Hagrid and Harry finally arrived at The Leaky Cauldron and walked through the tavern to the alleyway, where the half-giant proceeded to open up the passageway to Diagon Alley by tapping the bricks on the wall at the back of the building. Three up and two over and the archway opened before them. Harry stepped through the portal, and her mouth dropped open in amazement. Everywhere she looked were people wearing funny robes of all shapes and colors. Some of them even wore those tall pointy wizard and witch hats. The storefronts had really bizarre decorations, and some of the shop windows had really strange items on display. Street vendors tried to hawk their wares, drawing curious eyes to the amulets and protective charms being offered at outlandish prices.
Harry slowly stepped forward onto the cobblestone street, looking at everything. For the first time in eight years, she felt something more than despair. She felt a dim amazement at everything she saw, heard, and smelled. Then Hagrid reached out to guide her toward Gringotts, but she deftly avoided his hand, stepping a few paces away from the giant man. He frowned at this, but shrugged and told her about the money her parents had left for her, explaining that Gringotts was a wizarding bank, run by goblins.
Parents, she thought. Did I have parents? Why don't I remember them? I don't think the Dursleys ever mentioned them. She looked up at the mountainous man and hesitantly asked him about her parents.
"Well, yer parents was killed by You-Know-Who when yeh was just a little feller. 'e's what gave yeh that there scar on yer 'ead." Harry reached up and felt the lightning-bolt shaped indentation in her forehead, confused. She knew exactly where the scar came from, but couldn't understand why the large man was telling her that it was given to her by someone else. She knew she should've felt something for the deaths of her parents. The only thing she knew was that there was a black hole in her soul that sucked all her feelings away. After Gringotts, Hagrid went into the Magical Menagerie to pick up a birthday present for Harry, while she went into Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, to get her school robes.
It was while she was in this shop, getting fitted for her uniform robes, that she met Draco Malfoy for the very first time. She saw him on the other dais, getting measured for his robes. He looked ethereal as the sunlight from the high windows lit his silvery blonde hair. His rounded pale face looked angelic, and his rosebud lips were perfection itself. Harry felt a spark in her chest, a small flickering flame that pierced the darkness that had become her soul. She stepped onto the other dais, and surreptitiously glanced at him from the corner of her eye. She had thought an angel had fallen from heaven…..until he opened his mouth.
"Mother, please get this…..thing" indicating the seamstress, "off of me. I should only be serviced by Malkin herself," Draco drawled haughtily. He sneered in contempt at the bent head of the diminutive woman, as a tall statuesque blonde slowly glided into view. She snapped her long, slender fingers, and instantly the seamstress moved away, Madame Malkin scurrying up to complete Malfoy's fitting.
The seamstress turned her attentions to Harry, draping a Hogwarts school robe around her slender body and spelling it to fit. The girl flinched and jerked at the sudden movements of the seamstress, unaccustomed to strangers being this close to her, let alone touching her, but she endured until the fitting was completed. Both children were finished with their fittings at the same time, and turned toward each other with the intention of climbing down from their perches. Draco glanced up and instantly saw the scar on the girl's forehead, and his silver eyes widened almost comically.
"Are you really Harry Potter?" he gasped incredulously. At her slight nod, Draco gave a barely suppressed unMalfoy-like squeal of glee. He immediately darted forward, hand out, prepared to shake her hand and introduce himself. His rapid advance caused her to stumble backward away from him, her eyes widening with growing fear. He paused, looking at her, deliberating her abrupt retreat, before slowly taking two steps forward. He extended his hand again, and gently said, "Hello. My name is Draco Malfoy. Since we're to be compatriots at Hogwarts, I felt it was my duty to introduce myself and offer my hand in friendship. Do you accept?"
She balked a little at the overly formal way he spoke to her, but figured that it was the way that people in this world spoke. She stared into those silvery eyes, and saw nothing but honest admiration and friendliness. She stuck her hand out and grasped his fingers with hers. They pumped their joined hands up and down a couple of times, and she smiled shyly at him. Her first genuine smile in eight years.
"Smashing!" Draco gushed. "We'll see you at King's Cross on September first. I would love the honor of showing you around and introducing you to some of my best friends. I think I can guarantee that you'll be safe there." With that, the Malfoys exited the shop. Her fitting also finished and clothing paid for, Harry also left the shop just in time to see Hagrid exiting the Menagerie, with an albino python, about two feet long, draped across his broad shoulders.
"Sumpin' tol' me ter go inter the Menagerie. This li'l beauty was callin' ter me. She's yers. 'Er name's Banana. 'Appy Birthday, 'Arry." Harry sighed in awe and gently took the undulating creature from the giant's outstretched hands, being careful not to touch him in any way. She draped the serpent gently around her small shoulders, and the snake hissed her greeting. Harry hissed her own back, and introduced herself to the snake. The python hissed happily back, glad of a master she could really relate to.