Chapter 6: Shopping!

When Harry's view cleared, he found himself - and Death, of course - in some small, dark alleyway. Though he wasn't able to really notice much more as a wave of dizziness caused him to almost fall over had Death not kept his grip firm.

"It will take some time to get used to this method of transportation," he said neutrally and Harry would have nodded his head vigorously if trying to to that wouldn't have left it spinning even worse. "Try taking a few deep breaths."

Harry did as he was told and really, after what might have been about a minute he felt considerably better. And only then he noticed something weird. The alley might have seemed pretty dark, but as he looked up he noticed the light blue sky and that the sun was shining brightly.

"Um... didn't you tell me that I woke up around eight in the evening?" Harry asked confusedly. They hadn't needed that much time to talk, had they? After all, it wasn't a sunrise he saw, the sun was pretty much in the centre of the sky, it looked like noon!

"I did. But I was talking about eight in the evening of Greenwich Mean Time. Since it is the most central place for measuring time, considering all of the other time zones are based on it I grew accustomed to using it. It is the time zone you are coming from too though." Harry blinked, slightly confused. Time zones? But Death, noticing his confusion, just shook his head. "It is not important, I will explain it to you in detail later. For now, just know that many countries have a different time. And currently, we are far away from Great Britain, so of course, it is not the same time here at all."

By now, Harry was staring wide-eyed at Death. Far away from Great Britain? He had never even really left Little Whinging, let alone Surrey, but Great Britain!

"Where are we, then?" he asked curiously.

"Salem, Massachusetts," Death said, before adding "America." when Harry had looked at him blankly.

Oh. Harry couldn't help but gape a little as he understood just how far away they were from anything he knew. It was slightly creepy, but at the same time he felt very excited. He had never dared to even dream of ever seeing another country, let alone another continent, but here he was. America. Wicked!

"It seems as if you are not completely opposed to the idea of being here?" Death asked, shaking Harry out of his little stupor.

"I think it's great!"

"Good. Just as an information: Salem is one of the many towns in the world that have both a magical and a muggle community living in it. It works pretty well most of the time but one still needs to be careful. Although many muggles believe magic they see in here to be part of the attractions the muggles are using to get more tourists. I will explain these things later in more detail if you want." Waiting for Harry to nod - currently he was interested in basically everything, seeing how it seemed so much more interesting than anything he had learnt until now - Death looked around for a moment as if checking something before continuing. "Now, we are close to the local muggle shopping mall. From there I will show you how we get to the wizarding stuff but I would appreciate you not asking magic-related questions in public until we have arrived. Do you understand?" Harry nodded again. "Very well. Just one more thing: To normal people I am known as a wizard called 'Desmond Grimm', so try not to look surprised when people are calling me that. Though you can continue to call me whatever you like, 'Death' is close enough to 'Des' that no one will notice. If necessary I will introduce you as my nephew, we do not want to arouse unnecessary suspicions even if it has only been a day since you ran away, alright?"

Harry gulped, with all of these magical things around him he had almost forgotten that he actually had run away and that the Dursleys were probably very angry about that, since it certainly did not fit into their claims of being a normal family.

Seeing Harry's expression Death shook his head. "Do not worry too much. No one will honestly believe that a child would be able to get from Little Whinging to Salem in less than a day without attracting attention. They'll keep their search in Great Britain."

Slightly calmer, Harry was now able to follow Death out of the alleyway and into the crowd of a warm Saturday afternoon. To not lose each other Death had again gripped Harry's hand and like that they were able to reach the local mall in relative safety. Though Harry was slightly confused, the mall didn't look very... magical to him. But Death seemed determined as he led Harry through the masses until they reached a plain, white door with a sign on it saying 'Access for authorized personnel only'. Harry would have overlooked it hadn't Death stopped him since it really wasn't all that noticeable between all the colourful stores here. Although now that he saw it, it did stood out a bit, having a door knob but no key hole.

But Death just waved his hand and in that moment the door opened slightly. He motioned for Harry to go inside and they entered a small room that basically held nothing more than a small counter, behind which a man sat, looking terribly bored while reading something that looked like a newspaper, called 'Magical Today'. The man didn't even look up and Death didn't seem keen on staying here or making conversation, so he shooed Harry out of the room and into the next one.

But what Harry was seeing now just made him stop again to gape.

While they just had been on the ground floor of the mall they suddenly stood on the top floor of another. At least Harry thought it was a top floor since he couldn't see any stairs or something leading upstairs and he could see a fountain with a lot of water at the floor below as there was a big hole in the middle of this floor. And although he had already been interested in all of the shops before, these ones seemed even more interesting! There were shops called 'Odette's Owl Shop', 'Valentine's Potions for all Occasions' and 'Quodpod for Champions' and everything seemed even more colourful then before. Even though Harry wasn't sure why wizards needed a shop just for owls or what 'Quodpot' was, but it was still horribly interesting.

He hadn't much time to look around, as Death continued walking after a moment, pulling Harry out of his stupor. But at least that didn't prevent him from looking around, so he tried to look everywhere at once since there were so many interesting shops!

They walked past a shop that sold broomsticks - though Harry couldn't fathom why wizards would need that, did they like to sweep floors? - and some kind of fast food shop, as well as a shop that sold something that looked like parchment and a whole lot of feathers. Were these the quills Death had mentioned before?

Finally, they slowed down in front of a store called 'Pagett's' that was located between a book store and a shop for trunks of some sort. They entered the store and a soft chiming announced their presence, even though they hadn't even walked through a door or something, after all, no store in this mall had a door to enter. Harry didn't even see a bell, only a few clothes standing around on display dummies and racks, but forgot about that as he noticed the person standing behind the counter.

It was a woman, with long, light green hair and yellow eyes that seemed pretty creepy, though she did look quite beautiful and even smiled at the two of them.

"Welcome to Pagett's, what can I do for you?" she asked in a melodious voice.

"I'd like to purchase new clothes for little Harry here," Death said with a smile, which somehow crept Harry out as he had never once seen the man smile. Fortunately, the woman wasn't looking at him but at Death, as he hadn't finished talking yet. "Would you mind getting Paggy, Razette?"

The woman - Razette? - seemed surprised, but then her eyes widened a bit in recognition.

"Desmond! I haven't seen you in ages, sorry I didn't recognize you! Of course, I'll be right back!"

She turned and hurried through some kind of back door Harry hadn't noticed before, leaving the boy even more confused.

"I visit this place sometimes because the... employees here are acquaintances of Hugin and Munin. I have promised them to see if everything is alright here from time to time," Death explained quietly and just as emotionless as before, which somehow calmed Harry down as he nodded in understanding.

Just then, Razette came back, still smiling.

"She's ready for you in a moment, there's another customer back there but they're almost finished," she explained and Death nodded.

"Thank you."

"No problem." There was silence for a moment as no one seemed to know what to say, before Razette started to look at Harry.

"You're a real cutie, you know that?" she asked, making Harry blush a bit. No one had ever said something like that to him! Also, he didn't quite thought he was all that cute - he was a boy! - but Razette seemed to think differently as she just made some kind of 'Aww'-sound before turning to Death. "Is he your son?" she asked curiously.

"Nephew," Death corrected and she just nodded.

After that, it was quiet again until Razette started humming something. Harry didn't know the melody, but he decided he really liked it and that she could hum really well...

He jumped as the door behind her opened again after a while - he had forgotten the time while listening to her little song - and a man stepped out with two big bags on which the name of the shop was written.

Razette stopped humming and smiled at the man. "Thank you, come again!" she told him happily and he nodded to her, mumbling a "Good Bye" before walking out of the store.

Razette looked back to Death. "There, it's your turn." She beckoned them to follow her and they went to her as she turned to open the back door again. Only now Harry saw her bare legs - she was wearing a skirt - and gasped slightly. There were scales! And they didn't look as if she had glued them on or something like that. Unfortunately, she seemed to have heard the gasp, but she didn't look as if she had taken offence. Instead, she followed Harry's gaze before kneeling down to be on his eye level for a moment.

"I'm a half-mermaid, you know?" she whispered in a conspiratorial tone. "I can now walk on land but when I do so the scales are still visible. My hair colour is pretty awesome though, isn't it?" She winked at him, causing Harry to giggle slightly and nod. Green hair truly was cool, and although he wasn't sure if being a half-mermaid was a joke, he wasn't as weirded out by the scales as before. Instead, he followed the two adults through the back door, curious as to what he would see there.

Although he really hadn't expected what he saw.

While the room they went into wasn't very big, it seemed to be full of activity. He just hadn't suspected who these 'employees' as Death had called them were.

House elves. And quite a few of them.

Razette, seeing Harry's surprised look, chuckled.

"So Desmond hasn't told you? It's pretty well-known around here, that Pagett's is a tailor run by house elves, that's also the reason why most of the stuck-up purebloods are steering clear of it. But it doesn't matter. We're the most low-priced tailor of the United States I'd wager, because we don't take much more money than we need to buy the fabric. After all, house elves don't need - nor want - extra money besides the one they need to buy food and pay the rent, they're even happy with working a lot. And since all of them are free elves there is no master to tell them to earn more money."

She smiled happily at the elves running around, probably cleaning up the place after their customer had left.

"Is Miss Razette telling everyone this place's history again?" another voice was heard suddenly, making Harry jump slightly.

"Maybe?" Razette offered, but didn't sound all that sorry.

"Paggy thinks so." By now, Harry had made out the owner of the voice, another house elf who looked rather old to Harry. It then bowed both to Death and to Harry. "What can Paggy do for young masters?"

"Harry needs new clothes," Death explained. "Maybe about four or five different outfits, mostly robes but one or two muggle sets would be appreciated too."

Paggy nodded vigorously. "Of course master Desmond. Paggy will see that he gets the best of the best."

With that, she boldly took Harry's hand and pulled him to some corner of the room, where he could see some kind of curtain. He was slightly nervous as Death didn't seem to be following him.

"Don't worry, they're fast, just do whatever they want you to and it'll be over before you know it!" Razette told him happily and he gulped, but resigned as he was taken behind the curtain that seemed to be soundproof somehow, as he couldn't hear much more after he had passed it except for Paggy's almost-order to stand at a certain place so that two house elves who had been waiting there could start taking his measurements.

ooo

Harry didn't know how long he had been in the care of the house elves. After they had taken his measurements they had shown him lots of different designs ans colours to choose from, though after noticing that he really had no idea of what looked good and what didn't they simply let him say what things he particularly liked or disliked and worked from there. As he emerged from behind the curtains he had his own two big bags of clothes with him, starting from casual robes he could wear every day, to formal robes only for special occasions. There also were two sets of muggle clothes should he ever want to do something that required him blending in there.

All of these clothes were quite durable, meaning they wouldn't tear easily, they had some kind of temperature regulation charm on them that always made them the perfect temperature for Harry - which had required a testing session to get his personal favourite temperature - and at last they would grow with him for a little while. Not forever, but it would ensure that he wouldn't need new ones all too soon.

As Death paid for the clothes Harry smiled happily at the prospect of being able to wear his very own clothes in the future and chatted a bit with Razette before Death was finished and beckoned him to go.

And as they left the mall Harry swore to himself that he would return once he would be able to do so.

ooo

Only a few minutes later they were safely back at Death's Lair. Death called Hugin and Munin, told them to help Harry with putting his stuff away and then told Harry that he was free to explore the grounds as much as he wished as long as he always had at least one of the house elves with him, for now. He would have shown Harry around himself but apparently, he still had something else to do this day so he left shortly afterwards.

The house elves helped Harry putting his stuff into a wardrobe that stood between his room and his bathroom. Afterwards Hugin left, telling Harry he needed to prepare some food for the Thestrals.

Being alone with Munin was slightly weird, he hadn't talked with the elf a lot at breakfast as Hugin had made most of the conversation.

"So... let's go outside?" Harry proposed shyly and Munin nodded.

"If young master wishes to do so..."

Harry still felt somehow uncomfortable with being addressed like that but he wasn't sure if it was proper to ask the elves to stop, so he kept quiet as they walked back to the entrance hall and out of the small house. The weather was just as it had been the day before and everything else also looked about the same. Still, Death had only showed him a bit of the meadow nearby, so maybe there were really interesting things hidden somewhere far away...? As long as he was allowed to go that far, that was...

"Say, what's at the end of this meadow?" he asked after a moment, his curiosity being bigger than his nervousness.

But Munin only smiled. "Young master must see for himself. It is quite a peculiar meadow after all."

Harry frowned, not really understanding what Munin was meaning, but if he phrased it like that the meadow probably wasn't very big... He decided he'd look for himself since he didn't know what else there was to do anyway. So he chose a starting point and began walking into one direction at random where he only saw meadow and the horizon if he didn't count the scattered black dots that probably were grazing Thestrals.

ooo

He had walked next to Munin for a while already - at least he couldn't see Death's home anymore when he turned around - before anything more interesting than the occasional Thestral who whinnied some kind of greeting at him caught his attention. He could see something other than meadow at the horizon! He sped up, wanting to know what else might be here or if that was what the house elf had meant about finding out what at the end was.

But the closer he went, the more confusing it got. It looked exactly like Death's house! Were there more houses like that in the realm...? And if that was true, did other people... or beings lived here too?

He was shaken out of his musings when he heard a small chuckle next to him. He looked at Munin questioningly.

"What's so funny?" he asked, his tone slightly harsher than he had intended it to be.

The elf immediately bowed deeply. "Munin is very sorry young master, that wasn't nice of him. Munin will not laugh about young master's confusion again," he said, sounding sincerely sorry.

"No, no, I'm sorry too, I didn't want to sound angry, I just wanted to know what you were laughing about..." Harry apologised himself, feeling bad that he had somehow made the elf bow so deeply before him and even forbidding himself something. He knew how it was, thinking you had angered someone and wanting to change yourself so that it wouldn't happen again. He had done it often enough when the Dursleys had seemed angry about something and he didn't want to be like them ever! "So... um... why were you laughing?" Harry finally added as the silence after his apology got slightly awkward.

Munin bowed again, thankfully not as deep as before. "It was just young master's expression as he probably tried to figure out why there was another house like master's house. But it isn't another house, it is just the one."

Harry blinked, confused. "You mean, this is the same house we started from?"

"Exactly."

"But... how is that possible?"

Munin shrugged. "That, Munin doesn't know. It must have been master's magic that made this realm that way, because no matter where you go as long as you walk straight you will always end up back where you started."

"Well... sounds convenient. At least you cannot get lost that way..." Harry said, though mostly to himself as he was still wondering about the whole thing.

But in the end, being the child that he was, he just decided to accept it as something one could do with magic. Maybe he would learn about it too and once be able to copy that. For now, he would continue to explore the realm, maybe he'd find something else interesting!

ooo

He spent the rest of the afternoon - as they had spent a lot of time on Earth the day would be much shorter for him - exploring, but most of the realm was actually just plain, boring grass. No trees, no water, no sun or clouds... really, quite boring.

But there was one thing that was something very different, something Harry had discovered by accident that stirred up his curiosity immediately as there was a highly unusual sight in front of him.

Enclosed by a tall fence that had no visible door or anything five stone archways were standing in a circle. They were big - certainly more than twice as tall as Harry was - and looked really, really old, as if it would crumble any moment. Every one of these archways had a black curtain hanging from it, even though there didn't seem to be anything behind, as no matter how often Harry walked around the circle he couldn't see anything. But what he was seeing was a very faint, silvery mist that seemed to come out of all of the curtains without first appearing behind them. It slowly moved to the centre of the circle, where a deep hole or something like that was located. All five streams of mist met there and continued to flow down the hole.

All in all, the sight was mesmerizing but also highly confusing. What was this mist? How did it come out of nowhere? Why did these curtains move as if the mist passed through them without the mist actually existing on the other side of the black cloth? And why was all of that happening behind a tall fence?

"Young master!" he suddenly heard two voices cry. Wait... two voices? Hadn't he been alone with Munin one second ago? But really, both house elves had shouted his name rather loudly and he blinked at them.

"What's wrong? And wasn't Hugin in the kitchen just now?" he asked the elves confusedly.

"Yes, but young master didn't react at all when Munin called you, so Munin thought it wise to call Hugin here too," Munin explained, looking almost frightened.

"You must not look at these thingies too closely! Hugin does not know why Munin has not warned you!" Hugin scolded, but it was mostly directed at Munin.

"Why? And what are these archways anyway?" Harry asked, confused as to why it was that bad to look at them, but at the same time also slightly scared that he had obviously not noticed the house elf's calls.

"These are called 'Veils'," Hugin explained. "They have a counterpart at different places on Earth and connect the realm of the living with the realm of the dead. Normally only the souls of dead people come through it - that's the mist young master might see, since there are so many of them they get visible to some. But when a living person passes through it on Earth or get near to it down here they will follow the stream of souls and die too! It takes much more power than young master currently has to withstand the lure of the Veils."

Harry's eyes widened and he took a few steps away from the Veils. That sounded dangerous!

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't know!"

Hugin just shook his head. "Young master doesn't need to be sorry, he couldn't have known. Munin should have told him before he could get so close! But hopefully young master will be more careful around the Veils for now."

Harry nodded hastily. "I will, I promise! And thank you for helping me."

The elf smiled brightly and bowed. "Always. But now you must excuse me, the Thestrals are surely waiting... And dinner will have to be made soon too..."

Harry bade his goodbye to Hugin and - after calming down a frantic Munin who apologised over and over again for not having acted sooner - continued his exploration of the grounds, staying far, far away from this place.

He couldn't wait until he was back in his room again, he needed to summon his mother! Everything had been so much today that he had completely forgotten about it, but he would tell her everything in detail then.

ooo

His mother had been a bit put out but understood why Harry had forgotten as he told her about the day. And after making sure that everything was alright again between them, Harry was able to sleep much better, even though he was still very excited about the start of his studies.

Surprise, I've actually managed to finish another chapter pretty soon! I've had a bit of time and used it to hopefully create another chapter of your liking.

Hope the idea of the tailor didn't seem too far-fetched, I just thought that there was no way that Dobby was the only house elf ever who wanted to be free, so... there you go. ;)
Next chapter will start with the timeskips as I don't plan of covering all of Harry's many years at Death's Lair in detail. I will just pick a few moments out of it that are more or less important to the story, I don't think reading about all of his lessons would be interesting anyway. Still, there are enough moments to fill more than one chapter so I don't yet know how long it will be until he gets to Hogwarts, but I hope that the small 'adventures' he lives through before make up for it. :)

Also, I'm glad there are still so many people who read and review, even after such a long pause, so thank you for all the reviews and supporting comments I've got. :3
And thanks to all people who have otherwise read, favourited or followed the story, too.

Regards, Violet-san