Chapter Three: Wherein time in Diagon Alley is well spent.
Summary: Harry, Ginny, and Hermione go shopping.
"I guess we need owls," Harry said, a little sad. He'd never wanted to replace Hedwig. Which was silly really, as he had been hampered all summer without his own owl.
"Yes, and I want to go look at the trunk and bag store, nip into the owl post, and then the bookshop," Hermione added.
"Ugh," Harry replied. Bookshops and Hermione were excruciating experiences. It was hard to pry her out of one, for one thing.
"Ooo, me, too!" Ginny replied.
"Can I just wait for you somewhere?"
"Mmm, how about this," Hermione considered. "Um, Tampy, Pampy? Do you two get along with your father, Kreacher?"
"Oh, yes, miss. But we haven't seen him in a long time."
"Do you cook well?" she asked her elves.
"Yes, miss. We can cook the French, the German, the Chinese, the Italian, the Northern Indian, the Southern Indian, the Thai, and the American cuisine. Also British."
"Oooh, Thai," Ginny said.
"Will you ladies go shopping and convince your father to give up his kitchen to you at 12 Grimmauld Place where Harry and Ginny live, and cook us something wonderful and Thai? We'll be ready for dinner in two hours. Would that be enough time for you?"
"Oh, yes, miss!"
"Excellent. I'll show you to my home after dinner. For all that we'll be spending just one night there before I'm off to Hogwarts. Do you need money now, or do you have access to credit?"
Harry watched as one of them pulled on a chain around her neck and pulled out a little pendant that had something carved on it. Possibly the Black crest. "I have access, miss!"
"Excellent! Two hours. Come find me in the bookshop if I don't turn up. Sometimes I lose time in there."
"Yes, miss! We will come fetch you in two hours, miss! We go now and make dinner."
And then they were gone.
"Hermione," Harry stated as he put his arms through both his best friend's arm and his wife's, "I gotta say. I kind of love house elves. Especially house elves that can make decent Asian food."
"We'll never need takeaway again. We'll just go to Hermione's house," Ginny pointed out in a dreamy voice as they went in the direction of the menagerie.
"Also, Harry, I might need a kneazle kitten. I've kind of always wanted one," his wife added.
"Awesome. Hermione's half-kneazle has been pretty amazing. It'd be cool to see what a full kneazle is capable of. Let's see if they have a litter. If not, let's get on a list for the next one, or something."
"You are the best husband, ever," Ginny stated.
"That's my aim," he replied.
"You two are disgustingly cute, you realize this, yes?" Hermione asked.
"Yes," both Harry and Ginny replied at the same time.
"Written to Viktor, yet?" Ginny asked.
"Hmm, yes."
After a moment, Ginny demanded more details.
Hermione gave in with a sigh. "It was short, I didn't at all address even half of what he said, I introduced almost no new information, there was very little in the way of innuendo until the very end, and I'm really just testing the waters to see how he is after my two and a half months of silence."
Hermione sighed and changed the subject. "Everything is about to change. I'm really glad I have you two. And I think I'd like to cultivate Neville as a closer friend, if he's willing. But I'm just not sure about Ron…"
"Don't feel you have to hold back on my account," Ginny said. "I know he's a git at heart. In a lot of ways he's like Percy. His first instinct isn't always kind, even if he is the best strategic thinker I know."
"I agree, 'Mione," Harry added, wanting her to know exactly where he stood. "I didn't always, but when he left us in the forest… That kind of broke something for me. I'll accept his help and I'll offer him help, but I just don't want to be as close, you know? I don't want to give him the power to hurt me like that again. Friends, yes. Best friends, no."
"Something tells me Ronald isn't going to take this well," Hermione said as they entered the shop.
"Maybe we'll be able to put it off for a while. The conversation, I mean. Do we know that he's returning to Hogwarts? I can't imagine Molly allowing anything else, honestly," Harry said, entirely able to imagine just avoiding Ron or significant conversations with him for at least six months at Hogwarts.
"Well, at the beginning of the summer that was his plan, I think," Hermione said. "I should probably owl him this evening. We had decided to just let things cool between us like I said, and that we would talk again tomorrow on the train. Except I find I don't really care to. I have some excellent reading to do, besides a few other projects, and I already know my mind at least concerning him and it's not changing. So, best to just tell him. And now I am going to have an owl, I should probably use it," Hermione said.
They gravitated toward the owls, and he and Ginny considered which would be best for the new Potter owl.
"It doesn't have to be super impressive, but not one of the tiny ones, either. Now, Hermione's… her's should be impressive."
"Or all black," Harry muttered, avoiding the Snowy owl.
Hermione gravitated toward the most gigantic owl in the room, the Eurasian Eagle Owl, while Ginny was cooing at the Burrowing Owl which was, admittedly, a fine looking creature.
"I'm calling him Postmaster General," stated Hermione.
Harry snorted. "Of course you are. I'll take him back with me, if you want."
"Excellent. I want a cage and a stand, I think."
Ginny pointed at the one she favored and asked his opinion. "Just fine. You name it. I'll go pick out a stand."
Harry left them to it and took a deep breath, looking around at the other animals. He wandered up to the reptile section and was looking rather aimlessly when he heard someone say, "Look. Another berk gazing longingly at turtles. Ridiculous."
"Hey," Harry replied, not looking up before he spoke. When he did look around, there was no one around him who could have said it. Then he looked again.
Well, there were snakes.
"Alright," he said, addressing them. "Who's the saucepot, then?"
All the snakes but one seemed to be laughing. The tag on the tank said it was a Black Rat Snake.
"Do you, in fact, eat rats?" Harry asked, looking at the snake who was quietly looking back at him. "Or is your name all talk and no trousers?"
"And what good would trousers do me?" it asked.
"Answer the question, saucepot."
"Yes, I eat rats," it said, curling up and raising its head a bit. It was by no means the largest, nor the smallest snake present, but it might be a bit more than a yard long.
"Do you eat kneazle kittens?"
"Sounds tasty."
"If I said they were off the menu?" Harry asked, crossing his arms over his chest. He liked the saucy snake despite himself. But it wouldn't do if it was just going to go home and eat Ginny's new kitten. Whenever it was they got one.
"I might refrain. If it was worth my while."
"I'd feed you. Give you warm places to be. Intelligent conversation."
"Is that what you call this, dumbo?"
"Would that be enough to be worth your while?"
"Maybe."
"No maybes. You promise to eat nothing you shouldn't, at my discretion not yours, and if you break your promise, I make you into a pair of shoes."
"Yeah, that's fair. I don't break promises, anyway."
"Then make the promise, saucepot."
"You gonna take me outta this place then?"
"Yes, if you promise."
"I promise. No eating things you don't want me to eat."
"Excellent. Come here," Harry said, opening the top of the glass container, and reaching his arm in, fist first. "How is that you have an American accent, anyway?"
"How is it you speak snake?" the creature asked as it wound its way over and around Harry's arm, looking back once to the other snakes and taunting them with his imminent departure.
"That's a long story, saucepot," Harry replied, walking back over to his two favorite women.
"Likewise, berk."
"I ask for a kitten and you bring me a snake?" Ginny said in greeting.
"Oooh, I like her. Lemme go say hello."
Harry looked at his new snake. "You will wait to be introduced, and you will act like a gentleman, is that understood?"
"I can see life is going to be dull around you."
"Saucepot, I wish and hope and pray that life will be dull around me. I generally don't get my way, so get ready for a life of entirely too much adventure."
"Hooray!" Saucepot cheered and wound a happy slither across Harry's shoulders.
"Ginny, I decided I needed a new pet. The prospect of replacing Hedwig was… you know. Tough. So, meet Saucepot. He's promised not to eat anything he shouldn't, including kittens, on pain of being made into a pair of shoes by Kreacher." He turned to the snake on his shoulders. "I'm calling you Saucepot."
"You've been calling me saucepot, dumbo. You think I haven't noticed?"
"Anyway, Saucepot, meet my wife, Ginny, and my best friend Hermione."
"How'd you manage to get two fine ladies? And how come I don't have a nice lady snake to warm my basket, huh? You are gonna get me a basket and put a warming charm on it, right? None of the glass peek-a-boo arrangements, right? A guy's gotta have his privacy when he's snoozing, you know. And a pillow in the basket wouldn't go amiss."
Harry rolled his eyes. "He deserves his name, but I think we're going to get along just fine."
"I wonder if the parseltongue charm is in the new family library I have access to," Hermione mused, still clearly unwilling to utter certain names in public. "Now that we know it's not inherently dark, it could be quite interesting to be able to speak with an entire species of animal we can't speak to now."
"Look under curses, first," Ginny muttered.
Harry paused. "Are you okay with this Ginny?"
Ginny stopped and looked at him quietly, just met his eyes until hers crinkled at the sides. "It's fine," she finally said, and he knew it was.
Ginny explained her idea for Christmas presents to Hermione in the owl post office once Harry had left with all the owls, gear, and his new pet snake. The kneazle, alas, would have to wait until there was another litter. However, there was only one other name on the notification list, so they would be given second pick of the litter, which was good enough.
"Yes, I was thinking actually, that I wanted something that was a bit more versatile than this bag, which has taken a bit of a beating, really. I've studied the spells, and you have to cast them all in a series for them to stick properly, or you have to build in room for expansion in particular, and there are some bells and whistles that I think I'd like to have. I will say, this was an excellent practice piece."
"Now, there's an idea. I could get some smaller cloth bags, simple things, and use them as practice pieces, each one a little different, and I could give those away to the boys and my parents, and then I could do the piece de resistance for Harry."
"And yourself. After all that, you should make one for yourself as well."
"Yes, definitely. I quite liked Narcissa's clutch. I wonder if she has several like that, or if the outside can be charmed to match any outfit."
Hermione gravitated over to the belt bags. "What about something like that for Harry? It kind of serves as a second pocket, really. They come charmed and regular. I wish it was normal for women to have one, and for women always to be wearing belts, because I'd just as well have one for myself."
"Why shouldn't you?" Ginny asked. "Especially if you do enrich it with a set of charms that can change the appearance of the outside. So right now, it's sturdy as boot leather, but if you're wearing a ballgown, perhaps it appears to be a barely-there silken purse that drapes at your waist, or around your wrist. Could easily fit into a pocket that way, too."
Hermione was nodding. "I like it. I like the idea of practice bags, too. I think I'll get some. I may not give them away, but they'll be dead useful for packing. I don't love going about with a trunk. I'm not quite ready to upgrade today, but I think at some point I need to get a decent bit of luggage that will pass in the muggle world, and then do some extensions on it, like Moody's trunk."
"But with fewer kidnapped aurors inside?" Ginny snarked.
"Naturally," Hermione smirked.
They cashed out and had their purchases wrapped and when they had the parcels under their arms they left the store.
"Now, let's go buy our weight in books," Hermione said, taking Ginny's free arm in hers.
Ginny's smile was a grim one, like a sorceress gearing for battle. "I love learning," she said in a manner that ought to make anyone who heard slightly afraid. Happily, it was getting on toward the dinner hour and it was only Hermione who heard, and Hermione laughed.
It was kind of a deep laugh, though. And it was more mischievous than comforting.
Over the summer, Hermione had casually mentioned half a dozen fascinating ideas, melds of the muggle and wizarding world, and all of them were dead useful and so obvious once you thought of them. None of the ideas, so Ginny was aware of, were in current production or use somewhere, and all were quite legit - no illegal charms work necessary. She'd had a quiet conversation with George about helping set her up in business, maybe, if it came to that. And then she'd had a quiet conversation with Hermione.
At first Hermione demurred.
"Look, I'm serious. I don't want to work at the Ministry, I don't want to undertake a Mastery, and Quidditch is not a long term option, even if I am picked up by a team. And I'll be damned if I just live off Harry's money and not contribute in some meaningful way. And these are amazing ideas, Hermione. Maybe they're just throwaway things to you, but I'll do it. And keep the ideas coming! What kind of share would seem fair to you for being the idea generator, and me bringing the rest to fruition? And I'm talking a share of the profits, not a share of the net income before expenses, which might be quite high at different points."
After much haggling, Ginny was convinced to give Hermione only 10% of the profits, which felt like highway robbery to the younger woman. Well, Hermione would get excellent Christmas and birthday presents from now on, especially if any of the ideas were as marketable and useful as Ginny thought they would be.
And so, Ginny had a definite focus in her reading purchases. Transfiguration and Charms, mostly, but also the Giant Book of Potions Ingredients Counteractions, and a few salient titles from the Ancient Runes section recommended by Hermione. She also got her own copy of Enough Room, and It Simply Won't Do, the books Hermione told her were the most useful for the Great Bag Project.
Yes. This was going to be a fantastic year. Voldemort was dead. She was married to the best man in the world, and finally she had a best friend who was interesting, inspiring, and wanted more to do with her than to use her for her ability to look fashionable on a budget. And Seventh Child Innovations was about to be born.
:D