Hermione
The brunette watched as her closest friends all drifted off to sleep, her mind running a million miles a minute. She, and they, had so much to do and in the grand scheme of things, so little time in which to do it all.
Finally pulling her mind free of all the work needed to be done she set about the task Harry had given her. She had to figure out the spellwork needed for the marks. Luna would be handling the design on her watch, seeing as the Ravenclaw was the most artistic out of their rag-tag little family.
She pulled out the trunk of books, taking care to do so as quietly as possible, and mumbled a spell she'd learned many years ago from Madam Pince to pull books that were relevant instead of having to sort through them manually, wasting precious time.
Once she had a stack of books pilled on her sleeping pallet around her, she pulled out a notebook and set to work. Realistically Hermione knew it would take her more than one hour to find all the spells needed and work them into one piece of magic. This thought brought forth a sigh and resignation to getting less sleep than the others, but she knew that it would be worth it. She could catch up on sleep later.
Giving herself over to research, losing herself in her work she scoured the books around her. Using spells that she had learned in her many years of studying to find the relevant passages and made notes. Every few moments though, her head came out of her books and her eyes swept over her surroundings.
It seemed as though all of her instincts from the war had once more come to the forefront of her mind. Honestly, it wasn't surprising that she'd fallen right back into these habits. Years of dangerous adventures culminating in a year on the run had left her with a heightened sense of her surroundings and a more than healthy level of paranoia. She, like those closest to her, now completely understood Moody's rants about 'constant vigilance'.
An hour on the dot from the time the others had fallen asleep she heard stirring. Looking up Hermione noticed Fred stirring and sitting up. She gave him a nod and then turned her full attention back to her books. Now that she wasn't the only one awake, she could research with undivided attention, trusting Fred to keep an eye on things.
Fred
The redhead was woken by his magic buzzing in response to the alarm charm he'd used to alert him to his allotted watch time. Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes blearily before shooting his eyes around the room. His eyes scanned the area around them before darting to the doors and then finally running over his friends, counting them ending with Hermione who was sat on her bedding surrounded by books.
"Morning Mione." He murmured softly. Reaching into his pack he pulled out one of the water bottles he'd stuffed in his rucksack yesterday whilst packing, something he'd slipped into each one of the group's bags as well. Taking a quick sip, he recapped it and sat it to the side.
"You can head to bed, I've got it now." He all but whispered, not wanting to wake the others before it was their turn on watch.
"I'm fine." Hermione returned, her eyes never leaving the page she was reading. "I've got to get this spellwork figured out for Harry as soon as possible. I'll be up for a couple more hours and then catch up on sleep later." She finished, reaching over to jot down some notes.
"Alright. If you need help, let me know." Fred said quietly before standing.
Carefully, he made his way across the room, weaving around and gingerly stepping over his friends to make it to the door leading downstairs. Once he was finally by the door, he stooped down to dig through the duffel bag of trunks, pulling out the trunk that had been allotted, and at some point color coded for ease of reference, for their prank supplies. With one last nod to the brunette, he made his way down the narrow stairs into the main shop area.
Making his way to the center of the shop, he sat the trunk in the empty space and resized it. Quickly, Fred set up the packing and summoning charms and stepped back to let them do their work. He backed out of the way quickly, sitting on the floor and leaning back against the counter so that he was out of the way. As the products flew into the open trunk, he let out a long sigh, running his hands over his face.
It was depressing really, watching his and his twin's life's work get squirreled away into a trunk. He was dismantling their dream, what they had worked all of their lives. It was heartbreaking to watch, but he understood the gravity of the situation. He truly did. It just didn't make it any easier to watch all that he and Geroge had worked for so hard be stropped and packed. It was almost like a visual of their lives ending. It, in a way, made this whole situation they were now in, the catastrophic event they were facing, more real.
Their shop had survived the war. Even in the height of You-Know-Who's reign of terror they had not closed their doors. They had been stubborn and stalwart. They had overcome and persevered and been one of the only places still in business even in the darkest of times in their history.
They had striven to be a light in the darkness, to keep hope alive when everything was looking more and more hopeless. And they had done it. But now. Now there was no Dark Lord they could vanquish to put an end to the darkness. There was no evil they could conquer. It was the end of everything and those few who survived would be all that was left in the world.
Pulling himself out of his introspection, Fred shot his eyes around the shop, taking in the progress of the packing charms. Harry was right, it was going to take more than just his watch to get done. He hadn't realized just how much was packed into the shop.
After what seemed like no time at all, quite a bit of his watch having been taken up with his musing, he heard footfalls on the stairs. Assuming it was his twin he made his way to the foot of the stairs to wait for George since it would be his watch next.
George
The other Weasley twin blinked away the sleep still clouding his brain, sitting up with a jaw-cracking yawn. Peering around the room, he repeated his brother's actions from earlier, checking the area, entrances, and doing a headcount. George rummaged for his own water and sipped it quietly for a moment before returning it to his bag.
"Morning Mione." He called over quietly. "What are you still doing up, I thought it was Fred's watch?"
"It is. I'm working on the spells for the trackers." Hermione replied distractedly as she read, not bothering to look up from her book.
With a shake of his head, knowing that telling her to give it a rest and sleep would be a wasted effort, he pulled himself out of his bedding and tiptoed his way to the door and down the stairs.
Once he made it to the bottom and out into the main shop he had to duck, almost getting hit in the head with products flying out of the back and sailing into the trunk. Hearing a snort from next to him, he looked over at his twin, shooting him a dirty look in the process.
"Sad, isn't it?" He asked quietly, watching everything pack itself away in short order.
"That it is." replied George.
"At least we're not just leaving it all behind to rot." Fred said in a conciliatory manner.
"True. And most of it can be of use for other things later on." George agreed with a nod. "You head on up. I've got this."
"Alright. Wake me if you need anything." Fred said, turning to head up the stairs.
"Will do. Night." George called after him softly.
Once the other Weasley twin was alone in the shop that was busily packing itself he made his way over to where Fred had been sitting moments before and begun his own ruminating over events, both past, and present.
It was going to be hard letting this place go. It had been his and Fred's life for so long. Everything to both of the twins, everything they cared for and worked towards. But he knew that there was no going back now. There was nothing to be done but survive and fight to live as long as possible.
He knew that Luna and Harry had a plan. They always did. The two of them were always ten steps ahead of everyone. Luna would see and interpret what was to come and Harry would plan and work out what was necessary to see them all through this in the best way possible. It may not be the easiest way but if George knew anything, he knew that Harry would pick the route that came to the best conclusion possible. He would guide them in the best course of action for them to have the best life possible in the horrible future that was facing them.
What pained him most was the loss of everyone they knew. Even though the once strong and tight-knit Weasley family was estranged at best, hostile at worst, George could still remember the good days.
The days before his mother, brother, and sister had torn the family apart with their greed and avarice and blamed Harry for the fissure created by their actions. Fred and George had staunchly refused to back down in their defense of Harry. He may not be their blood but he was their brother all the same. And when all the dust had settled, he wasn't even able to look at his mother without disgust painted clear across his face for all to see.
And he wasn't the only one, nor was Fred. Charlie and Bill were just as disgusted by the actions of the few in their family but luckily didn't have to watch it unfold right in front of their faces. They didn't have to watch the devastation splash across Harry's face when he realized the extent of their betrayals. They were lucky. And while the twins wished they didn't have to watch their family fall apart they would never take back their own actions or words. The only thing either regret is that they hadn't found out sooner so they could minimize the damage for all involved.
Shaking himself out of his internal rambling, George noticed that the packing was tapering off and finally, right as he began to hear footsteps on the stairs, came to an end.
Draco
The tingle of magic washed over Draco from his alarm, pulling him from the short rest. Sitting up, he scrubbed his face with his hands before running his fingers through his long blonde hair. Looking around, he took stock of everything and did a headcount. Nodding to himself as everything seemed in order, he dug into his bag for a bottle of water. While taking a sip he eyed Hermione still buried under a pile of books and notes.
"Why am I not surprised you're still hard at work over there?" Draco called over to his brunette friend with a wry smirk.
"Because you know me." was the absent-minded response he got as she scribbled down another note on the papers in front of her.
"You know he doesn't actually expect you to have everything done in one night right?" he said as he stretched out his tired body.
"I know but I would rather have it all over and done with as soon as possible so that if the worst happens and things hit sooner than we're prepared for that we're protected," Hermione responded, sparing a moment to shoot the blonde a dry look. "Because our luck is always so great." was her parting shot as she once more buried her nose in a book.
"Fair," Draco said with a shrug, before pulling himself up and carefully picking his way across the room. "You know where I am if you need me."
Once at the foot of the stairs, the first thing he noticed was the empty shelves. It left the once vibrant and lively space feeling cold and empty. "Wow, that's a change." He murmured, coming to stand next to George as he looked around sadly.
"Tell me about it." George responded sadly.
"All done?" Draco asked, turning his attention to his friend.
"Yeah, as depressing as it is, the whole shop is packed and ready." The ginger replied, moving over to the now packed trunk and looking down into it sadly. This represented the combined contents of basically his and his twins' entire life.
"I'm sorry," Draco said softly, moving to stand next to George and resting a hand on his shoulder. "I know this has to be gutting you and Fred."
"Thanks, mate," George said with a slight nod. "It is but it's better than leaving it all behind to rot or even staying and dying."
Draco had nothing to say to that so he merely nodded.
George moved quickly, snapping the trunk closed and shrinking it. "Well, I best be off and get some more shut-eye. Wake me if you need anything."
"See you in the morning," Draco said with a nod. "Oh! And try to force Mione to sleep, she's still up working on the spellwork for the marks. I know Harry said he wanted to be able to cast them in the morning but I think he underestimated the amount of research that would go into them. He's not going to be mad if she's not worked it out by morning but he will be furious if she gets no sleep and can't function tomorrow."
"Alright will do," George said, starting up the stairs.
Turning back to sweep over the now empty and rather sad-looking shop, Draco pulled himself up to sit on one counter, keeping a watch out for anything. He knew, just as they all knew, that right now there was nothing to see. However pointless the task seemed, Harry was trying to get them all used to how hard the sleep changes are going to be before it's a more dire situation. That doesn't mean it didn't suck even though he understood and agreed with the reason.
(Upstairs)
George opened the door to the flat as silently as he could, entering and once more closing it behind him. Looking around he saw Hermione still scribbling away and gave a deep sigh, thinking she may just hex him for this.
Carefully, he picked his way across the room, taking care not to step on or kick any of his friends until he was standing in front of their resident bookworm.
"Mione." He said softly, squatting down so that he was at eye level with her. "Mione, enough. You need to get some sleep."
"I have to get this done." Was the only response he could get out of her, she didn't even spare him a glance.
"Mione, you know as well as I do that if Harry realized the research would take this long he would have told you to pace yourself. He's not going to be mad if you don't finish, but he is going to be pretty pissed if you run yourself into the ground before we really even get started on this new crisis. Do you really want to explain to Harry that you overworked yourself instead of getting some much-needed sleep? You can work on this again tomorrow after we're done for the day but you have to get some sleep." He said, the last a bit more forcefully. "Now." He finished, pulling the book carefully from her hands, shoving a piece of paper in between the pages to mark her place, and snapping it closed. "The rest tomorrow." He finished, grabbing her notebook as well and standing up, taking both with him as he made his way over to his own sleeping spot and dropped down onto his sleeping bag. "Night Mione."
"Night George." She said softly with a deep sigh. Shoving her books aside and curling up to finally get some rest, knowing that he was right. "Thanks." She whispered so softly that he almost missed it.
"Anytime." Was the reply, whispered just as softly.
Luna
The switch off from Draco to Luna was as smooth as the ones previous, with promises to call if anything came up.
Once she was left alone in the shop, the younger blonde folded herself down onto the floor and began working on the requested sketches.
She came up with several ideas, several designs that would serve quite well but nothing seemed to fit just right. Nothing seemed to be perfect. It was as though while the designs themselves were good, aesthetically beautiful, they just didn't call to her magic as what was needed.
Finally, as her watch was ending, an idea struck her and she feverishly sketched, shading and adding details. She could feel her magic and her Sight telling her this new design, this idea, was the right one.
So deeply engrossed in her work was she, that she didn't hear Blaise coming down the stairs. It wasn't until he was right behind her and her magic could feel and recognize his aura that she realized she was no longer alone.
"I see you've been busy." He commented, pointing to the discarded sketches all around her.
"Very." She said, still not moving her eyes from her work. "I'm almost done." She assured him as he took a seat beside her, knowing that she wouldn't be budged until she was good and ready.
They sat in companionable silence for several long moments before Luna finally leaned back from where she'd almost been curled over her sketchbook, a muggle one that Harry had gifted her several months ago.
Blaise cast a Tempus charm and saw that half of his watch was already up.
Using magic, she tapped the paper and cleared away all of the smudges, and tidied the drawing. Once satisfied, she held out the book to her friend in a silent request for his opinion.
"Ygdrasil," Blaise commented, seeing the Norse tree of life drawn on the page. It was detailed, surprisingly so, given the short amount of time she'd had and the sheer number of discarded pages around them.
"Yes. I thought it was fitting." Luna said, reaching over and pointing out what looked like scrolls, one for each of them with their name written in a beautiful yet slightly rough-looking calligraphy, were woven into the trees and roots of the tree. "The idea, if Hermione can work it to do so, the color of the name will change according to the status of the person. Green meaning all is well, they're healthy and safe, or as safe as they can be in this new world. Red meaning injured, the deeper the red the worse the injury. Purple meaning in need of assistance, like on a supply run and needing more help. Blue is they are in danger and need to be rescued. Black meaning dead. When the status shifts it will, hopefully, send a pulse of heat or magic through the mark to indicate a change and grab our attention."
"Smart. It's not only a locator but a monitor. If we get separated or have to split up for any reason we don't have to wonder and worry about each other, we just have to look at the mark and see everyone's status. I like it." Blaise said, handing the book back to Luna. "Though for Draco's sake, we should see if we could make the warning more like a tingle or a cold feeling. Burning would be way too much of a similarity."
"True. When I said heat I meant more like the feeling of slipping into a warm bath, not a burning painful sensation." She said, giving him a look as though to remind him who he was talking to.
"Ah, fair enough. Shouldn't have doubted you." He said with a small laugh.
It was at that moment they heard someone on the steps and looked over to see Neville coming into the main shop.
"Why am I not surprised you haven't gone to sleep yet Luna?" the Gryffindor asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm going now, I just finished the design Harry needs for the mark." Luna said as she gathered up all of the scattered pages with a yawn. "My part is done but 'Mione's won't be done for a few more days. Harry will be told in the morning of how much research she needs to do and he'll insist she pace herself and that we all cast temporary trackers on each other in the meantime."
Once she had everything packed away she pressed a kiss to each of their cheeks and made her way up the steps fully intending to get some sleep. Blaise patted Neville's shoulder and followed her up to crash himself.
Neville
Sitting on the floor and leaning back against the counter, he ran everything he'd been told about this newest mission through his head. This was going to be the worst they've faced yet. Sadly, they were all slipping back into the mentality they'd had during the war.
Neville's thoughts danced over the division of labor in the group, what everyone was relegated to. Draco to potions making, Hermione to research and maintaining the books. He thought over the strengths of each member of their circle and was thankful that they had the diverse skills they did.
These thoughts turned to his own responsibilities and what he needed to do. A thought came to him and he realized he'd have to see if it was possible.
He knew he wouldn't be able to properly work with plants until they found somewhere to settle down but he'd have to make a stop in the Alley tomorrow to look for a special item that would work in the short term.
He needed a way to properly house the plants. The trunks would work for a very short term but some of them required very VERY specific habitats and their current storage wasn't good for some of them.
Magizooloigists had special cases that were made specifically for transporting creatures. These cases had separate biomes and could be customized, charmed to a specific habitat. He needed one of these or at least needed to learn the charms to make one and he could turn one of the seven compartment trunks into a temporary greenhouse with each trunk a different biome.
It was doable, possibly, if he could find the spells. But it would be infinitely easier if he could find one that was already created and the spells and enchantments stabilized. He knew the luggage stores would be a bust but thought that the Magical Menagerie and the various other stores that catered to creatures, animals, and pets would possibly carry them. And if not maybe one of the owners would have one he could bribe them for.
This thought brought about the idea that maybe they should look into rounding up animals as well. He would have to talk to Luna about it, he wasn't sure what this would do to wildlife, but they would eventually need fresh meat and other food items produced by animals. Luna, herself, had several chickens and a couple of goats in her garden. If he could get more than one of those biome cases or trunks, one should definitely be dedicated to animals. If for no other reason than to have fresh meat and eggs.
Pulling himself out of his musings, he checked the time with his wand and saw that his watch was coming to an end. Brushing himself off, he made his way back upstairs.
Harry
As Harry woke to his magic tingling over him, he blinked and stretched. Once his back and neck had popped pleasantly, he did as all the others before him and took stock of his surroundings and did a headcount. Seeing Neville coming through the door right on time, he gave him a nod.
As his friend climbed back into his bag, Harry climbed out of his and made his way into the kitchen. Seeing that the trunk with the food had been left out specifically for this, he resized it and rummaged through for what he needed. He pulled out enough to make eggs, sausage, and toast, tea, and coffee for everyone and set to work.
It didn't take him long to have everything finished, plated, and under stasis charms. As he waited for everyone to wake up, he quickly washed everything he had used and repacked it. The only things left out were the tea, coffee, and their respective pots and required milk and sugar.
Soon, everyone was waking up one by one and making their way into the kitchen.
Once everyone was awake and had begun to dig into their breakfasts, conversations slowly started to pick up.
Neville mentioned to Harry the idea he'd had while on watch about a temporary greenhouse and received the go-ahead. Harry, for his part, was glad Neville had come up with this idea because it would defeat the purpose of trying to save the plants if leaving them in their current storage killed them. And they definitely couldn't have that as they would need them for potions.
"It's a good idea, Neville." Luna said as the other boy opened his mouth to ask about the animals. "They'll soon die out, being eaten by the dead. We will need them and need to preserve as much as we can."
"I'll do what I can to find the cases," Neville said before seeing the curious looks on everyone else's faces. He quickly explained the thought he'd had about rounding up as many animals as they could as well.
"Harry, it's going to take a lot more research to get the spells and enchantments right for the marks. I don't have it done and doing it at this rate, with everything else we have to get done, it'll take me a few days." Hermione said as she nursed her own morning tea.
"That's fine. I'd much rather you take a little longer and get it right than rush it and make a mistake or run yourself into the ground due to lack of sleep." He said with a nod. "We can just use temporary tracking spells on each other until then." He said, which made Luna wink and Neville.
After breakfast was finished, the dishes washed, and everything packed away they all moved back into the living room and set about packing their sleeping areas up to head out. All of the sleeping bags were rolled up, blankets folded, and pillows stacked. Each of them was given a bottomless bag to pack their bedding into, which would then be kept in their rucksacks along with their toiletries, personal trunk, and emergency WWW kit.
"Alright, I think it's time we hit the Alley. It is now … " Harry began and paused to check the time with his watch. "Eight and all of the shops should be opening. Hermione, Flourish & Blotts, Amanuensis Quills, Obscurus Books, and Scribbulus Writing." Harry said, looking at her and receiving a nod in return.
"Draco, you're on Slug & Jitters, Potage's, and any other apothecary, I know there are a couple but I can't remember their names." He said, getting a nod of understanding from the Malfoy Lord.
"Blaise, Twilfit and Tattings and Madam Malkins." Once more a nod was all that was given. "We're not going to worry about custom fit, we can alter them later with magic and muggle means. Just get everything."
"Luna, you take the tea shop, Sugar Plum's, and Wiseacres," Harry said, making everyone laugh. No one was surprised. They all had a sweet tooth a mile wide and knew that Honeyduke's would be raided first thing when they swept through Hogsmead.
"Fred, Quality Quidditch and get us each the best broom you can. Get anything from there you think we NEED." This got a grin along with a very excited nod. "We never know when we'll need them to get away and I know they just released a new Firebolt model and between the Potter, Black, Malfoy, Zabini, and Longbottom fortunes, eight of those won't even make a dent." This received snorts all around. "If asked, say that I'm starting my own team and you're buying them for me. Merlin knows, they'll fall over themselves giving you the best they can." Harry finished with a tone of annoyance. Everyone here knew how he hated the way people treated him like the second coming of Merlin. "Also, duck into Olivanders and get us all the holsters you can get your hands on."
"George, The Leaky Cauldron, and any other grocers you can find. Every scrap of food is to be bought." Another nod, this one far less enthusiastic than his twin's, was given.
"Neville, all of the plant and herb shops, as well as those cases if you can," Harry said, finishing off with everyone else before shrinking his rucksack and putting it in his pocket so as not to arouse suspicion in the Alley.
"I'll handle the magical camping shop and the other various odds and ends. Does everyone have the allotted trunk they need?" He asked and got a round of "Yes."
"Good then, let's get this over with. Meet in the Leaky when finished. If asked why you're wiping the shelves, make up whatever you like, I don't really care. I'm sure these shopping sprees are going to be reported and speculated about but in two weeks it won't matter so I don't care what sort of gossip is spread. We'll be out of Wizarding Britain in the next couple of days anyway." He said as they all began to troop downstairs and out the door.
He paused before leaving the shop, turning to speak to everyone, meeting their eyes one at a time. "Also, if needed, feel free to bribe the owners. Those that carry things that are less than legal, be it books or potion ingredients or anything else, but we want or need, I don't care if you have to bribe them, just get whatever it is. Money won't matter soon so it's not an issue, spend whatever you have to."
The Twins took a moment to say goodbye to their hope and life for the last ten years and then followed their friends, locking and warding the shop behind them.
Hermione
Once out in Diagon Alley, the brunette wasted no time in hurrying towards Flourish & Blotts. Normally, book shopping was her favorite pastime, one which she preferred to do at a nice, leisurely pace where she could browse and pick out things that she would enjoy. This was a whole other beast. This wasn't books for pleasure, this was a spree that had to be done as quickly as possible. She didn't have time to do her usual routine.
Entering the shop, she grabbed one of the bottomless baskets for shoppers and looked around, contemplating the best way to go about this. After a moment, she decided to approach the counter and simply ask.
"Excuse me?" She said to the older wizard who currently had his back to her.
"Yes miss?" he said, turning to her with a polite smile. "What can I help you with?"
"This is going to sound crazy, but please hear me out." She began, putting her serious face on. "I need one of each book in the shop. Is there any way to speed up the process rather than putting them one by one in the basket?" She asked.
"One of each?" He said, eyes bugging out. "Surely not every single book in the shop…"
"Yes sir, one copy of every single book in the shop." She said firmly. "I've been asked to stock a library for a close friend who recently bought a new home. I need one of every book you have in stock, even the extremely rare ones." She said by way of explanation. "Price is no object for Harry." She finished, dropping his name, hoping it would speed up this interaction.
Understanding dawned on the man's head and he nodded. He recognized Hermione Granger and that could only mean these books were being bought for and by Harry Potter. "Of course, that can be done with a little spell." He said, turning and walking into the back. Returning in a matter of moments, he held a box and an inventory list.
"Sir, If you don't mind, I have a bottomless trunk I've brought to put everything into to make it easier. If you can ring them up with the list, we can pack them into there instead, if that's alright." She said before he could start packing the box.
"That would be acceptable." He said with a nod, placing the now unnecessary box back into the storage room while she readied the trunk.
Hermione was quick to pull out the library trunk and unshrink it. She cast a subtle charm to make it look empty before stepping back to let the man set up the spells he needed.
Quietly muttering a spell and tapping first the list and then the trunk, before setting in to wait and placing the list next to the register. "This will take several moments but will be much faster than doing it by hand." He explained as books began to float off of the shelves and neatly stack themselves into the trunk.
Looking around and seeing that there was no one in the shop but the two of them at the moment she steeled herself for the next order of business.
"I also need a copy of every book in the back." She said pointedly. "The ones not accessible to the public that are of a less… savory nature." She continued, speaking over him when he went to object. "I know you have what I'm looking for. You will not face backlash and I will happily pay a finder's fee and a generous amount for your discretion." She said before finishing with an air of imparting a secret. "The Potter library was destroyed in the attack that Halloween night and The Black library was destroyed during the war. Harry wants to replace everything that was destroyed as a way to finally move on from the loss of his parents and Sirius. Nothing will be used for nefarious purposes; he's simply… trying to recreate a piece of the people he lost." She said with a little sniff for dramatic effect. This seemed to do the trick as the older wizard nodded understandingly. He still seemed less than thrilled, but he went to the back to retrieve what was needed.
It took more than twenty minutes for the gentleman to return and with him, he brought a box that was already packed and tied closed. This box was placed next to the trunk as books continued to fill it one after another. A second parchment was laid next to the first to ring up together.
Finally, after another ten minutes, no more books floated down, indicating that the full order had been completed. Hermione was anxious to get this all paid for and tucked away on to the next shop.
She let her eyes wander around until she spotted a locked case with several books that looked to be ancient and extremely rare. "Those as well." She said, pointing to them. They seemed to be special editions and extremely rare that only a collector would want. But Hermione was determined to preserve as much knowledge as she could. "When I said every, I meant every. Harry is determined to have a library that could rival Hogwarts." She said.
The wizard gulped and nodded, unlocking the case and gently retrieving the books. These were carefully wrapped in cloth individually and placed into a second box.
Once the newest box was closed, tied, and stacked by the slightly larger box and trunk, the wizard made his way around the counter to the register with the third and final list. He tapped his wand against each piece of parchment to the register one at a time to ring up the final total cost.
The number would have made the witch choke and splutter any other day, but today wasn't that day. Today, she didn't care. She knew, as high as the bill was, there was more than enough to cover it available to her.
It took several minutes to count out the appropriate number of galleons, leaving a hefty tip. Once the bill was paid in full and the two boxes added to the trunk, she closed and shrunk the trunk, tucking it into her pocket. "Thank you so much for all your help, sir. I really appreciate it, and I'm sure Harry will as well." She said.
"You're most welcome." The older man said with a kind smile. "And thank you for your business. You just bought more than we normally sell in three months. Your business is greatly appreciated."
Hermione gave the man a nod and made her way out of the shop to the next, Obscurus Books, which was at the other end of the alley.
She repeated the process there, only this time, she explained that she had an inventory of what she already had and wanted to augment it with anything they had that she didn't. It didn't matter cost, content, origin, rarity, or how questionable it was.
She was given lists and used a spell she'd learned, again from the Hogwarts librarian, to cross-reference and another to create a list of the books she didn't have.
The same packing and payment process was used as had been in Flourish & Blotts, only thankfully it took about half the time as the last had. The cost was more than she was expecting as the number of rare and more frowned upon books were much higher here but she shrugged it off and paid it.
Once all of the books had been handled and the library trunk had been put away, she made her way through the other two shops, Scribbulus Writing and Amanuensis Quills.
The process was the same in both shops. She grabbed a bottomless basket and went through the shop and aisle at a time completely wiping out the shelves. She received many incredulous looks at this and questions but she just shrugged and said that she liked being prepared. Both stores attempted to talk her out of it, but she was firm and walked away with every single bottle of ink, sheaf of parchment, and quill they had in stock.
She went as far as to request, more like demand, the entire contents of their storeroom as well. In the end, she got her way and breathed a sigh of relief once she was able to add the bottomless bag she'd put all of the writing supplies into to the library trunk.
It had taken hours to get through all four shops and she only hoped that the others hadn't waited on her too long.
Draco
The blonde took to the streets of Diagon Alley and made his first stop at Slug and Jitter's. He knew he would probably be the last to finish as he had to do most of his by hand but he was determined to make this trip as quick as possible.
Stepping into the store, he grabbed one of the cauldron-shaped trolleys for those buying in bulk and started what was guaranteed to be a long, arduous task.
He went through each aisle, moving everything carefully into the cauldron trolley. He was ever so thankful that space inside was expanded so far and that there was a charm on the rim to ring up items as they were placed inside. He would absolutely hate to have to add it up a second time and was not looking forward to unloading this lot.
He had been in the shop for about half an hour when the clerk approached him and nervously asked if he needed help. The young boy seemed confused as to why he was wiping the shelves completely and asked why he needed so much.
Draco was forced to give an excuse. His associate had blown the Malfoy lab up in an experiment gone wrong and he was having to replace everything down to the last stirrer. He was a Potion's Master in his own right who brewed for St. Mungo's and he needed to have a good stock of ingredients on hand at all times.
This had been good enough for the young man who seemed to be barely out of Hogwarts. He offered his own help and Draco readily agreed. He wanted to get out of here as soon as humanly possible. The two worked quickly, thankfully uninterrupted as the new school year had already begun and that meant the Alley was quiet with few customers.
"I also need all of the specialty ingredients you keep in the back. When I say I want the whole shop, I mean the whole … shop ... "
It took a grand total of two hours to pack up the whole shop, including every single thing in the storeroom, half an hour of that was just unloading the trolleys into the seven compartment trunk, which Draco insisted that he do himself. He didn't want to get questioned about why he was adding so much to existing stores.
While he was moving everything over after paying for it he spoke again. "I also need all of the specialty ingredients you keep in the back. When I say I want the whole shop, I mean the whole … shop ... "
The young man's eyes grew wide and he started to stammer before Draco cut him off again. "I know exactly what all is back there and I need it." He said before pulling an absolute lie out of thin air. "After seeing the damage the war did and how horribly some of the curses affected the survivors of the Final Battle, I've been working on experimental potions to rectify some of that damage."
Well, it wasn't an absolute lie. He had been doing just as he said. However, these ingredients wouldn't be used for that, unfortunately.
"I have a license to purchase the more dangerous, ministry-controlled ingredients," he explained, pausing in his packing of the trunk to pull an identity card from his pocket, thanking Merlin he'd thought to grab it for sentimentality. "Here." He said, letting the boy take it from him.
"So when I say I want it all, I mean that quite literally. I need those to try and reverse the effects of the Cruciatus and, more importantly, Dolohov's Curses." He explained. "The less than legal ingredients are specifically trying to heal The Cruciatus. It's my hope to be able to heal the nerve damage."
Dropping the name of those curses seemed to do the trick. With a nod, the young clerk ducked back into the back storage area.
"I also need a copy of every book you have in stock!" the blonde called out to the boy in a very un-Malfoyish way.
As Draco finally finished his packing twenty minutes later, the clerk returned with six boxes being levitated behind him. . Setting them on the counter, he pointed to the label on each one, which turned out to be a number. "Box One is all of the extra ingredients that were in the storeroom, the overflow from out here. Box Two is the extra equipment. Box Three is all of the premade potions we had in storage. Box Four is the regulated ingredients. Box Five contains all of the books you asked for. Box Six is the… discrete items."
"I greatly appreciate this." Draco said with a nod and pulled his money bag out once more to pay for the second round. The total was steep, but he was expecting that for all of the rare and downright illegal ingredients he'd bought. It was a quick process to reopen the trunk and slide the boxes into their appropriate places. Much like Hermione, Draco fully intended to sort it all later.
Thankfully, the next stop at Potage's Cauldrons wasn't as taxing or time-consuming. It took Draco right over an hour and a half to clear the entire store and pay for his purchases. The grumpy old man behind the counter was resistant to selling his entire stock to one customer but Draco offered an extra monetary incentive to speed his decision up and push it in the right direction.
He let out a tired sigh as he once more found himself in the Alley before he steeled himself and worked his way through three other apothecaries. Luckily they were smaller, catering to more specific, rarer ingredients. This made the cost go up but the time taken go down.
Once Draco was sure there were no more potion supplies of any kind left in Diagon Alley, he tiredly made his way to the Leaky Cauldron to meet up with the others.
Blaise
The Italian made his way through the mostly empty streets, stopping first at Madam Malkin's as it was the closest to the twins' shop.
He had to fight to withhold the sigh that threatened to escape as the proprietor, Madam Malkin herself, bustled forward and started in on her usual fawning spiel. "Lord Zabini! It's a pleasure to have you in my shop. How may I assist you?" She asked in that overly flattering tone that tended to set his teeth on edge. Obviously, she was planning to cater to him herself.
"Thank you, Madam." He said, pulling the mask he'd worn all his years in Slytherin firmly around himself. "I actually have quite a large order for you today and I'm hoping that you will be so kind as to accommodate me." He said, throwing up a hopeful, yet flattering tone of his own.
He could see his words doing their job. He could practically see the galleons glowing in her eyes when he mentioned a large order.
"Of course! I would be only too happy to fill any order you require. I'll handle it myself, personally." She said, a little excitably. Too excitable for someone of her advanced age in his opinion.
"That would be wonderful! Thank you so much." he said as though she had just made his day. "Now, I know this is going to sound odd, but I promise that I have my reasons." He said, pulling the pouch from his pocket that was linked to the shared money bag. He did this purposely hoping to play to her greed.
"I'm sure we can handle any purchases you would like to make, no matter how unusual they may be." She assured, her eyes straying to the pouch he held.
"Lovely!" He said smoothly. "I need everything you have in stock."
She blinked owlishly at him, not seeming to be able to process his words, or maybe thinking he wasn't actually serious. "Everything of what?" She said a little dimly.
"Everything as in everything." He explained seriously. "Everything you have in stock. Every premade article of clothing, every bolt of material, every accessory, every undergarment. Color, cut, fabric type doesn't matter. I just need everything." he explained, shifting the coin pouch intentionally to draw her attention to it. "Every single thing in this store, no matter how big or small."
"Surely you can't be serious!" She said, finally gathering her witts.
"Oh, I assure you, Madam, that I am indeed serious." He said firmly with a nod.
"Why would you possibly…." She trailed off, scrambling to understand the enormity of what he was asking.
Blaise was glad that his mother's interests were widely known at this moment, it would work to his advantage and shut the woman up and, hopefully, move this along. "As you know, my mother fancied herself a designer. She loved clothing and creating what she called 'adorable art'." He began, thanking the fact that bluffing was a deeply rooted part of pureblood upbringing. Affecting an air of sadness he spoke. "She also loved to shop, she was a creature of beauty and wealth. Her birthday is coming up and I wanted to do something in her honor. She used to joke that she loved fashion so much she ended up buying out the store. Well, that's what I'm here to do. A grand shopping spree in her honor." He explained gently.
It seemed his tale was tugging at her heart, exactly as he hoped it would, so he pressed a little further. "She was killed in the war for refusing to side with the Dark. I thought that to honor that as well, everything I bought today would be donated to the several foundations and organizations that are dedicated to helping those who were affected or orphaned by the war." He explained, hoping this would be the push to get her to agree and stop asking questions and just get on with it.
And sadly, he wasn't even lying too terribly much. Buying out a clothing store completely would be just the thing his sweet yet flighty and delicate mother would love to do. So it really was a great way to honor her. That and the fact that everything bought was with the intent for her son and his friends' survival only increased the rightness of it.
What started as a lie became a little too close to the truth for him and he pressed again.
"It would mean so much to me if you could help me with his Madam," he said. "I would even be willing to add a bonus to the total in payment for your understanding and to offset the lost profits of the days until your next shipment comes in.
Finally, she seemed to lose the war with herself. It seemed the emotional tale of a man honoring his mother and the massive amount of galleons he was offering her were too much to turn away.
"Yes of course." She said with a nod. "It will tackle some time to pack it all up."
"That's no problem." He said with a nod. "I can wait, this means so much to me. I'll even help if you like." He offered.
"No, no, Lord Zabini, I'll get my assistants to help me. You wait here. It will take us about an hour to get it all sorted."
"If you're sure." He said and when she nodded he agreed before speaking again. "I also want all of the thread, needles, copies of patterns, those that aren't your own personal patented designs at least, I know you won't part with those, measuring tapes. Everything. I know one foundation makes clothes for children at the orphanages and they'll need the supplies to do so to go with the fabrics. They use the Acromantula silk for blankets for babies and the laces and such for little girls' dresses" He threw out that little tidbit to curtail her keeping back the better materials. He was determined to do as Harry said and wipe the store completely.
Madam Malkin visibly blanched and then nodded before scurrying off.
Blaise took a seat on a chair near the door to wait. As he did, he watched the Madam and her three assistants rush around the shop, using summoning and packing charms, the same he and his friends had been using for two days.
It took a grand total of an hour and a half to have everything boxed up, sorted into clothes, fabric, patterns, and equipment/miscellaneous in their own boxes, and paid for. He had added a book he'd seen near the register that had simple charms for mending tears and changing colors and other various fashion-related spells. He was fairly certain these would be needed in the future.
Blaise didn't miss the 'CLOSED' sign that appeared in the window as soon as he was out the door. He had to fight to withhold a chuckle as he made his way to Twllfit and Tattings.
The process the second time around was a lot quicker. The second shop catered more specifically to the rich, powerful, and entitled. Therefore, they were used to odd requests and knew better than to ask questions. He simply told them what he wanted, made clear that when he said he wanted everything down to the last needle and scrap. They blinked, kept their faces blank thanks to years of dealing with Purebloods, and agreed before jumping into action.
The only other difference was the special order he'd given the lady.
He'd surreptitiously taken everyone's measurements after he'd been assigned this and decided something special was needed. So he had ordered a full set of dragon hide hooded battle robes in solid black with Ygdrasil embroidered on the back in silver. All except for one. The one intended for Harry would be trimmed in gold. Luna had picked that for their marks and he felt like it should be their little family's personal sigil in this new world.
These robes weren't just custom fit, he ordered them with every single protective enchantment possible. Any type of resistance, be it to weather, tears, water, was to be added. As well as runes sewn into the hems. Any possible enchantment, spell, charm, you name it, he paid for them to be added.
Two hours later, as Twilfit and Tattings had a much larger selection of fabric textures and types, he paid the exorbitant bill and arranged to come back the day after tomorrow to pick up the custom robes and the remainder of the dragonhide and other materials that had been held aside to make said robes. He would come before close once they finished in Hogsmeade. The last stop before they left Wizarding Britain. A sigh left him and he had to remind himself of his surroundings and that he couldn't slump like he wanted until he was safely out of the public eye.
He was finished with his assigned stores and made his way to the Leaky to wait for the others. He was ready for this mad dash to be over. It had only been two days and he knew it was going to be a long couple of weeks. It wasn't the lack of sleep that bothered him overly much. It was more this covert stuff. It made him think of the war and he hated it. He was sure he wasn't the only one either.
Luna
The perks of being known publicly as 'exceedingly odd' meant that doing something out of the ordinary, like buying out complete shops, wasn't really looked at twice when it was Luna doing the buying.
The stop at the tea shop was the quickest stop in this whole scheme. It took Luna all of twenty minutes to buy out the shop completely, down to the last leaf. She simply said something vaguely like a tea party with the centaurs and they took her words at face value and gave her what she wanted to hurry her out of the shop.
The same happened at Sugar Plum's. She went in, told them she wanted everything they had in the store, even in the stock room. When asked she muttered something vague in that erie voice she used during school about a party with a random creature. The shopkeeper simply gave her an odd look and proceeded to ring up the entirety of the shop's contents. She used a bottomless bag for this shop instead of the food trunk, as that was with George.
She made her way to the final shop, Wiseacres, and the process was similar, yet different. She grabbed a basket with extension charms and cleared the shelves of every vial, map, chart, globe, binoculars, and scales she could find.
Once she'd cleared the front of the shop, she made her way to the register. "Find everything you need?" The older lady behind the counter asked as she started to total the purchases.
"No, actually, I need all of the vials you have in stock. I picked up all that was on the shelves but I'm hoping you have more in the back. I'm helping a couple of friends with their wedding and we need hangover and sobering potions for their stag do, hen party, and after the reception." She said dreamily. "You know how those Gryffindors love to party." She said brightly.
"Oh that's so nice." The lady said kindly. "One moment and I'll get everything we have. We just got a shipment in this morning. Are you sure you want them all?"
"Yes, thank you. The reception will be quite packed and we'll need them." Luna said simply. The woman just nodded and ducked into the back room.
She was back in five minutes with a box and added it to the total, which the blonde happily paid. Quickly shrinking the box and the bag the rest of her purchases were put into, she put them in her pocket and left the shop.
As she was making her way to meet up with the others, she caught sight of one more shop and couldn't help herself.
Dipping into Florean Fortescue's, she looked around and considered for a moment just getting a bit but decided that with charms everything would hold and shrugged.
The scene was slightly different and Mr. Fortescue was a bit more of a tough sell when it came to taking his whole stock. It took her saying that it was for a late surprise party for Harry for him to cave and allow her to purchase everything he had in stock. He was even kind enough to sell her one of the bottomless boxes his frozen goods came in to store it all until she could slip it into the trunk that George had on him at the moment.
It was with a skip in her step that she left the ice cream shop and headed toward their designated meeting place. Things were progressing nicely. Two more days and they would be out of the wizarding world for good. It was sad but necessary.
Fred
Fred was excited for his assigned shops, or more specifically one shop. He had never had the newest model broom. Harry had bought him and George both new Firebolts after the end of the war. They both still had them and they were in their trunks with their personal effects. He knew they were still perfectly serviceable, but the newer model will be the last ever produced in the world and it's said to have a lot of new and improved features. Anything to give them an edge over what was to come was all for the good.
As he stepped into the store he looked around and sent up a mental thanks that the school year had already started and Christmas was so far away.
He grabbed a basket and made his way through the aisles quickly. He grabbed the special holsters that were made for brooms, both for wants, to hold trunks, and to keep the rider seated. They all went into the basket.
He looked around his favorite shop, apart from the one he'd owned until now, and let his eyes wander over everything, considering their potential uses. Suddenly an idea came to him. Making his way to the other side of the store, he started unloading the shelves of pads and arm and shin guards into the basket. If they were going to be fighting for their survival, it couldn't hurt to have some protection they could wear. He was rather proud of himself for this forethought. He even grabbed the child-sized sets on a whim.
As he turned to head to the counter to speak to someone about the brooms, since they only had one floor model for show and all of the newest model Firebolt 731, which amused the twins to no end because they'd named it after Harry by using his birthday as the model number, were kept in the back, something caught his eye.
He truly couldn't help himself as he lovingly touched the full set of professional-grade balls. They would never be able to play again and that broke his heart. Several of them loved the game and that this was the end for their favorite sport was a hard one to swallow. A grin spread across his face as he had an idea to sell his cover, even if it had less to do with the cover and more to do with his inability to let quidditch go completely.
He grabbed two sets of beater's bats, eight pairs of goggles, and eight sets of professional robes in the national team colors. They were leaving home, after all, they needed to take a little national pride with them.
Doubling back, he went to where the broomsticks were showcased and cleaned them out of broom servicing kits. They would definitely need these.
The last thing he grabbed before heading to the counter was one copy of every book available in the reading material section. He wasn't sure if the book shops Hermione was hitting would have these specific ones.
As soon as he was at the counter a wizard a couple of years older than him greeted him jovially and he couldn't help but be forcibly reminded of Oliver Wood. "Hi, there! I hope you found everything you need!"
"Sort of." Fred replied with a grin. "I need all of this lot plus brooms." he finished, trying to reign in his excitement. He knew they were facing the end of the world and he should be more serious about this but he couldn't help it. He was here to buy the best broom on the market, eight of them! It was the bright spot in this shitstorm.
"Right, we'll just get all of this rung up and then I'll go and get your broom. Which model were you wanting?" The wizard, Carson according to the name on his shirt, asked as he started pulling things out of the basked and tapping the tag with his wand to ring it up.
"Brooms. Plural." he said, unable to reel in his grin. "I need eight Firebolt 713's please." he said, his voice descending into pure exited smugness.
"EIGHT!?" Carson all but yelled, dropping the beater's bat he was holding in his shock.
"Yes. Eight." Fred said with a nod.
"That's…. But… One's more than a year's wage! How… EIGHT?" The clerk stammered.
"My little brother Harry is a Quidditch fanatic. He wants to start his own private club team. Thinks he can whip a team into shape to take on Puddlemore." he explained.
"H-Hary…. Harry Potter?" The poor guy seemed to be even more at a loss with that bit of information. "Harry Potter wants to start his own team?!"
"Oh yes! He's considering calling it quits on the whole Auror thing." Fred said with the air of one imparting a scandalous secret. "Says he's tired of the Ministry letting corrupt shits go free and undoing all of his hard work. Wants to do something that'll make him happy after all the horrible stuff he saw in the war and after cleaning up the mess left behind."
"That's... " He stammered.
"Yeah. He's determined." Fred said. "But he's expecting me back. He sent me because he's looking at properties to build a stadium" he continued, trying hard not to laugh at the excitement on this poor sod's face. "So I need to hurry this along, mate. Can you help me get this rung up quick?" He asked prodding and hoping it would make the guy finish totaling his bill.
"Oh! Right! Of course!" He said and then turned his attention to his job. He was quick to clear the basket, sliding everything into a bag with hefty extension charms. "Let me just go get those brooms." He said before making his way through the door behind the counter.
He came back quickly with eight broom-sized boxes and sat them on the counter almost reverently. "I've only sold four of these since they were released last month. I can't believe you're buying eight in one go!"
"Yeah, well." Fred said with a nod. "Harry has made up his mind and said he wants the best for his team, price doesn't matter."
"When is he holding tryouts?" Carson asked eagerly and Fred could see the boy's excitement and almost felt bad for the ruse. Almost.
"He hasn't set a date yet. He said he was planning on doing an interview to announce it soon." He said.
"Right, I'll look for that." He said as he began to add the brooms to the bill.
Fred couldn't help but wince when he saw that six-figure number but knew there was nothing for it and with the combined family estates plus the Vault for the shop that had been cleared, it wasn't a fraction of what was available for use.
He thanked magic herself that this store had a scale that automatically totaled the money added to the pan so he didn't have to count out each individual galleon, he'd be here all day if that was the case.
As soon as he was done and the transaction complete he shrunk everything and slipped the lot into his pocket. Bidding Carson goodbye he left the shop feeling giddy, doing his best to not think about exactly why he'd bought the brooms.
His stop at Olivanders was fairly straightforward. He cleared the shelves of all of the holsters, wand cleaning kits, and books on wandlore available. Paying was quick and easy and he was soon heading to meet the rest of their motley group.
George
In some ways, George had it both easier and worse. The process was the same in each store he went to. They all had push trolleys that were extended and had similar charms to the ones at the apothecary where the items are totaled as they're put into the cart. It was very handy and made his life exponentially easier.
He got a lot of funny looks and questions. He was quick to make a game of it. When asked why he was buying so much, he would give the most outrageous answer he could think of. He never used the same answer twice. It amused him greatly when he saw the look one witch gave him when he said he was planning on feeding a whole pack of tolls a nice brunch.
He was quick and efficient as he cleared the shelves. Unlike the others, he didn't have to do it by hand, necessarily, and he didn't have to place any orders, pick specific items, or search for things. He simply went through the store, much like Luna had, and emptied the shelves into the cart. At each store, of which there were four in total, plus a brewery, he cleared the shelves with the help of the self-totaling carts, paid, and then used magic to pack it all into the food trunk, much to the shock of the clerks when they saw the inside of the trunk and what he already had since he didn't bother to charm it to look empty.
He, in a stroke of what he considered brilliance, also grabbed a copy of each cookbook or recipe he came across. He knew that apart from Harry, most of them were barely passable in the kitchen and they would have to learn and quickly. So with that, he scoured and found all of the reading material he could with a tenacity that would make Hermione proud if she'd seen him.
It took him about five hours to finish all of his assigned stores and he was tired as he made his way to the Leaky, hoping they would have a late lunch before they did anything else.
Neville
The shyest Gryffindor worked his way through every plan, seed, or any shop that sold anything even remotely similar. He, much like Draco, had to do most things by hand, but luckily, much like Luna and Hermione, he just went to the counter, explained he wanted everything, and they helped him sort it out. When asked, he explained that he had decided to build a new set of greenhouses and needed to fill them completely. That answer was accepted and the shopkeepers were happy to help him load everything into boxes he would later add to the trunk.
At each store he stopped at he inquired about the biome cases but sadly had no luck. He wasn't overly surprised. However, he did buy every book each of the stores had, using the same justification some of the others had, that it wasn't a guarantee Hermione would find these in the bookstores.
Finally, once he'd exhausted herbology shops, Neville turned to the creature and animal shops. He went through three until he finally found what he was looking for. It was a trunk that was said to be modeled after the one that Newt Scamander had used in his travels whilst he was writing his famous book 'Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them'.
Neville was thrilled with his find but was a little let down that there was only one. Apparently, someone had special ordered it and then changed their minds about it so it had sat in storage for a couple of years.
The brunette was quick to purchase it, as well as all of the books available. When he explained what he wanted it for the shopkeeper was surprised, portable greenhouses! It was a novel idea.
When he had asked the ancient-looking man who had created the case and done the charm work and the enchantments, he was surprised to learn that the man himself was responsible for it. He then had a new idea. He offered a deal to the man. He wanted all of the research the man had on it, on how he had made the trunk, and Neville would buy the research from him.
He explained to the old man that he didn't have any intention of making money off of this. He just wanted a way to transport plants, and maybe animals if it was needed, safely. He had no interest in producing and selling them, he only wanted the ability to make the trunks for personal use. He wanted to be able to create different trunks for different types of plants to keep them safely separated.
It took quite a bit of convincing and even more gold to get the man to agree. Neville even had to agree that if he did change his mind and start mass producing and selling them that he would give the man a percentage.
Neville, knowing what he did about how the world was ending and soon, there wouldn't be any buying and selling done at all, had no issue agreeing to the caveat.
With the new trunk and all of the research to make more of them tucked safely into his pocket, Neville made his way to meet up with his family of choice.
Harry
The de facto leader of this ragtag group was left with the rest of the magical supplies. His first stop was the magical camping store, which he, just as all of his friends were currently doing, wiped the store completely.
When questioned on his reasoning, he said that he was planning a trip for himself and several of his friends and wanted to be well prepared. This got a few raised eyebrows but people, for the most part, didn't have the guts to question him further.
He ended up getting a variety of magical tents, six that were smaller and similar to the one they had used on the run. A couple that were a bit larger and had two or three rooms. The biggest was the one he thought they'd be using most, leaving the Zabini tent in the trunk.
It was a fully functional home. It had twelve bedrooms, three bathrooms, kitchen, dining room, den, potions lab. It was obviously marketed towards the upper crust of wizarding society, made to look lavish with rich fabrics and carved woods. It was truly beautiful on the inside, the gentleman running the shop had been kind enough to set it up and allow Harry to inspect it.
There were enough tents for them each to have their own but he knew from experience they would all feel a lot safer sharing one tent. And this one would allow them to share and be close together while still having their privacy.
The tent was also warded to the gills with every enchantment known to wizard-kind, something Harry greatly approved of. When he prodded the man and asked about how to keep unwanted people out, aside from standard wards set around the campgrounds, it was admitted quietly that this specific tent also came with some less than legal blood wards.
As an Auror, Harry would normally be oath-bound to confiscate the item and at the very least give the man a fine. However, knowing that what was and wasn't legal wouldn't matter in the painfully near future, Harry chose to look at it from the mindset of a war veteran and appreciated the presence of those wards.
The man explained how to set all of the wards and add people to them. How to disable the blood wards if needed and then reactivate them.
It was a long couple of hours spent in the shop but Harry felt that it was well worth it.
From there, once the tents and other various bits of magical camping gear, such as a magical never-ending campfire, lanterns, and self-folding collapsible camping armchairs, were packed away Harry made his way around the Alley popping in and out of various shops. The items he chose to buy out seemed completely random to anyone that may have been following him, but to Harry they all made sense.
He ducked into a store that was open only to Aurors and bought out several gadgets. When asked why he explained that he was being sent on a confidential covert operation and wanted to be prepared just in case. Things bought in this shop included sets of magical restraints that dampened magic and were impossible to pick the lock or slip out of.
He also grabbed several types of runestones that had different purposes. One was to act as a beacon in case of emergency. One worked similar to a muggle flash-bang he'd seen in one of Dudley's movies as a child. Another worked similar to a stunner or a muggle taser, you simply charge it with your magic, throw it at the target, and it releases an electrical jolt that renders them unconscious. The final stone was akin to a grenade, something to be used only in extreme emergencies when your core is drained and you're out of options.
He also grabbed every utility belt they had available. They would need something to keep these rune stones in.
The final purchase from the Auror store is something that Hermione patented and was only available to Aurors above a certain clearance level. It was an updated and better version of the DA galleon. It was a necklace that functioned very similarly, though instead of using your want, you simply gripped it and thought of the message you wanted to send and who you wanted to send it to. The necklaces had to be activated and synced to each other as well as tied to a specific magical signature.
He simply said his team needed them and as Head Auror, it was actually at his discretion who was allowed to possess these. He told the man he knew how to sync and set up the medallions and his team absolutely could not come in for it to be done in the store because the identities of those going on this mission had to be kept classified.
The clerk wasn't able to deny him, both due to his position within the Auror Force and the fact that he was THE Harry Potter.
Once Harry finished his purchases in the supply shop, he slipped out and headed to the Leaky Cauldron. It had been six hours since he left the Twin's shop and he needed to touch base with his friends and plan out the rest of their day.
As Harry entered the Three Broomsticks he looked around and spotted all seven of them seated around a table in the corner. This was good. It meant they were all finished with what they'd needed in Diagon.
Making eye contact with Luna, he nodded towards the bar before turning and making his way towards Tom who was currently using a rag on some mugs.
"Hey, Tom." Harry said as he leaned against the bar, his back to the room knowing that his friends were watching their surroundings. He trusted them to watch out for anyone coming up behind him.
"Harry!" the aged innkeeper said brightly. "How are you, lad?"
"Good, good Tom. Thanks." He said with a smile, he'd always liked the old man. "How about you?"
"Oh, can't complain." was the reply. "What can I get you?"
"A private room actually. I'm meeting some friends here for a late lunch and would like some privacy if it's not any trouble." Harry said quietly.
"No trouble at all, Harry," Tom said, setting down his rag and turning to the wall behind him and grabbing a key and handing it over. "No one's needed it in a couple of months. It's the big one on the second floor, room 4. You know how to order from the menu there if you need anything."
"Thanks Tom." He said with a genuine smile. "Appreciate it."
Turning to look over his shoulder he caught Luna's eye a second time and held up four fingers before backing away from the bar and heading up the stairs to the large meeting room. Once inside he dropped down into one of the chairs that surrounded a large circular table facing the door.
It wasn't more than a few moments before one by one the others slipped into the room, having left the table down in the main pub in ones and twos to be less conspicuous. Their time in the war shining through yet again.
As soon as everyone was settled around the table Harry got up and moved towards the door, patting Blaise on the shoulder on his way in indication to follow and started casting privacy wards around the room. Blaise, the best with wards besides Harry and Hermione, was quick to pick up the slack and work his way around the room going the opposite direction to Harry until they met once again on the other side of the room.
Once the two men were completely certain that their privacy was guaranteed, they retook their seats and conversations began to pop up.
"Alright, you lot. Let's get some lunch and then we can go over everything. We actually got done a lot earlier than I was expecting. I thought this would be an all day event and it's only just now half-past two."
They each nodded and used the menus at their seats to order their meals and drinks. As they waited, Harry started going around getting an update from each of them. Everyone seemed in decent spirits and that was a relief, no one seemed to have had much trouble
"There's only one thing." Blaise said as their meals appeared on the table in front of them. "I ordered some custom robes with some enchantments on them from Twilfit & Tattings. They'll be done in two days' time and I have to go pick them up."
Harry nodded. "Alright. We can manage that." He said, taking a drink of his butterbeer. "Actually I think we can go ahead and handle Knockturn Alley today and get ahead of schedule since we finished Diagon so quickly." He said, looking around and getting nods of agreement from each of them.
"We can do Hogsmeade tomorrow. Then the next day Blaise can pick up the order and we can leave to muggle London and get started there. What do you all think?" He asked, wanting opinions instead of just barking orders. He knew these people would follow his lead but he didn't want to just dictate, he wanted to discuss.
"It sounds fine. There's not a whole lot of shops we really need to get into in Knockturn anyway." Said Hermione.
"The only ones I can really think of are an apothecary, a couple of bookstores, there's an entire store dedicated to poisons that might be handy to raid. But that's about it for what we'd need in there. The rest are all dark artifacts and things like shrunken head stores and shops for creatures." explained Draco.
"We could get that done quick this afternoon." Said Neville. "There's a plant shop down there. So that means me, Draco, Mione, and probably Blaise for the poison shop, he'd stand out less than the twins, Luna, or Harry."
Those that were volunteered nodded their agreement to the plan. "The rest of us can stay here and get what's already been bought sorted out and unpacked into the trunks. If your shopping was anything like mine, half of what you got is in various boxes and bags."
They all let out sounds of agreement that yes, that was how everything had gone.
"I also found a new tent for us. The Zabini tent would work but this one has more rooms, a potions lab, and more space so we can all use one tent. I know everyone at this table well enough to know that we'd all be more comfortable sharing one big tent than separating out. Plus, we could turn one of the rooms into a library instead of having to go down into a trunk for a library." Harry told them.
"That would be nice." Hermione said brightly. 'Though honestly, the trunk might be the better option for sheer space available. The number of books combined that are in that trunk I need to sort out and organize could rival the Hogwarts Library."
"Then we can use the extra rooms as a sort of storage situation. Set the trunks up in them where we can easily access them. Keep things neatly organized in the trunks but use the spare rooms as sort of like a hub between the trunks."
"That works." Said Draco.
"There are twelve bedrooms so we each get our own space but we're housed together for our own peace of mind." Harry explained more about the tent he'd purchased. "It also, and this for me is a big part of the appeal, is warded out the ass." He smirked. "Everything from fire prevention wards, temperature, and climate control, to anti-theft and creature repelling wards. But the best wards, in my mind, are the blood wards."
"Blood wards?" Asked Hermione.
"Blood wards." Harry confirmed with a nod before taking a bite of his own cooling meal. "The tent is equipped with blood wards that we will all be added to. Only the eight of us will be able to enter the tent. Anyone else that tries will get a nasty surprise. It'll keep out the dead and more importantly, the living. We can, of course, disable them to allow others entry, but unless we specifically disable the blood wards, we'll be completely safe in the tent."
"Bloody hell." Was the general consensus.
"Those are some=" "Serious wards, mate." The twins said in their usual broken speech.
"Very serious. I don't want to take chances if we don't have to help it. When it's set up, it's big enough to believably hold eight sleeping bags in a tight squeeze so when, and Luna assures me that there will be a when, we encounter muggles, it won't be overly suspicious. There's a type of Notice-Me-Not on it that lets it appear to muggles if they catch a glimpse inside as though it's just a massive pile of sleeping bags."
"That's handy." said Neville.
They all agreed.
After that, they all broke off into individual conversations as they finished their meal.
Once the plates were cleared and a new round of drinks had been finished, it was time to get busy once more.
"Those of you that are heading into Knockturn should go on now. We'll stay here and work on sorting the trunks that we'll still have here. We'll wait for you and then I think we should head to Hogsmeade. We can set up the tent on the outskirts and work from there tomorrow."
"We'll be back soon." Hermione said as she rose to her feet, the other three following suit.
"Oh and Mione?" He asked, catching her attention before she opened the door to leave.
"Yeah, Harry?" She asked, looking back over her shoulder at him.
"Pop into the muggle world and grab a phonebook and a map." He said as he pushed away from the table. "That way we can make a list of stores to hit at night and use the map to find the address to help with traveling since we're going to be apparating blind."
"Will do." She said before she, Neville, Draco, and Blaise left.
Harry was quick to reinforce the wards behind them. Turning to face the others he clapped his hands. "Alright, let's get to work. We have to get the trunks left here sorted." In his best Filch impersonation, he called out. 'Alright, turn out your pockets!"
The others laughed at this and proceeded to start pulling shrunken boxes and bags from their pockets. The boxes and bags that belonged in trunks that were with the missing members of their group, like the vials Luna had bought or the books each of them had grabbed from their respective shops, were stacked in separate piles along the wall next to the door.
It took four hours for Harry, Luna, and the Weasley twins to sort out and organize everything. Harry couldn't help but laugh when he realized what all Fred had bought at Quality Quidditch. Money didn't matter so it wasn't an issue and he understood completely where the redhead was coming from. He helped the Weasley put a broom, set of pads, and robe in eight bags and set them aside.
By the time the others returned, what was there was finished and it was easy to take the few things that the others had that didn't belong in their trunks and slot them in the appropriate places. They also were quick to pack away the things that had been sorted out to go in the potions and library trunk.
"Alright, let's head out. Meet at the Shrieking Shack and we'll go from there. We'll get the tent set up, wards activated, and then we'll help Draco and Neville sort out the potions and plants in the trunks. Neville has a biome case and we can build greenhouses inside. We need to get that done as soon as possible so that the plants we already have don't die." He explained. "And potions and their ingredients have to be done by hand so that'll take a good long time."
A round of nods and "That makes sense." was what he got in return.
"Once we finish with Hogsmeade tomorrow, I want to make up emergency kits for everyone. We have tons of extra bottomless bags and will get more tomorrow in the next shopping. I want to make up bags in case we get separated for whatever reason everyone will have supplies and a tent just in case."
"That's smart." Said Blaise. "With how you and Luna have explained what's to come, we could get attacked or overrun at any time and we need to be able to run at a moment's notice. Sometimes things get left behind in the heat of the moment and we need to be prepared."
"Exactly," said Luna with a nod. "And when we finish the muggle world we can add to them."
"They currently only have your new brooms and a couple of other things Fred thought were absolutely vital," Harry said with a small smirk.
"Let's head out," Luna said, standing suddenly. "The Prophet has caught wind of today's shopping and has tracked Harry here to ask questions."
"You heard the Lady," Harry said, waving his wand and shrinking all of the trunks that had been left sitting out. They were quickly directed into the carry-all duffle bag which Neville, as the closest to it, shrank and slipped in his pocket.
"George. You handle Tom." Harry said as they were all preparing to leave. "Disillusion yourself and slip back into the bar. Explain I'm throwing a party and need refreshments. Buy every bottle of butterbeer and firewhiskey he has then meet us at the Shack."
"Will do boss." The ginger said, earning a dry look from Harry at the title. While accurate to a certain degree, Harry still hated it.
"See you all in a minute," Harry said before releasing the wards, letting them fall and apparating away.