Disclaimer: We all know that this universe belongs to J. K. Rowling, who being the most wonderful, caring and charitable goddess of the Harry Potter creation, I thank for allowing me to play in her world.
Anyway JKR I hope you don't mind me giving Harry a good time before you inflict more agony on him in book six.
Authors Note: So we have just passed halfway and I just thought that I would remind you of the story time, it is Wednesday the 6th August 1997.
I now have a request to make, would anyone like to make me a web site sort of thing? I am not really sure what I need but I want to be able to put all of my stories there along with updates and maybe have a discussion forum for the stories. If you want to e-mail me my address is on my profile. I hope to hear from someone.
Chapter 7. Shuffle Around the Shops.
At breakfast the next morning Ron appeared to be no worse for wear, he ate quite normally consuming his nominal three times as much as anyone else, as he said it was only to save good food from going to waste.
Molly asked, "What are you all going to do today? I must go to the Burrow for a while, just too make sure it is still there and in one piece."
Luna agreed and said, "I should go home as well for a few hours at least and do you want to come with me Ron?" Ron agreed that he would go with her and he went upstairs to change.
Dan and Emma said that it would be just as well if they went and checked on their house as well, Dan thought that it was as well they would be going by Floo because the front door would be blocked by the mail.
Harry casually remarked, "The girls and I are going to Diagon Alley because we need to get some new clothes and that is probably the best place to get them." Then after thinking a minute he added, "We might go into Muggle London to do a bit of shopping as well.
Hermione added, "It's news to me that we are going shopping but if it's shopping for clothes you want then I'm your girl. Oh and Muggle shoes and underwear are excellent both for men and women."
"I'm with you Hermione," Ginny said fluttering her eyelashes at her, for which she received a playful slap.
Harry said quietly to the girls, "I know Ron's size so try to find out what size Luna is and we can get her some things as well?"
"She is the same size as me," Ginny said, "I borrow some of her things occasionally and they always fit ok."
"What about her bra size?" Hermione said, "Her boobs don't look quite as big as yours."
"I'll ask her if I can check." Harry said, trying to sound and look innocent but failing miserably.
Ginny had six brothers and she had heard it all before, so she knew what she was about and this sort of thing was like bread and butter to her. So with a dead straight face she looked at Hermione then said, "Alright darling, we will be with you just to explain how to do it and to make sure you do it correctly."
All things considered Hermione was not renown for being slow on the uptake, she quickly cottoned on and so she called, "Luna could you come over here a minute please."
Harry with a look of panic blurted out, "YoudoitIhavetogetsomthingfrommyroom!" as he fled.
By the time Luna reached Ginny and Hermione they were laughing so hard they could hardly explain to her what had transpired.
Luna told them her bra size then with an evil grin she said, "I'm up for it if you are, but can we get to him?"
"I believe so, we can certainly try," said Hermione as they rapidly left the dining room and rushed up the stairs to Hermione's room, they quickly passed through the two arches and cornered Harry in his bedroom.
As soon as she saw him Luna gave him her most seductive smile then coaxed, "Come on Harry, I have always wanted you to check inside my bra to make sure that my boobs fit in it properly, I won't mind if you want to squeeze them a bit as well. I will probably enjoy that quite a lot."
The look of absolute terror on Harry's face was such that the girls could not keep it up any longer and they all fell on Harry's bed laughing.
Harry still would not come near any of them until after Luna had left and gone giggling back down stairs, then he said, "I deserved that didn't I?"
"No you didn't," said Ginny, "you're so sweet I just couldn't resist it and then when Luna wanted to play along, well we just had to didn't we?" Then she gave him one of those 'lose your mind' kisses.
He was just recovering when Hermione gave him another one that made their knees go weak and when they had recovered she asked, "So are we really going to buy you some clothes?"
"Not just me," he said, "for both of you, Ron and Luna as well, so shall we go?"
"We had better check that all the others are alright."
As Hermione made this statement Mimi appeared and said, "All the others have all wented and I will do your hair then I will comes with you, to carry your things when you all buys them."
"How is it," Hermione asked, "that you appear whenever we say something like that?"
"It is house elf's job," she answered, "we just knows that you needs us."
"So can you come to the Muggle shops as well?" Hermione asked.
"Yes Ise can and you's a mess to go to the shops." With that she took Hermione's hand and dragged her through to her room.
Ginny started laughing but it didn't last long, in two minutes Mimi was back with a gorgeous, immaculate Hermione and she said to Ginny, "You is no better than her was!" Then she grabbed Ginny's hand and dragged her off to her room, the arches just opened as Mimi approached them, this transformation of Ginny from gorgeous to stunning did not take long either.
When they were all reassembled Harry said, "You are both so beautiful I don't think you need any more clothes."
If Harry had thought that he was immune he was mistaken, Mimi started on him, "Them and you's and Miss Luna alls need lots of clothes, and Mr Ron too."
Harry held up his hands and said, "Ok, ok let's go then."
He went across the room to his desk and picked up the house key then he found the key to his bank vault and put them both into his pocket. Pointing at a wall a door similar to the one he had created in the Headmasters study the previous evening appeared and they all passed through it and they were on the first floor of the Leaky Cauldron.
The party made their way downstairs to the bar that thankfully was not crowded and they were greeted by most of the patrons several of whom had been at the party and wanted to buy them all drinks but they declined politely. So going to the back of the pub they went out through the wall and into the alley.
Harry had told them that first they would need to go to Gringotts Wizarding Bank to get some money for their expedition so they started heading little by little in that direction. Making their slow journey down the Alley they were, especially Harry, being greeted by what seemed like half the population of the Wizard World and from some of the young ladies the greetings were exceedingly enthusiastic.
At one stage Harry could see that Hermione was becoming agitated, so he erected a shield around them and he said mainly to her, "Please calm down or you will hurt someone, I belong to you and Ginny on a personal level, but I belong to all these people as well. It's not true but they see me as their saviour and they are happy about it, you be happy as well and just keep thinking, 'they all love him but he's mine' you must learn some tricks to keep it all in check. Both of you remember that it is you that I love and Ginny keep it in mind that you will have the power as well. Keep practicing." He removed the shield and they struggled on their way both of the girls appearing to be a lot calmer.
When they eventually arrived at their destination a Goblin escorted them immediately into a private room and another Goblin who introduced himself as Goldsaq the floor manager asked what he could do to be of help to them.
Harry said, "We three need to buy some clothes, well quite a lot of clothes actually and we were going to start in Diagon Alley and then go into Muggle London. So we all need Galleons and Muggle money please."
Goldsaq replied, "Would you mind waiting a moment please Mr Potter. It will take no more than three minutes to arrange."
The Goblin had left but true to his word he was back two and a half minutes later and handed each of them a small bag, a pad of chits and what Harry and Hermione knew to be a Bank card along with a pen for them to sign the backs of the card.
Hermione smiled and said to Goldsaq, "I will explain to Ginny how the card works when we get to use it."
He nodded and said, "Thank you, so the money bags when you put your hand in them they always hold fifty Galleons and if you want to deposit cash you only have to put it into the bag, each of you can use any of the bags but no one else will." Harry was smiling and nodding and Goldsaq continued, "Every one in Diagon Alley and most other Wizarding establishments throughout the world will accept these chits as a means of payment, you just write the amount, the currency and sign them. I hope that I have provided what you require and by the way, if you are thinking of Muggle money, or any other currency for that matter, when you put your hand in the bag it will give you that up to the value of fifty Galleons of course." Goldsaq was smiling because he could see the look of satisfaction on their faces.
They all thanked him and they set off for Madame Malkins Robes for All Occasions which they reached with a similar struggle to the one they had getting to the bank. When they entered the shop Mme Malkin immediately locked the door behind them to prevent a hoard of young people flooding in behind them.
The staff were waiting and the proprietor smiled and said, "Well the Hogwarts Head Boy the Head Girl and a sixth year prefect and I forgot, the three most popular people in the Wizard World. So what can we do for you?"
Harry asked, "Well first we all need a complete set of your best Hogwarts Robes and then we will check out the rest of the clothes."
As they had bought things Mimi had taken them and Mme Malkin explained that Mimi didn't carry them around, she simply put them away at home so Hermione asked her, "Would you like a pretty dress Mimi?"
Mimi was shaking her head and Jemma appeared and said, "We is not allowed to have dress Miss Hermione."
Hermione did not back down, "Surely you can have your clothes made out of nice material with your names or Harry's family crest or something on them?"
The senior house elf was staring at Hermione, then she said, "Yous could make me do this easy easy but you don't you is a good lady Hermione." She smiled, "We will have nice towel for special days, like Ginny's birthday."
Jemma went with one of the assistants and explained exactly what was required and with the help of some pictures and drawings she conjured up, the order was soon placed.
After they had paid for all of their purchases and orders they made their way out of Mme Malkins and into 'Gladrags Wizardwear' where the proprietor did much the same as Mme Malkin had done with the door.
Another hour and a half had passed, it was almost lunchtime and they had just finished in Gladrags so they decided that they should go home to eat then they could change into different clothes for their assault on the Muggle shops in the afternoon.
They had used the PW key to get home from Gladrags and none of the others had returned from their houses to join them for lunch, they had nearly finished their meal when Harry started discussing with Hermione where they should go shopping in the afternoon. They came to the conclusion that being as how they wanted casual rather than formal Muggle clothes, they should go to Carnaby Street they were sure to easily find everything they wanted there.
The three of them were once again in Harry's room with Mimi who had redone the girls' hair to go with their Muggle clothes and he created a door in the Leaky Cauldron however this time it was just beside the door out to Muggle London which they immediately used to go out into Tottenham Court Road.
A taxi drew up and the driver said, "I am a squib Mr Potter and it will be my honour to take you anywhere you wish to go, without charge. It is a great service that you have done everyone although the Muggles will never ever realize just what you have done for them and just what they owe you."
So the trio climbed into the cab and Hermione said, "Will you take us to Carnaby Street please."
When they reached Carnaby Street they had a small friendly argument with their driver because he would not accept payment, so in the end Harry gave him fifty pounds. They all knew that it was way too much but Harry told him that it wasn't for the taxi fare it was to buy his kids a present, the driver smiled graciously and accepted.
Hermione dragged them both into 'Jean Junction' muttering something like we will probably get everything we want in here except the underwear and shoes. Harry wasn't sure but he thought that he saw an excited gleam in the eyes of the girls when the word underwear was mentioned.
The effect that Harry had on the witches in Diagon Alley did not seem at all diminished with the Muggle girls in Jean Junction, after ten minutes he gave up trying clothes on because the shop assistants were becoming impossible to deal with. After an hour and a half they had five piles of assorted Jeans, T-shirts and sweatshirts, if two of the piles were big the other three were enormous and the sales assistants were totting up the cost.
Suddenly an unpleasant voice boomed across from the other side of the store, "What do you mean! You don't have Jeans to fit my son?"
It was followed by a high-pitched wail, "It's alright Dinkydiddydums mummsy will find him some Jeans."
"Dursleys!" The three of them said at the same time.
With a gleam in her eyes Hermione said, "I will go and sort them out." This was stated in a tone that made the other pair thankful that they didn't have the surname of Dursley.
"Can I be of assistance," Hermione's mellow toned voice drifted across the shop, "what kind of Jeans did you want, young man?"
"Well miss," it was Dudley's voice and he sounded almost pleasant, "I wanted a pair of these jeans, but that gentleman said that this was the largest size you have and these are no way big enough for my fat belly."
"Those could possibly fit, why don't you try them on," came Hermione's dulcet tones, "they are cut extremely full."
Apart from some shuffling there was quiet for a couple of minutes and then came Dudley's excited voice, "Mum these fit, but I must loose some of this awful fat."
"I should loose some weight as well." Came Vernon's voice, "Thank you young lady so how much do we owe you?"
"Oh this gentleman will sort that out," said Hermione pleasantly, "I'm glad to be of service."
When Hermione reappeared she had a smug, extremely self-satisfied expression on her face, neither of them said a thing they just carried on paying for their clothes and left the shop. As soon as they were outside the shop Mimi transported the rest of their bags home, she had transported some of their purchases while they were inside the shop but she didn't want to cause any suspicion, so she hadn't moved too much.
"So what did you do to them?" asked Harry expectantly.
"First I cast a permanent amicability charm on all three of them, lord knows they needed it, I couldn't have tolerated them an instant otherwise," she said. "Then I made Vernon and Dudley hate the sight of their fat selves, but I saved the best bit until last. I gave the pair of them daily calorie allowances but they don't know it, Dudley's is nine hundred and Vernon's is one thousand calories a day, but as I say they don't know anything about the limit.
Yet!
When they have eaten their daily calorie ration they will not be able to eat anything else, even if they are starving hungry they will just look at food and not be able to eat it. This will continue until they are down to their proper weight, which I have set at one hundred and forty pounds for each of them, they are roughly the same size, bar the fat. The charm will last forever if any time in the future they start putting on weight again the effect will kick in again and they will stop their excessive eating. Oh and I put a simple stretch to fit charm on Dudley's jeans."
She had a big grin on her face and Harry kissed her and said, "I like it cruel and kind, very good."
While they were talking Hermione had been having a quick look around and led them over to a shop called 'Skimpiest', a beetroot coloured Harry said, "I will just wait outside."
"Oh no you won't!" said both the girls together, as they virtually dragged him into the shop.
It did not take the girls too long to start thinking that maybe Harry had been right There were half a dozen eighteen to twenty five years old girls working in the shop and Harry was soon aware that he was still having problems by the way they started acting.
The shop had no other customers so when Ginny asked him cheekily what he thought of an emerald green, very tiny see-through bra and pants set and he had answered something noncommittal like 'it looks ok to me'. One of the shop girls, who had bubbly chestnut hair and was slim but amply endowed, grabbed another, similar set off the rack and said, "Then let me show it to you, properly!" and after that she disappeared out the back of the shop.
She didn't stay disappeared for very long, she came sashaying out in a pair of very high heels and very little else in see through emerald green. Harry had taken the merest glimpse of the very little else, which in its way was a pity because it was extremely attractive, then he proceeded to examine the shoes which could only be classified as nice. She however was having none of Harry's not looking at the goods on display she came over to him and lifted his head to the level of her more than adequate cleavage. This had the effect of galvanising Ginny and Hermione into action, they immediately interposed themselves between Harry and the emerald green flimsies and a mumbled war of staring ensued, which soon died out the witches being the victors.
An hour and a half later they left Skimpiest with four bags stuffed with underwear, it turned out that the shop also sold men's underwear so Harry had stocked up as well and he had flatly refused to try any of it on, he had simply told the girls his size and let them pick it.
As soon as they were outside Mimi transported the bags home and Ginny said, "That only leaves shoes and Harry I don't want to spoil your fun but can't you do something about all these girls?"
Hermione was leading them towards a gigantic shoe shop and Harry said, "That's easier said than done, you called me a love god and that might be a lot truer than we thought. One of the major problems with being any kind of god is hiding your godliness, if I were the god of beauty I could wear the most revolting mask's available and still nearly everybody would think that I was beautiful. I haven't found any hint anywhere as yet that will help me do anything to combat, for want of a better expression 'the god effect', information is to say the least, a bit thin on the ground. There aren't too many books in the library on the subject and none that were written by gods so all of the information that is there is second hand and sketchy, but I will keep thinking about it, obviously it is very much a nuisance.
The three of them had reached the shoe shop; Hermione went inside first to check that it wasn't completely staffed by, as she put it, randy, nubile young ladies.
She beckoned them in saying, "There seems to be about a fifty, fifty split, so we should be alright."
Well it has been mentioned before that Ginny and Hermione besides all their multitudinous other talents and assets are very, no extremely attractive young ladies, this fact was not lost on the male members of staff working in the shoe shop. The resultant temporary situation was that Harry was undefended, so it became open day for the female members of staff who immediately descended on him. He drew the three of them together again using very mild charms.
As soon as they were together Harry said, "Lets do Ron first," so they moved to the men's trainers and picked two pairs in size ten for Ron, one pair was the normal white but the other's were brilliant orange.
After Ron it was Luna's turn so thinking of the clothes they had bought for her, they chose pairs of white, pink and pale blue size five trainers for her.
Now the three of them were looking at the shoes for themselves and Harry said, "I am about size eight and I would like to try..." then he pointed to seven pairs of shoes, the girls thinking that this was probably as good a way as any did much the same with Ginny picking eleven pairs and Hermione nine.
While he was being fitted Harry sat in between the two girls and they were on three adjacent chairs, this way they were able to stop the worst excesses of the girls playing with Harry's feet.
This whole episode had taken about an hour and by now they were tired, so they found a deserted Alley and used the PW key to take them back to the Potters Wheel.
When they crossed the Hall and entered the kitchen they were greeted by a wall of noise and a browbeaten Ron and Luna, the noise suddenly stopped and Harry said, "Luna please tell me, what is the problem?"
"Ron's mum has just found out," Luna said quietly, "that you put a bunch of money into their Gringotts vault and you might have just detected that she is not too happy about it, umm you could say she's a trifle miffed."
Molly was still steaming although no sound was coming from her, Harry released Ron's voice and he said, "Thanks mate."
Taking the tiger by the tail Ginny said, "Mother you had better just calm down, Harry will not let you speak until there is at least a chance that you are going to talk normally." Ginny turned around and said to a very frightened looking Suria, "Don't worry Suria but can we all have a cup of tea please."
Going through and sitting in the dining room the tea seemed to calm them all down and Harry said, "As much as I love you Mrs Weasley, if you are going to start screaming and frightening the staff again you will have to leave." Harry freed Molly's voice and continued, "Now tell me what the problem is?"
Mrs Weasley was still a bit touchy but she pulled herself together and said, "I went to the bank earlier to get some money and our vault had four hundred and twenty three thousand and something Galleons in it. So when I got here and mentioned it," at this point both Ron and Luna rolled their eyes, "Ron told me that you put it there, then I got a little upset and I am sorry."
"So that means that the celebration party only cost about five hundred and seventy seven thousand Galleons," Harry said this calmly but as he suspected Molly looked horrified, "what would have happened to you if you did not have the money to pay for it? I put a million Galleons into your account to pay for the party." Now he had a cheeky grin, "You must have skimped a bit round the edges to have all that money left over. Anyway you must be paid something for the use of your house and garden so you just keep the rest." Molly's expression had relaxed so now with a big grin Harry said, "At least Ron can have some new school robes like his sister," and before Molly could explode again he gave her a big cuddle.
"If Molly can have one of those," Emma had just arrived back, "I want one as well." So Harry also gave Emma a big cuddle.
As was their way the house elves managed to look apologetic even when Mrs Weasley was saying sorry to them, Luna had accepted her apology graciously. However Ron's mother told him that he had probably deserved it for something he had not told her about and when Ron's face started to match his hair colour Molly cajoled the story about the previous evenings exploits out of them. This turned out to be very much to the advantage of Dan and Emma because it meant that now they could talk about Hogwarts with Molly and later Arthur.
The now calm tiger eventually turned back to Harry, "And just what do you mean by Ron having some new school robes like his sister?"
"Well," Harry suddenly found himself on the defensive and groping, "being as how I am the love god who lived..."
Hermione could see him floundering and not very successfully took pity, "It has been decided by the powers that be, that..."
By this time she had really started struggling as well so Ginny, boldly as usual, finished in a blaze of glory, "He needed some nubile young consorts to go with the position, and the appointees are Hermione and me. So we definitely needed some new clothes to go with the new job and our elevated station. So Harry bought them and we also bought some new Muggle clothes for Ron and Luna at the same time."
"What on earth was that all about," spluttered Molly, having to try very hard not to burst out laughing, "I believe that you said that because you and Hermione are Harry's girlfriends he took you out and bought you a load of clothes and he also bought some for Ron and Luna at the same time?"
"Yes!" answered the trio in unison.
"No problem," said Emma, "So just how much did you spend?" She asked.
Variations on the theme of 'I have no idea,' was the trio's reply, "But Mimi might know," Harry ventured, "she was with us. Mimi." He called.
Mimi arrived and was asked how much they had spent and she started to give a fairly detailed accounting. "In Mme Malkins you's spent two thousand four hundred Galleons, in Gladrags you's spended..."
"No, no," said Harry, "approximately how much did we spend in total"
"It was six thousand over Galleons and seventeen thousand over of them Muggle Pound thingies," she said "so in all it was nearly ten thousand Galleons."
Harry thanked her for the information and she left.
"Wow!" said Dan, "That's about fifty thousand pounds in one day on clothes."
"Dad!" said Hermione, "If you want it that way, Harry's income is about five million pounds a month and he has spent one percent on clothes for five people. What's the big deal?"
Luna's unruffled request broke up the discourse, "Can I see the clothes you have bought for me please Harry?"
As she has made the initial request, what turned out to be a tour had started in Luna's room, she had really appreciated everything that had been bought for her, although she did not display all of her new underwear for general perusal.
There followed a fairly brief visit to Ron's orange inferno and afterwards they had had problems stopping him waxing lyrical about the wonderful trainers he had received. (I will leave you to guess which pair.)
Molly had then insisted on seeing Ginny's acquisitions, the top quality Hogwarts robes together with fifteen other beautiful robes caused raised eyebrows, not to mention all the shoes, drawers full of underwear, others full of tops and so on.
Inevitably next on the list was Hermione's ensemble and the others soon realised that although the distribution of what she had bought was slightly different to Ginny, she had purchased just about the same amount and there were no favourites.
Harry had teased them by saying that he supposed no one wanted to see his things only to be reprimanded by everyone and so he took them to his room, his wardrobe still looked almost empty.
While they were admiring his new things Molly asked, "Do you use a barrow to carry all the money to pay for this, it must weigh a ton?"
Ginny looked at Harry and he gave a slight nod so she put her hand in her pocket and took out the useful things that Goldsaq the goblin in the bank had given her; then she explained to her mother how the bag, pad and card worked and she added that all three of them had the same things.
"I have seen people with those pads but they were always very rich." Molly suddenly looked embarrassed, "Isn't Harry afraid that you might spend all his money?"
"Will you all try to stop being embarrassed by my money," Harry said, "so I have loads of it and Ginny couldn't spend it all if she tried and if any of you want one of these bags just ask me later, they're quite useful. Are we all finished up here because we three need to do some studying, I haven't done any all day."
"Neither have I," said Luna, dragging Ron off towards the stairs, the others followed and once again seven of them finished up in Merlin's study.
After they had been reading for just over half an hour Ron said, "Excuse me Luna but I need another book."
He went out to the library and they were all laughing at Luna pretending to cheer when the door opened and they all stopped abruptly, then Jemma came in and they all looked sheepishly at each other, then again burst out laughing, "What is the matter?" Jemma said, "Do I look funny?"
Ron came back in just as Harry said, "No Jemma, we're sorry, it was something we were doing before you came in. What can we do for you?"
"I have just received a message from Potter Lodge," she said, "the staff there would enjoy a visit from you and they thought that you may like to go tomorrow if you are not too busy?"
Harry thought for a minute then spoke quickly to the two girls before he replied, "It will be our pleasure to go tomorrow, will it be possible for you to tell them that we are coming?"
"I will of course tell them that you are coming," she said, "although because of the four hour time difference it might be better if you went after Lunch. Oh and by the way, your dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes."
After Jemma had left Dan asked, "What's the Potter Lodge?"
"It's a Rum factory in Barbados!" said Ron and added with a big smile, "Can I come?"
"No its not," said Hermione rather huffily, "it's another of Harry's houses, they just happen to produce Rum there."
"So it's a Rum factory." Emma said to Hermione grinning.
"Well, I suppose it is in a way." She answered sheepishly.
Ron wasn't letting up, "So can I come then?"
"You can if Luna promises to keep you in order." Harry said.
"I wish we could come," Dan said, "I do love Rum, but we have to do some work tomorrow. We had an urgent message on our answering machine at home."
"Your very good about all this stuff dad." Hermione said.
"About all what stuff?" he answered.
Hermione told him, "Oh me being with Harry and him having Ginny as well, all this magical carrying on, all that sort of thing."
"Well," her father answered, "your mother and I decided after you first went away to Hogwarts that our life would never be the same again. So we resolved two things about the decisions you would make, was what you were proposing going to make you happy and was it upsetting anyone else. What you are doing certainly seems to be making you very happy and we are positive that there isn't another girl anywhere in your world that minds either you or Ginny being with Harry." This last was said with a big grin and Hermione gave her mum and dad a big hug before they all went into dinner.
It seemed that their evenings were taking on something of a regular pattern, dinner, read then bed and this Wednesday evening fitted exactly into the pattern.
AUTHORS NOTE: As far as I know 'Skimpiest' does not exist.
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