Sorcerer's Shopping Spree: Part I ...revisit his past...

Luca and his family stepped through the threshold from Diagon Alley into Flourish and Blotts. They were immediately met with the fresh scent of parchment paper coming from the large selection of books lining the wall. He pulled his supply list out of his cauldron and started looking at the list of all the books that he would need for his first year at Hogwarts School. The excitement of attending school far outweighed the daunting feeling of having to read more books, which wasn't every 11-year-olds favorite thing to do. However, Luca did it enough to be an intelligent young boy.

"I need Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger, Book of Spells by Miranda Goshawk, ..." Luca started reading off when an older woman approached them. The woman presented herself as an employee because she had been walking around checking on people instead of appearing to be doing any of her own shopping. When there was a pause in Luca's reading of the book, she spoke up softly.

"Finding everything alright, dearie?" she asked when Luca noticed her.

"We're just starting. We just came from Potage's Cauldron Shop," Luca explained to her.

"Well, our 1st Year book boxes have been cleaned how. I'm afraid you'll have to do it the old-fashioned way," the woman explained. "Would you like some help?" she offered.

Luca stood there, smiled at the woman, and shook his head. He was determined to become more independent since he would be living away from his family at school, so he wanted to do it by himself. The woman nodded and walked away, which prompted Luca to start off on trying to find the books. He looked around at the shelves and aisles, trying to figure out the system by which they would be displayed. Luca began to get slightly frustrated but tried his best to hide it. After a while, he thought he was on the right track to find the first book.

Luca was determined to figure out the system for finding books in Flourish and Blotts. He spent a while looking around at the shelves in a mock interest in books in general, but really, he was examining the books on the shelves and comparing them to the signs at the end of the aisle. Once Luca figured out that they were organized by genre and then alphabetically by author, he was off to the races. The boy referred back to the large list of books he had to pick up for this school year.

He started with Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger and headed for the section marked potion making. Luca was impressed by the sheer amount of literature on potion-making alone, but he was on a mission to find one by Aresnius Jigger. J... J... J... AH! J!, the young boy thought as his finger ran over the spines of the books horizontally. Jigger...here it is, Magical Drafts and Potions, Luca thought as he took the book by the top of the spine and pulled out a copy.

Placing the book in his cauldron, he checked his now somewhat crumbled supply list for the next book. Book of Spells by Miranda Goshawk was the next book on the list, and Luca made a direct path to the section he saw earlier on spellcasting, which led him to the book by Goshawk quickly. Placing it in the cauldron, he noticed the weight became unbearable, but he attempted to soldier on. His pace had slowed, heading to the next section on the theory, where he suspected Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling would be. Noticing this, his father followed him and took the burden of the cauldron off of Luca so he could shop unabated.

Luca smiled at Lorenzo in thanks and quickly picked out a copy of Magical Theory. Placing it in the cauldron, he noticed only room for one or two more books, so he would have to carry the rest. Luca then reached the section most likely to contain The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble and picked out a fresh copy. Next, he found the history section where he knew Hogwarts, A History by Garius Tomkink and A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot would be. Scanning the book spines for B and then T, he found the books effortlessly.

Finally, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander was found in the section related to animals. They were finished shopping for books and made their way to the counter where the clerk easily gave them the price. First years had been buying new sets of books all day, so the price was already in their head.

"1 galleon, 13 sickles, and 16 knuts, please!" she said cheerfully. Lorenzo paid and the family made their way to the exit where they crossed back into the bustling Diagon Alley.

His story continues: Sorcerer's Shopping Spree: Part III