Chapter Two: Boiled Bunny Ribbons
Disclaimer: Yep, I am still a poor college student, at least until my finals are finished later this week anyway. J.K. Rowling owns everything you see except for the purple bunnies of doom, the Ailuros, and … um … that's about it.
Dedication: I'm dedicating this chapter to the bestest roommate in the world, Sharie, because she's the one who prodded me with a plastic spork until I sat down to make chapter two finally happen. Plus, she let me read this chapter to her out loud! Best roommie ever!
And as always, there's an author's note on the bottom!!
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But as he turned his rope sleeve caught on the ugly gnome crystal, sending the priceless (if ugly) statue hurling towards the ground…
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
Draco's sudden fall was halted by a sharp jerk as his mother's spell struck his body with more force then her disagreeing marks earlier. Shame boiled his face pink, but Draco attempt to keep a noble look on his face as his mother swung his body up over the crystal figures and set him down at the entrance to the shop.
His feet touching solid ground again, Draco looked down as he dusted off imaginary dust from his robe, trying to control the disgrace clearly scribbled across his face before his mother could see it and reproach him for disgracing the Malfoy family yet again. When his emotions were secured under a mask of an unfeeling gentleman, Draco slowly raised his head up and coolly regarded his mother and the wide eyed crystal smith.
"Please accept my apology for my clumsiness, Madame Brillons," Draco said in his smoothest voice, "And that you mother for reacting swiftly to avoid family… disgrace."
Narcissa wasn't fooled by her son's smooth apology and pressed her potion-enhanced lips into a very thin line that Draco had thought impossible with all the foreign material secured within her fading lips. "Run outside, Draco," Narcissa raised one gloved hand, still holding her wand in a tight hold, and pointed to the doorway. "Madame Brillons and I have important adult business to discuss, and I won't have our discussion interrupted by your childish clumsiness."
Draco felt his hackles rise up at his mother's jab at his age and maturity, but he knew better than to argue with her, especially in a public place where the social ears could overhear everything. "Yes, mother," he gritted out, turning smartly on his heel and shoving the door open. A blast of humidity assaulted his skin, but Draco was too angry to care about such worldly concerns.
His mother's jab at his maturity smarted far worse than anything any of his peers could say, especially that lout Weasley and the rest of the bumbling, muggle-loving trio. And his younger sister, too, Draco added mentally, feeling his lips twist into a more familiar malicious grin.
I shall have to add her to my list of people to torment as soon as I get back to Hogwarts. Draco thought, leaning the back of his head and shoulders against the glass window of the shop. The cool surface was a welcome release from the heat, but Draco would rather be gone from this… provincial shopping area and back in the welcome coolness of his home.
"At least if I was home I wouldn't be insulted like I was in that shop." Draco muttered to himself, reaching up to wipe the moisture off the back of his neck above the collar of his robes. "And I wouldn't be sweating like a muggle pig, either."
A few minutes passed, and Draco felt his patience running thin. "I should be treated with more respect. This is intolerable—I'm the only heir of my father, and I'm out here waiting for my mother to stop chit-chatting with a SHOPKEEPER in the blasted heat—what is that?" Draco crouched down, peering at the thin line of red ribbon lying against the dusty cobblestones. Tenderly he reached down and picked the soft material up, recognizing it at once as cheap satin, and brought it up to his eyes to stare at it.
He had actually hadn't been able to identify what the ribbon was from a standing position—his vision was notoriously bad, but he was too stubborn to allow his mother to perform the necessary spell to contradict his poor sight, and there was no way he would be seen running around Hogwarts with GLASSES on.
"Slytherin and the rest of the houses would think I'd gone Potter-mad or something." He glared at the ribbon, having half a mind to crush the ribbon in the palm of his hand, but instead smoothed it against the palm of his hand. "I wonder whose ribbon this is…"
A vision of Ginny Weasley, the youngest and hopefully last of the litter of muggle-loving traitors, popped into his head, complete with her red curls caught up in poor quality and mismatching satin ribbons. His lips tightened into a slow and very evil looking smile. "Oh, I can have fun with this," he sneered down at the ribbon, plans against the idiot Weasley family forming underneath his sun baking scalp.
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Ginny browsed the collection of cages that housed potential familiars, her brown eyes carefully looking over each and every inhabitant. She was looking for that magical spark of knowing that the creature she was looking at was hers, but she hadn't found that spark by looking at the rabbits, snakes, and other magical creatures the shop offered her eager eyes.
I'm going to have to face it sooner or later. I'm never going to have a familiar! I might as well save my coins and just make an old sock of one of my brothers into some odd pet. Stuff the stock with feathers, decorate it with buttons for eyes and stitches for a nose and ragged mouth, and then charm it to make odd clucking noises and viola! Instant familiar for a poor Weasley girl!
The shortest Weasley giggled as she leaned against a cage of soft lavender bunnies. The inhabitants disappeared from sight with loud pops of displeasure with her sudden burst of noise, and Ginny forgot her hunt for the illusive familiar spark to watch the cage with curiosity. If the girl narrowed her eyes to small slits of concentrated eye power and focused on the individual pieces of straw that littered the rabbits' cage, Ginny could see small indentations of an invisible rabbit's paw pressing on the straw.
"That's an interesting trick, I wonder why the bunnies developed such a weird talent. Angora's bunny Merlin wasn't nearly as neat as these bunnies are. Maybe I should get one." Ginny voice softened in awe as one of the bunnies popped back into Ginny's vision and began to gnaw softly on its hindquarters, possibly to get at an annoying flea or just to get at an itch. The pale lavender fur rippled underneath the flaring lights, beckoning the casual viewer to reach into the wire cage and pet the visible bunny's fur.
"I bet you would love me to pet you." Ginny cooed, twisting her wrist as she attempted to shove her small hand in between the wire bars of the cage. She winced as a sharp pain lanced her wrist at the strain and pulled her hand out of the position, looking at the bunny with saddened eyes. "I'm sorry fellow, but my hands seem to be too big."
The lavender bunny stopped gnawing on his hindquarters to stare in her direction, his eyes gleaming with intelligence. Ginny felt a stab of alarm as the bunny began to slowly hop over to her, his eyes intent on her face. Were animals, even magical ones, really that smart? She backed up a step, only to be pushed back as a five or so year old boy moved into her spot and laughed at the rabbit.
"Mum! Mum! Come look at the bunny! It's all purple!" The boy shouted, standing on tip toe and threading his fingers into the cage's bars to hold himself at eye level with the approaching bunny. "Ooooh, he's purty! Mum! Mum! I wanna purple bunny!"
"Chester darling, come away from the cage and stand next to me. Those rabbits will be here later when we return with Rebecka." Ginny turned away from the bunny cage to see the mother of one of the fourth year Gryffindors, Rebecka Hallowhits, lean into the counter in a gossiping position with one of the Magical Menagerie's employees, a man old enough to be the owner's husband. "That poor girl, seeing her familiar being eaten by a muggle cat. You know, the only thing left of that poor owl were two tail feathers, sprouting out of the cat's mouth! The poor cat looked the very image of—Chester, get your hands out of that cage now!"
Ginny turned to see the young Chester pulling his chubby fingers out of the cage just as the face of the lavender bunny dissolved into a mess of sharp teeth and wicked snarls. The boy all but leaped four feet in the air and began screaming as tears ran down his bright red face.
Ginny stepped back as the Hallowhits woman raced to her son. "What did I tell you Chester?! Don't put your fingers into rabbit cages! Honestly!" The woman grabbed her son's hands and examined the fingers, rubbing her long fingers over each digit as if to assure herself that her son's fingers were all in tact. Consoling herself that all the fingers were safe and sound on Chester's hand, the woman reached out and grabbed the boy's earlobe and pulled him towards the doorway of the shop.
"If you EVER disobey me again, Chester," the woman threatened over the boy's whimperings, "I'll buy four of those rabbits and put them in your sock drawer!"
"Not my socks mum!" The boy cried out in horror, his wails fading as the door slammed behind the two.
Ginny rolled her eyes and turned back to the bunnies, glad her hands had been too big to fit through the cage. She'd had a gnome munch on her finger before and have to have the digit magically reattached when she was five, and she was in no rush to have to wrestle her thumb or pinkie finger from a rabid… rabbit.
"You tried to fool me, purple bunny, but it won't work again." Ginny said in her most menacing voice, leaning down to look eye to eye with the lavender rabbit. The animal cocked it's fury head to the side as if to consider her threat, it's eyes betraying it's true purpose-- it was obviously judging to see if it could attack poor Ginny.
"Savage." Ginny said, although her mouth betrayed her amusement at the situation when it split into a tentative smile. Ginny paused in her smile when she felt the barest tickle along the back of her nasal passages. She frowned, wondering what on earth could be overpowering the anti-allergy spell she had performed before the trio and her had journeyed to Diagon Alley this morning.
Ginny looked around in alarm as the bare tickle began to itch in earnest, burning her throat and nose. She saw that no one was looking at her and felt her shoulders automatically inching up towards her head as her body prepared for a massive sneeze sure to rattle the cages off their hinges. She leaned back, taking one, then two deep breaths to fight off the urge to sneeze, but her lungs and nose had another idea as the burning triggered a massive sneeze--
"Ah-chooo!" Ginny's mouth roared, booming across the cage. Through the blurry vision that her burning eyes allowed her to see, Ginny caught sight of the lavender bunny as it popped invisible again. "Ha!" The girl said with a laugh that was cut off by another sneeze.
Too late, Ginny brought a small hand up to her mouth, and looked around the store, sure the witch who owned the Magical Menagerie was going to throw her out on her rear while the other customers clapped and cheered. But no one was looking at the sneezing Weasley girl.
Everyone in the room had their eyes glued on Harry Potter on the ground with his right foot stretched up in the air and his hands covering his red face. Ron was standing to the side and laughing his head off, his own face so red even Ginny couldn't tell the freckles from the normal colored skin. Merlin, does my brother have to be the largest dolt in all of Britain? Ginny wondered, thankful that Ron wasn't resorting to pointing and laughing at poor Harry's misfortune as he usually did.
I wonder where Hermione is. Ginny thought, looking around for her friend but not seeing her mass of brown hair. Hermione would help her keep Ron from making a total fool of himself and help poor Harry up...
"Ron, get control of yourself. You're making a scene!" Ginny said angrily, her fingers itching to pinch his arm raw in an attempt to cure him of his insane guffaws.
Ron, however, ignored his sister and only proceeded to laugh harder.
Ginny rolled her eyes, wondering why Ron had to be her brother. He was stinky, rude, and had too many freckles.... but then again he was also the reason that Harry Potter stayed at her house during the summer, so she should be thankful for that. Not wanting to help Harry up because she was afraid she would stammer and look like a fool as always, Ginny tried a new tactic. "Ron, where's Hermione?"
Ron looked at her and laughed even harder, if it was humanly possible. His hands clutched his flat stomach helplessly as sobs of laughter wracked his body.
Ginny had lost all patience with her bother at this point and did the only thing she could do. She reached over and pinched Ron just above the inner flesh of her brother's freckled arm. "You asked for it Ron." Ginny said with a smile as Ron howled with pain, jumping from one leg to another.
"No fair! No fair!" Ron yelled, his face assuming that man-pout some women thought was absolutely dashing but Ginny thought was absolutely stupid.
"Take it like a man, Ron. Now tell me where Hermione is, and don't you dare start laughing again!"
"No, no, no more pinching! You shouldn't pinch me, anyway, I'm older you know." Ron arched his chin towards the sky and assumed a stiff and tall authoritative stance, although it was quick to tobble over when Ginny came after him with her fingers in pinching position.
"I don't see why you pinch anyway. Pinching is for wussies who can't fight, and that's not something us boys taught you anyway." Ron complained, rubbing his arm.
"Would you rather I kick you in the shins? I didn't think so. Now where's Hermione?"
"I'm over here; help me up for Pete's sake." Came Hermione's muffled voice. Ginny turned to see Harry still on the ground, but when she squinted she was able to make out a thick chunk of brown hair underneath Harry's right elbow.
"Oh, Ron." Ginny said with a sigh, and pulled her brother to help the two. "Why didn't you tell me Harry had smushed Hermione? She's probably dead!"
"What, are you saying I'm fat?" Harry asked in a mock-hurt tone.
Ginny stopped all movement. Harry... had joked with HER? A large fangirl part of her wailed with joy at the apparent acceptance of her into the Dream Team. She imagined Harry and her running through muggle London holding hands and singing their true love for each other while eating ice cream....
"Er, Ginny, little help here?" Ron said as he elbowed Ginny in the side, bringing her back into reality. He moved down and rolled Harry off Hermione and tried to lift the Boy-Who-Lived up with loud grunts.
"Man, Harry, you really are packing some weight." Ron kidded, ducking the mock-blow Harry sent his way when the spectacled hero managed to swing up onto his feet.
Ginny shook her self and ducked her head to hide her dark blush. I need to get a life. Ginny thought with an agony only a teenager can feel. He probably thinks I'm a moron. She thought angrily, reaching down to clasp Hermione's hand and yanking the startled girl to her feet.
"Man, between the heat making my hair frizz up ten times more then normal, Harry smashing the life out of me, and you ripping my arm out of it's socket, I don't think today could get any worse!"
Ginny looked around for something wooden to knock on but wasn't able to find any. "Hermione, you just jinxed us! Something really bad is going to happen now!"
"Rubbish! That's just a crazy old muggle superstition! You know, I read this book once-"
"No, Hermione, it's true! Knocking on wood breaks the jinks!" Ginny said in earnest, catching sight of a wooden crate slightly hidden behind a lush red owl cage curtain. Ginny sprinted over to the crate and rapped her knuckles against the side, satisfied that she had halted the jinks and she wouldn't have to face any more bad things occurring that day. She shuddered to think what would top a run-in with Draco Malfoy and his mother!
Ginny began to stand up, but before she could move up from the crate she heard a soft scampering sound from within. Intrigued, Ginny carefully moved the red owl curtain back and gasped at what she saw.
Inside the crate were three small kittens!
"Aw, Hermione, come look at these kittens!" Ginny whispered in awe, wondering what breed the pretties could be. Their fur, even compared to other kittens, looked as soft as a feather and probably nicer to smell, too. She felt Hermione slide up next to her and moved her head up to see the other girl.
"Oh, those are... um... nice kittens. I can't seem to remember seeing any that looked quite like those."
"They aren't too young, either." Ginny pointed out when one of the kittens, a bronze one with rich brown markings criss-crossing its back, opened its startling green eyes. "It can open its eyes, and its mother doesn't seem to be here, so the little darlings can't be too young."
"I think they're six or seven weeks. They certainly are precious, although they don't have the personality of Crookshanks."
Ginny laughed. "I don't think any other animal has a personality quite like Crookshanks, Hermione. But these kittens are special! I've never seen any with markings like them! They remind me of Egypt for some reason..."
"That's right, you and Ron went there a few years ago with the rest of the family! Hmm.... you are right, they do remind me of Egypt. I've never seen a feline with eyes that color! Very light green, almost like jade."
"They certainly are cute." Ginny said with a sigh, laughing when a dark kitten rolled onto its stomach and batted up at the girls in a playful gesture. The third, a beautiful silver and white kitten, remained rolled in a tight ball. He looked older then the others, but it was impossible to tell for sure with the poor kitten rolled up as tight as it was. It looked terrified! Ginny could see the fine hair on the kitten trembling!
"I know what these are!" Hermione suddenly announced. "And they are quite illegal, too! We have the luck to see three real life Ailuros!"
"Ailuros? But I thought those cats weren't allowed out of Egypt! I thought only Egyptian Wizards were even allowed to SEE the cats, much less handle them!" Ginny looked down at the cats with an even finer appreciation for their beauty.
The Ailuros breed was one of Egypt's treasures, a living proof to the glory of the ancient Egyptian Wizarding community. The breed was magically produced millennia ago and bred for beauty, magic, and talent. For some reason, and Ginny couldn't remember why at the moment, the felines were banned from Britain and were not even allowed out of Egypt!
"Wow." Ginny managed to say, smiling at the two kittens as they began to play with each other. But the poor silver kitten was bundled all alone, ignored by the other two. Her heart went out to the kitten-- she knew how it felt to be ignored by siblings. After all, she was a Weasley!
Cautious about petting another magical animal, especially after the toothy lavender bunny run-in a few minutes prior, Ginny nevertheless reached out and carefully stroked the fur of the silver kitten. It opened its eyes revealing the same green color as the other two and meowed shyly up at Ginny.
"Aw." Both girls said together, taken in by the cuteness of the kitten.
The silver feline uncoiled itself and arched its back, revealing the fact it was indeed larger then the other two. The kitten meowed again and looked up at both girls with a half smile on its clever face, obviously wanting to be petted again.
"Why, the cat likes us!" Hermione said with a laugh, reaching down to pet the kitten. It purred deeply and rubbed its face against Hermione's palm, showing off the black markings decorating its pale face.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!" A voice boomed behind them, causing both girls and the silver kitten to jump up in shock.
Ginny turned slowly to see the enraged face of the man who was Ginny had earlier thought to be the husband of the owner of the store. One vein was standing out on his neck not unlike how one stood out on Ron's neck when he was angry, but the right side of his face twitched unlike anyone Ginny had ever seen before. The whole side of his face seemed to leap up in a jerky movement!
"Um, sir, we were just admiring your beautiful kittens!" Ginny managed to stammer out, while Hermione cautiously examined the man.
"You can show yourselves out of this shop right this minute! No touching the animals!"
"Well, actually sir I was hoping to buy a familiar-"
The man looked over Ginny's faded and patched ropes and her hair swept in tattered and mismatched hair ribbons and let loose a grating laugh. "Girlie, those cats are worth more then you and that other girl combined! You can find something more in your price range out front by the... rat bin."
Ginny looked down at the shopkeeper's feet and sighed. The silver kitten behind her meowed, but she didn't have the heart to disobey the owner of the store and pet him. "Yes sir." Ginny managed to say, starting to stand up, but was held back by Hermione throwing out an arm.
"Hold on a second Ginny, I think I have a plan." Hermione said with a smile, then turned to the man and stood to her full height. "Mr. Streeler, what you have here is an illegal feline."
"Wha-What? No, no, that's only a cat."
"But you said it yourself. Now, this girl's father works in the Ministry of Magic, so I could go over to the Ministry and tell her father about the felines here and do my witches duty to report a felony."
The man narrowed his eyes. "Girlie, you don't want to threaten me--"
"Oh, I wouldn't do a thing like that. To be honest I wouldn't want to go to the Ministry today anyway, with the heat and all. But, still, it IS my duty to report a felony...."
The man narrowed his eyes even more. "Are you trying to bribe me?"
Hermione smiled. "Trying to bribe you? Why, my good man, I should hope that it was more apparent that I am bribing you, not TRYING to. Now, if you give Ginny here that silver cat--"
The man began to laugh loudly. "Do you have any idea how much that Ailuros cat is worth?!"
Hermione nodded slowly. "Oh, I don't know the exact figure, but I'm sure it's worth enough that if I tell the ministry about your little brood here they'd rush in and close your shop for an investigation."
The tick on the right side of the man's face began to jerk again. "The silver one?" He rubbed his jaw, looking from the cats to Hermione. "Fine, it's a foundling anyway. A runt, too. But you'll have to get that cat neutered if you're going to take him-- the penalty for having a full blooded male Ailuros running around is ten times more then a female... wait, why am I telling you this?! Get that cat and get out!"
The man turned on his tail and walked to the front, leaving Ginny to stare up at Hermione in shock. The silver cat crawled out of the box and into Ginny's lap and began to meow again.
"Oh my gosh, Hermione. I can't believe you did that!"
"I know, that felt good! And did you see that tick?!"
Both girls laughed before they were interrupted by the silver kitten's soft but needy meow, signaling it wanted to be petted NOW.
Ginny rolled her eyes at her cat's needy nature and stood, cradling the cat against her chest. He had stopped shivering and was staring about the store with curious eyes. Ginny smiled softly as she stroked his soft fur, knowing deep inside that this was HER cat.
"So what are you going to name him?" Hermione asked as the two began to head to the front of the shop. Harry and Ron were waiting outside, although the latter was staring at the rat cages with a bit too eager an expression.
"I don't know yet. I think I'm going to wait until he shows more of a personality first before I go and name him." Ginny brought the kitten up to her face and gave him a big kiss on the top of his head. The kitten stared at Ginny in shock before his face scrunched up in disgust.
"Ok, ok, no kissy-kissy then." Ginny said with a laugh, exiting the store through the door Hermione was holding open. "Erm, Hermione, do you think we can leave out me getting the kitten for free?"
Hermione smiled. "What, and let Ron know you can buy him another Goobers? I don't think the world could handle another of Ron's precious rats!"
Ginny shook her head and laughed. "No, I don't think it could."
"What could?" Harry asked as the two girls approached them, his eyes glancing down to see the kitten. "Oh, you found a familiar!"
Ginny felt her knees start to melt into the cobblestones at her feet when Harry smiled at her. He likes my cat! She thought to herself, feeling her mouth forming a crazy grin.
Before Ginny could open her mouth and say something that would embarrass her, Ron turned away from the rats to see what his sister had bought. When he saw the kitten in his sister's arms, the eagerness in Ron's face vanished. "Ew, Ginny! You got a CAT!"
"Do you have something against felines, Ronald Weasley?!" Hermione asked stiffly, glaring at her friend.
Ron held up his hands in a defensive gesture. "No, wouldn't dream of it Hermione. Even when they try to eat my poor rats." He added with one last look at the rats in the store window.
"Well, we'd better go finish our school shopping if we want to get back to the Burrow in time for supper." Harry reminded them gently. Ron rolled his eyes at Harry, but he moved away from the store.
And so Ginny Weasley walked away from the Magical Menagerie that afternoon with her precious feline clinging to her chest and Harry Potter at her side-- filled with a certain happiness that the pieces of the world were falling into place and that the approaching year was going to be the best ever.
Authors Note:
Hello everyone! Sorry for waiting so long to put chapter two up, but the previous versions of this chapter just weren't funny enough. So in a total procrastination effort during finals week, I re-worked what I had of this chapter and managed to make it work! And yes, this is a D/G story, but I wanted to play with Ginny having a fangirl crush on Harry Potter still XD. And Draco is just so fun to write when he's being mock-evil XD.
I really liked the purple bunnies, and I adore how Hermione turned out in this chapter. She isn't my strongest character to write, but I think I did an alright job at her characterization. And, I couldn't work in the next verse of Goober's Eulogy, but I'll try for next chapter.
So, if you liked this story, or you want to flame this story, feel free to review! I always love getting feedback because it motivates me to work faster at putting the next chapter up. Either that or my roommate prodding me with sharp pointy objects XD