A/N: I did a lot of research for this chapter, seeing as Harry and Hermione would be spending the day in Muggle London, and I've barely ever been out of Canada. Honestly. I went to Disney when I was too little to remember, and I've been to Buffalo, NY for a hockey game and a shopping trip. I have NO idea what London is like other than what I see in the media, so I did some Googling to write this chapter. Hopefully anyone who is more aware of England's inner workings than I am doesn't see anything wrong.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and everyone in Wizarding England and the rest of the world unfortunately belongs to JKR. I just do this for fun when I'm not working.
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Hermione ordered room service again for herself and Harry, hoping that lunch would make them feel better. After they had finished and cleared up, she transfigured Harry's ratty old t-shirt into a much better fitting deep red t-shirt. This time it was clean and free of holes.
"I think we should get you some more clothes, Harry. You can't go around wearing the same thing all summer. Shall we head to Harrods today?" Hermione suggested, getting some things together.
Harry shrugged. "I guess," he agreed. He wasn't sure exactly how to act around Hermione now. He felt nervous, and unsure of himself. He quickly ran his fingers through his hair in a pathetic attempt to somehow manage it. His hair settled back into what looked like raven feathers across his forehead. He sighed, knowing there was no point in trying to control his unruly mane.
Together they left the hotel, and ventured towards the Edgware Road and Praed Street bus stop. "Ever taken the Tube before, Harry?" Hermione asked, almost positive he hadn't.
He shook his head.
"Oh, it's fascinating, really. It was the world's first underground railway transportation system when it opened in 1863, and now it has aboveground connections with the TfL, Transport for London. We're going to take a bus to Harrods today, but I promise you we'll take the Tube before we go to Godric's Hollow."
"Isn't King's Cross connected to the tube?" Harry asked.
"Yes, but we take a real train from there to Hogwarts, not that the Muggles have any idea. You've seen the Tube, Harry, you just probably didn't realize it. They're the shiny long things that zoom into the station while you're waiting your turn to run at Platform 9¾."
Harry nodded, feeling rather silly. How could he not have realized that was the Tube Hermione was talking about? He had a vague memory of travelling such a train with the Dursleys at one point, but they had never bothered to tell him what it was called.
Moments later the bus arrived. Hermione tossed some Muggle money in the fare collector for the two of them, and they rode the bus in silence. They got off at the Knightsbridge station and walked the short distance to Harrods at Kensington and Chelsea. Harrods had always been one of the most popular stops for tourists in London, but Hermione was prepared for the crowds. She knew her way around the store as she'd been shopping numerous times with her parents, and had no trouble manoeuvring through people.
Hermione took Harry's hand in hers and led him through the crowds, heading for the escalators. They headed towards the lower ground floor, where the designer men's clothing awaited them.
Harry had no clue what to look for, as the only Muggle clothing he'd ever really worn were Dudley's old cast-offs. He simply stood back and let Hermione enjoy herself, squealing in delight as she picked things off of the racks and held them up to him. Once she had loaded both hers and Harry's arms with a large selection of clothing, she pushed him towards the fitting rooms. Hermione made a few choices, and then pushed Harry towards the escalators again.
"Ground floor has some things that you can wear every day, this stuff is a little more formal," she explained.
Harry was in awe. He'd thought they'd grabbed enough clothes already, but apparently Hermione just wasn't done yet. Harry had never understood what it was with women and shopping, and he got the feeling that he wasn't going to start understanding any time soon. What was really a half hour had seemed like an eternity to Harry, as he allowed Hermione to pick out and toss more things onto their arms. She began to shove him towards the fitting rooms again, keeping the outfits from the previous floor with her.
Harry groaned inwardly, changing outfit after outfit and having to exit the change room to show each one to Hermione. She made her selections, and they headed for the nearest register.
"Hi," she greeted the clerk with a dazzling smile. He was older than the two of them, perhaps in his early twenties. "I was wondering if, once we pay for these, you might be able to keep them here at your register? We've acquired a lot of items in just two floors, and we still have quite a bit of shopping ahead of us." Hermione pulled out Harry's stash of Muggle money from her purse, making a show of the large number of bills.
The man stared at the wad of money she was holding. "Um…sure, I don't see why not," he said, glancing around. He could clearly see that this couple had a lot of money to spend, and knew that his manager would be furious if he didn't treat them properly.
"Perfect." She waited for him to ring in Harry's new wardrobe, and didn't even bat an eyelash when the total was nearly two thousand pounds. The clerk looked from her to Harry, waiting for his approval.
Harry held up his hands in defeat. "Hey, I just make the money. She spends it for me; it's not like I have the greatest taste in clothing."
The clerk nodded, accepted the money, and completed the sale. "If you would like to continue with your shopping, I'll see that these are packaged properly and waiting your return."
Hermione turned on her heel and walked away, motioning for Harry to follow her.
"What was that all about?" Harry asked.
"I'll bet you anything you'd like that I can tell you exactly what that man's doing right now." Hermione said without looking back.
Harry was surprised. "Name your price," he said, not thinking she could do it.
"If I'm right, we're going to do whatever I want tonight before we leave for Godric's Hollow in the morning."
Harry swallowed, letting his mind run through the possible insinuation in her words. "Okay."
"He's on the phone right now, making a call to his manager, telling him that a very rich, VIP customer is in the store."
Harry turned around to stare at the clerk making the telephone call. He was able to catch the words 'money', 'young', and 'level one'. "How'd you know?"
"Same thing happens every time I come shopping with my parents. We only come every once in a while, so when we spend money, we spend a lot of it. Harry, you're about to have the best shopping experience of your life." Hermione smiled, taking his hand in hers as they headed up to the first level on the escalator.
"Are we buying something on every level?" Harry asked, hoping that he'd exchanged enough Galleons into Muggle money at Gringotts. If they ran out he could always have Hermione Apparate to Diagon Alley and exchange more if she took a handwritten note from him to Griphook.
"Pretty much, Harry. You have your new wardrobe but we're going to need fitness equipment and whatnot for training, and while I'm here I need to pick up something to wear for Bill and Fleur's wedding in case we go. I just hope I have enough money on me."
Harry realized that when he friend had left the Burrow to come after him, she'd left everything behind. She was planning on returning that same day, and he had made her run away with him instead. She had no other clothes with her, no belongings, and only her wand and her wallet that had been tucked into the pocket of her shorts.
"'Mione," he said, turning her to face him, "Those shorts and that top are pretty small on you. I think you've finally finished growing, but something tells me you haven't had a chance to go shopping since last summer. I think we need to get you a new wardrobe too."
"Harry, I'd love to, but I haven't got-"
"Don't worry about the money. It's on me. Seriously. If it weren't for you I'd still be stuck in that hellhole, and you're putting everything at risk to come with me. At least let me get you some new clothes. And whatever you want to wear to Bill's wedding. Hell, just get whatever you want. I've got more bloody money than I know what to do with, I'd be more than happy to spend a ton of it on you."
Hermione looked at him in amazement. "Oh, Harry, I can't… it's too much… and the dress would be so expensive…"
"For once, Hermione, can you just let me do something nice for you? Consider it my apology for the way I acted last night. And how insensitive I've been to your feelings. Merlin, I'm starting to think I've treated you the same way Ron does."
She gave him a puzzled look. "Treat me like Ron? Harry, we're going to have a talk tonight about exactly how Ron has treated me. In the mean time, are you sure about this? I mean, the dress alone is going to cost a lot, the one I had in mind was nearly five hundred pounds, but it's just so beautiful,"
"Hermione, I'm sure. In fact, if you don't let me buy anything for you today I'm going to have to pay extra special attention to every little thing you like, and sneak back here while you're in the shower later to buy it all for you. You might as well just let me do it."
She kissed him on the cheek, and immediately ran off in delight through the lingerie section at the top of the escalator towards the eveningwear. Harry tried to catch up with her, pushing frothy lace and silk out of his way. He slowed down, suddenly becoming aware of what he was surrounded by. He began to examine different things: bras and panties, camisoles, corsets, garters, stockings; if you could name it, Harry was fascinated by it. He spotted one thing in particular that made his mouth dry and his blood run hot. It was a black lace bikini top, with a matching garter skirt and thigh high lace top stockings. A mannequin was on display in the outfit, and all Harry could do was picture Hermione wearing it with black heels. He made a mental note of it and then took off to join her.
When he arrived in the eveningwear department, Hermione greeted him in a beautiful emerald green silk gown. She'd pinned her hair up somehow, and was spinning around in front of the mirror. The dress was perfect. It was strapless, with the tight bodice accentuating her breasts, waist, and hips. Just below her hips the skirt flared out, touching the floor. It was covered in a matching sheer organza that almost had a sparkle to it.
Hermione stopped, staring at her reflection in the mirror. She had spotted Harry over her shoulder. Harry had noticed that there wasn't much to the back of the dress. The sides of the dress stopped almost just as they were about to reach her back, and tapered in a v-shape towards her hips. There was green ribbon lacing the sides together, giving the dress the appearance of a corset. She turned to face him, her eyes sparkling. Harry could see the emerald green flecks that his Aunt Petunia had noticed the previous morning.
"Hermione, you look…" Harry stuttered.
"Go on, Harry, say it."
"You look gorgeous." He said, unable to take his eyes off of her. The dress hugged her body in all the right places, and the green suited her perfectly.
You should see what I'm not wearing under it, Hermione giggled.
Harry looked at her, his mouth agape.
/Oh, relax. I can't wear a bra with it, look at the back! And it's a bit tight over my hips so I have to wear a thong instead of regular knickers. I was just joking, you know. It's no big deal./
Hermione had no idea about Harry's previous feelings on the little black lace number back in the lingerie section.
"I'll, uh... just let you get out of that then. I'll be right back," he said, flushing.
"But Harry, I'm not done! I wanted to try on some more," she pouted.
"You're getting that one, why bother? I don't see another dress in this place that would make you look any more stunning than that one does. You said we had other things to buy?"
Hermione sulked on her way back into the dressing room. What girl didn't love trying on loads of pretty dresses? She consoled herself with the knowledge that for once, one of them was coming home with her.
While she changed, Harry made his way back to the lingerie. He found what he hoped was Hermione's size in the black lace outfit, rushed to the nearest clerk, quickly paid for it and had the clerk package it discreetly so that he could tuck it under his shirt until they picked up their other packages. He returned just in time to see Hermione leaving the change room, the dress in a black bag over her arm.
The rest of the afternoon at Harrods was a breeze for Harry. Minutes after Hermione had taken the dress off they were swarmed with salespeople, who were more than happy to carry their purchases to a register. One of them even offered them champagne flutes, but Hermione didn't think that was such a good idea. They paid for the purchases and headed back to the hotel room. Hermione chose to hail a taxicab rather than take the TfL back to the hotel. There was no way they could carry this many bags back with them on the bus. The fitness equipment was being delivered to the hotel in the morning, where the teens would charm everything so that it fit into Harry's trunk.
Hermione flopped back onto her bed as they entered the room, packages spilling everywhere. "I've never spent that much in one day!" she exclaimed.
"How much money do we have left?" Harry asked curiously.
Hermione did a quick tally in her head. "About twenty three thousand Galleons, we only spent two thousand in Diagon Alley. Which reminds me, Harry, we can use your new magical expanding trunk to bring the exercise equipment with us without having to try and fit it all into your school trunk."
"And Muggle money?"
"We started with twenty five thousand Galleons and converted it to pounds, right?"
Harry nodded.
"At five Galleons a pound that's…" Hermione's face blanked for a moment. "Sweet Merlin, Harry, have I been carrying a hundred and twenty five thousand pounds around with me all day?" She began to think of how unbelievably unsafe that was but then refocused her mind on the calculations. "Two thousand on lower ground, another seven hundred on ground, three on one, and…" she muttered amounts, and finally came up with a number. "We spent a little over ten thousand pounds at Harrods today."
"So there's more than a hundred and ten thousand left?" Harry asked. Hermione nodded, pulling out the bills. No wonder she hadn't realized how much the money was! She hadn't really registered the amount when she was paying for things, she'd just handed over the bills. Each bill was a thousand pound note. She'd been thinking she was carrying ten pound notes most of the morning.
"Did you have something in mind, Harry?" she asked, seeing a far-off look in his eye.
"Well, we can't be flying around London on my broom trying to find Godric's Hollow. I can't Apparate there if I've never seen it except in distant memories, and I'd rather wait until my birthday to do that anyway. I know Scrimgeour's letting me off with doing magic, but Apparition might be too much for him. I'll go get tested in five days for it. In the meantime, we're going to need a more efficient way of getting around and we can't be carrying Charmed trunks onto the Tube." Harry began to do some of his own calculations.
"And your point?"
"Hermione, how would you like to help me pick out a car?" he asked. "And teaching me to drive, while you're at it? I know you've had practice with your parents, but the Dursleys only let me near their car to wash it." Hermione's eyes went wide. Harry was talking about making a significant purchase like it was nothing at all. She nodded.
They left the hotel again and returned a few hours later, carrying the keys to a brand new 1997 BMW roadster. Hermione was still in shock. Harry had just spent over seventy-five thousand pounds on a car, and he was shrugging it off like it was no big deal. If he was going to continue spending like this, they were going to have to sit down and have a serious financial discussion.
Harry, on the other hand, was thoroughly pleased with his new little sports car. For years he had received Dudley's old and broken toys, and one of them had been a toy race car that had lost a wheel and suffered from a broken axle. It had offered Harry several hours of entertainment until Dudley had caught him with it, and promptly whined to his mother that Harry had stolen one of his toy cars. The car had been immediately removed from Harry's cupboard, and the door locked for days. Having the real thing now was a small consolation, but it gave Harry great pleasure to know that, while Dudley was still stuck playing with toys, he had a real BMW to play with.
"So, want to get all dressed up in our new clothes and go have a night on the town?" he asked her.
Hermione squealed and ran to her packages in desperation to put something pretty on. All thoughts about money issues were gone as she began to instruct Harry on what to wear, and plan the night ahead.