Because it took time to make new robes, Mrs. Weasley agreed to let Evan and Ginny go to buy other items on the school list first, and then meet together at the Flourish and Blotts Bookseller.
Of course, it was mainly Evan who was buying.
Ginny had a lot of things to inherit from her brother. Percy became a prefect this year and got twelve O.W.L.S. certificates. Mrs. Weasley bought him new school supplies, so a lot of things were eliminated.
“Thank you, Evan. This is the best Christmas gift I’ve ever received!” Ginny blushed and thanked him, looking the same when she was looking at Harry.
“Don’t be silly, that’s just an excuse for Mrs. Weasley to agree. I’ll give you something else for Christmas.” Thinking of what Ginny might encounter this year, Evan continued. “I think a diary with a red cover is a good choice.”
“Well, that’s a good idea. I can give you back a black one then.”
“That’s exactly what I need!” Evan added in his heart, and if it was signed by Mr. Tom Riddle, it would be perfect.
They both strolled off along the winding, cobbled street, and clamors sounded out from the shops from time to time. The coins were jangling cheerfully in Evan’s pockets and clamoring to be spent.
However, after browsing a few magic shops, probably knowing the prices of the wizarding world, Evan became somewhat cold inside. Compared to what he wanted to buy, these Gold-Galleons in his pocket were not enough.
In fact, for a Hogwarts fist-year, Evan’s Gold-Galleons were definitely a huge sum, but he was not satisfied with the items on the school list. He wanted to buy too many things.
‘It seems that I have to find a way to make money!’
Evan could ask his parents for some more money, but not for a long-term. They would not give a child too much money, especially that many things Evan wanted to buy were not what a student should have.
He had a preliminary idea in his mind about how to make money, but he had to wait until he would be at Hogwarts to achieve it.
Next, under the leadership of Ginny, Evan bought a Pewter Cauldron needed on the school list, a nice set of scales for weighing potion ingredients and a collapsible brass telescope. At the Apothecary, they bought basic potion ingredients to be used in the first-year Potions class. In addition to this, they bought feather quills, ink, and parchment papers for recording.
Passing by the Magical Menagerie, neither of them went in. Evan thought about it. He was not ready to buy pets at the moment because his mother was allergic to birds, and apart from owls, other pets didn’t have any help for the wizard. It was too much trouble to take care of them.
However, he collected mail order lists from almost each store in Diagon Alley. When preparing for the senior courses, he might need to purchase additional materials from here.
Evan knew very well how much trouble he would encounter in the next few years. He could not study slowly according to his textbooks; especially that he was one grade lower than the Savior.
When the Harry trio was running around the world in the seventh year, he actually had to stay in school and suffer from the Death Eaters. It was a terrible thing to think about it.
Along the way, Evan and Ginny had a very pleasant conversation, and they soon became good friends.
In Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop, they met Fred, George and Lee Jordan, who were stocking up on Dr. Filibuster’s Fabulous Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks.
In a tiny junk shop full of broken wands, lopsided brass scales, and old cloaks covered in potion stains they found Percy, deeply immersed in a small and deeply boring book called Prefects Who Gained Power.
The two did not bother Percy. Passing by Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour, Ivan bought two large chocolate lemon ice creams for himself and Ginny.
When they wandered up the dark alley, they saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione running out of Knockturn Alley with pale faces.
Behind them, was Hagrid the Hogwarts gamekeeper, who was yelling at them, “Skulking around Knockturn Alley… not a good place. Harry, I don’t want anyone to see you down there!”
“You went to Knockturn Alley? Mom wouldn’t let us go there.” Ginny leaned over with a worried face.
“Go away, Ginny!” Ron waved his hand and looked impatient.
“Wait, Ron!” Harry looked at Evan and hesitated to explain. “We saw Draco Malfoy. He and his father went to Borgin and Burkes, a shop specializing in black magic items.”
“HARRY!” Ron raised his voice. Obviously, he didn’t want his little sister to know about it.
“Oh, what did you find?” Ignoring Ron’s overreaction, Evan asked curiously.
“Nothing, we looked through the dusty shop window for a long time until they left, and we didn’t see them buy anything!” Hermione turned to look at Hagrid. “Hagrid, we were following Malfoy. And you, what were you doing in Knockturn Alley?”
“I was looking for a Flesh- Eating Slug Repellent. They’re ruining the school’s cabbage!” Hagrid looked at Evan and said gruffly, “You should be Evan Mason. Harry told me about you. Fortunately you helped him to leave the house, those damned Muggles, if I knew…”
Before Hagrid had finished, Mrs. Weasley hurriedly came over with her new robes. Behind her were Mr. Weasley, and the parents of Evan and Hermione.
Then she knew that Harry had gone to Knockturn Alley.
“Knockturn Alley! If you hadn’t found him, Hagrid!”
“Well, I have to go.” Hagrid was a little embarrassed. He had his hand wrung by Mrs. Weasley. “See you at Hogwarts, children!”
After Hagrid disappeared from the street, Mrs. Weasley turned and reprimanded the three people. On the contrary, Mr. Weasley was very interested in what Harry said.
“Obviously, he was selling things, so he’s worried!” said Mr. Weasley with grim satisfaction, “Oh, I’d love get Lucius Malfoy for something.”
“Be careful, Arthur!” said Mrs. Weasley warning him, “That family’s trouble. Don’t go biting off more than you can chew.”
“So you think I’m a match for Lucius Malfoy?” said Mr. Weasley indignantly, but he was distracted by a large group of people outside the store. The crowd seemed to be made up mostly of witches around Mrs. Weasley’s age, jostling outside the doors, trying to get in.
Through the cracks in the crowd, they saw Gilderoy Lockhart, wearing blue wizard’s robes, sitting in the middle of the shop, signing copies of his autobiography.
He was surrounded by large pictures of his own face, all winking and flashing dazzlingly white teeth at the crowd.
Although Lockhart was an idiot wizard, Evan had to admit that he would have been a successful writer if he did not steal other people’s experiences.
The next thing to go, Harry was not surprised to be discovered by Lockhart, and then he was pulled in to take photos together. Lockhart announced that he would teach at Hogwarts. By the time everyone came back, they found Mr. Weasley and Lucius Malfoy fighting, and Lockhart, standing on the side, too excited, and the two men were separated by Hagrid, who had suddenly appeared.
“Here girl … take your book … it’s the best your father can give you!”
Lucius Malfoy pulled himself out of Hagrid’s grip. He beckoned to Draco and swept from the shop.
“You should’ve ignored him, Arthur.” said Hagrid, almost lifting Mr. Weasley off his feet as he straightened his robes. “This guy is so bad, the whole family is rotten to the core … everyone knows that. No Malfoy’s worth listening to. Bad blood, that’s what it is.”
Everyone’s attention was focused on Mr. Weasley, while Evan had been observing Ginny’s battered A Beginner’s Guide to Transfiguration, which, if not unexpectedly, should contain a black diary.
After Lucius Malfoy left, the assistant at Flourish and Blotts looked as though he wanted to stop them from leaving, but after seeing Hagrid’s extraordinary figure and the very impressive order of Evan, he quickly forgot about it.
“Evan, what are you doing? Do you want to empty Flourish and Blotts?” Ron watched in surprise as Evan scratched across the list in his hand, which included all the books in Flourish and Blotts, totaling about 8,000 copies.
“How is it possible? I don’t have that money. I’m just choosing what I need.” It is certainly impossible for Evan to buy all these books at once. He was going to pick out the books he could use now, and buy the rest slowly afterwards.
“Oh, that’s quite a lot!”
“It’s not a bad thing to learn more, Ron!”
“Dude, that sounds like Hermione.” Ron stepped up and saw Evan pick a copy of Advanced Potion-Making by Professor Libatius Borage. “Ah, I read it at Bill’s place. It’s something that needs to be used in the N.E.W.T, Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test.”
“I think Evan is right. There’s no harm in previewing it in advance!” Hermione looked at Evan’s book list and happily added a few magic books for her senior grade. By the way, she suggested, “Evan, I think we should check the list later, so as to avoid repetition.”
“Of course, Hermione!” Evan happily agreed.
“Harry, they’re both crazy!”
“You’re right, Ron!” Harry hesitated and picked up a copy of Professor Viridian’s Curses and Counter-Curses, which he wanted to buy last year, but Hagrid didn’t let him buy it. “But it’s really necessary to learn more, especially when dealing with Malfoy, isn’t it?”
