He knew for a fact Ron had told his Mum he was keeping his scores low for Harry's sake. Because Harry didn't study any more than he did. That he hated it so Ron couldn't study all that much either. But the truth was they paid as little attention to their studies as they could get away with and it showed in the marks they received. Ron's highest performing class was Divination and that was only because all he had to do to pass it was make up a story of how Harry would die gruesomely any day now. But then neither Ron nor Ginerva thought they'd actually have to work to afford their tea and crumpets. Both thought they'd live their lives off the largess of the Potter accounts and have nice safe cushy lives with lots of parties to attend and rubbing elbows with the rich and the famous. Neither one actually thought they'd have to get a real job when they finished their schooling.
After his rounds of the booksellers, he went to the parchment supplies store and the Apothecary as well. He bought twice as much of those supplies as the class lists called for since he wanted to make sure he had an adequate supply of stores. This was because if he was back in the dorm this year, what he had for his needs, would be considered free for the taking to the general masses. And his dorm mates would think nothing of using his supplies before they'd even consider using their own. It was also unlikely he'd be given Hogsmeade privileges to replace what his so-called mates helped themselves to. After all, his kin still hadn't signed his permission slip to go there. Merlin knew not one of them would ever think to replace what they took either.
He replaced his old pewter cauldron and purchased a few others made from different materials and a new tool kit. The tool kit included stirring rods, a sharp silver bladed knife several different sizes of flat sided spoons, a dipper and a funnel. He picked out a new sharpening stone and a small bottle of oil to keep his knife sharp knowing he needed them. last but certainly not least he got a new set of crystal vials and jars of varying sizes. This way with all this equipment, he could easily experiment in his spare time. Even if he was back in the dorms, he knew there were plenty of unused rooms in the Castle he could set up as a personal lab for himself. And his potions needed replacing. What potions he had left were nearing their shelf-life date where they'd be unsafe to ingest or use.
He had already replaced his old one compartment trunk for a more elaborate five compartment model. Granted, one of those compartments was only a well disguised drawer for important papers and fine jewelry he didn't want anyone to know he had. Like his Mother's wedding set, which the goblins claimed both Dumbledore and the Weasely clan were trying to get, and his Father's pocket watch as well as Sirius' old one. Both watches were inscribed with their names and the dates they'd received them and a picture of the Marauders the watch didn't belong to. James' had a picture of a wolf, a grim and a rat lounging around a lily. Sirius' had a stag sniffing the lily while the rat and the wolf looked on. Both watches had been given to the men when they turned seventeen and came of age. They had the pictures engraved on the watches themselves, according to his father's journal. He also had their auror pins and badges as well as Lily's Unspeakable badge and certificate of Charms Mastery in the drawer which he had placed a high security locking charm on. The charm was keyed to him and only him in such a way he had to be fully conscious and aware for it to open. That way if anyone did figure out how to get into his trunk they'd never get into the drawer. Because Harry didn't want anyone getting anything in that drawer and he'd never let anyone in of his own free will.
But the other four were standard compartments. He now had a potions compartment complete with racks, cabinets and shelves for storing everything he needed for his potions class plus his own private brewing and experiments. Another was a decent sized library with an index book and an automatic sorting spell that would place any book he put in there on the shelves in the correct place as well as bring forward any particular book he wished to read or had a need of. Even if the book was a muggle book, the catalogue would sort it onto a shelf for him. The third compartment was a wardrobe compartment. Even though he could really only wear his uniform at Hogwarts, Harry had finally taken care of getting himself some decent clothing and replaced almost all of Dudley's hand-me-downs except for the outfit he'd wear to board the train. The last compartment was a catch-all compartment. It was designed to be similar to a gathering room with shelves and tables and even brackets on the wall to hold his cherished broom. All in all it was a nice trunk befitting his position in this society and was one that would last him several years before it needed replacing.
He thought about visiting a clothier to replace his school robes and uniform but decided not to. He thought his current things would easily make it through this year as he really didn't see himself hitting the growth spurt so many of his peers were experiencing. He could but it was unlikely he'd grow enough to where a simple spell couldn't add an inch or two to his current wardrobe to solve the problem. And he knew beyond any doubt this would be his last year at that death trap masquerading as a school. So he wouldn't need the clothes when this year finished.
One of the things Harry had decided over the last year or so was that he needed to take charge of his own education. It didn't matter that his teachers didn't want to teach him or that Dumbledore wanted to limit his exposure to all things magical. What mattered was whether or not Harry would let them keep him dumb and ignorant. It was time to finally begin improving his understanding of things. In a way, he'd been doing that all along since each summer had seen him making unscheduled trips to the Alley to purchase more books. But now he wouldn't be holding back in the classroom either. He would do his best in his classes whether the teachers would give him his fair grades or not. After all, grades only told others how bright or compliant you were. Usually complaint since to get high grades you had to listen to the teachers and do as they told you to when they told you to. Which was why Granger got such high scores. She always listened to the teachers and was eager beaver to show them she'd done what they asked of her. But grades didn't really say how much a person actually knew or could do with what they knew.
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