Enjoy!

Ch. 2 At Flourish and Blotts

POV CLAIRE GIBBS:

The next morning we got our Hogwarts letters with the required books for this year. I noticed a lot of them were written by Gilderoy Lockhart. Must be a witch, that new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Bella had invited us to her house, and her parents and my mother would take us to Diagon Alley, by Disapparating.

My father was sipping on a bottle of Firewhiskey. "Easy on the alcohol, Dad," I warned him.

"Strange folks, those wizards, but they do make good drinks," he said more to himself than to me.

He was at least slightly tipsy. "Claire?" my mother called from the hallway.

"I'm coming, Mom!"

We Disapparated to McLaggen Manor. Just like Diggory Manor it was big, but very much unlike Diggory Manor (which could be very dusty and creepy indeed, as Janice was the only one doing some housekeeping) McLaggen Manor was cosy, dust-free and very clean.

A hearth was alight in every room, which felt very welcoming. The main colours in the house were red and gold, and now and then there were prints of majestic lions holding swords on the wall. Three guesses which House this family loves.

Tashia McLaggen, Bella's mom, came to welcome us. She was a very tall and pretty woman with short blonde hair and Bella had her round, happy green eyes.

"Hello Emma," she said before kissing my mother on the cheek. "Hello Claire, Bella and the girls are upstairs. Would you mind telling them we're ready to leave?"

"Of course, Mrs. McLaggen."

I walked up the grand stairs, and on the third floor I passed Cormac, Bella's older brother. "Oh, hi Claire," he said absent-mindedly.

"Hi," I replied dryly.

He continued to where he was going. So did I. I'd never really liked Cormac, but since I had no reason to hate him…

"You? Quidditch?"

"What exactly is wrong with that?"

I heard the heated argument upstairs. I came into the room. Bella had the biggest bedroom in the house, but the decoration was no different. Red, gold and lions with swords. Above her bed hang pictures.

"Claire! Claire!" Bella said excitedly. "Lexie says she wants to go to Quidditch try-outs!"

"I was considering it," Lexie said softly.

"Why couldn't she try, Bells?" Janice asked. "You've never seen her play!"

"That's because she's never played before!" Bella hissed back.

"How would you know?" Lexie replied, her hands on her hips. "Draco-"

"Oh… Draco," the Gryffindor hissed.

"You're just jealous Slytherin might again win the Quidditch Cup!" said Lexie.

"Well, we won the house Cup!" said Bella.

Lexie suddenly laughed. "Yeah okay, you deserved that one. Revenge?"

She stuck out her hand. Bella smiled and shook it. Then I suddenly remembered. " We have to go downstairs!" I said.

Downstairs on the couch we saw Mr. McLaggen. Very much unlike his wife he was little, almost bald and had deep brown eyes. He had been very muscled once, when he'd been Seeker for the Chudley Cannons. The three adults took us to Diagon Alley.

Very soon we spotted a whole family of Weasleys. Hermione and her parents were with them. "Hi," said Ron. "Have you seen Harry?"

"Is he not with you?" asked Lexie. "He's not still with the Dursleys, is he?"

"No," he replied. "I guess he took the wrong fireplace."

"Oh, you travelled by Floo Powder?" I asked.

"Harry! Harry! Over here!" Hermione shouted.

Harry looked terrible. His glasses were shattered and ashes were all over him. Clearly he'd travelled by Floo Powder too. "Oh Harry," I said. "Oculus Reparo."

"Thanks Claire," he answered.

"Thank God," a woman with red hair said.

She was probably Ron's mother. "We were so worried about you. Where did you get out?"

"Knockturn Alley," said Harry.

"Excellent!" two red-haired twins said.

The parents began chatting and Harry dropped his voice to a whisper. "And guess who I met there? Draco Malfoy and his father."

"What were they doing there?" Lexie asked.

"Selling something," he said.

"Oh, I hope the Ministry gets him with something," Bella said. "Lucius Malfoy is a menace."

"They can't be that bad," Lexie said quickly.

"And his son too," Bella smirked.

Lexie grimaced. "Thanks very much."

POV LEXIE JONES:

"I want to check out the Quidditch shop," I said.

"Why?" Hermione asked.

"Just looking," I said.

"We need to go to Flourish and Blotts while the signing is still going on," Mrs. Weasley said.

"Mum fancies him," Ron whispered.

"Lockhart?" I asked.

He nodded. "Well, I don't really care for signatures," I said quickly. "Who's coming with me?"

No hands. I'll go by myself, then. The Quidditch shop was on the end of the street. I was just examining some protective gloves when I heard a familiar voice. "Potter got a broomstick last year. Now I can have on too, right?"

"Draco!" I said.

It was him, with his father. They had the same white-blonde hair and grey eyes. "Hello sir," I said politely.

"Ah, Lexie Jones, isn't it?" Mr. Malfoy replied. "I have heard all about you."

I went a bit pink. So did Draco.

"And your family."

I looked to up to Mr. Malfoy. My family? He couldn't possibly know that I was Muggleborn, right? "One of the most ancient pureblood families that is not related to us," he said. "Are your parents not here?"

"No, sir. I came with the McLaggen's."

"A respectable family, if not for the fact they are blood-traitors."

"So, are you planning on trying out too? For Quidditch?" asked Draco.

"Maybe," I said. "I haven't flown that much before."

"I'm sure you'll be great," he said. "But not as great as me."

"Watch your tongue Malfoy," I smirked. "Sooner or later I'll be greater than you."

"Impossible," he shrugged.

"It's getting late, Draco. We should go to Flourish and Blotts," Mr. Malfoy said. "Maybe your charming friend wants to come with us."

"Of course, sir."

We headed for Flourish and Blotts. We were by no means the only ones making their way to the bookshop. As we approached it, I saw to my great surprise a large crowd jostling outside the doors, trying to get in.

What's all the fuss about, I thought. It's just a book shop. Unless the whole world's suddenly made up out of Hermione's and Claire's. The reason for this was proclaimed by a large banner stretched across the upper windows:

GILDEROY LOCKHART will be signing copies of his autobiography MAGICAL ME today 12:30 pm to 4:30 pm.

But Mr. Malfoy clearly had a reputation, because everyone moved aside for us. Good, I wasn't really in for joining an endless queue like that.

"This is for the Daily Prophet-"

Harry was standing there, a pile of shiny new books in his hands, taking a picture with Gilderoy Lockhart. He was a handsome man with wavy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Staggering under the weight of the books, Harry handed them to a little red-haired girl, slipping them into her cauldron.

Draco pulled me forward, away from his father. "You have these," Harry mumbled to the little girl. "I'll buy my own-"

"Bet you loved that, didn't you Potter?" Draco hissed.

"Famous Harry Potter," I laughed. "Can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page."

"Leave him alone, he didn't want all that!" said the little girl.

"Cute, Harry," I sneered.

I kneeled down, so the girl and I were face-to-face. "Hello," I said. "And who may you be?"

"Ginny Weasley."

"Ron's little sister, aren't you?" I smiled.

"Potter, you've got yourself a girlfriend!" drawled Draco.

Ginny and Harry went scarlet. "So have you," Harry spat back, looking to me.

"Maybe," Draco teased, wrapping his arm around me. I laughed.

"Get off me, you jerk."

Ron, Hermione, Janice, Claire and Bella fought their way over. "Oh, it's you," said Ron. "Bet you're surprised to see Harry here, eh?"

"Why would he?" I asked. "Everyone needs to buy his books here, Ron."

"I'll tell you later," Harry said shortly.

"Not as surprised as I am to see you in a shop, Weasley," Draco retorted. "I suppose your parents will go hungry for a month to pay for all those."

Ron went as red as Ginny. He dropped his books into the cauldron, too, and started toward Draco, but Harry and Hermione grabbed the back of his jacket. "Ron!" said Mr. Weasley. "What are you doing? It's too crowded in here, let's go outside."

"Well, well, well. Arthur Weasley."

It was Mr. Malfoy again.

POV JANICE DIGGORY:

He stood with his hand on Draco's shoulder, sneering in just the same way. "Lucius," said Mr. Weasley, nodding coldly.

"Busy time at the Ministry, I hear," said Mr. Malfoy. "All those raids… I hope they're paying you overtime?"

He reached into Ginny's cauldron and extracted, from amid the glossy Lockhart books, a very old, battered copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration. "Obviously not," he said. "Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well enough for it?"

"What the hell!" Bella snapped, but Mr. Weasley held up his hand.

"We have a very different idea of disgracing the name of wizard, Malfoy."

Mr. Malfoy was looking at Bella, and to her parents, who were chatting with Mr. and Mrs. Granger, out of hearing distance. "The company you keep," he said to her. "I thought your family could sink no lower."

Claire and Ron had to hold onto her with all their might to keep Bella from attacking Malfoy. "And you," he said.

He was looking to me. "Excellent example. You know what happened to your father, girl? He tried to save a Muggle's life. It only resulted in his death."

I got extremely pale. I was torn between 'How dare he' and absolute grief. Mr. Weasley grabbed the nearest book he could find and began hitting Mr. Malfoy with it. Mr. Malfoy did the same. Fred and George were yelling, "Get him Dad!"

"Gentlemen, please!" cried the assistant.

Hagrid had pulled Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy apart. Mr. Weasley had a cut lip and Mr. Malfoy had been hit in the eye. He was examining the book and then threw it back in Bella's hands.

"Blood-traitors…" he murmured.

He then turned to Lexie. "You can stay at Malfoy Manor in the Christmas holiday, if you want to."

"I'd love to sir," she said politely.

Bella glared at her. I did too. How could she? "Come, Draco," Mr. Malfoy said and he left.

POV BELLA MCLAGGEN:

"You'd love to?" I repeated.

"I was just being polite," Lexie said defensively.

"Why be polite to people like him? You heard what he said about Janice's father!"

"I'm sure he wanted to do the right thing, but it wasn't exactly clever to help those Muggles…"

"So you wouldn't help them because they're Muggles?" asked Janice. "Because I would've done the same."

"It's not because they're Muggles," said Lexie. "It just wasn't clever. The fact that it were Muggles had nothing to do with it."

"It's not about being clever enough to save your own life," Janice replied. I had never seen her look more serious. "It's about having the courage to save someone else's."

"But just risking your life without thinking is just stupid!" Lexie raged.

"Well, then I want to be stupid, just like my father!" Janice shrieked.

Lexie realized what she'd done. She wrapped her arms around Janice and whispered, "I'm so lucky to have you as a friend. I wish everyone would be as unselfish as you."

Oy!
1. Did you like this chappie?
2. Did you like Draco and Lexie being rejoined?
3. Do you think Lexie is selfish, or just clever?
4. I'm not the only one who thinks Janice is immensely cute, am I?

Sorry there's not much Bella in here and the last chapter, but the next chapter will be mainly from her POV.
xxx