Just a reminder, if you've been liking my story so far, to please check out my patreon. It's only 1 USD for 5-10 chapters ahead in all my fanfics. I really appreciate all of the support I've gotten so far.
(Word Count: 2,215)
Their first stop was the bookshop Hermione talked about, Librairie Magillard. Unlike Flourish and Blotts, it had an actual store front, complete with two large bay windows to display a selection of recent publications.
Hermione excitedly grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the front door. "Come on! You'll love it."
As they made for the door, Emma Granger smiled at her daughter's excitement. It was good to see her finally have someone she can be herself around. Before Harry came along, she never had anyone else that she could share her excitement with.
She stopped, holding onto Dan's arm to stop him as well. Everyone paused to look at her. "You know what? Hermione, dear, I think while you show Harry around I'll go visit that antique store down the road. You have fun with Harry, and we'll meet at that café in two hours? I really did love their croissants."
Dan looked at her in betrayal. He leaned in close and whispered in her ear. Harry could hear it thanks to the benefits of his crow animagus perk. "Emma, there is no way I'm letting Hermione wander around Paris alone with a boy. Even if it is Harry."
She smacked him on the chest, and whispered back, "Oh, hush. Harry is a wonderful boy. She'll be fine."
"That's not what I'm worried about," Dan grumbled to himself, but ultimately let it go.
Emma turned back to Hermione and Harry. "You two have fun!"
She gave Hermione a not so subtle wink and started dragging both Dan and Sirius away.
Hermione gaped at her, then blushed bright red. She stammered, looking at Harry, unsure what to say.
Harry simply laughed and took her hand. "Come on, we've got books waiting for us!"
"Right! Books!"
They entered the bookstore and were greeted with floor to ceiling bookshelves, and tables loaded with stacks of books. Flying around in the air around in the center area was a whole flock of books. Some would swoop down to rest on one of the center tables, and others would fly up to the chandelier or on top of the bookshelves near the ceiling. When someone tried to pick one up, it would fly away.
As Harry took in the sight, it seemed like the flying books noticed him and flocked down to gather at his feet. One of them perched on his head, while some tried to sit on his shoulders but they would slide off, so they joined the ones on the ground. 'What the?' Harry looked at them curiously, picking up the one resting on his head and looked at it.
They were all the same book, Le Corbeau Qui en Savait Trop, or rather, The Crow That Knew Too Much.' The cover had a large black crow swooping around the page, and it would sometimes peck at the letters in the title.
No wonder the behavior seemed familiar. They acted just like the crows back at Hogwarts. Harry gave a wry grin. He focused on the book in hand, and soon his third eye could peer into the nature of the book. It definitely shared the same natures as a bird. It was a fictional story about a crow, so they enchanted the books to act like a crow? Or worse, did they take actual crows and transfigure them into books?
No, nevermind, that would be too much of a hassle for anyone to do to publish a book. Actually, now that he thought of it, that did seem like something a wizard would do.
Regardless, they seemed to like him.
"Mon Deu! They seem to like you!" Someone that looked like they were the bookstore owner came over, and began shooing the books away. "Why, I've never seen them act like this before! Did you bring in bird seed or something?"
"No bird seed on me. I just have an affinity for birds," Harry replied in French.
"Oh, you're British? Why, you speak French very well! Welcome to Librairie Magillard! I'm your host, Pierre Magillard. Feel free to browse around as you wish. Simply call me if you need anything," Pierre Magillard gave them a small bow and went back to whatever it was he was doing.
Harry and Hermione looked around before Harry was drawn to a selection of books that were locked behind a cabinet. "Mister Magillard! What are these books here?"
"Oh, you wouldn't want any of those books. Those are my selection of cursed or ancient books. Each one of those would run for dozens of Bezant! Several are even in the hundreds," Magillard said. He didn't seem intent on letting them open the cabinet to look, but Harry did see one of them that he wanted to see.
Les Prophéties, written Nostradamus.
"And what about this one here, the one written by Nostradamus?" Harry asked, pointing to it.
"That one is an original! Written by the hand of Nostradamus himself! It's nearly 5 thousand Bezant!" Magillard had no small amount of pride telling him that.
Nostradamus was perhaps one of the most well known seers in the world. He lived in the 1500's, so his time was well before the statute of secrecy was in place and his book of prophecies was well known in the muggle world as well.
"I'd like to buy it. Don't worry, I have the money here," Harry said, pulling out a small bag of coin.
Magillard looked surprised, before stammering "You do? Ah, well… you see, I…" He really didn't want to part with such a famous collectors book.
"Six thousand," Harry interjected.
"But you're so young! Can you truly take care of such a book?" Magillard asked. It made sense for him to be worried. He was only 11 after all.
"My family has our own library that includes many books far older than the 16th century. I know how to take care of books. 7 thousand."
"Done! But I don't do credit. You'll have to pay for it upfront," Magillard said.
"Of course," He pulled out his wand and summoned the 7 thousand bezant from his bag of coins. The coins stacked themselves neatly on the cashier desk.
Seeing the coins, Magillard took out a set of keys and unlocked the cabinet. He gingerly picked up the old book of prophecies and handed it over. The book, despite being so old, was in perfect condition, as if new. "Be very careful with it. This book is old, and has its own enchantments. Any mistreatment can make it very… temperamental with you."
"Thanks for the warning. I'll treat it with care. By the way, I know this book has been reprinted in the muggle world numerous times. Does this one contain any prophecies not available to the muggle world?" Harry asked.
"Of course. When the statute of secrecy was put in place, we removed any prophecies regarding magic. We couldn't exactly have any prophecies relating to the magical world be published for all the muggles to read, now could we?" Magillard said.
Harry grinned. A book of prophecies from a genuine seer, Nostradamus himself! A great find indeed. This would be the crown jewel of his slowly forming Potter Library for quite some time.
He tucked the book into his trunk necklace, where it shrunk down and flew to the input shelf. He'd have to get a display case or something soon so it wasn't just sitting on the shelf alongside Omens, Oracles & the Goat, or Unfogging the Future. It would be an insult to place such a book together with those. And, like Magillard said, he needed to treat it with care.
He turned to Hermione. "Want to pick one out? I'll pay."
She looked like she wanted to accept, but shook her head. "No, I've already got some books for myself before."
After buying a copy of the crow book as well, Harry couldn't resist when one bounced along the ground trailing after him, they left to go look at the other stores.
There was an antique shop that caught Harry's attention, so they went inside.
It was dusty, and had a ton of odds and ends everywhere, but there was no one attending the register.
"Is this place even open?" Hermione whispered to him.
"It is open, dear," a voice said off to the side in English. "The owner only comes out when the bell is rung."
They looked and found a dusty old painting on the ground, leaning back against the wall alongside some other landscape portraits. In the painting was a middle aged woman in a simple dress. Behind her were astrological tools like an old astrolabe, and the night sky twinkled down on her.
"I see. Thank you," Harry said. Something about her was familiar. She looked related to Professor Trelawney! "Excuse me, but what is your name? You look familiar."
The woman in the painting smiled sadly. "I am the painting of Cassandra Trelawney."
"Cassandra!" Harry was stunned. What was happening? Two great finds in one day? "No wonder you were familiar. Your descendent, Sybill Trelawney, currently teaches divination at Hogwarts. She's been very helpful in helping me learn my own gift of sight."
"So my family still has the curse of prophecy, does it?" Cassandra sat down and leaned heavily against the table with the astrolabe, sighing sadly. "Pity."
"Say, Cassandra. Would you mind if I bought your portrait? I could return you to Sybill if you'd like," Harry said.
"Yes, I suppose it's about time to be reunited with my family," She muttered. "If you have the means, then I would be grateful."
They bought the portrait, as well as an old display case that was tucked away in the corner. Harry placed them into his storage room in the trunk, and they made their way back out.
"Well then!" Harry looked at Hermione, grinning widely.. "Any other shops you want to look at? I've been having some good luck today it seems. Might as well keep going!"
Hermione shook her head. "No, it was mostly the bookstore, really. Though I did see a familiar store earlier. It seems like Madam Malkins has a store branch here in France as well."
It seemed like Madam Malkins really got the lock down on the school uniforms. Does she have one in Bulgaria too for the Durmstrang students?
Without any goal, they spent the next two hours wandering the Place Cachée and window shopping. They did pick up a couple of souvenirs, and Harry did buy Hermione a nice enchanted quill as a gift. Soon, they returned to the café to meet back up with Sirius and Hermione's parents.
Sirius saw them come in and waggled his eyebrows at Harry over his cup of tea. "Sooo," He drawled teasingly, "How was your da—Ow!"
Dan elbowed him in the side.
"Did you have fun, dear?" Emma asked Hermione.
The two of them sat at the table, and Hermione went on to tell them about their shopping, and showed them her new quill.
"Harry, I heard from Sirius that it's your birthday tomorrow. Since we're going to fly back home before then, we thought that we could celebrate together tonight," Emma said.
Hermione gasped. "Oh no! I can't believe I forgot your birthday, Harry! I didn't even get you anything!"
"Don't worry about it, Hermione. I enjoyed looking around the town with you. That was more than enough," Harry comforted Hermione then turned to Emma. "What did you have in mind?"
It was Sirius who answered. "I got us a reservation at a nice restaurant for dinner! We've got a couple of hours to kill before then, though. So we're going to walk around town a bit more."
"Mom! We have to get Harry a present before we leave!" Hermione urged.
"Of course, dear. We can get him one while we're out."
The rest of the day went by quickly, they were visiting the well known sights of Paris. The Phoenix arch, the Eiffel tower, and so on. The Grangers got him a nice leather bound journal for him to document his thoughts. Not that he needed something to help him remember things, but he couldn't work all of his problems out in his mind. Having a place to write things down was a good way to help him think them through. Plus, it was a really nice leather cover. Combined with the nice metal pen they got him, it made him want to fill out the entire journal.
Soon it was time for them to check into their hotel, so they said their goodbyes. The Grangers had to leave the next day back to England, so they turned in early.
"We'll have a chance to say goodbyes tomorrow, so in the meantime, goodnight!" Dan said as they went inside.
Harry and Sirius turned in as well. The next day, Harry received a bunch of letters by mail from his family and friends wishing him happy birthday. Most packages and mail from the general public were kept back home. Tripsy only forwarded the more personal letters to him in France. That day, they kept exploring the more distant tourist spots across France, then the day after that, they would meet up with Flitwick and the tournament would begin.