Summer Visits and Muggles at Hogwarts
Chapter 7: Enter Malfoy
Quickly dusting themselves off, Harry and the rest of them were greeted by Tom, the bartender, in a friendly acknowledgement. "Hey Professor, Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, Lupin, Tonks, Mad-Eye. What brings you all here together? Can I get you guys anything?"
"No thanks Tom," McGonagall replied, "We are here for school supplies, nothing more. If you will excuse us we will be on our way." As they headed toward the back the others said friendly good-byes to Tom and after McGonagall opened the wall, and received surprised gasps form the Dursley's at the magically shifting wall, they all entered into Diagon Alley. Ron and Harry exchanged smirks with Tonks at the looks of shock, amazement, and utter disbelief on the faces of the Dursley's, whose eyes were bulging out of their heads.
Lupin was just about to speak, but was cut of by a voice shouting over the crowd, "Potter! Weasley! Granger!" The three aforementioned people looked sharply to their right to see Draco Malfoy approaching them quickly from said direction.
When he stood in front of them Ron asked, "What do you want Malfoy?"
"I want to talk to you guys," he said, no sign of malice in his tone of voice.
Regardless of now knowing Draco's position with his godfather, Harry harshly replied, "You just did now sod off!"
"Potter for once in you life shut up an listen to me. Please," Draco nearly begged, and showed no signs of being effected by the harsh words that were thrown unrelentingly at him. Not wanting an argument to occur, Ginny stepped forward and regarded him curiously. She nearly gasped in surprise when she saw the hurt, anger, and pleading buried deep in his cloudy gray gaze.
Quickly looking over at McGonagall, who slightly inclined her head in a nod, Ginny said, "Alright Malfoy, you have five minutes. Start talking."
"Can we go somewhere else more private maybe? Like corner in the Leaky Cauldron perhaps? I'd rather not discuss such a delicate matter such as this out here alright?" Not waiting to hear a response he headed toward said location.
"Fine," she replied to his back and ushered them toward the back entrance of the pub where they followed Draco to a deserted corner. They weren't a second to late because at the same moment Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy had rounded the corner and were now approaching Professor McGonagall and the others.
"Professor. Just one of the people Narcissa and myself were looking for," came the smooth voice of Lucius Malfoy, when he and Narcissa came up to them, seeming to partially acknowledge the presence of the others. "Lupin, Moody, and my dear Nymphadora, how delightful to see you again. How is life treating you? Well I hope. I mean you are family after all, it's only proper that I should be concerned about you well-being and ask," he added and let a smirk take over his face when his only answer was a glare. Turning to the Dursley's he added, "I am afraid I do not know you rather odd looking people. May I inquire as to who you are and where you dwell from?"
Seeming to not notice the insult, Vernon replied, "We are the Dursley's, Harry's relatives. We are from Surrey. I'm Vernon, I work for Grunnings Drills, you should buy one sometime, they're very reliable you know. And this," he raddled on, not noticing the brief look of disgust pass across Lucius' face from willingly associating himself with muggles, "is my wife Petunia and my son Dudley. He goes to Smeltings; it's a very high rated school, only for the best," he finished, looking proud.
Smirking slightly and barley inclining his head in their direction he drawled, "Charmed. Muggles I see. However you must forgive me, as it is nowhere near my disposition to associate with those such as yourselves. Now Professor, what we wanted to discuss with you…"
"Yes Mr. Malfoy?" questioned McGonagall, her voice betraying her features by showing how agitated she had become because oh his antics.
"Well Professor this is the situation. You see, Narcissa and myself must go away on business during the week before the start of the term at Hogwarts begins and unfortunately we cant take Draco with us, and none of the family friends can take him for that week either. We were hoping that you, as Deputy Headmistress, would be able to use your position to arrange for Draco to go to Hogwarts earlier than the others students. However if that were not to be possible maybe you could arrange for some other arrangements for that time."
Pausing to think for a moment and then responding, "I'll arrange it Mr. Malfoy. Just make sure his is ready to leave, trunk and all, at 9:30 a.m. on the twenty-fourth."
Lucius nodded his head and was about to reply but was interrupted by his wife speaking up for the first time that day, saying, "Thank you very much Professor McGonagall, we are very grateful. Yet…I am afraid we have misplaced him today in Kn- Diagon Alley. Have you seen him?" Narcissa questioned, worry prominent in her voice at being unaware of the location of her only son.
"You've lost your son? Oh that's rich Narcissa. And here we all though you were the brains of your family and could never lose anything," cut in the sarcastic tone of Tonks, trying but failing to control her amusement.
Seeming slightly hurt, Narcissa replied in a quiet tone, "Oh do be quiet Nymphadora. We were looking at something together one moment and the next thing when we turned around to leave the shop he was gone. Please, just tell me if you've seen him," Everybody remained silent for a moment while they mentally debated with themselves over whether to tell them or not. After a minute of tense silence Narcissa bowed her head in defeat and whispered, "I guess you not going to tell me either way. We'll just look else where for him. Lets leave them alone Lucius," Narcissa finished and gracefully spun around and began to walk away after she tugged on the sleeve of Lucius' robes.
"Wait!" Lupin yelled before they had gotten to far. When they turned around to stare at him he said, "We saw him about ten minutes ago, just before you two showed up."
"Where was he?" Narcissa questioned, briskly waking up to Lupin, a mere three inches from brushing against him and stared him directly in the eyes, her gaze demanding answers.
"He was-" Lupin began, but was cut off when another voice interrupted him.
"Mother? Were you looking for me?" Draco questioned his mother as he walked out of the Leaky Cauldron.
Narcissa whipped her head around trying to find the source of the voice that she knew belonged to her son. As she saw him heading toward her from the Leaky Cauldron she immediately engulfed him in a rib cracking hug only to seconds later berate him. "I'm so glad we found you!" During this she continued to hug him, either not noticing or not caring about the glare Lucius sent toward her for showing public displays of affection toward their son. "But how could you just wander off like that!? And without telling us! I don't know what to do with you anymore! You disappear from home for days, you claim you don't know where you were, and you show up in muggle clothing! Next thing I know the minister is going to bring you home drunk. I just hope you behave when Professor McGonagall takes you back to Hogwarts," exasperated, Narcissa just rubbed her temples and sighted, "I don't want you setting this sort of example and reputation for her to know."
"I'm sorry mother. Bu I told you I was going to the Leaky Cauldron and you said 'That's find dear. We'll join you in a few minutes'," Draco quickly lied though his teeth, knowing he had said nothing of the sort and Narcissa defiantly hadn't said anything to him.
"Oh, I wasn't trying to accusing you of anything. We're just worried, or at least I am. Anyway go do your school shopping and then Floo back to the manor. Lucius and I are heading back now as we have a few things to take care of," Narcissa replied as she stepped back and pulled out a bag full of coins, "Here's some money and we'll see you when you get back."
"Yes mother," Draco responded and waited until his parents were out of sight before he turned back to the group only to see that Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny had emerged from the Leaky Cauldron and were either smirking or looking utterly confused about what they had just witnessed.
"'Yes mother, I'm sorry mother.'? Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't those programmed responses?" Ron teased with humor in his voice.
"Can it Weasley," Draco responded sending a glare in his direction.
"Are we going to continue this excursion a little more or can we finally get to do what we came here for?" Uncle Vernon snapped from beside Petunia.
"Yes I suppose that would be the best idea. How many do we have that need to shop total? Lets see, there are Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Draco, Mr. Dursley senior, Mrs. Dursley, young Mr. Dursley and I remember Tonks saying she needed to shop too. So that's a total of nine," Remus mussed, thinking it over, "and there are three of us…I don't know. What do you think Minerva?"
"Well it is a little crowded today for anybody to really try anything without somebody noticing. Why don't we just let them group up on their own? Well? What are you waiting for? Go on," McGonagall saw Tonks deciding who to join, she said, "Not you Tonks. I was referring to the children."
"Tonks?" Draco questioned bewildered and looked at the woman Professor McGonagall was talking to until realization of who it was dawned on him. "Aunt Nymphadora? Is that you?"
"Yes Draco it is me. And don't call me that. It's just plain Tonks if you don't mind. How are you? Last time I saw you you were just born."
"I doing fine. Sort of. I just don't wa…" he began but trailed off as he heard commotion coming from the Dream Team some feet away. Looking over the two became interested the confrontation that was brewing.
"I'm sorry Gin but no," said Harry determinedly.
"But why not Harry? Why cant I?" questioned Ginny, confusion showing in her voice.
"We just don't want you to alright Gin?" Ron added, becoming annoyed at hearing his sisters continuous pleading.
"You still aren't answering my question!" she shouted exasperatedly, and extremely aggravated.
"Ginny, please," sighed Hermione, "what they're trying to say is that you've been with us for the entirety of this past week and…they need a break. Maybe be you should go with somebody else today." Hermione said this last part quietly, not looking at Ginny.
"I see where this is going. You're sick of me already and want to go back to the Burrow. That's it isn't it?" Ginny demanded angered and agitated, sadness hinting in her voice.
"No! Of course that's not it Ginny," Harry tried to reason, "its just…like Hermione said, we have some important things to discuss and need some time to ourselves."
"Don't bother explaining yourself Harry I know when I'm not wanted around. I'll just go shopping by myself." Ginny retorted with a huff and turned to stomp away into the crowded streets of Diagon Alley. She had only taken a few steps before being stopped by the firm voice of Professor McGonagall.
"Miss Weasley I'm afraid I simply can not allow you to go off by yourself."
"I'm afraid, Professor, that my friends have abandoned me, thus I have nobody to go with," she dauntingly replied.
"Well I'm sure Miss Weasley that one of us would be glad to accompany you."
"Really Professor? I hardly believe that. But curiously, who do you ha-"
Shocking himself and everybody else Draco decided to take this moment to find his voice and make use of it by saying, "I'll go with her Professor," and stepped forward to stand next to her.
"Thank you Mr. Malfoy. Now that we're all set then maybe we shou-"
"No way! I refuse to let her go with Ferret Boy even after our conversation!" shouted Ron in protest.
"I don't believe it is a decision for you to make Ron, after all, you did kick me out of your group. Now if you'll excuse us, we, as in Draco and I, are going shopping," Ginny shot back venomously and linked arms with Draco and began to walk away with him but stopped when Hermione placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I didn't mean anything harsh by what I said, you know that right?" she asked and when she saw Ginny nod and smile at her she turned to Draco and added, "Don't try anything," and turned back toward Ginny and finished her statement quietly with deep concern deeply edged into her voice for one of her best friends, "Good luck with Malfoy Gin, and remember this since we aren't completely sure yet. Ten cuidado."
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FINALLY! I can't BELIEVE how long it took me to get this out! POR FAVOR, have mercy on me. I didn't mean for it to be this long, but my writer's block came back with a vengeance. This just wouldn't be a chapter if I didn't have some form of Spanish in here somewhere! I hope you can all figure out what "ten cuidado" is. If not tell me and I'll translate. BTW, I've come up with a new updating system. There should be one new chapter per story every 5-7 weeks, as I have five total stories going and I don't want to put any on hold. Be nice and R&R please.
*dama_de_tinieblas*