Let's Do It Right This Time, Chapter 8: Shopping
Aurelius was very excited. For the first time, he could go shopping with unlimited funds, and he wouldn't be recognized by his fawning fans. The best of both worlds!
He already had a rough list of what he wanted to buy, but the first thing he needed...was a wand. And he was not going to Ollivander's, at least not for his primary wand. He knew that the man reported everything to Dumbledore. Besides, the wand choses the wizard- no generic wand would serve as well as a custom one, and more importantly, for the right price some wandmakers would leave off the tracking charms (Ollivander couldn't offer that because his wands were ready made, and so the ministry made sure they had trackers on them.) Not that he'd need that if the goblins were able to emancipate him. All the same, an untraceable wand would be very helpful if he had to cast...say...an unforgivable.
What was more, there was a very good custom wand store in Knock Turn Alley, which used all sorts powerful cores, even illegal ones, and could be bribed to leave off trackers in return for an unbreakable vow preventing you from telling such things to the aurors, on pain of obliviation. Harry had actually been with the auror squad that busted their circle in the previous timeline, rather against his will. All the same, they had the best custom wands.
Twigg's Wand Emporium was a small, and rather dusty shop, which looked as if it's last customer had left before the Bronze Age. Aurelius stepped inside, the bell tinkling reluctantly as he did so. A "Just a minute," issued from the back room, and then a plump older woman in cranberry robes bustled out. "Will you be wanting a custom wand, or a premade one?"
"Custom, please," replied Aurelius quickly. "And, if possible, untraceable."
The witch smiled. "I was hoping you would say that. I don't get much of a challenge these days..."
"So, uh, how does a custom wand work? Is there some sort of spell you do to figure out what the wand is made of?"
"No. You pick the core and wood; we just have to see what you're drawn to." She led Aurelius into a smaller adjoining room. "Just pick up what materials feel right; chances are if you can feel an affinity before the wand is even made, when it is made it'll be even stronger." She nodded at the baskets and jars of woods and cores. "Go on,"
Aurelius wandered through the room, wondering what it was supposed to feel like. Then, from a basket of scrubby wood, he felt a sudden, unexplainable tug. He reached in, pulled out a particular bit of wood, smooth against his fingers, and read the yellowing, musty card that told him what it was...
"Ash. Very good! One of the few woods that doesn't have a predetermination of light or dark magic. You could do anything with an ash wand!"
Aurelius might have responded, but he was busy searching for a core. At last, he pulled a black hair out of a little jar, and handed it to Madame Twigg. She blinked. "Thestral? You can see thestral? I normally only offer that core to soldiers."
"Mhmm," was Aurelius's only response. He knew subconsciously that his wand would have to have multiple cores to suit him, and he was busy trying to find the others. And then, suddenly, he knew. "Do you happen to have phoenix tears and basilisk venom?"
"Of course, but normally they won't work together in a core. They either fight or neutralize each other."
"Just try it, please. I promise I'll pay for the wasted ingredients if this doesn't work out."
She shrugged a bit confusedly, but got to work at once, telling Aurelius either to wait outside, or to come back in two hours. Aurelius, knowing that he would have precious little time in the future to do anything but down healing potions, decided to go shop for the rest of what he would need.
The first thing that he would need after a wand would definitely be a trunk. At Parcel and Trunk, he searched all over the store for a trunk, at last resorting to buying one of the fancier ones (five warded compartments, one for books, with a self indexing charm, one for potion ingredients, with a stasis charm, one for robes, with cleaning and ironing charms, one for things you want to keep secret, (and Heaven knows he had enough of those) and a section that just looked like an ordinary trunk. Each section had an individualized password (Sugar Quills, Cauldron Cakes, Violet Velvet, Pepper Imps, and Licorice Wands, to throw Dumbledore off, with all but the last being in parcelmouth; Sssasha was much amused) and he also got the trunk maker to add another compartment, furnished as an apartment like Moody's had been.
The entire thing was warded and trapped to the gills, including with blood wards, and to break into it you'd have to be...well...Voldemort. And it was even pretty, made of ebony and dragonhide, his personal crest (a phoenix battling a basilisk) detailed on the front, and the inside lined with dark blue velvet. Aurelius was very happy with his purchase, and so was the trunk maker.
Next Aurelius went to Flourish and Blotts, but aside from school books, the only thing he found that he actually wanted to read was an occlumency book called Unveiling the Mind, which he actually already owned, due to his enormous inheritance, most of which, after gold, was books. Besides, the cashier was giving him dirty looks for looking extensively in the Dark Arts section.
So he bought his school books and beat a hasty retreat to Madame Malkin's, where he bought school robes, dress robes, robes for everyday wear, and Wizengamot robes, along with a charmed silk "sweater" for Sssasha for the winter, and house elf uniforms with the Gaunt crest. All this was followed by an order for some muggle clothes, and by the time he had been fitted, the two hour wait for the wand was up.
"I have it here," the woman said as he came in the door. "A very interesting wand; it will be very potent, if you can get it to work."
Aurelius picked it up, and the only way to describe the sensation it gave him would be to say it sung. Sparks roared from the tip as though it were a bag of Filibuster Fireworks, beads of silver light skittering about like insects, shapes leaping, half-formed- snakes, gryphons, hippogriffs, dragons, wolves, and so on.
The wand maker was staring at him in awe. "W...ell, I guess it was a good fit," was all she said as he paid. The wand was more expensive than Ollivander's usual price, but after the surge of power it had given Aurelius, he was definitely ready to pay it. What was more, she didn't even ask for a vow! It would seem that they didn't have to be so careful in this timeline.
After that, he went to the Owl Emporium, where he found a certain white owl...
"Hey girl,"he said, taking her to the checkout line, "Do you mind if I call you Hedwig?"
...and to the Quiddich supply store for a Nimbus 1000.
A few other things, like a boot knife, wand holster, various devices like a dark detector, foe glass, sneakoscope, and other detection or protection devices, as well as a dragonskin jacket and prank supplies, and Aurelius was ready to call it a day. After all, he'd have a lot going on tomorrow, and he had no idea what to expect when the blocks were off, as he'd already considered himself a decently powered wizard, and that was him at half-mast.
The only interesting part about the day was that he actually met both Arthur Weasley and Severus Snape, as well as Dolores Bloody Umbridge. He could scarcely refrain from hugging Mr. Weasley and hexing Umbridge, and he really, really wanted both to shake Snape and to hug him (the latter almost as much to see the look on his face as it was that he was happy to see him).
He ended up just saying hello to Arthur, ignoring Umbridge so he wouldn't be tempted to hex her into a bloody mess, and having the first civilized conversation in his life with Snape, about, of all things, potions!
All in all, a quite forfilling day.