Draco thrust his hands deep into the pockets of his robes and stared disinterestedly at his surroundings. The severed hand, he saw, was still on display, unsold for at least five years. Since entering Borgin and Burkes every year for the past seven years, Draco had soon realized that the number of artifacts rarely changed. It did not help, either, that Draco had been in there the day before.
Draco watched as Mr. Borgin presented his father with an old, ancient book. Draco would bet all his money at Gringotts that that book contained some potent Dark Magic.
After the purchase was made, father and son exited the shop into the dark, dingy alleyway of Knockturn Alley. A hag seemed to be attempting to sell eyeballs. A few of them still had flesh stuck on them.
"Can we buy my school things now?" Draco asked, feeling a bit irked. He could well have made the trips himself, but his father had insisted on going with Draco.
"I have one more thing to do," Lucius said. At the glare his teenage son gave him, Lucius added. "I will take a long time, I should think. You might as well go. Be very careful."
Draco walked up the alley. He knew what his father had meant. Be very careful about using his powers. Well, Draco thought irritably, he wasn't careless, he would not flaunt his powers in front of everyone. Draco walked past the hag selling the eyeballs and stepped out into the sunlight.
He blinked, brought his hand up to soften the glare and saw three familiar people on the steps of Gringotts bank. They looked like they were having a happy reunion.
Repulsive, Draco thought. It wasn't as if one of them had just escaped the brink of death. Draco was not a big fan of hugs or affectionate things like that. However, if it came from a pretty girl. . .
Draco strolled up to Gringotts. By the time he had reached the steps, the reunion was over. Thank goodness. The giant doors to Gringotts opened, and a pretty Asian girl stepped out.
"Hello," she said to the three before bounding down the steps.
Harry Potter stared after her. Draco climbed the last step, and then turned to see what Harry was looking at.
"Honestly, you aren't still on about her, are you?" Draco drawled. "She wouldn't like you even if Diggory was dead---oh, wait, I forgot---he is dead!"
"Shove off, Malfoy!" Ron snapped, pulling Harry back. Draco snickered. "Whatever, Weasley. I'm surprised to see you in a bank. I thought you kept your Knuts in your pockets."
Both Harry and Ron started to go after Draco, and Hermione had a hard time pulling them back. In fact, she failed miserably in her task. Draco danced out of the blows Harry and Ron aimed at him, and entered Gringotts.
"If you'll excuse me, I'm off to get galleons from one of my many accounts," Draco informed the three before shutting the doors. The last part had been pure exaggeration. Insofar, Draco had two accounts in Gringotts. Draco extracted some hundred Galleons, and then stepped into the bookshop to purchase his schoolbooks.
"Is that everything?" the shopkeeper asked.
Draco consulted his booklist. "No, you've missed out Divination." Draco found Divination a complete bore, but as he seemed to have a knack of scoring exceptionally high marks in the subject without trying, Draco had decided to keep the subject to earn himself some extra credit. With hard work and perseverance, he could score the highest result in his N.E.W.T.s; if that Mudblood granger did not upstage him again. Yes, again. He would have had the highest number of O.W.L.s if it had not been for her. As it was, both of them had the same number.
A bell tinkled, indicating that someone had just entered the bookshop. Draco took no note of it; instead he inspected a hardcover maroon book. It was a thick, old volume, with golden words embossed on the cover.
Draco picked it up. Without knowing why, he felt strangely attached to it. "Ancient Magic," he read out loud. He flipped open the book to the first page.
'Many in the wizarding world now doubt the existence of ancient magic (i.e. the use of magic without requiring a wand) in the world today. Indeed, since the year 1511, there has not been a whisper of ancient magic. It is as if the magic has died out, never to be seen in the world again.
'Even in medieval or even pre-medieval times, ancient magic was hard to come by. The most famous and, indeed, the most powerful user of ancient magic was the wizard Merlin. Another key wizard, though not as powerful was Harlow Preston, although he is mostly forgotten by historians and mythologists. However, this character, according to legend, played a big part in the disappearance of ancient magic. It is said---"
"Not again! Why do we always bump into Malfoy?" Draco heard someone complain loudly.
Draco looked up from the book and found himself face to face with Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.
"Well, you're not a pretty sight either, Weasley," Draco sneered. "I suppose you're Head Girl?" Draco added scathingly to Hermione.
"As a matter of fact---" Hermione began.
"Shut it, not interested," Draco cut her off, and then approached the counter to pay for his books, including the one he had just been reading. Why am I buying this? he asked himself as he handed over the money. I could have just torn the page off. The book won't even be interesting. Nevertheless, on some unexplained impulse, Draco purchased the book.
After Draco had purchased everything, after bumping into the three for about fifty times, Draco entered the Leaky Cauldron. Draco had not made the trip to Madam Malkins. He was going through a growth spurt (finally! I've been shorter than Granger long enough!) and it was the second week of the holidays, after all. Plenty of time to buy new clothes.
Draco met his father at the Leaky Cauldron. He was seated at one of the tables, poring over a letter.
"Hello, Father!" Draco said brightly, but stopped when he saw his father's face. Draco put down the shopping bags. "What is it?"
"That old dingbat had made up a stupid summer program!" his father exclaimed. Draco knew whom his father was talking about; Albus Dumbledore. "Listen to this: 'in the effort to foster friendship between inter-House students, a summer exchange student program has been devised, in which two or three students will stay with the family of another student in a different House for the summer holidays'."
"Oh. Who's staying with us then?"
"It's not a question of who is coming here, rather it is a question of whom you are staying with." Lucius consulted the letter. "That man is planning a conspiracy against me. Do you know who you're staying with?" Lucius did not wait for his son to answer. "Arthur Weasley! If you come back a Muggle-lover, he will have to answer to me. That family means trouble. They're a bad influence."
"Do you mean that I have to stay with Weasley for the whole summer?" Draco asked. "We were supposed to go to Italy."
"We still are," his father responded. "It's just that you won't be coming along, that's all."
Draco crossed his arms and sulked. "Unfair."
"Life's never fair. I'll be happy when this year is over, then we won't have to put up with that crackpot old man, and we can settle down and hone your skills."
"I think they're rather honed already," Draco said.
"I want you to get past that permission problem," Draco's father said patiently. "Has anything new cropped up?"
"Not really. I'm getting better at moving things and I made my vegetables disappear last night." Ooops, shouldn't have said that. Draco ducked as his father aimed to cuff him. Draco had never liked vegetables, which, according to his father, was why he was so short.
A/N: One review?? Oh well…
