Author's Note: This chapter is now up and ready to read at last. Hope you enjoy. Let me know of any writing errors.


Chapter 5

Buying School Supplies

Year 1 - Leaky Cauldron/Diagon Alley - Earth

Upon stepping outside the entrance to the second-hand bookshop and back onto Diagon Alley's cobbled street, the group stood blinking in the bright rays of sunlight and Harry immediately glanced up at the half-giant as he was curiously wondering where they should go to next now that he had a bag full of bronze, silver, and gold coins on his person that were needed in order to purchase all of the necessary books and supplies which were listed on the piece of parchment that had come with his acceptance letter to Hogwarts.

"Might as well get your uniform," said Hagrid, nodding to a nearby shop with the name of "Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions" engraved above the window and door frames. He then looked down at the little boy promptly. "Listen, Harry, would you mind terribly if I slipped off for a pick-me-up at the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringotts carts."

Harry shook his head. "Not at all," he obliged the half-giant graciously. "Josh and I will go and get my uniform, and then we'll head to the other necessary shops to buy the rest of my things. We can meet-up again later over at the wand shop."

"Over at Ollivanders?" Hagrid asked, pointing towards the shop in question, and Harry nodded in response. "All right, then. I'll meet you there in an hour or so. See ya later, Harry!" He then nodded in compliance before striding off back towards the barrier which separated Diagon Alley from the Leaky Cauldron.

As both Harry and Josh entered the robes shop to purchase the little boy's uniform, they were greeted by non-other than the shopkeeper, Madam Malkin, herself. She was a squat smiling witch dressed all in mauve.

"Hogwarts, dear?" she asked before Harry could even utter a word. "Got the lot here. What do you need? I'm sure we have your size."

While being lead towards the back of the shop to pick out his robes that he needed for school, young Potter immediately thought of something of the upmost importance. He currently didn't have any extra sets of clothing or footwear with him for everyday use at the moment. He only had his Jedi tunic, robes, and boots with him of which he was presently wearing. And it wouldn't do him any good to be going around bare naked while his one and only set of clothes were being cleaned and pressed whenever they became grungy and/or whenever he took a bath to get clean himself, even though he was starting to get a little old for taking baths over simply showering. Maybe there was a regular clothing store somewhere in Diagon Alley that was nearby, or perhaps he could even ask Mrs. Weasley herself to lend him a few sets of Ron's clothes if there were any extras to spare.

As Madame Malkin was fitting him up for just the right set of school robes, Harry turned is head slightly to look at her. "Excuse me," he said while being measured, "Is there a regular clothing shop within Diagon Alley where I can purchase some new extra sets of casual clothes?"

Madame Malkin shook her head. "Sorry, dear," she replied regrettably. "But I'm afraid that my shop is the only one in Diagon Alley that sells robes. And only robes, at that."

Harry nodded understandably, but deep down he was wondering just how he was going to be able to buy the extra clothes which he needed. He didn't have any other form of money with him at the moment other than the large bag of coins from Gringotts, and he was sure that no clothing shops in London would except that type of currency.

A few minutes later, Potter hopped down off of the footstool once Malkin was done with fitting him into his new school robes. Then he exited the shop after paying for both his uniform as well as the other two sets of robes and accessories that were written on the items list, before graciously thanking the shopkeeper for her help. Upon meeting Josh right outside the door, who had in fact briefly left the shop and walked back to the Leaky Cauldron to talk with Hagrid for a moment, the two of them strode over to a store called "Flourish and Blotts" to purchase Harry's schoolbooks.

While inside the bookshop, Harry saw books upon books that were stacked high; all the way up to the ceiling both on various shelves and on the floor too, with many differing sizes and shapes to them. He searched through the many shelves and stacks that were exactly his height, with Varner in turn searching each and every one of the stacks of books and shelves on his level, while also remembering to place them back in the exact same spot they were in after carefully yet swiftly flipping through each of them, as well as quickly searching the ones piled-up nearest to the ceiling simply by levitating himself off the ground, and albeit with such incredibly inhuman speed that all Harry could make out was a very faint blur of motion zigzagging this way and that throughout the shop. A minute or so later, Harry had all of the schoolbooks that he required for his very first term of the year.

While walking over to another shop to buy parchment, quills, and bottles of ink, Harry glanced up at Josh momentarily.

"Josh, I was wondering, why did you go off to meet with Hagrid earlier?" he inquired.

"I wanted to make sure the Jedi text that we found in the second-hand bookstore was well-protected for the time-being, given it's age and rough condition," answered Josh. "So I gave it to him for safekeeping until we could figure out what to do next since both you and I are probably gonna be here for awhile. Well, that, as well as how and when you're supposed to leave for Hogwarts."

The little boy nodded as the two of them stepped through the front door to "Scribbulus Writing Implements" where Harry found his standard writing quills, self-writing quills, and quills that danced, did somersaults, back-flips, cartwheels, and just generally frolicked about when they weren't being used. And all someone need do was tickle their feather and the quill would immediately hop back into their ink bottle so that the person could begin using it to write with, once they promptly cleaned up the small mess of splotched ink that the dancing quill had obviously made, of course. Potter also found a bottle of ink which changed color as one wrote with it.

Afterwards, they briefly visited "Mr. Mulpepper's Apothecary" (immediately after stopping by "Potage's Cauldron Shop" to purchase the Potions equipment) to get Harry's needed supply of basic potion ingredients, which to him seemed just barely fascinating enough to make up for it's horribly revolting smell; a putrid mixture of rotten eggs and cabbages, as well as many other foul odors and horrid stenches that almost certainly would have made even Josh's stomach lurch had they stayed in there any longer than was necessary.

"Whew, boy! Ah, somebody really needs to put an air freshener in there!" the Jedi Knight loudly expressed the moment both he and Harry stepped out the front door of the shop.

Potter merely nodded in response, as he was looking a bit peaked after just having come out of the shop. Suddenly, the door to the shop swung wide-open once more and a rush of nauseous and intoxicating fumes blew past Harry as someone reluctantly stepped inside, thus causing the little boy to hastily make an indirect beeline for the nearest rubbish bin and promptly spew the contents of his stomach into it.

"Oy gevalt!" Josh muttered with a heavy sigh to himself in a tone of semi-annoyance as he rolled his eyes. "Well, there goes his breakfast! Great!"

Just then, Hagrid came walking up the street towards the young Jedi Knight while looking a bit befuddled upon noticing Harry throwing up in the rubbish bin.

"Blimey! What's up with Harry?" he asked as Varner turned his head to look at him.

"It's the store behind us here," Josh stated, gesturing to the Apothecary. "That place is a literal health-hazard! When exactly was the last time the owners cleaned-up in there?"

"Never…as far as I know," said Hagrid bluntly. "It's always been like that ever since the shop first opened it's doors for business so many years ago."

Varner shook his head in disgust, wondering just how someone could operate a business under such appallingly unsanitary conditions like that. Harry then regained himself and walked back towards the two men, albeit a tad sluggishly.

"Are you alright there, Harry?" asked Hagrid.

Potter immediately shook his head. "Not really, Hagrid," he answered groggily. "And I never want to go into that shop again. It's absolutely disgusting in there."

Josh promptly took another glance at the items list again. "Well, the good news is that all's left to get now is your wand, Harry."

"Why don't you take him over to Ollivanders then," said Hagrid. "I just remembered I got something I need to do. Won't be long."

Varner briefly nodded in reply, and he rather softly as well as steadily gestured Harry towards the shop in question, which was found to be quite narrow and shabby when they stepped through the doorway. Peeling gold letters over the shop's door-frame read "Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C." in all caps. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty windowsill, obviously meant for display to the outside. Elsewhere, a small tinkling bell rang out within the depths of the shop the very moment that they entered in order to signal they presence to the shop-owner.

"Good morning," said a soft voice.

Harry glanced toward the back of the shop, but all he could see were thousand upon thousands of narrow rectangular-shaped boxes which were piled neatly all the way to the ceiling. Suddenly, a tall wooden ladder promptly slid along a set of shelves that were crammed full of boxes as an old man who was standing atop the upper steps glanced down with a knowing smile at the little boy; his wide pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom.

"Mr. Potter!" he exclaimed in sheer amazement. "It- It's really you! After all these years of not knowing where you'd gone, I was beginning to worry that you wouldn't show!"

The old man slowly stepped down from the ladder and casually wandered over to the front desk, stopping only momentarily to look directly at Varner in confusion.

"And who might you be?" he asked quite befuddled.

Josh slowly held out his hand to greet him. "My name is Joshua Varner," he stated. "I guess you could say I'm Harry's unofficial guardian and mentor in a sense."

The old man nodded as he shook Josh's hand, though still seemed a little perplexed. "Ollivander. Garrick Ollivander." He then turned his gaze toward Harry once more. "Well, then. Let's find out which wand is right for you, shall we?" He turned around to walk over to one of the many stacks of boxes, only to face Potter once more. "Actually, it's really the wand that chooses the wizard. Not the other way around, of course."

"You mean… the wand is alive?" Harry asked, even though he had been told an awful lot concerning the nature of wands from Sirius, he didn't want Ollivander or anyone else to know just yet about his godfather taking care of him for all those years, apart from Hagrid of whom the little boy felt he could trust to keep it a secret for now. Until the exact time was right for the rest of the Wizarding World to know, that is.

Ollivander nodded thoughtfully. "Mmm…I suppose you could say that in a certain way, yes. The wand is alive. After all, it does possess a kind of will and intent about it in order to choose with whom it's allegiance lies."

Potter nodded and Ollivander turned around to retrieve a dusty old box from within the stack that sat on a left-hand shelf. And upon taking out the wand from inside it, he then carefully presented it to the raven-haired youth.

"Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring," he said. "Nine inches. Nice and flexible."

Harry politely took it from Ollivander, but for an instant was unsure of what to do until he pointed it at something randomly in the shop, and the next thing anyone knew, a wall-mounted bull's skull and bones dislodged themselves from their plaque and started doing a two-step line dance before collapsing motionless onto the floor again.

"Apparently not," remarked Ollivander in a very "matter of factly" tone of voice.

Harry carefully placed the wand on the desk in front of himself, before turning his attention to Josh who in turn was looking rather bewildered at the moment.

"What is it?" he asked the older Jedi.

Varner merely stared off in the distance at nothing for a brief moment while sporting a peculiar expression on his face. "Dancing buffalo bones," he voiced primarily to himself rather than to Harry, before finally coming to a conclusion after thinking it over a bit while shaking his head. "Nah!"

Ollivander then went to fetch another box off the same shelf and extracted the wand from inside it, before returning to the front desk to give it to Harry for testing.

"Perhaps…this one," the shopkeeper assumed… wrongly. "Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy."

At the exact moment at which Potter had lightly flicked the wand in his hand towards the front window, Ronald and Arthur Weasley had come in through the shop's entrance. Harry instantly started chuckling quietly to himself, which was then followed by Josh, then Ollivander, and finally Arthur too.

Ron couldn't understand what was going on. "What is it, Harry?" he asked. And that just seemed to make the situation even more bizarre and awkward for him, because as soon as he said that, everyone in the shop instantly started laughing hysterically. Just at that instant, Molly and the twins came strolling into Ollivander's wand shop, and as soon as they noticed Ronald's appearance once they had stopped wondering what all the theatrics were about, they too broke-out into fits of laughter as well.

The youngest Weasley boy was slowly becoming very confused and uneasy by all of this, until he promptly turned his head and noticing his own reflection on a rounded glass object, saw for himself what it was that everyone was apparently laughing about.

"Aaaaaaaaaahhhhh!" he screamed in horror upon seeing the color of his hair, which was now a bright shade of rosy-pink. "Harry, what did you just do to my hair!? Change it back! CHANGE IT BACK!"

The laughter almost immediately died-down when little Hermione suddenly awoke from her nap and started crying rather heavily due to all the loud ruckus that was presently transpiring.

"Oh, I think we just woke the kid up, you guys!" Varner promptly declared over the laughter as well as Ron frantically running about the shop while flailing his arms in a sheer state of panic.

Just then, a young couple along with their son came into the shop who were mainly there to purchase a wand for the little boy's first year at Hogwarts, seeing as how he too was preparing for the start of the new term at the school, but also to find out what all of the commotion was about.

"Alice! Frank! What a pleasure to see you both again!" exclaimed Molly from the moment the three individuals stepped through the door. She then looked down at the little boy standing just in front of them. "Oh, and young Neville, of course! How are you, my dear?"

"Hi, Mrs. Weasley!" exclaimed the little boy cheerfully. "I'm doing well, thank you!"

"Molly, what's wrong with Ron's hair?" asked Alice rather curiously, once she noticed why Ronald was still panicking. "Why is it all… pink?"

"I'm afraid that was my fault," Harry answered almost instantly. "I was trying out a wand, and, well… you can see what the end result was that happened."

Alice nodded at the little boy in response, before turning her attention toward little Hermione who was still partially crying in Molly's arms. And upon offering to take the baby for awhile in order to give the redhead a break from holding her, who in turn obliged the offer even though Molly wasn't at all tired of holding the little one, she promptly walked out of Ollivanders and strode directly to the Leaky Cauldron, which had an upstairs lounge area with a fireplace in it that was located right above the barroom area where all of the guest rooms were spaced evenly along two separate hallways, after telling everyone inside the wand shop where she was headed off to.

Neville then turned toward Harry and introduced himself to the little boy. "I'm Neville by the way. Neville Longbottom."

Harry gladly shook his hand. "Harry. Harry Potter. Pleased to meet you, Neville."

Neville and Frank instantly stared at each other in total astonishment. The famous "Boy Who Lived" was standing not but a few inches in front of them and they could hardly believe it.

"Um, excuse me! I don't mean to be rude, but won't somebody please change my hair back to normal already!?" Ron suddenly protested loudly in desperation after finally calming down a bit and ceasing his ravingly mad antics. "I look like a bloody freak!"

Josh shook his head while silently chuckling under his breath so as not to offend the Weasley boy and make him feel even more stupid than he already felt.

"Here. Let me get that," he said, and gently brushed his hand over Ron's head from front to back, thus restoring his hair color back to it's natural state, but also slightly messing-up his combed hair in the process. And upon doing so, everyone who was present in the shop (apart from Harry) looked both at Varner as well as at one another with rather astonished expressions on their faces.

"How did you do that?" Neville asked in astonishment at what he had just seen Varner do. "Are you a wizard?"

Josh shook his head. "Nope. Afraid not. But I do possess superhuman-like abilities, though." He then held out his hand to greet the little boy. "I'm Josh. Joshua Varner."

As Neville reached forward and shook the young Jedi Knight's hand, Varner suddenly found himself mysteriously hovering off the ground in the air and was now smack-dab in the middle of the ocean during a colossally monstrous thunderstorm in the middle of the night.

The wind and waves pelted him furiously from each and every angle as Josh quickly looked around at his immediate surroundings, trying to figure out where he was and just what the hell was going on. All of a sudden, he could hear the sounds of distant screams and cries for help as he turned to see what looked like several old-style lifeboats with people in them who were trying desperately to battle the harsh conditions of the storm as they paddled their way towards safety. An instant later, one of the lifeboats tragically vanished beneath the waves and Josh could clearly make out the anguished screams and shrill cries of a woman's voice calling-out someone's name.

"CORVUS"