Silver Ichor (Drarry)

Chapter 4

Harry decided to walk around and take things in before starting to shop in earnest. He started walking slowly, his head swinging every which way. Yet, Harry remained dignified, only looking like he was uninterestedly checking out his surroundings to others.

He passed by Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour and decided to treat himself. It wasn't too busy inside and Harry had never been able to indulge in ice cream before. He stifled the feeling that thought brought into him, knowing the train of thought will lead to anger and pain and reminding himself that it wasn't the time.

He knew that he had to face his demons at some point, but he hoped to wait until he had someone to be with him while he probably bawled like a baby at his lost childhood. Maybe he would go to his parents with this. Harry decided to put thoughts from his mind and just enjoy his first taste of freedom – and ice cream.

He ordered a single-scoop ice cream cone, determining that he had plenty of time to try all the flavours and toppings this summer.

As he walked out, Harry was once again struck by the strange beauty of Diagon Alley. Witches and Wizards walked about in robes of all different fashions and colours, herding children away from store display windows and bribing them with ice cream from Fortescue's. Many of them wore pointed hats.

Colourful posters and advertisements were plastered all around, and Harry had to do a double-take when he saw them actually moving and replaying like a short telly program. The buildings themselves were Harry's favourite part. They were wonky and defied the force of gravity. They evaded the laws of physics in a way that reminded Harry that he was in the magical world wherever he looked. Perhaps that's why he liked them so much.

A shop that claimed to be a potions' ingredient apothecary sold all kinds of plant and animal parts from things he had never heard of before – What the hell is a Murtlap and how do you extract its essence? A store called Quality Quidditch Supplies – one of the ones parents had trouble dragging children from – sold what looked like flying broomsticks and some strange looking balls. A wand shop called Ollivander's stood intimidatingly on the side, and though it looked dull and sort of abandoned, an aura of power radiated from the shop, spreading like disintegrating fingers reaching for the people and places around.

For a split second, Harry saw all sorts of colours coming out of the store. He almost jumped out of his skin but he managed to maintain his bored expression at the last second. He surmised that this was his mage sight slowly developing and made a note to tell Hecate about it when they had their training session.

He resumed his study of his surroundings, his eyes lingering on a vast-looking bookshop that housed hundreds of volumes of informational, scientific, historic and fiction books. Who knew how many more books were inside? Harry felt a stir of excitement and knew that that would be one place he would be visiting often. Finally, his eyes settled on a shop called Madame Malkin's Special Robes for All Occasions. Harry was reminded of his own robe inside his pouch and immediately reached out to get it out and put it on. Though the London air was quite warm, Harry was anxious to fit into this new world he was somehow part of. As Harry put it on, he felt a tingle of magic and surmised that it had some basic convenience spells on it – temperature accommodation, non-crease and self-cleaning. He eyed Madame Malkin's and figured that that would be as good a place to start as any, so he started walking to his destination.

A bell jingled as Harry pushed the door open. "I'll be right with you!" a voice called out from the back.

He sat on a plush armchair that almost swallowed him up in what he assumed was a waiting room, and, well, waited.

It wasn't long before a plump witch wearing mauve robes exited out of a door he hadn't noticed on the way in. "Hello, dear. I'm Madame Malkin. How can I help you?" she asked in a kind tone.