Merchant Maxxing~
The return trip home wasn't nearly as exciting as the ride to Hogwarts. Not even close.
However, Tom had found himself with two new people he would indeed call friends within his Hogwarts house, both Tonks and Jimmy. And while he avoided Bill and Charlie Weasley's escapades — by sheer value of not being willing to help them investigate their Cursed Vaults with them when asked — he wasn't estranged from them either.
He simply made his stance known very clearly on what he needed to do to keep up his grades. That and his inability to keep up with all the things he wanted to do in a day if they tried to drag him off to investigate strange rumors.
Tom simply didn't have the time to be sneaking out at odd times of the night. Not to mess with things he simply wasn't interested in.
That didn't mean he wasn't willing to play Quidditch with them during the day to help relax during free time, quite the opposite in fact. However, he was all too aware that letting the two of them know he had a Time Turner to help with his daily tasks could only end in disaster.
As it was, Tom was quite pleased that when he got off the train with all of them, his father and mother were there waiting for him with excitement, their eyes lighting up upon him exiting the magical train. It was a sign that they likely hadn't been brain wiped while he was away, and that he was going to be able to tell them all about his year once he got home.
But first? A hug was in order.
"It's good to see you too, Tom," his mother, Ashley, quietly told him, patting him on the back lightly as he tried his best to wrap his arms around both of his parents at once.
He wasn't quite big enough to do so properly, but he was quite happy to simply enjoy their presence for now. It had been quite some time since he had properly had the time to do much of anything with them after all.
Tom had been home for Christmas, but he still felt that several months was too long ago, and a good portion of the trip had been soured due to the actions of a particularly dumb asshole. Seriously, people did not understand what was and was not acceptable to scream out during a family corporate party with children in the group?
"Well, shall we get to the car?" Jerry asked after a moment or two. He was right as well, because they would need to cross back into the muggle side of the train station eventually, or else they would be trapped much further away from London then they would like to be for a while.
The young boy nodded, letting them go as he grabbed his trunk again for the trip out of there. "Yeah, let's get going."
With a set of bright, cheery smiles, the family set off into the non-magical world for the summer.
~~~~
"Hey dad," Tom asked as they made their way back to the house. "Can we stop at Diagon Alley for a bit? I need to sell off some of my extra Potions ingredients I got at school before they go bad."
"Potions ingredients? Do you mean potion ingredients?" his mom asked from the seat beside him in the back of the car. She would normally be right as well, however…
"In modern Wizarding culture, they call the subject of potion making Potions class, and the materials needed to make them Potions ingredients. It's a lot like how Americans call the class that teaches Maths math class, despite us calling it maths here in the U.K." Tom explained gently, knowing that he was also tripped up by that when he first started reading into it a little in the potions textbooks.
"Ugh, I forgot about that," Ashley groaned as she held her reddening cheeks. "I'm so used to the mundane world that Wizarding grammar atrocities no longer make sense to me."
"That's alright," Tom said with a small smile, patting his mother on the shoulder gently. "It doesn't make much sense to me either."
"Alright. We have a fair bit of time to go help you with that while we're out today," Jerry claimed with a grin, looking back at them via the internal rear-view mirror. "Besides, I'm quite curious to find out what interesting things they have in magical stores."
Ashley groaned. "It's not that interesting. The only thing you'd even be able to enjoy is the food, and the doctor said not to overdo it with the sugar again or you could actually die."
"Too true, my love. But it would at least give me an idea of what things our son might want for mundane things. Things that could be useful to him while he's at Hogwarts," Jerry chuckled. "After all, I'm sure there are a few things beyond just ballpoint pens and notebooks that Tom would want, even if he only complained the most about those things."
"Oh! A self-inking calligraphy pen might actually be allowed there, even if they don't like ballpoint pens that much. Mostly because those ones can use the magical ink that Wizards like to use for runes as well, and the normal ink used in them doesn't interfere with magical error checking methods," Ashley responded, getting a bit more into it. It was quite cute how his mother, despite having been basically disowned by her own family, was quite happy to talk about wizarding products.
His mother wasn't a squib, not by a longshot. But her talents lay not with the wand, but rather specifically in the arts of potion making, magical cooking methods, and various other magical crafting techniques. It was quite fun to see her eyes light up when the thought of making anything, be it mundane or magical, was brought up in her presence.
The reason she hadn't gone on to become a magical craftsman was due to the wizarding war that was going on at the time. People who weren't pureblooded who wished to exist within magical society were killed in droves, executed on the street for the crime of living. And with her talents, should they have been discovered, she would have been one of the most prominent targets for a public lynching by the Death Eaters. All for the crime of having a non-magical grandparent.
So with that in mind, she escaped to the mundane world and decided to live out her days making food for people, perfecting her craft so that no one who had tasted her food would wish her harm. It was almost perfect that he had her as a mother, and that his introduction to her life had caused a small ripple in the world he was now a part of.
After all, if he wasn't a part of her family, Professor Snape would never have known she was there. And he would likely have had no true reason to help her without making himself look suspicious to anyone who didn't know her.
As it was, however, he was happy to take out the two shrunken expanded trunks from within his pockets. Both of them were filled to the brim with preserved magical reagents and ingredients, so he could explain to her what he was hoping to sell — and to whom.
"In this trunk, I have several magically preserved wand cores. From Phoenix Feathers to Unicorn Hairs, Dragon Heartstrings and even Thestral Hairs. Hell, there are even a bunch of Thunderbird Feathers in this one," Tom explained the first trunk with a smile. "I plan to sell these to Mister Olivander if I can."
"Oh? And what about the… Potions ingredients?" Ashley asked him with a knowing grin. She had quite possibly figured out that he was trying to distract them from what he was planning to sell. Especially the stuff he wished to hawk to the new potions shop that Snape had recommended to him.
Tom nodded, tapping the other trunk a bit nervously. He didn't know how his mother would take it after all. "Well, those are a bit more dangerous, I won't lie," he told her with a serious expression. "But the most dangerous of them was the Basilisk Venom, and that was handled with care by the house elves in Hogwarts, not me."
Ashley grimaced, but she seemed to be mostly fine after hearing that it wasn't him that had been touching such a thing. "We'll need to be extra careful with that trunk then. We don't want any of those things breaking in there and killing everyone who touches them."
"Is it really that toxic?" Jerry asked from the front of the car as they pulled into the parking space. One reserved for mundane parents of wizarding children going to the Leaky Cauldron. "They can't be letting children access such things in school at such a young age, can they?"
"Well, um…" Ashley visibly thought back to her time at Hogwarts, and wisely decided not to say anything. Unfortunately, the silence was just as damning as if she had mentioned any of the things she had to deal with when she was a student. The school was rather dangerous after all.
"Are we sure he has to be taught there?" Jerry asked, mildly horrified at his realization. It was quite clear that he hadn't really thought about how dangerous magic was in general before, and it was rather bad timing to find that out.
"Yes dad, it is likely the safest magic school in the world as of right now unfortunately," Tom told him with a grunt. "It is actually safer than mundane schools in America right now, as long as you keep out of areas that you're clearly warned not to go into, due to various restrictions placed on them for the safety of the students."
Jerry sighed, exiting the car with a small frown. "I don't see how having magical schooling will help you get further in life along the path you wanted to take, but I'm sure you have a plan," he said with a sigh after he opened the car door for them and let them out. "At least, I hope you do."
Tom nodded, pocketing his shrunken trunks yet again and taking their hands so he could guide his father through the Leaky Cauldron. "I have more than one plan, with contingencies for each of them in case they fail, dad," he told him, taking his parents through the pub and out to the alley with a smile. "One of those things is attempting to make you stronger physically, and immune to external magic cast on you."
"… How would that be done, and why do I have a feeling that I'm going to be crying from a lack of common sense in my world sometime in the near future?" Jerry asked, likely having a massive realization once more.
Though he was certainly joking from his smile and his jovial tone, it was clear that he was still a little rattled from being told that magic was somewhat dangerous to be around. Especially because both his wife and son were pretty much neck deep in the magical society at one point in their lives, and were going to pull him into it as well.
"Well, you see…"
~~~~
After a bit of an explanation that yes, rituals do exist, and that he was going to be learning about them in third year, his father, Jerry, was a little unsettled. Luckily, his mother Ashley had managed to calm him down by pointing out that it would be simple stuff at first, and that Tom would be very much set for life once he did learn about them. Mostly due to how sought after — and respected — a wizard or witch who could conduct large scale rituals was.
With a bit of further encouragement that most rituals were not actually evil, nor even slightly satanic, they made their way over to the wand shop to speak with Garrick Ollivander. As soon as they opened the door, he smiled at Jerry in a knowing manner, as if he saw something amusing in the man's eyes. But he refused to give away the game just yet.
"Ah yes, it is good to see you, young Tom," Ollivander said with a small grin as he turned to face the boy. "I feel as though you have something you'd like to show me?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. "I have time today for now until I close up shop."
"Alright. Take a look at these and tell me what you would offer for them," Tom told him, placing his trunk on the floor of the shop and unshrinking it. It was absolutely filled with various wand cores, and even a bit of wand wood that the Room of Requirement had extracted for him.
The look in Garrick Ollivander's eyes sharpened. He looked Tom directly in the eyes, a hint of challenge there, before his expression softened. "I don't recommend going directly to the shops with things such as this in the future without having a known reputation, and the Goblins would simply take it from you without giving you a fair price," he told the three of them with a sigh. "Instead, I'll sell the things you brought for you to some of my more frequent customers if you wish. I'll have the amount earned sent to your Gringotts account after taking a small commission. Say… five percent?"
"Why are you offering this if you aren't willing to buy it yourself?" Jerry asked, clearly unimpressed.
"I'm offering this as a favor to your son because I want him to work with me as an apprentice during his second-year summer," Ollivander claimed with a small smile. "He has immense potential as a wandmaker or an artificer, and I want to be there when he inevitably creates something utterly ridiculous." He paused to shake his head, "In fact, I bet he'll make something that becomes a daily necessity for the Wizarding World one day."
Tom nodded. It didn't seem like Ollivander was lying about this and he had in fact mentioned it before he left for school. So, he figured it would probably be okay to rely on him this one time. "I don't know if I'll be able to live up to your expectations, but if it helps us in the long run, I don't mind."
"Very well. You might as well show me what else you have so we can set some prices for them together," Ollivander told him with a sigh. It would be best for Tom to do so, and he knew it. If only because he felt as though Ollivander would make sure he wasn't being ripped off, simply in order to make a good impression on the young boy and his parents.
"Well, take a look," Tom said, opening the other trunk as well. There was a lot in it, so it would probably take them a while to go through it all.
"…!" The man's look of shock was alarming. "This is—!"
What followed was a long discussion about the potential sale of Basilisk eyes as reagents for staff focuses instead of as potions ingredients, and the benefits of having such a staff instead of a wand.
~~~~
With their sales trip dealt with — and the rather large amount of funds that they had gained via the sale of one of the basilisk eyes to Ollivander — the family decided to go to America for a summer vacation.
It was only a quick trip, mostly to see how their investments were doing across the pond, and to visit Disneyland for a bit of family fun and bonding. Tom was almost excited at the prospect, as he had never been there before in his past life, and was quite sure that he would be able to gather some ideas from it. Especially for more magical rides and attractions to introduce to the Wizarding World when he had the chance.
After all, Tom was fairly sure that most of Wizarding Britain didn't have access to such things, so it would be quite a huge business opportunity. It was almost an entirely untapped market in that sense.
In the meantime though, they had managed to find a neat little mom-and-pop shop tour. One that allowed them to find all the most interesting little locally owned restaurants to dine at on their way through the USA.
At one point, they stopped at the place where pizza was first made in the USA, and learned a little about how it was made traditionally while they ate a few slices. At another, they had chicken burgers at the first ever McDonalds to exist.
They went from place to place searching for new flavors while they checked on their investments more directly, going to each company's headquarters to check in. It was a tour of culinary delights and corporate interests that Tom likely wouldn't forget for years to come.
It was almost perfect. He couldn't wait to see the park and see what it had to offer them as well to finish off their incredibly fun trip!
"Are you excited, Tom?" his mother asked with a small smile, knowing that he was almost on the edge of his seat in their rented car. Of course, he really should have expected his mother to notice. She was really quite observant.
"Yes. I think it is going to be pretty great!" Tom replied with a bright grin, happily enjoying the presence of his family. "There is a lot of cool things to see, and a few rides I think would be pretty fun to check out if we have the time!"
Unfortunately, as they arrived at the park, they noticed that there were quite a few construction and emergency vehicles around the area. Something must have gone horribly wrong. Why else would there be so many of them?
Pulling up to the nearest parking spot to the front gates, the Harrison family walked over to check on what was going on. It looked as if there was a small amount of commotion and Tom didn't know if he liked the look of things at all.
"Sorry, but the park is closed due to the earthquake and ashfall causing a fair bit of damage. You'll have to come back next year," the park staff member claimed with a sigh. It was clear he had given the same answer to many people that day, which meant it was a fairly recent problem, and thus couldn't have actually been caused by a true natural disaster at that very moment, or they would have known about it on the way over.
Tom grabbed his parents' hands as soon as he detected the magical barrier over the park and shook his head. They would not be coming back if this sort of thing was prone to happening there. It could be potentially far too dangerous for them.
"It's alright, we'll just get a refund for our tickets later," Tom whispered to his parents. It just wasn't worth fighting over, and they needed to leave before they got caught up in anything they shouldn't be.
After all, it would be incredibly bad if they caused an international incident because they died from being too nosey. It would certainly hurt his chances of finding a way to settle down in a safe world if he ended up reincarnating in a world like Mass Effect or Stargate. Tom didn't have any guarantee he would remember his past memories either, and he really liked his parents in this world.
"Alright. Let's go back then," Jerry told them, and they did exactly that. Back to the hotel they went, to prepare for the next day's itinerary.
~~~~
AN:
Kitsu: Well this was certainly a thing and a half. I realized rather late that most of the good rides don't exist yet, and won't for quite some time, so I needed a reason for him not to come back to America.
Took a bit longer than I'd like to finish this one tbh, because I was kinda lost half the time. It still got done, and it's not too terrible, so there will hopefully be some cool shit next time yo!
Asdo21: Such a shame, so many funs to be had for cheap prices, even if the food are still overpriced scams. Well there are other things the family can do in America to enjoy their vacation before they leave at least so the trip won't be a complete disappointment. Again feedback is appreciated and remember to direct them to me, hope you all enjoy this latest chapter!
Kitsu: Well, this Christmas season has been insane, but hey, at least we got my editor in a home before the Christmas day, so hopefully that lasts! Edit: really old chapter, my old editor refused to do the work, so this was literally done well before Christmas break, but I had to wait until nearly the end of February before I found out she was a scammer and hired a new one.
If you wanna support me, come see me on my socials, read chapters in advance on my patreon or donate to me at all via my Throne for more words in a story I write, which is my preferred method of payment for chapters and for donations, you can find my links on Aiko Akiyoshi's carrd.
EN:
TheLetter_A: Apparently along with preserved magical reagents, he also had preserved magical regents. At least, prior to editing, that is.
Dunno what else to put here. The weather has been rather nice and sunny while we've been editing this chapter. Perfect beach weather, even as Australia is transitioning into Autumn.
Anyway, obligatory plugs here. Kofi Link for editing, Kitsu's Carrd, Discord Server, etc: https: aiko akiyoshi . carrd . co/
Ciao ciao! :wave: