Diagon Alley was for the most part quite the interesting place. Zelen hasn't even set a single foot inside, yet his eyes let him see past the enchanted brick wall. To see rows and rows of shops and an incredible multitude of people was not something he desired. To make matters worse, the enchanted light was constructed and enchanted in such a way as to replicate sunlight, potentially able to burn them if they weren't careful. It wasn't an understatement to say that today was definitely not his day.
"Ter enter yeh on'y need ter push the bricks in this order," Said Hagrid as he methodically pushed the bricks with his umbrella. Once done the bricks started reconfiguring themselves until a gate opened up for the wizards to cross through. Curious about the development, Zelen decided to give a closer look to the umbrella, but to his surprise he could only see a blurry line protecting the interior. Lines that gave him an increasing headache, one that he recognized as the reflection of the eyes of that girl Ryougi.
Zelen definitely wasn't of humor to inquire why a pink umbrella of all things was guarded by what seemed like death, and to be honest he didn't care all that much. Instead he continued walking into the alley full of wizards, both novice and expert alike crowded around the shops. The back-to-school sale.
"Hagrid?, may I inquire on where to ask for a credit?" Zelen asked as they walked. "I'm not holding any wizarding money at the moment. Considering the last time I worked for a wizard was almost twenty years ago, I'm not confident that the currency I have will be up to date."
Hagrid looked at Zelen with a sad expression, until it suddenly lights up. Seeing his expression change in such a cartoony way was almost comical to the young Harry, but his smile hadn't changed.
"If yeh have problems with money I can help!" Hagrid said. "Me expenses are normally covered by the school so I have more 'n enough money ter finance a firs' year" Hagrid's proud and happy smile shocked Harry. For one the people he had seen on the way to Diagon Alley were more than just gloomy. Perhaps his worry for Tachie kept his eyes on her, but he hadn't noticed any smiling person all this time, yet here was this Hagrid happy as they can be whilst helping them.
Tachie was the one to answer this time "Thank you Hagrid. I'm sorry for all of our worrying, but we will be sure to fairly compensate you. We only need to find another job for either Father or myself." Hagrid smiled in his most gentle manner as they continued walking, now inside of a place called "Gringotts".
"If yeh need a job yeh may wan' ter take the charge o' caretaker in Hogwarts. Filch retired at the end o' las year an' the place is still vacant." As he finished, they finally got to a strange creature that looked at them in the same way a man looks at a particularly grotesque vermin.
"Is there something I can help you with, Mister Hagrid?" The words of the strange creature were soft spoken and gentle but his face kept the same look of disgust. It took Harry some time to figure out it wasn't looking at him nor Hagrid, but at his family. Perhaps it had some feud with Dead Apostles in general?
"I wan' ter retire 200 galleons from me vault, fast if it's possible," Hagrid said. The goblin only waved at another one behind him. It seems not a single one of the goblins wanted to be anywhere close to the bloodsuckers any longer than they had to.
Hagrid only needed to wait a few minutes and there it was, an unassuming bag with Hagrid's money. It was looking good for all it was worth, but in a twist of fate the chime of a clock sounded all around the bank. Hagrid perked his head upwards and swore under his breath.
"I'm late! Yeh guys keep the money, but be sure ta' use it wisely. See ya in Hogwarts!" And with that said the mountain of a man started running as fast as he could, bumping into bystanders as he did so.
For one, Harry was confused. Yes, the amount of money they were given should be quite significant. School supplies have never been cheap, especially at Hogwarts. But for Hagrid to just give away all of that? As Harry's confusion only grew his father interjected.
"Well Harry, next we need to-" Another chime, this time from a watch in one of Zelen's pockets. The Dead Apostle took the clock and started reading something on it's back.
"You have got to be kiding me, you stupid Wizard Marshall…" Reigning in his temper, he turned to the boy. "Sorry Harry, I have to go. That damned Zelretch is calling me and you know he doesn't take kindly to voice calls. Just-just go and buy everything with Tachie. Don't spend a single cent on anything that isn't on the list, okay?" And as fast as the ticking of the second hand, the Dead Apostle vanished in a myriad of twinkling lights. Harry recognized the Kaleidoscope, the dimension hopping magic that Father's boss used. Supposedly it's a Magic with a capital "M", a power so strong and rare that only the boss had ever achieved it. Not like Harry cared all that much about it.
That's when it fell on Harry that he was alone with his sister in a place he had never seen before. In that moment he began to realize how fresh he was to all of this, like a fish out of water.
"Tachie? Uhh where do we buy the robes?" It was an easy question, or it would be if Tachie had ever bought anything. Having been supplied food by their creators when she was human, and blood by Zelretch since she became a bloodsucker, had made things far too awkward for her likeness.
"I...think we should go by the names of the shops," she stated apprehensively. "At least one of them will be an indicator of what it's selling. From there we can go ask the staff." It was a sound plan and one that they began executing immediately, going outside from shadow to shadow until they found a place called "Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions".
When they entered a somewhat pudgy but well kept lady greeting them inside. She wore a green dress that followed the storybook-like clothing that most wizards seemed to use.
"Is there anything I could help you with? Maybe Hogwarts uniforms for a first and fifth year?" Her tone was as afable as Hagrid was, though it felt less genuine in her case. Most likely because she worked in retail.
"I would like a first year uniform for my brother," Mash said as they both walked up to the counter. "And to clarify, I'm not a Hogwarts student. I just look that age."
The woman nodded at her. "Just wait there with him. I'll have you measured up in a few minutes." She pointed in the direction of a boy that was waiting on a couch reading what Harry assumed to be a wizard magazine. Mash seated herself on the opposite side of the couch with Harry deciding to sit relatively close to the young boy.
Once he sat down, the boy instantly took notice of him. He was pale-skinned with blonde hair, dressed in a dark green wizard's robe.
"Well, hello there," he said. "I assume you are here to attend Hogwarts as well." His tone was somewhat presumptuous and sure of himself, a stark contrast to the way Hagrid talked. Why did he think of himself as such, Harry wondered to himself. He was just a child and as such he shouldn't have been able to do much.
"Yes, I am going to begin my studies at Hogwarts," The eye under Mash's bang's twitched at his response. It wasn't a good thing for Harry to talk with a wizard, at least from her perspective.
"My father is buying my books next door. Say, where are yours?"
"My parents died. My biological parents that is. I think that they were murdered but I don't remember it all too clearly. My adoptive dad is working right now. His boss had just called him outside of his work hours and he had to go." The boy raised a brow at the way Harry talked in such a detached way of his biological parents absence.
"I'm sorry for your loss," the boy said. "At least they were of our kind, right?"
His question confused Harry for a second. "Our" kind? It took a full second for Harry's mind to click.
"Oh, right. They were wizards, though that is all I know about them. Apparently my adoptive father doesn't like them, and my sister is quite resentful of them." The boy was completely confused now. This boy didn't care for his wizardly heritage? A strange sight to say the least.
"I see. Well, I don't think people born of muggles should even so much as go to Hogwarts. Most of them just aren't raised properly, and some of them haven't even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter! Oh right, I forgot to ask for your surname. Mine's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy" As Draco held out his hand to shake, Harry only saw fit to answer his questions.
"I was raised in the house of Kyrielight, though my name is the one of my birth parents. As such," Harry held out his hand as well, "call me Potter. Harry Potter." Draco absentmindedly took the boy's hand in his as Mash stared with an intense gaze, but his mind only grew curiouser. Kyrielight was certainly a Wizard house but he couldn't pin down where he heard it. The Kyrielight House certainly never came to one of his birthdays. But the thing that intrigued him the most was his name.
"You are Harry Potter? The kidnapped boy who lived?" Draco's question was certainly agitated in comparison to his earlier statements, but even then he seemed to get some of his composure.
While Potter has never been a portrait of elegance, right now he was starting to become one of nervousness, he didn't want to keep making his sister stressed as she was but neither did he want to be impolite to Draco, he wanted to cut the conversation but didn't know how.
"I wasn't aware of my… title" Harry's words came as ashamed of himself, he could infer the why of the "kidnapped" part, he knew that his mother's promise of taking care of him wasn't public and even his adopted family didn't knew of that, in such a sense his surprise adoption only to disappear into the woods did seem like a kidnapping, what he didn't know was the why of the "Boy who lived".
"You tell me your parents didn't even tell you that you survived the death curse? Such a thing is preposterous to-" Draco was cut mid-speech by Mash in a slightly veiled anger.
"Excuse my rudeness young Draco but I am in front of you, doesn't it speak horribly about your upbringing to badmouth people in front of them?" Her face was contorted into an obviously fake smile that gave Harry fear, the last time she had such a face was when she attacked whoever was that entered their mansion without permission.
But young Draco didn't know that, instead he looked slightly ashamed for projecting such a bad image of his family, they were after all pure-blooded wizards and their thoughts do count, but Draco wasn't just going to be ashamed, he had to put a good front for the family he held so dear. Regrettably such a thing won't be possible.
"Young Malfoy, your robes are finished, you may try them" It was with that calling that the young heir of the Malfoy House bowed and said.
"Pardon my manners, I'll be back" He quickly went away in a hurried pace, he seemed more than a little ashamed of himself which Harry found endearing, behind his weirdly preposterous attitude and his strange ways he was afterall a boy that liked and had his family in high esteem. Harry was happy with such an observation, something which irked Mash to some extent.
"Hey Tachie, why were you so mean towards Draco?" Harry's question made her sigh with what appeared like sadness, a sadness that Harry didn't understand.
"Because he is a pure wizard, one in every aspect and as such... It doesn't matter, I'll explain it to you later if I ever do it" The Vampire didn't elaborate any further and Harry was too intimidated by her to try to prove questions, if there was something he didn't want to do it was to make her sister angry. But low and behold their silence was broken by madam the same puffy witch that attended them before.
"Your robes are done! Would you come here to try them if-" And once again she was cut by the vampire in an increasingly angrier tone.
"We will pay and take the robes if you don't care" Her expression failed to give her even a deadpan.
And after paying for the robes they didn't even wait for their change.
"Damn her and everyone on this avenue, if it was for me I would just burn Zelretch and be done with this promise" Mash continued to curse towards nobody in particular when she bumped into someone, before she could continue her cursing streak a familiar voice raised its volume.
"I thought I teached you to not curse out in the open" Zelen's voice was clear as day and Mash instantly took a defensive stance, her left arm raised and her right arm starting to grasp a weapon that was nowhere to be seen. Zelen's face contorted in what could only be called an expression of pain and continued his monologue.
"Perhaps I raised you wrong if this is your reaction, nevertheless I got better things to do than to reprimand you in public, Zelretch already has bought all the needed things apart from the wand so it would be for the best if we bought that and got the hell out of here" Zelen didn't look happy with anything, while such a thing wasn't uncommon Harry didn't like to see both of them being perpetually annoyed.
Why is it that they are so angry at wizards being wizards?
And this is the awaited second chapter! Sorry for the wait but life, inspiration and more got in the way, the next fic I'm gonna update is probably going to be the Yugioh 5D's with fate one, though once I reread the things I have I may decide to just rewrite it all.
Anyway I hope you all liked the fic and have good vacations! Wish me luck for the PDT so that I may enter a good university.