Obligatory Shopping Episode
You can find more of this on by SubscribeStar (dot adult slash KajaWilder), it’s posted past FwB2 Ch. 50 there. You can find the same on my new Patreon (via Discord per their ToS), under /WildErotica. The DISCORD is at https://discord.gg/N9yDASt6Cw . If you prefer direct links, go to my Discord and follow the ‘links in general’ section to find the ones you want. All of my fics are well ahead of what I post here, often 10-30 chapters ahead.
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Chap. 32: Obligatory Shopping Episode
Harry stepped onto the small stage below the curtains that hid the white screen of the in-home mini-theater with a nervous glance at the seats. Twenty three of the thirty-five seats were full, and most everyone was sitting together, crowded toward the front. Dobby and Winky popped here and there throughout, handing out refreshments despite it being just after breakfast for most of the group.
Sirius and Orla, in particular, looked a little tired, and a brief skim of their emotions hinted to Harry that his godfather and his girlfriend had been up quite late enjoying each other's company. Good, the old dog needs it more than he knows.
"Alright, Harry," Hermione called from the front row, "I know what's going on, but I don't think very many of the others got told."
"I'm getting to it," he chuckled, though Harry spent a few moments scanning the faces. Most of the girls, his friends and lovers, or at least acquaintances, were still a bit sleepy. Two of them, Pansy and Romilda, had been eating breakfast when Dobby had gone around the manor and asked those staying there to attend.
The rest, those who had Apparated or come by Floo, were at least a little more awake.
"Basically, I thought we could use a day to take care of things. Shopping. Some of you need things for your rooms, those staying here. Some of you just need some of what Hermione called, um..."
"Retail therapy," the brunette supplied with a grin.
"Yeah, that." Harry tried to ignore the many young women, and one older, who shared a gaggle of suddenly very happy looks. "Some of you... well, need a lot. Most- I think all of you- have met Kennedy, now. She's asked to stay for the summer at least, and I've said that's alright, but she needs a few more things if that's to happen. A better wardrobe, toiletries, and so on. Romilda's parents sent her things along, but she could use a few things, since she's gotten a bit taller, and all that. So! I hear the shopping at this place in downtown London, Harolds, is pretty good."
"Harrods," Hermione corrected, "It's called Harrod's, and it is. They have everything. At least everything Muggle. It's... imagine all of Diagon Alley, packed into one gigantic building. Everything you'd ever really need."
"Yes, that, Harrod's. So I've already contacted Gringott's, did that yesterday, and they've sent... well, about three hundred Galleons' worth of Pounds. That's Muggle money, short for Pounds Stirling. It's... well, more than I expected, and probably more than enough for today. If we go over, I can always get more, they seemed quite happy to change the currency."
"Because they charge a twenty percent fee every time they do it," Sirius drawled. "Better to get a big change like you did, Harry. They have a cap imposed by the Ministry of fifty galleons per transaction. You lose a lot more money in smaller changes."
Hermione, who among them had probably changed the most money along with her parents, frowned, but she didn't protest. She knew Goblins well, at that point, and like Harry, probably assumed there was little she could do.
"Yes, well... anyway, I thought we could make a day of it. Split up into pairs or four or whatever, and go ham, getting things you need or want."
"We can't spend all your money," Susan protested.
"Speak for yourself," Parvati, who sat next to Lavender with Padma on her other side, replied with a grin, "Harry's loaded, right? If he wants to be generous, who're we to say no?"
"If it makes you feel any better," Harry interrupted with a grin, "Think of it as all the birthday and Christmas presents I missed up 'till now. Anyway, we've got a Portkey that'll take us to Hyde Park, which is very near Harrod's. Just a couple streets' walk away. It leaves in... thirty minutes. Figure out who you're gonna go around with, and I'll split up the money for each group. Should be... oh, about two hundred pounds each."
Orla and Hermione whistled. The others, not as familiar with the exchange rate, took a bit longer to catch on. It was hardly a fortune, but Harry was handing out what might be a weeks' wages to a lower-income worker to each of them, just because.
"And, Kennedy, can I have a word before you decide who you want to go with?"
A couple of minutes later, much of the group had already separated into several predictable clusters. Pansy, Astoria, Daphne, and Tracey formed one. The Carrows and Patils, two sets of twins, another. Ron, Ginny, Hermione, and Luna formed a third, while Hannah, Susan, Katie a little clique of their own, Lavender, Fleur, and Lilith talking animatedly about going off on their own.
Kennedy, though, made her way down the central aisle, while Harry himself slipped down to sit on the edge of the stage. Conveniently, they were almost exactly at eye level with each other, though Kennedy was normally just a tiny bit shorter than Harry. "Hey, so... I know you don't know the girls as well, and that's alright. You're welcome to go with any of them that you want, or tag along with me. I'll probably be going between the groups as I can... but I also know you need a fair bit, if you're going to stay. I was hoping you'd be willing to go with Orla and Fleur, so they can help you get outfitted. They'd know better than me what you need."
The young woman nodded, and sent an appraising look to the blonde, then Sirius' girlfriend. The older witch and wizard had stayed seated, no doubt guessing what Harry was going for. He had expected the groups to split up more or less like they had.
But he was, like a teacher at a field trip in primary school, going to rearrange them for his own purposes. That purpose was, primarily, to keep the girls he cared for separating into cliques that might, one day, turn on each other.
"I... could," Kennedy replied quietly after thinking about it, "but I feel safer with... with you."
"I understand," Harry nodded, "and if you strongly prefer that, I'll stay with you, or you can stay with me. But these other girls, they have... well, families available, things that they can get from home, and all that. I know you said before you aren't comfortable going back to your apartment, so..."
She shook her head, casting her gaze downward. "No... no, I'd rather not. There's nothing there for me, anyway. It was just school... a dorm. I had some clothes, but... are you sure about all this, though? I mean, that's a lot of money, right?"
Harry nodded, "I suppose. But I grew up in a cupboard under the stairs, raised by an Aunt and Uncle who hated me, and with a cousin who was taught I was dirt. He's a lot better, now. My other relatives... I could honestly care less what happens to them, anymore. I'm not interested in revenge, I just never care to see or hear from them again, aside from to occasionally see my cousin, Dudley. This money I have? It came from my parents, who I don't remember except in nightmares caused by memories from when I was a year old. And it's not a small amount. I'm hardly in Britain's Top One Hundred for wealth, but I'd probably be in the top five, and I can afford this easily enough. It'll take about three weeks to make that much money back, if that much, on interest and businesses I have stake in."
"Stock?"
Harry nodded, "Yes, that. Stock. The point is, I can definitely do this. You see Ron? He hates the idea of hand-outs, but he's doing this, because he knows it'll make me happy, and honestly, he could use the break. As the sixth son, it was nothing but hand-me-downs for him for most of his life. Now he has some money of his own thanks to an award for bravery from our Ministry- the Order of Merlin, Third Class- but his mother, you've met her, wants him to save it. So he wants to spend some to spite her, I suppose, even if it came from me."
Kennedy swallowed, "So... was it you, footing the bill for... us? All the... the victims?"
Harry gave another nod as his voice dropped to a softer level, "It was. The Ministry offered to help, I declined. That did actually put a little dent in my money, but seriously, it's nothing we won't recover from within a month or two. I promise you, this is nothing that will hurt me in any way, and I want to help."
"Oh... okay," she replied quietly, then surprised Harry by leaning in to give him a brief hug, "I... thank you. But yes, I'd rather stick with you, if you don't mind."
"Not a problem at all. Sit tight for a second..." Harry climbed back up onto the stage, and turned to face the now several groups, "Ahem! Attention, please! Attention!"
Thankfully, he didn't have to set off a cannon-blast charm to get the group's focus once more. "Thank you. Now, I know you all have your friends... but tough. This is in part supposed to be so you can get to know each other. So... if you please... let's have Daphne, Tracey, and Susan and... wait, no, Daphne, Tracey, Flora, and Padma. Here's your count, you can decide who's holding it, or split it among yourselves."
It took a few seconds for the girls to separate as he asked, and Daphne actually asked as she took the pouch of bills from him, "Why bother having us separate if you were going to play matchmaker, then?"
"Matchmaker?" Harry laughed, "I think you're thinking too much of this. Seriously, I expected it. Call it a test, if you want. But if you crazy ladies are all really going to do this, then best to get to know each other, right? Besides, we all need more friends."
She glared, but nodded. Harry privately thought that if Daphne had realized that everyone in her particular group preferred the company of women in general, she might either have been terribly offended, or quite happy with him.
"Hm... Pansy, Lavender... Hannah... and why not, Neville." This time, it was the blonde boy that took the money from his hand, though he frowned at the lightness of it. "Just ask Lavender how it works," Harry chuckled, "she's probably alright with it."
Of course, his Pet was happy to snatch the money from Neville's hand and start divvying it between her new group, as she quietly explained to Pansy and Neville how it worked.
Ginny, Astoria, Romilda, and Luna were added to a group with Orla acting as their chaperone since they were the youngest,
Hestia, Hermione, Fleur, and Katie were grouped together as the 'older girls', and Harry went back to assign Sirius to help watch over the group Neville was 'in charge' of, while Ron was asked to run herd, if he could, on Daphne's group. That particular request made the blonde Slytherin send Harry a death glare, but it only made him smile, while Ron looked decidedly nervous at the prospect.
"Which means Susan, Kennedy, and Lilith, you're with me."
"Actually, Master," Lilith replied as she stood up, "I thought I'd stay here. Or at least, in town. I'd kind of like to go visit my 'rival' for a bit. I'd like to talk to her about something."
"Er... alright. If that's what you want to do," Harry shrugged, "Any requests?"
"No, thank you," Lilith replied with a grin, "but if you see any fun toys, you know what I like. I'll be off, then. Have fun, everyone!"
"Just you and me, then," Harry replied, offering his arm to a suddenly blushing Susan Bones, and the other to Kennedy, to linked her arm through his with an amused look. "Alright, the Portkey leaves in... actually, Sirius, can Muggles even use Portkeys?"
"Don't see why not," the older wizard replied with a shrug, "as long as they're touching. Uh... if she doesn't come with you, I guess I can pop back and Side-Along her. Nothing should happen if it doesn't work, she just wouldn't go anywhere. I think."
"You think," Kennedy asked quietly, sounding suddenly scared.
Orla rolled her eyes from a dozen feet away, "It's fine, dear, I've got a no-mag cousin who's taken them before, it works just fine. As long as you keep a good grip. And try not to lose your lunch."
"My lunch...? But it's only breakfast?"
"Figure of speech," Orla laughed.
"Right," Harry shrugged, trying to ignore how Kennedy was also blushing a little at the movement of his body against hers as he stopped in front of the rope Dobby had appeared holding, "Everyone grab hold, about a minute left... there you go, Kennedy, just keep a firm grip. It's going to feel very, well, spinny, but-"
There was a flash of blue, and the Portkey activated, sending everything Harry could see or feel or hear into a whirlwind of motion, light, color, and sound, all of it pulled by the hook that had appeared behind his navel.
Poof.
A few moments later, Harry and the others were deposited in a relatively secluded clearing on the south-central end of Hyde Park. According to the Ministry employee who'd sold him the Portkey, it was one of three such designated Portkey- and Apparition- appearance locations where magical folk could pop in or disappear from without arousing too much suspicion. Notice-me-not charms were heavy, muggle-repelling very localized, and just the center of each area Unplottable.
And almost as soon as they landed, Harry heard vomiting from his right, where Kennedy's grip on his arm went from painfully tight to slack, to nothing as she fell to her knees.
Most of the witches looked sympathetic, but Neville turned away, a bit green himself. Harry simply dropped to a knee himself and put a hand on Kennedy's back, rubbing in soft, small circles. "Sorry, seems like it's worse than someone said."
"I'm so sorry," Orla told her hurriedly, "I should've asked if you got motion sick... my cousin doesn't, and I didn't think... here."
Kennedy didn't flinch when the American witch pulled out her wand and aimed it in her direction. She didn't even seem to notice. But with a few practiced flicks, the pile of vomit vanished, and a few more at the woman herself seemed to calm her stomach and dizziness miraculously. "Sorry," Kennedy wheezed as she struggled shakily to her feet, "I don't know what that..."
"Nonsense," Orla told her, and flicked her wand up and down once more to clean the leaves and dirt from Kennedy's otherwise pristine clothing. This time she did flinch, but Orla didn't seem to notice that, either. "It's my fault for not thinking about people being different. But you're all cleaned up, now... how're you feeling?"
Without apparent thought, Kennedy stepped behind Harry, looking concerned as she stared in Orla's direction.
Thankfully, the dark-haired witch seemed to catch on quickly, and her wand vanished into the holster she kept behind her waist, just above her belt. "Sorry about that, too. I didn't even think... must be getting careless in my old age. I promise, I didn't do anything bad."
"I know," Kennedy whispered, and her hand slipped into Harry's. He noticed at once that it was trembling violently. "I trust you... I trust the people here. I just..."
Harry turned and pulled her into a soft hug, "You don't need to apologize, Kennedy. We don't... understand, we didn't go through what you did, but some of us have experienced... similar. Even if we didn't, we still sympathize and empathize."
"Hermione's been teaching you new words, I see, Pup," Sirius joked from a dozen feet away.
"Lilith, actually," Harry chuckled, "And late last year, well, my fifth. You gonna be alright, Kennedy? Would you like me, or Sirius, to take you back to the house? He can side-along, but I'd have to-"
"N-no, no," she replied, shaking her head, "I want to... I want to come. I just... needed a second. And you don't have to be sorry, O- Orla. It just... took me by surprise, and I wasn't... wasn't ready."
"I am sorry, though," the older woman replied, reaching out with a hand that Kennedy took in another shaky grip with her spare, while the first remained locked in a death-grip with Harry. "I should've asked, I know it can be tough for you, having a wand aimed in your direction. At the very least after cleaning up the mess."
"Still, I-"
Conversation drifted, as they started walking, from apologies and how much Kennedy did not like Portkey travel, thank you so much for asking, to the wonders of muggle London. Many of their group had never seen it before, at least outside the walking areas between the Leaky Cauldron and St. Mungo's. As a result, the crowded, expensive buildings and highness of the modern city left most of them flabbergasted at the sheer immensity of the structures, and the density of the population they represented.
Amid the high rises and dense town homes, one particular structure caught the eye of several of them. "What is that?" Pansy asked loudly, pointing at a ring of steel in the sky, currently painted bright red and moving slowly.
"That," Sirius chuckled, "is the London Eye. It's a large Ferris wheel. You can ride on it... There was a much smaller one James and I rode on once, back before the last war. This one's a bit more famous, among the largest in the world."
"It's huge," Pansy exhaled.
Harry grinned, "Well... now we have another plan for the summer. There's a lot of sightseeing you can do in London, right, Hermione?"
"Loads," she grinned too, glancing around, "There's the whole south-side park, where the Eye is, of course... the Parliament building, Hyde Park itself, Buckingham Palace, where the Queen lives officially... so many things, and they're all just around here."
"We'll have to come back later, then," Harry smiled, causing the excited chatter of the girls to double again. "But first... see that big brownstone? The four-story with the tower? That's where we're headed."
More gasps followed. "That's... one store?"
Harry's wide grin returned at Daphne's dumbfounded question, but it was Hermione that answered, "Technically, the last I heard, there were three hundred and twenty-nine departments, which is sort of like three hundred and twenty-nine different stores, but yes, they're all inside that building... and a couple of the ones surrounding. The furniture building is that one, for example."
Chivying the gobsmacked teen girls across the busy, automobile-lined street was a hassle for those more experienced in maneuvering in muggle London, but thankfully Kennedy was able to step up and shout down an angry cab driver who'd laid into his horn while the nervous pure-blood contingent hesitated mid-way through the crossing.
Harry was among the last to step through the many pristine glass doors into the expansive, but already bustling lobby of one of the world's most famous and largest shopping destinations. He was glad already for the air conditioning the moment he stepped inside, for even at ten in the morning, the city was becoming unseasonably warm.
He turned to the group of ladies, held his arms wide, "Welcome to Harrod's. Go, shop enjoy yourselves- be back in this lobby by four! We've got other things to do today, remember!"
He wasn't sure any of them heard. Because, with a whoosh of wind that reminded him almost of cartoon characters vanishing in a puff of smoke, the girls were suddenly gone, vanishing into the crowds of shoppers.
All except Kennedy and Susan, of course, who slipped an arm each through his with a glance at each other around him. "Let's go, then, Harry," the buxom red-head said with a grin, "I'm eager to see this place. Auntie- Auntie always liked coming here, but I've never been myself."
"Well, I haven't either, so it'll be a learning experience for us both," he chuckled.
"I have, but only as a girl," Kennedy told them, "Where- where do you want to start?"