The shop was a small one with windows that were actually composed of water flowing downward so smoothly that it looked no different than glass. In the image on the door this time was of a robed figure holding a sort of precious gem that radiated light. The place was called "the philosophers stone" so what stone that was could be inferred. I pushed open the door to the shop and walked in. The shop had several alchemical ingredients stored behind protective grates on the shelves lining the walls and a few devices set on display throughout the place. -
Behind the counter sat a middle aged wizard with plain features that was disassembling a muggle rotary phone eagerly. He looked up in annoyance when the bell at the door rang and was flat out dumbfounded when he saw me instead of an adult standing there.
"Aren't you supposed to be at Hogwarts? It's not the village weekend right?" he asked confused.
"Snuck out to take care of some stuff. You have sulfur I hope?" I asked calmly.
He snorted "Of course I have sulfur! Any self respecting alchemist shop would. The real question is why YOU want it?" he said with an intrigued look.
"Magical beast. How much do you have?" I asked seriously.
"I have whole barrels of the stuff since it's fairly easy to get. What sort of magical beast needs sulfur though? Perhaps a Salamander or fire crab?" he guessed.
"Good guesses. How much would a barrel cost me?" I asked sticking strictly to business.
"Definitely not one of those then. What in Merlin's name would need that much sulfur?" he muttered to himself before answering my question "It'll run you seventy five galleons for a barrel." he said.
"And to get it delivered to Hagrid?" I asked.
"Five more." he said shrugging.
I nodded as that wasn't bad and took out the amount in question. The man eyed me suspiciously like he was trying to figure out which pureblood family I was from but I just left since my business was done there. I had time to kill after that and chose to just wander around the town. I got a few curious looks from people not expecting to see a student, much less a first year, here. I noted the important places such as the Three broomsticks and Hog's head pubs and even Zonko's magical joke shop.-
I had to cut off our trip though when I caught Mcgonagall appear in the town and go looking for us. Clearly someone sent a message to Hogwarts that a couple of students were in town and she came to drag us back. Thanks to my haki being hidden in the electromagnetic charges in the air she didn't notice that I gathered my friends and gave her the slip by moving perfectly with buildings between us at all time. It was only after we popped back out of the statue on the third floor that we breathed easy.-
"Bloody hell, I didn't think a professor would show up to chase us down!" Terry said horrified.
"I didn't either but now we know to be sneakier next time." I said seriously.
"Next time? What do you mean next time!?" Mike asked with astonishment on his face.
"Did you think this would be it? You'll run out of stuff eventually and need to go back and I'm no different. Face it mates, we are going to do this again eventually." I said patting them both on the shoulders.
"What now though? Like we went to Hogsmeade but that was the whole plan. What do we do for the rest of the day?" Terry asked awkwardly.
"I don't know about you two but I have to go see the gamekeeper. I'll be needing his help to take care of a not so simple pet I have coming in from one of my suppliers." I said with a shrug.
"What kind of pet? Another dinosaur?" Mike asked curiously.
"Nope, knockoff Phoenix. Big fiery bird that can also be reborn from ashes." I said with a shrug.
"You sure that's not a Phoenix? That sounds an awful lot like a Phoenix." Terry said in disbelief.
"Oh yeah I'm absolutely sure. When you see it you'll understand what I mean. At best it's Phoenix adjacent." I said with a chuckle. "If I disappear for a few hours I'm likely collecting the thing from my supplier." I added.
"You got any other crazy magical species you can just randomly get?" Mike asked exasperatedly.
"I can get a type of dragon egg, does that count?" I asked with a grin as they looked at me like I was insane.
"Are you even real!? "Not" Phoenixes, dinosaurs and even dragon eggs? You're a bloody first year for crying out loud!" Terry complained.
I just shrugged at that and turned to leave since I did need to talk to Hagrid. It would be rather awkward keeping the giant flaming bird if I didn't have his help. I mean I had my suitcase but, and this was key, I didn't want to bring anyone in there unless I needed an alibi for all the stuff I had. I already promised Dumbledore to show him the bird when it arrived and Hagrid will DEFINITELY regularly want to see and interact with it. -
Plus there was a good chance I'd be busy a lot of the time and not be able to feed the thing so leaving it with Hagrid while I was at school was the smartest idea. The man might not be exactly safe for humans but he was incredibly skilled at dealing with beasts. Additionally this would give me an in with the man to trade for the stuff he gets out of the forest. Things with very high value such as Unicorn hair or Acromantula silk and venom.