Harry insists on going to the Moke Shop first, to get his Bag of Holding. He asks to test out one of the pouches before buying; when the test run starts to draw on too long, McGonagall decides to browse the shop's wares until he finishes. With her attention directed elsewhere, Harry takes the extra 30 Galleons that he pocketed just before leaving the Gringotts vault, and hides them in the pouch, where they'll be silenced.
As they leave the shop, an old man wanting to meet the famous Harry Potter confronts them. Fortunately, McGonagall is able to avert a repeat of the incident in the Leaky Cauldron. When the man asks if he is really Harry Potter, Harry considers aloud the possibility that there might be a conspiracy to make a perfectly ordinary boy believe he is Harry Potter.
After the old man leaves, McGonagall chides Harry for saying such things, since the people do care about him. Harry doesn't think there's any reason they should care; just because he survived an encounter with the Dark Lord, it doesn't make him The Chosen One. He was just fifteen months old at the time; he wasn't a brave hero, he was just lucky. They care about the legend, not the boy.
McGonagall theorizes that Harry survived by being more awful than Voldemort.
At Madam Malkin's Robes, Harry gets fitted for his robes while McGonagall goes to get a much-needed drink. While there, another boy, who turns out to be Draco Malfoy, walks up to him. Anticipating yet another Potter fanboy, Harry decides to have some fun and turn the tables, gushing over Draco instead. This backfires, as it turns out Draco is quite famous himself, and he takes Harry's feigned gushing and ass-kissing at face value.
Harry eventually drops the schtick and admits he actually has no idea who he is, to Draco's great disappointment. And then Harry lets slip just enough for Draco to puzzle out that he's really Harry Potter. This leads to Draco taking a turn at playing the gushing fanboy....
It is then that Lucius Malfoy walks through the door, and he is not at all pleased that Draco is showing so much admiration for Harry Potter. Thinking quickly, Harry turns around and pretends to be a fan of Lucius, sparing Draco from his father's wrath.
And then McGonagall walks in, utterly horrified to find Harry kissing up to Lucius Malfoy. And then Draco starts gushing over McGonagall to help Harry. And then Lucius and McGonagall realize that they've been standing next to each other for fifteen whole seconds, much to both their horror. Lucius ends the encounter by dragging Draco out of the shop.
McGonagall, utterly convinced that the world has gone mad, is afraid to even ask what just happened. Harry suggests that she go get another drink.
Tropes present in this chapter:
