We came up the stairs from the sweet cellar and into the store proper. It was brightly lit with various sweets all over the place. There were the normal baked sweets like mini pies and donuts but then there was the magical stuff as well. The owner of the shop, a middle aged man with a kind face, eyed us leaving the cellar and chuckled slightly as he knew exactly how we got here. He didn't cause us any trouble when my friends split off from me to go looking for treats they wanted. I walked up to the counter and looked at the name tag he had on before speaking.-
"Do you by chance know where a clothing shop is?" I asked as my priorities were different.
"Clothing? Three doors down is the Spiders spinneret, best clothes in Hogsmeade." Mr. Flume said after some thought.
"Thank you. Give me a galleons worth of chocolate frogs please." I said as I took out one of the coins and put it on the counter.
He put the small boxes containing those treats into a paper bag rang it up and handed me back three sickles as my change. I then found my friends and told them I'd meet back up here in three hours.-
With that accomplished I left the shop and got my first look at the village of Hogsmeade. It was frankly crazy how the entire village looked stuck in the victorian era in terms of building design. I'd probably even say it was a miracle the buildings were intact if they were really that old but magic was a thing so not really. There was more to the place than just shops though as there were houses too. The shop selection was obviously lesser than Diagon alley but had most of what any student or normal person might need. -
There was a grocer for food, the sweet shop, a toy and prank item shop, a quill and ink shop, a quidditch shop, potions shop and even an owl and pet shop. I ignored most of this though and headed for the clothing shop I was told about. It had a sleek fashionable dress in the display window and on the door was a magically animated image of a spider producing silk that was getting rolled onto a thread roll. I pushed open the door causing the little bell at the top to ring.-
The owner was a surprisingly young witch who looked to be no more than twenty with brown hair tied back who was reading a newspaper when I walked in. She lowered the paper and was momentarily taken back when she saw who was there.
"First years are getting bolder and bolder it seems. First month of school and you've already snuck out? Gutsy." she said teasingly.
I shrugged "I had some errands to run and don't have the patience to wait until summer break." I said unbothered.
She raised an eyebrow "Oh you are one of THOSE types, makes sense. I doubt your robes have been ruined so soon so why are you here?" she asked curiously.
I lifted my right hand letting my robs sleeve fall to reveal the bandages wrapped around my arm.
"I came to order a set of bandages to wrap my arms with, better than these of course. I was thinking acromantula silk and gold thread. Money is no problem." I said honestly.
Her eyes widened "Bandages for aesthetics? That's new and intriguing! Alright! You'll need to remove one of those wrapped bandages you have on currently so I know what dimensions my own need to be." she said with and interested look.
"Try not to flinch." I said as I started unwrapping my right arm.
She looked confused at that to begin with but once my flesh began to be exposed she sucked in a hiss of air in shock. My arms from the elbow down were dark hard pockmarked skin with a leathery appearance and had faintly glowing lightning patterned scar lines running down the whole length and ending at my finger tips. She eyed my other wrapped hand and finally my eyepatch as she finally understood that it wasn't just aesthetic choice.-
"How?" she asked still shell shocked at the idea.
"Doesn't matter. Can you make the bandages?" I asked calmly.
"Give me a moment to measure this and I'll let you know." she said solemnly as she grabbed the bandages I dropped and moved to do so.
I leaned back against the wall and waited as she went to work. It took her thirty minutes to measure everything and then calculate if she had enough material for the order.
"I'll need to order more silk from Hagrid to do both of your arms bandages. Also does it have or be real gold or would golden dye work?" she asked seriously.
"Real gold would be preferred but I can accept dye if that is easier." I said calmly as I started wrapping my arm again.
"It'll be expensive. About three hundred galleons if i use dye and seven hundred if I use gold." she said seriously.
I nodded and pulled out a bulging sack of galleon from my robe and put it on the counter.
"That is eight hundred and sixty two galleons. I prefer real gold and will pay extra if you can speed up the order and have it delivered to me at Hogwarts, Alexander Drake." I said before leaving the store.
'That's half my on hand money gone but at least the most expensive thing on my list is taken care of.' I thought as I headed for the alchemy shop I spotted at the end of the street.
I needed some sulfur for the Ark Phoenix as it had been a few days and Rockwell will likely have captured it by now and was probably studying it before he contacted me to hand it over.