Chapter 12: Familial Connections
Once we enter the shop I see a guy behind the counter selling someone a board game. I see that the game is marked with the word Jumanji and tilt my head.
Pretty soon the game is sold and the man turns to us, "Sorry about that, I wanted that game gone; what sort of trunks can I get for you fine ladies and gentlemen?"
"What sort of modifications can be made to a trunk?" I ask curiously.
"I can do all sorts of things to trunks, if you'd like I can even make some specially ordered ones for you all." he says in an enthusiastic tone. "If you'd like I can give each of you a pamphlet of all the options that I offer."
"Can each of us kids get one of those?" I ask and he nods before grabbing twelve pamphlets and passing them out to us.
"That's not necessary." Hermione says to me quietly as she grabs a pamphlet from the man. "I don't think I can afford a custom trunk."
"I'm buying them." I tell her as I look at the pamphlet I received from the man. "How long do these usually take to make?"
"Anywhere from a week to a month depending on the enchantments you want miss." he tells me.
"Can you really make a multi compartment trunk that someone could live in?" I ask him curiously.
"I could." he says with a smile, "I've even found a way to make electronics run on magic, most people around here don't take that option unfortunately. The witches and wizards in England don't know about TV's and stuff. But I do since I'm muggleborn."
"Cool." I say with a grin, "Could I please get a ten compartment trunk with two storage compartments, a potions lab, a closet, a chemistry lab, an electronic room, a library, one unfurnished apartment, and one furnished apartment, complete with a small display case and a large unfurnished empty room? Also can the two apartments and large room be made to hold running electronics and other such devices?"
"What enchantments would you like?" he asks with a grin.
"Feather-light, shrinkable, and every security option you have." I tell him. "When will I need to pick it up?"
"I can have it owled to you when they get done." he says. "You just need to leave an address."
"Shock'n'awe, you don't have to get me a trunk. I can just have the normal student one." Hermione tells me quietly while shaking her head. "I don't want to waste your money."
"You aren't wasting my money." I tell her with a smile. "We can also get the normal student trunks if you want too but I insist on buying you one of these so please just decide what you want for your custom trunk. I'm doing this as a gift to celebrate us hopefully becoming friends." I then turn back to the shop keep and ask, "Where are the normal Hogwarts trunks, please?"
He points to a shelf of trunks before asking, "Anything else ma'am?"
"Can I get twelve Hogwarts trunks with feather-light charm and electrified locks, please? As well as twelve book bags with every security enchantment and feather-light charms." he nods and gets the trunks and bags quickly casting several spells on them and handing them over, the others place their trunk orders and Hermione begins grinning as some sort of realization hits her.
"That will be one thousand nine hundred galleons, miss." the shop keep says so I pay him and give him the mansions address before we all exit the store. We spend the next hour getting everything else we need, saving the books, pets, and wands for last since apparently Hermione is a bit of a bookworm.
As we're walking into the bookstore we pass the family of red heads from earlier, the father appears to be telling the boy and his mother off for their behavior earlier. We enter the shop and I turn to look at ma as I ask, "Can I go see if I can find any information on seers and my big title?"
"Sure dear." she says, "I'll get your required books while you go and look for other things that you want." I grin and walk away from the group.
I begin walking around the store, looking at the shelves for what I want. I find a book named Forgotten by Time; the forgotten Norse Myths of the past and immediately reach for it. I jump a bit, but it's still just out of reach so I huff a bit before an old woman wearing a vulture hat takes it from the shelf. I look over at the lady and recognize her immediately from last year, when I saved her and her friend from some falling debris.
She blinks at me before smiling and saying, "Hello, you're that mutant that saved me and Amelia last year, right?"
"Yes, miss, I am. I'm Shock'n'awe, it's nice to officially meet you." I say as she hands me the book she took from the shelf.
"Augusta Longbottom. Do you need help finding anything?" she asks.
"Oh, I was looking for information on seers and this book." I tell her and she nods before leading me to a different section of the store, where I find three books on seers named Uncloaking the Future by Mir Lin Ambrose, Seers and Their Kind by Morgan A. Lef Aye, and So You're a Seer, how to use your gift on command by Sally Silver I grab them and find a book on mutants also set with them titled Mutant Abilities A to Z by Eric Lensur I grab it as well before looking at Augusta, "Thank you for the help. May I ask what you were looking for?"
"Oh, I was searching for a good potions book. I want to brew a potion to find my grandson." she tells me with a sad look in her eyes and I tilt my head a bit.
"Was your grandson named Neville?" I ask and her eyes go wide.
"How did you know?" she asks.
"I know where he is." I tell her with a smile. "He's a mutant too, he goes by a different name. If you follow me I can take you to him."
She nods as she says, "That would be amazing."
I smile and take her back to my group before calling to them, "Nightshade, come over here." he does and I look at Augusta, "This is Nightshade. He was born with the name Neville Longbottom." She smiles at me before looking at him with tears in her eyes, "Nightshade. This is Augusta Longbottom; she's your grandmother."
He smiles at her before saying, "Hello. Would you like to come finish shopping with us? We're almost done."
"I would love too." she says with a smile before walking with us over to our group. She sees ma and immediately smiles, "Oh, hello there Ororo, it's been so long since I last saw you."
"Hello Augusta." she says with a smile, "How are you?"
"I'm doing better now that I've been reintroduced to Nightshade here." she says patting Nightshade on the shoulder. "He invited me to finish shopping with you."
"That's fine with me." ma says before we go up to the counter. We each pay for our own books except for Hermione because Aeolus pays for hers before she can protest. We then place our purchases into our Hogwarts trunks before heading to the wand shop.
As we're walking I bump into someone and fall to the ground. I look up and see a proud looking man with bleach blonde hair and pail skin. "Sorry sir." I say as I stand up. I notice that he dropped a book and quickly pick it up for him before noticing that he's not looking at me, he's looking at Apollo. I frown before tapping his arm. He looks at me, "I'm sorry for bumping into you sir. It's my first time here and I got distracted." I hand him his book. "You dropped this."
"It's fine. My apologies as well. I'm Lucius Malfoy." he says, holding out his hand. I shake his hand but feel my expression harden slightly, "A pleasure to meet you."
"Shock'n'awe, and I'm sorry sir, but I can't say the same about you." I say before waving for Apollo to come over as I release his hand.
"Why ever not?" he asks while pulling his hand back.
"Because that boy you were staring at, the one I just called over, is exactly who you think he is." I tell him in a low voice, making him go more pail than I thought possible. I then smile at my brother, who just arrived, "Hey Apollo, thanks for coming over."
"What's up Shock?" he asks me, looking curiously at Lucius.
"I wanted to introduce you to him." I say while gesturing at the tall blonde. "Lucius Malfoy, meet my brother Apollo, formally known as Draco Malfoy. In other words, this is the son you sent to hell for the first eight years of his life. So I am sorry that I cannot say its a pleasure to meet you; but you hurt my brother and that is not something I easily forgive." he struggles to find something to say for a few moments but I cut him off by saying, "We have to go now."
We walk away, meeting the rest of our group at the wand shop.