A/N: 'cause real life is boring.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Shopping Ain't Easy When You Own the Companies
He went to Temperance first. He wasn't even sure why, but of all the older girls, he'd spent the most time discussing fashion, of all things, with her. Sure, given who her dad was, it sort of made sense, but he still couldn't even rationalize to himself why he went to Temperance first and not Mary or Neville or really any of his other "I don't know why I'm doing and I need help" friends. He seemed to have a lot of people that fit in that category.
"Sure, Harry," was Temperance's almost humorous reply. "Let me just tell my date I'm ditching him and we can spend the whole day shopping—"
"Oh, uh, sorry—"
"Potter," Temperance sighed, "of course I'll accompany you shopping. Just, do you really think you'll last the whole day shopping?"
Harry pulled six sheets of parchment from his bag and placed it on the breakfast table. Zachary Waller and Ruth Turpin raised their eyebrows at him. Temperance just rolled her eyes. "This is a list of all the people I want to provide gifts for and ideas and price ranges that I might spend on them. They're listed in a semi-order of importance."
Temperance took a swig of her morning juice and perused the packet of neatly scribbled notes. "You've got a ton of names down here, Harry. I mean, I know you're like, loaded, and everything, but really?"
Zachary picked up one of the sheets. "We're all on this."
"Of course," Harry said, "every Gryffindor is. Even Cormac and Percy! Most of the Hogwarts students are, but not for like, significant gifts, you know?"
"How loaded are you?" Ruth said. "Do you know how much this is going to cost? Merlin's bloody beard."
Temperance snatched the papers from Zachary and Ruth. "Quit it, both of you. Let the boss alone and don't gossip about this! At least try and have some discretion."
The morning post arrived and Harry received an angular, long and lithe box. His Comet had arrived. Sure, he got a lot of other mail as well, but he gathered that in a quick pile and thrust it under the table. Sal sapped that back to his dorm. He'd started getting a lot of mail each morning. But he'd open his broom up at the table. Harry plucked at the letter attached to the package and slid it open. It came from the manager of the Comet/Shooting Star company.
According to the Quidditch fanatics that he spent too much time with (mainly Oliver), Shooting Star had folded a few years ago and Comet had bought them out. But the transition hadn't been smooth, so there was still a lot of friction between the various factions of the two merged companies. Still, they were united enough to have one manager who was well aware that he worked directly for Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, the Slayer-of-Nightmares… whatever other monikers that the public decided to give him. And the letter clearly reeked of a man trying to please someone he really, really didn't want to please. Or that he was scared of. Or something or other.
Harry sighed. Still, it contained the news he'd wanted to hear. He'd 'bought' a Comet Phi, which was one of the Comet specialty brooms. Phi was for Seekers, Sigma for Keepers, and either the Lambda or the Gamma for Beaters. The Comet Chi had been designed for Chasers, but it didn't work very well. The Comet Pi – still under construction – was another Chaser broom. He'd probably get three for the Gryffindor chasers if they ever needed upgrades. And that brought him to the other piece of the letter: "yes, your lordship, we could procure a list of potential trainers that would be willing and acceptable to train potential Chasers who still reside on the Hogwarts grounds." The whole section was condescending, but Harry put the list of provided names aside for later contact. He'd have to go shopping that day.
The Phi really was a nice broom. Harry lifted the silken oak wood from the case and traced his fingernail in the little insignia; the symbol for phi. The stalks of the tail would need trimming; they'd gotten beaten up a little from within the box, but he'd have a broom for Sunday practice and that was good.
Harry barely managed to admire the broom for half a minute before the rest of the Gryffindor team, nearly the entirety of the Slytherin team, and most of the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw players mobbed him, all looking to see if he'd gotten some new-super-secret-special broom. Or – hero worshipers thought it would be wonderful – even more than a Firebolt! There seemed to be a lot of disappointment going around that he was using just a regular old Phi. Harry didn't care. Still, it was very, very frustrating to be surrounded by a hoard of Quidditch fanatics when…
Temperance snatched him and the broom and they bolted back to the Gryffindor tower, well away from most of the hoard. Oliver was the only one who managed to stick with them, but Emma diverted him so that the two of them could start shopping. Shopping.
It would be a long day.
o.o.o.o.o.o
He wasn't getting all of his presents in Hogmeade that day. Just most of them.
Harry already knew that there were a few gifts for a few people that he'd get from the vaults he'd inherited. That crossed Mary, Emma, Pavarti, Lavender, Daphne, Lisa, Morag, Mandy, Lily, Romilda, both Ingraham girls, Natalia, Gracelyn, Sapphire, Harriett, Leann, Queenie, Eliza, Demelza, Dakota, Su, Cho, Horizon, Fae, Temperance, Chastity, Ruth, and big Sarah off the list. Aurora had assured him that he had more than enough – in her words – "inexpensive and appropriate" jewelry for all those girls. None of them were really close friends, but he still wanted to get them all more than something… simple. He'd just have to decide which pieces to give which girls.
Girls were easy to shop for if you owned enough jewelry to run a jewelry store.
Boys were harder.
Girls he spent a lot of time around were harder still.
While most of his time was spent in the Hogsmeade bookstore, Harry did make it to other shops. It was just mostly the bookstore.
Harry bought Patricia a book of French poetry. He wasn't sure she'd like it, but so what? For Nora Carmichael, he bought a book on Wizard customs. For Eddie, he found a delightful set of trick cards – completely muggle, and equipped for muggle magic tricks. He'd find it incredibly enjoyable at Hogwarts. Persephone was hard, but Harry eventually decided a sleek set of black boots that would fit the girl's style. Or something similar that Temperance had said; he'd had a difficult time hearing her when she started babbling on about shoes. And Selene, well, Harry didn't find anything for Selene.
For Aurora, Harry bought a full set of mythological reference books. There was something like thirteen volumes, but he knew that Aurora would love it. He didn't find anything for Paradise, either, and that was irking him.
For Fred and George, he bought a couple of Zonko's worst pranks. He'd affix a note saying "FIX THESE" before actually giving the bad bits of magic to the twins. For Lee Jordan, he bought a stuffed tarantula with big googly eyes (McGonagall had long ago confiscated his real one). For Kenneth, he got a book on famous stalkers and serial killers and planned to write some quip about how the boy's knowledge of various people was a little creepy.
He didn't get anything for William; the older boy had requested such. And Vicky, well, after paying for a good twenty-four doses, or about two years, of Wolfsbane Potion for her dad, he couldn't really justify getting something more.
For the three young staff kids, he got lucky in the bookstore: a book on healing for Tyler, a book on famous painters for Becks, and a book of jokes and harmless pranks for Ciara.
He'd already ordered Sally-Anne's present, owl-ordering a book of famous ballets from a company that provided a lot of muggle luxuries for muggle-born, halfblood, and various other people who wanted such amenities. Susan would receive a simple box of chocolates; just a big box of some thirty different flavors that would, for three months, keep refreshing whatever piece she ate. Hannah's present he found in an antique shop off one of the side roads. Well, actually, Temperance found it and thought it might work for someone; it was a clock, but a hand-crafted, gorgeous clock that was decorated with delicate carvings of various flowers. Megan's gift was a book on wizard social customs and other various social interactions that she often complained of not understanding.
For Tracey, he bought a very nice Potion's knife, and for Millicent, he owl-ordered her a copy of the Lord of the Ring's trilogy. She'd expressed interest in reading muggle fantasy, but knew that her dad would not be happy with her actually pursing those interests herself. For Blaise, he bought a top of the line set of Beater's gloves from the Quidditch shop, and for Theo, he found a really weird machine that spun and whirled and created light shows. That was from the antique shop. He was aware that he boy would probably find it very entertaining, even if it was pointless.
Dean's present was more complicated, as Harry had employed someone to go to a couple of West Ham games and take wizarding photos, so that the boy would actually have something more wizard-y to display in his dorm room. And for Seamus, he got a set of nice chessman. He let Temperance pick out a book on Quidditch for Ron; he didn't want to not give the boy something unique, but it still hurt to actively think about what had happened between him and Ron over the past few months.
For Oliver, he got a book on Quidditch tactics, written by some famous Quidditch player that Harry really hadn't paid any attention to as he'd only half listened to Ron rant on and on about him. He was arranging professional Chaser lessons for Katie, Alicia and Angelina, so he still wasn't sure if he'd pick something up for them. For Justin and Wayne, he picked up a huge collection of sports balls and exercise equipment, just on an offhand comment that they'd like a place to exercise more. For Ernie, he just got a history book. For Kevin, Harry bought a pillow. But a bright pink, fluffy pillow that he knew the other boy would find either highly hilarious or highly insulting. It also said "I HEART HARRY" on it, which would only make the situation worse, but Harry was confident that Kevin would take the present in the right way. It also came with a small stuffed Harry doll.
Harry was sure that his clothing company, which had just branched out into some other fabric stuff, was making a killing off all the Harry Potter merchandise.
For Anthony, he found a t-shirt that said "I STUDY TOO MUCH. IT'S NOT BECAUSE I'M A RAVENCLAW. I'M JUST A NERD."
For Zach Wood and Sebastian he picked up some good quality broom servicing kits. For Jacob Dare, he bought a book that complied some of the greatest speeches of revolutionary leaders. Temperance hadn't understood the reasoning behind that one, but she hadn't questioned his decision. Harry found a stuffed lion to give to David Summerby to give to his younger brother Brian.
Harry and Temperance stopped around 2 for a very, very late lunch. They joined Cedric Diggory (Temperance's alluded to date), Hermione and Kenneth at a restaurant near the edge of the village. Harry found Katie and invited her along so that he didn't feel so much like a fifth wheel. Nearly all of his purchases were being mailed to either Aurora or Professor McGonagall, depending on the circumstances. The group of six chatted about inconsequential things for about forty-five minutes before Temperance and Harry hit the shops again. Katie tagged along and the three of them debated what would be the best choice of a gift for Ginny.
Temperance didn't want Harry to get the girl anything, but Harry refused to let her distaste for the younger girl stop him. Katie eventually suggested a pet. It didn't immediately seem like the right idea, but once they visited a pet shop, Harry fell in love with the kittens. He arranged for the shop owner to deliver Ginny a kitten and a note. Harry also decided that he'd write to St. Mungo's and see if a kitten would be an acceptable thing to give Luna Lovegood.
He arranged with a flower shop to deliver a flower to every girl at Hogwarts, color dependent on her house, all on Christmas day. And for the boys, he got Honeydukes to agree to send various candies, based on that boy's shopping preference or just a generic bar of Honeyduke's best chocolate should that boy have not shopped at Honeydukes often enough to form a preference (like the first and second years).
That left just Hermione, Sarah, Neville, Able, Paradise, and Selene.
Which was just far too frustrating. He could give Selene jewelry, like the rest, but that just didn't… urgh. He liked the Grants. He liked Selene. And she wasn't nearly as cold and standoffish as she was when they started meeting about music. Besides, he was socially obligated to give her some sort of nick-knack as an accompaniment thank you, and he was just planning on some sort of jewelry for that. So he wanted something different.
Katie suggested that he make an owl-feather quill for her.
Harry didn't know what that was.
Katie explained.
Harry decided he'd need to make one for Hermione, Sarah, Neville, Able and Paradise before he considered giving one to Selene.
Temperance suggested going back into a clothing shop, but Harry nixed that idea.
Katie suggested something with music, and she dragged Harry and Temperance into an out of the way shop that sold musical instruments.
Harry loved the store. He bought himself a harmonica, a lute, and a few books that would teach him how to play both instruments. And for Selene, there was a harp and instructional books that would shrink for easy mobility. It was great.
He found Paradise a set of small fighting knives in a random shop that sold next to everything. She'd love them. He didn't really want to think about Aurora's reaction.
For Sarah, he bought a huge set of top of the line art tools, like brushes, acrylic paint, oil paint, graphite pencils, colored pencils, paper, water colors, water color paper, canvas, and that was only what he knew the names of. For Hermione, he bought a gown. He let Temperance talk him into going back into a clothing store, and she found the perfect dress for Hermione. It was absolutely lovely, and, well, expensive, but Harry didn't care. For Able, Harry dragged the two girls back to the antique shop and picked up a miniature planetarium and other magical whirly-gigs designed to help in the study of astronomy. And so at the end of the day, it was only Neville that he didn't have a gift for. And he was just utterly exhausted from the shopping grind.
o.o.o.o.o.o
Harry and the Gryffindor chasers met with the Slytherin chasers and beaters. They'd invited Franklin Harper as well, but the Slytherin seeker denied showing up. Harry trimmed the bent tendrils on his broom and broke in his new Comet Phi with a five versus five Quidditch match. Katie had talked Leann Hooch, the Ravenclaw Keeper, into playing with them. Harry and Leann played seeker while the chaser teams played together. Harriett beat for the Gryffindor girls and Leann while Blaise beat for the Slytherin trio and Harry. They only used one bludger and Angelina was supposed to release the snitch as soon as one team reached ten goals. Until that point, Leann and Harry could help their team's chasers.
It was a good match. The girls definitely had the upper hand in handling the quaffle. Harry, Sapphire and Sebastian were small and quick. They did well at keeping the ball away from the girls when they caught it, but they only had Zach to challenge any of the older girls on size. Blaise, however, was destroying Harriett when it came to the bludger. He was exceptional at knocking the ball towards Alicia and Angelina, but Katie always seemed to be able to avoid him.
Just like Harry could avoid anything coming from Harriett. He couldn't explain it. He couldn't explain it at all, but for some inexplicable reason he could just tell when Harriett was sending the beater at him. And Katie too. Was it her empathy? Harry wondered as he served to the side, avoiding a bludger. He was blocking the goal posts and Angelina was barreling, barreling, barreling down on him. She shot and Harry just managed to knock the ball away. Still, Alicia caught it on the rebound and flipped it easily through a third hoop. That put the girls up 100 to 30. Angelina released the snitch and Harry counted to ten before he rose above the goal posts and started searching for the elusive golden ball.
Sapphire tried to pass to Sebastian, but Harriett managed a perfect bludger bat, knocking the quaffle aside. Katie corralled the quaffle and started back towards the other goal post. She scored easily enough, popping the ball straight past Zach. Harry sighed and circled the pitch again. Leann was looking, but it was easy enough to tell that she wasn't naturally a seeker. Her broom was slow and bulky; probably a 260 or even a Nimbus 800. Harry zipped around her, searching, searching, searching.
And there it was, the golden snitch! Harry dove. Leann banked to dive after him, but she was so far out, it wasn't going to matter. Harry caught the snitch, pulled up, and managed to grab the back of Leann's Quidditch robes before she plummeted nose first into the pitch. Her broom shot out from under her and Harry sank down, lowering the larger girl to her feet.
"I hate diving!" was her instant scream.
Her broom had flipped a few times but landed unharmed a couple of meters away. She ran to it and instantly began inspecting it for damage.
"Nice catch," Harriett snickered, hovering a few feet away from Harry. She situated her hands properly and leapt from the broom, her hands still clutching the handle. It was the proper way to dismount a broom.
"Leann!" Katie was next to land, jumping off her broom closer to her yearmate. "Are you okay?"
"Fine, fine," Leann said. "Harry caught me. I told you, Katie, exhibit A why I should not be allowed to play seeker, or beater, or chaser, or anything but keeper."
By then, the other players had all gathered at the bottom of the pitch.
Zach and Sebastian expressed mild concern over Leann's wellbeing, but didn't seem to worry about her too much. They, Harriett, Sapphire and Blaise all headed back for the castle. Angelina decided to accompany Katie and Leann back, but Alicia elected to stay and continue flying with Harry for some more time.
They played tag for a while, talked about Alicia's upcoming OWLs and her desperate need for people to stop nagging about them. They talked about Sarah's gift in art and the possible trainers that Harry was going to contact for the Gryffindor chasers. Most of the time, Alicia was "it" as she had trouble sticking tight on Harry's back when he started getting fancy. After they tired of tag, they flew leisurely laps and talked about random, inconsequential things. They asked each other about favorite color, hobbies, whatnot. It was a pretty bland conversation.
Until Harry dared Alicia to fly into the Gryffindor common room and disembark there.
She dared him straight back.
Harry one-uped her and said he'd fly into a girls' room.
Alicia said he couldn't, no more than they'd make it into the common room from the sky.
Harry said not only would he make it into the girls' room, but he'd beat her.
Dare on.
Alicia counted to three and they took off, racing towards the Gryffindor tower. Harry angled higher than his friend, aiming for the window that Hermione had once pointed out as being the window to her dorm. He figured that she, Pavarti and Lavender would probably mind the least. Well, maybe except Emma and big Sarah, but he wasn't really sure which window was their dorm, so he went for Hermione's. He had a lead on Alicia, but he still needed to get the window open… Ah, yes. No wand necessary. Just the, urm… right control. Right.
Harry raised his right hand from the broom and cast an unlocking charm at the window. It connected. Another spell transfigured the window into bits of sand and water; mud. It worked. It worked? Harry bent lengthwise over his broom so that he could all fit; mud showered over him. He made it through the window… bed! He jumped off, snatching his broom to a standstill before it ran into one of the girl's beds. Not sparing a glance around, Harry bolted for the door, pushed passed a horrified Demelza Robbins in the hallways, and flung himself on the stairs. They turned into a slide and he swished straight down into the common room.
All motion ceased.
Alicia flipped her way into the common room from the largest of the windows. Harry got to his feet just as she dismounted her broom. Angelina was standing in the still open portrait hole. The common room was fairly full and everyone was staring at either Harry or Alicia.
Harry gulped. "I won!"
Alicia snorted. "Fine, fine."
"You—you–how?!"
Harry wasn't sure who said it, but whoever went first broke the floodgates of people begging to know what had just happened and why and whatnot. And the commotion brought McGonagall in.
Harry and Alicia lost points. Harry received a Saturday night detention for entering the girls' dormitory.
It was his first detention of the year.
o.o.o.o.o.o
While McGonagall gave him the option of serving the detention the following week, Harry elected to join her immediately in her classroom. And detention with Professor McGonagall wasn't bad at all! She just said he had to work on homework or something else quiet and unassuming while she graded papers or provided office help. The only really awful thing was he had to serve it with Ron. The youngest Weasley boy still had a boatload of detentions piled on his shoulders, all stemming from when he hit Ginny and Harry. They did not choose to talk to each other.
Pallas Ingraham was in the room, getting extra help from McGonagall. She was really struggling with some aspects of whatever they were learning. Harry didn't actually remember what she was practicing, so he paid close attention to what McGonagall told her. Ron left as soon as his detention was over. Pallas left shortly after that. That gave Harry time to speak with his Head of House. He was just being sure… just double checking that… well, yeah… he wanted to still be ahead of Hermione in his best classes.
McGonagall told him his ranking with some chagrin: Ancient Runes was third, Arithmancy was fifth, Astronomy was first, Care of Magical Creatures was tenth, Charms was third, DADA was first, Herbology was fourth, History of Magic was sixth, Transfiguration was sixth, and Potions was second. Harry nearly had a panic attack when he saw the Potion's rank. He knew that Rhythm was a much better teacher than Snape. He knew that he was doing better in Potions without Snape there to antagonize people, but still! He'd gone from twentieth to second!
Hermione though… she was ranked higher than him in many classes, but she was only truly first in History of Magic, Potions and Muggle Studies. Last year, she'd cleaned the board.
"Professor," Harry said as he gathered his things. "How's Hermione getting to all her classes?"
McGonagall frowned. "That's for her to worry about, Mr. Potter."
Harry nodded, accepting her reply. He was Hermione's best friend. If she wanted to tell him, she'd tell him. And… maybe he'd ask her about it tomorrow. He took his things and navigated the many changes that the Hogwarts corridors were so prone to making. Oh he wished he had a map! Madam Pomfrey hadn't removed the escort orders yet, so Sal was still following him. Harry had the inkling of a feeling that Sal would keep following him even if Pomfrey said he didn't have to. Which… maybe he should look into buying Sal from Hogwarts or something like that. Having a personal house elf would be nice.
Paradise was already in the armory. This time, she was throwing knives at a backboard. Harry sighed and moved into the center circle. She hadn't told any of her friends about this place, but she also hadn't progressed as fast as it first appeared that she would. She refused to listen to the golem's suggestions. She just ordered the statues to teach her what she wanted to know and not worry about what the statues said she should know. Harry listened to the statues. He'd done enough working out for Quidditch to know that it was bad, really bad, to do something that you weren't ready for. Or something like that. So Harry was still working stances and single moves, sometimes with a knife, sometimes without a knife. He started up his routine with the third golem, as Paradise continued to throw knife after knife at the opposite wall. She ranted when she got frustrated; Harry tuned her out. She screamed when her knife wouldn't connect properly; Harry just kept working. She'd learn, he hoped. She'd learn that attacking things head on wouldn't always be the best solution. Maybe he should ask the golems about last year…
When Sal started twittering like an impatient little bird, Harry stopped his work out. Paradise had long since stopped and just stood at the edge of the chalk circle, watching. "Sir George," Harry said, "I wielded a sword last year, untrained and clumsily. It was the Sword of Godric Gryffindor."
The four statues froze back in their ordinary positions. The disembodied voice said… "Perhaps… Mr. Potter. Perhaps you may learn the art of the blade after all."
The armory went dark.
Harry wanted to moan. His life just… argh! Maybe if he had forty-eight hour days, he'd be able to learn everything he wanted to learn!
"It's not fair," Paradise groused as they slipped the invisibility cloak over their heads and headed for the Gryffindor common room. "Why do you get everything?"