She raised an eyebrow at him at that. So he took out his trunk from his pocket and nonchalantly removed the shrinking charm. It expanded to its full size in front of them. "I've got plenty of room in here, and it'll never get too heavy."
"That's an impressive piece of wood," she said suggestively, winking at Harry.
Harry turned a beet red, not missing the not so hidden meaning. "Madame Rosmerta. If I didn't know better," he commented in as normal a voice as he could manage, "I'd swear you were flirting with me."
She chuckled appreciatively, her laughter taking on an almost musical quality. "So how many kegs will it be then, Mr. Potter?"
"I don't know," he replied honestly. "How many do you think I'll need for all of Gryffindor Tower?"
She thought about it for half a minute. "You might be able to get by with two. But if you want to be safe, you should go with three. Even if you don't use it all, I doubt you'd complain at having extra butterbeer left over."
"Good point," Harry agreed. "Three it is, then."
She smiled at him and disappeared into a back room for a moment. A minute later, she walked back out with three kegs trailing behind her. "It's normally 20 galleons a keg, but you look so cute, I'll let you have them for 50 galleons."
"You'll find that flattery gets you everywhere," Harry replied flirtatiously, surprised at his own daring. He took out his money bag and spoke "Sixty galleons," then dumped the contents in front of her.
"I think I said 50, Harry," she scolded playfully.
"I know what you said," Harry said back mischievously. "But if you're going to drop the price ten galleons because I'm cute, it's only fair that I raise it at least as much to account for your beauty."
"You little charmer," she smirked at him. "What happened to the shy little boy that was coming in here just a couple years ago?"
"He grew up," Harry shrugged.
"So he has," she purred at him, giggling slightly.
Harry managed to control his blush relatively well. "You must drive all the boys crazy," he told her.
"Well, I try," she said with a wink.
Harry laughed outright. "I better take these kegs and get out before you corrupt me any more."
"Hey," she pouted, picking up her discarded rag and slapping him on the arm with it. "I am not corrupting you. I'm just teaching you to flirt properly."
"My mistake," Harry relented, still grinning widely. He loaded the three kegs into his trunk before turning back to the matron. "It was a pleasure doing business with you," Harry told her, mimicking the line he had heard not a half an hour earlier.
"The pleasure was all mine, Harry," she returned.
"I'm sure I'll see you later today," Harry told her, as he shrunk his trunk and returned it to his pocket while walking toward the door.
"I'll look forward to it," he heard as he left the tavern.
Shaking his head and with a smile on his face, Harry headed back in the general direction of Hogwarts hoping to meet up with his friends. He caught up with Hermione, Ron, and Neville as they were walking into the town. They told him that Ginny was off with some of her friends from her year shopping for dress robes. Harry smirked but didn't comment.
"Where's Luna?" he then asked, noticing that she too was absent from the group. The three friends all looked at each other for a moment, then looked back at Harry sheepishly. Apparently none of them had thought to ask the sole Ravenclaw of their group what she was doing during the visit. Harry hoped that perhaps Ginny had thought to ask the blonde Ravenclaw what her plans were. "We'll just have to keep an eye out for her," Harry commented.
The four of them set off to enjoy their day away from the castle. Harry received several questions about his odd behavior and why he had wanted to get into town so early, but he dodged all the questions. They would find out about his dealings at the Three Broomsticks in due time, and he hoped that no one ever found out about the deal he struck with the Gladrags owner.
Hermione insisted on visiting Scrivenshaft's to replenish her supply of quills and parchment. Harry also purchased some extra equipment, figuring it didn't hurt to have spare supplies. Ron overruled Hermione's next choice of stops, the bookstore, claiming that since Hermione chose their last stop, it was only fair that someone else choose the next one. So the quartet headed into Honeydukes to stock up on sweets. Harry didn't buy much candy. He never acquired much of a sweet tooth, never having been exposed to candy until he entered the Wizarding World.
He bought a package of chocolate frogs, but that was all. He didn't get the appeal of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. More than half of the beans turned out to be something Harry would never willingly eat. Sugar quills weren't bad. They were pure, flavored sugar, but Harry wasn't accustomed to such a high amount of sugar intake. It was too rich for him. He preferred to just have a little bit of chocolate around in case he had a taste for some.
Hermione was more or less in the same boat as Harry. Her parents were dentists, so it made sense that she would also avoid sugary treats. Neville picked out a couple different treats, but he didn't overdo it. Ron, on the other hand, seemed determined to walk out of the store with as much candy as he could afford, while still saving a little bit for some dung bombs from Zonko's. He had chocolate frogs, every flavor beans, ice mice, sugar quills, licorice wands, chocoballs, and pepper imps. That's only taking into account what Harry noticed of Ron's purchases. Harry was actually mildly surprised that Ron had enough money for all of it.
....
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