Author's Note: This chapter takes place two years after the previous because the story would have been too long if I wrote out their fourth and fifth years. Scarlet and Delilah are in the Order of the Phoenix and Draco doesn't know. And by the way, feel free to review. I've only gotten one and it really didn't help me, but don't feel obligated to though. Thanks and keep reading!

Chapter 4: Diagon Alley

Two Years Later . . .

Delilah and I walked down Diagon Alley, eating ice cream and lugging shopping bags full of school supplies. Ah, sixth year. That was the year we start preparing for our jobs in the real world. Or, at least, the wizarding world. The air was uncharacteristically warm which only made us lap up the ice cream faster.

"You'd think they would have invented ice cream that never melted," Delilah pondered.

"They have. I saw some back home." We always spent the summer and winter breaks back home in America. "There was this ice cream parlor, and they had a sign on the window proclaiming that they carried ice cream that would never melt." I smiled fondly at the memory of Draco and I sharing a No Melt Sundae on the pier.

"Hm," she replied.

We continued to walk down the narrow street, passing the derelict buildings and empty store fronts. The alley seemed quieter than the past two times we had been there.

"Remember when this place was bubbling with life?" Delilah asked.

"You mean, like, last year?" I responded.

"Yeah, you know. Everything was bright and colorful. Constant chatter everywhere you went. And now it's . . . empty."

"Totally," I agreed. I looked around. "I mean, who would have thought that a place like Ollivander's would have closed down."

Delilah thought for a moment. "Well, times are tough for us all. Now that You-Know-Who is back, people are scared. Some just can't deal with their own lives much less a store to look after."

"Not to mention people are disappearing by the hour," I added.

Our small talk ended when we approached Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny standing outside Fred and George's new shop.

"Well, there's one business that's thriving," Delilah noted. We greeted everybody and made our way into the shop.

The store was filled with girls and guys, young and old, all purchasing products specially designed to cause mischief and make people laugh. Soon, George and Fred came up to us and said in unison, "Our best customers."

"New year, new items, girls," George added.

"Now what can we do for you?" Fred prompted.

"Hm, I don't know what we'll need," I admitted.

"I think we should browse first," Delilah agreed.

"No problem." George handed us a basket. We were about to walk away when Fred called after us. "Wait, and for you two," George joined in and said, "fifty percent off anything."

We thanked them and went off in search of stuff to occupy the boring spaces in our sixteen year old lives. Delilah and I approached Hermione at a particular shelf holding many curious looking bottles.

"Daydream potions," she told us. "I'm terribly impressed. That's really powerful magic, you know."

I examined the label and added it to my basket. Delilah strayed off due to some love potion while I quietly wandered the aisles, occasionally adding a thing or two to the basket. Before too long, I found Delilah and we had the Weasley boys charge the bill to our account and we headed out with the rest of the gang, happily engaged in conversation.

At some point, one of us noticed Draco, the breath to my life, slinking down Knockturn Alley, heading for Borgin & Burkes.

"What'd you reckon he's up to?" Ron asked looking at me.

"I don't know," I answered. "But I think it'd be a fabulous idea to find out."

"And how'd you reckon we do that?" he responded.

It was Harry who answered this time. "We follow him."