Hagrid concluded that he would be rather surprised if the boy didn't end up in Ravenclaw. He had been shaken up by something that he had seen during their brief visit to Gringotts. In that state of disarray his mind had drawn him into the bookshop, deep within the depths of what Hagrid knew to be overstuffed shelves. He supposed it wasn't much of a problem. he had to take the boys into Flourish and Blotts to buy their school books as it was - it wouldn't be too much trouble to try and find Edward in the shop.
Of course, that was easier said than done. The boy was small and apparently rather flexible, he had eventually been found shimmying along the edge of a hanging bookcase, ducking under an abundance of things in an abundance of back-breaking ways.
"Whatcher doin' up there, Ed?" Hagrid had called to the boy.
"I saw a book on the properties," he snagged a book in his gloved hand and easily dismounted the shelf with a smooth somersault "of potion materials and I thought it looked interesting." A solitary glance at the thick, second hand (or second hundredth hand) tome confirmed that the book was not, in fact, written in English.
"You can read that?" Harry asked, thinking back to when Ed had confirmed his multilingualism at the train station.
"yeah, it's just Latin. I flicked through a couple of spell books earlier," harry was sure that their definitions of 'a few' were entirely different "And it looks like the majority of spells are Latin and those that aren't have a basis in it. So, Mr, Potter, I am already at something of an advantage."
"You're more than pretty smart, I'm fairly certain that you've an advantage over everyone in our year." It was settling to see that the surroundings had caused his friend to revert back to himself, Harry noted.
"I wouldn't be so sure. According to Hagrid we're both Halfbloods but we grew up among 'muggles'" he made air quotes with his gloved hands to emphasise the word "So we know about as much as the Muggle-borns would. there are Purebloods who grow up in magical families, they'll already know something, I'm sure." He hugged the dusty tome tighter to his chest, leaving little, dusty lines on his sleeves.
"You'll catch up." harry said, and then - before he could think better of it- he joked "And then you can help me catch up too."
"Tsk, tsk. potter, that's not how this works - equivalent exchange, my friend."
"Meaning what exactly?"
"If I do - by some miracle," Harry thought it wouldn't be much of one, however "Manage to catch up enough to help you I'm gonna need something in return."
"Does the word 'favour' not feature in your vocabulary?"
"It does - but as do a number of other untrue things. You can't receive anything without giving something -it's just the way that the world works."
That was when Hagrid called them over after collecting the books that they needed for their curriculum and telling them to grab anything else that they might want. That quickly proved itself a mistake.
Edward's legs moved at such a speed Harry's eyes had a hard time following them. Something he had no problem following was the metallic noise. He had began to grow used to the noise but it grew louder and longer as he moved around in a manner reminiscent to a monkey. Soon his arms were laden with books -the large number clearly not being what he considered satisfactory - though he relented and agreed that he would not purchase anymore and instead just use the school library when it came down to it. He seemed substantially happier once the word "library" had left Hagrid's lips.
The wizard at the till was both shocked and ecstatic at the large sum of money he received from Ed's extravagant purchase. Harry's new friend was surprising, odd, and he just kept getting stranger. The ease with which Ed carried the mountain of books - definitely a rather ridiculous some of weight upon his arms -was superhuman.
The people in the streets cleared a path for the boy as he strolled along with his arms full of so many books that he couldn't so much as see over them, far from - even his antennae had disappeared. harry shuffled his trainers along the street, staring at his feet as they passed over the cobbles. The squeaks that their worn - down soles were certainly making were disguised by the clomp of an assortment of shoes. Many of said shoes had heels that harry was sure would be torturous to walk over the cobblestones in.
Among their trip two stores stood out. Madame Malkin's was interesting, to say the least. it wasn't so much the shop itself as the way that Edward acted that made the shop so memorable. Edward had protested about being measured and madam Malkin seemed to be trying her absolute hardest to call neither of the two short. that was when he had met the slimy git, Ed had been in the back room collecting his robes when harry met the boy. He was wiry thin and his appearance resembled that of a weasel, his features were pinched and his greasy, platinum hair was pushed back on his head.
The other memorable shop was Ollivander's. Hagrid had disappeared after they entered the wand shop. the building seemed to be falling apart at its very foundations and Ed had to wonder whether the family had been in the wand making business since 382 BC or I that was simply how long the building had stood there. The shelves were filled with thin, leather boxes and more dust than was on Ed's books. The dust on the floor became unsettled under their feet - the noise made by Edward's boots on the hardwood and the ever present squeaking echoed terribly. A man came into the main area from the backroom. he had wild hair and unblinking eyes that were open wide and glazed over. Their shade of pale silver was much in contrast to Edward's unusual gold.
"Mr potter. it feels like just yesterday your parents were in here buying their first wands!" He explained to harry before turning to Edward "And I believe my father served yours Mr Elric! such a long time ago that was! Before the fall of Xerxes, correct?"
"What?" Edward muttered "No living human could be that old and my father certainly wasn't. He is of Xerxian descent, nothing more!" as the man began to measure them. He had held his left hand out and the tape measures were measuring both that and everything else, the distance between his nostrils and eyes as well as the length of his antennae. eventually Ollivander returned with a series of boxes. though he had not quite compensated for the two to be such difficult customers.