Richard Leonidas Humphrey

Backstory

Our family is a very old one in the wizarding community, tracing our lineage back to 371 BC. My great ancestor, Olen Nichols Humphrey, migrated to Britain with the Romans as so many in the wizarding world of that time were doing as there was a growing wizard community with little to no persecution of magical folk. The magical world has always been somewhat secretive but it flourished in a Britain amongst the Pagans and other religions of the time that had so many Idols and Gods as to make us almost common. It also helped Olen to flourish as a Wand Maker, something he showed considerable skill at. There were other Wand Makers in Britain, most notable, the House Of Ollivander. They had been in business for over a decade and were known for their excellence in wandcraft. Olen's skills were quite exceptional in his own right and soon were growing competition for Ollivanders. Wanting his company to be remembered, Olan simply called his business Wizards Ware Wands and it soon became recognised by the 3 WWW's. Although, over the years, there have been ups and downs between the 2 families and Wand Makers came and went, the two companies remained and became a friendly rivalry with Ollivanders being the favored Wand Maker. Fortunately, there was a growing Wizard Community and they all needed wands.
I got my letter from Hogwarts in 1920 and was chomping at the bit to go because my best friend, Garrick Ollivander, had begun the year before. Being from different sides of the wand makers guild, we would have either been best friends or worst enemies. Fortunately it was the latter. Wand Makers kids are not singled out to be picked on, for obvious reasons but, they are not sought after as friends either. Children of Wand Makers are home-schooled with knowledge that stems from ancient wandlore so they tend to have an advanced knowledge of wands, spells and magical history that some deem an unfair advantage, yet necessary as one that is expected to go into the family business. Although we became friends more out of necessity and lack of other options, or friendship was deep and true and I loved him like a brother.,
My biggest fear of going to Hogwarts was that I would get sorted into Slytherin like so many in my family had. Not all, but most. There were many that I knew or knew of that were in Slytherin that I did not like or had heard bad things about. So it was that when the sorting hat was put on my head, all I could think was
"Not Slytherin, not Slytherin".
"Not Slytherin, you say? You would do well in Slytherin, it's right here in your head".
"No, please not Slytherin, not Slytherin, anywhere but Slytherin",
"So be it...GRYFFINDOR!"
I learned just recently since my return that the young man Harry Potter had a very similar experience with the sorting hat. I hope to meet him one day.
Although Wizards Ware Wands is a centuries old company, well respected for their custom work, very little remained of it after the First Wizarding War. The 70's were a very turbulent and frightening time. People disappearing, fires, explosions and the rise of a group called Death Eaters who followed a Dark Lord who's name was forbidden to be spoken. Death Eaters had been to see my Father on numerous occasions wanting information about some ancient wandlore my Father said was lost to time. I remember it well. It was August 16, 1979, my birthday. I was going to work a bit later, as I usually did but, it was my birthday and so I left early to have a pint or two. I would return a bit later for the surprise party I knew everyone was putting together. I was looking forward to a nice time when there had been so much turmoil in the Wizarding Community. I had just walked out of the shop when a tremendous explosion leveled the building and threw me across the street. The last thing I saw before I passed out was our House Elf, Narby, kneeling beside me.
After the explosion, I was in something akin to a coma. I don't remember much of anything of that time other than a woman’s voice constantly speaking to me and vague notions of movement and figures I couldn't identify. Any time I felt I was coming close to waking, the lights just went out again. It wasn't until September 28th that I recall waking enough to be aware of my surroundings. I woke in a quaint bedroom with older style furnishings, Victorian style, one of my favorites, and a beautiful quilt folded over the foot of my bed. Whoever owned this home lived well and had taken very good care of me. I had a horrible wound that went from my right shoulder to my left hip. I had been fed sleeping potions so I could heal and the pain would have been unbearable. When i did finally wake, I was handed a letter addressed to me. It read:

You and your entire family are presumed dead. It is rumored the Death Eaters were responsible. If it were known that you were alive, there would be a price on your head. Stay dead. There is a war coming. People are disappearing. You are and will be cared for, watched over and when it is safe, you will be contacted. For now, stay dead and do not do magic, they will find you if you do..

The letter was not signed. It just had a triangle with a circle and a vertical line running down from the point in the triangle, through the circle. I recognized it immediately. It was the sign of the Deathly Hollows and had been being used by some that were working against "He Who Must Not Be Named" and his Death Eaters so they could recognize one another.
I was staying with a man who had once received a wand from my father and was now living in the United States. Jacob was a Wizard. His wife, Helen, was not and was the first Muggle I had ever met. She would be my teacher for many years on how to behave as a Muggle. She was a sweet, precious and delightful woman who showed loving patience with me but, with everything that had happened, these were the darkest years of my life. About the time that I was beginning to feel completely lost to the Magical World, I got the surprise of my life.
On my birthday, August 16, 2011, I received the most excellent birthday present. I had been following the wars as best I could and heard that the Dark Lord had truly been destroyed. Jacob, from time to time, could get his hands on a copy of The Quibbler. I longed to return home but, to what? Everything I had ever known was utterly destroyed...or so I thought. As I sit with thoughts of home swirling in my brain and as if in answer to a wish, our House Elf, Narby, appeared before me with a slight grin on his face I found somewhat unsettling. He never smiled. He simply said "Is Master ready to go home?" He never called me that before. Without another word he took my hand and we apparated into my Father's shop. It looked better than I could have possibly imagined it would.
It was Narby that found me the night of the explosion. Knowing all that had happened, he took me to a friend of my Father's that I did not know and I was hidden away. Since then, the surviving House Elves put a cloaking spell over the shop and set about rebuilding and salvaging in secret. Not long after the end of the Second Wizarding War, Narby and his crew located the Vault containing the entire wand lore library intact along with many other magical items and family heirlooms. That was when Narby brought me home.
Since then we have been working diligently trying to rebuild the shop, hopefully to it's former glory, as well as beginning production of wands again. Word of mouth was always our best salesperson and I take all that I have learned from so many that have gone before me to create a wand, a Wizards Ware Wand, that any Witch or Wizard would be proud to own. I am Richard Leonidas Humphrey, Wand Maker.