The Hopping Pot is a quiet inn, in Carkitt Market, with varnished wooden tables made from a variety of different woods. The walls are all half panelled, with tasteful wall paper above the panelling. Spread more or less evenly around the walls are moving pictures of various natural scenes from around the world. Though the scenes are slightly spoilt by the animals not staying put, as a zebra is currently trying to eat the apples in a British orchard, and a lion is hunting penguins.
One thing that does stand out, is that none of the patrons have any food at their tables.
As they're looking around, a woman approaches from the bar, "Good afternoon, just take a seat and I'll be with you soon."
Petunia smiles and asks, "Do you serve food here?"
The woman pauses, "Aye, we do. However, lunch finished at two, and we won't be starting dinner till six. We do still have some soup and this morning's bread."
Petunia looks down at Harry, who just nods, before answering, "We'll take it, and a pot of tea."
The woman nods, "That'll be two sickles, I'll get your money when I bring your food."
As they sit down to eat, Harry hands over a small pouch full of money, "Here, I think you should look after this."
Petunia smiles at Harry, "You don't have to do this, I don't mind if you pay for everything."
Harry shakes his head, "I trust you. Besides, they use strange numbers."
Petunia laughs, "Oh Harry."
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After a quick, and filling meal, the two of them walk out of the inn and across the market to Gladrags.
As they enter, Petunia pauses as the inside of the store is far more modern than she expected from looking inside the other shop windows. All the clothes are hung on racks, or placed on shelves, and there's a set of changing rooms at the back of the store. A sales assistant talking to her draws her attention to the checkout counter.
"Hello, can I help you?"
Petunia shakes her head to clear her thoughts, "Oh, um, we're looking for Hogwarts robes."
The assistant nods and points, "They're over in the back corner. If you need any help, just let one of us know and we'll be happy to help. We also offer a tailored fitting service for two sickles if you want."
Petunia glances down at Harry then back up, "That would be nice. Quick question. Harry's letter suggests Madam Malkin's. What's the difference between shopping here and there?"
The assistant smiles, as though this is an uncommon question, "Oh that's easy. Madam Malkin is a dressmaker, and all of her clothes are made to measure. Her clothes will always be perfectly fitted to you, but you need to wait for them to be ready. We've taken inspiration from the muggle world, and we stock a variety of standard sizes in the styles we offer. Privately, we actually get most of our clothes made in the muggle world. We then use tailoring spells to adjust the clothing to fit. Though it will never be quite as tailored as Madam Malkin's."
Petunia looks back at Harry, "Well, go on then. Also pick out some more casual clothing, as the stuff we bought last week isn't really enough for every day."
While Harry is off picking out clothes, Petunia spends a pleasant half an hour browsing through the dresses, skirts, and other women's clothes on offer.
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Petunia and Harry stand at the counter while the assistant is going through the large sack of clothing Harry picked out. While they're waiting, Petunia curiously looks at the baskets on the counter.
Frowning, she asks, "Excuse me. What are these?"
The assistant finishes ringing up the current item before looking over, "Oh, those are our range of runic charms. We buy them from journeyman rune crafters while they're perfecting their skills. Each one is engraved on a brass plate that is then rivetted onto soft leather with pre-awlled holes for sewing. They're 10 sickles each, plus 2 knuts if you want us to sew them in for you."
Pointing at each of the baskets in turn, she continues, "We have water resistance, cushioning, self-cleaning, warming, cooling. These three are all one galleon each, as they're more complicated durability, free flowing, and modesty, though we only have a few of that last one as it's very popular amongst the ladies."
Harry looks confused, "What does modesty do?"
The assistant looks uncomfortable, before looking at Petunia, then back at Harry, "Well, um, it prevents anyone, other than the wearer of the garment, reaching underneath that garment."
Harry nods, "I think I should have some of those, but I don't think they'd help."
The assistant looks up at Petunia in alarm, and Petunia shakes her head, "It's not what you're thinking. Harry… gets bullied a lot at home. Nothing sexual fortunately."
Harry frowns, and looks at Petunia, "Auntie, I was going to get them for you."
Petunia blanches as the assistant's face goes from accusatory to sympathetic in an instant, "Oh… um. Can we have water resistance, self-cleaning, warming, and cooling added to his coat, comfort and self-cleaning for his shoes. I think that his work robes should also be tailored to fit him."
The sales assistant quickly takes the requested tags from their respective baskets, and makes a note of where they're going, and the tailoring service.
Just as they're about to finalise the total, Harry's hand snaps out lightning quick, and snags two modesty and durability tags, before putting them on the neatly folded pile of clothes.
When Petunia is about to protest, Harry looks up, "They're for you. I'm going to school, you're not."
Petunia swallows hard as her throat suddenly chokes up.
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Once they've paid and returned to the market square, Petunia spots Hagrid pacing backwards and forwards between Gringotts and Madam Malkin's.
"Harry, can you go and let Hagrid know where we are while I look at where we're going next?"
Harry nods and runs off and returns less than a minute later with Hagrid. While he's doing that, Petunia turns the list over and looks at the map. When she sees a numbered entry just across the market from where they are she looks up the number in the list.
As Hagrid approaches, he breathes a sigh of relief, "There you are. I was worried that you got lost."
Petunia smiles up at Hagrid, "Thank you for your concern. We had some lunch in the Hopping Pot, and then we came over to Gladrags here for Harry's clothes."
Hagrid looks up at the shop, "I can't say I've ever been in there. I always go to Madam Malkin's."
Petunia nods, "I don't blame you. Even outside the magical world, someone your size would need to have all their clothes made to order."
Hagrid hums. "Well, we should probably take Harry to Ollivander's to get his wand."
Petunia shakes her head, and points across the market, "That wand makers is closer, and also on my list of recommended shops."
As Petunia starts to walk off, Hagrid startles, "Hey, wait up. Everyone goes to Ollivander's for their first wand."
Petunia ignores him as she walks into a shop advertising it as Wands by Gregoravich, Harry hot on her heels. As they walk in the shop front is a narrow strip between the glass and a long, waxed workbench with a liftable section on the opposite side to the door. Behind the workbench is a middle aged man reading a newspaper.
As Hagrid ducks through the door, the man folds his paper and puts it on the workbench, "Good afternoon, how can I help you?"
Petunia answers, "We're shopping for school supplies for Harry, and you came recommended."
Hagrid mumbled, "Should've gone to Ollivander's. It's traditional."
Ignoring Hagrid, the shopkeeper nods, "Well it's a good thing you came here then. We offer a bespoke service using a wide range of woods and cores. We will either make the best wand for you, or we will advise you on where to go to get the right wand for you."
The man points to a certificate that's hanging on the wall, "I myself achieved my mastery under The Gregoravich that the shop is named for."
As the shopkeeper launches into a well rehearsed speech about why they should shop with him rather than Ollivander, Petunia interrupts.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I trust that Gringotts knows what it's talking about when making recommendations that you have to pay for. What I want to know is how much will this cost, and is there anything we need to do to have the wand made."
The shopkeeper stalls, and then recovers, "Um… I must also warn you that we don't offer the ministry subsidy on our wands, so you will pay the full price of the materials plus 20 galleons for the time it takes to make the wand. It may seem like a lot…"
Petunia nods, "So that's about £100 plus materials. How long does it take to get a mastery?"
"Oh, uh, seven years?"
Petunia nods again, "We'll take it."
The shopkeeper looks surprised, as does Harry and Hagrid. The latter of whom replies, "You will?"
Petunia looks up at Hagrid, "Of course. Vernon sells drills for a living, and some of their drill bits go for more than that. However, over time those drill bits will save their owners money compared to buying less precisely machined bits. Whether it's through breakage, or because they become blunter faster, and start to slip or jump… Sorry, Vernon used to practice his presentations in front of me."
The shopkeeper nods in agreement, "Indeed, it might seem like a lot, but it's a tool that you're going to be using for at least 7 years, and possibly for the rest of your life."
"Will you need a deposit?"
The shopkeeper shakes their head, "Not at all. But if you do leave a deposit, you'll be able to pick the wand up anytime after nine tomorrow morning."
As she counts out the money, Hagrid grumbles, "Well, if you're not going to take my advice, ah might as well make myself scarce." In a louder voice he continues, "I just need to go out for a bit, can I meet you back here in 20 minutes?"
Petunia looks up, "Sure, if we're not here, we'll be booking a room in The Hopping Pot, a few doors down."
Hagrid leaves, grumbling, "Stupid fancy pubs, what's wrong with the leaky."
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As the shopkeeper starts pulling out trays from under the counter, he looks at Harry, "Hi, I'm Ellsworth, you can call me El, do you have a dominant hand?" Harry holds up his right hand, "Excellent, now the next step is a little hard, but I've never come across someone that can't do it. What I want you to do is push some magic into your right hand as you're passing it over the samples in these trays. You'll know when you've got it right, as the samples will feel like they're warmer or cooler."
Harry looks at the trays doubtfully, "Um, how?"
El smiles, "If you were here for a replacement wand, I'd say imagine you were casting a spell. Apart from that, you'll need to come up with your own thing." He points at one of the trays, "You can practice with this tray"
Harry frowns in concentration as he tries to so what is asked of him.
It takes nearly 20 minutes for him to start feeling anything, and that's with ongoing advice from El, and occasionally Petunia. It's when Petunia suggests imagining that Nixie is in his hand that he gets it, while El just looks at Petunia curiously.
As soon as he starts feeling anything, El smiles broadly. "Well done. Now we blindfold you, and I'll slip this tray in the middle of the others."
Harry's head jerks back in surprise, "Blindfold?"
El nods, "Yes, it ensures that you are not letting the appearance of the wood influence your decision. I know you wouldn't, but it's a sad fact that we all do it to some extent."
"Um, so, how am I supposed to tell if what I'm feeling is right?"
El smiles, "The same way you do anything else you like. Chocolate, raspberry, strawberry, lemon, earwax, coal, tar, steak, onion, or any other type of flavour or sensation."
Harry frowns doubtfully. "I'll try."
El smiles and waves his wand at Harry's head. As he does a perfectly fitted blindfold appears over Harry's eyes, underneath his glasses. Harry panics for a moment at the sudden darkness, before remembering where he is. Once he does, he reaches out blindly for the counter until he feels a small delicate hand gently guide him to the counter and the tray.
As Petunia lets go of Harry, and turns around, she feels Nixie climb onto her shoulder. Desperately, she reaches out to catch Nixie before they can jump at Harry. In the end, it takes presenting her thumb, and stroking Nixie's back for Nixie to calm down.
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It only takes Harry five minutes to narrow down the wood selection, and finally find one wood. A wave of El's wand sees him blinking at the sudden light.
As he's recovering his sight, El puts away the other samples. Before picking up the sample he picked out, "Hmm, Hawthorn. An unexpected choice, and one that is associated with the heart and emotions of the heart, the fae folk, and the rumoured outer worlds." Harry and Petunia both share a glance, "It has also been associated with five goddesses, as well as a god of sea and the realm of the dead."
El puts the piece of wood down on a small tray, "Finally, it has been used as part of bridle wreaths, coronets, and other feminine traditions for centuries. Which leaves me mystified as to how you happened to pick out this particular wood. But that's something for you to ponder later in life. For now, it's time to look for the core that will go inside the casing."
Petunia cocks her head to one side, "Is such in-depth knowledge of that sort of thing required for wand making?"
El nods, "Sort of, it speeds up the selection process if you can get a read on the sort of person you're working with. As by looking at the reactions you can get a feel of the patterns. Admittedly, it tends to speed up the core selection more, as there are only a limited number of woods that are suitable for wand making. As, with the best will in the world, you can't turn a reed, or basil stem, into a wand casing, as they're just too fragile."
When neither Harry or Petunia have anything to say, El pulls out a covered tray, "Are you ready?"
Harry nods, and El reapplies the blindfold.
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While Harry is waving his hand over tray after tray of core materials, Petunia notices Hagrid outside. Walking outside her eyes widen when she sees the brass cage.
"Hagrid, welcome back. Harry seems to be having some trouble finding a core component for his wand."
Hagrid smiles and shrugs, "It's not that unusual, as even Ollivander can take an hour or more with a difficult customer. Ah've heard horror stories from some of the professors that do muggle orientation throughout the year."
Petunia raises her eyebrows, "Why didn't we get one of those?"
Hagrid chuckles, "Well, Harry ain't muggleborn, is he."
Petunia sighs, "I guess that's true."
"Course it is. His parents had his tuition paid in full before his first birthday."
Petunia sighs, "I wish I hadn't…"
Hagrid puts a gentle hand on Petunia's shoulder as her eyes dampen, "You can't change the past, only move forward into the future. Things happen to us, or we do things, that we can wish didn't happen as hard as we want. But that doesn't change that they have. Or that we are the ones living with the consequences."
Petunia looks up at Hagrid and gives him a one-handed hug, "That was very insightful."
Hagrid ducks bashfully, "It's nothing. Not a lot to do as the grounds keeper except think."
"Well, there's no point you standing around out here in the sun, why not come in and wait inside?"
Hagrid shakes his head, "My coat and trousers are charmed for comfort, so I'm fine outside. Besides, I can talk to people as they're passing by."
Petunia shrugs, "Ok, we'll be inside if you need us."
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An hour later El slumps to his workbench, "I'm sorry Harry, but we've now exhausted my entire stock of core material. Even my unsorted stock."
Harry looks down, "So, what now?"
El pulls 10 galleons out of his pouch, "Now, I give you your money back and recommend that you go and see Ollivander, as you should at least be able to find a good match in his stock."
Dejectedly, Harry makes his way to the door while Petunia takes her hand off of Nixie in order to pick up the money. As soon as she does, Nixie leaps for El's head and starts crawling around it.
El steps back as his hands fly up to his face, "Hey, what's that? Come on, where are you?"
Petunia leans over the workbench, and is able to snag Nixie when they pause on El's face, and get a grip on something. As she pulls Nixie off, El yelps in surprised pain, "Ow, what was that? Oh bollocks, my spell's just gone."
Petunia winces apologetically, "I'm so sorry. That's Nixie and they eat magic. They do have a species name, but I can't pronounce it properly."
El looks at Petunia's hand thoughtfully, while covering the coins with his hand. After a moment he says to Petunia, "Nixie felt furry while they were on my face. Would you be willing to shave some of the fur off onto a sheet of parchment for me?"
Petunia cocks her head, "What are you thinking?"
El shrugs, "It's a magical creature, so its fur may make a good material for a wand core."
Petunia smiles and calls out "Harry, we may have found another option."
Harry runs back into the store, with Hagrid following quickly behind.
El chuckles as he walks to the back of the store, and his workshop. A minute later he comes back with an alchemical silver knife. A quick touch of his wand and the edge has been honed to beyond razor sharp.
"Be very careful with the blade, as you will cut yourself before you feel the edge. That goes for your familiar too."
Petunia frowns, "I didn't say it was my familiar."
"While the term familiar is supposed to mean an animal that you have a bond with. Most witches and wizards call any companion animal a familiar, for the simple fact it takes specialised magic to detect the bond between a bonded animal and its owner."
Petunia holds her hand out for the blade, "If it's so sharp, how do I use it?"
El demonstrates on the back of his forearm, "See how I'm laying the blade flat against the skin, and then going in the direction of the hair. That's what I'd suggest you do with Nixie. I'd do it myself, but I can't even see her."
"Her?"
El shrugs, "Just seems appropriate, I can do a sexing spell if you'd like. It's one of those useful little spells for ingredient collection."
Petunia nods, "Please?"
El runs through a couple of spells several times, as Nixie eats the first few spells before he can get a read on them. Finally, she's contentedly munching on a couple of spells for long enough that his spells work.
"Well, she's definitely female, and very pregnant."
Petunia make an O shape with her mouth. Then she shakes her head and very carefully tries to trim the fur from Nixie's back. As the knife passes cleanly through the fur with no visible effect, she frowns.
"It's not working."
El taps his fingers on the workbench, then snaps his fingers, "Ok, she's an invisible, magical creature. I'll be right back, I'm going to get my shaving razor."
"Why will that make a difference…?"
When El comes back he answers, "Iron is inimical to magic. If you have purer iron then it's even more inimical." He holds up his cutthroat razor, "This isn't that pure, but it's pure enough that I sometimes have to try and sharpen it more than once."
Petunia nods and picks up the razor, before dropping it immediately, "Ugh, that feels awful."
El raises an eyebrow, "That's probably worth remembering then, as it seems like you might be more sensitive to iron than most magicals. Do you think you can use it though?"
Petunia nods, and sets her jaw as she picks it up, and it feels like her hand has gone numb. Excessively carefully she first shaves a little from Nixie's back, only to watch in dismay as the fur evaporates on the blade.
At the same time, Nixie starts suckling furiously on her thumb, as proximity to the blade seems to be causing her a lot of discomfort.
Petunia looks back, "Harry, do you think you could help? As I need to hold Nixie over this paper, and El can't see her."
Harry eagerly comes to the counter and picks up the razorblade, before dropping it the same way Petunia did. After another demonstration. The three of them are able to get a large pinch of fur in a pile on the parchment.
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A few minutes later, El breathes a sigh of relief. "Well young man, it looks like I can make you a wand after all. We have a perfect match in the wood, and a good match with the core. I dare say that it would be the equal of any wand you could find at Ollivanders."
Harry looks excitedly at Hagrid, "I've got a wand, see."
Hagrid nods gravely, "You do, and I'm sure it will serve you well."
Petunia lets out a sigh of relief as well, "Is there anything you can tell us about the fur?"
El taps his nose, "Not right now, as the spells I'll be using are a trade secret. But I should be able to tell you more tomorrow. In the meantime, you should buy a book on the old gods and practices. That way you can read up on the gods that were associated with Hawthorn. You won't find anything like that in Flourish and Blotts, so I'd try the other bookstores first."
Petunia nods, "We have a meeting at Gringotts at nine, so we'll be by after that."
El smiles as the three of them leave.
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Once they get outside, Hagrid turns to Harry, "Ah'm sorry it's late, but ah bought you a birthday present."
He then hands Harry the cage with the white owl in it.
Petunia is about to object, but Harry coos at the owl first, "It's beautiful. What's its name? What breed is it? What does it need to eat?"
Hagrid raises his hands, "Slow down, slow down, ah canna think that fast… Right, this is a female snowy owl, and she doesn't have a name yet. For feeding, she can either hunt on her own, or you can feed her raw meat or owl treats. She's been fully enchanted for post, so she can find anyone you write to. Oh, and there's plenty of books about keeping owls in Flourish and Blotts."
Harry sticks his finger through the bars of the cage, "She's gorgeous, aren't you girl."
Petunia tenses up as Harry is completely ignorant of the danger he's putting his fingers in, but all the owl does is nibble at the finger before preening herself a bit. As Harry turns to look at her, Petunia's shoulders slump in defeat. "Yes Harry, you can keep the owl, but you need to learn to take care of her properly."
Harry beams a smile, "I will auntie."
Hagrid coughs, "Ah'm sorry about this, but it's getting late, and I have duties to see to at the school. If it's alright with you, I'll leave you here to finish shopping on your own."
Petunia nods and holds out a hand to shake it, "That's fine. You've done more than enough already with what you've done today." She glances at the owl, "Would you like to meet up with us later in the week for lunch, as I'd like to thank you for not only bringing us here, but also showing us around, even if we didn't go where you suggested."
Hagrid shakes his head, "Thank you, but ah was just doing my job."
Petunia shakes her head, "It wasn't nothing to Harry and I, and I doubt it's part of your job. So I feel I have to insist."
Hagrid shakes his head in good humour, "Ok, but only cos you insist. Send your owl with a note to let me know where and when. I'll try to get away to meet you then."
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Harry and Petunia accompany Hagrid to the edge of the market square before they turn right to buy Harry's trunk and Hagrid goes left back to the Leaky Cauldron.
Soon enough, they've passed another wandmaker, and walk into a shop full of odds and ends. On one side, there's a small toilet tent set up, near the front of the store is a pile of chests, and through the rest of the store are all manner of camping supplies.
As they're trying to orientate themselves, a beak nosed man walks out of the back. As he gets closer, he pushes his half moon glasses back up his nose. "Good afternoon, how can I help you?"
Petunia looks doubtfully at the trunks at the front of the store, "We're here for a student trunk, but I was hoping that you'd have something that looks less like it came from the Victorian era."
The man raises his finger, "Ah, muggleborn. You'd be surprised at how few people actually bother to say anything. Anyway, come this way and I'll show you our selection of suitcases. You can choose from one of our in-stock items, standard expanded, and a multicompartment travel suitcase for those times you need to deal with the muggle authorities. If you wanted, you could also order a custom suitcase, and they can have any of the features our trunks have."
Petunia doesn't hesitate, "What's the multicompartment suitcase like?"
The man pauses in front of an array of suitcases, ranging from holdall size to a full four foot tall, one deep, and two and a half foot wide.
Taking one of the larger hard suitcases, he places it on the floor and touches his wand to the combination lock, "So, our travel suitcase comes with a built in chest of drawers that holds expanded drawers."
As he removes his wand, the suitcase pops open and a chest of drawers springs out and stops when it's chest high to Harry. "Under the lid is a full sized trunk space, then each of the six main drawers are a full one foot deep, and four foot front to back. The top two drawers are unexpanded, but we can add a lock to either of them at no extra cost."
After pulling out each of the drawers, and opening the top, to demonstrate. The man reaches down and touches the combination lock with his wand again, "A simple touch with your wand will close the suitcase again. We also have an option where you can't use the magical opening and closing without first setting the combination correctly. But they're an extra galleon on top of the 8 galleon and 10 sickle cost."
Crouching down, he fiddles with the combination, "If you just set the combination and open the case using the latches, you'll get access to the second compartment, which on this model is just an unexpanded interior. Ideal for storing your travel essentials for times that you can't open the chest of drawers."
Harry starts to look at the larger suitcases while Petunia looks at the open one thoughtfully.
Seeing Petunia's expression, the man points at two suitcases that are set apart from the rest, "Those two also have a third compartment, a small study and, or, bedroom. We usually recommend people buy an actual trunk if they want those features. As the wooden trunks can have built in sticking charms and an internal lock added to preserve your privacy, and ensure that nobody walks off with the trunk while you're in it. Modern suitcases just aren't substantial enough to handle that level of work unless they're made from metal like those two."
Petunia nods, "How much is a travel suitcase?"
"Five galleons?" The man asks hopefully.
"How much are the standard student trunks?"
The man winces as he looks back towards the front of the store, "They're two galleons without enchantment. But they are made with quality wood and craftsmanship, just ready to be enchanted after your boy leaves school."
Petunia nods, "Why such a difference?"
The man shrugs, "I'm not a carpenter."
Petunia looks back at the suitcase, "How fragile are they? As I don't want to buy one and have it crack as soon as it gets caught on something."
The man waves his hands, "Oh, no need to worry about that, I include durability enchantments on all of my goods. Whether it's tents, trunks, or suitcases. If you're looking for home supplies, I've also got a nice line in self-stirring spoons and self-heating pans."
Petunia nods, "To start with, we'll just take a travel suitcase, with the additional combination lock thing. Out of interest, would you say that you specialise in camping supplies rather than home supplies?"
"Um, we also sell portable homes. I've sold three trunks with a one acre garden in addition to the six bedrooms, and entertainment rooms they bought."
Petunia nods and counts out six galleons, "Here you go, would you mind helping Harry pick the right suitcase while I have a look around the rest of the store?"
The man uses his wand to summon parchment and ink, before rapidly writing out a bill of sale, and shoving it into Petunia's hands. "Certainly, have a look, though I do have to close in just under an hour."
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20 minutes later, Harry and Petunia are walking back towards The Hopping Pot with a nondescript hard black suitcase with two wheels that looks like it was bought from liquidated stock in the mid 80's. Which, if Petunia's honest, it probably was.
As they're going round the corner, Harry notices that Stove and Packers, the bag shop, is still open.
"Auntie, did I see bags on your list?"
Petunia pulls out the recommendations she bought from Gringotts and glances down the list, "You did indeed."
Harry points at the store, "Well, they're still open."
Petunia sighs, "Well, as we're already here."
The two of them walk into the store, and Harry drags his suitcase over to the counter with the owl, "Um, we're here looking for book bags. Would you mind if I left my suitcase and owl here while I look around?"
The sales assistant looks up from her newspaper, "Sure, though we're closing in 20 minutes."
"Thanks, I'll be quick."
As he turns around to look at bags, he can see that Petunia is already looking at some handbags that look quite expensive. If her gossip circle are anything to go by anyway.
One section of a wall is dedicated to brown leather bookbags, advertised at 8 sickles each. When he walks over to look, they're basically just leather over the shoulder bags with a pocket on the front for pens. There's no magic on them at all to make them larger.
Turning away from the shelves, Harry starts to look at the bags that have been placed on carousel shelves around the floor. His search for a bag takes longer than it should, as Harry watches Petunia pick up the same bag two or three times, and even talk to the sales assistant about it.
Eventually, Harry picks out a wide expanded, over the shoulder handbag, with a fold over closure that uses a turn latch to keep the flap down. Partly, he picks it out because it claims to use a runic plate in the bottom of each of the two compartments for the expansion. But also, he likes the pale blue and pink square woven pattern on the flap, even though he's less enamoured with the white colour.
Walking up to his aunt, he holds up the bag, "Auntie, I've found a bag I like."
Petunia turns around and looks at the bag critically, "You know that's more of a woman's handbag than a book bag."
Harry shrugs and opens the flap, "The book bags are all unexpanded. And after buying the case I figured that having an expanded book bag would be a good plan. This one has two parts to it, so I could keep books in one side, and stuff that could ruin books in the other side."
Many arguments and protests run through Petunia's head as she looks down at Harry. But overriding all of that, is that he picked out the bag himself. Doing her best to keep her disapproval out of her voice, she leans down to kiss Harry on the forehead, "If that's the bag you want, that's the bag we'll buy."
Harry gives Petunia a hug, "Thank you. Could I pay for the bag myself please?"
Petunia laughs and hands him the money pouch, "Go ahead, and also ask if the self-cleaning tags can be used on your bag, as white leather is hard to keep looking nice."
Excitedly, Harry runs over to the counter and places his bag on top, "Hi, can I buy this please?"
The sales assistant looks up from their paper, "Is that everything?"
Harry shakes his head, and motions the assistant closer before quietly saying, "Could I also buy the bag that my auntie was looking at? I want to give it to her as a surprise."
The assistant frowns, "Are you sure you should be spending your aunt's money like that?"
Harry smiles sadly, "It's my money, I live with my aunt because mum and dad are dead."
The assistants face shuts down, "I'm sorry to hear that." Their eyes flick up to Harry's scar, "I shouldn't have said anything, as you're rather famous."
Harry shrugs, "I'd rather have mum and dad than the money."
The sales assistant nods as they cast a spell that causes the bag to fly across the store to the counter, "I can see that. Before I calculate the cost, would you like one of our school writing kits?"
Harry shakes his head, "I don't know, so not today thank you. But we were wondering if we can use the self-cleaning tags from Gladrags."
The sales assistant shakes their head, "No, as all of our higher end bags like these come with the self-cleaning and durability enchantments engraved on the inside of the leather, along with a limited self-repair feature. Your aunt's bag is slightly different, because it uses a plate on the inside of the bag to unseal the second compartment, which is expanded."
The assistant puts their wand to said metal plate and mutters a few words under their breath. "There, I've deactivated the expansion charm. All she'll need to do to reactivate it is push some magic into the plate, same as if she was opening that compartment. Warn her that it will use more magic than she expects. So if she's feeling light headed, she should refrain from magic use for the rest of the day."
Harry nods seriously, "I will, and how much do I owe you?"
"9 galleons, 15 sickles, and 17 knuts. Also, never put the same sort of expansion inside each other. It gets very messy if you do, and you'll have a long stay at St Mungo's. In general, it's ok to put a bag into a trunk or a tent, but not into another bag."
Harry nods seriously as he carefully counts out the money, checking the coins occasionally to ensure that they are actually the right value.
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With their shopping done, the two of them trudge into The Hopping Pot.
As Petunia looks around, she sees a sign by the bar that reads, "Enquire here for rooms."
With a sigh, she leads Harry over to the bar, looking forward to being able to put the clothes down.
Almost as soon as they step up to the end of the bar, the barkeeper walks over, "Good evening, can I help you?"
Petunia sighs, "Do you have some sort of family room?"
The barkeeper shakes his head, "No, sorry. The best we can do is two double rooms with a Jack and Jill bathroom. But the doors have a key lock on the bedroom side, and a simple bar latch on the bathroom side."
"We'll take them, how much are they?"
"Two galleons each a night. You can also pay another four sickles a night for breakfast in the morning."
Petunia checks the money pouch and nods, "Well take it. We have a meeting at Gringotts tomorrow morning, so would we be able to hold the rooms until we've finished Harry's school shopping?"
The barkeeper frowns for a second, "I'll charge you another galleon to hold the room, if you're out by 10, then I'll give it back, otherwise you'll need to be out by four in the afternoon, otherwise you'll need to pay for the night."
Petunia nods and counts out six galleons.