Chapter 8: Splurge Control

Delia had thoroughly enjoyed her freedom for the last two weeks. Exploring the Alley had actually cost her multiple days. She would enter all the shops and browse through all their wares. It had taken her a lot of self-control those days to stick to her shopping list and not just buy everything she desired. Her list was already expensive enough on its own. But hey, at least she was now the proud owner of what she dubbed 'the ultimate emergency survival kit'.

She basically had bought enough food to last at least a year under heavy preservation charms, freshwater reserves in flasks, some first aid potions and of course a tent. Not just a simple muggle-style tent, oh no, she went for a bigger magical model. The tent had multiple bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom and a living room. She had stashed most of her bought food and water in the kitchen's cupboards.

Naturally, constantly carrying a tent around would not only look weird but would also be highly impractical. Thus she decided to buy a mokeskin pouch with a heavily increased carrying capacity. Everything she had purchased for the emergency kit fit in it. She had also decided to put her invisibility cloak in the pouch. You never know when that could come in handy. The fun thing about those pouches is that they are spelled so only the owner of it could take out any stored items. So she didn't need to worry about thieves either. The main downside is that it was quite expensive.

Normally such a pouch was worn around the neck, but Delia wasn't too keen on that. Doing so might impair her ability to grab her necklace for her bow. Consequently, she had decided to secure the pouch to a newly bought fine leather belt she now wore around her waist.

In the days after the shopping spree, she had quickly fallen into a routine. She would wake up and do some exercise. It was important that she stayed in shape after all. After a quick shower, she would go down to the pub for some breakfast. During her breakfast, she listened to all kinds of conversations in an attempt to keep up with the news. A lot of them were unsurprisingly about Sirius Black. People had come up with all kinds of rumours about how he had escaped Azkaban, one more outlandish than the other.

Once she finished her breakfast, she would go to the Alley. She had not found anything about a public library in the Alley, but the bookstore had so many hidden areas that you could read there for hours without anyone disturbing you. And that is exactly what she did. She would read for a few hours to learn how the Ministry and Wizengamot functioned, as well as do some research on how she could become emancipated. Emancipation was something very tempting, but sadly wasn't an option for her yet. One of the basic requirements was having OWLs, which she was still a few years away from taking.

After she felt like she had read enough for the day, she would go to a restaurant to enjoy some food on a terras. The weather was perfect for eating outside. Following lunch, she would take a walk through the Alley, more often than not towards the quidditch store to have another look at the objectification of awesomeness, also known as a Firebolt. What a beauty that was. A very expensive beauty that she in no way could justify buying, so she kept it limited to dreamingly staring at it.

The end of her walk was always the same place: Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. She never really had ice cream growing up and now she was massively compensating for it. Fortescue would often joke that her stomach must contain a black hole considering all the ice cream she was able to eat. A bonus for being there is Fortescue himself, the man was a fount of knowledge in everything history related. He would tell her many stories in such a captivating way that she wished he was the history professor in Hogwarts. The class could actually be fun and interesting then. She had decided to ask him for help with her history essay, and it definitely had paid off.

During one of her visits to Fortescue, Neville walked into the parlour with his grandmother. They were about to start with school shopping. Delia decided to join him, under the watchful eyes of his stern grandmother. After a summer of exchanging letters, she already noticed that Neville was coming out of his shell more and more around her. In the end it turned out to be a good thing that Delia tagged along, as Neville had forgotten his book list.

Once Fortescue decided to close his shop for the day, the next step of her routine was to go back to her room and write some letters before going to bed. Life was good.

Today was different though. It was the last day before term. Ron, Hermione and she had agreed that they would meet each other in the afternoon for some last-minute shopping. It was going to be weird to see them again after so long. For them, it might have been only two months, but for Delia, it had been a year thanks to her trip to the past.

She had just finished her lunch and decided to go back towards the Leaky Cauldron, so she could wait there for Ron and Hermione to arrive. During her walk there, she suddenly heard someone shouting "Delia! DELIA!"

She turned around and saw both Ron and Hermione heading towards her, their arms already full with shopping bags. As she inspected them both more thoroughly, she noticed that the Egyptian sun had done quite the number on Ron. His skin had almost the same colour as his hair. Hermione too was a lot more tanned than before.

"There you are! We've been looking for you!" Ron said, grinning, "We decided to come a bit earlier to surprise you, but you had already left the Leaky Cauldron by the time we arrived. So we decided to start visiting shops till we found you."

"Oh yeah, I was just on my way to the Leaky Cauldron, about the shopping, I –" Delia started to answer before, to Delia's annoyance, she was suddenly interrupted by Hermione.

"Did you really blow up your aunt, Delia?" She asked in a very serious voice.

"Well yes, but it's not like I meant to do so! I just lost control and before I knew it, she was floating away into the night." Ron couldn't control himself anymore and snorted loudly.

"It's not funny Ron! She could have gotten expelled, I still don't understand how she got off scot-free!" Hermione continued, heatedly.

"Neither do I to be honest. I fully believed I was about to get arrested when Fudge showed up with all those Aurors. I doubt I've ever been as stressed in my life as I was then," Delia admitted.

Ron shrugged, "It's a good thing you're the famous Delia Potter I suppose. I doubt the ministry would show me the same courtesy if I ended up blowing up my aunt. Although the real risk in that situation is my mum, I don't reckon I would survive her reaction."

That was a statement Delia could fully believe. She might have hated her fame, but at times it did help her out. "So have you guys finished all your shopping already?" she questioned.

"No, there still is one place we want to check out. But before we do so, would you have a look at this!" Ron said gleefully, as he pulled out a long thin box. "Isn't it a beauty? Fourteen inches, willow with a core of a unicorn tail-hair! I can't wait to be back in Hogwarts so I can test it out!"

Delia briefly looked at the wand, before she noticed how many books Hermione was actually carrying. "Which books did you buy, Hermione?"

"Well, as I'm taking a few more electives than you two, and those are the books for those subjects," Hermione stated matter of factly.

"What do you mean by 'taking more electives than us'? You can only take a maximum of three electives, right?" Delia wondered.

"Normally yes, but I have gotten permission to study all of them," Hermione answered smugly.

Delia could only blink in reaction, as she tried to wrap her head around it. Even Ron was surprised by this and stopped staring dreamingly at his new wand. He rolled his eyes asking "All of them? What are you taking Muggle Studies for? You're a muggleborn! Your parents are muggles! You can basically pass the OWL now without even trying!"

"But it'll be fascinating to study them from the wizarding point of view," said Hermione earnestly.

Delia was a bit concerned though. Five new classes seemed very excessive. "Hermione, are you sure about this? You still need to do trivial things such as sleeping and eating too, and I don't know how you could possibly include that in your current schedule…"

Hermione seemed to promptly ignore the question. Ron and Delia shared a look but decided to drop it for now. They could always start an intervention later during the year if they deemed it necessary.

"So," Hermione started after a pause, "I still have some galleons left. My parents gave me some extra so I could buy myself an early birthday present."

"But we were just in the book store, why didn't you buy it then?" Ron asked, confused.

"No, I don't want to buy another book -"

"You don't want to buy another book? Is everything okay with you, Hermione?" Delia asked jokingly.

"Not now no," Hermione continued without missing a beat, "I was considering getting an owl, or a different pet depending on what the menagerie has to offer. I mean you have Hedwig, Ron has Scabbers, I want something like that too."

Delia fully understood what she meant, as the bond between her and Hedwig was very important to her.

"I could definitely use a trip to the menagerie too," Ron added, "Egypt didn't agree with Scabbers. He's looking thinner than usual." Now that Ron mentioned it, Scabbers did look less energetic and skinnier than usual.

"There are a few magical creature stores in the Alley. From what I've seen during my stay here, the one next to the broom store has the most to offer, it's practically crammed to the roof with cages," Delia mentioned. Little did Delia know how much she would come to regret steering Hermione to this menagerie, considering the vast amount of arguments that were started by the purchasing of a little feline called Crookshanks.

xxx

After an eventful shopping experience in the menagerie, they were one rat tonic and a half-Kneazle richer. They had taken a little well-deserved break from the shopping in the ice cream parlour, and now we're off back towards the Leaky Cauldron. Once they entered the building, they instantly spotted the rest of the Weasley family.

Mr. Weasley, who was sitting at the bar close to the entrance, was the first to greet them. "Delia!" he said smiling, as he put down his Daily prophet, "How are you?"

"I'm doing quite fine, thank you," Delia answered. She saw the familiar picture of a deranged Sirius Black on the front of the newspaper. "So they still have no clue where he could be?"

Mr. Weasley seemed to contemplate something before he said, "Hermione, Ron, would you mind giving us some privacy?" They both looked a bit unsure but did as he asked and went towards the table where the rest of the Weasleys sat.

"Alright," Mr. Weasley began, "there is something I have to tell you before you leave to – "

Delia, quickly realising that this was another warning about Black, interrupted him "It's all right, Mr. Weasley, I already know."

"Somebody already told you?" he asked surprised, "but I thought that the Minister - no, it wasn't him, was it?"

"No, someone else in the pub warned me about Sirius Black a few weeks ago." Delia decided to keep it hidden that Madam Bones told her about it. She clearly must have gone against direct order or something to give Delia a warning, so Delia thought it only fair to keep Bones' name out of it.

"I know it must be scary, but as long as you stay in the castle you should be safe. I know the three of you like wandering off in the middle of the night, but you have to be more careful this year! Please, respect curfew at least until Black is caught, and for the love of everything that is holy, don't chase after him for whatever reason you might think of!"

Delia was presented with a dilemma now. What Mr. Weasley asked of her was perfectly reasonable, yet at the same time, she doesn't like making promises she can't keep. Knowing her luck, there was bound to be a situation where she would need to break curfew. Not chasing Black though, that seemed like an easy promise. Why would she even bother chasing that psycho, to begin with? Let those prison guards she hears so much about deal with him.

"Alright Mr. Weasley, I promise to not chase Black and I'll try to minimise the amount of times we break curfew. I can not, however, promise to not break curfew until he is captured." Delia decided to answer.

Mr. Weasley sighed, "Well, I suppose that is the best I could hope for. Just… take care this year, okay? If you need an adult to talk to about this, you can always send me an owl, I don't mind."

Delia nodded and thanked him. With that, Mr. Weasley stood up and the both of them slowly walked to where the rest of the Weasley family was.

Mrs. Weasley was the first one to greet her, "Delia! There you are!" Mrs. Weasley said rather loudly, pulling Delia into a bone-crushing hug. "My my, you have grown a lot!"

"It's good to see you too, Mrs. Weasley," Delia answered with a smile. She could see Ginny hiding a bit behind her mother, trying to be as small as possible. Delia had hoped that after spending an entire year with her in Hogwarts, Ginny would be less starstruck about seeing her. It seems she had assumed wrongly. The events from the Chamber probably didn't help in that aspect either.

Once Delia was released from the hug, Percy held out his hand in a formal manner and said "Delia, how nice to see you."

Delia shook his hand, trying to suppress a chuckle. "Hello Percy, it's good to see you too. I heard you are the new Headboy this year, congratulations!" Percy puffed out his chest, yet was promptly pushed out of the way by the twins when he was about to thank her.

"Delia!" they exclaimed in complete synchronisation, as they bowed deeply.

"Simply lovely to see you in this fine establishment!" Said one of the twins, as he grabbed one of her hands.

"Absolutely spiffing my dear lass!" The other twin followed up, seizing hold of her other hand. Both were shaking her hands rather vigorously.

"Alright boys, that's enough now!" said Mrs. Weasley. Percy glared at the back of their heads and excused himself, claiming he was meeting someone in the Alley.

The twins rolled their eyes at Percy stalking off. "And to think we got so close to shutting him in a pyramid," George sighed, "if only mum hadn't spotted us. Everything would've been so peaceful." This time Delia couldn't hold back a snort. The thought of Fred and George being peaceful was just too absurd.

xxx

Dinner with the Weasleys was a lovely experience she had missed after last summer. During the flow of conversation, Fred – or at least she thought it was Fred – asked "So, how are we getting to King's Cross tomorrow, dad? And when are we leaving?"

"Don't worry about that too much son. The ministry is providing us with a couple of cars, departing around 10 AM." Everyone except Mrs. Weasley looked surprised at this.

"Why are they providing us with cars?" Percy asked curiously.

"Didn't you know Percy, they always do this for newly appointed head boys!" George instantly answered, "There will be little flags on the hoods too, with HB on them."

"- for Humongous Bighead," added Fred.

Percy simply shot them an annoyed glare. "Why is the Ministry providing cars, father?" Percy asked once again.

"Well, with the events of last year, we don't have a car anymore," Mr. Weasley answered casually, "so I called in some favours and there we go." Delia didn't believe him for a second. This had to be connected with the Black situation. Considering the ministry has been taking all these measures to keep her safe, it was clear to her that the situation was more dire than they had made her believe. At this rate, it would surprise her if Black was actually fully hunting her down, rather than her being a potential target amongst many.

Before anyone could vocalise any more questions, Mrs. Weasley cut in, "Good thing too. Do you realise how much luggage you've all got between you? A nice sight you'd be on the Muggle Underground... You are all packed, aren't you?" She looked sharply at them all.

"Ron hasn't put all his new things in his trunk yet," said Percy. "He's dumped them on my bed."

"You'd better go and pack properly, Ron, because we won't have much time in the morning," Mrs. Weasley called down the table. Ron scowled at Percy. Delia could've sworn she heard one of the twins cough in a way that sounded suspiciously a lot like "Snitch".

Once they finished dessert, they decided to call it a night. They would need their energy for the chaos that tomorrow would bring.

AN: Hello there! Surprise! I'm not dead! :) Already a bit over halfway in the next chapter, so don't worry, I'm not going to take another 6 months for an update.
Shout-out to Sunset from the Emerald Library Discord for being my beta!

Creativenameok : I hope you have a wonderful year too! Thank you for your continued support :)

Crashthisnow : Sorry you feel this way, but like I said before, I'm not planning to abandon this, I'm just not the most dedicated writer to say the least x)

Phoenix Namikaze : I'm honestly not planning to do too much with that just yet, just a little wink in the story for now.

Elyngas : Her powers did take some time to figure out haha :P I would definitely like a story with a pairing like that, but idk if I'm suited to write it. True, figured it would be a nice cameo, but indeed not one that's too realistic haha. Never liked the Isu part of AC either, but hey, to each their own.

Citerih : Sorry to tell you, but that won't be the pairing, it will be Delia/Artemis

Sankarea396 : Only the future can tell ;)

James Birdsong & Helixe & Dogman999 & RedOuroboros & Impashadows & AnonymousX21 & Sunflowergalwrites & Sassy973 & HunterofArtemis126 & G Wash & RavenWidowFlame : Thank you all for your kind words! Hope you guys will like the future chapters, I will try my best :)