Chapter Sixteen: Out Shopping
A few days later, the letters from Hogwarts arrived. Daphne raised an eyebrow when she saw how many of Lockhart's books were on the list. Gemma had been spot-on with her rumor, then. She sighed.
She looked at Fred (or George) and asked, "Do you need to get all these Lockhart books as well?"
Fred nodded. "Yeah. I guess the new teacher's a fan. I bet it's a witch," he said.
Daphne shook her head. "It's Lockhart himself," she said flatly. "Gemma — one of our Prefects — told me she'd heard rumors he would take up the post."
"Oh, that's wonderful," Mrs. Weasley said from behind her. "With such a skilled teacher, you'll probably have a fantastic year."
Daphne, who recalled Dad's opinion on Lockhart's books, simply smiled, but said nothing. It wouldn't be polite to argue with her host, after all. When she caught the others' eyes, though, she shuddered. She knew it was probably not very fair of her to judge Lockhart on the opinions of other people, but both people who'd been less than impressed with him had been people she respected a lot. That didn't mean they couldn't be wrong, of course, but still. Not helping her opinion was the fact that she'd spotted one of Lockhart's books in the kitchen, and a quick glance at the open pages had shown that ninety percent of the text had been about the man himself, with only a small paragraph devoted to actual content.
"That lot won't come cheap," George said with a quick look at his parents. "Lockhart's books are really expensive."
"Well, we'll manage," Mrs. Weasley said. "At least we won't have to worry about Ginny's things," she added with a smile at Daphne.
"Are you looking forward to Hogwarts?" Harry asked Ginny, who nodded, blushed, and put her elbow in the butter dish.
At that moment, Percy came into the kitchen. To Daphne's amusement, he was wearing his Prefect badge. It would be a bit over the top anywhere, but in this particular household, it seemed like it was almost a point of defiance. She wondered if Percy acting as formally as possible was his way of rebelling.
"Morning, all," Percy said briskly. "Lovely day."
He sat down in the only free chair, but leapt up again almost immediately, pulling from underneath him something that looked like a very old owl.
"Errol!" Ron said, taking the limp owl from Percy and extracting a letter from under his wing. "Finally. He's got Hermione's answer. I wrote to her saying we were going to rescue you from the Dursleys."
He carried Errol to a perch just inside the back door and tried to stand him on it, but Errol flopped straight off again so Ron lay him on the draining board instead, muttering, "Pathetic."
Then he ripped open Hermione's letter and read it out loud:
"Dear Ron, and Harry and Daphne if you're there,
I hope everything went all right and that Harry is okay and that you didn't do anything illegal to get him out, Ron, because that would get Harry into trouble, too. I've been really worried and if Harry is all right, will you please let me know at once, but perhaps it would be better if you used a different owl because I think another delivery might finish your one off.
I'm very busy with school work, of course, and we're going to London next Wednesday to buy my new books. Why don't we meet in Diagon Alley?
Let me know what's happening as soon as you can. Love from Hermione."
"Well, that fits in nicely, we can go and get all your things then, too," Mrs. Weasley said, starting to clear the table. "What're you all up to today?"
Harry, Ron, Fred, and George were planning to go up the hill to a small paddock the Weasleys owned. It was surrounded by trees that blocked it from view of the village below, meaning that they could practice Quidditch there, as long as they didn't fly too high.
Daphne, though, had other plans. First, she wrote to her parents — asking Harry if she could borrow Hedwig so as not to kill Errol — to ask them for the money to pay for Ginny's things. Technically, she had permission to withdraw money from Gringotts herself, but she preferred to keep her parents up-to-date on everything.
After she'd written her letter and sent Hedwig out with it, she turned to Ginny, who was rummaging through her closet behind her. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask…how come you're always so quiet around Harry? You're not like that at all when he's not around," Daphne said.
Ginny blushed. "I, er…"
"Crush?" Daphne asked with a grin.
Ginny nodded, looking horribly embarrassed.
"I doubt you're the only one," Daphne said.
"Did you…?" Ginny asked.
Daphne shook her head. "Not really. I knew he was a hero, of course, but a lot of pureblood families…well, you know what they're like," she said.
"I don't, actually," Ginny said. "My parents are pretty big on only telling us what they think we should know, especially Mum. It's never really stopped any of us from finding things out, of course, but I honestly don't know that much about pureblood families other than that they don't like Muggles most of the time."
"They don't like anything, much. They like money and power, basically. Of course, they're not all like that, but a lot of them are," Daphne said. "So of course, they don't like Harry, either. I was interested in meeting him, knowing I'd be in the same year as him, but nothing more."
"How– how did you become friends?" Ginny asked.
"Our teacher was being a bully and I told him to stop," Daphne said. "And a bit later I happened to meet Hermione, who was also sort of friends with Harry and Ron at the time, and it just…grew from there. The fight with the mountain troll helped, though I didn't do much in that. It was more like the three of them saved me from the troll."
"A fight with a troll? And you got your skull cracked, too…what kind of place is Hogwarts?" Ginny wondered.
Daphne grimaced. "I don't want to scare you before you go there. Honestly, most of the time it's pretty fun. As long as you don't get caught up in anything crazy, you'll probably be fine."
Ginny smiled weakly. "So far I think I'd do better fighting a troll than talking to Harry. When I see him I just…feel so awkward."
Daphne grinned at her. "Just give it a try. I'm sure you'll be able to do it in no time," she said.
The next Wednesday, they got up early to head over to Diagon Alley to buy their stuff. Mrs. Weasley took a flowerpot from the kitchen mantelpiece and peered inside.
"We're running low, Arthur," she sighed. "We'll have to buy some more today… Ah well, guests first! After you, Daphne dear!"
Daphne grabbed a pinch of Floo powder, threw it into the fire, and stepped in.
"Diagon Alley!" she said, and a short, uncomfortable trip later she stepped out of the fireplace of the Leaky Cauldron to wait for the others.
She'd expected Harry to be the next one out, but Fred and George were first.
"Harry's never used Floo powder," Fred explained. "So he's getting some instructions now. He'll be here in a moment…hopefully."
But the next people who came through were Ron, Percy, Mr. Weasley, Ginny, and finally Mrs. Weasley.
"Oh dear," Mr. Weasley said. "Harry must've taken the wrong exit, then. Come on, we'll go and collect him, he won't be far."
But Harry wasn't in the next hearth, nor the one after that. Which each place they checked, Daphne was beginning to get more worried. Where had Harry ended up? It really was just like him to get himself lost on what should've been a simple trip, and she felt an irrational anger to the Muggles who'd raised him. If he'd just been raised by wizards, he would've known how Floo powder worked and he wouldn't be lost now.
Of course, Harry was resourceful and could take care of himself — if Voldemort couldn't stop him, she doubted he had much to worry about here — but it still bothered her that the simplest part of the day had somehow gone wrong. She wasn't superstitious, but it felt like a bad omen for the rest of the day.
They eventually found Harry with Hermione and Hagrid near the steps of Gringotts.
"Harry," Mr. Weasley panted. "We hoped you'd only gone one grate too far…Molly's frantic, she's coming now…"
"Where did you come out?" Ron asked.
"Knockturn Alley," Hagrid said grimly, and a chill went down Daphne's back.
She'd never been to Knockturn Alley herself, but she knew it was filled with places dedicated to dark magic. Of all the places for Harry to have ended up, it was by far the most dangerous one. While Ron and the others were envious of Harry's short excursion, Daphne was just glad he hadn't run into any serious trouble.
"Guess who I saw in Borgin and Burkes?" Harry said as they climbed the stairs to Gringotts. "Malfoy and his father."
"Did Lucius Malfoy buy anything?" Mr. Weasley said sharply behind them.
"No, he was selling…"
"So he's worried." Mr. Weasley said with grim satisfaction. "Oh, I'd love to get Lucius Malfoy for something…"
Daphne felt troubled. This was exactly why Harry ending up in Knockturn Alley was so dangerous. Out in the open, Lucius Malfoy would never be dumb enough to try and harm Harry Potter, but in Knockturn Alley, he didn't have to pretend, and there were so many petty criminals there that it would be easy to make something look like an accident.
She was distracted from her dark thoughts by meeting up with Hermione's parents, who were standing at the counter waiting for Hermione to introduce them. Mr. Weasley was so excited about meeting Muggles that Daphne laughed in spite of her worry just a few moments before.
They left Hermione and her parents to exchange their money, while a Gringotts goblin led her, Harry, and Ron to their vaults. Daphne felt a bit sick after the cart ride down, but felt even worse when she saw the contents of the Weasleys' vault, which contained only a small pile of Sickles and a single Galleon.
She saw that Harry felt just as bad, and when they reached his vault, she could see why. Harry hastily scooped the coins he'd need into his bag and tried to shield the rest of his wealth from view.
They went down even deeper underground to reach the Greengrass vault, and when it opened, even Harry was amazed at how much money there was. Daphne didn't even try to hide the contents of the vault. There was so much gold that it was almost too bright to look at.
Ron looked a bit green, and somehow Daphne didn't think it was because of the wild cart ride.
Back outside, they separated. Daphne pushed some money into Mrs. Weasley's hand. "Oh, dear, that's a bit–"
"Exactly enough, right? Okay, see you at Flourish and Blotts in an hour," Daphne interrupted, then quickly pulled Harry, Hermione, and Ron with her and set off in a random direction before Mrs. Weasley could give her back the money.
"No time for subtlety, then?" Harry said with an amused look.
"I just hope she'll actually use it," Daphne said with a shake of her head.
"Must be nice, having so much money," Ron said enviously.
"Ron, you know we would–" Harry began.
"I know, I know. Trust me, mate, I'm not blaming you or Daphne for having money and wanting to share it. I just wish my parents had a bit more, too, is all."
"I can understand them valuing their pride, though," Daphne said. "They're living a certain way because of their beliefs, and they accept the consequences, even though those consequences are completely stupid and shouldn't be there in the first place. My father admires your parents for it."
Ron shrugged. "Yeah, well, pride doesn't really pay for new things," he said.
Daphne and Harry exchanged an uneasy glance, but in the fun they had afterwards eating ice cream and exploring Diagon Alley, they didn't think much more about money.
When they approached Flourish and Blotts an hour later, they weren't the only ones. There was a massive crowd outside, and a large banner across the upper windows told them why.
GILDEROY LOCKHART
Will be signing copies of his autobiography
MAGICAL ME
Today 12:30P.M. to 4:30P.M.
"We can actually meet him!" Hermione squealed. "I mean, he's written almost the whole booklist!"
"Well, yeah, he's the teacher," Daphne said, realizing that Hermione hadn't been present when she told the others about it.
"He is?! Ooh, it will be so great to be taught by someone with so much experience!"
Daphne didn't have the heart to tell Hermione to temper her optimism, and by Harry and Ron's bemused looks, they didn't either. But this would be a nice opportunity to see the man in action before meeting him at Hogwarts. Maybe she'd be able to assess a bit of his skills by looking at the way he interacted with the people in the store.
They squeezed past the — predominantly female and middle-aged — crowd, each grabbed a copy of their new spell book, and joined the queue where the other Weasleys were standing with Hermione's parents.
"Oh, there you are, good," Mrs. Weasley said. She sounded breathless and kept patting her hair. "We'll be able to see him in a minute."
Slowly but surely, Daphne began to catch glimpses of Lockhart, who seemed to be surrounded by pictures of his own face. An annoyed photographer was dancing around taking photographs, nearly bowling Ron over when he moved back for a better shot.
"Out of the way, there! This is for the Daily Prophet," he snarled.
"Big deal," Ron said, rubbing his foot.
Gilderoy Lockhart heard him and looked up. He spotted Ron — and then Harry standing next to him.
He stared for a moment, then leapt up to his feet and shouted, "It can't be Harry Potter?!"
The crowd parted, and Lockhart dived forward to grab Harry by the arm and pulling him along.
"Hey, you leave him–" Daphne began, but Ron grabbed her arm and held her back.
"Don't make things worse for Harry," he muttered.
Gritting her teeth, Daphne watched how an extremely uncomfortable Harry was photographed from every angle, while Lockhart brightly smiled into the camera.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Lockhart said loudly, keeping Harry close to him by putting an arm around his shoulders. "What an extraordinary moment this is! The perfect moment for me to make a little announcement I've been sitting on for some time!"
Lockhart prattled on, and with each word he said Daphne hated him more. The man radiated an ego that would be considered obscene even by most Noble Houses, and when he announced that he would be Hogwarts's new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, she sighed in resignation.
For having been a prop in Lockhart's publicity stunt, Harry was gifted the entire set of books, which he immediately dumped into Ginny's new cauldron, presumably to tell her he'd buy his own set.
Despite the moment, she grinned. Harry had a found a way to be charitable after all, it would seem.
"Bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter?" a voice Daphne had hoped not to hear until Hogwarts said.
Draco Malfoy stood nearby, sneering at Harry.
"Famous Harry Potter. Can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page."
"Leave him alone, he didn't want all that!" Ginny said.
Daphne nodded in appreciation. If Ginny hadn't spoken up, she would have.
"Potter, you've got yourself a girlfriend," Malfoy drawled.
Ginny went bright red.
Ron and Hermione, who'd been collecting their own books, fought their way over as well, and Daphne realized she hadn't even gotten her own books yet. Oh well, they could wait.
"Oh, it's you," Ron said, looking at Malfoy as if he were something unpleasant on the sole of his shoe. "Bet you're surprised to see Harry here, eh?"
"Not as surprised as I am to see you in a shop, Weasley," Malfoy retorted. "I suppose your parents will go hungry for a month to pay for all those."
Ron went as red as Ginny and wanted to go towards Malfoy, but Harry and Hermione held him back.
Daphne, however, wasn't being held back. "So what are you doing here, then? Are you training to be your father's new House-Elf, considering you're not good for much else?" she said.
Malfoy whirled around. "Greengrass. Why doesn't it surprise me to see you hanging around these–"
Malfoy was cut off by Mr. Weasley arriving. "Ron! What are you doing? It's too crowded in here, let's go outside."
"Well, well, well…Arthur Weasley."
Lucius Malfoy had arrived, and Daphne was beginning to feel like this was some kind of fated meeting. What were the odds of everyone arriving at once, and why was Lucius Malfoy acting like a chance meeting in a bookstore was a monumental occasion worthy of note?
"Lucius," Mr. Weasley said with a cold nod.
"Busy time at the Ministry, I hear. All those raids, I hope they're paying you overtime?"
He reached into Ginny's cauldron and pulled out a book — and was evidently surprised to see that it was new. Daphne wanted to smirk, but then Lucius noticed her standing there and said, "Ah, I guess you've been sponsoring the Weasleys. How charitable of Edmund to give to the needy. He always had a soft spot for freaks. I guess he passed it onto his daughter. Tragic, really. The Greengrass family used to be of good stock."
Daphne opened her mouth to reply, but Lucius had already turned back to Mr. Weasley. Draco smirked at her and Daphne glowered at him.
"Dear me, what is the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if you need a twelve-year-old girl to show pity on you?" Lucius asked.
Mr. Weasley flushed darker than either Ron or Ginny. "We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy," he said.
"Clearly," Lucius said, with a disdainful look at Hermione's parents, who were watching from a distance. "The company you keep, Weasley…and I thought your family could sink no lower."
Mr. Weasley launched himself at Lucius, causing Lucius to let go of Draco's shoulder.
Seeing her chance, Daphne dived in as well. Draco clearly didn't expect this, because he tripped and fell backwards. Daphne didn't hesitate and punched him, but Draco recovered quickly and began to fight back. Daphne's face stung from Draco's flailing blow, but she didn't care.
She wanted to hit him again, but then someone pulled her off of him like a ragdoll.
"Yeh too, Daphne. Yeh shouldn't let him get ter yeh like that," Hagrid said.
She hadn't even heard him approaching, so focused had she been on hitting Malfoy. He had a bruised eye from her first punch, and by the feel of it she had a nosebleed. Mr. Weasley had cut lip, and Lucius had a puffy eye, but by the looks of it wasn't the result of a punch.
Lucius had somehow held onto Ginny's Transfiguration book and thrust it back at her. "Here, girl. Take your book. It's the best your father can give you."
He beckoned Draco, who was giving a murderous glare to Daphne, and swept from the shop.
Hagrid turned to Mr. Weasley and Daphne. "Honestly, yeh two shoulda known better," he said. "Rotten ter the core, the whole family, everyone knows that. No Malfoy's worth listenin' ter. Bad blood, that's what it is. Come on now, let's get outta here."
The shop assistant seemed to want to keep them from leaving, so Daphne gestured at him and said, "I'll pay for the damages, okay? That was worth it."
A bit unwillingly, the man nodded.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked Daphne as they stepped outside.
She felt her nose. "I don't think it's broken. Just a small cut, probably."
"A cut?" Mrs. Weasley, who'd been giving Mr. Weasley an angry speech, said.
"Oh, dear, did you get hit during the brawl?"
Daphne wanted to tell the truth, but from the corner of her eye she saw Ron nodding furiously.
"N-er, yes. Er, a book, maybe?" she said.
Mrs. Weasley took out her wand. "I'll fix that for you, here. Episkey!"
Daphne's nose felt very hot, then very cold, and it didn't hurt anymore. By the feel of it, it wasn't bleeding anymore.
"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley," Daphne said.
"It's nothing, dear," Mrs. Weasley said fondly.
Then she turned back to Mr. Weasley. "Arthur! You even got our guest tangled up in your…"
"Won't your Dad get more trouble, now?" Daphne asked Ron.
Ron shrugged. "Maybe, but you don't want my Mum to preach at you. Dad can handle it, he's heard more of them than he can count. Nice punch, by the way. I think he felt that."
Daphne grinned. "I hope so."