When they finished eating, Snape paid for their meal and followed Freddie outside.
"I have to get back to the castle. Are you going to finish your school shopping?" he asked.
"Yeah, I think the bookstore should have cleared out some by now. I'll see you later?"
"Yes," he said, pulling her close and, after looking around, gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "See you ate home."
He let go of her cloak and Disapparated. Freddie smiled to herself and put her hood up. She picked up her cauldron of stuff and headed up the street.
She stopped outside of Borgin and Burke's and, after thinking a minute, decided to go in. She hadn't been in the shop in a while and she was curious to see what oddities they had for sale. She entered the shop and was dismayed to see Ryan at the counter. Fortunately he already had a customer at the counter. Freddie thought about leaving but decided against it.
It's just Ryan after all. I can handle him, she told herself. Especially without Severus here to embarrass me. I can handle Ryan and I can probably get a good deal on something if I decide to buy anything.
She walked along the shelves, looking at the items they had for sale. She was looking at a strange mirror that didn't show her reflection when she heard the man at the counter speak in a voice she recognized but couldn't identify right offhand. She glanced discreetly over her shoulder. It was a tall, well-dressed man, with long white-blonde hair.
Mr Malfoy, she realized. One of her uncle's friends from the ministry, who he invited to his fancy dinner parties. Freddie grimaced and turned away, wishing she'd left when she had a chance.
"Thank you young Mr Burke," Malfoy said, shaking Ryan's hand. "Give your uncle my best."
"Of course. Thank you, Mr Malfoy."
Malfoy turned to go and Freddie kept her eyes on the mirror in front of her, hoping he wouldn't notice her.
"Winifred Gray?"
Crap.
"Mr Malfoy," she said, turning to face him with a forced smile.
"Good to see you, Miss Gray. How's your uncle?" he asked, taking her hand and kissing it. She tried not to flinch at his cold lips on her skin.
"I, um, wouldn't know sir," she said, pulling her hand away. "I moved out last month."
"Oh? Have you graduated Hogwarts already?" he asked, looking down at her with icy blue eyes.
"Uh, no sir, I have one more year to go, I just...it was time for me to move out," she said awkwardly.
"You're not living on your own, are you? A pretty young thing like you?"
"No sir," she said, fighting the urge to take a step back. "I'm staying with a friend."
"A friend from school?"
"Yes sir."
"Why isn't she here with you? A girl like you shouldn't be wandering about Knockturn Alley alone," he said with a creepy smile.
"He is at work and I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself," she said haughtily, staring up at him in defiance. "I am a Slytherin after all."
"That you are," he chuckled. "Well Miss Gray, should you find yourself in need of anything – money, a place to stay – feel free to call on me. I have plenty of empty rooms in my manor."
"W- aren't you married?" she asked.
She'd met his wife before, she was a pretty woman though she had a sort of pinched face.
"Narcissa would be just fine with having you stay with us. My son, Draco, starts school the year after this, he'd love to bend your ear about Hogwarts no doubt," he said with a chuckle. "Besides, we can't leave a pureblood out on the streets. We are all family, you know?"
"Right, well, I'm not 'out on the streets', Mr Malfoy, but thank you for the offer," she said, trying not to sound too bitchy. "I'll keep it in mind."
"Very well. Take care of yourself, Miss Gray. It was lovely to see you."
He kissed her hand once more before walking out the store with his cane. Freddie exhaled loudly and Ryan, who had been watching the whole interaction, began to laugh.
"You look like you wanted to hex him," he said.
"Ugh, he gives me the creeps," she said, shuddering.
"Me too, a bit," he said, coming around the counter. "Did you really move out from your uncle's?"
"Yeah it's a...long story."
"And you never wrote to me. You said you would, when you were here last year with that broody professor guy."
"Yes," she said with a brief chuckle. "Well things got a little...crazy last year. ...NEWT classes, ya know?"
"Yeah. So, the guy you're living with, he your boyfriend?"
"Yeah, sort of," she said. "Yeah."
"Lucky guy," he said with a crooked grin. "So what're you doing today, just browsing?"
"Yeah, I was getting my school things and thought I'd drop in. What's this mirror thing?" she asked.
"Oh that's a foe glass – it shows when your enemies are close by," he said, picking it up. Shadowy figures appeared in the mirror. "Cool, huh?"
"Cool," she agreed. "How much is it?"
"5 Galleons."
"Even for me?" she asked, smiling at him and batting her eyelashes.
His cheeks reddened and he grinned at her.
"Well for you, I could probably do 3 Galleons," he said, leaning against a shelf, accidentally knocking several objects to the floor. "Oops."
"I got it," Freddie said, bending to pick up what he'd knocked over.
"Wait, don't touch that necklace," he said, whipping his wand out. "It's cursed. It's killed like a dozen Muggles."
"What about this box thing?"
"That's okay to touch," he said, levitating the necklace with his wand and putting it back on the display.
"What is this anyway?" she asked, looking at the tarnished silver box. It had a Celtic design. She opened it curiously and it let out an unearthly wail.
"What the hell?" she asked, quickly closing it.
"It's a trinket box. Cursed so that only the person who puts stuff into it can take it out," he said.
"How much is it?" she asked, thinking she could put her letters to Daniel in it. She'd written things to him she wouldn't want anyone else to read, stuff about Snape.
"For you... I can do 10 Galleons for that and the foe glass together."
"Deal," she agreed. "What happens if someone else tries to take something out?"
"They go deaf. It's reversible though."
"Cool," she said, following him to the counter to pay for her things.
"You know Winnie if you ever need anything – well, I don't wanna sound creepy like Mr Malfoy, but...anyway, you know where to find me," he said, his ears red.
"No worries," she chuckled. "Thanks Ryan."
#
Freddie left Borgin and Burke's and started up the path back towards Diagon Alley. She slowed down as she realized she felt like someone was watching her. She looked around but didn't see anyone, not even the usual hooded lurkers. Still she couldn't shake the feeling. She reached into her cauldron and pulled out the foe glass. There were shadowy figures reflected there but one was getting closer. She saw the long blonde hair of Lucius Malfoy as the figure drew closer and the hair on the back of her neck stood up. She inhaled sharply, focused on the Apothecary, and Disapparated.
She appeared on the sidewalk in Diagon Alley and checked the foe glass again. Malfoy had faded back among the shadowy figures. She breathed a sigh of relief.
But he was stalking me, she thought with a chill. Malfoy was following me. What would he have done if I hadn't Disapparated?
She tried to put the thought out of her mind and walked into the Apothecary. The familiar smell of herbs and potion ingredients overwhelmed her and she immediately felt calmer.
"Good afternoon, Freddie Gray," said the witch at the counter. "Looking for anything in particular?"
"Hey Gloria," she greeted. "I need an advanced potion making kit."
"I've got them up here by the counter," she said. "So 7th year, huh? Big year. You have plans after you graduate?"
"Yeah, I have a job lined up at St Mungo's with their brewing team," she said, coming up to the counter and getting the kit.
"Oh with Andrea Hawkins?"
"Yeah, that's right."
"That's fantastic. Guess we'll be seeing you around," Gloria said, ringing up her kit.
"Yes ma'am. Thank you."
Freddie left the Apothecary and headed down the street to Flourish and Blotts. The store had emptied out significantly and she was able to get all of her books for school, as well as a few others that looked like interesting reads.
She stopped by the market before heading home, getting the things she'd need to make a chicken casserole. She'd found the recipe a while back and had been wanting to try it, now that Snape had taught her to use the oven properly.
When she arrived at home, she put the groceries up then took her cauldron of stuff upstairs. She put her school supplies in her trunk, leaving her foe glass and Addressing Animagi on her bedside table. She took the silver trinket box and cleaned it up using her wand. This time when she opened it the box didn't wail. It was lined with black velvet and had a mirror on the inside of the lid. She dug the letters to Daniel out of her trunk and put them in the box before closing it. She put it on the bedside table, behind the picture of her and Daniel. She smiled sadly at his grinning face, then stood up and headed downstairs to start working on dinner.
