Shopping With McGonagall
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As the bells rang signaling someone coming in the shop Ollivander popped up from behind the counter with a flourish and covered in dust and said
"Welcome to my humble shop please, Please come inside to fulfill all your wand needs, Oh professor pleasure to see you as always I assume you are here to find this handsome young man his first wand"
"Yes" Replied McGonagall in one word.
"Well, Well come here lad let me get a good look at you, Hmm raise your arms to the side for me, Ok ok I think I have a good idea where to start "
And then he disappeared in the back only to appear from the other side of the large shelf he had disappeared behind while holding a long black box with some dust on top of it and took out a wand and said
"Go on, Give it a try, Just wave and see what happens"
Liam put his hand on the wand feeling quite nervous and thought to himself
'Ok calm down this is it, This is the first time I am actually going to do magic, Well second time if I count the car thing, I need to focus so many counts on this and what I can do, Because if I am not at least at a decent level in magic I am going to get my self killed, Or I could actually turn out to be quite the genius and everything might not be as hard as I thought it will be '
And as he waved the wand he could feel like there was some resistance like he was trying to pill two magnets apart, And then some wands fell crashing on the floor from a shelf behind him.
'Shit'
"Don't fret son we'll find you the right wand sooner or later or more as it will find you, You didn't think it was going to be that easy did you ha, On your first try... don't fret and wait for a second "
And then he went under the counter where he first appeared and then popped back up with the same enthusiasm if not more.
"Here try this one, Not as stubborn this one, Very ambitious though "
Liam could still feel the pit in his stomach but he decided to soldier through, He has so much to do and he couldn't stumble at every step, He needed to do it right, To do it perfectly, So he can reach the ending that he needed to, The ending that would have made his brother Harry.
And as he was thinking that and waving the wand, A brilliant bright white light erupted from its tip that was so bright Liam had to close his eyes.
"Well would you look at that you got it on your second try boy, And now I look the fool don't i"
Liam quickly recovered and said
"It was your recommendation sir I couldn't have done it with you"
"Ha don't we have a little flatterer on our hands here, Well lad this is quite the wand you have there 11 inches made from Acacia wood, Very rare wood you know, Very hard to find, And can't be used by anyone but the owner and its very judgmental of that owner, It holds back on all good stuff unless it senses great talent and determinations and with a dragon heartstring too, That gives the most power but is also very temperamental and most prone to accidents it also can change allegiance to someone who it believes can wield it better together they form a very unique makeup, Very rare indeed, Quite flexible as well"
"Wow that sound quite good how much is it, Sir"
"7 Galleons son and with some sickles on top of that I'll give you a holster and a wand cleaning kit"
"Thank you, Sir"
After paying and walking out to continue shopping they were on their way to Madam Malkin's store Liam trying to make conversations asked McGonagall
"What type is your wand professor ?"
"Well, aren't you just full of questions !"
"Isn't that a good trait for a student, Professor"
McGonagall showed a shadow of a smile and said
"Yes, Yes it is, It made of fir wood and a dragon heartstring if you must know Mr. Murphy, Now that we are here why don't you go inside this is Madam Malkin's robes for all occasions, You'll find all the clothe you will need inside, And I'll meet you once you exit so we can go to our next stop "
After going inside and taking his measurements and knowing when his robes would be ready he made his way out again and said
"I am done professor what's next ?"
"Next is your books Mr murphy and then your potion class supplies and finally to Eeylop's Owl Emporium, You do want to get an owl to correspond with your guardians correct ?"
"Yes professor I do"
He simply answered as they moved on to their next target Flourish and Blotts where they repeated the same process as McGonagall waited outside while Liam went in and got all the books needed for his first year, And he was going to pay for them he had a thought and went back to searching the shelves until he found his quarry, And he made his way to the man and the counter and give her a greeting as he handed her the books.
"Oh a first-year I see how wonderful, No let me see here and check you got all the book you need, Hmmm, Yep that's all of them alright and I see you got one extra didn't you, Hogwarts a history, Well aren't you an exited and studious little boy, Can't wait to get there so you're reading about it, Well all and all that's 43 galleons"
"Yes miss here you are"
And after he paid and made his way out he made sure to place Hogwarts a history on the top of his pile of books and as he was walking with McGonagall he asked
"How accurate is this book to Hogwarts professor ?"
She turned her head and looked at the book in question and said
"Oh fairly accurate as far as I could tell, What made you pay that Mr. Murphy I don't believe it was on the required list"
"I just saw it and thought it would be helpful to know the history of the place I am going to be staying at is all"
"I see"
'Great I think I convinced her it was just an impulse buy and at the same time I established myself as someone who likes to be prepared and reads a lot and with that I can have some credibility if I ever need to make an excuse for knowing something I shouldn't know and saying I read it in a book plus I actually think I might find something useful in there, And here I thought when I was rereading the first book before I died that Hermione was just being used as a tool for the author to lay down some exposition and find easy ways out of writing your self in a corner, Then suddenly Hermione read the answer in a book and now I am basically trying to do the same thing,'
'That brings up all sort of complicated thoughts to my head, It was a book back in my past life, A great book yes and very entertaining but a book nonetheless, Which means it was written by a person, A person who wasn't infallible, A person who made mistakes, Which means there are plot holes and exposition and plot armor and contrivances that drove the story forward, All things that shouldn't happen in real life, So what happens now that we are in real life, Is there an invisible hand of fate that will make everything happen the same way because it was written that way, And what is the relation between the books and this world, Which came first, And is one the reason for the other and if there is an invisible hand what happens to me if i try to go against it, Haven't i just done that on small scale by even talking to McGonagall, Haven't i changed her original trajectory from the books by having her come here today instead of doing whatever she did in the original, Or was liam in the books also but he just didn't have me in his head, No... Liam would have been dead if I didn't take over, So no invisible hand then...? I'll put it in as a maybe, And what about the plot armor, The trio are about to face a troll in a couple of months' time, And the only logical conclusion to that is their death, But that is not what happens in the books or movies, Should I let play out because it will make them better friends and deepen their bond and help them build up their confidence, Or do I avoid sending three 11-year-olds to their possible death, This is giving me another headache '
'And I am still not sure if there are differences between this world and the books and movies, I mean there were differences between the books and movies so which one does this strange world follow, I mean it would be logical that it follows the books because they came first, But who says we are going by logic here, Like for example McGonagall here isn't exactly like the book or the movie, I mean there are similarities, Her outfit is very close to the movies, But here description is closer to the books somewhat but it is still not spot on, She isn't the human manifestation of sternness at least not from what I saw from her, And does that have to do that when the author wrote the book she didn't visualize the outfit as much as the movie crew had to so that outfit carried over and when it comes to her character is it because she is now a real person so she isn't as much of a caricature of her self, She is more third dimensional but what does that mean for everybody else and the story'
'But more importantly, What happens if I mess with this already strange sequence of events wouldn't this delicately balancing system fall into shambles, God damn it, I am overthinking again, I need to do what I have to do and I have to be confident or else I'll end up dead because I doubted my self in a critical moment, God I don't want to die again, Like I know I'll have to eventually, But eventually isn't by a basilisk in two years, Calm down, I just have to try my best to make sure I leave this world better than I found it and with that, I'll be satisfied, Now I need to take my mind off of this'
"Professor McGonagall ?"
"Yes, Mr. Murphy?"
"I am feeling a little hungry and I just noticed that store as we were walking would you like to join me for an ice cream"
"Oh my Florean Fortescue ice cream parlor, You know I have passed by here so many times every year but I can't remember the last time I actually went in and had some"
"Well that can't stand professor we should go in professor my treat"
McGonagall actually smiled and said
"While that is very sweet Mr murphy how about you save your money on something for you and your friends to be and I'll get this time"
"Alright professor but I'll get it next time and I won't take no for an answer"
She smiled again as they both walked in and got some ice cream and Liam tried some of the magical flavors like butterbeer with wonder and curiosity letting his brain rest for a minute.
They soon lift Florean's parlor and carried on with their shopping stopping a Slug & Jiggers Apothecary to buy the tools he needed for his potions class which by far was costing him the most with all the ingredients and the most expansive book out of the lot that he had already bought and after that he also needed a telescope for his astronomy class and with all that costing him an extra 50 galleons he was glad he listened to his mother and got his money exchanged or else he would have been near broke right about now, So he made his way to his final stop, Eeylop's Owl Emporium to buy an owl, It turned out it wasn't as expensive as he thought just galleons for a nice health brown owl that was very soft and cuddly, He actually spent more than five minutes petting it is some sort of a trans until McGonagall came in to see what was taking him so long, So he snapped out of it and bought the owl while realizing the joy he was missing out on by not having a pet for both of his lives until now, It was a very friendly owl as well and seemed quite happy with the petting it was receiving.
And with that McGonagall asked him if he had everything he needed and with an affirmative answer they made their way back to his home and said goodbye and parted ways and Liam made his way inside and found Clair setting on the couch reading a book, She looked up at him and said
"How did it go honey"
"It was great mom, I got everything I needed, Oh and you were right about the money thank you, You want to see what I got, OH I got an owl, You know so we can send letters back and forth, But I didn't know it would be so cute do you want to pet it"
"Easy sweetheart one thing at a time, But yes to all those questions what did u name the owl"
"...."
"You didn't, Did you"
"No, I didn't do you want to help me name it"
Clair laughed at the excitement in his voice and was glad to see him start to act like a child for a bit at least, It seemed like this whole magic thing unlocked something in him, He was a lot more open and unguarded around her and at the same time it seemed like he was taking his future as a wizard very seriously, She would catch him setting in contemplation thinking about things and making faces, It was so adorable in her eyes.
"How about Strix"
"That sound cool, But why Strix though"
"Tts Mythological creature that looks like an owl and is thought to be connected to witches and magic in folklore"
Liam took the owl out of the cage and said
"That sounds great what do you think Strix do you like that name "
The bird hooted and flapped its wings in what could be interpreted as agreement.
"My grandmother was from the old country and she used to tell me about all these creatures and stories, She'd always say that ravens and crows are bad omens but they don't hold a candle for a Strix and if I ever saw one I should run the other way, Hahaha I wonder what she would think if she saw all things you are about to see and the other society that lays hidden out there for you to explore, Just promise you'll be safe no matter what ok"
"That is like the fifth time you told me that mom !"
"And I'll say it again and again so that when the time comes and you are about to make a decision that could lead to you getting hurt you would remember this moment and know that if you do get hurt you will break my heart, And then you'll make the right choice, Simple right ?"
"That sounds evil "
"Young man what did u just call me"
And they both said nothing for a moment and then laughed out loud.
And thus started the rest of his time before going to Hogwarts where he decided to spend his time making real connections with his family and enjoying their company and studying every word in the books he bought especially that potions one like his life depended on it because it did.