Potion ingredients and the theft thereof

[Eric Oppen]

No: HPFGUIDX 28842

It occurs to me to wonder whether the Trio had no other option but to steal
potion supplies for their illicit brews, or Gillyweed for Harry.  I'd bet
the Sorting Hat that there are wizard businesses that advertise a complete
range of potion supplies, and that they advertise in the wizard press.  In
_The Daily Prophet,_ I wouldn't be surprised to see ads from "Pilfrey's
Potion Emporium---Supplies for the Discriminating Potion-Maker" and other
fine, old firms.  As far as we know, stuff like boomslang skin is perfectly
legal to own, so perhaps the Trio could have gotten out a recent issue of
_Witch Weekly_ and _The Daily Prophet,_ figured out which firm offered the
best deal, and sent a message off by owl post, along with (very likely)
another message to Gringott's to authorize a withdrawal from Harry's bulging
Gringott's vault for the stuff.

This would have the advantage of being (again, as far as I know) perfectly
within the rules of Hogwarts and the laws of the wizarding world, and not
tipping Snapey off to people getting into his stores.  If the Snapester is
anything like the chemistry teachers I've had, just noticing what was
missing would give him a real good idea of what was going down, and he'd
probably know what was in his potions stores the same way that he knows
what's in his pockets.  ("What does it have in its pocketses, my preciouss?"
"A wand!  Petrificus Totalus!"  "Ach, sss, it wins, nassty Snapess!")

As for Dumbledore and his socks for Christmas---if I had been in Harry's
boots, I'd have made sure that he got a dozen nice thick fluffy pairs (I
LIKE Dumbledore!) and a couple of used fiddles for making chamber music.
After all, that's what _I_ would want for Christmas---socks and violins!
*runs away FAST to escape a hurricane of curses thrown by the rest of the
list*

You know---we really DON'T see much if anything to do with music at
Hogwarts, now do we?  Of course, as a devout "large Hogwarts" type, I do
admit that there's all sorts of stuff that could be going on that we just
don't see.