Chapter 025

The book shelf began to shake. Realizing he was close to blowing his lid, Harry closed his eyes and began to empty his mind. It would not do for him to blow up the shelves containing his books in a fit of rage. Not only would it cause questions to be asked—and more then likely get him kicked out of the store—but he didn't need to draw that kind of attention to himself.

He focused on his breathing while imagining his mind as a blank space, a void of white. He breathed in through the nose, held it for five seconds, then out through the mouth. The process repeated several times before he felt sufficiently calm. That still didn't stop him from glaring at the books the moment his eyes were opened, but at least he could think without wanting to blow the books to kingdom come.

Without hesitation he grabbed a copy of every single book on the shelf and put it into his basket. It was as he finished putting the last book, Harry Potter and the Wandering Vampire, into the basket that he realized another problem. His basket was beginning to get too heavy for him to carry, and that was not even considering how he was lugging around his new trunk behind him. At this rate he would not be able to get even half of the books he wanted.

It only took him a moment to think of a way out of this predicament however, and the moment he did Harry set off towards one of the people who looked like they worked there: a young female that Harry guessed was in her late teens. She was quite attractive, with dark black hair pulled into a bun and a few stray strands framing a heart-shaped face. Green eyes were complimented by the green robes she was wearing. The reason he could tell she worked there was because she wore an apron with Flourish and Blotts written on it in gold lettering.

"Excuse me." Harry came up behind the girl and tapped her on the shoulder. Despite being above average in height for a kid his age, this girl was a head and shoulder taller than him, and when she turned around the young woman blinked in surprise, before tilting her head down to look at him. Casting the female worker a charming smile he said, "I was wondering if you could help me with something."

The girl returned his smile with one of her. "Of course, what do you need help with?"

"I was gathering some books that I thought looked interesting and felt would help me learn more about the wizarding world," Harry began his explanation without any further prompting. "I'm muggle-raised, you see, so I don't know much about the wizarding world and was hoping to learn as much as I could before going to Hogwarts."

"You're a first year then?" asked the girl, blinking a bit in surprise. She looked him up and down once more. He noticed that she looked at his bandana, which he knew seemed out of place, but ignored that since she didn't ask him any questions about it. "I thought you were at least a second or third year with how tall you are."

"Ah, well, I'm a bit tall for my age," Harry admitted with a shrug, before plunging on with his request. "Anyway, while I was gathering books I realized that my basket was getting too heavy for me to carry, and at this rate I won't be able to buy all the books I want. I was wondering if you knew of something that could help me with this problem, and maybe answer a few questions so I can find out what books I still need."

"I think I can do that," the girl said. She then looked at the large trunk he was dragging behind him. "The first thing we need to do is get rid of that trunk. You won't be able to carry all your books if you're too busy lugging that thing around."

Harry frowned. "Where should I put it?"

"Why don't you take it to the Professor showing you around so they can look after it?"

"Actually, I'm here on my own," Harry corrected. Upon seeing the look of surprise on her face he hastily added, "the person I live with, my aunt, knows about magic so I guess they felt I didn't need a professor guiding me. It's just that because she's a muggle I wasn't able to take her to Diagon Alley with me." Harry honestly wasn't sure if it was possible for a muggle to enter the Leaky Cauldron or not. Uncle Vernon hadn't even seen it, so he assumed that was the case. He only hoped he was right.

"Oh." The girl frowned a bit, before shrugging. "I guess that makes sense, sort of. I wouldn't know since I'm a half-blood myself and both my parents were magical. My mum's muggleborn."

"Same here," Harry said with a smile, before frowning. "So about the trunk..."

"We'll just place it behind the counter for now," the girl told him. She pulled what Harry recognized as a wand out of the folds of her robes, and he watched as she made a 'swish and flick' motion. "Wingardium Leviosa."

"Is that one of the spells we learn at Hogwarts?" Harry asked curiously. It was basically like his levitation magic, only with a wand instead.

"Yes, it is," the girl looked at him, slightly confused. Harry assumed it was because he had told her he was muggle-raised, yet wasn't surprised or awed to see her using magic. Then again, it could be something else entirely, though he doubted it. "This is actually a first year spell, the Levitation Charm."

"Neat," said Harry, looking over the spell curiously. He glanced at the girl's wand and noted it was pointed at the trunk. Did that mean that in order to maintain the spell she had to keep it locked onto the trunk at all times? Or perhaps she used her wand to direct where the spell went. How interesting. While it looked slightly limited at first, Harry could see how that would be useful. He could only control where the objects he floated moved by giving them a preset destination, or giving them a loop to follow. That was part of the reason he made them orbit his head. He could only make them travel in a circle, or straight one way. Changing direction or animating something required him to exert both more control and more magic, which made it more difficult.

The girl looked at him oddly, but quickly shook off whatever she was thinking and led him down to the counter, where she set his trunk. What followed next was Harry telling the girl what he was looking for in the books he wanted as the two of them traveled the bookstore collecting books.

In the end, Harry ended up getting a large number of books on wizarding laws, including but not limited to The Dark Arts: A Legal Companion, The Dark Arts – A Legal Compendium, Legal Guide to Proper Use of Magic, Magical Misdemeanors in the Modern Law, Magical Moral Perspective, Unforgivable Curses and their Legal Compunctions. It was his hope that these books would help him not only know what the laws were, but also find legal loopholes to use if he ever needed to break them.

He was a bit disappointed to learn that there were no books on etiquette and how one was supposed to act in formal functions within the Wizarding World. When asked, the girl giving him a hand had told him, "sorry, but as far as I know there aren't any books on things like that. From what I understand learning etiquette and whatnot is learned through word of mouth. However, we do have a book on wizarding traditions." That particular conversation had ended up with him getting the book A Traditional Look at Wizarding Traditions. He only hoped it would be enough until he found someone who could teach him how to act in wizarding society.

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