Harry Potter Breaking The Chains

A short while later, Harry was exiting the shop 3500 galleons poorer. In his pocket was a shrunken down trunk that only Harry could open at the moment and, if needed, he could live out of, and it would definitely be able to store all of his possessions, as few as those were. But that's one problem Harry was out to rectify.

He directed himself toward the bookstore for his next stop. He walked through the now busy streets reveling in his anonymity. In the past when he walked through Diagon Alley, people always stared and talked about him as he passed. They treated him as if he was just some figure-head but not a real person. He no longer had to endure strangers introducing themselves to him wanting to shake his hand and meet the famous "Boy-Who-Lived." Today he was a normal 15 year old boy going shopping.

He walked into Flourish and Blott's to find the store relatively empty, quite different than what he was used to. Harry was used to coming here close to the start of term to find it crowded with students and parents trying to get that year's textbooks. Now there were just a few scattered customers, and the place was almost as quiet as a library.

Harry grabbed a basket and began browsing the shelves of the store. He wanted a variety of books, so he grabbed anything that looked interesting or that looked like it might help in his training. Advanced Dueling Tactics, Advanced Dueling Spells, Arithmancy Made Easy, Simple Charms That Could Save Your Life, A Guide to Protection Spells, Stealth: the Art of Sneaking Around, Occlumency: Shield Your Mind, Magical Protection: Standard Wards for the Home, Magical Contracts: Know What You're Getting Yourself Into, and many other books made their way into Harry's basket.

He found several auror handbooks, a couple more charms books, several books on transfiguration including Animating the Inanimate, and several books in Defense Against the Dark Arts. He also grabbed a couple books on teaching techniques and how to lead a large group of people effectively.

As he added more and more books to his basket, he noticed that he never ran out of room and that the weight never became unbearable. He figured the basket must be charmed to keep expanding and to always be light weight regardless of its contents, similar to those backpacks he was looking at. He noticed another book that he added to his pile: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Unforgivables (short of how to cast them) .

Harry took his large collection of books to the counter where he was greeted by the friendly old shopkeeper. "All set, young man?"

"Yes sir," Harry replied politely as he placed his basket on the counter.

"Merlin's beard. Quite a collection you seem to be building up. I suppose you'll be needing an enchanted bag to carry these around in…"

"Oh that won't be necessary," Harry interrupted as he pulled out his new trunk. He put his hand on top of it and said loudly and clearly, "Full size," as he cast a wandless finite incantatem. Acting like it was the most normal thing in the world, Harry continued, "I'll just store them in here," gesturing towards his now full sized trunk.

"Remarkable. They have the shrinking charm added in there now, huh? I guess it was only a matter of time since you young'uns can't use magic 'til you're 17." Harry smirked to himself. That was the reaction he was hoping for. He needed some way to shrink and unshrink his trunk at will in public without arousing suspicion about underage or, even worse, wandless magic. So he decided to just make it look as though he wasn't doing any magic at all. Make it look like it's the trunk and not him. The attention is all on the trunk then and not on Harry.

"Dear me, I seem to have gotten carried away with myself. I'll just ring you up then, shall I?" the old shopkeep said. He began sifting through the basket and adding each book to the tab. He handed each book to Harry to put in his trunk as he finished with it. When he lifted the book on the Unforgivables he paused, "Normally I'd be hesitant to sell a book such as this to one as young as yourself, but I suppose that with You-Know-Who back you'll be growing up well before your time anyway." With that he handed the book over.

When the last book was in Harry's trunk the shopkeeper said "That will be 127 galleons, 11 sickles, 3 knuts." Harry repeated the amount and fished out that exact amount from his money pouch. He handed over the coins to the old man.

"Thank you, young man. Have a splendid day, and stay safe," the shopkeeper called out to Harry with a smile.

"Thank you, sir. You do the same," Harry said to the man as he tucked his now shrunken trunk back into his pocket and exited the store. He had to stop himself from waving to Ernie Macmillan, a Hufflepuff in his year at Hogwarts, as the boy passed by on the street, remembering at the last moment that he was in disguise. It was definitely best not to call attention to himself.

As Harry continued walking down the busy street he felt his stomach grumble hungrily. He decided to make his way over to the Leaky Cauldron for a bite to eat before he continued shopping. After maneuvering through the bustling crowd, Harry entered the dingy pub. He spotted Tom the bartender and headed his way to request a meal.

As Harry walked towards the bar, what he saw made him stop in his tracks. Two faces Harry had not expected to see today swam into view, one very familiar, the other not so much, yet he knew both people. He stared intently into the somber face of Remus Lupin who was sitting at the bar with a woman who Harry unmistakably identified as Nymphadora Tonks. He may not have recognized her face, but nobody else could pull off the hot pink hair, nor would many others even try to. Besides, how many pink haired women could Professor Lupin know?

Harry quietly and discretely sidled up to the bar to try to eavesdrop on their conversation. He was very careful to remain as inconspicuous as possible; the last thing he needed was to be recognized by either of the two. He'd never hear the end of it.

"He won't want to talk with me, Tonks. He's got friends that will be there to help him. I'll just remind him of what he's lost," Lupin proclaimed.

"Don't be daft, old man. Harry needs you now more than ever. Sure he's got his friends to help him, but he needs you more than he needs them. None of his friends were that close to Sirius, and they won't have a clue as to what he's going through or how to help. They're just kids; they don't know what it's like to lose someone close to you. You've been there before, and you're going through it again. Help him. Help each other. You may find you need him just as much as he does you," Tonks encouraged.

Harry sat stunned as Lupin brooded over Tonks' words. 'How could I have been so selfish?' Harry silently castrated himself. 'He's now lost the last of his friends, for the second time at that, and all I've thought of is myself.' Harry had to fight the urge to rush over and comfort the man as he continued to sulk.

"How has Harry been taking it?" Lupin finally asked quietly. By the look on his face, Harry could tell that he wasn't sure he really wanted to know the answer to his question.

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