Chapter 5) Collateral

Selected Listening: A Lack of Color- Death Cab for Cutie

Author's Note: I had to hold some space for myself to be upset yesterday. Sending good vibes to those who are also frustrated with the events of this week. Know that you are magical, and we'll get through this together.

Over the next few days, Anastasia and Harry saw more of their friends as they trickled in to buy school supplies. Neville, Seamus, Dean, Lavender, and the Patel twins, all passed by to say hello, and while they treated Harry as fondly as they had in the past, they all had different reactions to Anastasia's presence.

The Patels said hi quickly and skirted along to pick up their ice cream without staying to make conversation. Lavender hung around asking awkward questions and talking way too much before she finally left without getting anything. Dean had the kindness to ask if she was okay and tried to reassure her that things would blow over as they always did in the news.

Seamus appeared next and stopped to talk to them both with a friendly smile. He angled himself towards Harry when he spoke about the upcoming year, but his eyes flickered warily back to Anastasia as he spoke.

"What?" Anastasia asked. "Do I have something on my face?"

"Mum said Dumbledore's a creep to participate in that research…that anything that came out of that research is…unnatural…especially if there's an obscurus involved."

Anastasia felt like he had punched her in the stomach. Draco had been right. Even her Gryffindor friends had their opinions of her altered by the news.

"Dumbledore's not a creep!" Harry shouted as he stood. "And Anastasia's not unnatural."

Seamus held up his hands and took a few steps back from Harry.

"I don't think that…of course…but mum does," he clarified. Anastasia lifted her eyes to him.

"Good to know," she said flatly.

"Sorry, I um—shouldn't have said anything. Sorry to have angered you…please don't hurt me," he muttered and ran into the shop.

"The gall of him, really!" Harry complained.

"Don't worry about standing up for me, Harry," she told him. "I'm prepared now. I don't need you to stick up for me. I'm sure it will be happening all year, just like Malfoy said."

Harry sunk down on the bench beside her.

Neville, who was significantly more kind than Seamus, bothered to ask how she was doing, to which she gave a polite and expected reply of, "I'm fine."

Harry shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"Are you sure? Because they really haven't been kind to you or professor—"

"Neville, I said I'm fine. Please, just drop it."

"If you ever need someone to talk to, let me know," he said. Anastasia smiled.

"You're not afraid my obscurus will rub off on you?" she asked genuinely. Neville shrugged.

"Honestly, it would be good to have any sort of magic rub off on me. Gran would genuinely appreciate it, would probably send you some fruit cake."

At this, Anastasia couldn't help but laugh.

Draco and his cronies still appeared every day, and every day they pretended not to notice each other.

"You're doing it again," Harry said, as he looked through his essay again for spelling mistakes.

"Doing what?" Anastasia asked.

"You're gripping your quill like bloody murder and not moving at all."

Anastasia looked down she was in fact doing just that. She hadn't noticed.

"Oh," she said, and tried to continue proofing her page, but she couldn't think straight until Draco and company had come back out of the shop and left the other way.

On the day before term, while Harry and Anastasia were eating breakfast, a large crowd of gingers stormed through the fireplace of the Leaky Cauldron.

"Harry!" George yelled.

"Anastasia!" yelled Fred.

"Is that Anastasia over there?" Molly asked, following behind the twins. The twins hugged them first in turn, and then Molly approached her and took both hands in hers.

"My dear, I am so sorry to hear what all has come out in the papers. I cannot believe what Albus put you through."

"Oh, it really wasn't his fault…" Anastasia explained.

"Don't bother—" said Fred.

"We've been telling her the reporters have exaggerated for months. She doesn't believe us," clarified George.

"The twins are right, they're making a really big deal out of nothing," Anastasia tried again. Molly patted her hands.

"Course they are, dear. Still, if you should ever need a place to stay for the holidays you can always stay with us…"

"Molly, leave the poor girl alone," Arthur said as he pulled away from hugging Harry and turned to Anastasia. "I'm sure Dumbledore had his reasons, right? We owe a lot to him, our family. I have no doubt that the papers are quite mistaken."

"Yes. Yes, sir," Anastasia replied. Arthur smiled and hugged her around the shoulders.

"See, Molly. Now stop smothering her."

He didn't have to tell her twice, as she was already smothering Harry.

"Ooh, it's so good to see you!" Molly said as she squeezed Harry in a great hug.

"Oi!" Ron said, holding Scabbers, "Mum, stop, you're going to kill him."

Molly finally let go of Harry and he took a deep breath.

"Hey, Stasia," Ron said with a half-grimace and moved on to talking to Harry.

Anastasia wondered what Ron was thinking. Had he also believed what he read in the papers? Was he afraid of her now too?

She wasn't given long to wonder, as a gentle tap on her shoulder made her spin and squeal.

"Hermione!" she yelled as she hugged her, "It's so good to see you."

"It's good to see you too," Hermione replied, "Are you okay? The papers have been horrible."

Anastasia shrugged.

"It's all out there now. Nothing more to hide."

Hermione gave her a sad look as her parents came up to greet everyone. Anastasia hadn't seen the Grangers since their trip to Australia the year before. They had been so good to her and greeted her just as warmly as they passed her around for more hugs.

Once everyone was properly greeted, the groups broke out to do their own shopping in the alley. Fred and George went to go find Lee Jordan. Percy went to find Penelope. Ginny stuck coyly to Molly. This left the four usual suspects to complete their shopping together.

As always, Diagon Alley was bustling with students arriving to gather their supplies and prepare for the year. The main things Hermione and Ron needed were their schoolbooks, so they returned to Flourish and Blotts, where the owner had dawned a pair of thick gloves for fetching one Monster Book of Monsters after another.

For a few minutes, Anastasia wandered the aisles. She examined the books on flying and alchemy. It was then that the shop bell clanged and a shadow filled the doorway. Anastasia looked up and spotted a familiar flash of blond. She froze, staring intensely at the book spines in front of her.

Don't talk to me, she thought. Don't even look at me.

Anastasia prayed Draco would leave her alone as he had been that entire week, and maybe for all of time. She heard his footsteps walk to the other side of the shelf that she was crouched beside. He filed through some things, paused, ruffling through pages.

Then the door clanged again, and two bumbling Slytherins entered.

"Malfoy!" Crabbe called.

"Why are you here?" Goyle asked.

Anastasia heard the distinct thump of a book against another before Draco turned and began shouting at them.

"I was looking for you two! Didn't I tell you we'd meet here today?"

The two friends were silent for a minute.

"No," Goyle answered dumbly.

"We always meet in front of the quidditch shop," Crabbe corrected.

"Well, it seems you didn't hear me. Now let's go!" Draco said and shuffled them out the door away from the books of interest.

Once they were gone, Anastasia darted around the shelf and found a solid black book with gold lettering, slightly tilted, on top of a collection of books on magical house pests.

Pureblood Law and You by Nebula Selwyn

Anastasia picked up the volume and opened the front cover. Some of the contents included Family Wards; Marriage and Interfamily Agreements; Black Sheep- Failures and Traitors; and Eternally Binding: Revising Ancient Wards.

Anastasia frowned at the book and wondered why Draco would need it.

"Anastasia, you need to see this," Hermione appeared behind her, holding a magazine on top of her textbook stack. Anastasia took the glossy-paged Witches Weekly dated for August. Narcissa graced the front page, standing strongly in front of a sea of reporters. It was a picture from her press conference, and a subtitle noted the story on Page 5.

Anastasia flipped to the page to see a picture of what looked like Narcissa walking through a hospital and trying to avoid interviews. There was also a picture of the doctor giving the original press conference at the Ministry of Magic.

Pureblood Pandemonium

The Malfoy family was once considered one of the strongest Pureblood families of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. Being prominent in the pureblood political scene, the family was considered an honored cornerstone for traditionalist wizarding values.

While most pureblood witches are involved solely in household management, Narcissa Malfoy broke the mold by becoming a doctor for witches' health and researcher of wizarding genealogy. Although Lucius Malfoy originally claimed he was proud of his wife's achievements, he has yet to give comment following Narcissa's latest press conference where she revealed her innovations in neonatal sciences surrounding the birth of Anastasia Dumbledore.

"One thing is clear," writes reporter Willa Tarnish of our investigative division, "Lucius knew nothing of his wife's true pursuits in witches' medicine." Narcissa originally claimed she hid her findings for so long—thirteen years to be exact—because she feared Lord Voldemort's wrath against her family, but why continue to hide them after the death of the dark wizard? There is one obvious answer, she feared her husband's disapproval.

The article went on to speculate about what else she might be hiding from Lucius including affairs and nasty bouts with the dark arts.

"Well that partially explains this." She handed the magazine back to Hermione and showed her the book. "Draco was just about to buy it."

"Whatever it is, he's preparing for the worst," Hermione replied. "Maybe they're divorcing."

Anastasia sighed glumly.

"No wonder he's been such a jerk lately…" Anastasia said. "…if I hadn't come out of hiding everything would be fine."

Hermione scowled.

"It's not your fault, Anastasia. It's his mum's fault for not telling the truth sooner, and it's his dad's fault for being a purist prat. And if he doesn't see it, he's as a big of a twat as they are…but we already knew that, didn't we?" she asked flippantly.

Anastasia smiled at her best friend, and then looked back down at the book. Hermione was right. No matter what, Draco was a self-serving individual. He wasn't her friend any longer, but friend or not, he accepted bribes. If there were to be a reason why they would argue in the future, it wouldn't hurt her to have some sort of collateral…or a peace offering.

Anastasia bought the book.