Ch. 3 Flourish and Blotts

"I'll not be giving you any of my gold coins," I angrily bit out. Not allowing the little shit to talk, I snatch my Septim back and drop three more gold bars on the counter.

The resounding thump of the bars landing on the wood counter draws several eyes.

Despite these little thieves attempting to screw me over on my Septims, I still need Galleons. The price per gold bar does sound fair. I thought about selling the gold coins in the muggle market, but trying to find a buyer for over thirty thousand gold coins will draw unwanted attention.

I don't want to get rid of all my Septims, you never know when non-magical gold coins could come in handy. I'll find a forge to melt down the Septims into gold bars.

Selling all four of my gold bars to the goblins, I end up with a hefty sum. Even after converting two thousand Galleons into British pounds, I still have slightly over 38,000 Galleons.

I purchased an enchanted money purse, called a mokeskin-pouch, from the short little crooks.

The mokeskin-pouch can only be accessed by me, preventing others from stealing the money I have stored in it. The magical wallet was a necessity. My pile of Galleons takes up an area larger than the amount of free space I have in my subspace.

Luckily, there was no issue with storing the filled mokeskin-pouch in my subspace. I can think of several ways to exploit this. I still have to test if time affects the things I have stored in my subspace.

Too bad I don't have a sweetroll.

Walking out of Gringotts, it's time to do some shopping. The first thing on my list is a new wardrobe. My current armor is enchanted to Oblivion and back, but it draws too much attention.

I want to blend in, but I don't know an Illusion spell to change the appearance of my cloths. Yet.

As I'm looking for Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, I start to think about my armor's enchantments. Enchantments are another worry.

I only have twenty-seven filled soul gems and twenty empty ones. I don't know if I'll be able to fill the empty soul gems in this world, so I may be limited to only twenty-seven enchantments. I'll have to be selective about what I use them on until I confirm if I can fill the other twenty.

I do wonder if I can learn new enchantments from magical items here, cause I can think of a few I want. I also wonder if I'm restricted to only two enchantments per item?

Making a small enchanter's table won't be hard. I should be able to get everything right here in Diagon Alley.

I'm starting to regret having most of my character's items stored in his villa. Or I should say my villa. So many things that would have been useful, lost to me now.

Finally, finding the clothing shop, I hurriedly step inside the doorway. I was getting tired of all the people openly staring.

A squat, middle-aged woman wearing a fashionable mauve dress, quickly moved to greet me. With a warm smile, Madam Malkin cheerfully said, "Oh, come on in dear. What can I get you? We have a wide selection to pick from."

The next hour is a whirl of being measured and picking out fabric and colors. Despite Madam Malkin's customer service, I lost all desire for clothes shopping after the first fifteen minutes.

Regardless of my lack of enthusiasm, I was able to walk out with several full sets of muggle and wizard attire. I even purchased an over-sized hooded robe, one that will fit over my armor.

It seems the wizarding fashion is roughly a century behind the muggle world. The muggle clothing leaned more towards the Gothic Victorian era three-piece suits than casual wear. The clothes remind me of what Lucius Malfoy wore in the moves. It's not a total loss. I was able to replace my loincloth and wool socks.

While I am not fond of the idea of shedding my armor, it's my jewelry that has the Health and Magicka enchantments.

At slightly over four-hundred Galleons, I now have my new wardrobe. Madam Malkin allows me to use one of her dressing rooms to change. I slip on a pair of black slacks and roll the sleeves of my dark dress shirt for a more modern look. My armor and new clothes take up the rest of the room in my subspace.

Stepping out of the chic clothing store, I'm now ready to find out what kind of crossover world this is. I quickly make my way back to The Leaky Cauldron. Before leaving the pub, I reserve a room for the night from Tom.

Once back on Charing Cross Road, I move next door to Quinto Bookshop & Francis Edward. There was a smell of old furniture about the place. The left side of the entrance was filled with antique furniture. On the right are several rows of short bookcases.

It doesn't take me long to find the section for non-fiction and biographies. Picking up a dense book on World War Two, I begin to scan for anything different from what I know from my previous life.

Less than a third of the way into the book, I freeze. Taking up half the page is a picture of a young Hugo Weaving in a Nazi uniform. The picture caption reads, 'Hydra leader, Johann Schmidt.'

Hydra?!

Holy shit, this is Marvel! Not just Marvel, but possibly the MCU! I'm in a Harry Potter and MCU crossover world!

Before my excitement gets too high, I start combing the shelves for more books. I am specifically looking for books on American history. Looking at American history will be easiest for me to compare what I know from my world, to this new one.

While things seem to be more in line with the books of Harry Potter, I want to confirm what kind of Marvel world this is. Is it the MCU or the comics or an alternate? Are there mutants in this world or any of the lesser-known comic heroes? Judging by the picture in the book being spot-on for Hugo Weaving, it's very likely to be the MCU.

I continue scanning through the history book. Everything I read seems to match up with the Marvel movies. From a Chris Evans looking Captain American and the Howling Commandos, to Howard Stark's war contributions.

A sudden thought stops my search. While it's been years since I read the Harry Potter books, I've seen all the Marvel movies multiple times. Several only a few weeks before I was sent to this world!

Infinity Stones. The Ancient One. Wakanda. The Super-Soldier Serum. The list goes on and on. The only problem, the MCU doesn't have many events in the '90s. There is Captain Marvel in a few years, but other than that...

Wait. This is the summer of 1991!

The Winter Soldier kills Howard Stark and his wife at the end of this year. He also steals five samples of Howard Stark's version of the Super Soldier Serum. A serum that gives the recipient more strength and agility than The Winter Soldier.

The increased anger is a bit of an issue.

Standing in the middle of an old book shop, I begin to form a rough outline for a plan. Even in the MCU, magic is a fearsome weapon. The Ancient One defeated Hulk with one move.

However, one thing I learned from watching Hela in Thor Ragnarok, is one needs mobility and durability to gain the most from magic. Hell, Thanos might have avoided an ax to the chest if he attempted to dodge at the last second. Instead, he tried to throw magic against a weapon that was built to absorb it.

Plus, I need to become powerful enough to prevent Other Me from interfering with my life. His constant threats to destroy my soul, is a hell of an incentive to look into Soul Magic.

I might not be able to beat him, ever, but I might be able to prevent him from carrying out his threat to destroy my soul.

With the making of a plan in place, I purchase several history books from the bookshop.

Carrying my books in a plastic bag, I make my way back to The Leaky Cauldron. I throw the books in my room and put on a black robe.

Walking down Diagon Alley, I begin my search for a luggage shop. I found Stowe & Packers Magical Bags in Carkitt Market, a side street of Diagon Alley.

While the shop was packed with every kind of bag imaginable, their trunks were quite limited. I didn't ask, but I suspect the Ministry of Magic limits the amount of space an item can be expanded to.

I settled on five large traveling trunks, each one has an interior space expanded to four times its size. The largest interior space available for sale.

I opted not to have any additional spells added to the magical trunks. There really isn't any need for additional protections.

The trunks will fill up most of my subspace but will allow me to quadruple the amount I can store in it. A negative to using the trunks in my subspace, I have to remove the entire trunk, to extract its contents. For now, this is more than acceptable.

Once I learn the Undetectable Expansion Charm, I'll make my own trunks. Hopefully, ones with enough space to fit everything I could possibly want.

I had to ask the shop owner to check on a specialty trunk in the back of his store so he would stop following me. While he was gone, I quickly emptied my subspace into two of the trunks. It was amusing to see the confused look on his face when he returned to see the five trunks gone. I left the shop with five hundred fewer Galleons and five new expanded trunks in my subspace.

My next stop is only a few shops away from Gringotts. Flourish and Blotts. I intend to get every single textbook for Hogwarts, years one through seven. If possible, I'll purchase everything they have on advance magics as well. I need to learn these spells and see how they differ from the spells I know from Skyrim.

If I wanted to, I could cast every single spell from Skyrim without a wand or incantation. They seem to be deeply ingrained into my head. I might be able to learn the Harry Potter spells the same way I learned magic in High Rock and Skyrim.

Or it will be a completely different type of magic that requires a wand. Hopefully, I won't need to acquire a wand to initially learn each spell, and then slowly advance to chantless and wandless.

With any luck, my 'prodigious' magical ability will allow me to master the Hogwarts spells in very little time. Regardless, I still have a massive amount of studying to do if I plan to succeed.

As I step into Flourish and Blotts, I'm completely stunned. This place is ridiculous! The entire store is crammed pack with bookcases that stretch all the way to the ceiling. Many of the bookcases are curved or warped, making the aisles awkward to walk down.

There's only enough room between each aisle for a single person to squeeze through. From what I can see of the second level, it's just as cramped as the first floor.

Carefully shuffling around the wobbly stacks of books on the floor, I try to get a feel for the layout of the bookstore. It doesn't take me long to figure out I'll have to spend the rest of the day searching for the books I want.

Forget that!

I move to a cleared area with a small cashier station. Behind the counter is a bored-looking young man wearing a brown vest with Flourish and Blotts embroidered on the chest.

Spotting me approaching, the young assistant puts on a fake smile and says, "Good afternoon and welcome to Flourish and Blotts. My name is George, how may I help you?"

Returning the fake smile, I say, "I'm in a bit of a hurry. So, I'll pay you fifty Galleons if you can quickly gather my order." The fake smile drops from George's face, and greed quickly fills his eyes.

Playing on George's desire, I tell him, "I need a copy of every single Hogwarts textbook and the corresponding reference books. I'm even willing to pay an additional tip for more advanced fields. Such as occlumency, legilimens, apparition, dueling, and soul magic. I would be most appreciative of books not kept out on display."

The look of building greed suddenly halts at that last line. George appears to be hesitant as he does a quick glance towards the back of the store. Based on that look, I'm willing to bet there is something in the storage area not meant for public view.

To help sway his decision, I pull out a Galleon and rolling it across my knuckles. "Most appreciative," I tell the greedy assistant.

Vigorously nodding his head, George says, "I think we have a few books that will interest you, sir. Just give me a few minutes to gather everything up."

Without waiting for my reply, George is quickly moving around the store, waving his wand as he goes. With each wave of his wand, a new book flies off a shelf and lands on the counter.

I can't help but wonder about the spell George is casting. It appears to be a spell that levitates an object to a predetermined destination. I quickly lose interest in the spell and look towards the counter.

Looking at the forming towers of books, they appear to be the standard textbooks for Hogwarts. Every so often, a uniquely titled book will appear in the stack. '1001 Common Household Spells', 'Protection Charm Your Mind: A Practical Guide to Counter Legilimensy,' and several more.

It takes George less than fifteen minutes before several tall stacks of books are formed up on the counter. Briefly popping out from behind a bookcase, George calls out to me, "Let me just check something in the back. I'll be right back."

George returns, looking rather excited. In his hands are four dense books. "These are some of the books... The ministry frowns upon."

Taking the books from the excited young man, I scan the titles. 'The Power of Blood', 'Fundamental Rites', 'Pagan Rituals', and 'Apex'.

Three rituals books and a book on dueling... Perfect!

"These will do nicely," I tell the store clerk. I take out one-hundred Galleons and slide them across the counter to George. With a swipe of his hand, the small pile of Galleons disappear.

Turning to the stack of books on the counter, George begins to total my purchase with a satisfied smile on his face.

After adding all the books, the total rings upon the antique cash register. George stares at the number for a moment before he quietly stutters out, "Your total comes to 583 Galleons 4 Sickles and 2 Knuts."

I deposit six-hundred Galleons on the counter, and say, "Keep the change."

Withdrawing an empty trunk from my subspace, I use the Grand Telekinesis spell to send my purchase into the trunk. Placing the trunk back in my subspace, I head to The Leaky Cauldron. I have some reading to do.