A new friend and clothes shopping
Chapter 7: A new friend and clothes shopping
It’s august 25th, which means Harry has exactly a week before he goes to Hogwarts.
He has done almost all his shopping now, he bought all of his books, a pewter cauldron, crystal vials, telescope, and brass scales. Along with a large trunk that shrinks small enough to put in his pocket, so he can take all of his things to Hogwarts safely.
He also bought part of the required uniform; dragon hide gloves. But he still needs to buy robes, shoes, trousers, and cloaks. He has been putting it off because he has no clue how to shop for clothes, he has always worn Dudley’s hand-me-downs, so he’s scared he will make a fool of himself. But today he finally decides to just get it over with.
He picks up his wand from the bed. (He bought the wand from Olivander's about a week ago, it was a horrible experience the wandmaker was creepy. When the holly and Phoenix feather wand had chosen Harry, Ollivander had spoken in a weird voice and was harping on and on about how Harry’s wand had twin cores with Voldemort's. And he had said that ‘he-who-must-not-be-named did terrible but great things and that Harry will also do great things. Harry had stared at the senile old man in concern and then paid for his wand and quickly escaped the shop.
He’s been practising small spells, with Selena shielding his magical signature. He actually really likes his wand despite the fact that it apparently shared cores with the same wand that killed his parents.
Harry has mastered a few basic spells from the charm's textbook, such as: Lumos, Aguamenti, Alohomora, Incendio, and Accio. He’s also been memorising potion ingredients and methods of brewing, and started with transfiguration but he’s finding that harder than potions and charms.
He whistles, and Solace flies down from the top of the cupboard and lands on his hair. He has been training Solace to come when he calls, the little bird is actually really intelligent and learns things really quickly. “Selena, I’m going to get my school clothes now, are you coming with me?”
“I will stay here and sleep, Star. Take the bird with you or I will bite him.”
Harry sighs in exasperation. Selena doesn’t like Solace, but she has got some sort of truce with the bird, and seems to be slowly warming up to him (very very slowly), but she still occasionally threatens to bite him. “Ok, Selena, I’ll see you later.”
“Goodbye Star.”
Harry heads out of the room and down into the main pub with Solace still perched on his head. He says hello to Tom on the way out into Diagon alley, and slowly walks down the street towards, Madame Malkin’s robes for all occasions .
He stops outside the shop and takes a deep breath trying to calm his nerves a little. “Ok little guy, you ready?” Solace chirps at him in response.
Harry steps into the shop, makes his way over to the counter and rings the bell. A middle-aged woman bustles out from the back. “Hello dear, I’m Madame Malkin. Are you here for Hogwarts robes?”
“Yes please.” Harry says in a small voice. “And also, some plain black trousers white shirts and cloaks? If that’s not too much trouble?” He adds nervously.
“Yes of course dear.” She smiles warmly at him; it makes him feel a little less nervous. “Come and stand over here so I can measure you, and put your bird on the perch over there so I don’t accidentally stick him with a pin.” She says while gesturing at a wooden perch in the corner of the shop.
“Solace, go wait on the perch, ok?” He says to the little raven, Solace flies of his head and lands on the perch.
“That’s a very smart bird you’ve got there.” Madam malkin says sounding impressed.
“Oh, thank you I’ve been training him, he’s a really quick learner!” He says exited that someone thinks Solace is cool.
“Well, you’ve done a very good job.” She smiles.
Harry blushes, he’s not used to people praising him. He simply nods in response and madam malkin starts measuring him. “Ok, almost done.” She says after about ten minutes. “I just need to grab some fabric from the storeroom, I’ll be back in a minute, wait here.” Harry nods again and she bustles off into the back of the shop.
A few seconds later the door to the shop opens and a girl with long wavy blonde hair, pink cat eye glasses and a bright yellow knee length dress with pink stockings, who looks about the same age as Harry, wanders in. She looks directly at him tilts her head to one side curiously and then moves across the room directly towards him. Which of course sends him into a silent panic because he hasn’t spoken to another Wixen his age yet.
“Hello Harry.” The girl says in a soft floaty voice as she curtseys gracefully.
“Err…hello? How do you know my name?... Was it the scar?” He says carefully, wondering if he is supposed to bow since she curtseyed. He should probably buy a book on Wixen customs and etiquette.
She tilts her head to one side again and then laughs in a strangely musical way, he wonders if she’s part fairy or something. Can Wixen be part fairy? Are fairy's even a thing? “No silly! I saw you in one of my dreams, I had a feeling we would meet today.”
“Oh.” Harry doesn’t know how else to respond to that statement.
“We will be best friends. I saw it in my dream.” She says matter of factually.
“Errm…ok? I…what’s your name?” He had no idea who this girl is, he has never had a friend in his life, and now a complete stranger has just walked up to him and declared that they will be best friends because she saw it in her dream. Harry probably shouldn’t be surprised that more strange stuff is happening to him.
“My name is Luna Lovegood, are you getting your Hogwarts robes?” She asks through a smile.
“Yeah, I am. Luna is a really pretty name.”
“Thankyou! My mother chose it. She’s dead now though.” Luna added sadly.
“My mums dead too.” Harry tells her plainly. He finds it almost comforting to be able to say that to someone. His mother was alive now she is dead. He had a mum then he did not. It should make him sad but right now it just feels like nothing. Numb. My mum is dead, your mum is dead. They gave us life and then left us to lead it alone. He wonders if Luna is thinking the same thing.
“Look we already have something in common, told you we are supposed to be best friends.” She says smiling again but softer this time.
“Yeah, I guess we do.” Harry says with a laugh; he likes Luna she seems cool, if she is serious about being friends he won’t object. He does not know the first thing about being friends with someone but he’s sure he can figure it out.
“I’m going to Hogwarts this year too, we’ll be in the same classes! I’m here to buy Hogwarts robes, and maybe some casual ones.”
“Casual? Wait, do I need casual robes?!” Harry says in vague alarm.
“They aren’t necessary, but I like wearing them, I think you should get some green ones that match your eyes. You have very pretty eyes, like emeralds.” She muses, looking at him thoughtfully.
“Oh… you have nice eyes too?” He says, not really knowing how to respond to a compliment. “And I will, thanks Luna.” Harry smiles at her gratefully.
“No problem, Harry.”
“I wanted to buy some muggle clothes too; do you know if there is anywhere on Diagon alley that sells them?” He asks, thinking Luna probably knows since she’s wearing a muggle dress.
“Oh yes! When I’m done getting my robes, I’m going to the muggle clothes shop just down the street. You can come with me if you want, I’ll help you find good clothes.” She says bouncing on her heels with excitement; seemingly overjoyed by the prospect of shopping with him? Petunia always told him he was a nuisance on the rare occasions where she was forced to take him on the weekly food shop.
Harry considers the offer for a moment, wondering if it's a joke. But... he thinks that he would probably feel better about shopping for clothes if Luna was with him. “Sure, that would be great.” He agrees after a lengthy pause.
Luna smiles so big and bright he feels like he should probably be blinded. “Oh, this will be so fun!”
Then Madame Malkin reappears and finishes measuring him. He asks her to make him some casual green robes that match his eyes, like Luna said. Then he pays for everything and asks for it all to be delivered to his room. He waits as Luna gets measured for her school robes and orders casual robes in a lilac colour. When she has payed for her things she wanders back over to Harry.
“Shall we go?” She asks with a smile.
“Yep, let me just call my familiar.” He whistles for the Solace and the little raven flies over and immediately lands atop Luna’s head, much to Harry’s dismay. He’s probably ruined his friendship within the first five minutes, thanks to his little rascal of a familiar messing up Luna’s hair. “Oh, no! I'm so sorry Luna.”
“It’s ok Harry don’t worry, oh he’s lovely, what’s his name?”
He blinks once, twice, and stares at her for a few moments in surprise. She’s not upset? She doesn’t seem mad with him or Solace, not even a little bit. She’s still smiling.
He somehow manages to get his voice to work again to answer her question, “His... his name is Solace. I got him in the animal emporium about three weeks ago.”
She reaches up to her head and gets Solace to hop onto her hand. “Hello Solace, it’s lovely to meet you.” Solace tilts his head at her and chirps joyfully in response.
“I think he likes you.” Harry says recovering from his surprise and smiling at her. “Should we go now?”
They exit the shop and step back into Diagon alley, he walks side by side with Luna careful to keep a little bit of distance just in case. Solace eventually hops back onto Harry’s shoulder and Luna hums as she walks her arms swinging at her sides, looking entirely at ease and completely unconcerned with the rest of the world. He wishes he could be like that sometimes. He still can’t quite believe that he made a friend (Especially one as cool as Luna) it is not at all what he was expecting from today, but he’s glad it happened anyway. He just hopes he won’t screw this up.
“What house do you want to be sorted into?” Harry asks curiously after they have been walking in a comfortable silence for a while.
“My parents were both Ravenclaws. But I think Slytherin seems like a nice house. I would be happy with either of those.” She says thoughtfully.
“I’m not sure what houses my parents were in, but I thought Slytherin or Ravenclaw would be good options too! The only thing is in the books I’ve read it says a lot of bad wixen come out of Slytherin.” He tells her with his brow scrunching together in a frown.
“Hmm... well there is a lot of bad stigma around Slytherin house but it’s not evil. I think it’s just because you-know-who was one of them, and then it just got labelled as a dark and evil house.” She muses her head tilting to one side as she speaks.
He nods in agreement thinking she's probably right. "Yeah, I think your right. I don’t think it’s as evil and dark as people say it is, I would be happy to be sorted Slytherin, plus it has a snake as it’s emblem, which is really cool.”
Luna stops abruptly in front of a shop towards the end of Diagon alley. “We’re here!” She declares before pushing open the door to the shop and holding it open as they both step inside. The shop is fairly small, it has racks of clothes placed in rows in the centre of the room, and there are various muggle-band posters on the walls, along with small shelves featuring various muggle items.
The shopkeeper looks up from their book, says, “Hello” and then goes back to reading.
Luna startles him slightly when she takes Harry’s hand and pulls him to the corner of the shop towards a few shelves with different types of muggle shoes on them. “Ok, let’s start with shoes! Do you like any of them?” She asks, looking at him expectantly. She still hasn’t let go of his hand either, he finds that he doesn’t really mind.
After a moment of surveying the shelves he replies, “Hmm…yes! Those ones.” He points at some forest green high-top converses. “But I’m not sure what size I need.” He adds a little bit ashamed to not know something so simple, but he has never got his shoe size measured before, he always wears Dudley's old ones and they never fit him right.
“That’s ok! They put charms on them so that the shoes fit the owner perfectly. They will get bigger as you grow too, so you won’t have to replace them!” She assures him with a smile and Harry relaxes again. Luna has this energy about her that just makes him feel calm and safe. He knows he shouldn’t trust it, but he can’t help it, safety is something non-existent in his life, so now he grasps at the feeling.
“Oh, that’s so cool! I’m going to get them. And look Luna there’s pink converses the same colour as your glasses, we could have matching shoes!” Harry exclaims, suddenly feeling very excited at the idea of having matching shoes with his new friend.
“Good idea Harry! And I can put beads on the laces!” She says practically bouncing up and down in excitement. “And the green will match your house if you get sorted into Slytherin.”
“Yes! Good point.” He nods enthusiastically.
“Shall we look at the clothes now?” She suggests after picking up their shoes from the shelves.
“Yeah sure!” Harry agrees feeling especially exited (and nervous) to buy his very own clothes for the first time.
They walk over to the rails of clothes and Luna helps him pick out some different things that she thinks will look good on him. They find: two pairs of denim jeans, a few t-shirts in different colours, a forest green hoodie a black pull over jumper, and some soft black pyjamas that have little silver stars embroidered all over.
He looks happily at the shoes and clothes that he’s holding. Never again will he wear Dudley’s hand-me-downs, for the first time in his life he gets to wear things that actually fit him and look nice. Harry suddenly feels like he’s going to cry, but he blinks harshly and swallows the urge down. He doesn’t want to be weak in front of Luna.
He helps Luna as she picks out some things, they find: a pair of yellow and purple flowy patchwork trousers, navy blue leggings with little silver birds embroidered on the fabric, a denim jacket and dark purple short dungarees.
Once they get everything they want. They take their finds to the person at the counter. Harry insists on paying for Luna’s clothes since she helped him so much today, and then they make their way out of the shop with all of their new clothes and shoes in paper bags.
“Do you want to go to Fortescue's for ice cream? My dad said he would meet me there.” Luna asks in her floaty manner.
“... Sure.” Harry agrees cautiously he feels nervous about meeting Mr Lovegood, what if he’s like Vernon?
They arrive at the ice cream shop and Harry sees a tall kind looking man who has the same long blonde hair as Luna and the same soft smile. “Moonshine! how was your shopping? I see you’ve made some new friends.” He looks curiously at Harry and Solace.
“Yes, this is Harry, the one from my dream! We went shopping for clothes together and we bought matching shoes!” She rambles excitedly.
“I’m glad you made a friend, Moonshine.” The man says looking fondly down at his daughter. “I was worried about you going to school alone.” Harry realises in that moment that he might be Luna’s first friend too.
Then he notices that Mr Lovegood is holding a box with airholes poked in the top. The man notices him looking, smiles and then says to Luna, “I bought you a special present in celebration of you going to school next week.”
Luna peers curiously at the box as her father opens it. A fluffy white squirrel peeps out, it has amethyst eyes and a little pink nose. Luna gasps, and carefully reaches out a hand to the fluffy creature, it immediately clambers onto her arm and looks up at her with its purple eyes. “Oh.” She breathes out in adoration.
“She’s lovely, thanks dad! Thank you so so so much! Does she have a name?”
“No. Not yet, I thought you would like to name your own familiar.” He smiles down at his daughter with soft eyes.
Luna looks thoughtful for a moment and then she speaks in a gentle tone, “I’m going to name her Panda after my mother Pandora.”
“It’s perfect Luna. Panda suits her perfectly.” Harry tells her quietly, smiling at her and the little squirrel.
~~~
Eventually Harry parts ways with Luna, promising to meet her on the Hogwarts express. And heads back to his room.
Once he makes it back to the room, Solace flies of his shoulder and up onto the cupboard. He puts down his bag of clothes next to his other purchases and collapses on the bed, Selena slithers over to him.
“Did everything go well, Star?” Selena asks looking at him with her unblinking eyes.
Harry has no idea what happened today, how he managed to make a friend, or why Luna even wanted to be friends with him, but he’s grateful, nonetheless. “Yeah, Selena. I made a friend.”