Chapter 3 – Shopping

A new day had barely begun when Gaby woke up the next morning. A little before dawn, it took her a few minutes to come to terms with everything that had happened the day before.

Quietly she snuck out of bed to take a quick shower before everyone else woke up. Laughing to herself she noticed that even though there were 3 other beds in the suite, somehow Matt, the twins, and Bella had all ended up together with her in the King size bed that she was sleeping on.

30 minutes of relaxation was all she got before the dynamic duo woke up and decided that the bed made an excellent trampoline. This led to Matt rolling off the bed and landing with a Thwmp on the ground and Sky to start crying to be let out of her crib. Bella managed to sleep through this all.

Once she got the twins to bounce themselves into the bathroom to get cleaned up, Gaby shook Bella awake and picked up Sky to go get her ready. Matt and Bella shared one bathroom while the twins, Sky, and Gaby shared the other.

After getting Sky ready, she laid out the twins' clothes for the day. By 7:30 AM the whole group was dressed and ready to head for breakfast downstairs. All of them were in jeans and completely ready for a day of shopping after a good breakfast.

Tom had pointed them to Madame Listra's for the upper class wizarding clothes. It held more of the upscale stuff and was made with better quality. The first thing Gaby noticed once she entered Diagon Alley was it was not anywhere near as festive as it had been the year before. Quickly they headed into the posh store.

The designs found in the store were beautiful. Quickly she summoned an employee and began to tell them what she had wanted. "Firstly, I am going to need you to take all of or measurements. All of us, except my baby, will be needing black robes. Give us 3 each. In the best material you have. Your designs are fabulous, so I am allowing you to add your creative style with my approval."

"Are you sure Miss…."

"Gaby."

"Well, Miss Gaby, are you sure you are going to be able to afford the finest fabrics. In this case it would be our acromantula silk."

"Money really is no issue, but thinking about the twins' tendencies, I am not so sure about giving them the silk robes, that would almost automatically be ripped. Yes in that case, make theirs form a more durable fabric. Also 2 cloaks for all of us. One in black and one a charcoal gray. Make those from the acromantula silk. Add to those durable work robes in neutral colors in my size and Bella's," the last was said while pointing at the blonde's head.

As Gaby continued to rattle on her list of necessary clothing, the sales girl's face eventually broke into a smile. Gaby's list included 2 different winter robes for each of them, scarves, mittens, hats, leather moccasins, boots, hooded dark robes, semi- formal robes for herself, baby robes for her youngest, gloves, and an assortment of everyday robes for herself to name a few of the things. By the time she was ready to pay, she had accumulated quite a large commission for the girl. Her total came out to be 7,982 galleons, but without batting and eyelash, she signed and pressed her ring into the receipt. The girl, Eliza, told her to be back after 4 if she wished to pick up the packages today.

The next stop was at Mcgragon's Trunks. She had come in looking for bags for her kids, but once there, she noticed the trunks. After browsing through the trunks, she decided to get a 4 compartment, done in mahogany with silver plating. The 1st compartment opened up as a walk in wardrobe. The 2nd doubled as an extra storage unit with shelving but it was perfect for being made into a potions lab. The third was a high security safe room. It was a 5 by 5 room, but it was perfect to store important things. The walls were done in scarlet and jade for the 1st and 3rd with the floors, a plush carpet matching the décor. The second room was mostly plain. The tile was unpolished granite while the walls were done slate gray. The 4th was the biggest at 10 by 10. It had a polished wood floor and emerald green upholstered walls. The shelving was perfect for books. This was going to be the family private library. She also grabbed 4 small satchel bags in dragon hide in different colors for Matt, Bella, Ash, and Rory.

After was Gladrag's to pick up some extra clothing. Eventually they picked out whole new wardrobes for each of them. The got pants, jeans, shirts, shorts, skirts, tanks, wife beaters, athletic pants, trainers, socks, underwear, boxers, sweaters, dresses, suits, and heavy jackets for winter. Gaby's had a darker, more vibrant theme. Most of what she picked out was dark green, scarlet, gray, black, silver, charcoal, or dark blue. Matt and Ash picked out clothes very similar as they both looked good in them. Bella, also looked good in the vibrant colors but she didn't restrict herself. She added lighter blues and pastels to her pile. Rory and Sky, like Bella, chose similar colors to their mother, but added all the shades of blue. By the end of this shop it was after noon and the boys were getting very sick of clothes shopping. So, once they had paid, they headed back into the alley to find a restaurant.

They ate lunch at a place called Madame Rosalina's. It had the regular fish and chips, burgers, and milk shakes, so all were satisfied. Because of their good behavior, she decided to treat them to stops at Wizie's Tinker Toys and Quality Quidditch Supplies. She picked up a few stuffed animals for all the kids and other toys and books for Sky in the Toy shop. But it was Quidditch that captured the attention of all the kids. Even Bella was amazed by the broomsticks. As it was second year, Matt was allowed to have a real one, but all the other kids were too young. In the end she paid for 2 Nimbus 2002 for him and her and 3 toy brooms for the others. She also got a book on Quidditch and weather proof jackets for all of them.

The apothecary was mostly a quick stop. She went in with a list of things to pick up: a Potion Masters set of ingredients, cauldrons in pewter, silver, bronze, scales, a knife set, a cutting board, 100 crystal vials, a book describing properties of ingredients, heavy duty work robes, and an owl order magazine to order any extra supplies.

The stationers shop was also fairly quick. It was just to stock up on parchment, inks, and quills. Parchment and ink was quick and easy. But everyone wanted to get a set of special quills along with a large set of regular ones. The twins got occacmy quills, Gaby got phoenix quills, Bella got Golden Eagle quills, and Matt got hippogriff feather quills.

Flourish and Blotts was not so quick. Matt needed to pick up the books for his next school year. In the end, Gaby gave them all a bag and told them to look around, and put whatever they wanted in the bag. She planned to look over everything that they picked out though. She picked up books on Herbology, Magical Creatures and their Care, Flying, Brooms, Magical Transportation, Transfiguration, Charms, Warding, Defense against the Dark Arts, Dueling, Magic Theory, History of Magic, Recent History, Hogwarts History, Potions, Divination, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Healing, Ancient Artifacts, Vampires and 'Dark Creatures', Ministry of Magic, Wizarding Status, Wizarding Etiquette, Wizarding Law, Potential Jobs, and Law Enforcement. By the time she had finished it had been over two hours and she hadn't heard a peep from the kids. As she looked around she saw them in varying places curled up comfortably with a book. Smiling to herself, she grabbed all their bags and a copy of what they were reading and brought them up to the counter, along with hers.

The salesgirl looked slightly shocked when she saw just how many books the lady in front of her was purchasing. There were at least 450 books in the 5 bags. When she questioned her about the amount, Gaby replied, lying through her teeth, "Recently a fire burned down my family's library, so we are trying to replace it." That seemed to bring the girl back to reality as she was fantasizing the commission she was going to be getting form this purchase. The total was 9, 565 galleons and 12 sickles.

The third to last stop was at The Magical Menagerie. Gaby told the kids that they could either pick something out here or an owl at Eeylop's Owl Emporium. Matt already had his owl form last year and Ash opted for an owl while the girls looked around. Gaby knew she wanted a bird, but she also knew she didn't want an owl. She was looking for something different. She scanned the aisles but didn't see anything until she looked at a corner in the back. Immediately she felt attracted to it. It was large and black with one molten silver and one jade eye. The woman came over to tell her not to get close to the 'beast' but it was too late, Gaby had already reached out to pet it. But instead of loosing a finger, the magical hawk just crooned like a baby. Looking at the bird's cage, she noted it had not been cleaned in months and probably hadn't been able to stretch its wings in the same amount of time. Angrily, she said, "I'll take her. Get me a clean cage and some food for her and put it on the counter." Carefully she opened the cage and coaxed the female bird onto her shoulder. She named the bird Jaded for her eye color and her treatment.

Bella knew she wanted a cat, but had no idea what kind. Then on the bottom shelf she saw a tiny gray kitten with white paws and blue eyes look up at her. Both ears were slightly folded over and she was adorable. Bella had found her pet. Rory also wanted a cat. In the same box as the gray kitten, she found a black kitten with blue eyes that she wanted. Both cats came from a kneazle litter. The black was named Demi after Demitrius while the gray was named Fay after Morgan Le Fay. Ash got a tawny owl like his brother. The only male pet, the tawny, was named Oslo after the God of the North.

The last stop of the day was at Olivander's wand shop. Gaby needed to go to get her first wand, but she also wanted to get basic, lightly powered wands for the twins and Bella.

Suddenly a voice came from the back, "Well, well, well, Ms. Gabrielle Evans Slythe, isn't this a pleasant surprise. And here I was wondering if you were ever going to come for a wand. I knew Violet quite well at one point of my life."

A little thrown off by his knowledge of her name and heritage, she was slightly hesitant to answer, "Mr. Olivander, you seem to know so much about me, but how? I pride myself on my good memory. And for my life, I do not remember ever meeting you before. How is it that you knew my name?"

"That, my dear, is for another time, but let us get you suited up with a wand," he told her as he set his measuring tapes out to get her measurements. With a flourish he presented her with a wand, but as her hand touched it, he immediately took it back. "No, no, no. That definitely will not do."

"Try this one." The next few wands were useless. Eventually going form not working to having terrible, explosive results. Finally he halted her wand search saying, "I do not know what to give you to try, the dragon heartstring gave the best result, which was nothing, but…. Wait just a moment; maybe like your cousin you need a….Mayhaps…"

He came back out with a black box holding a dark maple wand with a mysterious aura. Again he gave it to her, but he seemed a little cautious as he told her to try it.

Suddenly the air around her crackled with energy and silver sparks shot from the tip of the wand. "Miss Gaby, that wand you hold is a powerful weapon. It reminds me of your young cousin who come in her knowing almost nothing of this world. Both of you have received very powerful first wands. I stopped making wands with your core after the rise of Grindenwald. I destroyed all of my Dragon blood wands except for the one you are holding. Owners of such wands are more powerful than an average wizard."

"Mr. Olivander, you flatter me, but I am not as powerful as you say. I just have an aptitude for fighting, nothing more than that. But I do have two questions. Firstly, in the middle of a war, I want my children as protected as possible. Is it possible to give low powered wands to kids under age to practice magic with? Secondly, am I allowed to have a second wand? It seems impractical to only have one weapon when fighting."

"To your first question, the answer is yes. I do have low powered wands. It is legal but unusual now for young children to practice magic. It normally adds stress and problems for the parents, so they do not bring it up around their children. But to the second, it is considered illegal for a witch or wizard to have a second wand unless they are an auror or a hit wizard. I cannot sell you one, I am afraid."

Gaby was discouraged until she noticed his subtlety, "It really is too bad it is illegal for you to sell me another wand. Of course if there is no other options people will sometimes go other places to get what is against the law. It's terrible really, all those shoddy places."

Olivander smiled to himself as he realized just how quick the girl was he was dealing with. 'Yes, in those shoddy places, laws are just waiting to be broken. I remember a rumor the McArthur's Weaponry had a back room that would special make certain weapons. But rumors such as that shouldn't want to be traced back to their source, now would they?"

Catching on to what he was actually telling her. "No, Mr. Olivander they wouldn't. And such a shoddy place wouldn't be on a main street would it?"

"No, no it is located on 5th street in Knockturn Alley." The rest of the family's time in the wand shop was silent as he finished handing out wands to the kids.