Chapter 8 Back to School Shopping

Over the next few days, Harry and I were inseparable. He finally noticed my nose was pierced the third day of us doing homework at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream parlour. We were sitting across from each other, I was trying to help him with his witch burning essay and Mr. Fortescue would come every half hour with ice cream sundaes for the both of us.

I had on the enchanted galaxy headband Hermione had gotten me for Christmas last year and Mr. Fortescue had complimented it and Harry had taken a look at it. When he was trailing down my face he saw my nose and squinted at it.

"Yes there is a jewel is my nose." I nodded as I smiled at him.

Harry leaned forward and squinted some more at the ruby in my nose before smiling, "it looks cool."

"Thank you!"

Over the course of his stay we had both gone to Gringott's. Griphook wasn't at work for some reason that day so another goblin took us to our vaults. I was relieved to see that Harry had enough to last him for a few years if he played it smart.

I was embarrassed by his reaction when he saw how big my vault was. But I had to explain to him that it had actually gotten bigger from last year. Apparently Black had gotten a seperate account when he was still in school and when I came out as his daughter, the Black Fortune had combined with what I already had.

So lucky me.

As we did our shopping I had to convince Harry not to buy a set of solid gold Gobstones. We have never played the game with anyone and there was no point in getting a set. It took a few minutes but I managed to get him away from them.

There was large glass ball that had the galaxy swirling inside it. The salesman explained that it was tracking in real time, so Harry and I wouldn't have to take another Astronomy class if we had gotten one. But I didn't know where to put it and Harry didn't want to have ask the Dursley's for money in the next couple of years so we managed to walk away.

Our favorite store to go and browse was the Quality Quidditch Supplies store. A week after Harry had arrived, they had released a brand new broom. Both Harry and I admired the Firebolt, and even though I could afford it, I didn't need it because I still had reliable Lancelot.

Harry was rereading the plaque underneath the broom:

The Firebolt

This state-of-the-art racing broom sports a streamlined, superfine handle of ash, treated with a diamond-hard polish and hand-numbered with its own registration number. Each individually selected birch twig in the broomtail has been honed to aerodynamic perfection, giving the Firebolt unsurpassable balance and pinpoint precision. The Firebolt has an acceleration of 150 miles an hour in ten seconds and incorporates an Unbreakable Braking Charm.

Price upon request.

"That's going to be a lot of gold." I muttered into Harry's ear.

He nodded as we walked away from the crowd and out of the shop.

"Let's go to the Apothecary and refill our potion ingredients. Who knows what Snape has planned this year." I pointed to the shop that had a cauldron sign hanging above its door.

"Sounds good. I need to pick up the rest of my books too." Harry looked down at his list.

"Alright. Back to school shopping!" I placed my hand in the crook of his elbow as we walked down the street.

Harry needed to go to Madam Malkin's, his robes were just a couple inches short at his ankles and his sleeves. We stopped by the Owl Emporium to pick up some owl treats for Barnabas and Hedwig.

Crookshanks was still in the shop from the looks of it. He came right up to me and started to twine his orange body between my legs. His purr sounded broken but it seem to fit his personality.

"Hello furball." I picked him up and he gave my chin a headbutt before leaning over to Harry.

Harry scratched his ears and Crookshanks broken purr grew louder. I giggled as I carried him around the shop. His fur was extremely matted, but he didn't seem miserable about the state his coat was in.

"Are you interested in taking him?" The lady who spoke to me this time was older. Her dark hair was starting to turn gray at the roots and she just looked hardened.

"I am. But I'm afraid I already have too many animals as it is." I said sadly as Crookshanks jumped from my arms and disappeared into the store.

"Okay." She said gruffly as Harry came back with two bags of owl treats.

I avoided the front of the shop as Harry bought the treats.

"What was that about?" Harry asked as we walked out together.

"That cat, he's been there for a long time and I would have adopted him. But Ariel got to me before I could make that decision. And last year I really wanted an owl. This year, I picked up a stray dog and I just don't think I should be the one to adopt another animal." I explained.

"A dog?" Harry asked as we walked towards Flourish and Blott's.

Before I could tell him about Snuffles I got distracted by the window. Usually there was a display of beautiful spell books and biographies, but this year there was a large iron cage behind the window. There were a hundred copies of a strange book and they were wrestling with each other.

"What book is that?" I asked, pointing at it.

" 'The Monster Book of Monsters' it's the Care of Magical Creatures book." Harry answered.

"Oh man." I said as we entered the shop.

The manager on shift saw us come in and walked toward us, putting on a pair of thick gloves.

"Hogwarts?" He said in a gruff voice. "Come to get your new books?"

"Yes." Harry nodded.

"Get out of the way." The manager was impatient as he grabbed a walking stick and headed towards the door of the Monster Books' cage.

"We just need one of them." Harry said as I walked with the man.

"Just one?" He turned around.

"I've got one already." Harry answered.

"Okay." He nodded and started to hit the books as they attacked the door.

"How strange." I said as he managed to wrestle one out.

The manager had a rope tied to his belt and when he got one of the books out he wrapped the rope around it to keep it closed.

"I've been bitten five times already this morning." He said as there was a ripping noise through the air.

I watched two of the books grab a hold of a third and were pulling it apart.

"Stop it! Stop it!" The manager cried, poking the stick through the bars and knocked the books from each other. "I'm never stocking them again, never! It's been bedlam! I thought we'd seen the worst when we bought two hundred copies of the Invisible Book of Invisibility - cost a fortune, and we never found them… Well… is there anything else I can you with?" He turned around and sighed at us.

"Yes." I said as I took the Monster Book from the manager.

It shook in my hand angrily and made strange noises.

"We need Unfogging the Future by Cassandra Vablatsky." Harry answered.

We had compared book lists before leaving the Leaky Cauldron earlier.

"Ah, starting Divination, are you?" The manager took off his gloves and lead us into the back of the shop.

There was a small corner for the fortune-telling section. Some of the books displayed caught my eye. 'Predicting the Unpredictable: Insulate Yourself Against Shocks' , 'Broken Balls: When Fortunes Turn Foul' , 'Death Omens: What To Do When You Know The Worst Is Coming'.

On the cover of that book was a black dog. Harry was also looking at the one with a really intense look.

"Here you are," The manager had two copies of a thick black book. "Unfogging the Future. Very good guide to all your basic fortune-telling methods - palmistry, crystal balls, bird entrails-" He paused and looked at what we were looking at.

"Oh I wouldn't read that if I were you." He said lightly. "You'll start seeing death omens everywhere. It's enough to frighten anyone to death."

I nudged Harry as I took the two copies from the manager.

"Anything else?" The manager asked.

"Yes," Harry finally looked away from the Death Omens book. "We need the Intermediate Transfiguration and The Standard Book of Spells, Grade Three."

The manager was nice enough to get the rest of our books. After a few minutes we were on our way back to Leaky Cauldron with our school supplies. Harry seemed to be in his thoughts about something.

"Everything okay?" I nudged him.

"Yeah. Everything's fine." He said in a faraway voice.

"Harry?" I gave him another nudge and a look.

He sighed but had a small smile on his face. "When I was leaving the Dursley's, there was a dog in Magnolia Crescent. The dog on the book liked just like the one I saw. And if that's a Death Omen…" He trailed off.

I threw my head back and gave a laugh.

"Harry, I took care of a big black dog just days before you arrived. If black dogs are suddenly an omen of death, that what are black cats?" I asked.

He smiled gratefully and we went to our separate rooms to drop off our purchases and meet downstairs for dinner.

I'm pretty sure I didn't ease his worries, but now he's not going to worry too much about it for the time being. And that's what mattered to me.

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Pamela Hutchins: That's next chapter! If anything, you should be worried about Mrs. Weasley and how she'll treat our Cassie...

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