After a fifteen minute drive that took them almost right past the palace then beyond, the driver pulled up outside of Harrods on Brompton Road. Both Harry and Hermione were relieved that Neville was not so much swivelling his head all about the place trying to look at everything at the same time, any more.
When the car came to a stop in a cab 'drop' zone, the driver half turned about and quietly said, "We're here." And indicated the store with a flick of his fingers."
With Charlotte leading and the other auror bringing up the rear, the three teens moved into the store.
Once inside, Hermione asked, "Where to, first?"
"Ladies section," Harry immediately replied. "I promised you I'd buy you some nice muggle clothes and this is the best place for it."
After Hermione gave him a look, she then gave a huff and said, "Fine. Then we're off to the men's section. You're getting a whole new wardrobe, whether you like it or not. And, while we're there, we can do something permanent about Neville's muggle wardrobe, too."
That was something Harry had expected so he wasn't so much worried about it. He'd already figured that'd be Hermione's immediate 'retaliation'.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After spending quite a bit of time in both the ladies' and mens' sections of the store, the five then moved to one of the in-store restaurants for lunch. They didn't have to worry about bags, because Harry had also paid for the lot to be delivered to Hermione's home address.
Next, Harry suggested they go to the electronics section, so Neville could get a good look at just what 'marvels' the muggles used in their everyday life.
They almost had to drag the boy out after an hour because it was clear he was shocked almost senseless from what he'd seen. Thankfully, Hermione was a quiet and patient teacher for him, going over just what everything did and how they were used in the home, in business and in everyday life.
As they still had time, to please the boy they also went into the gardening section of the store. Again, he was stunned. He had no idea there were things like portable greenhouses available. And the automated watering systems clearly had the boy trying to figure out how to use them in a wizarding home or business.
Harry took one look at Neville's focus on the demonstration model of a quite commonly known and used black poly-pipe home-build reticulation system that he surreptitiously bought the boy an expanded 'starter' pack that did not include electronics. This one just screwed onto a garden tap using a garden hose connection. He even added a few rolls of fifty metre each 12mm tubing, a 10m roll of 6mm tubing, plus extra anchors, connectors of each size, 'T's, elbows and various sprinklers to plug into the system. The order would be added to the delivery order coming to Hermione's home the next morning.
However, after a stop for afternoon tea because Harry's stomach was growling again, they finally went to the delivery section and organised for all the purchases to be delivered the next day.
"We'll floo you with what we've purchased for you after it all arrives, Neville," said Hermione, just as they were walking out.
"This 'Home Delivery Service' idea is a marvellous concept," said the boy. "I wonder why we don't have similar in the wizarding world."
"House elves, Neville," said Harry. "They make the idea somewhat pointless."
Nodding, Neville hopped into the car, which they'd only had to wait for a few minutes for it to arrive.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Once back at the Leaky and they were once again climbing out of the car, Hermione asked, "Do we have time to go to Madam Malkins before we have to be back at my place?"
When neither boy, or the aurors, said 'No', Hermione gave a firm nod and said, "Then we can use the time left to go into the Alley. I want to pick up a couple of modern books on nobility in the wizarding world and Harry, now that he seems to have finished growing so fast, needs to build up his wizardingwear."
When Harry looked about to disagree, she frowned back and said, "You also need to replace your Hogwarts robes, Harry."
Right then Harry knew he'd lost. She was right; he did need to replace his Hogwarts robes.
After 'delivering' the two boys to Madam Malkins and 'demanding' the store-witches outfit Harry in new Hogwarts robes and more casual wear robes, she took off for Flourish and Blotts.
Surprising Harry, Charlotte stayed with them while the male and a junior auror who'd joined them had to take off to try and keep up with Hermione.
Once Harry was properly outfitted with a very much expanded wizarding wardrobe, with the witches declaring how much he was 'growing like a weed', he also made sure Neville's wardrobe was suitable.
When Hermione still hadn't made it back, they went down to Flourish and Blotts to look for her.
She was standing at a shelf scanning through a large pile of books and trying to decide which ones she should get.
Harry just rolled his eyes, sighed, scooped them all up and took them to the counter to pay for them. Stunned, Hermione was a few seconds before she had to hurry to catch up, just as Harry was paying for them.
"Harry!" she exclaimed, when he took off with all 'her' books.
Once she caught up at the counter, she grumped, "I didn't need all of them, Harry."
"But you wanted all of them," he said. "As it's easily within my ability to grant it, I simply bought them all."
When it looked like Hermione couldn't make up her mind whether to be angry or happy, Neville just snorted in amusement.
.
.
.
🎉The novel is available in PDF with more than 400 chapters, visit us in our Ko-Fi store🎉
🎉ko-fi.com/sosukeaizen123🎉