Draco still waited for them, his mother now there with a rather tall man with long blonde hair and a pointed chin. Elegance practically dripped off of him.

"Merlin, Harry, meet my parents," Draco said, gesturing towards said people.

"Lucius Malfoy," Lucius Malfoy announced, holding out a hand. "You've met my wife, Narcissa."

Merlin nodded, her hair turning pink at the roots. Harry coughed, getting their attention off of his silver-haired sister.

"Um, we still need to get our money, then give our keys to the keyholder, so…"

"Ah, very well. We still need to retrieve our own we go together, then?"

Draco smirked. "It's a very long ride, I've heard," he offered.

Boneclaw appeared. "Miss Le Fay, if you'll follow me. Griphook, take Mr. Potter to his vault with the Malfoys; I shall take Miss Le Fay to her vault."

Merlin gulped a little. Why was she so special?

~:~

By the time they finally got to Ollivander's, Merlin was practically asleep. It had been a long night, with lots of coffee. Now they just needed a wand and a pet. The Malfoys were chatting quietly among each other, and Merlin was glad to be out of the cold.

"Ah," Mr. Ollivander said, eyes alighting on the three Hogwarts students. "Mr. Malfoy. Your son is going into Hogwarts this year? Interesting, interesting. And Mr. Potter - Ah, I think I know the perfect wand for Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Potter each." He slid away, and Merlin frowned.

Two boxes were given to them, and once Ollivander confirmed that, he wrapped them, muttering, "Curious, curious. Oh, well; not my fault." Merlin's eyebrows shot up.

"Excuse me," she said, stopping him and making him look at her. "What about my wand?"

He looked rather surprised. "You want a wand?"

Merlin nodded. "I need one for school," she said slowly.

"I see…" he hummed. "Try… Hmm…" He looked around his shop. "Wait here, Miss Le Fay."

Merlin felt her irritation shoot up.

Harry patted her shoulder. "Calm yourself, Merlin."

"It's just… So bloody aggravating," Merlin growled.

Harry sighed. "You're probably famous, Merlin. He probably assumed with a name such as 'Merlin' you didn't need a wand."

"Uh-huh, and I'm the Queen of England," Merlin said flatly.

Ollivander came back, holding a wand box that looked like it was about to disintegrate.

"This wand was made of unicorn hair, a feather from a phoenix, a crushed scale of a dragon, and a drop of the sun and moon encased in willow wood. Forged a long time ago. Very firm. Powerful for any type of magic."

"Forged?" Merlin asked, picking up the wand gently. Unknown to her, a gentle breeze picked up.

"It is said that this wand was forged in the breath of one of the first dragons," Ollivander replied. "Willow wood is a very versatile wood. Tread carefully, Miss Le Fay."

"Wait," Merlin called as Ollivander disappeared into the back. "What about the payment?"

"Just take the wands," Ollivander replied. "I've needed to get rid of yours the longest!"

Merlin frowned.

"How rude," she said with a scowl.

"Ready to get our pets?" Harry asked, excited.

"Sure," Merlin sighed.

~:~

When Harry walked in, the animals were all racketing. When Merlin walked in, the animals were silent.

Two majestic owls immediately caught their eyes.

Merlin and Harry chose, respectively, the black owl and the white snowy owl. The black owl was next to the white snowy one, and neither of them were making a ruckus. As soon as they'd chosen, the other animals went silent save for a kitten.

"Poor kitten," the employee of the emporium said to Merlin as she was rang up. "Most Hogwarts students choose an owl. She's been here for a long while - nobody wants a black cat. We'll have to put her down soon. Taking up too much space." The witch looked regretful.

Merlin made a decision. "I'll take both the owl and the cat then," she said boldly.

The employee looked at her, surprised. Then she shrugged. "Suit yourself." She went and grabbed the kitten. "You'll have to buy everything that goes with her then."

"I assumed so," Merlin said, refraining from rolling her eyes. "Do they do extremely thorough searches at Hogwarts to stop people from taking in two animals?"

The employee eyed her, a smirk forming over her face. "Nope. It's just recommended that only a single one is brought in."

Merlin nodded. "I thought so~." She handed over the appropriate amount of money for the kitten's supplies and owl things, then walked out.

The Malfoy family and Harry all looked at her, laden down with cat and owl supplies.

"They were going to put her down," Merlin explained. "She's just a tiny little kitty, though~ So adorable!"

The cat licked her paw.

~:~

Staying at the Leaky Cauldron, the two magical children entered their shared room and collapsed on their beds.

"What a day," Merlin said, sighing. She got up and opened the cat food, then her owl food.

Harry watched her measure out two things of owl food. "Merlin, I bought my owl some food. Really, you don't have to do that."

"Harry, we have a month left," Merlin said to him with a patient smile. "If we both open our food now, we'll just have to get more right before we leave Hogwarts, then order some when we get there." Merlin fed the animals. She then looked at her trunk. "We should probably open our items and pack them up in our trunks, yes?"

Harry nodded. "Then can we take a look around the alley tomorrow? I found a book on curses."

"I was actually on the same page as you, Harry," Merlin smiled. "Except, well - I was going to look at Defense and Potions; seems like those two would be useful in our community."

"So you look at Defense and Potions, I'll look at the book of curses!" Harry suggested brightly.

"Sure," Merlin laughed. "But it's not as if we're going to be fighting anyone magically for a while, Harry. If ever." She started opening her packages. "Hey, Harry, we have all the same classes!" Merlin said after a while, making Harry nod.

"Yeah, I suppose we do." He took out his pointy hat. "I really hope we don't have to wear these stupid hats - I mean some people might look good with them on, but…"

Merlin grimaced and took out her Durmstrang letter and looked over the items requested.

"If we'd gone to Durmstrang we would have needed lots of furs," Merlin said to him.

Harry sighed. "I'd take furs over ridiculous hats like this any day."

He set his pointy hat down.

"I completely agree," Merlin nodded.