With a burst of green flame Harry Potter appeared in the
fireplace of The Leaky Cauldron. After retaining his bearings he saw the
faces of his friends, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger and one of Ron's older
brothers, Charlie Weasley, already there.
"You're late," Ron said greeting Harry with a smile.
"Sorry about that," Harry replied. "I had the strangest dream."
With that, the four of them made their way out of The Leaky Cauldron and
into Diagon Alley.
* * * * *
Draco Malfoy walked into Flourish and Blotts. He was grateful that his
mother had wanted to come and fetch some of his supplies for school. He
dreaded what would have happened if he had to stay home. Where his mind
would venture to . He thought that it would have been good for his mother as
well. To take her mind off things. As hard as it has been for him, Draco
imagined that it was ten times worse for his parents. He had wished his
father would have come as well, but that would be something that would have
made sense and lately nothing Lucius did made any sense to him at all.
It was almost six years ago. To this day, it still pained his family. The
wizarding world, which he suspect thought very little of The Malfoy's, could
not take away from them their pain. To some their were evil, and on that
they would be right. Yet even evil felt loss and The Malfoy's proved it.
Draco never liked talking about it. It still hurt too much. And as his
father would say, a Malfoy doesn't let their emotions get in the way. He
always secretly wished he could. Wished that he had friends like Harry
Potter did. Friends to confide in, to take comfort from. All Draco had were
a bunch of idiots who hung out with him because of his father. Not for him.
As he made his way to the back of the shop, he saw his mother going over his
school book list. Draco made his way to the stairs. When he got to the
second landing he ducked away between a set of shelves and leaned up against
the wall.
He took a look at the photo. It seemed like so long ago. The memories
getting even harder to recall the older he got. It was hard for him now to
remember what it had been like when she was alive. Oddly enough though he
could remember the little things. Like how her hair smelled like
strawberries. Or how her laugh sounded. He would never admit this to anyone,
not his parents, and certainly not Potter and his friends, but he really,
really missed her.
It was hard for Draco to admit that. He had been conditioned over the years
to not feel pain. It was a weakness that one could do without. He never let
his father see him in pain. Never told his father that when he was bitten by
the Hippogriff back in his third year he cried. Even though Potter and his
friends thought he had faked his pain, which he did a little but not
completely, he still hurt like mad though.
Draco's hand ran past the photograph, which showed a girl laughing and
waving as she sat down on a bench on the grounds of Hogwarts. Her Prefect
badge was visible on her robes. She, like Draco, had been the Seeker of the
Slytherin Quidditch team. Only she was very talented. He could remember how
proud everyone was of her. How they had told Draco time and again he hoped
for him to take after her. To be just like her.
Alas though, Draco never could. She was ambitious. A thinker. Always the
first to know the answer to every question. A lot like Granger. Draco
thought to himself that it was probably the reason he picked on her so much.
"Draco," Narcissa Malfoy called from downstairs. "I know you're up there.
Would you come down please. I need you to pick up your new Quidditch robes."
"I'll be right there mother."
Draco sighed taking one final look at the photo before stuffing it in
between the pages of his Potions book and heading downstairs.
* * * * *
Hermione Granger made her way down the steps of Gringotts, her purse filled
with Galleons. She and her friends had spent several nights walking thru
Diagon Alley. Harry, who had spent most of his summer vacation at the
Dursleys, was waiting for her at the bottom of the steps. She had felt so
horrible for him since the events of last year. When Cedric Diggory died and
Lord Voldemort had returned to power. It had been a rough summer. Ron had
told her that Harry was having nightmares of the horrors of the final act of
the Triwizard Tournament nearly every night. Of course, Harry would never
admit to it. The only way Ron knew was because they had shared a room too
often during his visits to the Weasley's not to know. But Ron made it a
point to pretend like he didn't.
Both of them were very worried about Harry.
It was Ron's idea to take Harry into Diagon Alley to get his mind off of
having to stay at the Dursleys until school started. Mrs. Weasley covered by
saying that it was a way for the three of them to hang out until they went
back to Hogwarts.
"So Harry," Ron asked as Hermione joined them at the bottom of the steps.
"Where would you like to go first?"
"Well, I would like to take a look at the newest brooms."
"Then its settled," Ron smiled. "To Quality Quidditch Supplies, we go."
With wide smiles and their pockets full of Galleons the trio made their way
down the alley. Charlie had said he needed to stop by Magical Menagerie and
talk dragons with the owner, who he had worked with in Romania. Waving
goodbye to Charlie, they promised to meet him at Florean Fortescue's Ice
Cream Parlor in a half an hour. As the three of them walked they ran into
Dean Thomas, who raved about the newest brooms and told them that their
friend Seamus Finnigan was still there, with his nose pressed up against the
glass.
When they had finally reached Quality Quidditch Supplies, the excitement
overwhelmed both Harry and Ron, who, despite Hermione's protests, came
barreling thru the door colliding into someone coming out the doorway. Harry
looked up at who they had run into and was horror struck.
It was Draco Malfoy.
Harry looked at Malfoy. The expression on his face was the epitome of
unpleasantness as he glared at the three of them.
"What's the matter Potter," he said getting to hid feet. "Glasses aren't big
enough for you to see where you're going."
"Sorry, we weren't watching where we we're going."
"Really," Draco sneered as he began to pick up his things. "I wouldn't know
that if you hadn't have told me Weasley. Thank you so much for imparting
your wisdom."
Ron turned a deep shade of scarlet and looked as if he was going to pummel
Malfoy if Hermione had not have stepped in.
"Ron," she said as she made her way into the shop. "What did I tell you
about starting things."
"Listen to your girlfriend Weasley," Draco said. "At least one of you has
some kind of common sense."
This time it was Hermione who turned red and gave Malfoy a sinister stare.
"Don't make me hit you Draco Malfoy," she calmly stated before taking a
brief pause adding. "Again."
Ron and Harry sniggered as they remembered the time Hermione had smacked
Malfoy across the face. Irritated, Draco began to pick up his things faster.
Much to Ron and Harry's surprise Hermione bent down to help him.
"What do you think you're doing Granger?" Draco said giving Hermione a
questionable stare.
"Helping you," Hermione said flatly. "You see, we did knock you over and
helping you pick things up is what civilized people do."
Hermione gave a look back to Harry and Ron who stared at her with looks of
disbelief. Determined to have them pitch in she narrowed her eyes and within
seconds the boys were helping her. Draco didn't know what to make of it. He
thought it best to finish picking up and get out of the shop before they
started giving him a group hug or some other goody goody thing.
Hermione went to grab Malfoy's Potions book when a piece of paper fell out
and hit the floor. Before Draco could grab it, Ron picked it up. It was a
photograph of a young girl, no older than sixteen. She was dressed in
Slytherin robes. Her hair was silvery blonde like Malfoy's. It was long and
crimped, like her own, and half was pulled back behind her head as the rest
fell past her shoulders. She was quite pretty. And rather familiar.
"Whose that Malfoy?" Ron asked jokingly. "Your girlfriend?"
It was as if something inside of Malfoy has snapped. His hands plunged into
his robes so fast that the next thing Ron saw was the tip of Malfoy's wand
in his face.
"Give it back Weasley," Draco seethed thru gritted teeth and a stare that
left Hermione trembling.
Charlie Weasley, who had been making his way towards Quality Quidditch
Supplies, practically pushed people down as he shoved his way between Malfoy
and his brother.
"What do you think you're doing Malfoy?"
Malfoy put his wand down and gave Charlie a surprisingly pleading look.
"Your brother took something that belongs to me."
"All I took was his ruddy photo," Ron said handing the moving picture to
Charlie.
Immediately Harry had noticed the change in Charlie. It was if someone had
punched him in the stomach. His face skewed as he swallowed hard. After a
second he grabbed the Potions book from Hermione and placed the photo back
into it. Handing the book to Malfoy, who gave all three of them a glare
before leaving the shop.
"What was that all about?" Ron asked oblivious to Charlie's reaction.
"Let's get some ice cream," he said forcing a smile on his face and walking
out of the shop.
The three of them stood back a moment, wondering what had just happened.
"What's his problem?" Ron asked as he followed his brother outside.
Harry and Hermione exchanged a look. They weren't sure why Charlie had
gotten that way, or why Malfoy flew off the handle like that. But tied into
his dream and Harry knew, something very strange was going on.
