Book Shopping with @Simon Kincaid

Eleanore and Simon walked into Flourish and Blotts with Eleanore's grandmother by her side. They had their lists in hand and 14 galleons for each to share.

"So this here says we need these books; Magical Drafts and Potions, Book of Spells, Magical Theory, The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection, Hogwarts, A History, A History of Magic, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" Eleanore stated as she read the list.

"Where do we find them exactly, there are loads of books in here" Eleanore said, looking around.

She was nervous, it was a large store filled with people. There were tons of books, the books they needed could be anywhere.

Eleanore took a deep breath as she thought of a solution to the problem. All the workers in the shop were busy with other people, it would be nearly impossible to get an assistant. After a minute or two of thinking, it finally came to mind.

"Oh I know! We could split up. You search the right half of the store and I will search the left. If you find a book on the list, grab two. One for me, one for you."

"I do want to steal my Sweet Simon away for a little while when we're almost done," his Aunt Maggie said as she trailed along. She knew her time with him was growing short and she wanted to share a bit of the Diagon Alley experience, just the two of them.

Simon glanced over to Ellie and shook his head because of course Aunt Maggie would want that but he smiled, also not really minding.

"Nice plan, Elles," he said of his friend. He came to stand on the other side of her, so she would take the one half of the store and he would take the other. There were a LOT of people in there and he wondered if they all were going to Hogwarts or not. Were there other wizarding schools?

"Ready... one... two... three... GO!" and he hurried toward the back of the store so he could work where there was less customers first and work his way back toward the middle where the most were. Books were EVERYWHERE but he loved it. As someone who spent a lot of time at the library, books were something he more than loved and the titles of these books were intriguing. It was difficult to not just pick up many of the titles off the shelf and start reading them on the spot but no, he had a competition to win - even if Ellie hadn't intended to make it a competition.

One of the titles caught his eye and he glanced back down to his list. A History of Magic? Check! He grabbed two.

Finding books with @Simon Kincaid

Eleanore walked over to her side, unaware that Simon was making it a competition. She scanned the shelves until she saw one.

'Hogwarts, A History' Eleanore loved history and reading about the past, it intrigued her almost as much as reading about magical things she didn't know about. She grabbed two of them and continued scanning.

Another! 'Book of Spells'. She grabbed two and continued scanning. All these books seemed so fascinating. Eleanore loved to read. She had hundreds of books back home. She was hoping she could expand her book collection with some wizarding and witchcraft books. That was something her and Simon shared, they both loved to read. She was sure that is where they would be most of the time at Hogwarts, the Library.

She was so excited to see what kind of books would be there; true stories of a werewolf, or the secret life of a vampire. She was almost too excited about it. The only thing she was more excited about was the actual learning part.

Eleanore found a third book, 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'. Eleanore picked up two, the six books almost falling out of her arms. She was sure she could at least hold two more. Eleanore scanned until she found a fourth book.

'Magical theory' She read, she wondered what the theory was. She had found four books, leaving three for Simon to find. She went into the middle of the store where her grandmother and Aunt Maggie was waiting. She handed some books for her grandmother to hold and waited for Simon to finish.

When he finished scanning the shelves on his side, he returned back to the middle of the store to find the three ladies waiting. He had a rather large stack-full of books in his arms, one that would seem too heavy for a boy of eleven to carry on his own but he did so effortlessly. Simon had always been rather strong for his age.

On top of the stack of books was his list and his Aunt Maggie took it, scanning it over and checking the titles that everyone had to ensure that there were two copies of everything everyone needed. Sure enough, these kids had it all together and didn't miss one. "Time to check out!" she said and they found themselves meandering through the large crowd of people in the store to find the end of the line. "Speaking of checking out...take a look behind the counter," his aunt said, her eyes directed to one of the cashiers, a young male around her age.

Simon glanced over to Ellie apologetically. For someone who didn't date, because she really didn't want to put Simon in any awkward position nor did she have a lot of free time, the woman did like to flirt quite a bit. Simon was used to it, but did she have to do this in front of Ellie and her grandmother?! He smiled though. His aunt could be something but he loved her.

Eleanore looked at Simon as he made an apologetic look to her. She was guessing that he was apologizing for his aunts behaviour. She honestly didn't mind, Eleanore didn't really care about anything.

"It's okay, let her flirt" Eleanore whispered to Simon.

Eleanore held the three books she was holding tightly. It was nerve racking knowing that in just a few days the two would be heading to Hogwarts. Eleanore was ready though.

As they finally got to the cash register, Eleanore placed her three books on the counter and helped her grandmother place them as well. Eleanore waited for Simon to place the books he found on the counter.

"That will be three galleons, 10 sickles, and 3 knuts" The cashier said. My grandmother handed him the exact amount of money needed. The cashier counted to make sure it was correct.

"You're all set, have a wonderful day" He said as we gathered our books. We placed them in our caldrons and walked to the exit.

"Next up is Madam Malkin's robe shop" Eleanore said, reading the list. She was almost more excited for this shop rather than Ollivander's wands. However, she was obviously more excited to get her wand.

Books, check! It was something needed for every year of his schooling. Sometimes it would be books provided by the school and other times he'd be taking an upper level class that required going to one of the main bookstores in London and some were classic books that he could get at the bakery/bookstore where his aunt worked.

Books were normal. Essential school supplies, so even though the titles of these particular books were remarkable in themselves, it still felt rather regular to him.

Now Ellie was saying something about robes. Robes.

"Robes," Simon said, laughing a little at the word. Two thoughts came into his mind - a bathroom robe and the other was the long black cloaks that a witch or wizard might wear. What was next? Pointy hats? It was all rather amusing.

What would be next? Simon could imagine magic wands, riding on broomsticks. Little did he know that was exactly what was coming up - that and so much more. Sports on broomsticks, dueling with wands, classes on magical plants and learning about all sorts of creatures that he never knew actually existed.

So the two headed out from the bookstore and to the next store and then to the next and the next. Close to supper, his Aunt Maggie pulled him away so the two could finish up their shopping one on one and she could have a little extra time with him. Together or apart, that day Ellie Reed and Simon Kincaid were able to get all their school supplies to be ready for their First Year at Hogwarts.