Amulet of time 1: The Age of The Founders

Chapter 24: Hogsmeade Discoveries

" True, and we have enough money to get a lifetime's supply."

By this time the seven had reached the shop and had gone through the door. The girls headed straight for the wall of chocolate to one side, whereas the boys favoured the novelty selection. Ron and Harry were having the time of their lives. They were telling Ardwick about all of the sweets they had in their time, excluding the ones they had given to Gallatea for her birthday. Ardwick was particularly disgusted when he heard about blood flavoured lollypops, but really wanted to try some fizzing whizbees. The boys turned back to the shelves and Harry and Ron started pulling things off and reading the descriptions to each other.

" Jelly dragons, make you breathe fire for up to thirty minutes."

" Whiz Poppers, make you break wind in various well known tunes."

" Sugar parchment, for when you want to eat your homework."

" Chewy knights, always wanted to bite their heads off? Now you can!"

" Edible ink, lets off a tantilising aroma that will drive your teachers to distraction."

" Tortoise Toffee, makes you win any race, no matter how long."

" Reducto Raisins, blow your mind."

Eventually, they chose a little of everything and went over to see what the girls were up to. Ginny was debating the merits of Mandrake Marshmallows with Christabel, and Hermione was telling Gallatea the medicinal properties of chocolate. Ron went up and butted into their conversations.

" Are you lot ready?"

Nods to the affirmative confirmed they were ready to move on to the next shop. Harry took his purchases up to the counter and handed over a galleon for the lot. The shopkeeper nearly fainted.

" Sir, I'm sorry, but I cannot change this much money. Do you have anything smaller?"

Harry dug around in the bottom of his money bag and found a silver sickle left over from his shopping in Diagon Alley.

" Is this better?"

The shopkeeper nodded, but still found it difficult to find enough change for the coin. Eventually, Ron had to add his purchases to the bill to lower the amount of change enough for the shopkeeper to manage. As the group left the shop, the owner gave them an inquisitive look, wondering why a group of students were carrying so much money around with them.

The next shop the students came to was the one the four time travellers had wanted to visit since the night before. As they looked in the window, they could see various antiques, including furniture and ornaments. They went inside and found it was a lot bigger than it looked from the outside. Much to Hermione's delight, one whole corner was dedicated to rare books. The other girls all headed over to the jewelry section to admire the various baubles and bangles on sale. Harry, Ron and Ardwick, on the other hand, went up to the counter, where a wizened old man was sitting. He reminded Harry a little of the man in the Knockturn Alley bookshop, where he had bought his parseltongue book. Ron was the one to step forward.

" Excuse me, sir, my friends and I would like to make a purchase, but we don't know where to look to find what we need."

The man gave them an inquisitive look, as if trying to figure out if students could afford anything he had on sale.

" And what would young folk like yourselves be looking for in an establishment such as this one?"

Ron and Harry gave each other nervous looks before the red head turned back to the owner.

" We have been told that this shop is selling necklaces that nullify the effects of the…," and here Ron looked at Ardwick for confirmation of the terminology, "…Big Three,"