Draco Alatus Part Two
Sidra made her way through the crowds to Flourish and Blott's, where she was planning to meet Draco. He wasn't there when she arrived, so she set down her bags and grabbed the nearest book, flipping through the pages.
Suddenly she stopped and looked at the cover. Advanced Spells for the Advanced Witch or Wizard. Sidra glanced back at the page again. The heading read, "Read the Stars Like a Centaur." She cautiously checked the leather-bound book's price tag.
Ten Galleons. Sidra fished a handful of gold out from one of her bags and walked up to the counter, book in hand.
The assistant who was working at the corner glanced quickly at the book title, then away again. He suddenly looked back again and chuckled, shoving the book away. "You won't be needing this for your first year, miss," he said with a grin.
Sidra was about to retort, but she did some quick thinking and shook her head, saying, "It's not for me, it's for my brother."
The assistant looked at her queerly before shaking his head and ringing the sale up. Sidra paid and quickly left the stoor, deciding to wait outside for Draco. He came a few minutes later, dragging a very large girl behind him.
Sidra stepped back as she came face to face with both of the them. Draco looked disgruntled as he said, "Sidra, this is Pansy. Pansy, this is my little sister Sidra."
Sidra nodded shortly to the large girl and folded her arms across her chest. Pansy glared at Sidra and jerked Draco away. Sidra rolled her eyes to herself and swept through the waves of people into the wand shop where she would finally get a wand of her own.
The owner of the shop was a pale eyed man by the name of Mr. Ollivander that made Sidra shiver. Nevertheless, she waited patiently as he brought boxes and boxes of wands out for her to try. With every wand, Sidra felt nothing like the cold feeling Draco had described.
"Here, try this one. Oak, eleven inches, springy, with a dragon heartstring." Sidra had a feeling that this wand wasn't going to work either, perhaps because Draco had dragon heartstring as the core of his wand, and she just wasn't like him enough to have the same core.
Mr. Ollivander shook his head and handed her another one, somewhat doubtfully. This one she tried too, but nothing happened. She sighed. This could take forever.
"Let me go into the back and get some more," said Mr. Ollivander.
"But we haven't tried all of these," murmured Sidra, frowning in confusion. She glanced at the many unopened boxes on the floor.
Mr. Ollivander shook his head and said quietly, "I don't think those would work well with you."
"Why not?" protested Sidra.
"Well" began Mr. Ollivander after a pause, clearly not wanting to tell her.
"Well?" she prompted.
"No one of Malfoy blood has ever worked well with any of those wands," he muttered, turning to the back again. Sidra's jaw dropped in shock. He was taking her blood as a way to determine which wand should be hers.
While he was gone, she wandered among the remaining boxes, lifting the lids and looking inside. Apparently Mr. Ollivander had been right. None of the wands here seemed to want to be hers.
Just as she heard the footsteps of Mr. Ollivander, she opened the last box and picked up the wand for a moment.
A feeling of warmth spread through her, down to her toes and the wand swished in the air as she moved it. It fit perfectly into her hand, like it was made to be.
Mr. Ollivander stopped dead in his tracks and the enormous pile of boxes clattered to the floor. Sidra turned, the realization of what she had been doing suddenly dawning on her. She wanted to put the wand back, but her muscles didn't want to move.
"I'm sorry," she murmured, moving to put the wand back.
"No, it's quite all right," he said softly. "You've found your wand."
Sidra stopped. If he was right, that meant that she had denied her blood and found a wand that no other Malfoy had had the likes of in the entire line of her family.
"Really?" she whispered. He nodded and pulled his own wand out of his pocket. The boxes jumped into place and suddenly Sidra was left with only her wand and its box.
"Holly, ten and a quarter inches, unicorn tail hair," murmured Mr. Ollivander. Sidra was amazed that he could remember all of the wands he'd ever had. "That'll be seven Galleons."
Sidra paid quickly and hurried out of the shop, glancing quickly at her watch. She had only five minutes to meet her father at the Leaky Cauldron. Breaking into a run, hampered by her bags, she spotted Draco disappearing into the entrance of the Leaky Cauldron.
"Draco!" shouted Sidra, and several people's heads turned. She didn't care as she dashed after him. He turned and waited in a bored manner for her to catch up.
"Come on," he said impatiently, pulling her inside. They both spotted him at the same time, over at the bar.
Lucius was talking in a very low voice to someone Sidra didn't know. Her father motioned Draco and her to a nearby table without looking at her and dropped his voice lower as he continued talking.
Sidra leaned forward, trying to listen, but Lucius shot an angry glare at her and she shrank back with a sigh. She pulled out her book and made sure Draco wasn't watching as she cracked it open.
"What's that?" Draco asked after a moment.
"Course book," she muttered, looking up briefly. Draco frowned.
"No, it's not. Unless the course books have changed, they don't teach advanced magic to first years." He was reading the title. Sidra pulled it down beneath the tabletop.
"So? I wanted this to read for a bit of light reading." Draco glowered at her.
"You're starting to sound like Granger," he murmured
"Who?" asked Sidra, her eyes traveling across the pages at lightning speed.
"Hermione Granger, Potter's friend," muttered Draco with a sigh.
"Oh, that's right," said Sidra softly. "I met Harry Potter."
Draco moved so quickly that Lucius turned his head to shoot an angry glance in his direction, as well as a few others. He blushed a little and leaned over the table to talk to Sidra.
"You what?" he whispered.
"I met Harry Potter," she repeated, exasperated.
"Well?"
"He's not all that bad, I guess. You seem to exagerate a little," murmured Sidra, trying very hard to hide her grin.
"He's not all that bad? Sidra, you don't know Potter. He hangs around with riffraff and he's just Dumbledore's spoiled pet, all right?" hissed Draco, looking very angry indeed.
Sidra smiled. "Oh, I'm not saying I don't believe you. I just couldn't miss that look of utter horror on your face," she said, grinning even more broadly.
A look of immense relief flashed across Draco's face. "Okay," he said.
"Come on, Harry. It's almost time to go," called Hermione from the Hogwarts Express. Harry grinned up at her and dragged his trunk up. Ron followed him, waving back at Mrs, Weasley. Ginny came out behind Hermione and darted back inside.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron settled themselves in a compartment and began to talk quietly as the train began to move.
Hermione had pinned her prefect badge to her robes, which she had already changed into. Ron glowered at it, and Harry had the impression that it reminded him somewhat of Percy.
"You've got to be really careful this year, Harry," said Hermione, a touch of concern in her voice. "What with You-Know-Who getting his body back."
Ron, who normally rolled his eyes at Hermione's worries, nodded slowly. "Dad told me that the Ministry's already in disorder and Cedric's the only onewell, you know."
Harry winced at the name and looked out of the window. The memory was too painful, and there were sure to be more deaths to come.
"Yeah," muttered Harry thickly. Hermione seemed not to notice as she continued.
"And try not to tangle with Malfoy that much this year. You know that his father's right in You-Know-Who's inner circle, and he's probably taught Draco some of the Dark Arts already."
"Right," agreed Harry, only listening with half an ear.
"And his sister," added Ron. Harry nodded again. He hadn't seen Sidra on the train yet, but she was sure to be sitting with Malfoy and his gang.
"When do you think we'll see Sirius again?" asked Harry, changing the subject. Hermione and Ron exchanged quick glances.
"I don't know," said Hermione. "We might see Professor Lupin with him, though." Ron nodded eagerly. Professor Lupin had been their favorite Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher they'd had.
"What d'you reckon Snape's up to?" asked Ron later. Harry pursed his lips, thinking hard. There were a lot of mysteries to be solved about what was going to be happening that year.
"I'll bet he's a spy for Voldemort," mused Harry. Ron and Hermione tried hard not to grimace when Harry said the Dark Lord's name, but they knew it pretty well by now because Harry refused to call him You-Know-Who.
"Yeah, but that would be really dangerous, wouldn't it?" said Hermione. As much as she disliked the Potions professor, she insisted on being concerned for him.
"Yes," said Harry suddenly. "When Voldemort called all the Death Eaters to him, there was a six person gap. He said three were dead in his service, and then he said that one was his most faithful servant - that was Moody - and one had fled - that was Karkaroff - and one who he believed had left him forever. That must've been Snape, because he didn't Apparate there."
Hermione nodded slowly. She was good with logic. "What else did he say?" she asked, prodding gently at the wound.
"He said that he would be killed," Harry murmured quietly. "You see, it'll be hard to convince Voldemort that he's really back in his service."
"Look, we're hear," said Ron uncomfortably, standing up and lugging his trunk out to the horseless carriages.
"Firs' years, over here!" called the familiar voice of Hagrid over the crowd. He waved jovially at Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who waved back.
The trio boarded a carriage, not envying the first years as a bolt of lightning pierced the sky. The carriages reached Hogwarts in next to no time, and they all poured out.
"Over here!" shouted Ron over the deafening din, pulling Hermione and Harry past Professor McGonagall into the Great Hall.
All three of them collapsed into seats at the Gryffindor table, their eyes searching the staff table for more than one person. They were accustomed to looking for the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, as they'd never had one stay longer than a year, but they hadn't ever been looking for Snape.
He was there, though, looking slightly paler and thinner than normal. His glittering black eyes swept over the Great Hall and he caught Harry's eye.
A look of loathing passed over his face before he looked away. Harry felt a sharp pain on his forehead and he blinked to clear his vision.
"You all right, Harry?" asked Ron. Harry nodded.
"He's been to see Voldemort," he said quietly. Hermione and Ron both gasped softly and their eyes widened.
Before they could discuss it any further, a great silence descended like a blanket over the hall as Hagrid entered with the first years.
"There," murmured Harry. Both Ron and Hermione followed Harry's gaze to the girl he was looking at. Sidra Malfoy.
"She's going to be sorted, I guess," said Hermione meekly. Harry didn't reply.
"Macey, William!" called Professor McGonagall, her finger moving down the list of names on the parchment roll.
"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat shouted.
"She's next," whispered Ron.
"Malfoy, Sidra!" Harry's eyes turned from her to the Great Table for a second, because Snape had made a sudden movement. Looking somewhat embarrassed, he nodded curtly to Professor McGonagall.
Sidra hurried forward and pulled the hat over her ears. She listened as the hat spoke quietly in her ear.
"From a pureblood family of all Slytherins? But you've got a good mind, as well as bravery. Tough one, eh?"
Sidra waited, but the hat kept musing in her ear for a very long time. She could almost feel everyone waiting for the hat to say something.
"SLYTHERIN!" the hat finally shouted. Sidra jumped up and removed the hat, walking to the Slytherin table very slowly. She didn't look entirely happy with the hat's decision, but she joined Malfoy who was banging his goblet on the table.
Harry turned away from the sight, sickened. He wasn't sure why, but he'd gotten the feeling that Sidra wasn't a Slytherin.
A/N: Part Three might take a little longer to get up, but I'm not sure yet. Thanks for the reviews!! :)
Disclaimer: Everybody but Sidra belongs to the great J.K. Rowling.