Still no reviews. T.T Awww...c'mon, you're so mean! Anyways, this chapter just goes ahead and finishes out Diagon Alley, so here we go.

Disclaimer: I would be considered even more of a schizo if I thought they were mine.

Chapter 3: The Lucky Ones

Kurama

I had the feeling that Hermione and I would be the top minds of Hogwarts soon enough, because she not only bought her required books, but the next years' as well. And not only those, but several history and descriptive books. Sarah wasn't quite as eager with her book purchases, but she did buy several that looked notable. Between the two of us, Kuwabara, or Kaz, bought several titles that seemed intriguing.

Flourish and Blotts, the bookstore, had probably not seen so eager a group of students in its long existence, because the cashier looked baffled at our purchases.

"You do know that that is a O.W.L. book, right, young lady?" he asked Hermione, though he apparently answered his own question when he glanced at Mr. Treeamble.

"That's all right," Hermione said. "I'm sure just reading about it won't harm anything, right, sir?"

"Just remember that you can't cast any of these out in the Muggle world," Mr. Treeamble chuckled behind Kaz. "The most competent-seeming Muggle-borns I've ever laid eyes on, eh, Mr. Flourish?"

So, the cashier was actually one of the shop owners. He didn't look too terrible old, only in his mid-thirties, so I gathered he was an inherited owner or a child working his parents' shop.

"I haven't seen anyone so keen on readin' up since the Dumbledore brothers, and I ain't even seen them," Mr. Flourish said with a smile. "Well, you two must be brothers. Getting a lot of titles in between you, I see."

I nodded. "We would like to know as much as we're getting into as possible."

Mr. Flourish smiled. "Well, now, then, maybe you'd be interested in this book." He picked up a leather-bound tome that shown with its newness. "It's entitled The Wizard in Me, by a very famous Muggle-born, Justin Bellows. It details what the Muggle should know about the wizarding world. Even got a few things in there we could brush up on. Unfortunately, it's the last copy."

"Could we have it?" Kaz and I asked together. We glanced at one another, then back at Mr. Flourish.

"Of course," he said, chuckling. He added it to the impressive stack we already had and announced our hefty total. I paid it without batting an eye—expensive books were possibly the best way of knowing exactly what we were getting into.

We left the bookshop and began gathering other well-needed supplies, like cauldrons and potions materials, quills and inkpots. I was quick to grab a good number of the quills, because I knew that Kaz would more than likely not be used to using such an antiquated way of writing. I was also quick to grab the self-cleaning inks, that boasted if you blotted or spilled, it would go right back in the container. I only hoped it would be able to tell the difference between a blot and a heavy hand.

At the end of the day, we were quite exhausted. Everyone now had a trunk with wheels—upon Mr. Treeamble's suggestion, so we didn't have to find unmagical luggage elsewhere. The trunks were magicked to lighten the load by over eighty percent, with a rack on to set up for cages and a side pocket for a broom.

"Now, there's one last stop to make, and it's only for those of you who would like a pet," Mr. Treeamble said, smiling.

"I need a cage for Eikichi," Kaz said.

"You can probably find a potion to enlongate his life and add magical properties to him," Mr. Treeamble said. From the look on his face, he was hoping that Eikichi was a male name. "Since I assume he isn't part Kneazle, he'll need something to up his intellect, I should think."

Kaz nodded, dumbfounded, of course.

"I want an owl," Sarah said instantly. "I have to be able to send letters."

"The school has owls you can use, but it is best to have your own," Mr. Treeamble said, smiling. Just then, I overheard a rather large man with a huge, bushy beard, speaking with a slight boy no taller than Sarah. He had black hair and wore round glasses.

"Owls are dead useful, mind," he was saying. In his huge hand, which was the size of a dust bin, was a cage with a lovely snowy owl inside.

Since it was obvious that an owl would, as the large man had said, be useful, I decided to procure my own.

So, while Kaz and Hermione left for one store, Sarah, her mother, and I went into Eeylop's Owl Emporium. It was dank, dark, and musty, and smelled of underused cleaner and droppings. The owls' cages were so packed in that I was nearly heartbroken to see them in such squalid conditions. Had I the money on me, I would have bought them all and donated them instead to the students who couldn't afford to buy a pet outright. But I digress. It was not my place at the present.

Sarah's mother turned out not to be able to enter the shop because the door was, again, too small. So she gave her daughter a hefty amount of Galleons—neither of us knew the price of an owl—and we had entered the shop alone. A bored-looking wizard of about twenty half-smiled at us.

"Hey, ladies, can I help you with anything?"

Sarah chuckled. "You should get your hair trimmed, Kurama, or you might expect people to continue thinking you're female."

The wizard paled noticeably. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean—"

"It's all right," I soothed. "It is a common error. I take too much of my mother."

The muttered, "I'll say," I ignored, because I obviously wasn't supposed to hear it. I forced a smile.

"I was looking for a strong owl that could make it to Japan," I said. "I have family left there and I'd like to be able to contact them."

"I just need a normal one," Sarah said, smiling shyly now despite her earlier quip. "Someone that won't bite." She seemed to go back and forth between being internal and external, though neither seemed to be her true personality.

The wizard nodded and led the way through the cramped store. "This one here is strong, and it's gotten a potion made with house elf's blood and a dragon's blood. Real strong, and it can snap where it needs to go."

He pulled a large-looking barn owl from the shelf. It had brownish-red eyes and a starburst of white around its eyes, reminding me heavily of Hiei. Immediately, I agreed and bought him on the spot. I also bought a large amount of owl nuts, owl treats, and a large bag of owl food, along with a larger cage.

Sarah was wandering around the shop as the wizard finished with me, looking at the various numbers of owls. She had already picked up a large cage, and food and treats, and was looking at the animals each as though she were having a hard time deciding on which one she liked best.

She seemed to spot something in the far corner of the store and made her way to a cage that had been set off from the others.

"He's not for sale," said the wizard. "He was born without one of his eyes and for some reason magic's not been able to get one that will function for him. Mr. Eeylop is considering having him put down."

The bird in question was not an owl, but a large hawk. Unlike most, it was completely white with a single black band that went all the way around his torso. Other than the missing eye, he seemed fine.

"Can he see out the other one?" Sarah asked, but she didn't have to. The hawk was following her every movement. It cooed softly at her. Any idiot could tell that the girl had fallen for the lonely bird and she wasn't about to just leave it behind in favor of a more decent specimen. The wizard smiled, no longer all business.

"He's a red-tailed hawk from the U.S., you see. We have been trying to breed up a snowy owl with it, but the result turned out to be him and another girl. Girl ended up fine, real strong and smart to boot. We think they may be able to see at night and in the day, unlike the normal either-or situation."

The wizard knelt beside Sarah. "You can have him free, if you like. We just gotta switch out your food for hawk's."

Sarah grinned and picked up the hawk's cage with a new pep in her step. "I'm gonna call you Lucky."

I chuckled as he rang up the purchase just for the cage and a couple months' of eagle food and a handful of treats. "Lucky is aptly named, Sarah."

I enjoy adding an X factor into people's equations. The simple way that Sarah responds to things has more to do with things than meets-the-eye, but we have yet to see exactly what I mean so I'll shut up now.