Flourishing Blotts

Exploring the bookstore was both an exciting experience but also somewhat disorienting. There were tens of thousands of books to look through, many not really having anything of real value despite asserting the contrary.

Harry wasn't quite sure what was good and truthful or not, so he just piled everything into his expanded pouch, deciding that he'd rather have a bunch of worthless information than missing even a speck of something.

Again, he was occasionally watched by a 'hidden' observer, who seemed to come and go at a whim. According to Kali there was no real rhyme or reason to this, aside from random interest. Though, he was sure she was leaving some things out...

He made sure to get multiple years of Hogwarts study books for 1st year and up, with how lazy witches and wizards had proven themselves, it was highly likely they'd ignore or forget potentially useful information in their curriculums.

Regardless, once he'd gathered everything of interest in the store, he headed up to the counter and displayed the inside of his expanded pouch, causing the girl manning the counter to gape at it in shock...

"Y-you, can you even afford all of this? You have thousands of Galleons worth of books here!" she exclaims, causing a few nearby customers to look over with curiosity.

Harry retrieves his other pouch, the one he'd filled with gold they'd exchanged his briefcase of money at Gringotts. There wasn't actually enough within but, a slight manipulation of the woman's mind by Kali made it look like they were buying less than they were.

"Will that do?"

"Y-yes..." the girl mumbles before catching herself and refocusing, "That's enough! Thank you for your patronage!"

Harry nods and departs, but catches a conversation as he passes, "Hmph! Must be one of those expensive bags Richard Boncyff's started selling..."

"You mean the ones that are the size of a house? Man, what I'd do with one of those... I'd just live in it without any worries."

"No, you'd be worrying about how to pay it off, things're more expensive than what most people earn in a year!"

...

"Hmm, we'll need to check that out when we've got more gold." Harry tells Kali. Sure they could just steal one, but that would probably end badly. Having the cashier miscalculate the cost of their purchase was one thing, but stealing something worth a year's salary was far too risky.

"Master, in case you've forgotten, we still need to acquire your school supplies, plus your robes..."

"Uuuugh."

The next two hours is spent doing just that, Harry purchased his required Potion ingredients while also buying some seeds so that Kali could grow some interesting crops in her garden.

Quills and Ink? Stupid. He ignores them and buys himself a bulk pack of pens, pencils, and rubbers. He wouldn't lower himself back to the middle-ages for these idiots.

Speaking of which, acquiring robes that didn't make him want to kill himself was a struggle. If you ignored the stupid robes and pointy hat, you'd essentially just be left with a common British school uniform. A white shirt under a grey jumper with a tie, black trousers and black shoes.

The robe itself was a somewhat silky dress that you could tie up at the front and hung so low that you'd be in danger of tripping over it... Thankfully, the rules didn't state that he couldn't alter it somewhat.

He shortened it so it hung just above his knees, tightening the sleeves so they wouldn't hang off like a cardigan ten years too old for him, and had buttons replace the weird fabric that'd be used to secure it. After he was done it looked like a long suit jacket, an especially expensive one when he realised that 'Acromantula Silk' was an option, though, not usually picked for Hogwarts robes.

"Hmm, not perfect but certainly better than before." Kali mentally remarks as he stands in front of a presented mirror.

"M-Mr Hashbury, are you sure this is fine? I am sincerely worried that the school's faculty will be unappreciative of your changes to their design..." Madam Malkin tentatively states.

"It's fine, thank you for your efforts." Harry waves her off, handing over the last of his Galleons before leaving. This was the end of their shop, and judging by how the sun was dipping, it was time to head home.

"What do you think, Master?" Kali asks as they hop into a taxi out of London.

"I think we'll be lucky to learn anything at this school if our trip was anything to say about it."

"I agree, but at least we acquired some interesting things... Very interesting..." she trails off with a small smile on her bat form's face.

"You know something you aren't telling me." he states.

"Indeed, but the surprise is half the fun. Don't worry master, I'm sure it'll be in your best interests."

...

"Fine... Do you think we should take Grindelwald's skull to the school? If the teachers prove useless then he'd be a good substitute."

"Maybe once I have mapped out the wards. The skull would alarm any detection for dark artifacts unless we found a way around them. That doesn't mean you can't start learning before we get there. We still have a month left."

"Hmmm... I'm kind of hungry, you wanna stop somewhere? I haven't had fast food in a while." Harry wonders as they pass by a BoulgerKing.

"I could eat, but wasn't all of our money in the suitcase?"

Harry shrugs his shoulders, "We'll just 'pay', it'll be fine."

They have the taxi stop and enter the store, and approach the front desk... Neither notices the man flipping burgers at the back who quirks a confused brow when he spots him. "H-Harry?"