Harry Potter and the Physical Adept
Chapter 6: Knockturn in Black and Gold
The questions continued coming for a good fifteen minutes, with Harry answering the questions as best as he could while maintaining his cover; while it had mostly been straightforward, there were still a few inquiries that had made him stop for a moment to consider his response before giving one, though he did seem to manage to keep his answers within the realm of believability.
Once the cafe bill had been paid and everybody was ready to go, the group of three adults and five children entered Diagon Alley through the Leaky Cauldron, Harry pulling up the balaclava he had been wearing around his neck up to his nose just before they set foot inside the pub; once they stepped foot in Diagon Alley, Harry glanced towards Patience and was amused to see her nonchalant expression.
"Not impressed?" Harry asked.
"It's very… Jules Verne," said the daywalker. "Very steampunk, minus the punk."
"It really is," Harry agreed.
"I'm not into it," Patience declared. "I was expecting something like the Renraku Arcology, but with more magic, so this is just kind of a letdown."
"I was the same way myself, actually," Harry said, nodding. "School we're going to's even worse; doesn't even have the steam, just the fantasy."
"Really? I'd like to see that sometime."
"Maybe something could be arranged…"
Then, to the others in the group, he said, "We should probably split up; Liv needs to get some basic stuff that you probably all already have, like a luggage case, and you all still have your own shopping to do."
"But you still haven't gotten this year's list," Hermione protested.
"Lee, do you have this year's list?" Harry asked. When the Korean-British girl nodded, he turned back towards his friend. "You can give me your list and you can use your roommate's."
Hermione begrudgingly handed Harry her list, and the Boy-Who-Lived quickly looked it over before handing it back, saying, "I already have all of this."
"You what now?" Su-Jin asked, surprised.
"Oh, right, you bought a copy of every book Flourish and Blotts had in stock," Hermione said, as Harry handed the list back. "I just thought you might be missing one or two."
"No, I got them all," Harry said. "Well, Liv, Pace and I are off to get some of the basics, when and where do you all want to meet up?"
"How about Florean Fortescue's in a few hours?" Neville suggested.
"You just want ice cream, don't you?" Hermione said.
"Can't blame him," Fay said. "I've kind of have the munchies too."
"We can do that, I guess," Harry said. "I'll see you all then."
"But what you going to do in the meantime?" Hermione asked. "It won't take more than an hour to get the basics."
"A bit of this and that," Harry said, the ghost of a smile flitting across his lips. "C'mon, Liv. Let's go."
~ooOoo~
Entering the luggage shop he had been to only twice before, Harry was greeted by an unfamiliar face at the counter; the young witch he had met the previous year was not present, replaced by a sharply dressed young man.
"Welcome to Llewellyn and Haig, your one-stop shop for enchanted bags, suitcases and trunks," he said. "How can I help you today?"
"I'd like to purchase two trunks, my young friend will need a satchel. and this beautiful young woman could do with a handbag, all with the usual enchantments," Harry said.
"Certainly, although I must warn you, the trunk and the satchel will be one hundred twenty Galleons each," said the shop attendant. "And the bag will be a hundred galleons."
"What's that in dollars?" Patience asked.
Harry glanced towards the dragon-in-girl's form. "Liv?"
"It'll be in the neighborhood of nine hundred sixty dollars," said the dragon after a moment of mental calculation.
"I can't afford to spend that much on a handbag!" the daywalker protested.
"I can, though," Harry said. "Consider it a gift from me to you."
"But we've only known each other for a week!"
"You're family now. Family's got to take care of their own."
Patience started to protest more, then stopped short when she felt Liv glare at her. "Well, for that much, the handbag better include a reach-around."
"It doesn't, but it weighs next to nothing and is bigger on the inside," Harry said.
"Wait, bigger on the inside, like the TARDIS?" asked the daywalker.
"Exactly like the TARDIS."
"In that case, I could see why it'd be that expensive."
"I know, right?"
"But why?"
"Well, with the bag and what you can do on your own, you'd make for one hell of a courier. You'd have to buy passage through boats and planes, but you'd be able to protect whatever packages you'd get hired to transport almost better than anybody else who exists."
"You mean as a side gig?"
"Or as a main gig, if you decide you don't want to work construction."
"I wouldn't even know where to begin."
"Jason could probably make some introductions for you, though, and it'd give you ample opportunities to travel, just like you said you wanted to."
"I need to think about it."
"You do that."
~ooOoo~
Harry had decided it was pointless to purchase the required uniform for Liv from Diagon Alley even before the trip, as the plain work robes he had purchased at Madam Malkin's the previous year were really little different than longcoats he could have acquired from any tailor in the normal world, except the quality of workmanship and material in Malkin's product was much worse than what he could buy in the normal world for the same price, and he was certain he could get the rest of the uniform replicated by a tailor for far cheaper than Malkin's asking price.
As for the pointed hat, he had worn it not even once during the entire year at Hogwarts, so he saw no need for Liv to purchase one.
Nonetheless, Liv still needed protective gloves and a winter cloak, even if her own skin was enough to provide her with protection against harm and the elements, to maintain her cover, but the Boy-Who-Lived was certain Madam Malkin's was not the only shop that sold such items.
There was also the question of the cauldron, set of vials, telescope set and brass scales that remained to be settled, but Harry too was certain the shops he had purchased those items from the previous year did not hold a monopoly on school supplies.
It was with this in mind that Harry had made inquiries by owl the previous day before the game Patience was hosting, and the replies were what brought Patience, Liv and him to Knockturn Alley, and more specifically, to the generically named Wizarding Supplies.
Unlike the storefronts in Diagon Alley, the businesses in Knockturn were small and dingy, like they had not been properly cleaned and maintained in years, and the lack of general foot traffic evident at first glance was likely the main reason why. Dirt and refuse caked the cracked and worn cobblestones, further evidence of the absence of upkeep.
The inside of Wizarding Supplies was cramped and dusty, more akin to a pawnbroker's than the general merchandise stores the boutiques on Diagon Alley resembled. At the counter was a bored-looking middle-aged witch thumbing through a newspaper; as the daywalker, the dragon and the Hermetic mage entered through the front door, she looked up languidly with a yawn, only to snap to attention when the boy pulled the balaclava down from his face.
"You're Harry Potter," she said.
"Yes, I am," said the Hermetic mage.
"I recognized you from the piece in yesterday's Daily Prophet," the witch continued, babbling, rushing out from behind the counter to shake the Boy-Who-Lived's hand. "Never in a thousand years did I dream Harry Potter would be in my shop."
Then, she had a moment to collect her wits.
"What are you doing here?"
"Well, seeing this is Wizarding Supplies, getting wizarding supplies for my daughter," Harry said.
"But what are you doing here?"
"I just said…"
"I meant in Knockturn Alley."
"What about Knockturn Alley?"
"It's not a place for innocent children to wander."
"If you recognize me from the Prophet, then you've probably read the piece," Harry said, smiling tightly as he did so. "Tell me, did I sound like an innocent child?"
The witch considered the Boy-Who-Lived for a moment, then shook her head. "Well, then, what wizarding supplies do you want to buy?" she asked.
Harry dug a list out of his pocket and pressed it into the hands of the witch, who still had one of his clasped in both of hers; it was a copy of the items from his from the first year letter, sans textbooks and robes.
The witch read over the list in a moment, then looked back at the Hermetic mage. "You could buy all of this in Diagon Alley," she said.
"I made inquiries and was told I could find them cheaper here," the boy responded.
"That is true," the witch admitted. "Will the gloves and cloak be for her?"
"Yes."
"If you give me a few minutes, I can gather these things for you," the witch offered.
"That works for me," Harry said. "I hope you don't mind if I browse while you go find them."
"Please, be my guest."
As the middle-aged woman hustled off to fill the list, Harry looked around; Patience and Liv were already wandering the store, talking quietly amongst themselves, and Harry took the time to carefully look around.
A thin layer of dust that had settled onto most of the inventory, like it hadn't been cleaned or even touched in a long while, and, combined with the witch's bored behavior when he, Patience and Liv had first entered the store, Harry guessed Wizarding Supplies was not exactly a profitable venture for the witch, and a business idea began to bubble in his mind.
When the witch returned with the items on the list, Harry implemented his plan of attack.
"I don't have any dragon or basilisk skin gloves in stock, but I do have manticore skin gloves, and manticore skin is almost as good as dragon or basilisk skin for protective gloves," said the witch, as she stacked the items from the list on the counter.
"They'll do," Harry said. "Any reason why you don't have dragon or basilisk skin gloves?"
"It's hard to justify having them in sitting on the shelf when I don't have a lot of customers."
"How long as business been down?" asked the boy, as he paid for the purchase in gold pieces.
"Nearly a decade," the witch admitted. "Had I not inherited the shop and the property it sits on from family, I could not afford to run it, but as it stands, I live upstairs and I only have to make a few sales each day to get by."
"But what if business picked up?"
"Then I'd be able to restock the inventory and even hire some help," said the witch. "But that's not going to happen; Knockturn Alley is a place where businesses die unless they are related to dark artefacts or the practice of dark arts."
"Don't be so sure about that," Harry said thoughtfully. Then, "How much would it cost me to become an almost entirely silent partner in this business?"
"Weren't you listening? I can barely make ends meet, and that's without having to pay rent."
"I heard you," said the Hermetic mage.
"Why would you want to invest your Galleons into my shop?"
"I'd rather do that than just have my gold sit in a vault, doing nothing."
"But you would just be wasting your Galleons!"
"Don't be so sure," said the boy with a slight smile. "I've got a strategy in mind. So, how much?"
The witch considered the proposition for a moment, clearing fiddling with a number in her head, before finally saying, "Twenty-five thousand Galleons."
Harry considered the number for a moment, then nodded. "I probably don't have that many gold pieces on me, but if we over to Gringotts and settle up the paperwork, I'd be happy to transfer the sum to your accounts."
"Are you sure? We've only just met."
"Well, if we get an agreement notarized, I don't see why not," Harry said. "And if business suddenly booms, we'll both benefit from it."
"When you put it like that, how can I refuse?"
"That's what I thought."
"I can close up shop for the day; I don't think I'm likely to get many additional customers today, and if this opportunity is as good as you say it is, a few missed customers would be a price worth paying," said the witch. Then, she suddenly realized something. "I'm Letitia Price."
"Harry Potter, but you already knew that. Shall we go?"
~ooOoo~
"So, what's this big plan of yours?" Letitia asked, as she, Patience, Liv and Harry exited Gringotts Wizarding Bank; the agreement the two had written and signed had been a simple one: in exchange for his investment of twenty-thousand gold pieces in Wizarding Supplies, Harry would receive a full ten percent of the business' sum profits, should it earn any, in perpetuity. Gringotts had been happy to provide witnesses and even notarize the agreement, albeit for a hefty sum, as was their way, and Harry had grudgingly paid the fees, believing the profit that would come of the business would eventually outstrip the initial cost.
Only after the ink (and blood) on the agreement had dried was gold exchanged between Harry Potter and Letitia Price.
"You'll see," Harry said with a slight smile. "Now, if you don't mind, I need to visit the offices of the Daily Prophet. I have a little bit of business to conduct."
"Tread carefully with Rita Skeeter," warned the middle-aged witch. "Her bark is worse than… well, her bark is poison."
"I plan to be," Harry said. "But it's good to have a journo in your pocket."
"Is that what she is?"
"For now."
A beat followed.
"You might want to stock up on things, though, because, for you, drek is about to hit the fans."
~ooOoo~
"I'm Harry Potter, and Wizarding Supplies is my favorite general store in all of Magical Britain."
Hermione Granger felt her mouth drop in shock at the front page advert in Wednesday morning's issue of the Daily Prophet. It was definitely Harry in the photograph, standing in front of a small, dingy store with an askew sign that read "Wizarding Supplies".
"Harry?" Hermione asked the photo.
"Located on ambiance-rich Knockturn Alley, Wizarding Supplies is where I go to buy all the things I need for the school year when I don't want to have my mokeskin pouch gouged by the shops on Diagon," Harry-in-the-photograph narrated. "With its wide variety of items and reasonable prices, I was able to buy everything I needed for Hogwarts, and even a few things for around the house, for just a fraction of what it would have cost me shopping Diagon Alley.
"So come to Wizarding Supplies today. Your mokeskin pouch will thank you."
"Harry?" Hermione asked again.
"I'm Harry Potter, and Wizarding Supplies is my favorite general store in all of Magical London," started the Harry Potter in the photograph again.
Hermione Granger found herself rubbing her forehead, wondering what kind of scheme her best friend had gotten himself into this time.
~ooOoo~
From where he was hidden in the shadows of an alleyway a hundred feet away, the hood of his cloak pulled up over his head and a balaclava hiding the bottom half of his face, Harry observed Knockturn Alley's sudden increase in foot traffic and watched dozens of shoppers enter Wizarding Supplies empty-handed and leave carrying bags laden with purchases.
Wednesday was the perfect day to run the advert; it gave Letitia a day to order goods to refresh her inventory and a day for it to be delivered, plus it would piggyback on the signage he had seen outside Flourish and Blotts advertising a promotion where a famous author was making an appearance to sign copies of his new book.
It seemed the word of the Boy-Who-Lived carried weight.
"So, what was the lesson here?" he asked Liv, who had been crouched in the alley next to him, as they exited the back street and headed back towards Diagon Alley.
"People will believe their idols, even when there's no actual proof what they're saying is true."
"You're goddamn right."
"What's the plan, then?"
"Ideally, parlay the success of Wizarding Supplies into a few more silent partnerships."
"Wouldn't repeating the trick will make it less effective?"
"Certainly true, but we can always run variations that are less blatant. Personal appearances, for example, or a more localized campaign, if the storefront is already in a high-traffic area."
"We? When did I get involved?"
"You have a reputation as my daughter, which makes you kind of famous in to these people."
"And what do I get out of it?"
"Presumably, a cut of the profits, if the shop is willing to pay you to endorse them."
"That'll be good. It's sad that you can't do much in this world without money."
They stopped a half-block away from Flourish and Blotts at the sight of the raucous, mostly-female crowd gathered there.
Harry hurriedly checked his watch, then swore under his breath. He had not expected the crowd to gather so early, and he had no desire to try to wade through a throng of young women.
"We should go," Liv said matter-of-factly. Pointing in the other direction, she added, "That way."
All Harry could do was nod in agreement.
Author's Notes: More of people just not being impressed; I wrote Karen in Hermetic Arts as being in awe of Diagon Alley, but, honestly, I think my own personal reaction would be more in line with Patience's, where, if you're familiar with Shadowrun and the supernatural, you kind of expect tech and magic to go hand-in-hand and not just have magic stop the development of technology.
Same shop, different clerk, different shopping experience. I wanted to highlight how, when you got to a shop you haven't been to a while and the service person is different, it sometimes feels like a completely different experience than before.
Harry calling Patience "family" might seem weirdly out of character, but just remember this this version of Harry includes manipulative con artist elements in his repertoire, and Patience has emphasized her feelings of being alone and without a place in the world.
I'm basing my analysis of the apparel for Hogwarts on what was presented in the films, and, from that, I do think you could get better uniforms from a normal tailor at a lower price. I mean, there are certain assumptions made based on the fact the Weasleys had to pass their robes down from brother to brother and the Weasleys dealing only in Wizarding currency, but it made me think a set of uniforms would not be paid for in the realm of bronze pieces, and silver was worth about 4 USD per ounce in 1992. Given it was established in Hermetic Arts the gold pieces were about 34 ounces each, and silver pieces were shown to be only slightly smaller, I'd estimate a uniform would run at least 100 dollars based on the idea it would cost more than one silver piece. Sure, clothes made by normal tailors might not have the magical stuff woven into it, but then again, it won't have magical stuff woven into it, and Harry's basically replacing his own wardrobe as well anyways since he's a growing boy, so it would make sense financially to go from getting robes from Diagon Alley to just getting a few tailored coats and maybe some off-the-rack garments that look close enough to the Hogwarts uniforms to pass a cursory inspection. Besides, Harry in a longcoat completely fits his cyberpunk sensibilities.
I wanted this version of Harry to go into Knockturn Alley like he originally did in Chamber of Secrets, but to do it proactively, as that fits his character much better than the way the original Harry was passive in the story, so when I found Wizarding Supplies in the Fandom Wiki and thought, "now that's a place to buy school stuff from, since it sounds generic enough".
I know there are people dislike the "Gringotts is a concierge bank" trope, but I would like to point out that many banks in the real world have notaries on staff, or can otherwise direct you to one.
If photographs in the magical society could move, and paintings could talk, I extrapolated that there certainly must be a way to make talking photographic advertisements in newspapers, particularly if they only need to be able to repeat a few lines, in order, and not have to respond in any other way. Plus, I love Mass Effect, so I'm glad I got the chance to reference it in the story; however, Harry specifically specifies "general store" because, unlike Shepard, he's not going to go around the Citadel recording adverts for every store and calling it his "favorite"; always weirded me out that you could, as Shep, endorse all of the stores, and call all of them their "favorite", because, at that point, surely customers might see through Shep's bullshit.
I don't understand why people will listen to celebrity endorsements of products; for the most part, they're not experts on the thing they're endorsing, so why should their opinion matter? That said, Harry would certainly be smart enough to take advantage of the concept.
Rowling never cared about money, just wanted Harry to have enough so spending it doesn't become an issue; I, however, care about money, and so does this version of Harry, because he grew up in deprivation, so he knows money can get him things, which makes it important to him. It's also a lesson that Liv's learned a bit of from working at Jade Garden. See? Harry getting a summer job (and Liv getting one too) was important.
Once again, many, many thanks to my long-suffering editor, Romantically Distant, for all their hard work. And now you've read this chapter, feel free to leave a review or just PM me.