One Floo Over

Cleric Path

Chapter 8: Shopping

The small crowd of wizards, witches, mundanes, and myself, looked around and quickly came to the obvious conclusion.

"Diagon Alley at last, and without going through the Leaky Cauldron," said Harry with some satisfaction.

"Let me just finish locking up," I said, suiting action to word and then turning to them. "Where first?"

"Bookstore," said Hermione.

"Gringotts," said Padma.

"Madam Malkin's," said Parvati.

"Somewhere I can get a stomach pill," said Dan Granger.

"Don't look at the Escher paintings," said Padma. "They do a lot of people like that."

"Right," said Dan, still looking a bit ill.

"What about you?" I asked Emma Granger.

"I'm fine," answered Emma.

Lavender Brown added her two knuts worth. "How about Gringotts first? I think that not all of us have wizard coins, right? I don't know much about muggle life, but I do know you've got your own coins and stuff."

"Good point," I conceded.

"So, what's your artifact do?" asked Hermione. "I forgot to ask."

"Don't talk about them in a crowd," I said in as low a volume as I thought would still carry in this crowd. "People might get the wrong idea." Or worse - the right one. A secret advantage would lose most of its value as soon as it was no longer a secret. Being able to surprise the Big Bad by playing a card he/she/it didn't know you have could be downright priceless in any sort of conflict.

"Gringotts is the wizard bank?" asked Dan Granger, apparently recovering. "Sounds like a plan."

I let the purebloods lead the way as they were most familiar with the layout of this place. Though I DID wonder a bit about the naming system here. "Diagon Alley" - diagonally? Was there then a Horizont Alley? Vertik Alley? A cul-de-sac called Faerie Court? Was this like Discworld and puns were an underlying force within magic itself? Ah well, possibly something to add to the research queue.

There were seven girls who had a pactio with Harry. Not all could make it, of course, but I'd wanted as many as could meeting up before the Main Plot started up. It would vastly simplify matters in that case, and this seemed to be the sort of reality you'd have Epic Destinies around. I'd found out that there was a Prophecy involved and no matter that I didn't know the actual wording - those tended to ratchet things up.

I'd also found out there was something called an "inferi" which was a form of evil undead. Dark Lord Sorcerer-King, possibly undead himself, with the possibility of an undead army. Yep, some prepwork would definitely not be amiss. It was SUCH a pain to be hip-deep in undead and discovered you left the extra ammo in the van.

We were parked next to a store called "2nd Hand Brooms", which sold exactly what the sign declared. I cleared the parking arrangement with the proprietor with a promise I'd be picking up one particular model (to experiment on mostly) after the money exchange.

I listened to Lavender and Parvati going on about investigating this shop or another, Padma throwing in her own opinion from time to time, and how Cho or Fleur would have loved to come along but their schools weren't too keen on quick trips through space and time.

It had been an initial plan to go to the Japanese version of Diagon, which I had discovered was in the city of Koka (which used to be named Koga) and was just off their ninja-themed historical recreation village. I'd thought that fairly clever actually, if non-wizards wandered through the wards they'd think it all just part of the attraction. Meanwhile the wizards there could take a wrong turn and just be thought of as tourists or cosplayers or something.

Unfortunately one had to go to Diagon Alley because the textbooks the children would need at Hogwarts were available there and darn few places else.

"So," said Dan as we waited in line. "You've referred to these 'trope' things and 'archetypes'?"

"Yes," I agreed. "It's not an exact fit, usually, but it does make for a handy form of shorthand. Hermione, for example, is the Brainy Brunette or The Researcher."

"She is quite intelligent," said Dan, fitting into the proud father stereotype without any qualm at all.

"Honestly?" I asked, glancing at him. "I've spoken to her perhaps on five different occasions so far. I think if I'd been able I'd have taken her to the same Magic Academy as Harry and she'd have never wanted to leave but would be far happier with a magic system that made more sense."

Two of the girls ahead of us glanced back but didn't say anything. How much they'd heard, I didn't know.

"The ones I chose to approach about cards were those who could have ended up as Harry's partner in the future," I told Hermione's father. "As I said - each of them is considerably more likely to be associated with him in the future than others. Some rejected the arrangement like the Weasley family. Others, like you, decided that giving an advantage to your child was more important. As for that Lovegood fellow - I didn't understand half of what he said but I was pretty sure he rejected the idea. That and something about snorlax."

"When 'advantage' means 'better chance of survival' - it's something to consider," said Dan. "You know the Patil family doesn't really believe Voldemort is gone."

Judging from the flinches of the two Patil and the single Brown, they WERE listening at least some. I nodded. "I've gone over the reasons I think he's still about. Doesn't matter though - whether it's him or one of his followers taking up the mantle - it's all going to start happening next year."

"That reminds me, I want to see if 'muggles' can use these 'portkeys' - I want to keep an emergency one at home in case we become targets," said Dan.

"Survival favors the prepared," I agreed.

"You don't normally operate this openly though, do you? I got the impression your 'agency' operates behind the scenes," said Dan.

"Well, true, I would've been hidden through all this except for being attacked while investigating," I said. "Once that happened, everything was going out of control anyway. So why not take refuge in audacity?"

"Wait. So the whole thing. Us meeting, the girls getting pactio, and all - was a result of a MISTAKE?" Dan had stumbled a bit as the thought hit him. "That because you thought that the Death Eaters were already attacking?"

"Well, yeah, so really - it's all that Dumblebore's fault from what Lady Longbottom told me," I concluded. "Standard Operating Procedure would have been just saying a few things to the right people and then concluding. Maybe hole up somewhere off to the side so I could give sage advice or a timely helping hand or something. Thing is - nothing has gone the way it should so far. I'm cut off from the main office - tried contacting them every way I could think of. Figured that when I started tracking the girls down, that maybe they'd contact me. Didn't work. Then the first time I ended up in the wrong place in my Tardis, that they'd send me a complaint. Nothing happened. It's very worrisome to me."

"Really?" asked Dan. "So this mysterious Celestial Agency would send you an e-mail or something?"

"Depends on who does the sending, but something low key would be my guess too," I said, wincing at a very bad feeling that swept over me at that statement. Maybe some buried or erased memory there? "Though if it were Thor or Odin or someone I'd expect lightning to come out of the sky and engrave it on the ground. Same with the Greeks. Subtle isn't normally their modus operandi."

Dan stared at me for a minute as the line slowly moved. "It's a bit odd for someone dressed as a Christian priest to be discussing Norse gods as if you've just seen them the other day."

"Well, I think I have," I admitted. "I had a flash of memory the other day. Was hanging in the corner of a meadhall, having a quick meeting with Forseti while Thor and a bunch of einherjar were feasting and otherwise being quite loud. Only about a minute and a half of memory but it was at least something."

Dan was silent for a moment before Emma revealed she had been listening. "So you don't remember why you were sent here. It could have been something not related at all to us or Harry."

"Well, yes," I admitted. "Still, I'm fairly sure it is Harry. Dark Lord, undead, evil magic, prophesies and the like. Fairly typical setup. The multiple girls fated to interact with Harry is a bit unusual here in the West. In Asian settings though - it's a lot more common."

"Seriously?" asked Emma.

"Oh yes, there was one..." My voice trailed off as I tried to remember. "Well. I think so. There was something. I can't remember clearly but I think it was the prince of a star kingdom raised in a rural community on Earth and ending up with five girls interested in him and three more just associating with him. As for being a Christian priest - I don't see the problem. I was raised Presbyterian and I merely hang out with some of the friendlier deities and such. Forseti's pleasant, Hephaestus can be kind of moody, Thor's friendly but a bit crude, and Ganesha is pretty good company. Hestia loves to have high tea, she gets together with Brigit for that sometimes."

Finally it came up with Hermione stepping up to the teller's window and handling the exchange as the only magically inclined of the Grangers.

"How often does this happen - with magic children born to nonmagical parents?" asked Dan. "The goblins there don't seem at all surprised."

"Because they're not," I said, rooting around in my pocket for an orb. They were a handy little enchantment, basically the magitech equivelant of flashdrives or something. A glowing set of names and lines appeared in the air above it. "There's some sort of magic registry here, supposedly that's how they know to send those Hogwarts letters out. In any case, it was fairly easy to check into things and this is Hermione's ancestry tree."

I noticed that when I said and did that, there was a pause and practically everyone in the bank was now paying attention.

I shrugged and went on with it as Hermione dickered with the goblin over exchange rates. Which was fairly important as the goblins didn't respect anyone who didn't fight for a good bargain. Now my explanation and display were actually helping as Hermione was focussed on getting a good deal while the goblin himself wanted to listen in on this for whatever reason.

"The magic gene occasionally misses a generation, producing what they call a 'squib' or non-magical descended of an established magical line. The names in green are wizards and witches, the names in yellow are non-magicals. You see both of your names are in yellow? But if you look at your great-grandparents in Emma's case and your great-great-grandparents in Dan's case - you are descended from two magical lines. Most likely she's going to be a powerful witch when she gets a bit older." I indicated the two sets of green names up higher in the branches.

Lavender studied it. "I wonder if that means she'll be able to claim the contents of her ancestral vault. Be nice if she was wealthy - money is its own power."

One of the other tellers who'd been openly watching spoke up. "We would need further proof of identity than this bit of magic, but it would definitely be something a senior manager would be interested in. The last war left several families without any inheritors and it could clear out some outstanding accounts if it worked out."

"Something to explore later," I admitted. "Today's a shopping day and I have an unfortunate tendency to be attacked out of the blue for reasons that are entirely too troublesome."

"Not in Gringott's," said the clerk with a sneer. Goblins are pretty good at sneering, all those sharp pointy teeth helping them in that.

"We'll see," I told him, and set up an appointment for the following week where I'd show him one of the devices. If it generated some wizard-money for the Grangers it might be time well spent. Sending a kid off to wizard-school couldn't be cheap.

"I'd wondered about this after you mentioned there being some prejudice against those from non-wizardling families," admitted Dan. "So how prevelant is this with someone nonmagical having a wizard hidden in their family tree?"

I shrugged. "I was curious about that myself. Didn't do much investigation but a rough guess is that one in ten thousand British citizens has at least one wizard ancestor. So, just in London, you're looking at eight hundred and fifty three potential parents of a wizard."

Someone in the line abruptly dropped their handbag.

The goblin teller from earlier flashed a smile. "Actually, we estimate it would be more like one in five thousand muggles have a wizard ancestor. So, using the census figures compiled from their 'Greater London Authority' of twelve point seven million muggles - there are two thousand five hundred and forty muggles who have some wizard family in their ancestry."

"I take it you have bets?" I asked that goblin.

"Perhaps, a bit maybe," said the goblin teller.

I allowed that point with a nod of my head. Depending on what the source of their data was, of course.

"As I understand it, it's ripples in the mana-field that tips off their system that someone's a wizard or witch," I continued as Hermione finally got the best deal she could out of the teller she'd been negotiating with.

"'Ripples in the mana'?" asked Dan.

"I use od - internal magic or spiritual energy," I told him. My research had turned up that this was one of those realities that used "mana" as the term for the magical fields and currents of the world. "As near as I can tell, the wizard realm uses 'mana' which is the magical energy in the environment and that courses through ley lines. Their wands form a bridge between themselves and this magic field but they also can have desires or emotions shift that field in what they call 'accidental magic' that basically acts as a confirmation of their wizard status."

"Things were so much simpler before we learned of all this wizardry," admitted Emma. "Did you get a good deal?"

Hermione scowled at the goblins. "Cheated me every step of the way, had to fight for every sickle, but that's as good as I could get."

The teller looked pleased, as being difficult and pinching every sickle he could was a compliment in goblin terms.

"I didn't know you could barter with them on the exchange rate," noted Lavender as we walked away.

"I mailed them a book on 'wizarding society for the muggle-born' awhile back, there was a section on goblin banking," I noted.

"She memorized it," admitted Emma Granger. "Even though it was over a hundred years out of date."

"Maybe I should read it," mused Lavender. "I didn't know that about the goblins."

"It was written back in eighteen-forty-five," I told her. "I ran across it in a second-hand bookstore off of Victoria Street. You wouldn't believe what else was there."

"What?" asked Lavender.

"Something that should never ever be found among the wizards of any world," I told her.

"Dark Rituals?" Lavender guessed.

"You could definitely say that," I agreed.

"Well, as long as it isn't Lovecraft," joked Dan Granger.

I glanced at him, but remained quiet.

Dan glanced at me, saw my expression, and turned white as he came to a complete stop.

Even Lavender, whom I charitably wouldn't call the brightest candle in the room, caught on as our little group came to a stumbling halt. "What's a Lovecraft? Like love potions?"

"You're kidding, right?" asked Emma Granger.

Hermione had turned pale herself, her dark eyes contrasting to make her look a bit ghost-like.

"No, Lovecraft has nothing to do with love potions. It's really best not to dwell on that," I said. "He got some things very very wrong in most realities. And this was just a notebook. From the look of it, it was just some of his research notes." Of course, working for the Agency, one actually could Have Tea With Cthulhu. Though just the idea of tea was as completely alien to such a Being as Dan's work as a dental surgeon would be to a Seven-Angled Entity such as Lovecraft typically wrote about.

"Oh, good luck trying to sleep tonight," said Dan.

"Do I want to know?" asked Parvati.

"No, I don't think you do," answered Hermione.

"Actually, now that you remind me, you might want to look into magic storage seals and potion-making," I suggested to Hermione. "If your parents and other non-magical sorts could make magic potions and have them handy - it would represent a resource the other side wouldn't expect."

"Nice subject change," muttered Dan Granger.

"Wait. We could make magic potions? Like what?" asked Emma.

"Calming Draught, Cure for Boils, Essence of Dittany, Pepperup Potion, Wit-Sharpening Potion..." I let my voice trail off. I didn't really know that many potions, but it was obvious to me that with hundreds of years of experiments with potion-making that some purely utilitarian potions had been created. As well as the inevitable adult-oriented potions and such. "It might be that actually making potions doesn't require a wand but draws on the magic of the maker - so you wouldn't be able to make any if that was the case - but being able to use potions should work. Or work mostly - depends on if the potion accesses the user's magic or just the maker's magical aura."

"They actually have 'love potions'?" asked Emma, making a face about the thought.

"Yes, but they don't work all that well," answered Lavender. "Only work for a brief bit, have to re-dose constantly, and they lose effectiveness over time as well."

"I think we should try a bit sometime," said Parvati, prompting everyone else to stop and stare at her. She hastened to add her reasoning. "Just in case we get hit with it at some point so we know what it's like. Better able to fight it then. You know what some of those families like the Malfoys are capable of."

"I'd rather not," said Padma primly. "I'm not sure why the Ministry has failed to ban such things in the past considering their potential for misuse."

There was some silence briefly before Dan decided a change of subject was quite overdue. "So, where first?"

"Hogwarts has a list of books needed, that you can have an owl or toad or cat, and a your wand and robes and such," said Lavender.

"Why 'owl' or 'cat' or 'toad'? There are much better choices if you're going to have a familiar," I offered. Ravens were usually a good choice, so were ferrets and a couple of other creatures that could pass for normal pets.

"Tradition," answered Lavender.

"Books first," said Hermione.

"Robes," said Parvati. "Maybe some quidditch gear."

"Let's start at the bookstore," seconded Padma.

"Robes first," seconded Lavender, making it a tie.

"You're not allowed to use your wands until you're eleven, and then only at Hogwarts or on the Express," pointed out Lavender. "We can also cross off the Junk Shop, the Ice Cream Parlour for now, and the cauldron and potion ingredient shop can wait too."

"I've already got a wand," complained Harry.

"Well, you need a local version as well," I pointed out. "Though if we go ahead and set up a tight ward set we might be able to have a practice room to get spells down before Hogwarts."

"That would be nice," said Dan Granger. "What happens if she tries out a few spells before then?"

"Fines, goes into her record as an offense, but purebloods and wizarding families can usually get off as they can't tell who used the spell unless they examine your wand," supplied Lavender. "You've already gotten your wand."

"Harry has A wand," I corrected. "He doesn't have one specifically tuned for this environment."

"Wait, you mean a wand he got from some OTHER magic world?" Dan Granger shook his head. "If the local magical world wasn't confusing enough."

"First then," decided Emma Granger. "How about we get Hermione her wand? She can always go over to the Patil home to practice."

"Most likely Ollivander's will not sell a wand to someone before they turn eleven," put in Lavender.

- Interlude 8-1 -

"So, anyway, there the Beeb was giving a big ol' press conference as to how they were bringing 'Doctor Who' back and that they were not in any way responsible for these Tardis sightings."

A lanky man raised his glass as the rest of the bar chuckled. The results had been documented and were still being talked about.

"So, Mister Eccleston," said one of the others at the pub, "how does it feel to be the Ninth Doctor?"

"It feels like regular employment," said the actor. "Considering I've got one job down and have another job I'm working on now, and this is all going on next year. I'm feeling like I might actually be able to make ends meet sometime in the future."

"So, they saying anything different now? And who's the Vicar?" asked one of the locals.

"No, Who's the Doctor," quipped back another local to some degree of laughter and a few angry mutterings from someone who was apparently a fan of the show.

"Well, some are thinking the little boy is supposed to be the Doctor and the Vicar is his Companion," said the actor. He shrugged after draining his glass. "Whatever. Up until then I was thinking it was some sort of stage magic thing the higher up management was pulling. Now - I was close enough to get a good look at the whole thing. Even saw inside the open door and there was a whole slew of kids and a couple of adults. AND it was bigger on the inside. If it was some stage magic, I sure don't know how they could do it."

"They've had stage magicians looking over the footage and examining the stage," offered one of the other patrons. "It don't bloody look likely to be some trick."

"So, there's a real Doctor, or something close enough," said the actor. "I just hope there's no Daleks. Anything running around, yelling 'Exterminate' and zapping people isn't going to go over quite so well."

- Interlude 8-1 -

"Look, you're ten. Getting your robes now just means getting new ones next year because you're growing."

"I still want to know what this 'Infinite Library' is." Hermione looked up at one adult after another as if she was sure that they were all keeping secrets from her. To be fair, we were - but at ten years old the complexities of the world are not readily understood.

"Another world and I don't have access to it," I admitted. Mind you, I'd love to have a look around it, but that was something not likely to happen. "Supposedly it's a Magical Library with an auto-update function. As soon as a book is published a copy appears there. Heard that it isn't sorted though and finding what you want requires a very specific and specialized skill in spellwork."

Hermione was practically sparkling at the thought of being able to browse a library like that. I had a feeling that if she had the chance, she'd vanish into the stacks and be lost for all time. Some explorer would eventually find a bushy-haired mummy surrounded by books in some odd corner and wonder about the odd decoration.

"So, you said there were seven 'Ministra' to Harry being the 'Magister'?" asked Emma Granger.

"Right," I agreed. "We're here."

"Not going to answer?" asked Emma.

"Not here," I replied.

"Why not?" asked Emma. "Hardly anyone here right now."

"Have you heard of the 'Sacred Twenty-Eight'?" I replied.

"Eh?" asked Emma, apparently not ready for what she clearly assumed was a topic-shift.

Padma decided to explain. "The 'Sacred Twenty-Eight' is a group of pureblood magical families who are known for keeping their breeding 'pure' with regard to magical bloodlines."

"They're not all going to be your enemies, but they're old and politically powerful and have money," I told them. "Every so often some 'muggles' turn up missing, or someone who absolutely never shows any hint of violence commits violence against his own family. Using divination spells, I found out that a number of the Sacred Twenty-Eight use spells to harm and manipulate the muggle population. They also make sure that the 'muggleborn' and 'half-bloods' finish low in the class."

"How do they manage that?" asked Lavender, clearly never having heard of this.

"Magical families can have their children at home and practicing with their magic and potions. Because there are spellcasters there, they can sign off that any magic done was by them. If the Ministry of Magic detects spells going off at a muggleborn or half-blood home it gets noted in a file and enough notes get a message per their laws against Underage Magic," I told her. "That's just one of the advantages they give full-blood families."

"So what does that have to do with discussing the 'Ministra'?" asked Emma.

"Another advantage they have is that they share information and have been known to leave listening charms and the like around, just to be sure of whom they associate with," I told them. "For example, I noticed Ollivander's wand shop has a charm on the doorway that allows him to know the name of anyone entering."

"Oh that," said Lavender, sounding a bit relieved. "He likes to pretend he mysteriously knows everyone entering the shop. Just a tendency to be dramatic in his case. My mum told be about that, said to just humor him as it doesn't cost you anything and makes him happy."

"You're running that 'analysis' spell? I thought that gave you a headache if you kept it going for long," commented Dan.

"Yes, well, magical shopping." I indicated the entire area and not just the shop we had entered. "Want to avoid anything in the Dark category. Like that book on the third shelf down, six from the left."

The shopkeep had been listening with a faint smile on her face until I indicated that book. At which point she looked slightly concerned and went to it, gave off a soft "eep" and then used a pair of fireplace tongs to pull that book and hustle it off into a box.

As soon as the lid was closed there was a growl and a faint scrabbling noise from within, but the shopkeep was already chaining the box shut.

"Good eye you've got there Padre," said the shopkeep eventually. "Welcome to Flourish & Botts."

"What WAS that?" asked Emma Granger, some of her hair sticking up oddly at the indication of unsafe reading.

"A particularly malevolent cursed tome that shows up every so often," explained the bookshop salesclerk. "I'm Pam, by the way, and that there book was written by Grindelwald back when he was rising in power."

"Hello, Pam," I said. "Would you like it purified?"

The box stopped rattling as if what was inside was listening.

"We've tried just Vanishing it and Banishment charms," said Pam. "So far nothing works."

"While the young ones look over your selection then. I'll just see what I can do."

I quickly took a few items out of my pockets.

"A salt shaker?" asked salesclerk Pam.

The protective circle was quickly drawn and empowered. Especially when dealing with cursed items - safety first.

Grindelwald's name had come up when I'd done a bit of research at a local library, and yes they DID have libraries on the magical side. Sparse, severely underfunded, but with a number of interesting things there. Some wizards apparently preferred that sort of gathering place compared to bars or the like. I wondered if Hermione knew about them or if her parents wanted to risk the rather severe penalties for being overdue on them.

Once things were in place, the ritual began. At the first sluggish response of power - the thing in the box went from silent to desperate.

"It's not Gellert Grindelwald," I told Pam. "This is a bit older."

I went through the exorcism, ringing the small silver bell at the end of it. From the box shot out a thick black smoke which briefly took on shapes of the sort of toothy maw you'd expect on a shark. Then it was gone.

Pam was reluctant to check at first, but finding the box now contained softly glowing ash seemed to satisfy whatever concerns she had. "You able to do curse-breaking then?"

"Depends on the curse, I expect." I had human limits after all - it was one of the things that made the difference between a 'Servant Of The Heavens' and a god. Though there were categories and limitations on them as well, just not human limits.

"So you can cure werewolves or something like that?" asked Pam with a bit of a smirk and raised eyebrow.

"Oh, lycanthropy? Yeah."

The salesgirl gave a bit of a laugh and then noticed I wasn't smiling or smirking. Those sorts of curse though - that's serious business. Curses like that could sweep through a community, destroy entire families in a single night, and generally throw things into a right mess.

"You're serious? I have a cousin..."

Well, that explained why she had brought it up. I made an appointment and explained the process. Had to be done when the werewolf or whatever was in the throes of the transformation and restrained. Took about an hour to cast the proper spells and such. If it didn't work the first time, you had to repeat it. Eventually you just hammered your way through it.

Hermione and Padma had to be convinced to return roughly half their stacks of books to the shelves. Some of the titles were a bit concerning, particularly as the girls involved were all of ten years old.

I might have to look over some of those myself though as there were still gaps in my understanding of this world. My grasp of both the "wizarding world" and the "muggle world" was missing a few things and just scanning through a few sections would assist there.

Well, it looked like Harry had a few books selected. I could always borrow his for a quick look-see.

"Which of this brood is yours?" asked Pam.

"All of them in one sense of the term," I told her. "None in another sense. They all know they're going to be heading to Hogwarts next year, anything you'd suggest as prep-work?"

"Actually," began Pam thoughtfully. "The young lady with the bushy hair is muggle-born?"

"Yes, that IS the local term," I noted. "Though honestly I find the Japanese term 'mundane' or 'latent' to be somewhat less grating."

"'Latent'?" asked Pam.

I waved the point off. "Just referencing that the gene for magic is a bit more widespread than is generally thought of around here. You were saying?"

"Books on history and wizarding society might be appropriate," said Pam. "Particularly with regards to some of the old families. They can be somewhat..."

The way her voice trailed off indicated that she was likely familiar with some of the discrimination herself. I nodded at her. When I heard the bell clatter on someone else entering, I naturally glanced that way and saw evidence once again that Harry was the 'tal varu' or 'protaganist' of this particular period. The elven term also means a few other things, some of which were not appropriate to be used in polite company.

"Speaking of which," indicated Pam under her breath before she hurried to go off and speak with the customers.

Blond obvious father and son pairing. Aristocratic bearing. I was still running my 'Analyze Magical Fields' spell so I could clearly see that the father was Marked.

Was this the Dark Lord then? Hmmm. No. More likely a major minion. Most Dark Lords were the markER and not the markEE type. So, the father was a major minion and the son a minion-in-training. Or minor minion. Could be the Mole or the Spy or something though those tended to die tragically as they attempted to redeem the sins of the father.

You get in enough of these situations you see the patterns, you see the patterns you write them out and they ended up taught to other operatives.

Major Minion was striding through the store as if it was his own personal kingdom. Little Minion was trying to act the same.

I wandered over towards Dan and Emma's attempt to convince Hermione she could not purchase a stack of books taller than she was. "Be wary. Don't draw attention to yourself."

Both blinked and looked at the newcomers.

"And for crying out loud, don't stare," I added.

I herded them to the desk, waited until Pam could get free and ring up the purchases, then acted as shepherd to get them out the door. Meeting the Major Minion (and his erstwhile Mini-Me) would set the tone for future interactions, possibly locking the future into a set track. I wanted to avoid that as much as possible for as long as possible.

"What was all that about?" asked Emma as we were out the door.

"The adult of those two had a marking on one arm, concealed by the clothing but still radiating black-band," I told them.

"What's 'black-band' mean?" asked Lavender.

"Magic has a spectra, and the spell I keep running allows me to see the colors of magic," I told her. "Holy magic is white. Most necromantic spells and spells specifically designed to torture or drain life show up as black-band. A lot of mind control spells fall into that category as well."

"When isn't mind control a bad thing?" asked Emma.

"There's a spell called 'Zone of Truth' - those within the field can't deliberately lie," I told her. "Sleep spells to cause a violent drunk to sleep it off. There are therapeutic spells to deal with addictions. Things like that."

"Those don't sound quite so bad," admitted Emma Granger.

"There's one that's one of the three Unforgiveables," said Padma. "All three are considered the darkest of dark magics."

"Those are the ones your lockets will protect you from, with the limitations I spoke of earlier," I told the Grangers. "Hmmm. Harry, you and I might want to wait outside."

"Why?" asked Harry.

"Because we're at a place called 'Madam Primpernelle's Beautifying Potions'," I told him. "There are some things best left to others."

"Sounds like a plan," said Dan, realizing how much problem could be involved and wanting to distance himself as well. "How about we head to the cauldron-sellers?"

"I hate splitting the party, but it does seem advisable," I agreed.

This earned us a few dirty looks from the females within our group, except for Hermione who was still going through one of the books she'd gotten. Honestly, if there was a Zombie Apocalypse going off around us she'd probably have to be shaken to get her to notice if there was a book anywhere nearby.

"Good. I wanted to throw an idea or two out while the young ladies are away," I told Dan as we made our way to the store that sold cauldrons.

"Oh?" asked Dan, who stopped to check his shoe. A small flattened bug peeled itself off the bottom and proceeded to fly unsteadily away.

"You know about the pureblood prejudice, I've brought it up several times. Sometimes even on purpose." I kept an eye on the bug because anything that could fly after being partially squished was a formidable vermin.

"Yes," said Dan.

"There are a large number of those who are not pureblood who fail to find employment in the wizarding world due to that prejudice." I sighed as Dan put his shoe back on, but I noticed that he was eyeing the bug until it went down a sewer grate. Nice to know he wasn't being overwhelmed by the weird factor yet. "Even if you get good grades and maintain high academic standards, a witch or wizard might not be able to advance further in that society."

"Why are you bringing that up now, she's ten," pointed out Dan as we resumed walking.

"He's not expecting to survive the war," said Harry.

"What?" asked Dan.

"No, the Mentor always dies before the Hero faces their Nemesis," I told Dan. "I'm the Mentor. You get used to it after awhile. Besides, I'm clergy around here. I'm supposed to give advice."

"You really expect to die when things are going on?" Dan had slowed a bit, causing us to walk a bit slower as well. "I know you've said something similar but-"

"Now, Mister Granger, you're missing the important bit," I told him. "Wizards go to Hogwarts, graduate with academic excellence, and then?"

Dan shook his head. "Well, if they can't make it in the wizarding world then I guess they..."

Noting that Dan had stopped dead in his tracks, Harry nodded. "He got it."

"Well, part of it, I suspect," I answered. "Mister Granger, are you aware of the spell 'Obliviate' and its long-term consequences?"

"Uhm, no," answered Dan Granger.

"You're a dentist," I said, waiting for his nod before I continued. "Do you ever use anesthetic?"

"Just the local," Dan responded.

"What about full sedation?" I asked. "See, the thing is that if used correctly and just once or twice on someone for small events - it's a lot like putting someone under for surgery. Hardly ever goes wrong that much."

"Are you suggesting that if she goes through Hogwarts and fails to get a job in the wizarding world, they could Obliviate her entire time there?" asked Dan.

"Yes, it would be rather like a coma victim and not just missing a few hours," I tapped my head. "Erasing seven years? The human brain uses holographic storage. Bits connected here and there."

"Yes, I'm familiar with the MRI studies," said Dan. "Oh god."

"Now, Hermione is the only one I'm worried about with this," I told him. "The others all have families. However there are those who end up going into the 'muggle world' after graduation and trying to make a life for themselves afterward because of the lack of opportunities for those without connections or pure blood status. Some of what I've heard indicate muggleborns get Obliviated on their return to non-magical Britain. Some stories have different outcomes, but I haven't been able to track a lot of the details and verify yet."

"I heard they feed some of them to the vampires," put in Harry.

"I heard that rumor as well, but I'm pretty sure that's NOT the case." I hadn't been able to find much of any information about the vampire population. Except that they apparently had to obey the local laws and that there was apparently blood-flavored lollipops and sodas for them.

"Is it too late to pull Hermione home and just keep her safe?" asked Dan.

"Yes," I answered. "She's already mixed in it. If you pull her out, someone from the magical law enforcement group will do that Obliviate spell as soon as they learn of it. It's a dangerous world, all we can do is prepare as much as possible."

The rest of the shopping trip went fairly quietly.

Unless you count when the return trip ended up briefly in Fiji. I was ready to return immediately, but I was outvoted.

On the other hand, I got tired of everyone of the magical community flinching when I said the name "Voldemort" so I started calling him "Lord Moldy Shorts" - and that seemed to scandalize the magicals and amuse the non-magicals so I decided to keep doing that.