Chapter 5: The Shopping Trip

Word count: 3,751

A/N I managed to write this chapter quicker than the previous one. And the entire chapter is devoted to shopping which wasn't my original plan.

Harry woke early again the next morning. After a quick breakfast, scrambled eggs on toast again but with a side of sausages, he set out into Diagon Alley to begin his shopping.

He decided that getting a new trunk was the sensible place to start so he wandered up the alley in search of the luggage shop he remembered going into with Hagrid. When he eventually found it and went inside he wasn't sure where to look. Two years ago Hagrid had directed him straight to the standard school trunks, but there were so many different trunks, as well as various other items of luggage.

Walking deeper into the shop he came across a selection of backpacks and satchels. Some of them apparently included a hidden expanded compartment. That could be useful. Harry decided he'd go back to look at them after choosing a trunk. He continued on trying to find the multi compartment trunks Sirius suggested.

"Can I help you?" A voice came from Harry's right. He looked up to see a man walking towards him. He was wearing a navy blue robe that had the name of the store stitched onto it so Harry assumed he worked there.

"I'm looking for a multi compartment trunk." Harry answered. "Ideally one that looks like a standard school trunk." He added as an afterthought. Then he wouldn't need to explain to anyone why he got a fancy new trunk.

"Ah, excellent. Follow me. I have the perfect trunk for you."

Harry followed the man even deeper into the shop. They stopped at a trunk that did look exactly like his current trunk.

"Have a look then." The man said when Harry didn't do anything.

Harry crouched down to look at the trunk. Opening it he found the same single large compartment that his trunk had. Examining the trunk further he could find no indication of other compartments. Harry looked up at the shop assistant inquisitively.

The assistant gave a quiet chuckle before stating. "Close it then."

Harry did so and the assistant knelt down beside him to show him the pattern printed around the edge of the top of the trunk. Near the handle the pattern changed and very subtle symbols could be seen mixed in. So subtle that you would only notice them if you knew they were there.

"Pushing your magic into a particular symbol as you open the trunk will reveal the associated compartment." He demonstrated on one symbol, opening the trunk to show Harry a wardrobe compartment. "There are security wards you can set up so the extra compartments will only open to your magical signature. You can add passwords too."

"Brilliant," Harry said. It was exactly what Harry wanted. The next ten minutes were spent with Harry learning what each compartment was and how to set the wards and passwords.

Before purchasing the trunk Harry went back to the bags he had seen before. There was a very non descript blue canvas backpack. It had a hidden compartment with an expansion charm and Harry thought it would be great if he ended up back in the muggle world. The Dursleys had the last two summers locked his trunk in the cupboard under the stairs but they let him keep his backpack.

There was also a selection of leather satchels in different colours. There was a dark red one that Harry thought would be perfect for Hermione's birthday present. He wanted one for himself too, satchels worked better with robes than backpacks. A black one had a snake embroidered on it. He couldn't make up his mind between that one and a forest green one. Sirius would say get both, he was sure of it. As he thought that he found himself picking up both satchels without really intending too. This, he thought, must be Sirius' command at work.

He considered putting one back, but as he did so the magic of the command seemed to tighten around him. It wasn't very strong, it felt a bit like it was nudging him towards a particular action, but he felt this wasn't the moment to test acting against the command. Gathering up his chosen bags he headed to the counter.

The shop assistant raised an eyebrow at Harry when put down the bags.

"One's a present." He said, a little defensively. "I had a question about the bags."

"Mmm," the assistant murmured, indicating Harry should continue.

"Will I be able to store them in the trunk? I mean, do the expansion charms conflict or something."

"Ah, an excellent question. When the bags are empty the charms are inactive so can be safely stored inside something else using expansion charms. The trunk though makes use of wizard space, which is a little different. Even if the charms were active you would still be able to store the bags inside the trunk."

"Oh, good." Harry replied.

"We have a book on the topic if you're interested in learning more." The assistant offered.

"Really, that'd be great. Can I get two copies?" A copy of the book would be a good companion to the bag for Hermione's birthday.

After paying and packing the books and bags into the trunk Harry left to begin the clothes shopping part of his day. Madame Malkin's first. He didn't much want to go into the fancier places wearing Dudley's hand me downs.

"New school robes, dear?" Madame Malkin asked almost as soon as he'd got in the door.

"Um, yes. But, I wanted to get a full wardrobe of clothing too." He pulled nervously on his t-shirt as he spoke.

"Yes, that seems a good idea." She said, her eyes appraising the appalling state of Harry's clothing. "Let's get you properly attired then. Up on the stool. I'll need new measurements.

Harry stood up on the stool and tried not to fidget while Madame Malkin moved around him taking his measurements.

"So, what colours do you like, Mr Potter?" She asked as she worked.

"Oh." Harry thought about it. "Red and Green, not together though, I'd look like a Christmas tree." Harry smiled at Madame Malkin. "I like blue, grey and black too."

"Very good. You can get down now. I've finished measuring." Madame Malkin responded.

They spent the next 15 minutes discussing what items of clothing Harry wanted. Most of his order he would need to pick up in a couple of days but a few outfits along with his new school robes were put together for him to take with him then. From the pile he pulled out a pair of navy blue trousers, a light blue short sleeved button up shirt and a medium red casual robe.

While Madame Malkin packed up the rest of the clothes Harry changed into his first new outfit that wasn't a school uniform. Looking at his reflection in the mirror felt a little strange. It was him but it also wasn't. He decided eventually that this was the new Harry Potter, one who was more confident and aware of his place in the world.

He bent down to put his trainers on and looked at them with distaste, they did not fit with his new Harry Potter image.

"Madame Malkin." Harry called to get her attention. "Do you know where I can get some new shoes?"

"Of course dear. There's a shoe shop just 3 doors up on the left." She said as she handed him his other new clothes.

Harry thanked her and set off to the shoe shop. Disappointingly they didn't have trainers, but they had a nice selection of leather and dragonhide boots and shoes. Harry got several pairs including a pair of navy blue leather boots that would nicely complement his current outfit.

Feeling properly attired he felt he could now actually go into Twilfit and Tatting's. Similarly to Madame Malkin's on entering Harry was immediately approached, this time by a sales assistant.

"Good Morning Sir. Are you wanting new school uniforms?." She asked. Harry was about to say no when she continued. "We have both Summer and Winter weight uniforms in stock."

"Winter uniforms?" He said questioningly. That hadn't been an option at Madame Malkins.

"Oh, yes. Did you not know winter uniforms were available?" She led him over to the uniform display to show him robes and cloaks made of thick wool materials. They did look very warm. The standard uniforms were displayed too and Harry noted the robes were of a slightly more formal design than at Madame Malkin's. The fabric seemed different too.

Sirius encouraging him to try a variety of clothing echoed in his mind and he figured that Sirius would include uniforms in that. The thick wool uniforms would certainly be nice to have, the castle got very cold in winter. He contemplated the standard uniforms, he didn't technically need them, but he recalled Sirius commenting on needing to look the part as an Heir and Lord.

"I'd like both standard and winter robes please." Harry said, turning to look at the shop assistant.

"Excellent, will that include house uniforms or just black ones?" She said, waving her hand at another display.

Harry looked at the display she was gesturing at.

"Oh." He looked at them. Now that he thought about it he did recall other students wearing robes in their house colour in the evenings and at the weekends. Harry was abruptly reminded of his primary school's PE jumper. It was in the school's royal blue with the school crest on. Despite being an optional item everyone had one including Dudley, everyone except him. He hated that feeling of being the odd one out, particularly over something so trivial.

"Yes, please." He found himself saying, before he could give it much thought.

"Good, good. Anything else beside uniforms"

"Uh, yes. I wanted a full wardrobe of clothing too." He answered, remembering what he actually came in for before being distracted by school uniforms.

Over the next thirty minutes he was measured again and had another long conversation about colours and styles. Finally he was out of the door with instructions to come back in 3 days to pick everything up.

Deciding to finish up the clothes shopping he decided to try finding Adelford's next. Plus he was curious about Verdant Alley, having not been aware of it before. The shop assistant in Twilfit and Tatting's had said Verdant was up past Gringotts to the right so that's where he headed.

Once he was almost at Gringotts he saw a signpost he hadn't noticed before. There was an arrow pointing back the way he came saying Diagon Alley. Another said Verdant Alley and pointed up to the right of the bank. There was also a third sign that said Harlequin Court, this one was pointed to the right of Verdant Alley. He wondered what was up there.

Putting the mystery of Harlequin Court aside he set off up Verdant Alley. It didn't take long to find Adelford's, it was only a few stores up. Adelford's was not like the other two shops. Rather than the displays filled with items available for sale there were shelves full of bolts of fabric interspersed with mannequins dressed with examples of custom clothing.

Harry was drawn to a black fabric with a subtle pattern in a shimmering dark green embroidered over all of it. Closer he could see the pattern was the outline of snakes.

"Like that one do you?" A voice came from behind him startling him. He turned to find a well dressed man who looked to be in his thirties. He was wearing dark red trousers, a grey shirt made of some sort of shiny fabric and in place of robes a wine red velvet frock coat.

"Um, Hi." Harry stuttered out. He glanced back at the fabric. "It's nice."

"It is." The man held out his hand. "Malachi."

"Harry." He reciprocated, shaking the man's hand.

"Yes, I think there are few who do not know who you are, Mr Potter." Malachi smiled. "How can I help you today?"

Harry was about to make the same request he'd made at the other two shops and ask for a full wardrobe but then he paused. This didn't seem like the kind of shop that one bought a full wardrobe from.

"I've been updating my wardrobe today. This is the first time I've been able to choose my own clothes. My," he paused, realising he can't say Godfather, "friend suggested that I get a variety of items so I can learn what I like."

"Ah, Excellent. We can certainly help you with that." He contemplated Harry. "Any preferences at all."

Harry looked down at himself and thought. "I suppose practical clothing, you know, stuff you can move well in." He said, thinking of all the scrapes he'd gotten into.

"Mmm. Any particular budget."

"Not really." Harry said.

"Excellent. Malchi said, and then proceeded to practically drag Harry around the shop to look at all the options. At one point Harry was shown battle robes in dragonhide. Harry wondered if they could have helped during his encounter with the basilisk. That got Harry thinking.

"Can you make clothes out of basilisk hide?" He asked.

Malachi stopped and turned abruptly to face Harry.

"You have access to basilisk hide." He asked, an eagerness clear on his face.

"Uh, well. Last year I had to kill one." Harry said hesitantly.

"What!" Malachi said, losing his composure. "Why… How…" He spluttered a bit. "Are you harvesting it?" He asked eventually. Harry wasn't that would have been his top question to learning a child had killed a basilisk.

"I, uh. I can do that!" Harry said, not having known that was a possibility.

"Oh, yes." Malachi answered. "Talk to the Gobins about it, they'll be able to help you. And when you do, send me a sample of the hide and I'll let you know what can be made from it."

"Really, thanks. I'll do that."

"Excellent. Now, do you want the Potter crest on your robes?"

Harry hadn't know that was an option either. But now he did, it was definitely something he wanted.

By the time he was finished at Adelford's, Harry was extremely overwhelmed by the variety of clothing options and he couldn't remember half of what he was getting. He figured Sirius would be happy though.

He was just about to walk back down Diagon Alley when he saw a Jeweller's across from Adelford's. He walked across to look at the window display. Seeing a handful of watches on display he stepped inside. After a good look round he settled on a fairly simple silver design that had a colour change charm on the strap. Setting the strap colour to the same red as his robe he set off to get the rest of his school supplies.

At Flourish and Blott's Harry sought out his school books first. It was then that he realised that the biting book that Hagrid had sent him for his birthday was the assigned book for Care of Magical Creatures. There was a shop assistant struggling to close the cage the books were in and he had clearly been bitten by at least one. Glad that he already had that one he picked up the others on his list.

He contemplated the books for the electives he hadn't chosen and decided to get those too. He'd seen Runes in use both at the bank and at Grimmauld Place and they were clearly important which he hadn't realised before. Having a basic knowledge of all the subjects would be a good idea. Who knows what else might turn out to be important.

He then explored the bookshop, something he hadn't been able to do the previous two years. He picked up several more books including a few on potions so he could attempt to understand his Mother's notes and the Curses and Counter-Curses book that Hagrid hadn't let him have before first year.

Leaving the bookshop he headed for the stationary shop. Just before he got there he came across an Oculist's and was suddenly reminded of his intention to get new glasses. Entering the shop he found a wide range of frames. Since he'd never been there before and didn't even know his prescription he had to get his eyes tested first.

It transpired that his current glasses did not have quite the right prescription. Harry then spent a pleasant quarter of an hour trying on different frames, something he'd never been allowed to do before. Aunt Petunia had always just quickly grabbed the simplest cheapest frames, despite the fact that they didn't have to pay for them the Dursley's still didn't want Harry having anything too nice.

He found a nice silver pair with rectangular frames that looked nice on him and had the added benefit of being completely different to his old glasses. At the oculist's recommendation he got two pairs as well as a nice case for each pair.

Continuing with his shopping he got a large supply of stationary including some notebooks of his own. Both his parents had kept notebooks for their favourite subjects and he thought it might be nice to do the same. At the apothecary Harry picked up a couple of the third year potion kits. He wondered if Grimmauld Place had a potion's lab, it would be good to do some practice away from Snape, and decided to get extra kits for the first to third years.

Harry's last stop was the Magical Menagerie to get some owl treats for Hedwig. While there he had a look at all the animals. At the back of the store Harry came across several enclosures of snakes. They were practically hidden. Harry felt a little offended on their behalf. He knew what it was like to be hidden away and not wanted to be seen. He really didn't understand the wizarding world's distaste for snakes. It wasn't the snakes' fault that there were a few evil parselmouths.

"Hello." He whispered to the snakes.

Most of the snakes perked up at hearing him, one in particular started to move closer. It was dark grey mixed with splashes of red and was the only snake in its enclosure.

"A speaker. Can I go with you?" The small snake hissed enthusiastically.

Harry blinked. That hadn't been what he expected. The idea of a pet he could talk to, that would talk back, was very appealing. There was also a certain curiosity to exploring parseltongue more which Harry figured would be easier with a snake. But he couldn't get a snake, they weren't on the list of pet options and everyone would likely think him going evil if he turned up to school with a snake.

However as he started to reject the idea of getting one the magic of Sirius' command flared up. This time he did attempt to fight it but It constricted around him, almost seeming to hold him in place. He didn't know what to do. He really shouldn't get a snake. He could break Sirius' command but he could feel that it would take a lot of effort. There was also a part of him that really didn't want to. Sirius probably wouldn't be mad about it, he had bought all the specific things Sirius had mentioned. It might disappoint him though, might make Sirius feel Harry couldn't be trusted and that he didn't want.

Beyond potentially disappointing Sirius it was apparent that he did want the snake. Was a possible negative reaction from the people at school worth disappointing Sirius. It wasn't he decided eventually and moved closer to the enclosure. As he did so the magic loosened its hold on him.

"Are you sure?" He asked the snake.

"Yes, please." The snake responded.

Harry looked at the enclosure to see if it said anything about the snake. It did. Apparently the snake was an Ignis Adder. A native magical and venomous breed.

"Alright then. I have to tell the shop worker I want to buy you."

Harry walked over to the sales desk. There were a couple of customers in line already but eventually it was his turn.

"Hello, just the owl treats." The sales assistant nodded at his hand.

Harry looked at what he was holding. He'd forgotten about those.

"Oh, no. I'd like to buy the Ignis Adder too." Harry said politely.

"You… what?" The assistant said, startled. Evidently this was not a common request.

"The Ignis Adder." Harry repeated and pointed towards the snake enclosures.

"Oh, yes. Are you sure?" He looked at Harry uncertainly. "Snakes are not a popular pet choice, they're normally bought by apothecaries and potioneers."

Harry couldn't help himself, he glared slightly at the man.

"Yes, I'm sure." He said strongly.

"Of, course." The assistant acquiesced. "Do you need a terrarium and food? Antivenom?"

"Yes, please. All of that." Harry answered pleasantly. Pleased that despite his reservations the assistant was being helpful. Including offering antivenom which Harry hadn't considered and now realised he really should have.

"Fine. Wait here while I gather the snake and supplies." The assistant said before moving off.

When he came back Harry took the snake and let it wind around his left wrist. The terrarium and other supplies he packed into his trunk.

"Thank you." Harry said as he paid for everything.

"Of course. Do come again."

Harry smiled and left the store. Back onto the alley he realised he had purchased everything he needed. He looked up and down the alley considering if he'd missed anything he wanted, but he couldn't think of anything.

Seeing the bakery he decided to get a few more pasties. They were a good option for Sirius and there was a tasty looking Chicken Tikka one in the window. That done, he set off back to the Leaky Cauldron.

Back in his room Harry practically dropped his new trunk beside the bed, suddenly feeling quite exhausted. He retrieved the terrarium and set it on his desk, putting the snake inside.

"Do you want something to eat?" He hissed at the snake.

"No," he replied, shaking his head side to side slightly. "I'm sleepy," and promptly curled up into a tight spiral.

Shrugging at the apparently lazy serpent, Harry grabbed one of the pasties and sank into the chair needing a brief period of peace and quiet before going back to Grimmauld Place. Shopping, he decided, was very hard work.