A/N: And here's the next chapter! It's time for Harry to shop for his school supplies. Let's get to it!
Disclaimer: I don't on Harry Potter or Godzilla. I only own my original ideas.
Chapter 12: A Day on the Town
Harry headed back into the main thoroughfare of Diagon Alley, and moved on with on itinerary. His first stop was Flourish and Blotts, the bookstore. He purchased his required books for the upcoming term, as well as a few extra for purposes of studying ahead. If he had no choice to attend Hogwarts for now, the he would do it on his terms. He also saw the newest edition of Flamel's book, but knew he didn't need it: He already had a signed copy. Another thing he noticed in the bookstore were all the books about him. The Flamels had told him about what he was supposedly famous for, defeating a 'Dark Lord' as in infant. But Harry knew better: In reality, it was most likely the actions of his mother, while he just lay there. Harry shook his head at this and moved on. He thought about heading to the Magical Menagerie, but decided against it for now. the only one he had to send letters to at the moment were the Flamels, and they had already taught him a way to call one of their owls to him.
With his first stop checked off, he headed towards Madam Malkin's to purchase his school robes. When he entered, there was already another being fitted. This other was a pale-skinned, blond boy with an expression which clearly said he thought himself better than all those around him. Harry knew the truth, this boy reeked of inbreeding… he was obviously one of the high society pureblood bigots he'd heard ran the wizarding side of the country. Harry headed to stand next to him, and waited for service. Soon enough, the boy looked towards him and engaged in conversation.
"Hello, Hogwarts was well?" drawled the boy.
"Yes," said Harry, doing his best to keep himself in check.
"Father says it's one of the top schools in Europe," said the boy, "Where are your parents?"
"They're dead," Harry said flatly.
"Oh, sorry," said the boy, not sounding sorry in the slightest, "They were of the… right kind weren't they?"
"I don't see how that matters," said Harry, "both Mundanes and Wizards have done great and terrible things. The research of Nicola Tesla is still being looked over to this day, finding all the many great things he designed. On the other hand, the same man forbade his assistants from wearing pearls, refused to stay in a hotel room unless its room number was divisible by 3, and believed he could split the earth in half with electricity. On the magical side, you can look at the recent history of this very country. The Dark Lord Voldemort unified many purebloods under his banner, and attempted to take the entire world for himself".
"Y-you said you-know-who's name!" said the boy.
"Is that odd?" said Harry, raising his brow, "I mean, it's fairly obvious that it's an alias. The name basically translates from French as 'Flight from death', taken another way, it could taken to mean 'He who fears death'. Not exactly intimidating".
The pale boy was taken aback, and watched in shock as Harry walked out of the shop after paying for his new robes. Harry went to the apocethary, collecting the items he needed for his potions class. His next stop was a rather important one: his wand. Instead of going to Ollivander's , he decided to seek out Starlight Custom Wands in Orthogon Alley… see what his human family had invested in.
As its name suggested, Orthogon Alley intersected every other street it came to with a perfect 90 degree angle. At one corner, Harry found the shop he sought. Starlight Wands as a pleasant looking shop, much cleaner looking than the majority of the ones on Diagon. Harry went into the shop, and saw a somewhat haggard looking man behind the counter. Harry noticed that he smelled of fur and was trying to hide his pain. Harry considered the possibilities, and realized it was only a couple days since the full moon. It was quite possible this man suffered from lycanthropy.
"Can I help you?" said the shopkeeper.
"Yes sir," said Harry, "I'm looking to purchase a wand. I was looking over my family's investments and saw I apparently own a decent share in this business. I decided I wanted to get my first wand here".
"Wait… you wouldn't happen to be Harry Potter, would you?" asked the shopkeeper.
"I am," said Harry, "why?"
"Well, it's just your grandfather gave mine the capital to start up this shop," said the shopkeeper.
"Well, I'm glad he was able to help your family," said Harry.
"Yes… now down to your wand," said the shopkeeper, "Follow me".
The man led Harry into a workroom in the back, where the shelves were stacked high with rough cut pieces of wood, jars filled with a variety of materials collected from magical animals, small stacks of gemstones and the like.
"Alright, let's get down to this," said the shopkeeper, "Approach the samples of wood, and find the one or ones which feels the most correct to you".
Harry did that, and checked each sample. Some felt moderately good, some bad, while others seemed to outright shun him. Then he felt a strong match from two samples. One was from a container showing a cherry tree in full, vibrant bloom, while the other showed a mighty tree supporting a globe. Harry brought both samples back, and the shopkeeper looked them over.
"Hmm, you've chosen two rather rare samples there," said the shopkeeper, "that one was from a fallen branch of a Sakura cherry tree. The particular tree it came from has long been revered in the village it grows. That other piece of wood you've picked out is from Norway, it's a twig from a tree believed to be connected to Ydraggsil, the World Tree of Norse mythology".
Harry let out a slow whistle about this, and then moved to the next step: the wand core. Harry moved over to the shelves of samples from magical creatures. Amongst the jars, he saw some very familiar blue scales, He remembered the Flamels mentioning that some of his shed scales and teeth had been taken away to study their magical properties and some were purchased by businesses. As expected, Harry got a strong response from these items, particularly the fang.
'Well, I guess it makes sense I'd have a strong connection to this,' thought Harry, 'Maybe Nicolas' theory about my true form acting as its own magical conductor holds some truth'.
Harry brought the fang over, much to the shopkeeper's surprise.
"This… I've had others try and select this before, but it always rejected them completely," said the shopkeeper, "It seems wherever you've been these past couple years, you haven't suffered for it. Now, for the third part of the wand construction: a focusing crystal. Examine the gems, and see which is right for you".
Harry went to the gems, and tried the various precious stones such as diamond, ruby, sapphire, emerald, etc. None of these were right, so he moved to the semiprecious stones. He moved through these until he touched the peridot.
"Peridot, is it?" said the shopkeeper, "Interesting, gem-quality form of the mineral olivine, rare on Earth's surface, but more common in mantle rocks and sometimes found in meteorites".
"You seem surprisingly knowledgeable about the muggle side of things," said Harry.
"Well, due to… certain factors, I spent a decent period of time in the Muggle world, learning all I could, said the shopkeeper".
"Well, I'm glad you're willing to expand your horizons," said Harry, "unlike some people".
The shopkeeper laughed, and accepted the final ingredient of the soon to be wand.
"Come back tomorrow morning, and your wand will be done," said the shopkeeper.
"Thank you," said Harry.
He headed out of the shop, and touched his ring. Remembering what he'd been told of such rings, he knew it could be used as a portkey to his birth family's properties. He decided to try it out right now.
"Potter Manor," said Harry.
He felt an odd tug within his stomach, and then was transported away.
A/N: And there we go! Next time: Harry visits Potter Manor. See you then!