Amethyst Rosewood and The Joys of Independence, Melissa Nichols [top 100 books of all time checklist .TXT] 📗

"I see." Hildy chuckled as she collected the nametag and quickly dipped the whole heart into a clear liquid. "This will keep the tag from becoming damaged." She explained as she attached the tag to its place on Arcane's collar, and then fitted the collar onto the kitten who allowed this to happen. "There we go, now. What a beautiful combination, Arcane." Hildy cooed, scratching Arcane under her chin. "A beautiful outfit for a beautiful girl." Arcane purred loudly, then pulled away and nestled herself into her travel carrier which - Amy noticed - had a pillow.

"Now, something you need to know, dear." Hildy regained Amy's attention easily. "You should keep two bowls, one for water and one for food, and her litterbox in a private place for her - I suggest under your bed because it's close to you when you're in the dormitory. You don't have to worry about changing the litter, or the food and water once you're at Hogwarts; the house-elves do all of that while you're in class. There's also a tower at Hogwarts with more food and treats than they can eat, so she'll be well taken care of if she's not around you. And she can bathe herself and monitor her own weight, so you don't have to worry about grooming her or worry about how much food she's eating. Cats are good at taking care of themselves."

"I see. That's good to know, thank you. Percy said that I'll be sorted into a House where I'll sleep with my other Housemates. Is that area separated from the rest of the school?"

"Yes." Percy chimed in. "It's called a common room, and each House has their own entrance location and ritual."

"Can Arcane get into the common room and my dormitory if I'm not there?"

"Yes." Hildy answered, drawing Amy's attention. "There are secret ways for pets to get where they want to go. Leave it to Arcane, she'll figure it out from watching the other cats."

"Okay. How likely are cats to use a bed? Not just share my bed, but a cat bed?"

"That depends on the cat. If you're there, most likely she'll cuddle with you. If you're not there, then she'll find somewhere to sleep. I think she'd enjoy having that carrier available to her, though. It's a safe place that has her scent already. That pillow should do the trick."

"Thank you. Do you have any books on cats? Not just things that I already know, but things specific to wizarding cats?"

"We do actually. The care package includes our more informative and diverse books."

"Oh, lovely." Amy chuckled. Duh, they're right there in the basket! "Oh! Can I buy some treats? So I can train her."

"There are already some in the package but you'll probably want more since you'll be training. Does brand or price matter more?"

"I just want the healthiest treats in the largest bag. Thanks. I think that's everything."

The witch disappeared into a back room for a few moments, and then came back with a surprisingly large bag.

"Is that everything, dearie? Your kitten, the care package, the collar and engraved tag, and the extra bag of treats total price comes out to four Galleons, eight Sickles and fifteen Knuts."

She gave five Galleons to Hildy and put the rest back in her coin purse.

"That's twelve Sickles and twenty-one Knuts in change." Hildy explained, showing Amy how she came to that conclusion by drawing away four Galleons, and replacing the last Galleon with a bunch of Sickles and Knuts, and then taking away the ones requested in the price and sliding them to Amy, who collected them.

"Thank you so much, Hildy!"

"It's my pleasure, Amy. Have a good year at Hogwarts."

"Thanks!" Percy collected the basket of Arcane's pet supplies, while Amy closed the door of the carrier and carried it out of the shop.

"Where do we go next, Percy?" She asked, visibly more excited.

"The closest shop now is Flourish and Blotts, right there across the street. That's where you can get your schoolbooks."

"Well, then we should go there." She said as she checked both ways - mostly out of habit - and made a beeline for the door, weaving easily between people who blocked her way. She was carrying Arcane in her dominant hand, so she used her hips to push open the door.

Inside, it was a simple - if overcrowded and disorganized - bookstore. Books everywhere, in every nook and cranny, piled on top of each other, bookshelves loaded past capacity and stacked far too tall. And for every bookstack, she was sure there was at least one person. It was a nightmare. How was she going to find what she needed? She used her left hand to dig out her letter and read over the titles again as Percy came up behind her.

"You don't need that. See that counter over there?" He nodded towards a line of workers at the far end of the shop, each smiling and handing off bunches of books and counting change. "They've got books organized for each year behind their counters. Tell them what year you are, and what condition you want your books to be in - new or used - they'll fetch the right bundle. Used books are still fit for daily use, and they're cheaper, but they may be slightly damaged or written in."

"Oh, great! Thanks, Percy. Would you mind waiting here with Arcane?"

"She'll be safe with me."

"Thank you!" She smiled and gently set Arcane's carrier down at his feet once he had moved to the side, away from the main door. With Arcane safe with her friend, Amy stepped into the single line, which branched at the head between the five cashiers.

It was about twenty minutes before Amy was called to a register, and Percy was right. All she had to do was say that she was a first year, and that she wanted her books to be used, and the employee - a gentleman by the name of Tosha - produced a bundle of books that exactly matched the titles on her letter. She quickly produced the Galleons necessary and watched as Tosha walked her through his math to find her change. Amy wasn't sure that she'd ever get the hang of using this strange currency system, but she was sure as heck going to try.

She thanked Tosha for his help, grabbed her books and headed back to Percy. Someone had given him a cart, and he had already placed Arcane's supplies on it. He took the books while Amy picked up Arcane's carrier. The kitten opened her eyes, smiled at Amy and then went right back to sleep.

"Will the other shops be this easy?" Amy asked as she followed him to the next shop farther down the street.

"Probably. The shopkeepers have had a lot of time to make processes more efficient so that the customers aren't waiting as long. "

"I see. Where are we going next?"

"To get your robes."

"But I haven't been Sorted yet. How can I get House-specific robes if I haven't been Sorted?"

"Not to worry. You'll be getting Madam Malkin's black robe to wear for the first night, then they'll sent back to Madam Malkin and she will send you your House-specific robes as soon as they're ready. But she does sell the rest of the uniform in the same gernal sizes that most clothing stores do, so we can pick up almost everything else right now. Except for your socks and tie which are House-specific and will come with your robe."

"Oh. That seems like a waste of money, though. Can I opt not to buy the top robe since I will wear it for only a few hours?"

"Hogwarts is very strict about the dress code. You have to wear it. But, thankfully, Madam Malkin doesn't charge much for the top robe, just normal wear and tear. It won't amount to much."

"Okay then." Amy sighed, now nervous.

Suddenly, a sign caught her attention. She read it and used her left hand to grab for Percy's sleeve. "Can we check this shop out first?"

"The stationary shop. Sure, we can." Percy adjusted the cart's path and Amy opened the door for him.

The inside of the shop reminded Amy of Flourish and Blotts. It was bigger than it seemed, organized, and there was a bustle of activity. Besides the customers flocking around, things were on the move from one side of the shop to another. Papers flew everywhere and sorted themselves where they belonged, books went from person to person. Amy caught sight of something fascinating and moved closer.

There was a pile of paper on each side of a long wooden desk, and another two piles in the center, and they were paired with equally-large stacks of loose-leaf hole-reinforcement stickers.

One paper at a time from each pile moved towards the center. As they did, reinforcements came together on each side of the holes, and then the page settled onto a stack perched on some clear plastic at the front of the desk, near Amy and the other onlookers. As Amy drew close, she read the tags that identified each product. The stack of paper closest to her was a stack of college ruled, lined paper. By looking around, she also found wide-ruled, graph and blank papers. As she watched, the paper floated onto the college-ruled stack and the whole leaf was enclosed by the plastic wrap neatly. As soon as it finished closing, the leaf levitated and moved upstairs - presumably to its place on a shelf.

"Okay, this is cool." Amy muttered as she looked around more, following each floating object about its course. She followed the college-ruled stack upstairs and plucked a few reams from the shelf, along with a ream of reinforced graph paper. Just as she thought about fetching a basket, one approached her and offered its space for her. She grabbed the basket and carefully placed the reams inside. She looked around a bit more, finding the upstairs was mostly dominated by the Muggle things she was used to - pencils, modern pens, fountain pens, various papers in lots of different styles, and nearly any notebook ever made. She moved closer to the notebooks, singled out her favorite style - spiral bound with a firm, solid colored cover - and carefully calculated which size was most cost-effective.

When she finally found the notebook she wanted, she grabbed one notebook in each color until she had eight spiral-bound notebooks; seven were college-ruled, and one held graph-paper. She also selected a few small notebooks that she always kept in her pocket - she had one more notebook packed away in her trunk and the one she had now was almost gone.

She moved one aisle over and found a multitude of agendas, which- she had just realized - she hadn't replaced yet. She looked at each option carefully, hoping to find one that was simple, ran from September to June, and had large daily areas so she could fit in a lot of information for each day. She found several year-specific agendas she liked but they were all quite expensive. So she continued exploring and found the planners on the opposite side of the aisle. These were unmarked except for the days of the week and were refillable and sturdy. She grabbed a purple leather planner and three packets of paper and placed them in the basket.

With her exploration of the familiar things complete, she ventured downstairs and into the wizarding section of the store. She started on the wall that was opposite from the door and made her way through the shelves, toward Percy. She found a lot of fascinating things, like quill sharpeners, and wax and ink of infinite colors. But with everything she had bought before today, and the general lack of use she'd get from a quill or wax stick, she decided to only get one purple wax stick for her letters.

She studied each item with fascination but passed by them, her needs for school supplies filled, but she