Shopping Trip

One never realized how little readily available information there actually was on Merlin the Great. He had found information, no doubt, but finding anything outside of Merlin's last name being Ambrosius; the Order of Merlin and what it originally represented; King Arthur Pendragon; and how great Merlin was at Magic was like trying to find a piece of hay in a needle-stack. It was painful and bore no results.

It was entering into August, and (Y/N) was about ready to pull his eyeballs out. He had made no headway on finding anything useful out about his ancestor. He was sitting in his room, on his bed with half a dozen books sprawled out on his bed. Chloe was sitting in her cage, sleeping away the day. He looked over at her opened cage. She was an intelligent bird, but she was also the laziest animal he'd ever seen, except for maybe Scabbers.

(Y/N) was starting to think that he'd have to confront Dumbledore about where he could find the information he sought.

There was something he came across in his search for information on Merlin that disgusted him to his core. It was a word, a term used for Muggleborns. He felt nauseous when he learned what the word meant, before it changed to anger.

He got back to the grind of looking for information on Merlin, but he was beginning to doubt he'd find anything on his own.

*******

A couple of days later, (Y/N) had received a letter from Hermione about Harry getting into some legal trouble with the Ministry, but he didn't figure anything would come about it. Harry was a famous Wizard, the Ministry wouldn't do anything.

He also received his book list which, as expected, included Grade 2, which he already had and he bought Grade 3 to go ahead and look through it. What confused him was all of these books by a man named Gilderoy Lockhart. He didn't know why he needed them all, but with the Defense Against the Dark Arts position open with Quirrell's demise, it must be the new Professor.

Hermione also mentioned in her letter that she'd be at Diagon Alley the coming Wednesday. Which was great because he hadn't seen Hermione since the end of the previous school year. He wasn't sure how much she'd change in just a short amount of time, but he noticed he himself had changed a little already. He was a couple inches taller and a little more muscular due to all the physical activity this past year.

He still had all of his work to do over the summer before his Second Year, but he prioritized finding information on Merlin. He decided to go into Diagon Alley again and give Flourish and Blotts another look. He had thought of writing a letter to Dumbledore, but he wasn't sure how cooperative the old Headmaster would be.

He was just about to head inside the book shop when he heard someone behind him, "Going back again to look for more?" He turned and saw Dumbledore standing there.

"Professor, wh-what are you talking about?" He had been caught off-guard.

"I think we both know what I'm referring to," Dumbledore's piercing gaze felt like it was staring right into his soul.

(Y/N) held his ground, "Why did you keep it from me?"

"I did what I thought was right, (Y/N), I'm sorry if you don't feel the same," was all he said.

"Well now that I know, can you at least give me an idea on where to look or what to look in?" (Y/N) asked him, desperate for information.

"I'm afraid I cannot."

"Why not?" His temper was slowly rising.

"I cannot say," Dumbledore gave as his excuse.

"I am Merlin's only living Descendant, I can't be denied-"

"(Y/N), this is not up for debate," Dumbledore stared him down.

"It's my BIRTHRIGHT!" (Y/N) yelled angrily, his eyes flashing red and the surrounding area shaking. The quick surge in power was almost smothering for Dumbledore as it came unexpectedly. (Y/N) was powerful, no doubt about that, but it was power that could easily get out of hand unless he learned to control it. He couldn't afford to anger him any further right then.

"Alright..." the air thinned out from how bad it was seconds ago, "You're right, it is your birthright, and it should not be hidden from you... any longer." The reddened eyes standing in front of Dumbledore vanished in a heartbeat. He looked around and saw a small crowd of people watching. "It is alright, you all may return to what you were doing," he said and the people slowly did just that.

"Why?" Was the first thing (Y/N) asked his Headmaster.

"Because... making you more angry than you already are would not be wise," Dumbledore said to him.

"Where is this information?" (Y/N) asked him.

"It may be better if I take you to get it. I have all of the books on Merlin that are not public knowledge back in my office," he said, and held his hand out.

(Y/N) grabbed his hand and felt himself having the same feeling as he did when Dumbledore found him last year. He appeared in Dumbledore's office a second later.

Dumbledore walked over to a bookcase and stroked the spine of one of them. The bookshelf it was on spread apart and revealed ten books. Dumbledore retrieved all of them and handed them all to (Y/N), "These... These are all of the books I have on Merlin not known to the public. They are yours now. You may do with them whatever you see fit, and use the information you find in them however you see fit."

(Y/N) didn't quite know what to actually say. He looked at the books; two of them were large and one of them was incredibly small. The other seven varied in size, but all could be classified as Medium-sized books.

"I shall take you straight back to your room, if you so wish?" Dumbledore asked.

"Thank you, sir... thank you so much... and if you don't mind?"

"Not at all my boy," Albus walked up to him, placed a hand on his shoulder, and apparated him back to his room.

He set all of his new books on his desk and turned to thank Dumbledore again, only to find the Old Headmaster gone. There was a note on his bed. He grabbed it and it read:

I apologize for cutting the goodbye short, but something important came up. I hope you are able to find the information you seek.

(Y/N) was giddy about having the information. He was eager to start reading, but with how much there was to go through, he decided to get his Summer Work done first.

*******

When Wednesday came along, (Y/N) had finished all of his Summer Work, rather quickly he felt, and was aimlessly walking around Diagon Alley. It was mid-Morning and Hermione didn't say when she'd be arriving at Diagon Alley, just that it would be Wednesday morning. He decided to go and withdraw some more Galleons as he wasn't actually expecting to have to get so many books for the school year. On his way there, he saw a familiar head of bushy brown hair, "Hermione?"

She looked over as though she didn't recognize the voice, as did Harry and the Weasley's, "(Y/N)!" Hermione ran over to him and stopped in front of him, "I-Is it alright if I hug you? I remember that every other time I did last year at Hogwarts, you tensed up, so I thought I'd ask this time if it was alright?"

"Of course, Hermione," was all she needed to hear and she wrapped her arms around him in an instant. His went around her as well.

"I missed you all Summer, I can't wait to be back at Hogwarts, learning new things. Did you get all of your school work done for the Summer? And did your voice get deeper?" She asked him.

"I did, took me the better part of four days to get it all done- what's with the face?"

"Four days? It took me almost two weeks... it's possible I had more distractions happen than you did, but still..." She said, sounding dismayed.

"I'm sorry, Hermione..."

"Don't be, if there IS anyone I would rather have be better than me in school, it's you," she smiled gently at him.

"Okay... did you say my voice got deeper?" He asked her.

"Some, yeah. I wasn't expecting to hear it, that's for sure," she smiled at him.

"I wonder why that is..."

"I'm not sure..." she said, but something told him she did have an idea, "Oh, so were you going to Gringotts?" She asked him.

"Yes, I uh... didn't have the Galleons to buy all of Lockhart's books, so I need to go withdraw a few more," he said and they began their trek back, "So, did the Weasley's seem..." he paused a moment to look over at them and they showed neutral expressions towards him, "... like, excited to see me again or something?"

"No, I don't think Ron has told them... yet," she gave him a weird look. She knew he didn't want it public knowledge if he could help it.

"I hope not. Oh, I did find information on Merlin. I needed Dumbledore's help, but he had some books that he gave to me," he smiled as Hermione looked glad at him being able to find out more about his ancestor.

"That's good. That's really good," she said as they got back to the group, "Sorry about that, I haven't seen (Y/N) since we dropped him off at the Leaky Cauldron at the beginning of Summer."

"It's okay, dear. How are you doing, (Y/N)?" Jane asked him.

"I'm well, thank you," he said politely. He looked to John who gave him an appreciative nod for following through with what he asked of him.

"It's good to see you as well, Mrs. Weasley, Percy, Fred, George, Ron, Ginny," he smiled at them.

"Wonderful to see you as well, (Y/N)," Molly said to him, "I don't believe you've been introduced, but this is Arthur Weasley, my husband. Arthur, this is (Y/N) (L/N), one of Ron's friends."

Arthur stuck his hand out to (Y/N), "Nice to meet you, Ron told me he had an American friend. Tell me, is it true that they drive on the Right-hand side of the road?"

"Yes, it's very dangerous," (Y/N) said, having a bit of fun with it. Hermione, Harry, and her parents held back their laughter as the Weasley's all had looks of horror on their faces.

"Well..." Molly said after recovering from her shock, "shall we go to Gringotts?"

All of them made their way into the bank, which was crowded with people, mainly Witches. (Y/N) found it odd, but didn't bring it up to any one. They all managed to squeeze into a cart that took them to the Weasley Vault. The moment it opened, (Y/N) felt a chill run down his spine. The amount of money in the vault was... miniscule, to say the least. He looked over and Harry had the same look.

When they boarded the Cart again, "Next stop, Granger Vault," the Goblin said.

They sped again lower into the Vault, but barely went very far before they stopped at Hermione's Vault. (Y/N) was honestly not expecting a lot as her family probably kept most of it in the British Currency, which if he remembered right, were Pound Notes. The door opened and as expected, there wasn't a lot of money, but her parents were Dentists with their own Practice, they had to be well off.

At a glance, (Y/N) guessed there were about a Fifty Galleons worth in Knuts, Sickles, and Galleons. Lockhart's books were Ten Galleons each brand new. He briefly thought of offering to buy everyone their books for them, but that could be seen as pity instead of assistance, so he said nothing.

"Next stop, Potter Vault," they heard and went rather far down this time. They eventually stopped at Harry's Vault and when (Y/N) saw inside, he was rather surprised that Harry had been left with quite a bit of money. He hurriedly tried to get the money out before anyone could get a good look inside, but that was kind of hard to do, everyone saw the inside of it.

After they piled back on, (Y/N) wasn't prepared for the next words to be said, "Next stop, Ambrosius Vault."

He went wide-eyed and tried to make himself small, but that wasn't easy to do. Why in Merlin's name did it have to be called that? Only the Weasley's, save Ron, were confused, he assumed they all knew Merlin's last name was Ambrosius, "Why are we going there?" He heard Ginny ask Molly.

"I don't know. Ron, do you know why we are going there?"

Ron didn't like the fact he was put on the spot. He went wide-eyed as well and looked over at his three other friends. (Y/N) closed his eyes and shook his head.

"U-Uh..." Ron didn't get to say anything more as the Cart came to a stop at a Vault at the very bottom of the Chasm below Gringotts.

(Y/N) stepped off and heard gasps behind him. They already connected it together and figured it out, "Everyone stay here, please?" He asked them as the first door was opened. As he and the Goblin walked forth, going through all the protection for his Vault. Even though he asked them to stay back, they all could see into his Vault as all the doors remained open. When the final door was opened and he was allowed into his Vault, he could hear the sound of something hitting Metal behind him. He turned and saw that Molly was nowhere to be found. She was obviously the one who fainted, "Is she okay?" He hollered back to them and Harry gave him a thumbs up. He nodded, 'Note to self, never come here again with anyone,' and he proceeded to get a couple hundred Galleons, listening to them jingle around in his pocket as he walked back out. Every door he got past with the Goblin closed behind him, and when he made it back to the Cart, he was being stared at by everyone, "Um... sh-shall we go back to the surface level?"

Once arriving back up top, Molly had recovered from her fainted state. They all stepped outside and hung around the marble steps for a moment before they all separated. Percy muttered vaguely about needing a new quill. Fred and George had spotted their friend from Hogwarts, Lee Jordan, who (Y/N) had grown to appreciate due to his commentary during Quidditch. Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were going to a second-hand robe shop while Mr. Weasley was insisting on taking Hermione's parents off to the Leaky Cauldron for a drink or two. John turned to Hermione and winked at her before they walked away with the Weasley Patriarch.

"We'll all meet at Flourish and Blotts in an hour... to... to buy your school books," Mrs. Weasley said in a way that would imply aloofness. What it really was, she was looking at (Y/N), still seeming to be in shock about his massive amount of wealth and his apparent ancestry. Her motherly nature returned when it came to yelling at the twins, "And not one step down Knockturn Alley!"

Harry, Ron, (Y/N), and Hermione strolled off along the winding, cobbled street. They went to Florean Fortescue's, where (Y/N) offered to buy them all ice-cream, but Harry was insistent on buying it for them. He relented and sat down with Hermione and Ron while Harry treated them to four large strawberry and peanut-butter ice creams, which they all slurped happily. While they sat there, eating their ice-creams, Ron finally asked the question (Y/N) had been waiting for one of them to ask, "(Y/N), why didn't you tell us you were bloody rich?"

"Because, Ron, my wealth status shouldn't matter among friends," (Y/N) said, taking a bite out of a small peanut-butter chunk in his ice-cream.

"I mean, it doesn't, but it still would've been nice to know," Ron said, his tone hinting towards betrayal.

"So you're saying I should've known about your family's wealth status? I should've known that they were scraping the bottom of the barrel?"

"(Y/N)!" Hermione yelled.

"No, Hermione, I'm asking a serious question here, one that Ron seems to think is imperative to have an answer to. I ask again, should I have known, Ron, about your family's wealth status?" (Y/N) outright demanded from Ron.

Said ginger's ears had turned red and his face had turned white, "N-No, of course not..."

"Ron, I was friends with you before I knew, and I'm still going to be friends with you now that I do know. Money doesn't define your abilities as a Wizard, don't forget that," (Y/N) said in a much calmer tone. Ron nodded and they finished their ice-creams before taking a stroll around Diagon Alley.

They passed a Quidditch Shop, which Ron stopped and gazed longingly towards a set of robes for the team called the Chudley Cannons. (Y/N) thought it to be a silly name, but said nothing. Hermione put a stop to it by dragging him towards the next door shop to buy more ink and parchment. Afterwards they did visit a Joke Shop where they found Lee, Fred, and George stocking up on Joke items. (Y/N) was rather intrigued by some of them. Inside a tiny junk shop full of broken wands, lopsided brass scales, and old cloaks covered in potion stains they found Percy Weasley, deeply immersed in a small and somewhat intriguing sounding book called Prefects Who Gained Power.

"A Study of Hogwarts Prefects and their later careers," Ron read aloud off the back of the book, "Sounds fascinating."

"Go away!" Snapped Percy.

The four of them did walk away, "Percy always was ambitious. He's got it all planned out. He wants to be Minister for Magic one day," Ron told them when they were a safe distance from Percy.

"Pray for the Wizarding World if 'he' becomes Minister," (Y/N) said, glancing back at Percy before they went to idly browse more shops until the hour passed.

When it finally did, they proceeded to Flourish and Blotts. (Y/N) found out the reason why Molly wanted to wait so long to come here to Flourish and Blotts. Gilderoy Lockhart was doing a book-signing for his latest book, Magical Me, judging by the sign outside.

GILDEROY LOCKHART

Will be signing copies of his autobiography

MAGICAL ME

Today 12:30 P.M. to 4:30 P.M.

"We can actually meet him!" Hermione squealed in excitement, "I mean, he's written almost the whole booklist!"

He was really starting to regret not coming sooner and buying them before now. Then he could've bypassed the massive crowd of primarily Witches, all around Mrs. Weasley's age, waiting to see Gilderoy Lockhart. The other three got The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 and Hermione briefly forgot that he had already owned it, "Are you not going to get Grade 2 as well?"

"I already have it, remember? I've read it cover to cover a dozen times already, and I'm about halfway through Grade 3," he explained to her.

"Seriously? I mean you are a natural with magic, so it makes sense," she said, her cheeks reddening ever so slightly.

They sneaked up the line where the Weasley's were standing with Hermione's parents, "Oh, there you are, good," Molly said, sounding breathless as she kept patting her hair, "We'll be able to see him in a minute."

Gilderoy Lockhart came slowly into view as the line progressed more and more. He was seated at a table, surrounded by large pictures of his own face, all winking and flashing dazzlingly white teeth at the crowd. The real Lockhart was wearing robes of forget-me-not Blue that exactly matched his eyes; his pointed Wizard's Hat was set at a jaunty angle on his wavy hair, "He's a bit full of himself, isn't he?" (Y/N) asked quietly, and only Hermione heard him as she slapped his shoulder. He barely registered it, smirking at her after she did so.

A short, irritable-looking man was dancing around taking photographs with a large black camera that emitted puffs of purple smoke with every blinding flash.

(Y/N) suddenly felt something smash on his foot, "Out of the way, there!" The short man snarled at (Y/N), moving back to get a better shot, "This is for the Daily Prophet-"

"You step on my foot again," (Y/N) stepped threateningly towards the short man, "I will jam that camera down your short throat, and take pictures of your insides, do I make myself clear?"

The air suddenly became thick, making it smothering to everyone in there, including Hermione's parents. Both of whom were wondering where this came from all of a sudden.

Lockhart had looked over at them and saw the boy threatening his photographer - then he saw Harry. He stared at him for a moment, then leapt to his feet and positively shouted, "It can't be Harry Potter?" The crowd parted, whispering excitedly; Lockhart practically dived forward, seized Harry's arm, and pulled him to the front. The crowd, save a few people, burst into applause. Harry's face burned with embarrassment as Lockhart shook his hand for the photographer, who had promptly avoided making (Y/N) angry from then on. (Y/N) saw the look on Harry's face. He would've rather been anywhere, but there. That was why he didn't want it public knowledge that he was Merlin's descendant, because he didn't want THAT to happen. Of course, it could always have the opposite effect and no one would believe him and thus he'd be publicly ridiculed by the Wizarding media. Either way, he wanted it kept secret. As for Lockhart, there was one immediately gleaming issue (Y/N) took with him; he loved the spotlight. (Y/N) didn't quite know what to make of it, but he wouldn't doubt Lockhart yet, he hadn't seen his magical ability. He suddenly spoke up in another announcement, "Ladies and gentlemen," he said loudly, waving for quiet. (Y/N) didn't see many Wizards in the crowd, at least none there to see him, just get their books, "What an extraordinary moment this is! The perfect moment for me to make a little announcement I've been sitting on for some time!

"When young Harry here stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, he only wanted to buy my autobiography - which I shall be happy to present to him now, free of charge-" the crowd applauded again. (Y/N) was rather ticked by Lockhart, Harry didn't want to buy his autobiography, only the listed schoolbooks, which Magical Me was not on, "He had no idea," Lockhart gave Harry a little shake, which (Y/N) saw made his glasses slip to the end of his nose, "that he would be shortly getting much, much more than my book, Magical Me. He and his schoolmates will, in fact, be getting the real Magical Me. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure and pride in announcing that this September, I will be taking up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

The whole crowd cheered and clapped. (Y/N) figured that with all of the books Lockhart had written, maybe they'd actually have a decent teacher this year? If only he knew how wrong he was.

Harry managed to somehow make his way out of the limelight and over towards (Y/N) and Ginny, who was showing off her new Cauldron to him, "Here, you have these," Harry said, tipping his books into her Cauldron, "I'll buy my own-"

"Bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter?" Said an annoying fly. (Y/N) turned and saw Draco Malfoy, wearing his usual sneer. "Famous Harry Potter," Malfoy said in a voice that sounded like a fly was stuck up his nose, "Can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page."

"Leave him alone, he didn't want all that!" Ginny said before (Y/N) could say something. (Y/N) noticed that it was the first time he had seen her speak in front of Harry. She, like himself, was glaring at Malfoy.

"Potter, you've got yourself a girlfriend!" Drawled Malfoy, causing Ginny to go scarlet in the face.

"That's more than you can say, isn't it, Malfoy?" (Y/N) wasn't helping the situation, but he just wanted to see Draco buzz right off.

"What about you, (L/N)?"

Before (Y/N) could respond, Ron and Hermione had made their way over, "Oh, it's you," Ron said, looking at Malfoy as if he were something unpleasant on the sole of his shoe, which he basically was, "Bet you're surprised to see Harry here, eh?"

"Not as surprised as I am to see you in a shop, Weasley," retorted Malfoy, "I suppose your parents will go hungry for a month to pay for all of those."

(Y/N) had to admit, that was a good comeback, but still a low-blow all the same. If that was how Malfoy wanted to be, (Y/N) could oblige him as well. Before he could, though, Ron started to make his way towards Malfoy, as red in the face as Ginny was, but (Y/N) put an arm in front of him, "I know he has a punchable face, but he's not worth hitting, Ron-"

"Ron!" They heard Arthur yell, "What are you doing? It's too crowded in here, let's go outside."

"Well, well, well - Arthur Weasley." (Y/N) heard an older, but still annoying voice. He turned and saw where Draco got his unfortunate face from. They even had the same sneer.

"Lucius," Arthur said, nodding coldly.

"Busy time at the Ministry, I hear," Lucius said, "All those raids... I hope they're paying you overtime?"

He reached in Ginny's cauldron and extracted, from amid the glossy Lockhart books, a very old, very battered copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration.

"Obviously not," his sneer returned full force as he spoke, "Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of Wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?"

Arthur flushed an even darker red than either Ron or Ginny, "We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy," he said.

"Clearly," Lucius said, his pale eyes straying somewhere. (Y/N) followed them and saw that he was looking at Hermione's parents. He turned back around and placed his hand over his wand, "The company you keep, Weasley... and I thought your family could sink no lower-"

"Enough!" (Y/N) yelled, quite loudly for a Twelve year old, with his wand drawn at unseen speed, aimed right at Lucius Malfoy. The whole of the bookstore stopped all they were doing and stared at the scene that they all waited to take place. Hermione looked into (Y/N)'s eyes from the side and saw a dull red, anyone looking at his face could see them as such, but they weren't bright red like last school year when he fought the Manticore and Troll.

His nostrils were flared as he looked right into Lucius' eyes, "And who are you?" He asked the boy threatening him with his wand.

"Your demise if you don't walk away right now," (Y/N) was unmoved.

"That's the American I was telling you about," Draco said to his father.

"Really? How... vexing," Lucius said, sneering again.

Before (Y/N) could say or do anything, a friendly, giant man came over and stopped whatever was going on, "Alrigh', tha's enough outta yeh. No need to cause a scene more than yeh have," came Hagrid's voice.

(Y/N) seemed unmoved. It was a good minute or two before he finally sheathed his wand, "You say another damn thing like that again, and I won't hold back."

"We're shaking in our boots," he heard Draco say.

"After the way I sent you off with your tail between your legs several times in First Year, you should be," (Y/N) said loudly. He saw Lucius go wide-eyed as he looked down at his son.

He briefly heard him say, "We'll talk about this later," before the Malfoy's disappeared from sight.

They all walked out of the bookshop and (Y/N) walked a little away from the group. Hermione sidled up next to him, "Are you okay?"

"I will be..."

"Hey, um... thank you, for what you did. Malfoy's father was rude to my parents, so thank you for sticking up for them," she said in a grateful tone.

Her parents came up soon after, "Are there more Wizards that are rude like that man?" Jane asked them.

"Unfortunately... and it's mainly Slytherins that are like that... but last year proved that it doesn't matter what House a person is in, they can be very mean," Hermione explained.

"Back there, when you had your wand drawn on that man with the long, platinum blonde hair, and when you were talking to that short statured man with the camera, the air got really thick and it was difficult to breathe normally... and your eyes, they changed from blue to a red color, what was that about?" John asked (Y/N).

"Remember, dad, he's a Descendant of the most powerful Wizard to ever exist. I've no doubt he has inherited Merlin's power," Hermione said, smiling at (Y/N).

John walked up to him, "I was right to put my trust in you."

(Y/N) looked up at the man and saw a thankful look on his face. Harry and Ron came over a moment later, "You alright, (Y/N)?" Harry asked.

"I will be... sorry for almost losing myself again..."

"Again?" Jane asked.

"Remember the Troll I told you about, Mum?" Hermione asked her and she nodded, "(Y/N) took care of it. You should have seen him, he looked really cool, standing there with his eyes glowing bright red as he killed the Troll when it attacked me," Hermione explained.

Jane looked at (Y/N), "John and I couldn't ask for Hermione to have a better friend than you. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts."

"She would've done the same for me if we were in the same position. That's what best friends do, they help each other," he smiled at Hermione, who had her face down and a smile on her face as she looked up at him.

"On the bright side, mate," Ron said, "you might be in the paper. I heard Lockhart asking his photographer if he got any of it on camera and he was nodding quickly."

"What!?" (Y/N) looked scandalized.