Shopping in the Alley

After leaving the wand shop, they went directly to the ice cream parlor. Thankfully, there weren't many people. Caitlyn and Vi were already there, sitting at a large corner table. They didn't look nearly as excited as they were when they separated. There was an air of seriousness around them.

"What is wrong?" asked Semimaris as she took a seat at the table.

"We will tell you once the others get here" Caitlyn replied. "They should have noticed the same thing."

"You should order something in the mean time" added Vi. "The ice creams are good."

They did as suggested. A few minutes later, Scathach and Xuanzang joined them. They too seemed to have lost some of their good mood. As they sat at the table, Harry was in the corner, where nobody could accidentaly touch him, with Caitlyn and Semimaris on each side. He was sitting on the floor, leg crossed. Caitlyn straightened herself, then leaned forward, prompting the others to do the same. They spoke in low tones, mindfull of eavsdropping.

"Now that we are all here, tell us what is troubling you."

"The local newspaper is running a smear campaign against Harry, and by association, the headmaster of his school."

"What?" Harry whispered harshly.

"We heard something along those lines as well from a few people" added Scathach.

"We got a look at the newspapers" continued Caitlyn. "They depict Harry as a lying, attention-seeking kid, either deranged by the demise of his fellow school mate, or trying to bolster his fame as the Boy-Who-Lived. They started calling him the Boy-Who-Lies. Some even accuse him of having killed Cedric Diggory. The ministry denies all claims that the Dark Lord has returned. Since Albus Dumbledore has declared such, they said he is losing his touch. He has lost his positions as Chief Warlock of their Wizengamot, and as representative of the nation in the International Wizarding Council."

Harry was once more schocked. The last 24 hours have been nothing but a succession of surprises. He was getting numb to them, and recovered quickly. While irritated by the news, Camille and Semimaris weren't really surprised.

"It was well played" started Semimaris. "They deprived Harry of his protector by removing him of his ministry position, then destroyed his credibility so nobody would believe him. Then they sent the dementors. Harry is forced to defend himself and use magic, and they can punish him without looking like the agressors."

"That's why the first message he received was about his expulsion and the destruction of his wand" continued Caitlyn. "That plan was derailled when Dumbledore interfered. Thus the inquiry in 9 days. But even with that, they will try to discard your defense because of your destroyed credibility."

"They will most likely make a show of it as well" added Semimaris, then a cold smile formed on her lips. "Then we will have to turn that plan against them. We will have to make them look like idiots." She slightly turned her head toward Harry. "Do not worry. We have 9 days to get prepared. They think they will be dealing with your headmaster at that time. They will get a surprise."

After that talk, they left the parlour to resume their shopping. Harry led them to a shop named Wilderness Life. He was impressed when he discovered them at the Quidditch World Cup, and he learned from Charlie Weasley where he could obtain one. As they got in front of the place, Harry whispered to them.

"Wizarding tents are like most of the buildings in the magical world: bigger on the inside than they look in the outside. It can have all the comforts of a house."

The women nodded, impressed, and got in.

Not all magics are easily usable for everyone, and some are near impossible. Many witches and wizards tried to resurect people, but failed. The creation of new life, such as homunculus is incomplete and so complicated that it isn't used. Even Voldemort, self proclaimed greatest wizard to have existed, couldn't make a proper homunculus body for himself.

Space magic is Complicated. A lot of calculations are necessary for the most basic expansions charms, those used to expand a room in a fixed place, or used on basic trunks. The larger the expansion, the more power it requires upon activation, more than what the average witch or wizard can provide. The makers use special magic stones to activate the charms. It take them several days to charge them.

Multiple compartments trunks are expensive goods because they require even more complex calculations, making space compression charms and space expansion charms work seamlessly. Alastor Moody, paranoid as he was, made his trunk himself, and it took him months. He had developped good skills in enchanting, warding and curse-breaking while hunting dark wizards and fending off their attacks. That makes wizarding tents expensive goods as well. The result of years of saving money for common people, as the cheapest of wizarding tents cost at least 300 galleons.

After browsing for a little while they settled for large good quality tent. It was navy blue, which was the only colors all women could agree to. It had 4 sections: the main one containing the living room and the kitchen, the side ones containing 3 individual bedrooms each, and the back one containing the bathroom and the toilet. It was more for the women's comfort that Harry selected it, as he was fine with sleeping in the living room. It was equiped with basic furnitures, protection charms against natural hazards, and anti-muggle charms.

After that, they went to various book stores and got basic books on aritmancy, runes, warding, enchanting and curse-breaking, as well as dark arts. For the other disciplines, Harry still had all his books since first year. They searched for more books about laws and the wizengamot. Some of them weren't available in book stores, and they would need to get them at the ministry.

As the afternoon was coming to an end, they realised they wouldn't have enough time for more shopping aside from potion ingredients, which wouldn't take too much time. At a time when noone was near them, Semimaris adressed Harry.

"You know Harry, it is good that you though of buying clothes for us. But you also need proper clothes. It feels like you avoid getting things for yourself, and that is not good. You are heir to a noble family, and you will soon become its head. You need a new wardrobe, and I won't let you use the excuse of staying hidden to avoid it."

The other women approved as well, and glanced in his direction with gleaming eyes. They looked forward to the next day. Under his invisibility cloak, Harry had gotten slightly pale.