Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Jujutsu Kaisen. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.
Chapter Two - School Shopping
They arrived in England in short order, and from there it was a short hop by apparition to Diagon Alley. Once more Minerva found herself disappointed by Harry's lack of reaction to the normal craziness of the alley. Though she supposed she shouldn't have been after learning just how much of a world traveler he was. It seemed he and Ms. Yuki never stayed anywhere longer than a couple months at the most and as a result he spoke three languages already and talked about wanting to learn more.
It was at the time of their arrival that Harry noticed the stares he was receiving and wanted to know what they were all about. Minerva sighed and led the boy by the shoulder over to Florian Fortescues. She ordered two sundaes and when they were seated said, "This might take a minute to explain, and it will no doubt be painful for you, so please bear with me."
Harry dug his spoon into his bowl and said "I'm ready with sugary therapy."
'Snarky lad' Minerva thought fondly before beginning her tale. "Several years ago our world experienced what amounted to a civil war. One faction, the death eaters, fought for the belief that only pureblooded wizards, those with strictly magical heritage, should be allowed to learn magic and exist in magical Britain. The other fought for everyone else's rights to do just that. It was a long and bloody conflict, and by the end oh so many had fallen. Too many."
While Minerva was lost in her haunted recollections Harry asked, "Was there any validity to their argument?" At her shocked look he clarified, "By that I mean is there some sort of correlation to blood purity and strength or skill of magic?"
"Absolutely not." The professor sternly answered. "Quite the opposite actually. You see the blood purity movement we experienced was actually a rebirth of the original concept introduced by Salazar Slyhterin, and that one existed only as an argument to keep certain magical skills that only existed in specific bloodlines alive. These were abilities that could only be born, not learned. The death eaters perverted that message to make it fit their own ideals of bigotry and superiority."
"Huh, so kind of like the nazis with their eugenics ideals?"
"Exactly." Minerva was impressed. She was getting too used to pureblood students who had never even heard of World War II. "Anyway, both of your parents fought on the side of the light to defeat the death eaters, but when they had you, they went into hiding as threats had been made against you specifically."
"Why? I mean my parents make sense. If they had been fighting these guys of course they'd want them dead, but I was not even a threat at the time."
"I wish I knew why, Harry. I really do. But regardless, protections were erected and we all believed your family was safe. But then, the leader of the death eaters, a monster named… named…" She struggled for several seconds before whispering, "Voldemort, somehow found them. He entered your home, killed your parents, and tried to kill you. Except something happened. No one knows what, but when he cast the killing curse at you he was killed instead. That is why you are known in this world as the boy who lived. It's why you are famous and everyone on this street would know your name if you asked them. You survived something no one ever has before, and defeated the greatest dark wizard of our time in the process. You saved us all."
"That really makes no sense, Professor. Wouldn't it be more logical to think that my parents wore him down, or performed a final spell or ritual that killed him upon their deaths?"
Minerva shrugged, "Honestly that was my personal theory, but Headmaster Dumbledore was the first on the scene and he proclaimed you the vanquisher of Voldemort and the boy who lived. No one contradicted him so this is the result."
"You know, I'm really not liking the sound of this Dumbledore guy."
The transfiguration professor wanted to jump immediately into her superior's merits and good qualities to defend him, but then she remembered it had been he who had placed Harry with the Dursley's in the first place. What was more, no stink had been raised about him being taken in by another person, so she didn't think he'd been keeping as watchful an eye on the boy as he'd promised either. Perhaps he wasn't as infallible as she'd believed. So instead she said, "I'll let you form your own opinion after meeting him."
"What is next?"
"Well first we shall need money. Your parents left you an inheritance and you should be able to access your trust vault now, so here is the key." She held a small golden key out to the boy and as he retrieved it she took notice of a strange glint in his eyes.
"Why would you have a key that is supposed to belong to me?"
"Oh I didn't have it before today. Headmaster Dumbledore provided it to aid in your supply shopping." Of course he had provided it to Hagrid but that was neither here nor there.
"And why would he have it? Do random people just happen to carry around others banking items on their person in this world?" Harry's voice was clearly full of sarcasm, and for the life of her Minerva had no answer to give him. She couldn't think of a single reason for Albus to have had that key. By law the Dursleys should have had it since he made them Harry's guardians. "I truly do not know if I am being honest, young man. But I suspect he took it after leaving you with your relatives."
"So he's responsible for the Dursleys too? Yeah, I don't like the guy."
Deciding to move on from such an uncomfortable topic, McGonagall gathered their empty bowls, and took them back to the stand. From there they stopped at the bank to acquire gold to pay for their supplies. True to form, the perpetually angry looking goblin at the front desk demanded the reason for their visit before even one word could leave their mouths.
Minerva brushed her skirt and declared, "Mr. Potter needs access to his vault"
"Hm." The creature looked Harry over and took note of the scar clear to see on his forehead with his hair pulled back. "And does Mr. Potter have his key?"
Harry pulled it from a chain around his neck. Minerva took note of it as she hadn't noticed him wearing such an article in all this time. Strange that.
"Very well. Let's go then."
The ride via underground cart had Harry whooping with delight, and the sight of all the gold in his vault had him practically salivating. The head of Gryffindor House wasn't sure whether that look was a good thing or a bad thing yet. However she helped him load a sack full of his wealth before she shrunk it down for ease of carrying. From there she also set him up with a distance exchange card, which seemed wise considering how much he traveled. The goblins offered it for those who spent most of their time out of the country. It acted as a debit card for his wealth. Furthermore, given the boy's questions about more high quality material prices it seemed useful in making up the difference should his current sack of gold not cover all of the day's shopping.
One fantastic cart ride later and the two were once more out on the street. "Alright, so we've visited the bank. What's next?"
Minerva thought about it for a moment before leading him across the way to what appeared to be a furniture store. "I'd say a magical trunk. If you are willing, as you said, to pay for quality then you cannot go wrong with investing in a solid one. Get something good enough and it'll last you for all seven years of your education. Plus it will make carrying the supplies you buy today a lot easier."
They entered the shop and were immediately met by an eager salesperson. "Oh, Professor McGonagall, new student shopping? Fantastic. How can I help?"
Minerva smiled at the person before her. She always worried about muggleborns when they left the confines of her school, so it was nice to see young Ms. Mina had landed on her feet. However before she could give the usual student specifications, her young charge interrupted.
"What all can a magical trunk do?"
"Oh," Mina thought about it for a moment, "all kinds of things really. It can hold things bigger than its mass, open up to reveal a full wardrobe, some have entire rooms, we even have a couple that descend into self contained houses. It all depends on the enchantments you are willing to pay for."
"Define a house?"
"Anywhere from five to eight rooms. No kitchen or bathroom however."
Harry thought about it for a moment and considered what he'd heard. The professor had said a good trunk could hold his belongings for all seven years for him, but if they could really do what this woman was saying then he could think of a whole nest of other uses. "I'll take a house model with eight rooms. Is there any way to safeguard it so only I can enter it?"
Mina nodded, "Yes of course, though I hope you realize how expensive this order is. You've chosen one of our highest priced models."
Minerva approached the woman, whispered in her ear, and Harry noticed her look rapidly to his forehead. Yes, he supposed being the boy who lived did indeed have its privileges.
Mina blushed, promised to get his order ready, and scurried off.
Five minutes later she returned, dragging a wheeled brown trunk by an elongated handle. "Here you are, Mr. Potter. Does it meet your satisfaction?"
The boy opened it up, and descended a wooden step ladder into a series of large, empty rooms. It was a bit strange to enter a space that hadn't existed before in the regular world, but he equated it to the hyperbolic time chamber and called it good. He walked back out and asked, "Does it come in black?"
It was a happy eleven year and teacher that made their way to the apothecary to get his potion supplies. He got the most expensive set with rune inscribed safeguards to prevent splash-back of potions, introduction of ingredients not from his hand, and inhalation of fumes.
The bookstore saw him buying the general course books for all seven years, Hogwarts a history, every defense book that looked interesting, three books on occlumency (when he found out mind reading was a thing he decided to devote a lot of time to the study), and a couple volumes on pureblood traditions. He had no intentions of bowing, scraping, or changing his attitude for others, but knowing how others think could be useful. It was when he saw a whole shelf depicting a series of fictional novels titled The Adventures of Harry Potter however that rage began to grow inside him.
Looking woodenly at the deputy-headmistress he asked, "Who gave these idiots permission to write about me?"
"I honestly don't know." Minerva was just as shocked as he was. "I imagine they just did it."
"There are no laws against writing books about actual people in this country?"
"To my knowledge it has never been an issue before. With your permission I will be contacting a lawyer on your behalf with this issue."
"Please. At the very least I want payment for their right to use my name."
Though she didn't say it, Minerva was glad to be leaving the bookstore. The sheer volume that her charge had bought there was starting to make her worried that he'd become a Ravenclaw of all things.
The next stop however was bound to severely strain her hopes of a new Gryffindor. They went to the pet shop. All around them were cages and pens featuring all manor cats, reptiles, owls, and some creatures that didn't even have a name. (Crossbreeding magical creatures led to some strange results.)
Minerva was of the firm belief that new students should definitely have a familiar, as they could be kind creatures to rely on for comfort when starting in a new place without their families for the first time, and this was especially true for students from abusive homes. So she expected Harry to gravitate towards the cats or owls as they tended to be the most affectionate. Instead… he made his way to the reptiles. A habitat featuring snakes to be specific.
His eyes were glued to the glass and as she watched he began to hiss and all of the writhing serpents stopped all movement to stare at him. Minerva's eyes grew huge as a hissed conversation seemed to go back and forth for several minutes until a tiny white snake slithered to the front of the group and Harry reached into the tank to let it slither over and curl around his wrist. The entire thing measured maybe eight inches. The boy was staring in wonder at the little creature as he wandered back over to his professor.
"Harry?" Minerva swallowed thickly before asking, "Were you just talking to those snakes?"
"Huh?" He looked up at her then. "Sorry professor, I was listening to Damien. But yeah, I was. Why do you look so surprised? Surely this is common in the magical world?"
"Damien?" he lifted his wrist and the snake bobbed its head at her.
"Ah. Well, no Harry it is not. The last known speaker of parseltongue was Voldemort himself. It is an ability that is typically inherited, not learned. That skill is very unpopular these days so I'd recommend keeping it a secret for a while."
"No." Harry said simply.
"No?"
"No. I will not hide any aspect of who I am. To do so would be to admit a fault where there is none. I'm proud of myself and the things I can do, and I refuse to hide them. If people have a problem with me then so be it. They will not be worthy of my attention or regard."
Hm, well at least he wasn't self conscious. "Very well. Are you sure this 'Damien' is the familiar you want?" He nodded. "Very well, let's grab some food and other supplies for him and then we can head to the register."
So saying they got packages of petrified mice, stands, perches, heating stones, and all manner of other items before heading to pay for it all. For some reason the cashier seemed relieved to see the little snake go.
"That right there is an albino Elaphe guttata, a corn snake. Their kind aren't really popular with people these days and we were getting worried that he would never find a home."
"Well he has one now." They left the store with Damien still curled around the boy's wrist.
Next on the list was a wand, so of course they made their way over to Ollivanders. The old fool tried his usual trick of jumping out at them, but her young charge didn't even flinch.
Ollivander was very put out. "I've been waiting a long time for you to enter my shop Mr. Potter. How did you know I was hiding here?"
"I could hear you and Damien could smell you." The snake leaned its head out of his sleeve to hiss slightly at the old man before retreating back to his master's body heat.
"Ah yes, a snake would be excellent at sniffing out hidden foes." Ollivander nodded without even skipping a beat or questioning why the boy who lived had a snake in the first place. "Now, let us see about getting you a wand."
The next thirty minutes were spent going from wand to wand, trying and failing to find a match and causing all manner of destruction to the shop in the process. Some part of Minerva couldn't help wondering how much of Garric's yearly earnings went towards fixing the damage the young students caused.
Finally, he chose a particular box from among the shelves and said, "I wonder if this would work for you. It would be mightily curious if it did." He handed a black wand with a carved hilt to the boy and the front window promptly exploded. "Strange, Dumbledore seemed pretty convinced it would be that one."
"Sorry, sir, but could I try something?" Harry was getting a little annoyed at how long this was taking. And to their credit everyone else was too. So when Ollivander gave him the okay he reached a hand out and channeled his internal cursed energy out from his body in a resounding pulse. A second later he felt a ping off a particular box eight feet away, at the back of a rather haphazardly stacked pile of green boxes.
As he went to retrieve it, Ollivander delightedly proclaimed, "Cursed Energy! I've not seen that in use since my last sojourn to Tahiti in '84."
McGonagall blinked, "You know about cursed energy, Garric? I just learned about it today."
"Not surprising at all, Madam McGonagall. Very few in our world are aware of it. That would require an active interest in the world beyond our own."
The professor lowered her eyes. The insult was clearly unintentional based on his tone, but it still stung her pride. As the one who often introduced muggleborns to the magical world she'd thought herself rather knowledgeable about the outer world at large. How wrong she'd been. She was broken from her musings by a young boy's voice asking, "Is this supposed to be doing that?"
The two adults turned to see Harry holding a rather interesting wand that was currently shooting blue, red, and gold sparklers into the air. "Hm, I'd say so." Ollivander gave the magical focus an interested once over. "Black ash, thirteen inches, and a core of shikigami feathers. I thought I'd never sell that one. Congratulations."
"Why the worry?" Harry wanted to know.
The wandmaker shrugged, "Most wizards want a wand between eight to ten inches in length. They allow for more dextrous wrist movement and faster casting. The tradeoff with yours of course is that the longer length allows for greater magical buildup and stronger spells at the expense of a slower draw time."
Madame Malkin's clothing shop was their final location of the day and the moment the woman saw her charge's scar she bustled him and the teacher into the fitting room and worked on him herself. She took his measurements rapidly and left the two of them alone proclaiming she had to get a few sample sets together. Harry suspected she wanted to show off some of her more expensive wares to the 'boy who lived' and he rather approved of it. The act saved him having to ask. As it turned out, they were not alone.
A silvery-blond boy with a sharp nose stood on the next stool over, clearly waiting for his own sample sets. "Is this your first year at Hogwarts too?" He asked.
Harry nodded.
"You're short." The mystery boy noted bluntly.
"And you look like a girl but you don't hear me talking about that." Harry growled. His height was a bit of a touchy subject for him. His years with Yuki had helped, but there was still a ways to go to make up for all the damage the Dursleys did to him.
The other boy stared at him for a few seconds before muttering, "Must be a muggleborn."
McGonagoll raised a brow at that and was about to reprimand the boy for his comment when Harry beat her to it. "Actually, both of my parents were wizards, but my mother was muggleborn so I'd appreciate you not slandering her in the future." He folded his hands over his chest and stared the other boy down, "I'm Harry Potter. Who the hell are you."
The blonde's eyes shot wide but he quickly got a hold of himself. "Potter eh? I had heard you were coming this year. My name is Draco Malfoy. It's good we met early."
"Oh really? Why is that?"
"Because my family can offer you a lot. Your name is famous in our world, and with the right influence from my father you could go far. I can help you a great deal."
It was clear to Harry that this boy wanted to use him to further his family's standing, probably on the orders of his father. That being said, there was something interesting about him. His curse enhanced perception was telling him that this boy had a deep need to prove himself. He could make use of that.
"Hm. How would you help me exactly?"
Draco frowned, "I just told you, my father can introduce you to the right sort of people and-"
"That's not what I asked." Harry focused and allowed Mr. Righty to slowly rise from the shadow of his back and stare at the newly pale looking youth while a couple of other invisible spirits rose under his feet to raise his body in the air in a mimicry of flight. "That is what your father could do, but I asked what you were capable of helping me with."
"W-What is that?"
"A little friend of mine. Now answer the question."
"A-Are you flying?"
"Draco…"
The blonde finally managed to get a hold of himself enough to answer, "Well of course my father would be the one to deal with you. I'm only eleven! What could I do on my own?"
"More than you could imagine. I'm your age and yet I've traveled the world, fought incredible battles, seen sights that defy reason, and learned things you could only dream of. By relying on only your father for things you are crippling any potential you have inside yourself. A child relies on others, a man needs to learn to fend for himself. Now that is something I can help 'you' with. Furthermore I can help you see the truth of this society. You commented on my mother so I can only assume you've been taught to believe in blood purity, yet here I stand, a half blood, doing things you can only dream of. That right there should show you at least a single flaw in that belief. So the question remains, would you like to learn?"
Draco was shaking with excitement. The slight against the beliefs his father had taught him were… troubling, but the very thought of learning to stand on his own and excel was strangely enough setting his heart ablaze! All his life he'd been told to fall in line with his father's image, but now he found himself desiring to make a new one for himself. He was shaking Harry's hand in a flash, both boys smiling.
In the background Minerva was also smiling. She didn't know why, but a good feeling was blossoming in her heart about these two. Perhaps it was not too late for the Malfoy scion to turn away from his father's influence. Maybe all he needed was a friend that could truly be his equal instead of followers that would tout his and his family's praises.
While they waited for their clothes to arrive the children played a game of one-up. In his quest to justify pureblood doctrine to his new friend, Draco would say the name of something and Harry had to try to come up with a better muggle comparison.
"Moving pictures." Draco proudly declared.
"Television." Harry answered, "Picture a moving picture that has sound and music and can show a scripted performance for several hours."
"The night bus. It travels everywhere in Britain to help wizards get around."
"One bus for an entire population? Muggles have entire fleets of vehicles of several different varieties."
"Flu travel."
"Huh?"
"It's going from one place to another in an instant via linked fireplaces."
"Really? Can you go to any fireplace or does it have to be attached to something?"
"It has to be registered to the flu network."
"Oh, well the muggles have cars, trains, ships, and planes. Each are relatively comfortable and the last one can travel at hundreds of miles an hour."
"W-Well we have trains too. We'll be taking the Hogwarts Express to get to school soon enough."
Harry looked the other boy in the eye, "What kind of train is it?"
"A steam train."
"You realize how old and outdated that is right? The Japanese have something called a bullet train and it can travel the length of their entire country in less than twelve hours. and that's with all the stops." Harry had seen a special on it on the news the month before.
Draco threw his hands up in amused frustration and their game continued for another fifteen minutes before Madame Malkin and one of her assistants came in carrying several bundles of cloth. Harry and Draco tried on their sample outfits to make sure they fit and the measurements were accurate and then it came time to pick the materials.
"Hey Draco," Harry called, "What would you recommend? I want to make a big impression on the other students when we arrive."
The young Malfoy, who had already made his selections, came over to help his newest friend, and some part of him did already consider him such. He pinched through a few different options before selecting two and presenting them. "Spidersilk and Thestral hair. The first is incredibly high quality and the second is only able to be acquired after the animal has just died so it is really rare. If you're willing to pay top price I'd recommend your robes be made with the silk and lined with the hair. It is what I'm doing."
"Won't that leave me cold in the Scottish highlands?"
Draco laughed, "Not if you request Madame Malkin here stitches in some temperature moderation runes. Your robes will never be too hot or cold."
A quick look to the woman confirmed this was possible and he made his order exactly as suggested, putting Yuki's German address as the delivery point. He was assured that while such expensive material would take longer to tailer, the outfits would still arrive with time to spare.
The boys shook hands once more and went their separate ways. Draco to a nearby flu station and Harry apparating away with Minerva. Both were looking forward to what their year could bring.