information to keep track of just to make a wand. 'No wonder there are so few people capable of it. The natural talent and or dedication needed to learn this craft is enormous,' he thought as he drifted into a dreamless sleep. The next day was no better, since Ollivander first reviewed everything he had taught him and then had Julian tap various pieces of wood so he could get used to putting that knowledge into practice.
This was where Julian failed repeatedly, however, because he kept mixing up the details for the different woods, and the methods changed depending on which type he was working with. Oak, for example, was much sturdier than pine and therefore required a different tapping approach. He was improving, but only slowly, though Ollivander did not seem bothered by that at all and said he had expected as much. The following two days were spent with Julian reviewing what he had learned and trying to correctly tap each piece of wood Ollivander handed him.