Chapter 34: A Visit to Diagon Alley
Sunday with the Rakers was somehow different from other days to Draco's surprise. The Soccer game was the same as always, of course, but Merlin Park itself was different on Sunday, Draco found.
Instead of the usual occasional unemployed and old people walking by, there were people everywhere. Families with small children were walking leisurely down the paths, groups of young adults were standing around chatting, some couples were walking hand in hand and occasionally stopping to kiss. Draco even saw one young man drag his girlfriend behind a couple of bushes to do who knew what. From time to time someone would sit down on one of the benches to watch the Rakers play for a while.
These spectators made Draco a little nervous at first, but they never did anything more than watch. Maybe they were just remembering playing Soccer themselves when they'd been children.
As lunchtime neared some people even came out with picnic baskets to eat either on one of the benches or simply on a blanket spread on the lawn, enjoying what was left of the summer. Even though the weather hadn't changed yet it was almost September and in a few more weeks it would be getting cold.
The sight of the picnickers inspired Mary to ask Larry out for a picnic by the river on Tuesday and judging from the wide grin with which Larry accepted the invitation that was a really special date.
"Awww! How romantic!" Charlie promptly commented. "I wish I had somebody to ask out, too."
Matt stared at her longingly, but still didn't get up the courage to say anything. Draco considered giving him a little push for a moment, but he wasn't sure if that would really help Matt or make him even more self conscious about his feelings.
Beth just snorted at it all. Romance, picnics and boyfriends were obviously still far from her mind, but it was Susie who dragged them back to their game. The little Dancemouse was getting ambitious. All she seemed to think about was winning the next game against the Lions, even though there wasn't even a date set for it yet. She'd set her mind on playing a bigger role in that game and if she continued training as hard as she was at the moment, Draco was quite sure that she'd be one of the key players by then.
In the end Susie's insistence on continuing the game made Draco late for lunch, but luckily Severus was still at Hogwarts and Sarah forgave him after he'd fed Billy and put him to bed. Draco smiled down at the sleeping baby for a moment, before he returned to eat his own lunch.
He'd miss feeding and playing with Billy when he returned to Hogwarts. Maybe he ought to spend some more time with the baby until then, but then he couldn't play with the Rakers as much and he'd miss them, too. And then there was his homework to think of. He should at least finish his Charms essay so he'd be ready to start his next essay when Uncle Severus returned with his homework assignments.
However the late lunch left just barely enough time to do the dishes before Mike arrived to drag Draco off to the lake.
"You can do homework in the evening." Mike claimed. "We've got only one last week left to enjoy the lake and who knows, it might be a rainy week."
The lake on Sunday turned out to be so overrun it wasn't as much fun as usual. Angel Anna and her gang had already claimed the tree trunk when the Rakers arrived and their favourite place under the tree was taken by a group of adults.
"Did we really have to go swimming on Sunday?" Cathy Cat growled at the sight of all the people, but Jack just glared at them and led them over to where a group of little wannabes in yellow were arguing over an inflatable ball.
"Get lost!" he snarled at them and the children quickly grabbed their toys and towels and ran.
The Rakers claimed their spot without as much as a second glance after the children who Draco assumed must have been the Avenger wannabes. 'Well, if you get too close to Merlin Park territory, that's what you get.' he thought as he stretched out on his towel as best he could with so little room. Cathy had once again managed to get the spot right beside him and might have been lying a little closer than absolutely necessary, but then they did have to leave some room for the other bathers to walk past on their way down to the water or back up to their towels.
They didn't even swim much. With all the people in the water it wasn't as much fun as usual and with the tree trunk taken, they had no real destination anyway. Getting into the water meant to fight your way through hordes of yelling and laughing children splashing about and once you got away from them to where you could have your own water fight adult swimmers would complain about the noise and chase you off.
'Like market day without stands.' Draco thought as they fought their way back out of the water and to their towels. 'Noisy, crowded and still somehow a great event.'
He returned home tired, but happy, to find that Severus was back and had brought a whole stack of homework assignments with him. And he hadn't even finished the Charms essay yet!
Draco's happiness vanished at the realisation that he couldn't just drop into bed after dinner as he'd planned. He had to get that essay done and should try to get a start on the next assignment as well.
"I talked to Albus about your wish to take Muggle Studies instead of Care for Magical Creatures." Severus remarked.
"Really? What did he say?" Draco asked excitedly.
"He'll try to arrange the schedules so you can take either third or fourth year Muggle Studies, but he expects you to cover both years in one."
"What?"
"That way you can take your Muggle Studies OWLS exam at the end of your sixth year and the NEWTS together with the rest of your class. If you'd start in third year now, you'd have the OWLS exam in your seventh year and then still two years to go for the NEWTS." Severus explained.
"Oh. Do you think I could do both classes?"
"I doubt your schedule will allow that. Albus won't be able to arrange all of them so they won't collide with any of your regular classes." Severus reminded him. "And you'll be very busy with the OWLS this year."
Draco quickly went over his list of subjects in his head. How often would they have Transfigurations this year? "And there's Quiddich practise as well." he realised all of a sudden.
"Draco." Severus suddenly sounded very serious. "There's something we need to talk about."
"What?" Draco asked alarmed. "You're not going to kick me off the Quiddich team, are you?"
"Not directly, but I'm afraid the results will be the same." Severus answered gravely.
"The results will be the same?" What was that supposed to mean?
"Sarah and I will have to pay your school money for this year." Severus explained. "We'll have to buy your clothes, your books, everything you will need." he stopped for a moment, then continued. "We can not afford to buy you a broom as well. It is not required and extremely expensive."
"And with a school broom I don't have a chance in a game." Draco realised.
Severus nodded. "They'd kick you off the team, I'm afraid. It'll probably be less embarrassing for you to resign before they do that, though."
"They're sure to ask me why and what do I tell them then?" Draco sighed. Life just wasn't fair. He'd been looking forward to playing Quiddich again this year, had even hoped that he had a chance to become team captain.
"If you want, I can inform everybody that you've decided to step down from the team to concentrate on the preparation for your OWLS." Severus suggested. "I'll have to announce the open positions to the house anyway."
Draco sighed again. This sounded exactly like something his father would have made him do and most of his friends would realise that and attribute the decision to Lucius, if Lucius weren't in Azkaban. Maybe he could tell them that the decision had already been made at the end of the last year and Uncle Severus had already been informed? They'd agree that something like that was hard to take back.
Would he be able to play Quiddich again in his sixth year? The new seeker wouldn't step down voluntarily and there'd be no gift of seven brooms for the team to help along the decision this time. Draco had always been convinced that his father's donation had had nothing to do with his getting the spot on the Slytherin Quiddich team, but what if he'd been wrong about that? Was he really good enough to take his position back from a possibly successful younger player? He was small for his age, but still not as small as the average second year. And he'd probably have another growth spurt or two sometime this year. He had to catch up to his classmates sometime and most sixth years looked more like adults than boys.
Of course he wanted to grow. It had been very embarrassing to be smaller than some of the third years last year, but the bigger he was the slower he'd be in the air. Seekers had to be small, fast and agile. If they picked a second year for the new seeker now, that kid would most likely still have the size advantage over Draco next year.
It was hard to concentrate on boring Charms theory while such thoughts were constantly nagging in the back of his mind. Draco angrily shook his head to clear it and return to his work. He had to finish his Charms essay today, he just had to.
But one look at the last foot of parchment he'd written revealed that he had no chance. He'd have to brew an erasing potion or start the whole essay over again and he was just too tired to do either today. Instead he climbed into bed feeling miserable and lay awake for a long time worrying over Quiddich and his homework. If he kept going at this speed he'd never get it done in time.
Monday morning Mike showed up so early that after watching them eat he actually volunteered to help Draco with the dishes out of pure boredom.
"Just why are you so eager to get going today?" Draco asked him surprised when Mike actually grabbed the towel away from him to speed things up.
"I have to buy my school things today." Mike explained hastily rubbing the towel over Sarah's favourite tea cup. "I don't want to get the most torn up books in the shops."
"Then why didn't you buy them sooner?"
"Because they aren't sold any sooner. They don't sell school equipment all through the year. Only on the last two market days before and the first two after the start of school they put up some extra stands around the bookshop where you can buy everything you need for school. You can buy them new all the time, of course, but then you have to pay the full price." Mike pushed the last plate back onto it's shelf with such force that Draco worried he might break it. "Come on, lets go!"
Sarah shook her head at the boy's eagerness, but Severus seemed to be in an unusually indulgent mood and relented to Mike's pushing.
Draco quickly dashed back into the lab to get his backpack, Mike picked up the bag he'd brought with him and they took off almost forgetting 'That Dog' in their hurry.
'That Dog' saw bags and backpacks whirling past him and recognised the signs of a trip to the market approaching. He might not be the most intelligent dog in Great Britain, but he had learned by now that that meant getting stuffed into Draco's backpack. Maybe if he could stay here he could gnaw at the furniture a bit instead? Or maybe tear up a pillow or two?
'That Dog' slowly inched over to the couch. If he managed to crawl under it and they couldn't find him, they might leave without him and he could find out what couch tasted like while he was down there. There, he'd almost made it! He ducked his head down and flattened his belly close to the ground. Just a little further now and he'd be safe.
Suddenly something grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, pulling him back and up and he found himself dangling in front of Sarah's face. "Draco! Come back, boy! You forgot something!" he heard her call and Draco reappeared in the door he'd just walked out of and came over to accept him from Sarah.
'Oh, noooo!' No whining or struggling helped. He was once again stuffed into the backpack. Well, at least he got carried down the stairs this way.
"You look ridiculous with a dog in your bag, you know." Mike informed Draco.
"It's better than getting tangled up in his lead every few steps." Draco shrugged it off. "What's in your bag anyway?" He'd never seen Mike bring a full bag to the market before.
"Some old school books I don't need anymore." Mike answered. "I'll sell them to one of the vendors or trade them for the new books. We'll see how it goes."
Draco too had an unusual shopping list today. Instead of the usual fruits and vegetables it listed such things as:
2 ink pots (black and green)
a quill (new, if possible)
parchment
That last one had no number attached and after a moment's thought Draco decided to simply leave it for last and buy as much as his left over money would allow. After all, this time he really needed to buy everything that was on his list.
At the very bottom he found the three school books he still needed. Astronomy, Herbology and History of Magic. Maybe he ought to get those first? Mike was going to buy books anyway.
The market was crowded as always, but something seemed different. The first thing Draco noticed was the clothes stands which seemed to have an unusual amount of green clothes among their wares. He wanted to head over to investigate, but Mike stopped him and dragged him along in the other direction.
"We'll buy school robes later. The books are more important."
'School robes?' Draco thought surprised. Hadn't Uncle Severus said that they'd have to go to Diagon Alley for those? He rechecked his shopping list and found that it didn't mention any robes either. "I don't have them on my list." he told Mike when his friend gave him a curious look. "Uncle Severus said we'd go to Diagon Alley this week."
"Oh well, then you'll just have to watch me buy mine." Mike grinned. "Do you have books on the list?" "Only three. I've already got some old ones from Uncle Severus."
"Let me see. What year are you in anyway?" Mike asked leaning over Draco's shoulder to see.
"Fifth, why?"
"You can have my History book from last year. My Mum insisted that I don't sell any of last year's books yet, but I really don't need that one. I'll bring it over tomorrow."
"But don't you want any money for it? I bet it cost you a few sickles even if you got it used."
"That's okay. I'm just lending it to you anyway. Just give it back to me at the end of the year and I'll sell it together with the other fifth year books." Mike grinned. "That way Mum will never know."
"Great. That leaves only Herbology and Astronomy. Thanks, Mike. That'll save me some money for the parchment."
"Can't help you with those two, I'm afraid. I've never heard of them before."
Apparently the rest of West Hogsmeade hadn't either. The whole area around the bookshop had been taken over by stalls selling school stuff and Draco wondered for a moment where the stands that he was used to finding around here had been moved to. He soon forgot about it though when he started looking for his books and didn't find them.
There was an abundance of the books Mike was looking for, some looking almost new while others were in worse condition than Severus' Transfiguration books. Mike picked up the best looking copies and bargained the vendor into selling them for less than half the price in exchange for his old books.
"See," he told Draco grinning happily. "It pays to take care of your books."
Indeed Mike must have treated his books very well. They looked no worse than the ones he'd just bought. Draco smiled. At least Binns wouldn't get a chance to complain about the way his book looked. Then again Binns probably wouldn't notice, if all his students brought comic books to read in class.
'Maybe then we'd even stay awake and learn something.' Draco thought. There had to be something one could learn from reading comics. Draco had no idea what, though as he'd never been allowed any. His father had been more fond of educational books. On dark curses, for example. For a moment he wondered what Sarah would have to say about that, if she knew.
Ink pots were easily found and so were most of the other items on Draco's list. Only the quill gave him a little trouble. Not that he couldn't find any, but he was a little worried about having to make one quill last the whole year. They did break rather easily when grabbed carelessly and Vincent Crabbe had a habit of playing with anything Draco left lying on his desk.
"Do you have any idea what sort of quill Larry uses?" he asked Mike after staring at the quills for a moment.
Mike thought about it, then shrugged. "No, I never really cared much about Larry's quill. Why?"
v "I need something that has a chance to survive being manhandled by Vincent and Greg. Larry is about the same size and I doubt he wants to spend all his money on new quills. How about Mary? Do you know her quill?"
"No, nor Beth's either." Mike declared before Draco could start asking any further. "I've got a better idea, though. Take a short goose feather quill. Goose is rather sturdy and a short quill will fit your hand fine, but will be uncomfortable for someone with big clumsy hands."
Indeed Draco remembered that both his friends preferred longer quills. Of course small ones didn't look that good and goose was hopelessly out at Hogwarts, but actually the white goose feather quills he saw at the stand, looked rather pretty.
"White isn't normally my colour." he remarked picking one up. "Most kids at Hogwarts have eagle feathers."
"Eagle is terrible expensive and according to my Mum they don't even write that well." Mike pointed out as he picked up a brown owl feather quill and inspected it closely. "You could try plucking out one of Munin's tail feathers for an unusual writing tool, though."
Draco thought about that for just a moment. Yes, Uncle Severus had a black quill that looked suspiciously like one of Munin's pretty feathers, but he doubted Severus would approve of ripping them off the poor bird. It had probably fallen out naturally at some time and Severus had just picked it up and put it to use.
"I can't just rip away at Uncle Severus' bird." he informed a giggling Mike. "Raven would make a nice quill though. Don't they sell any raven feather quills here?"
"No, I've never seen any. I think they're rather unusual, you know." Mike forced himself to stop laughing. "I'd stick with goose, if I were you. They're good and cheap and I doubt anybody would consider a quill a fashion statement."
"You'd be surprised." Draco grinned, but started trying out goose feather quills anyway. The first two were too short, but the the third one fit his hand exactly. Mike was right. This quill would be very comfortable to write with, while it would just disappear in Vincent's huge paws. It shouldn't be very tempting for him to play with something he could barely hold properly. "Okay, I'll take this one."
They quickly paid for their quills and ink pots and went on to buy parchment. It was quite a surprise for Draco how many different kinds of parchment there were. Of course the expensive kind Draco had always gotten from Lucius wasn't available in the West Hogsmeade market, but there were still lots of different, shades, qualities and sizes. After simply staring at them for a while Draco decided to simply take the same kind as Mike. If it was good enough for his friend, it would have to be good enough for his teachers as well.
"Okay, now all we need are the school robes and with a little luck, I'll even have some money left over for sweets." Mike announced happily.
"That's your own money?" Draco asked him surprised.
"Of course it is. They're my school things."
"My parents always bought everything for me. The pocket money they gave me was all just for sweets or whatever else I wanted to buy on Hogsmeade weekends." Draco explained when he saw Mike's confusion.
"You shouldn't buy anything in Hogsmeade itself anyway." Mike advised him. "Those shops are even more expensive than Diagon Alley. I suppose they're just meant as tourist traps. They just don't mind the Hogwarts students getting caught there as well."
Remembering the prices he'd paid at Honeydukes and comparing them to what Larry had paid for Mary's every-flavour beans Draco had to agree with that. He really shouldn't buy anything on his Hogsmeade weekends anymore. Or maybe he could just buy it here in West Hogsmeade? He was going to use the weekends to visit his friends in Merlin Park anyway. He could just make a little detour over the market place on his way. Too bad he couldn't come here on market day, but at least the sweets shop and some of the other regular shops would still be here. He could buy whatever he wanted there.
If he had any money, that was. What if Uncle Severus didn't give him any pocket money for his Hogsmeade weekends? It wasn't an absolute necessity and he'd cost the Snapes too much money already.
Their arrival at the clothes stands distracted Draco from those worries only a few moments later. All the green he'd seen from a distance before turned out to be the West Hogsmeade school uniforms. They all wore Slytherin green at school!
For a moment Draco almost felt jealous. This looked so much better than the black Hogwarts uniform. Maybe he ought to try to convince the Snapes to send him to school in West Hogsmeade? But then he remembered that West Hogsmeade wasn't a boarding school. It would mean that he had to continue living in the Snapes' potions lab. They were probably glad to get rid of him soon and have their lab back.
He leaned against one of the stands and watched Mike try on robe after robe until he finally found one that fit.
"I think this one is right." Mike finally told him. "I didn't even notice that I grew so much over the holidays."
"It fits you perfectly." Draco agreed. "Come on, buy it and we can still visit the muggle shop before we have to meet the Snapes for lunch."
"I still need a spare." Mike reminded him. "And then I want to go to the sweets shop. We can still see the muggle shop next week."
Draco sighed and gave in. The search for another school robe would probably take too long to go anywhere afterwards anyway.
But this time Mike found a fitting robe much faster and soon they were squeezing through the crowds again trying to reach the sweets shop. Luckily once they had squeezed out of the immediate area around the clothes stands the crowds got thinner and Draco no longer felt like he was getting squashed.
Every West Hogsmeade student seemed to be buying school robes today and Draco suddenly suspected that West Hogsmeade had a lot more students than Hogwarts. He took one last glance back to try and judge the number of teenagers trying on robes and noticed something unexpected for the first time.
"Hey Mike! Why are some of the kids trying on red robes?" He yelled after his friend.
"Huh?" Mike looked back to see what Draco was looking at. "Oh, those aren't from West Hogsmeade. Some of the Hogsmeade folks don't want to spend all the money for Hogwarts and send their kids to the London Academy for Magic. I heard some kids even go to an Irish public school."
"And they've got red robes there?"
"London's red and Ireland blue." Mike nodded. "I've never seen any blue robes in the market, though. I guess they have to buy them either in Ireland or Diagon Alley."
"Northern Ireland?" Draco asked suddenly.
"No, I think it's actually on the southern end of the island." Mike shrugged. "Never cared much to find out, though."
"So there are three British Wizarding schools." Draco summed up surprised. And only two months ago he'd been convinced that there was only one.
"Four. Four and a half actually." Mike corrected him. "There's another one in Wales and a very small one in Dublin. They don't get any students from outside the city anymore, though. At least that's what I heard. People are too afraid their children might be harmed by the muggle terrorists. Even some families from Dublin send their kids away to school."
Draco stared at Mike for a moment. "Just how many wizards are there really in Great Britain? Five schools seem a bit much."
"Well, Dublin probably has around forty students all in all and Wales from what I've heard somewhere around one hundred. The reason that one's still there is that they teach in Welsh while all the other schools teach in English. The old Welsh families just prefer that." Mike explained. "Hogwarts has about three hundred students, but you have to remember that not all of them are British. West Hogsmeade is the only school for squibs. London probably has the largest number of actual wizards, but I don't know the actual number."
Draco decided he had to ask Severus about it. "Do you know if they accept muggle born students in all those schools?"
"Why wouldn't they? I know that West Hogsmeade doesn't invite them the way Hogwarts does, but then it isn't a private school. I know that some Scottish muggle borns transfer from London to West Hogsmeade every year. The muggle borns have real problems getting to school, because most of them don't have access to the floo network in their towns and they just can't take the train to London every day. West Hogsmeade is simply closer."
"So London would have to have muggle born students. Wales and Dublin probably don't." Draco decided.
"Can't say that for sure. They're both small schools and probably don't get many students so they might be eager to invite muggle borns to increase the numbers."
By then they'd reached the sweets shop and Mike turned his attention to the wares. Draco tried not to feel jealous at the sight of all the chocolate frogs, everyflavour beans and other candy. Maybe he could buy just one little chocolate frog and claim he'd spent the money on school supplies? Sammie would certainly do it.
Mike chose a box of lemon drops, paid and dragged Draco out of the shop with all it's temptations. "Come on, or we'll be late again. With all those people out there it'll take us five minutes or more to get to the meeting place."
"What are those anyway?" Draco asked with a quick nod towards the box Mike had just bought.
"What, don't tell me you don't know lemon drops?"
"I don't. What do they do?"
"Do? They don't do anything. They just taste good." Mike laughed.
"Are they muggle sweets then?" now Draco was getting really interested. Sweets that didn't do any sort of magic? Who'd have thought that they even sold muggle sweets in West Hogsmeade!
Mike shrugged. "I guess so. I never asked. The only thing I was ever interested in about them was the taste. You can have one after lunch, then you'll see what I mean."
Indeed lemon drops tasted very good Draco decided later when Mike pulled out his candy again after they'd eaten and offered them to everybody. Even Billy got one, though he looked a little confused that he couldn't chew it and ended up swallowing it whole.
"I just wish I knew whether they're really muggle." Draco said leaning back against a cardboard box that almost collapsed under his weight. Only the other empty boxes inside kept it standing.
"They are." Severus declared without hesitation. "Albus always keeps a box in his office and he gets them in the muggle world."
"He does?" Sarah asked surprised. "Why doesn't he just buy them here? It'd be a lot easier."
"I don't think he knows they sell them in the wizarding world at all." Severus shrugged. "There are a lot of things in this market that only we natives know how to find."
Draco smiled. Yes, West Hogsmeade and it's people sure were special.
Munin returned on Wednesday with another polite refusal and looking only slightly ruffled from his long journey. Draco was impressed. Even his eagle owl would have been exhausted after such a long trip, but Munin seemed to be ready to take off again right away.
Severus had the next letter written as well, but he made no move to send the raven off even after he'd fed him and given him enough time to rest and straighten out his feathers. Munin spent the rest of the day perching on Severus' shoulder or hopping around him pulling away whatever utensil Severus happened to pick up or commenting on whatever he did. Severus sometimes pushed him aside gently, but mostly settled for scratching the bird's head until he let go of whatever he'd just grabbed.
Draco watched the two in fascination. Could it be that Severus had actually missed his bird? He himself had only ever missed his owl when he'd wanted to send off a letter while he was still off delivering the last one. Severus however seemed to actually enjoy Munin's company.
Then of course, Munin did a lot of things no owl ever could. And that was the point when Draco realised the reason for the rivalry between Munin and 'That Dog'. Company was the only thing 'That Dog' was really good for and Munin was quite capable of filling that spot along with most of his other duties. Only when he was off delivering mail did 'That Dog' get a chance to have his wizard to himself and Munin felt threatened by that takeover of his duties.
Severus finally sent the raven off again on Friday morning just before they left for Diagon Alley. He tied the letter to Munin's leg, scratched the bird's head one last time and watched him fly out the window before he turned back to regard Draco. "We're going to take the floo, Draco. There's no need to wear muggle clothes for this trip."
Draco looked down at himself taking in his dragon t-shirt and slightly grassy jeans. "I like these clothes."
"Go put on your robes, boy." Sarah ordered.
"Why? What's wrong with my jeans? I always wear them in the park and to the market." Draco argued.
"Everybody wears muggle clothes in West Hogsmeade, but in Diagon Alley everybody will be wearing robes." Sarah reminded him.
"So? I might have come in from muggle London."
"You'll attract attention, Draco." Severus remarked. "And my informants might think you're muggle born. That would be bad for my image."
"Your image?" Draco repeated surprised. Since when did Severus care about his looks?
"I'm supposed to play a dark wizard and death eater sympathiser. And attention is the last thing you want when working undercover." Severus explained.
"Oh. Does that mean I can be a secret agent too?" Draco asked excitedly. "Will I meet your informants?"
"No!" both Sarah and Severus shouted at once.
"You'll be a good kid and go look at the new brooms at Quality Quiddich Supplies and eat some ice cream while I talk to them." Severus added sternly.
Draco pouted. "I won't even get to play Quiddich this year. What's the fun in looking at the equipment, if I can't buy any?"
"Well, maybe they have Soccer stuff there, too." Sarah suggested.
"I doubt it." Severus mumbled, but at least Draco didn't protest anymore.
He quickly threw his robes on over his muggle clothes, which he regretted later because it got terribly hot under all the clothing, put on his Rakers cap and followed Severus to the floo station feeling very excited about getting this close to actual spy work. Maybe, he thought, he'd even meet one of his father's death eater friends while Severus was off talking to his informants, and be able to collect some information of his own.
His improved mood only lasted until they reached Diagon Alley and he saw one of the older Slytherins stride proudly past beside his father both wearing exquisite elegant robes. Suddenly Draco felt a little shabby with his old backpack and muggle cap.
Severus however didn't seem to mind the student or the fact that he hadn't even noticed them as he walked by. He simply continued walking towards the bookshop.
There it got even worse. Most of the customers inside were Hogwarts students and their parents and none of them were Slytherins. Draco knew people were starring at him while he picked up the books he needed. At least Uncle Severus was there to help him. Nobody dared to tease him with the feared Potions Master around and Severus also seemed to have a knack for finding the books he was looking for.
From the bookshop they went straight to Gringotts and Draco got a view of how little money there really was in the Snapes' vault. Severus counted out an exact amount that he took with him totally unlike Lucius who'd usually simply grabbed as many coins as his money pouch could hold at a time and dashed right off again unwilling to waste any more time than absolutely necessary inside the bank.
Not that Severus seemed to like the place any better than Lucius had. He probably just had a different view on what was absolutely necessary. And he probably didn't want to give the goblins the satisfaction of showing them that their presence made him uneasy. They definitely weren't as scary as the dementors he'd met in Azkaban and Severus probably felt worse around Aurors as well.
"So, where do we go next?" Draco asked as they stepped back out into the sunlight.
"To buy clothes. We have almost everything else you'll need, but still have to buy all your school clothes."
This time Draco didn't protest that he could wear his muggle clothes whenever he wasn't wearing the school uniform anyway. Nobody in Slytherin wore jeans and the robes he was wearing right now would be much too thin in summer. And he couldn't possibly wear the same clothes everyday!
"Madame Malkin's then?" he asked, but Severus shook his head and pointed towards a small second hand store Draco had never even noticed before.
"No, that's much too expensive. We can't go back for more money, Draco. What we took now will have to suffice for everything we buy today."
'Just great.' Draco thought. This was probably where the Weasleys bought their clothes, but then he'd been absolutely fine with the idea of buying second hand school robes back in the market on Monday. This wasn't any different, he told himself. It was just a regular shop instead of a market stand.
Once inside they even had some fun with Draco trying on robes of different sizes. He even chose some much too big and much too small ones deliberately just to have a good laugh at his appearance. The other customers enjoyed the show as well and two kids who were probably going to be first years joined in with the dressing up. They looked even funnier then Draco in adult robes and soon everybody was laughing.
Draco completely forgot his worries about his looks and felt great for the rest of the day not even noticing the stares he was getting as he strolled through Diagon Alley alone while Severus was checking up on his informants.
He walked from shop to shop looking at all the shop windows filled with things he couldn't buy, but mostly didn't want or need anyway. A short trip through Quality Quiddich Supplies revealed that they had no Soccer stuff in there and looking at the Quiddich gear was rather painful for Draco at the moment. Especially the brooms threatened to destroy his good mood again. So Draco left the shop and continued window shopping through the alley until he finally ended up in front of a pet shop.
'New kittens arrived just this week' a big sign announced over the large pen that took up almost all the room behind the shop window. Five adorable little kittens were playing around in there, but that wasn't what drew Draco's attention to the shop. He only thought for a moment that the poor little things looked much too young to have been taken from their mother when he glanced at them, then his attention was snatched away by the owl in the cage beside the kittens' pen.
She was a large eagle owl who looked almost exactly like the one he used to own. Only this one was a female and most likely younger than his had been. Draco watched her for a long time even though the bird hardly moved at all. After all it was bright daylight and it was a miracle she wasn't fully asleep at all. Draco wondered briefly if the shop owner might have put a spell on her to disturb her sleep. After all it wouldn't do his business much good to put a sleeping owl into his shop window.
It took Severus a while to find Draco as he probably hadn't expected him to be interested in pets and had most likely checked the Quiddich shop first. He frowned when he saw what Draco was looking at, but didn't say anything about it.
"Ready to go?" he asked instead. "Sarah's probably already waiting with our lunch."
"That owl looks exactly like mine did." was Draco's unexpected answer. "And she's probably terribly unhappy in there. Please, can we buy her, Uncle Severus?"
"No, Draco." Severus answered decidedly. "You can borrow Munin or use the school owls to deliver your letters."
"But just look at her! She's all sleepy and unhappy displayed like this in full daylight. We could give her a good home."
"Two things, Draco." Severus stated calmly. "One: Never buy animals from shop windows. They've usually been tempered with to make them look more attractive to customers and that's bad for their health. They'll get sick pretty soon and die on you. Two: We don't have the money to buy her anyway. There are only four knuts left of our shopping money and I already explained that we can't go back for more."
Draco sighed and nodded to indicate that he understood, but he didn't move. "Can I take the dog to school?" he asked after a moment of silence.
'That Dog' who'd been hopping around Severus as usual barked happily at the suggestion. Dog, that was him! His master's boy was talking about him! He wagged his tail excitedly.
"Dogs are against the school rules and I really don't want him running after me at Hogwarts." Severus told Draco. "He'd only wreak havoc wherever he went. I doubt Albus would watch that for very long."
Draco nodded again. "The cat?"
"He's Sarah's familiar. You could ask her, but I doubt she'd part with him easily. I know they don't appear to be close, but they are. They're just both rather secretive about their relationship."
Another nod and sigh. Severus stared at the sign above the kitten's pen for a moment.
"We could try to find a pet for four knuts, though." he suggested then. "If they've got new kittens, the left over older ones are probably on sale. Most people go for the youngest, because they're cutest and there's always a risk that the leftovers won't be bought at all. A lot of petshops kill their cats once they're over two years old, but of course they want to cut their losses so they'll try to sell them at lowered prices first."
Draco looked at the kittens and had to fight down a shudder. They just killed them off once they weren't cute anymore? Couldn't they just give them away for free? He bet his friends in West Hogsmeade wouldn't mind getting an already adult cat and he knew that not all of them had their own pets like Mike did. Susie would probably be overjoyed if somebody gave her her own pet. She'd even be happy to have an old toad.
But then it was probably bad for business to give anything away for free.
"The ones left won't be the prettiest ones, but if you're desperate enough to take that dog, they'll do just fine." Severus added indicating the happy little dog at his side.
There were indeed two kittens left from the last batch, but they were still cute enough to cost more than four knuts. Even when Severus pointed out that one of them had uneven eyes the shop owner wouldn't hear of selling the animal at less than seven knuts.
Draco sighed and gave the kitten one last little pat. He knew enough about bargaining by now to know that he wouldn't get this one so he'd better set it back down before he got too attached to it. The toads caught his eye as he put the kitten back into it's cage and he walked over to check the price tags trying to figure out whether he'd like having a toad at all. They weren't much use after all. A quick check of the tags showed that his chances of getting one weren't very good anyway, but there was a terrarium that held a few snakes next to the toad section.
Of course a snake was out of the question for a fifteen year old wizard, but they were interesting to look at. Behind the snake terrarium were the even more unusual pets like spiders and lizards. There weren't many of them and some had really extravagant prices. It had to be because they weren't bought much, Draco thought. The shop owner had to keep them fed and cared for until somebody finally wanted them and it probably cost him more than the actual purchase of the animal from his suppliers.
Draco's tour of the unusual pets had taken him almost into the last dustiest corner of the shop by the time he looked up from the lizards' cage. Maybe it was time to get back to where Severus and the shop owner were still discussing the cats? This part of the shop was dark and dusty and he probably wouldn't see much of the animals kept in that last corner anyway.
He gave the corner one last glance and turned back, then stopped. Had he really just seen a price tag saying three knuts? He turned again to take a closer look. There! His eyes grew very wide when he read the rest of the tag.
"Uncle Severus!" he called excitedly once he'd fully realised what he'd found. "They've got raven eggs!"
Draco stared at the two ordinary looking eggs in fascination. Ravens for only three knuts each? Was that even possible?
Severus came over to take a look at Draco's discovery followed by the shopkeeper.
"They're only three knuts." Draco whispered eagerly. "Can I have one, please? I've always wanted a raven."
"Ravens are very difficult to raise." the shopkeeper cautioned. "They require expert handling. I doubt a boy your age could manage."
"I wasn't much older than Draco when I got my first raven." Severus' glare silenced him at once.
"Please?" Draco repeated. Severus' reaction had to mean that he'd grant him his wish. It just had to!
Severus calmly picked up one of the magically warmed eggs and held it up to inspect it closely, then laid it back down to repeat the procedure with the other. Finally he spoke a quick spell over both eggs, then looked back to Draco. "Would you rather have a male or a female?"
Male or female? Draco just wanted a raven. He needed to think about that question for a moment. He wanted a raven just like Munin, but did the gender make any difference? Munin was a male, though.
"Male, I think." he answered finally. "It's not really that important, though."
"Then let's take the male." Severus decided and picked up the first egg once again. "You can keep your cats." he told the shopkeeper. "We're buying this raven."
The shopkeeper sighed at the realisation that he could have gotten four knuts out of these customers instead of just three, if he'd just agreed to sell the uneven-eyed kitten and it would have spared him some cat food as well. Eggs had the advantage that they didn't need to be fed. All he had to do was put a simple warming charm on them every few weeks and the raven eggs would be fine. He frowned after the pair as they left his shop with their purchase.
Draco and Severus in contrast were perfectly happy with the deal they'd made. Draco's statement that he'd always wanted a raven might have been slightly exaggerated, but they'd really become his favourite pets over the holidays and he'd always thought that it would be years until he could get his own. He just couldn't believe his luck. Who'd have thought that ravens were this cheap!
He didn't know what made Severus so happy, but maybe he'd been worried that he'd have to disappoint him about the promised pet. Or maybe it was because Draco had chosen a raven just like Munin?
Whatever the reason they were both happy with their day and for the moment Draco had completely forgotten about such things as having to wear second hand robes and not having a broom.
A/N: Will Draco's goose feather quill survive his friends at Hogwarts? Will he be able to live without Quiddich? And will Albus let him bring his raven to school?
In the next chapter: Sevi shows Draco how to take care of his raven egg, the Rakers go back to school and Draco has to finish his homework.