Out of the Darkness
By Trephinia Cealyn
Chapter 1 | Diagon Alley
'…and as the silver blade plunged into her heart he screamed out her name in his sleep…and as the light enclosed her body he reached out and brushed her fingertips…he screamed again and pulled her towards him away from the darkness…and she fell from her arms and into the pits of darkness…''
"Father," Flute whispered poking Draco's shoulder, "excuse me sir, not to bother you or anything but you really have to wake up."
Draco rolled over into his pillow, "Go away," he mumbled.
Flute straightened, "Today is the 16th of August." She announced in her most business like manner.
"So?" Draco mumbled again.
Flute poked him again, "Pay attention," she cleared her throat, "Today is August 16th and if you were paying any attention to what I have been screaming all this month then you would know that today is the day that we go to meet Tom at Diagon Alley."
"I'll be downstairs in five minutes." Draco said without moving. Flute nodded smiling and left. She turned to Talon who had been listening at the keyhole, "I hate you." She stomped off down the hall.
"Hey you lost and I won." Talon said simply.
"You cheated that automatically disqualifies you," Flute said.
Talon shrugged, "I wasn't the one who wanted to go so badly, it would have been fine with me to go tommorow or the day after."
"Don't lie to me I'm your twin I know when your lying," Flute smugly said.
Talon narrowed his eyes, "Damn those squirrels they always get me!"
"What was that?" Flute asked.
"Are you children ready?" Draco asked appearing suddenly in front of them.
Flute looked up at him smiling sweetly, "Of course not father," not at all surprised at his random appearance in front of her.
"Let's go," Draco swept off down the hall his robes billowing out dramatically behind him.
"Yes sir," Flute said saluting him.
Draco glared at her and threw the Floo Powder into the fire, "Diagon Alley."
Flute and Talon followed him and knocked him over as they fell into Diagon Alley.
"Get off me!" Draco yelled at them, "Stupid children!"
Flute stares up at him eyes filling with fake tears, "I'm sorry."
"Stop your crying!" Draco Said patting her awkwardly on the head, "Let's go to… Gringotts you need money."
"Yes, yes let's go," Talon said quickly before there was another 'argument' in the street. Draco led them into Gringotts shoved his way through the line and tapped the first goblin he saw on the shoulder.
"Excuse me sir but you have to wait in line," the goblin said in huffy tone.
Draco gave the goblin an evil look and said, "Does the name Malfoy mean anything to you?"
"Oh yes sir it means a great deal," the goblin said hurriedly, "Right this way sir." Draco hopped into the cart. Flute and Talon followed squishing themselves into the tiny cart. "Vault number," the goblin squeaked.
"666, and I need to open two new vaults for my children here," Draco said nodding to Flute and Talon.
"Yes sir," the goblin stopped at Draco's vault. The goblin opened it up and stepped back so Draco could get by.
"Alright now Flute can have that vault down there a ways, that was my grandmothers vault… she won't mind and Talon can have my old vault." Draco said he handed them both keys. "For now though since I don't have all that much time you can take these bags of money." He dropped about a 10-pound sac into each of their arms, "and have fun!"
"Dad this is enough to buy a house!" Talon said on the ride back to the surface.
Draco puzzled over this statement and said, "Well… don't! Now I'll be in Knockturn Alley. You are NOT allowed in there. Understand?" Talon and Flute nodded, "Run along now shoo," Draco said being suspiciously nice. "I'll catch up to you later."
"Come on," Flute said grabbing Talon's hand and pulling him into Flourish and Blotts, "we have to find Tom!"
"Flute do you realize what we could do with all this money!?" Talon said excitedly.
Flute rolled her eyes and dragged him through the bookstore. "Ah-hah! Trying to hide from us eh Tom?"
"Flute! Talon!" Tom said not turning around. "Hold on just a second I'm looking for something…" He scanned the shelves and pulled out a book near the bottom, "Alright, we can go."
"No we can't," Flute interjected, "Talon and I have to get our books."
"Already got them," Tom said nodding to his bags, "You owe me…"
Flute dipped her hand into her sack and pulled out a lot of galleons, "There that should be enough for Talon and I."
"And the rest of China! Where'd you get all that money?" Tom said counting the galleons.
"We are Malfoys aren't we?" Talon said slipping in a sneer.
Flute grabbed their hands and pulled them out of the shop.
"Hey! You made me drop some…" Tom protested.
Flute laughed and gave him another generous handful, "Would you like anything else?"
"No, I'm fine thanks." Tom said smiling back at them. "Where to next?"
"I need to get robes," Flute said dragging them into Madame Malkins.
Talon sat on a chair by the fitting stool, "You already have robes."
"I need new ones," Flute said haughtily. She rang the bell and Madame Malkin rushed in.
She smiled at Flute, "Hello dear, first year? We'll you'll need the usual black robes."
"I also need dress robes," Flute said setting a few galleons on the counter she turned back to Tom and Talon, "Maybe you two should wait outside. I'll meet you at Ollivanders."
"Okay hop up on the stool," Madame Malkin said she started measuring and then turned around to get some fabrics. The measuring tape dropped to the floor and Flute waited impatiently, "A nice gray color to bring out your eyes," Madame Malkin mused to herself, "maybe a silver for your hair." She swished her wand and pieces of fabric flung themselves onto Flute. "Yes that's just perfect!" Madame Malkin clapped her hands. "Go on look in the mirror."
Flute stepped in front of the mirror and gasped. The dress was a deep crimson red with long bell sleeves, a tiny v-neck and thin cords criss-crossing to tie the back together. The robes to go over it were black with a hood and a silver chain. Madame Malkin had placed the Malfoy shield to hold the chain in place. Flute smiled at her reflection. "I love it!"
"Well dear everything seems to be in order. Here are your school robes. Your dress robes." Madame Malkin said after they had taken the final measurements.
Flute grabbed the packages and ran to Ollivanders. She ducked as lighting bolts issued out of Tom's wand. "Very odd," said an old man with penetrating eyes.
"Oh hey Flute," Talon said. Flute waved at him and waited for Tom to finish paying for his wand.
The old man peered into Flute's gray eyes and said, "Twins! Wonderful! This should be easy!" He rummaged through a few boxes and pulled out one identical to Talon's. "Here try this." Flute held out the wand and flicked it with her wrist a few sparks emmited from the end, "Yes, yes, oak unicorn hair, perfect," he mused to himself, "12 galleons." Flute payed him and then they left heading for the Magical Menagerie.
"I want kitten," Flute dumped her bags in Talon's arms and ran off to the far side of the shop where cats lounged idly in cages. She scanned the racks and rows of caged cats looking for just the right one.
"Going to get a black cat?" Tom asked leaning on one of the cages. Flute pulled out a snowy white kitten from one of the cages.
"They're too overrated." She told him. The white cat had the most gorgeous blue eyes and a tiny pink nose. It was a long haired cat and it fit in the palm of Flute's hand, "It must be the runt of the litter." She skipped over to Talon and held the cat inches from his face, "Do you like it?"
"It's too small," Talon said. The cat snarled at him and slashed his face with one of his front paws.
Flute pulled the cat away and cuddled it, "You scared him!" She accused Talon. "I think I'll get him." She ran over to the counter and paid the witch. "Where are we going next?" She asked Tom and Talon. Talon had four identical slash marks across his face and was busy holding part of his robes up against it to stop the bleeding.
"Well Tom got an owl from his dad, and I don't really want a pet…" Talon started to say.
"You have to get a pet!" Flute interrupted, "A nice kitten."
"No, no, not a kitten, no uh," Talon thought about it for a moment, "I'll get an owl."
"Fine," Flute said as they stepped out of the shop.
"There you are," said Draco rushing towards them, "so what did you buy?"
Flute held out her cat, "It's name is Siren Crete Halomika Misra Odin Olantra, you can call him Schmoo."
"That's a very nice name," Draco said rubbing the cats head absentmindedly and continuing from where he left off, "we had best get going. Talon I bought you an eagle owl." Talon grinned at him, "Nice to see you Tom. Let's go children." Draco led them off with Flute snuggling the kitten. Talon carrying all of the packages and Draco carrying a small slender box, Tom shrugged and left to find his parents.
