After a great breakfast, they both piled into a car Vernon had rented for the day. Petunia could drive of course, but had never had the time back in the dark times. Her grin was almost feral as they wove through traffic to the first shopping stop.
Harry firmly denied any gasping, squealing, or other unmanly noises that most certainly did not occur at all, stop laughing, shut up, whatever.
Soon both aunt and nephew were moving down the rows of used clothing, searching for the cheapest and (most of the time) ugliest clothing that was made from useful materials. Wool, cotton, even some polyester was easy to come by. Petunia even found some silk shirts that were horrendously died, a great deal even if orange should never be abused like that. After some quick recycling inside the car and a stop by a dumpster or two, they repeated this at a couple more stores.
They may have ended up spending a bit more than expected, but they had a lot of fun along the way, laughing at some of the horrifying color choices and cuts of clothing that had been donated (And now, being put to a better use than such terrifying body coverings). Petunia also managed to find someone who knew where a few furniture companies were, and they stopped by and recycled some couches and tables into lengths of pure wood that Harry lifted with his green ropes into the car.
He sighed. This would be easier if he could just make the car larger inside like his room and the pantry. Maybe that school Petunia was talking about could help with it. He had kept his eyes opened all day, but everyone they met was the same gray as Vernon and Dudley. Still, lots of raw materials.
Petunia had been surprised when Harry confirmed that all the books had been finished, and at his hesitant request had gladly stopped by a bookstore. He avoided anything school related, not wanting to be forced to go to class he had already surpassed, and focused on books about cooking, how to speak and write other languages, and most importantly to Harry, dictionaries. He grabbed one of each before realizing how expensive everything would be.
Sheepishly he put most of it back, keeping the huge cooking book, two language books (Welsh and Spanish), and three dictionaries (English, Spanish, and Welsh). He would have to come back or go to a library to learn more languages later. He had a strong feeling that communication would always be worth investing time in. He considered trying to find a book on law, but that seemed even more dry than what he had already chosen, so he decided to stick with this.
He also included a big book of animals, but that was totally for research, not fun.
Petunia wisely didn't argue the point, although she did smile a bit watching the tall 8 year old hugging the animal book as she paid for the purchases.
After they moved the last pile of stuff into the house, Petunia and Harry collapsed in the living room. They couldn't float stuff around in front of their house of course, so everything had to at LEAST enter the front door being held by people. Harry may have cheated a bit using some threads here and there, but even so the large AMOUNT of stuff had drained them both. Petunia didn't even flinch as two bottles of juice floated in from the kitchen. As they both tried to cool off from the work in the overly warm outdoors, she pressed the cool glass bottle against her forehead and relaxed into the cushions. Today had been an experience and a half. Fun, no doubt, but busy. Vernon had rented the extra car for the week so they could get stuff done, and the extra freedom really made her feel years younger.
Harry just watched the threads move piles of cloth, some metals, and wood into his room. He had lots of space in there now, and the raw materials were odd enough without having them sit outside or in the halls. He also felt safer having his new stuff in a place he controlled. Years of paranoia that probably wasn't needed right now. Still, shouldn't hurt anything to keep the stuff out of the way, right?
He absently began to drink some apple juice while Petunia continued to cool her face with hers. If he had better control he could risk trying to expand the refrigerator the same way he had the pantry... or blow it up. Honestly it could go either way with his threads sometimes.
He heard another car enter the driveway. Seeing Petunia's wide eyes, Harry quickly waved his hand again, causing over fifty thick ropes that now joined the existing ones in grabbing items and whisking them into his room. They moved so fast they could actually feel a breeze from it. As the last item entered his room and the door shut, they heard Vernon unlocking the door.
"Now Dudley, as I said before, you won't have to give up your room or anything. Harry is joining the family, all of us." He entered and saw them on the chairs, and stood tall. His body seemed more comfortable today, his skin clear and his eyes brighter. He moved more assuredly and didn't pause to recover as he used to. He grinned at Petunia, and swept her up into a big hug, reaching with his other hand after a moment to ruffle Harry's hair. "Didn't know you two would be back from your trip this soon. Harry, I have someone I would like you to meet."
Vernon reached slightly behind him and pushed the large boy forward. Dudley already seemed slightly taller, his muscles able to handle his large weight better, but he seemed overly shy to meet his cousin for the first time. Dad had said the monster under the stairs had died, so it was safe to have friends over again... but also that they could finally bring in Aunt Lily's boy. Dudley didn't really know how to handle all the changes, and he didn't want to get teased again by someone else his age. Everyone mocked his weight, and how hard school was for him... having someone like that at home was horrifying. Harry moved forward, looking down slightly at the other eight year old. Smiling, he reached out and shook his hand. "Hello D, my name is Harry, Harry Potter." Feeling the boys hesitance he hid his own uncertainty under some clouds in his mind and gave Dudley a half hug. "So, want to show your cuz around a bit? If you do, it would really help me out."
Dudley didn't really know how to handle this, so he just went with it for now. "Uh... yeah, um. This is the living room, we can't really play here cause mom is worried about making a mess. OH, I found some cool pirate treasure!"
Petunia watched the two run upstairs as her Dudley began talking about all the cool pirate things they could do. Vernon held his arm around her, feeling better today for some reason than he had ever before. It was like everything was easier, he could breath cleaner, his body moved smoother. He whispered into his darling's ear. "So how did today go? I think I got most of his paperwork going through, he should be able to transfer soon if needed."
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