As Harry entered Madame Malkins he was surprised at the contents of the shop. He knew from the few times that he had been in a clothes shop that most of the time muggle clothes came premade with different sizes set up but it seemed that wizards had their clothes made to fit them specifically, assuming that Hagrid didn't take him to an expensive clothes shop that is. There were very few premade outfits in the shop and those seemed to be there as examples, there was a table with sheets of parchment that seemed to show different styles of robes beside which there was a pile of swatches of clothes in varying colours, patterns and textures.

"Hello, young sir how are you?" A kind voice asked from behind him, when Harry turned around he saw an older teenager with long blonde hair and kind brown eyes, "Madame Malkins and Apprentice Shafiq are just finishing up a few outfitting's in the back but once they're done one of them can take over in front and I can help you find your mum, why don't you come and wait with me until they're finished up" she said clearly thinking that Harry was younger than he was and shouldn't be alone, something Harry found rather insulting since she didn't look any older then 15 herself.

"Um, I'm here for my Hogwarts robes actually" Harry said awkwardly.

"Oh right, I'm sorry about that" she said embarrassedly her cheeks flushed, "we're a bit busy at the moment but we'll get to you shortly, why don't you have a look at Hogwarts approved fabrics for robes, as well as some shirt and trousers options, we keep them over there" she said as she point to another table with a considerably smaller pile of fabric, all of it black, and a very thin pile of parchment.

Harry nodded to her before going over to the table, she smiled before returning to the back of the shop. Harry started by looking through the pile of fabric and while he found that though they looked the same from afar up close there were slight differences in appearance and they all felt much more different than he would have imagined. All of them were labelled with a number and beside them was a few pieces of fabric saying what they were and the cost per robe, the price difference between different fabrics surprised Harry greatly but when he looked at the ingredients he supposed it made sense. His favourite one was labelled number 4 and it was a 60% 40% mix of mooncalf wool and cotton as it was incredibly soft and was labelled as being good for winter since it was good at keeping you warm, his second favourite was labelled number 2 and was a 10% 30% 60% mix of mooncalf wool, veela cotton and regular cotton it was quite a bit less soft then the other fabric but Harry still liked the feel and since it was more breathable he imagined it would be better for summer.

He turned to his right to look at a small rack with a mixture of blouses, shirts, jumpers, skirts, shorts and trousers. He noticed that there was a not that though the body of all items of clothing displayed on the rack were premade into various sizes that before purchase they would be edited to fit the exact right measurements of the person they were intended for. He had a look through to see if there was anything he liked hopeful that he could keep anything he bought hidden from his relatives. He came across a few things that he liked and decided to get. There was an off-white shirt that reminded him more of his aunts blouses than anything else he had seen his relatives wear but given that the Wizarding World seemed to be stuck in the Victorian Era if not further back he was pretty sure it was for men, he decided to get two of these. Then there was some plain black slacks and some shorts that would stop just above the knee, he decided to get two pairs of each and hoped that Hogwarts had staff to do laundry since after having done all of the laundry for the Dursley household since he was eight he knew how much effort it took. He added a two grey woollen jumpers onto the list of what to get in the hopes that he wouldn't get overly cold in winter with them as options.

Once he was finished he decided to go and have a look at a small selection of shoes that they had. It was only once he was there that he saw that this was where they kept their small collection of premade clothes which consisted solely of underwear and pyjamas, He quickly made up his mind to pick some out once he knew his measurements. As he turned away from the premade clothing and went back to looking at the shoes he saw that the majority of the shoes which he had originally assumed to be leather were in fact made of a similar material to his satchel just in a variety of different colours and textures. As he was looking at a pair of ankle boots that he really liked the look of the girl that had talked to him before came back over, Though he didn't notice until she had already spoken.

"Do you want to try those on?" she asked "I can measure you and see if we have any in your size"

Harry thought about it for a minute before deciding that there would be no harm in trying them on but as to not get his hopes up he felt he had to ask the price.

"How much do they cost?"

"They cost 6 galleons, but as a Hogwarts student if you spend 30 galleons or over on a shop then you get 15% off" she answered.

Harry quickly added everything up and allowing for a few galleons for pyjamas and underwear his shop should come to just above or bellow 40 galleon.

"I'll try them on then" he said.

"Perfect" the girl said with a smile "just pop your shoes off then and I can see what size you are"

Harry did as he was told by the beaming witch and watched as she walked over to a shelf and took down what must be a foot measuring device. She motioned for a harry to sit on a stool in the corner before putting it down in front of Harry and as he put his feet in it the piece of polished wood came down and touched the tip of his big toes. The girl looked over to read the small numbers that Harry could now notice running up the edge of the device.

"You'll be in our size 1, your lucky as that's the smallest size we do for our Hogwarts range. Let me just grab a pair from out back"

Harry looked down at the measuring thing and saw what she meant. Size 1 was in the Hogwarts range but it was the first size that was and it was one of the sizes that overlapped with the kids shoes as well, he guessed that he really was lucky to not be stuck wearing shoes from the kid options he thought as he looked over at them. They were all done in bright colours and there was none in the scaly leather material that he had already developed a liking for. It wasn't long until the girl was back and handing Harry the shoes. Excitedly Harry put them on and found that not only did they fit perfectly but that they were the most comfortable shoes he had ever worn. After Harry had told the girl that he was definitely buying them and as he was trying them out by walking around the shop a pudgy boy with dirty blonde hair who would have remined Harry of Dudley had it not been for the nervous, almost fearful, expression on his face came out from the back followed by and older lady with a strict expression and a hat with a stuffed, Harry assumed at least, vulture perched on it.

"Hello Mrs Longbottom have you got everything you need then?" Asked the kind girl that had been helping Harry as she retook her place behind the counter.

"I have Miss Brown"

"Okay that'll be 80 and 6 sickles galleons then" The girl that Harry now knew as Miss Brown said after looking down at something on the counter.

The lady reached into her handbag and brought out a green purse that seemed to be made of the same stuff as Harrys pouch. However instead of bringing out gold like Harry was expecting the lady brought out what looked like his aunts check book. His suspicions on what it was were confirmed when she wrote something on the top piece before ripping it off and handing it over. As they were finishing up Harry was distracted by aa lady who appeared to be in her early twenties coming from out the back. She looked around for a second before spotting Harry.

"Hello deary, I'm Apprentice Shafiq I'm ready to get you fitted now"

What followed were Harrys least favourite experiences of the day as while he had enjoyed picking out new clothes he did not enjoy getting fitted for them, this was not helped by the snooty blonde boy getting fitted next to Harry who seemed to really want to tale to him but remined Harry a lot of his cousin with his arrogance, nor was it helped by the women's exclamations of surprise when he told them he was needing fitted for his Hogwarts clothes and as they kept on talking about how "they keep getting smaller" and "can you believe that we were that small when we were younger". With all of that Harry was Happy when he paid for his new clothes and had them packed away in his satchel along with his old shoes. The only things that brightened the experience at the end was discovering that his satchel had three separate compartment that it could switch between magically, thus making it so that he had space for all his new clothes even if they take up 2 whole compartments, and that when he looked through the shop window he saw Hagrid standing outside with two ice-creams in hand.

After they had both finished their ice-creams, with Harry taking far longer than Hagrid, Harry decided that now was a good time to ask Hagrid a few of his questions. He turned to Hagrid as they walked down Diagon Alley toward where Hagrid said there was a luggage shop where Harry could get his trunk.

"Hagrid when I was getting fitted in Madame Malkins there was a boy also getting fitted who said that those without magical parents were all useless, and some stuff about somethings called quidditch, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Do you know what he was talking about?"

"Ah' its a load of dragon dung all that, if you ask me there is no difference between the so called purebloods like that boy probably was and muggleborns like yer mum 'cept perhaps upbringing I suppose. As for Hufflepuff and Slytherin those are two of the Hogwarts houses alongside Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, you'll get sorted when into one of 'em you when you get to Hogwarts. Quidditch is a sport played on brooms. Each house at Hogwarts has its own team and they compete throughout the year for the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup though you don't have to worry about that at all until at least second year as that is the earliest that you can join your house team, when i went to Hogwarts I went to a few games in first year before i decided that it wasn't for me" Hagrid Explained.

Harry was silent for a while longer to think all of this new information through before replying.

"What's the difference between the houses? And what do you mean by 'sorted', how's that done?" Harry asked.

"Well the differences between the houses is to do with personalities. Gryffindor is for the brave and determined, Ravenclaw is for the intelligent and creative, Hufflepuff is for those who are loyal and hardworking and Slytherin is for those who are cunning and ambitious. Though the headmaster once told me that it wasn't just what we were that mattered but what we valued that was taken into account as well. I cant tell you how you're sorted though I'm afraid so you'll have to wait until you get to Hogwarts"

"Huh, something that can tell all those things about something must be pretty powerful" Harry said wonderingly.

"I suppose it is in a way" Hagrid said in as thoughtful of a voice as Harry guessed he could, "that's us here now Harry, since you already have your satchel and money pouch I guess all we'll need to get here is a trunk, so it shouldn't take too long"

As Harry walked into the shop followed by Hagrid a bell sounded from the top of the door. A middle aged man turned around from where he was organising a shelf of handbags and quickly made his way over to them.

"How can I help you two gentlemen today?" He asked.

Harry glanced back at Hagrid to see if he was going to speak but he just smiled and motioned for Harry to go ahead.

"I need a trunk for Hogwarts" he said as confidently as he could manage, thankful for the strong and by now somewhat familiar form of Hagrid standing behind him.

"If you'll follow me I can show you the styles of trunks that we recommend for Hogwarts students" the an said before leading them over to a shelf with three trunks on it, "These are our show trunks so they are not for sell but we have a few identical ones out back if you decide you want one"

The man took the trunk furthest on the left off the shelf first and showed Harry the outside before opening it and showing him the inside.

"This is our basic model that is popular with Hogwarts students, as you can see the inside is just the one space so it has very slightly more space than our other two models that are popular among students. This model also does not come with a built in security lock so it is a few galleons cheaper because of that as well at just 7 galleons and 12 sickles" the man said before putting it back on the shelf and taking off the the second trunk, he showed Harry the outside like the one before but when it came to opening it be took out a small key and slid it into a lock at the front, "This is our standard model, it comes with two built in spacers that have lids that buckle shut to keep everything in, the feedback that we have had says that these are good for keeping potions ingredients separate so that they don't contaminate books and clothes. It also has a basic security lock that comes with a key and has been charmed against the most common unlocking charms, it costs 10 galleons and 9 knuts"

As the man put that trunk back on the shelf and turned to grab the next Harry made up his mind. He liked the idea of not having potion ingredients getting onto his clothes (especially now that he had new ones) and having a trunk that wasn't easy to get into was a bonus, even if from the looks of it both trunks had a spot to put a padlock he quite liked the idea of having a built in lock. He also didn't want to pay anymore than that and he imagined that the next model had to be at least a few more galleons if not extra in cost.

"I'll take the standard model" Harry said before the man could get the next trunk down.

"Excellent" the man said as he turned around, "if you'll just follow me I can show you photos of all the trunks of that model we have in stock"

"I though that they were all identical to that one are they not?" Harry asked.

"In size shape and features yes, and in price as well but we have a few different finishes, though we do have at least one identical to that one in stock at least" the man said.

When they got to the counter the man brought out a book and handed it to Harry who found that the man was telling the truth. it seemed that the differences between some of the trunks was the metal used in the finishings, with some having steal and some having brass, and the fact that some had the leather different colours. Harry browsed until he came across one that matched as closely as he imagined one of the trunks could to his satchel. It was and Orange brown leather with steal metal and the colour of the leather was very similar to the colour of Harrys satchel.

"I'll take this one" Harry said as he turned the book to face the man and pointed to the photos of the trunk that he wanted.

"A good choice, I'll be back in a jiffy" the man said as he walked to the back of the shop.

Just five minutes later Harry and Hagrid stood outside the shop with Hagrid holding the trunk that now held Harrys new clothes.

"Where to next then Harry?" Hagrid asked.

"Can we go to the book shop next Hagrid?" Harry asked in reply.

"Course Harry, that's this way then" Hagrid said before leading Harry further up the street.

Well it took me longer than I had hoped but I managed to get it done by the end of September and managed to keep to my plan to have one chapter going out a month.

I really hope you enjoyed as I doubt that this chapter was for everyone, but this fic is probably going to end up being long and very detailed (I've tried writing differently before and it just end up with me giving up part way through) but I hope you and enjoy regardless. Feel free to tell me of any spelling or grammar mistakes that I've missed as I'm dyslexic and the help with those things is always appreciated (I plan to go back to chapter 1 at some point and fix any that I've missed).

Thanks for reading,

Nymphprince