Chapter 72 Chapter 72
In this way, Evan and Harry lived at the Leaky Cauldron for the remaining two weeks of summer vacation.
Evan had more to do now, as Harry was so excited.
In the following days, he visited almost every magic shop on Diagon Alley. He persuaded the businesses to advertise in the newspaper, as Hogwarts Magic gradually increased sales, many businesses were willing to do so, which gave Evan more advertisers.
Evan slightly increased his savings, buying many things for himself, such as potion ingredients that far exceeded what a young wizard should have.
Last year, when preparing the Polyjuice Potion, the book recording the formula had many practical potions that enhanced your combat ability, which was very useful. If you wanted to buy the finished product, it would cost a lot of galleons; it was more cost-effective to do it yourself.
Additionally, he purchased a fascinating real-time constellation model.
With that, he no longer had to attend astronomy class. Evan was tired of freezing every Wednesday night in the astronomy tower; it didn't help that he was afraid of heights.
He then went with Harry to buy some items from their school supplies list.
First, they went to Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions to buy a new robe. As they exited the store, they saw a crowd gathered around another shop.
They approached to see what all the fuss was about, and Evan noticed it was Quality Quidditch Supplies, with a beautifully crafted broom in the shop window.
"The Firebolt, the best broom currently on the market! The broom is made of ebony wood, has birch or hazel twigs, and has golden numbers engraved on it."
Evan only glanced at it for a moment without showing any interest, but Harry almost got so close that his face almost touched the glass.
"Come on, Harry, you already have a broom, so you don't need to buy a new one," said Evan. He knew Sirius would give Harry one as a Christmas gift this year since his current one was breaking.
"But this is the Firebolt, the fastest broom in the world."
"But it's also the most expensive!"
Harry nodded in agreement, looking at the price tag indicating it was non-negotiable. He couldn't imagine how much it cost, but one thing was certain; maybe he couldn't afford it.
It took a lot of effort to pull Harry away; if he had left him there, he would have spent the whole day staring at the broom.
After leaving Quality Quidditch Supplies, they went to Flourish & Blotts to purchase new textbooks.
Evan needed a new Defense Against the Dark Arts book, while Harry needed a Care of Magical Creatures and Divination book.
As soon as they entered Flourish & Blotts, the bookstore was a mess; the original shelves had been replaced by large iron cages, probably containing around two hundred copies of the monster book.
These books were locked together, fighting and biting each other, with torn pages flying everywhere.
"Are you Hogwarts students? Are you here to buy a new book?" the manager greeted them impatiently upon seeing Evan, forcing a smile. "Oh, it's you, Mr. Mason, what book do you need?"
In just one year, Evan bought over two hundred magic books at Flourish & Blotts, making him the most popular customer.
"Well, what are these books about?" Evan asked as he pointed to the iron cages.
"Forget about them, these monstrous books are dreadful. I have never seen anything so appalling.
When his voice fell, two monstrous books collided with each other, the resulting force shattered them.
"No! Stop, stop!" shouted the manager, thrusting a stick between the iron bars and exclaiming, "I will never order these books again, never! It's a nightmare, I want to know who chose this book as a text, if I could, I would kill them."
Upon hearing his words, Harry acted as if he knew nothing.
Hagrid had given him a copy of the book the other day, which caused him a sense of unease; he knew Hagrid must have assigned the book as a text. No other professor would have done so except Hagrid.
Seeing the manager struggling, Evan decided to tell him how to tame the book; he said, "In fact, it's quite simple to deal with these books, just stroke their spine and they will calm down."
"What?!" exclaimed the manager.
Evan gestured to the other to take a book out of the cage; the book tried to bite, but Evan gently stroked its spine, the book quivered and calmed down.
"God, Mr. Mason, this is incredible!" exclaimed the manager, "You have saved me a lot of trouble!"
The manager then ordered several employees to take out the monstrous books, stroke their spines as Evan had taught him, and tie them together with a rope.
The manager gave Evan and Harry the best possible discount.
Evan was frank, he took some books, including some for third year.
The second-year curriculum is exactly the same as the first year, and most of the material has already been completed by Evan. Going to class would be a complete waste of time, so he decided to attend third-year classes, something Professor McGonagall agreed with at the end of the last year.
Harry bought Intermediate Transfiguration by Emeric Switch, The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 3 by Miranda Goshawk, and Divination for Beginners by Cassandra Vablatsky.
But he didn't read his new books; his gaze fell on another book, Omens of Death: What to do when you know the worst is coming.
"Oh, I wouldn't read a book like that if I were you," said the bookstore manager when he saw Harry's gaze on the book, "When you read this book, you start to see death omens everywhere; the book will scare you to death."
Despite the manager's warning, Harry still stared at the book's cover: there was a dog on the cover, almost as big as a bear with two large eyes. The dog looked strangely familiar.
Harry pulled Evan and pointed to him to look at the cover.
Evan took a look at the cover; the black dog really resembled Sirius Black, it seemed like the harbinger of death, no wonder Harry felt a little uneasy.
"Evan, didn't you say that night that..."
"I think it was just a stray dog," Evan thought of when he was chased by Sirius and ran through several streets, Evan added, "Yes, a very troublesome stray dog."