Chapter Twenty-Four

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Hogsmeade Discoveries

The next morning, Harry had to get up especially early. Not that he minded, as he was always up early on Boxing Day. He needed to hurry though, as he had an extra lesson planned with Lolide, and he wanted to get it over and done with before he went to Hogsmeade. He rushed out of the door with only ten minutes to spare, only just making it to the infirmary in time. Lolide had scheduled the extra lesson for in the holidays, as it was a special topic. She knew it would be rather draining, so she wanted him to have a whole day of performing little or no magic to recover. Today, Harry would be learning the difficult art of Soul Magic.

Soul magic was a powerful art known only to the elves. In the height of his power, Voldemort had sought to discover its secrets, but had been unable to do so. Soul magic was very powerful, and few could control it. It was only due to Harry's incredible success at elven magic that Lolide had even considered teaching it to him. The basic idea of Soul Magic was to manipulate a person's soul. The soul could be extracted from one body and placed in another, changed altogether, destroyed or even retrieved from a Dementor and replaced in a body. Harry thought it would be a useful thing to know, especially if Sirius ever got caught. After all, there was no guarantee Wormtail would still be captured when he got back. If Sirius ever got caught, he would be given the Dementor's Kiss. At least this way, Harry would be able to help him if that did happen. Soul Magic, he decided, might also be the only way to destroy Voldemort. If, as he suspected, the Dark Lord achieved immortality, then a simple Killing Curse wouldn't do the job. Destroying his soul would be the only option left.

As soon as he arrived, Harry gave a quick glance around the infirmary to see if Gryffindor was still there. Much to his disappointment, the founder appeared to have left, and there was still no sign on Simbi or Nirah. Just as he was about to look more closely for the missing snakes, Lolide came out of her office and ushered him in to take a seat.

“ Hello Harry. Today, I will be teaching you in Anglo-Saxon, for I know you have learned much of my tongue, but I am thinking this topic is needing a little more care. If you is not understanding me fully, and you is making a mistake, it will be very serious. Now, I need you to relax and meditate. We will be starting with soul manipulation…”

The pair spent the next two hours working on the Soul Magic. Harry picked up the basic idea fairly quickly, but was restricted in as much as he couldn't practically try out any of the magic. He couldn't try destroying a soul, as he had no-one to practice it on. He also knew he did not have the right to use anybody as a guinea pig. He had learned it all in theory, he would have to learn the practical side himself as and when the necessity to use it arose.

By nine o'clock Harry was sat in the Great Hall with Gallatea, planning their day in Hogsmeade. Gallatea was telling him about the shops they had there in her time, and Harry was reciprocating by telling her about his version of Hogsmeade. Much to his surprise, Honeydukes was around in Gallatea's time, only it sold different things to the one in the 1990s. At nine thirty, the pair got up from their table and headed into the Entrance Hall, where they met the rest of the group. Heading out as one, they got into the carriages that took them up to Hogsmeade. Harry hung back a little, looking at the large black horses that pulled what he had previously thought to be horseless carriages. They were identical to Ron's animagus form. Thinking of Cedric's death, he realised why he could now see the thestrals. With a sad smile, he followed the others into the carriage and waited for them to arrive in Hogsmeade. When they got there, by unanimous vote they all headed straight to Honeydukes. Harry, thinking about the shop in his time, sidled up to Ron.

“ Hey Ron, do you reckon the passage under Honeydukes is there yet? If it is, we can sneak here in the middle of the night and get supplies of sweets!”

“ Good point, mate! One thing we'll have to do, though, is before we go we'll have to stock up on sweets from this time. We won't be able to get them when we get home, and they'd be worth a fortune!”

“ 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,”

The old man immediately started to laugh. Not just a little chuckle, but a full belly-laugh. He eyed the students standing before him and spoke up.

“ That's a good joke, laddie. Three students after one of them necklaces. Ha! You do realise they're five galleons each?”

“ Of course, and we're prepared to pay that price.”

Harry called over Ginny and Hermione, letting them know they were getting somewhere. The man still seemed skeptical, but he was willing to show them one of the necklaces.

“ I'll bring you one to look at, but I'm not handing nothing over until I've seen your money. I'm not having you getting your hands on it, only to run off without paying.”

When he came back from his back room, he held up a gold chain with a stunning blue crystal on the end. The crystal was glowing ever so slightly, and the teenagers could feel the power radiating off it.

“ Now this here is the blocking necklace to guard against the Big Three. You can see the exquisite craftsmanship and feel the power in it no doubt. The chain comes charmed to make it unbreakable, and once it has been placed around your neck, only the person that put it there can remove it. This is to safeguard against thieves. The charms are permanent and can't be broken. The properties of the crystal itself are tamper proof as well. As you can see, it is well worth five galleons.”

“ How many have you got, sir,” Hermione asked.

“ I have the only unowned five there are. The other five belong to the owner and the Hogwarts Four.”

“ We'd like to buy four of them, please,” Ginny told the man.

“ I'll only hand them over when I've seen the gold, and I want to make sure it isn't fake, too.”

The group quickly agreed and handed over their money. The other occupants of the room stared in shock to see twenty galleons at once. The man took the money into the back to make sure it was real and to pick up the other necklaces. While he was away, Ginny moved over to where Harry was standing and spoke to him in hushed tones.

“ Harry, I get the feeling you should buy he other necklace.”

“ What for, Gin?” the puzzled boy asked.

“ I don't know…I just get the feeling that in a couple of years time you'll need to give one to somebody. I can't really explain it.”

“ Alright, Gin, I trust you. But I'll come back later when everyone else is occupied.”

By this time the man had come back and, satisfied that their money was genuine, handed over the four crystals. They each placed one about their necks and the locking charm took effect. To test the charms, they each tried to remove each others' necklaces, with no success. Thanking the man, they all left the shop and headed back down the street.

Their next stop was the costume shop opposite the pub. Its window display showed a large variety of costumes in different styles and colours. Harry nudged his girlfriend in the side and whispered in her ear.

“ What do you want to go as, `Tea?”

“ I'm not sure, Harry, can you think of anything?”

“ I have the perfect idea, and it doesn't involve buying any costumes.”

“ Yep! I have all of the things we need back at the castle.”

“ Do you know what the others are going as?”

“ No, I'll find out though.”

Harry went over to where the rest of the friends were.

“ Have you guys chosen your costumes, yet?”

“ Those four have,” Christabel said, nodding in the direction of Ginny, Ron, Hermione and Ardwick, “ But I'm not sure. I was asked to the ball by a sixth year Hufflepuff, so I'd have to ask him so we can go to match.”

Harry went back over to Gallatea.

“ `Tea, there's something I need to go and do. Could you help those four choose things for their costumes? I should be back in ten minutes.”

Gallatea just nodded and kissed her boyfriend on the cheek before going over to her friends. Harry slipped out of the door and headed back to the antique shop. As soon as he entered the old man was by his side.

“ Back already, little sir? Was there a problem with your purchases?”

“ No, sir. I just came back to buy the last necklace.”

“ You have another five galleons to spare? Your family must be from another part of the world. I know of no wizards with such wealth in Europe.”

“ You're right, I'm from a long way away. Can I buy that other necklace? It's to be a gift.”

“ My, what a generous gift that would be, young master. I'll just go and get it for you.”

As the old man went into the back of the shop, Harry took out his money bag and counted out five more galleons. There's a fifth of my money gone already, he thought, but it's well worth it. Anyway, by the time I get to the next time period, I should have some money in Gringotts from the quidditch rights.

Once the old man returned, he inspected the crystal, handed over the money and quickly walked out of the shop to find his friends.

Their last stop in Hogsmeade was the pub across the road from the costume shop. Gallatea, saying she'd get the first round, went up to the bar and came back a few minutes later with a tray laden with glasses of butterbeer.

“ So, did everyone enjoy their day out?” she asked as she sat down.

Everyone made agreeing sounds, before Ginny decided to elaborate.

“ I think we had a productive day. These necklaces will be useful back home, especially for Harry. I mean, he's the only one that has faced You-Know-Who…”

“…sorry, Voldemort, several times and lived to tell the tale. Next time, he might not be so lucky. At least the crystals will offer some protection, especially if he tried to use the Killing Curse again.”

The group spent the rest of the afternoon drinking butterbeer and conversing like normal teenagers. Little did they know what would happen on their way back to the castle…