Altair, Daphne, and Luna just stayed quiet at the sheer number of clothes and accessories that Susan was buying for herself. No same pyjamas for any day for two weeks... several jumpers, several scarves, skirts, shoes, blouses, hairpins, hair ties, and a range of perfumes.
These all did not include sets of uniforms...
They did not even have to ask who was paying for it all. Since she had turned eleven, she now had access to the account that her parents had created for her, and Susan had found a fortune inside.
"Do you want to spend it all?" Luna innocently questioned as they sat down in the ice-cream parlour, and Susan almost nodded her head before she corrected herself and shook it.
"Susan, we have not even bought books..." Daphne tried to reason, but was soon cut off.
"I can't wait to go to Hogwarts, make new friends, get to know people... Oh my God, I so want to see the Astronomy Tower, the Duelling Hall, the Great Hall..."
Altair's lips twitched at her enthusiasm, and he could tell at a glance that she was not going to get sorted into Slytherin. Perhaps not even into Ravenclaw. She was not dull, but she simply did not have the thirst for knowledge and ambition to be sorted into either Ravenclaw or Slytherin.
He glanced at Fruska and Hippy, who was Bones' house-elf, both sitting on the side, enjoying their treats and chatting with each other.
"Susan." He cut off the girl who was talking too much now, and she instantly turned quiet, realising the weight behind his call.
"Yes?"
"We will now focus on getting the Hogwarts essentials. Let's get your books and stationery first. Familiar next, then finally your wand."
"Okay." She obediently nodded her head and then quietly finished her ice cream.
She kept sneaking glances at him, but seeing how quiet he and the girls were, she did not dare talk too much again.
Once they were outside, Altair grabbed her hand and pulled her close, leaning near her ear.
"Never talk so much in public lest you wish to provide the world with information about yourself. There's always someone listening, and there is no guarantee that they are a good person."
Her face paled a little as she looked back inside the parlour, finding several pairs of eyes on her. A creepy man even smiled at her, which sent chills up her spine.
For the rest of their time shopping, she barely let go of his hand, just like Luna.
Her mind was so distracted that Daphne had to help her out with all the stationery, some extra things, books, and even a couple of interesting gadgets.
Luna bought the things she wanted to buy, and then all of them followed Altair to Quality Quidditch Supplies, where the new Nimbus 2001 was on display right now.
It was only slightly faster than its predecessor, but the comfort had been heavily improved, especially with the revolving and pivoting stirrups.
As he had promised, he bought everyone from Slytherin who had their Houses listed as Neo Pure-bloods a new broom. And finally, he bought one for himself, Aurelia, and Cho.
Daphne was not interested in Quidditch or even the Broom Race League, but she wanted a broom. This one was simply aesthetically pleasing to her eyes, so she decided to purchase it.
Inspired by her, even Susan bought one for herself, the last in their stock.
They had ended up purchasing all of the Nimbus 2001s that were currently available in Diagon Alley, and it took a while to get the customisations right.
Their house-elves transferred everything to their home, and in the afternoon, after making a purchase that had the entire Alley talking, they walked into Thorne & Feather.
Surprisingly, Susan did not even look around much. She fell absolutely in love with a triple-coat, doll-faced, shaded-silver Persian cat, which had a trace of Kneazle blood.
Funnily enough, Luna fell in love with its sibling, and the girls were more than happy that their cats came in a pair.
"Now an owl for letters." Susan was excited again, and Altair laughed.
"You can use any of Hogwarts' owls for letters, Susan. And I am sure there are a lot of owls at the Bones Keep."
"You are right..." she nodded her head and then nuzzled her face in her cat's soft fur. "Daph, what did you get as a familiar?"
"A Siberian Flying Squirrel, but it's a new magical breed by Magister Scamander. He calls them Snowy Gliders."
"They are beautiful," Luna smiled, and Susan was sold.
"Where is it?" she excitedly asked, and the Greengrass sighed.
"Astoria stole it and took it with her to Spain. She said she wanted to show the world to it."
"That's kind of her." Bones nodded her head, and Altair had to suppress his chuckle.
When they left the shop, they headed straight to Ollivanders, and he gently squeezed Susan's hand.
He knew that she was deliberately avoiding getting her wand. He did not know why, but she was extremely nervous, and he was kind enough not to ask her about it either.
"Ah, Miss Bones. I wondered when you would visit me. It only feels like yesterday when your parents were here for their first wand..." Lord Ollivander smiled at her and then greeted the rest with a bow.
He noticed Luna's eyes staring somewhere far into the back of the shop, and a smile tugged at his lips as he exchanged a meaningful glance with Altair.
"I suppose you would not mind something non-standard?"
"No," Altair answered on Susan's behalf, and Lord Ollivander went to a side shelf to pick up a case.
He opened the box, and the young Bones just stared at the beautiful piece of art.
Instantly, all her nervousness fled away, and she instinctively reached for the wand, which had a vine and a flower on the handle on two sides, and a guard that resembled two leaves. It almost looked like a sword... perhaps a throwing knife...
"Ash, 11¾ inches. The core is kind, gentle, but versatile. Unicorn tail hair, silver, and a wand that is reasonably supple..."
As soon as Susan picked it up, her hair ruffled, a hum sounded out, and she felt a wave of freshness wash over her.
She felt like a piece of her that was always missing had now finally returned. She felt whole. She felt happy, and it reflected on her face in the form of an affectionate smile.
"May I take this one?" she hopefully looked at Lord Ollivander, who smiled.
"It's yours, Miss Bones. I cannot stop you from taking it when the wand itself has made its choice."
"Thank you!" she brightly said and then happily hugged Altair, Daphne, and Luna.
"Hey, hey... no careless waving." The young Black warned her, and she apologetically looked at him and then took a deep breath.
"Lumos." She cast the first spell, and her smile brightened to match the glow at the tip of her wand. "Nox."
"Wonderful." Lord Ollivander clapped his hands in encouragement, and she curtsied to him, accepting the compliment with grace, clearly delighted by it.
The old man then gave her a very pretty holster and, to her surprise, only charged her 99 Galleons.
He did not charge for the core as it was provided by Altair, and it surprised them all.
"Now we have everything." Susan went through the list again and nodded to herself. "I was so worried that I would not get a pretty wand." She sighed in relief, and Altair and Daphne's lips twitched at her words.
"So, we have bought everything we needed?" the Greengrass asked just to be sure.
"Yes."
"Really? I thought we were going to get some hats."
"Oh, yes!" At the reminder, Susan grabbed Altair's hand and almost dragged him to the shop with the finest hats and caps on the street.
Daphne and Luna were very interested as well, and he helped them pick a few, also picking some for Aurelia, Cho, and a dark one which he felt suited Laetitia a lot.
In return, the girls picked a hat for him, and even though he did not want it, he still bought it to keep Luna's heart.
With everything set, they could not wait to get back home, and Hippy teleported them straight to Susan's room in the Bones Keep.
For a moment, they were all stunned at the sheer number of things that she had purchased, and even Susan gulped in fear, knowing well that her aunt was going to be upset with her for being so careless with her Galleons...
"Let's sort them out and set them inside your trunk," Altair calmly said, and Susan saw hope as she rushed out of the room and soon brought over a beautiful red trunk.
"This belonged to my mother," she informed them, and it turned out to be a walk-in trunk with a full dressing room.
Luna just sat and played with the two cats as Altair and Daphne helped Susan set everything in the closet. She was the youngest one, and by all means, she looked more like an eight-year-old than a ten-year-old. Except for height, she really looked quite... adorable. She looked almost like a doll, and no one could bring themselves to make her do any serious work.
It took the three of them nearly two hours to clean up her room, and the redhead simply sprawled on her bed in relief. They had gotten rid of the evidence of the crime, and her grin said it all.
Altair could not help but tickle the baby fat on her abdomen that formed a pouch, and soon her laughter resounded in the room.
"Don't be mean!" she shouted at one point, and the young Black laughed.
"I am not being mean."
"You are. You called me fat!"
"What? I was just saying that your belly is soft..."
"That's unacceptable!" she said severely, her fair face now red, and then she pouted as she glanced at Daphne and Luna, not finding any belly pouch on them. "Not fair."
"Some girls have it, Susan. It's normal."
The redhead did not answer and just pouted some more. Those words really did not ease her heart at all.
To console her ailing heart, she pretended to sob and sniffle, picked up her cat and buried her face in its soft fur.
"Misty... why is the world so mean?"
"Misty?" Luna curiously looked at the cat in Susan's arms and the one she was playing with.
They all laughed out loud when she turned her cat over, opened its legs, and inspected it.
"This one's a boy. I will call him Foggy."
"That's brilliant, Luna. Misty and Foggy sound very nice," Susan wholeheartedly agreed with her, and ignoring Altair and Daphne, as she was upset with them about the belly fat joke, she started playing around with the two cats.
"Come over to Castle Nocturnum if you ever feel bored, Susan." Altair had things to attend to, so he lightly spoke to her.
She wanted him to stay, but did not voice it, and she did not refuse the hug either.
Afterwards, he simply requested Hippy to drop him off at his home.
Luna and Daphne stayed behind, and Altair had to write letters to the Slytherins whom he had bought the Nimbus 2001s for.
It took him a while to write them all by hand. He could have done it with magic, but he felt that it would be a little insincere. Altair did not want to feel like the promises he was making to people were burdens to him.
Fruska, as always, was very diligent. She dropped off the brooms and letters at their designated houses or entrusted them to the care of the house-elves that served those families.
Once she returned, she happily cooked a meal for him and even went over to ask Daphne and Luna if they would like to join.
The girls had decided to have dinner with the Bones, and so it was Altair all alone in the massive dining hall, eating his meal in absolute peace and quiet.
Upon his return to his room, he took Iblis with him and entered his trunk, sitting down to continue his studies and Magical Research.