"This store, it's a little expensive..." Tom squeezed out that sentence between his teeth.
Sure, it's expensive, almost as much as the winner of the Triwizard Tournament, but considering its function in the desert, it's a reasonable price.
The shopkeeper noticed Tom's hesitation and suggested some cheaper stores, especially in terms of interior decor and size.
Tom tried to haggle over the price, but the shopkeeper was so determined that he wouldn't let him get away with it, so he might have to give him something.
Tom came up with a bold idea: he could put the box with the undetectable extension spell in the tent, then fold the tent and carry it on his back to make nested dolls.
But there was a catch: it cost money. Items with the Undetectable Extension spell were expensive, both because the spell was difficult to cast and because every item with the spell had to be reported to the Ministry of Magic.
The clerk saw what Tom was thinking and, out of professional ethics, coughed, "Each item with the Undetectable Expansion spell has a limited volume and weight that can be carried inside, so if the weight is exceeded, it can cause damage to the store..."
Tom: "..."
There is no way to nest.
The Undetectable Expansion spell is an advanced spell that increases the internal space of a container, allowing "a hundred mages to fit in a toilet cubicle", and even better, the weight of the container itself does not change drastically with this spell. A small bag under the undetectable expansion spell, even if crammed with books and clothes, does not weigh as much as a student's backpack when leaving home for school.
But this spell has a limit. There are two kinds of limits: volume and weight. Volume is easy to understand, if you expand the interior to five cubic meters, six cubic meters will not fit, and weight is understood as load. If Tom wants to buy a tent that holds a thousand kilos of stuff and he stuffs a magic suitcase with 500 kilos of stuff inside, the tent will only have a remaining load of 500 kilos, because it is still essentially a suitcase with 500 kilos of stuff inside.
After some haggling, Tom ended up buying the tent for the original price, but got the shopkeeper to give him two cloth bags with an undetectable expansion spell: they wouldn't fit more than a few pounds. Good thing he had the salary and money from Lockhart's time, otherwise Tom would have had to pay a lot of money for the camping tent.
After paying for the camping tent, Tom threw it on his back: it was light, like carrying a quilt. Because the tent package was so complete, Tom felt he had bought everything he needed, and as he was about to leave the magic tent, his eyes caught a glimpse of something: a crystal ball with a cloud of smoke inside.
"How much is this?" he asked pointing to the crystal ball.
"It's not worth much, you can keep it." The clerk who had just completed a large order waved his hand and handed the crystal ball to Tom, and also stuffed it with an old book, "Dispelling the Mists of the Future."
"This book is a useful guide to palm reading, crystal ball gazing and other methods of divination." The clerk blinked, obviously skeptical about this.
After completing his purchase, Tom returned to the Granger home, where Hermione was still in the sea of knowledge, but looking terrible: her face was pale and bloodless, and her forehead covered in beads of sweat, but Hermione was oblivious and smiling. She was ready to drown in the sea of knowledge, even at this moment.
Tom grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her vigorously, as he removed the tiara from her head, and Hermione came to her senses.
"Tom... I just learned so much..." Hermione flashed a weak smile and then leaned weakly on Tom's shoulder.
"Rest first!" In this situation, Tom dared no further action, he took the safest strategy: he laid Hermione down on his bed and let her sleep for a while.
Hermione fell fast asleep almost as soon as her head touched the pillow. Tom watched Hermione, saw that her breathing was even and prolonged, and was relieved to see that the Ravenclaw reputation was still intact; if she had been a Slytherin relic, Tom would have gone to Dumbledore.
Hermione didn't wake up until late afternoon. She thought about the day's events and felt a twinge of danger.
"Next time you wear the tiara, be sure to tell me, you can't wear it without my supervision." Tom made a very serious pact with Hermione.
"Okay, pinky promise!" Hermione held up her pinky finger.
...
London's Heathrow Airport was crowded.
Three days had passed quickly, and it was time for the promised departure.
Hermione and Tom had arrived a little earlier than the others, they had arranged to meet at eleven and Tom had arrived a good half hour early. Hermione was wearing a white short sleeved shirt and blue denim shorts with a leopard belt around the waist. She was carrying very little, just a small leather handbag.
Tom, next to him, was dressed similarly, except that he wore a straw hat and camouflage vest instead of a shirt, and carried an extra duffel bag with a rolled-up tent tied to it.
"You're early!" Out came Hal Hunter, dressed the same way as his students: a sturdy, durable tracksuit, a jacket and hat for sun protection, with sunglasses on his chest and bandanas wrapped around his neck. They look like four adventurers.
Despite the heat in Egypt, this outfit is great protection against sunburn, but of course, it's hot ...
Seeing Tom and Hermione dressed up, Will frowned, seemingly disgusted by their unprofessional attire, but Hal spoke before him.
"Little Granger, you look very smart today, but you can't go out into the desert in those clothes, the sun will burn your skin there."
"Uncle, it's okay, we have local burkas, they're perfect for the area," Hermione replied with a smile, "But what flight are we taking?".
Hermione had just looked, there were no flights at the airport at the appointed time.
"We'll charter a flight, Mr. Yuri has arranged it for us," snapped Hal fingers, he lowered his voice slightly, "After all, we're going to be taking a lot of ammunition with us!".
Tom also had his revolver with him, but he wasn't worried about safety at all, hidden in his magical suitcase, it wouldn't be detected by Muggles.
As soon as Alyosha's men arrived, the group set off for Egypt. The plan was to take a chartered plane to Cairo, spend two days in the capital to get used to the climate, find a suitable guide and then head into the desert.