Chapter Five
The next morning Mrs. Weasley demanded that everyone attend breakfast. It made for a very full table. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Lupin, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and even Draco (although the blonde looked more surly and moody than usual as he'd been dragged downstairs in his pajamas) sat over plates of bacon and eggs, pancakes and fruit salad.
"Now after breakfast," Molly was saying as she finally sat to eat, pouring maple syrup over nearly everything on her plate, eggs aside, "I want all of you to get clean, get dressed, and come back down. We're all going to Diagon Alley today to collect your school things."
"Diagon Alley?" Ron couldn't believe his ears. "Already? Isn't it a bit early for that sort of thing?" He was much more inclined to spend forever in summer vacation, if he could, and with still over a month of it to go, Hogwarts wasn't something he even wanted to start thinking about yet. Although school with Harry and Hermione was okay, it was still school. That meant classes and homework and dealing with Snape.
"I guess that's one of the benefits of having the Headmaster drop by every now and then during the summer." Mrs. Weasley seemed glad to be able to do this shopping now. Maybe a little too eager, Ron thought.
Draco stood up suddenly, his breakfast plate untouched and slowly growing cold on the table. "I'm not going." He announced, and stepped away from the table and out of the kitchen.
Mrs. Weasley watched him go and shook her head. "That boy, Arthur, I swear. I don't know how someone can stand to be so disagreeable every single day."
"Don't worry, mum," Ron snorted. "He's had years of practice."
Harry cast a sideways smile at Hermione.
"I don't know how his mother did it." She sighed and took another bite of her breakfast.
"He just needs some time to adjust I'm sure," Lupin buttered his toast lazily.
"It's okay, Mrs. Wealsey." Harry finished his breakfast and the last bit of his juice before he got to his feet. "I'll go talk to him."
"You will?" Ron and Hermione both asked, Ron's fork dropping from his mouth and onto the floor. While the red head ducked beneath the table to retrieve the utensil, Harry excused himself.
For Harry, it really wasn't that difficult to find Draco Malfoy in a house like 12 Grimmauld Place. The rooms the Slytherin haunted weren't many and by far, the most common was Draco's own bedroom. Probably, Harry surmised, because he could close the door.
Unfortunately for Draco, he couldn't lock the door.
It was because of this that he couldn't stop Harry when he let himself in. Of course, what Harry walked in on made him wish he had at least knocked.
"Potter, get out!" Harry barely had chance to escape before a book crashed into the slamming door just where his head had been as he ducked into the hallway.
"That was so stupid!" Harry scolded himself as he leaned against the wall next to Draco's door. It had been possibly the stupidest mistake he'd ever made. He held his hands over his pale face just in time to feel blood rise up in his cheeks as he blushed.
He'd just walked in on a naked Draco Malfoy!
"Sorry!" He called to the still closed door as the thought of what he'd just seen and done formed solidly in his mind. Harry was beginning to think that maybe he should just leave. This obviously wasn't worth it, nor working, and no one downstairs would begrudge him this failure. He was just about to push off the wall to give up when the door opened again and a thankfully fully clothed Draco appeared, glaring death.
"Malfoy I'm really sorry," Harry said again, wishing he wasn't blushing when Malfoy finally appeared. Of course seeing him also made Harry red all over again.
"I'm going to kill you!" The blonde informed him, stepping out of his room and towards him.
Harry backed away. "I said I was sorry!"
"I am going to dismember you slowly and them beat you with your limbs until you stop moving!
Harry soon found himself back against the wall. "Look!" He exclaimed loudly. "If I could take it back I would! I swear to Merlin! If I knew I would have knocked. I'd rather kiss a flesh-eating slug than see something like that again!"
"See what again?"
Draco turned his knife like gaze on Hermione and Ron who were just now coming up the stairs.
"Nothing." Harry and Draco said together, a fact which turned the blonde's glare back to Harry (how dare he mimic him!) much to the relief of the other two Gryffindors.
Backing away from the three of them to relax against the wall, Draco's glare calmed somewhat as Ron and Hermione joined Harry's side. "I guess it's not going so well, huh, Harry?" Hermione took his arm and gave him an encouraging smile.
"This is ridiculous. Don't talk about me like I'm not right here in front of you! And especially like I'm something you need to repair." Draco shook his head and abandoning the three of them in the hallway he disappeared into his room again.
"Oh well, Harry, we tried!" Ron turned around, and like Draco before him, also tried to escape but Hermione grabbed him by the back of his shirt and tugged him backwards to rejoin the group.
Harry had a look of determination on his face now that the color had faded from his cheeks. He followed Draco into his room and since the door had been left open this time, he didn't have to worry about knocking.
"I know why you don't want to go with us, Malfoy." He informed the blonde who was sitting on his bed with his back propped up against the wall and the book he'd thrown at Harry earlier open on his thighs.
"Oh really, do tell." He had also calmed down enough to manage a bored tone as Harry spoke, turning the page.
Ron and Hermione were close at Harry's heels. When they stepped into his room, Hermione was delighted and Ron disgusted to find the place immaculate. Nothing was out of order, although the expensive black and brass trunk leaning open against the wall seemed out of place. Apparently Draco hadn't done much for moving in.
"Because," Harry replied, moving towards him. "You're embarrassed to be seen with us. If someone you knew or your family knew saw you there with the likes of our group, you'd be completely mortified."
Ron drifted away from Hermione's side and moved over to Draco's trunk, peering into it curiously. Draco followed the red head with his eyes and sighed, getting up from the bed. "That's where you're wrong, Potter. I don't care what other people thing." He closed the lid on the trunk just as Ron dared to reach inside. Luckily, he'd managed to get his fingers out before they were pinched. "The Malfoys," Draco continued with proud airs as he glanced at the dark haired Gryffindor "have no peers."
"Maybe not," Ron said gleefully, "but I bet by now they have at least five if not six voices bouncing around in their skulls."
Draco grit his teeth. He couldn't stop himself from glaring at Ron when he said that. He couldn't help the picture that formed in his mind of how satisfying it would be to beat Ron into something unrecognizable as human. He could force himself to sneer though, which he did, and replied in as nice a voice as he could manage, "oh, I'd imagine so by now."
Although Ron looked baffled to have not started a fight, the way Draco's hands shook at his sides didn't escape Harry's attention. "You should go with us, Malfoy," Harry interjected. "It'll be the only chance you'll have to get your school things. You can't show up the first day without anything. Unless, of course, you want to spend the school year here also."
"Not on your life," the blonde replied stiffly.
"Well then I don't see how you could afford to stay here."
"I dunno, Harry," Ron spoke up finally. "I guess mum could get his things for him."
"Absolutely not." Draco sounded near horrified.
"Well then..." Hermione ventured when neither boy said anything. Harry was smiling, it made Draco sick to see him so happy about something like this. What would he care if he went with them to get his school things or not? Maybe Harry thought he could get a good laugh watching Draco Malfoy final forced to count knuts.
"I suppose if anything it'll be amusing to see just how dusty Weasley's vault at Gringotts really is."
"That's not funny, Malfoy." Ron was leading the way to the door. Whether Draco went with them or not wasn't something he cared about. His mother scolding him for not being ready on time, however, was something he didn't want to dare. "Especially coming from someone whose living off of a stipend from the Ministry."
Draco colored, but before he could throw anything at them, Harry, who had learned from experience, rushed Hermione out the door after Ron and closed it tightly behind them.
****
For Harry, the view of Diagon Alley at this time of year, was far different from any he'd seen before. They were there so early the usual crowds of Hogwarts students and their parents were absent from the narrow, advertisement laced street. Now, the flow of traffic was smooth and easy, although it was still busy enough that if they separated they'd have a time of it trying to get together again.
"Alright, now." Mrs. Weasley dolled out lists to each of them, still having one for herself since she was there to make sure Ginny got everything she needed as well. Harry glanced over the usual list of supplies and books and smiled. It was nice to have this particular piece of paper in his hands again. "I know it's hopeless for all of us to stay in groups so let's just say we'll meet in front of Gringotts at noon, alright?"
Harry nodded along with the rest of them, except for Draco, who was barely listening as he eyed the list in one hand and then the small bag of money he had in the other. When Harry glanced back up to Mrs. Weasley she had already gone.
"What's the matter, Malfoy?" Ron asked, ready to retort with something mean and scathing the moment Draco replied.
"Nothing, Weasley,"Draco slid the money into his pocket and folded up the paper. "I've just never had to do this before, usually we just send out a servant."
That obviously wasn't what Ron was expecting because despite the eager look on his face before, he never said anything. Not that the blonde had waited around to hear it! The moment he finished speaking Draco had turned and was leaving the group behind.
"Hey Malfoy!" Harry called after him, earning a glance back from the Slytherin. "Are you sure you don't want any help with that?"
Draco gave him an 'are you really that stupid' look before starting away again. "I think, somehow I'll manage."
After he'd left, Hermione announced their schedule to the boys. They would go straight down to the list. First Flourish and Blots since they were outside of the bank and it was closest, next the stationary store for quills and parchment, then pick up their magical instruments, stop by Quality Quidditch Supply (this step was an amendment later added in by Ron and Harry after a great deal of arguing in which Hermione did well, considering it was two against one), and finally the apothecary.
About halfway through their Hogwarts lists, and after Hermione couldn't take anymore time in Quality Quidditch Supplies, the trio decided to take a break with some ice cream. They back tracked a little bit, weaving through the crowds gathered on either sides of the street to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor.
While the trio sat down beneath one of the umbrella covered outdoor tables and situated their bags around them, Hermione pointed down the alley only a short distance away where a familiar blonde was crossing from one side of the street to the other. "Isn't that Malfoy over there?"
"Who cares?" Ron asked as he licked a long string of caramel off of his dessert.
"Where?" Harry, however, was interested. He glanced around his Gryffindor dorm mate trying to get a good look where Hermione had pointed. "Oh yeah. I wonder where he's going."
"Maybe he's going into Gambol and Japes," Hermione offered.
"Impossible!" Ron laughed out loud as he finally turned to see what everyone else was looking at. "He doesn't have a sense of humor. He's probably going to that second hand robe shop that's down there."
"Ron that isn't funny." Hermione gave him a pinched glare.
"Yes it is, Hermione, trust me. It's funny."
"I think he's going into Knockturn Alley." Harry, the only one in the group who had been to Knockturn Alley before, had also been the only one to notice as Draco detoured off of the main drag and onto the side street.
"What!" Ron exclaimed, getting to his feet so quickly his ice cream rolled off of his cone on onto the floor. "Oh bugger it all!"
Hermione pointed and laughed at him. "Serves you right, Ron!"
"I can't believe it." The red head scowled at his ice cream already melting on the stones beneath their feet and then, with disdain, tossed his useless cone onto the table. "I can't believe I'm actually getting scolded for making fun of Draco sodding Malfoy!"
"Come on, let's see what he's up to." Harry, who didn't seem to really want his ice cream all that much, passed the dessert over towards Ron and grabbed his bags, starting after the now disappeared blonde.
"Finally someone who sees it my way!" Ron was on Harry's heels, his own bags held in one hand while the other housed the ice cream his friend had passed back.
"This isn't a good idea." Naturally, Hermione had to play devil's advocate, the only one in the group with any sense at all. "Your mom would get so mad if she knew you were going into Knockturn Alley, Ron. It's really not a place that decent people should be seen in!"
"If you want, Hermione, you can wait for us in front of Gringotts. I'll even let you watch all of our bags." Ron cast her a glance over his shoulder, still a little bit miffed that she'd taken Malfoys side, yet again, over his own.
"No thanks, Ronald Weasley, but if your mother asks if we were here I'm not going to lie to her."
"Yeah I'm sure whether or not we popped into ole Knockturn Alley is really going to come up in a normal conversation." Ron rolled his eyes, running into Harry's arm when he stopped suddenly to peek down into the side alley.
Everything was just as Harry remembered it. Knockturn Alley still reminded him of a slum with its filthy streets and filthier street walkers. Dodgy witches and wizards selling questionable wares, and not always in shops. "He's probably in Borgin and Burkes," Harry said, more to himself than the two following behind him.
"Okay," Harry began and turned around to address his two friends. "Keep your head down, don't talk to anyone, and walk with purpose. Chances are no one will bug you if you look like you know what you're doing." Of course since the three of them were such obvious children he was sure there was nothing they could do to escape detection completely, but they could still try.
"Right." Hermione agreed verbally, Ron nodding beside her.
"Okay." And with that, Harry ventured over the invisible threshold that separated Diagon from Knockturn, the unabashed sunlight and the embarrassed, secret shadows. He held to his own advice, marching down the alley with narrowed eyes and his hands in loose fists at his sides. He thought he could hear Hermione and Ron behind him so he didn't have to glance back.
His plan seemed to work, as well. The shady denizens of the Alley, mostly loitering clumps of two or three making whispered business deals in the street, paid him little attention if only an upwards glance every now and then.
Harry didn't stop a single time until he reached Borgin and Burke's. Sure enough, he could see Malfoy through the grimy windows, his hands on the counter as behind it Borgin, the shop keeper, laughed at him. Draco looked about ready to commit murder.
Feeling the presence of another body behind him Harry laid out the next leg of their plan. "Alright, we'll go in there. We should just go in and take him out. He shouldn't be here anyway, especially with the position his parents are in right now. Okay?"
"You sound more like you're trying to convince yourself!" A voice that was neither Hermione's or Ron's replied and was followed by a dry, shrill cackle.
Harry whirled around and found himself standing face to face with an aged wizard dressed in ragged clothes with a dirty face and greasy white hair clumped with grime. His teeth were half rotted out of his face. But what made it truly terrible was the fact that he had no eyes. The spaces where his eyes should have been were covered with a mess of shiny, old scars.
Harry's eyes widened and he took a step back right into the front window of Borgin and Burke's. The glass rattled and although he didn't notice, behind him, both Borgin and Draco turned at the noise. Borgin's brows furrowed in annoyed curiosity and Draco's murderous gaze was lost as he closed his eyes, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"Get away from me!" Harry felt dirty and slimy all over as the old man continued to laugh and laugh. Harry slid away from the store front and as quickly as he could, he ducked inside the Dark Arts shop and slammed the door loud enough to rattle a candlestick off of its place on a shelf and to the floor. "Malfoy! We're getting out of here, right now!"
"As amusing as your visit has been, I think your little friend has the right idea, brat." Borgin snapped at Draco. "And if that candlestick is broken it's going on your bill!"
"I don't have a bill." Draco replied acidly. He didn't seem about ready to leave yet, not empty handed. But at the same time it wasn't as if he could collect personal things like he needed with Harry right there!
Harry joined Draco by the counter and took hold of the other boy by the elbow, pulling him away from the counter. "Come on. We're getting out of here, you shouldn't be in shady places like this, Malfoy."
"Oh get off of me!" Draco turned and grabbed Harry by the front of his robes and shoved him backwards. He could see Borgin's eyes flicker over Harry's face and forehead as the Gryffindor stumbled back, catching himself before he fell into a shelf of shrunken heads, and then smile slyly. It made Draco uneasy.
"So that's what you're up to is it?" Mr. Borgin looked devilish, pressing his fingers against the counter top and leaning over it with a slithering smile. "Well, I suppose that's to be expected given the nature of–"
Draco gave Borgin a withering glare of his own as Harry took hold of his arm again and gave him another pull. "If it wasn't for my family this store would have gone under years ago."
At that, Borgin began to laugh even as Draco snapped his arm out of Harry's grasp again and turned on his own to leave the store and the laughing man behind.
Only when they were outside in the relative calm of the Alley could Harry ask, "what was that all about, Malfoy?"
"I'm trying to remember just when it became a part of your business, Potter," the blonde snarled, tugging down the sleeve of his shirt that Harry had messed up with all of his whiney pulling and pleading. "What do you think you're doing anyway? I can go where I please."
"I know but..." Harry began, his voice trailing off. Of course Draco was right. He wasn't anyone that had the right to police another human being. "I just didn't think it would be a very good idea for you to be seen in a place like this."
"Why's that, Potter?" He seethed. Draco seemed at ease here in the same Alley that made Harry cringe. Of course, when he had first come to Knockturn Alley back in second year, Harry did remember seeing the other boy here with his father. Draco had probably been coming here for years, since he was little.
"Well, because of your parents." He tried not to sound so serious, but Harry couldn't keep the worried crease from his brow.
"My parents that you put in Azkaban you mean?" Draco's tone dared the other boy to say just the wrong thing.
"No, Malfoy, your parents put themselves in Azkaban. They made the choices in their life that they did!" Of course Harry took the bait, growling back his reply. He wasn't going to put up with Draco if he was going to whine and complain and make up excuses for his parents. He wasn't going to stand for Lucius Malfoy being a victim. That wasn't even what mattered. "You know, you don't have to make those same choices."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Uhm..." Harry suddenly felt out of place even though he had been secretly planning this conversation for a while. "Well, I was just thinking that maybe you might want to choose to follow a different future than the one they're stuck in."
Draco stared at him for a while, gray eyes narrowed on Harry's face even though the Gryffindor was longer looking at him. He sighed, annoyed, and rubbed the back of his neck and stiff shoulders before smoothing his hair back from his forehead with his fingers. "Whatever, Potter. Where are your two side kicks anyway?"
That's right! Hermione and Ron hadn't followed him into Borgin and Burke's. Had they even followed him into the alley? How had they gotten separated? "I don't know. We all came in together. I think we did, anyway."
"Oh, well, if they got lost by now they're probably in some deranged witch or wizard's stew pot." Understandably unconcerned about the whereabouts of a mudblood and a pauper, Draco started back towards Diagon Alley. He still had all of his own school supplies to purchase.
"They are not." Harry didn't enjoy Draco's morbid sense of humor. He glanced down one side of the street and up another but he didn't see any red hair. He did see the back of Draco's head though as the Slytherin left. "Malfoy!" Harry jogged after him and took hold of his arm when he caught up. "You have to help me find them!"
"They're practically grown, they should be able to take care of themselves. And if they can't, well, they probably shouldn't have come here in the first place." Draco pulled his arm away for a third time and vowed if Harry grabbed him again he'd hex him. He stepped out of Knockturn Alley and back onto the busier streets.
"Hey, Harry! Over here!"
The sound of his name turned Harry's attention away from the gloomy alley behind him as Ron appeared around the corner up ahead only a few steps away from Draco. "Look!" He pointed down the street. "There's some sort of commotion going on!"
Both annoyed that Ron and Hermione hadn't followed him into Knockturn Alley, and relieved at the same time that they hadn't, Harry stepped around the corner and rose on his toes to see just what Ron was pointing at.
There defiantly was something afoot. The street had congested with a thick swarm of people all trying to get a peek at something that was happening further ahead. "What is it?" Harry asked, hopping once. He was smaller than most wizards his age, to see anything over the heads of adults was near impossible. "I can't see anything."
"Either can I," Ron was much taller and still couldn't see anything, either.
The force of the crowd turned so suddenly Harry barely had time to press himself against the wall of a shop to get out of the way. It erupted into screams and cries and everywhere, everyone that had stopped was trying to get away. Wizards and witches, without any regard to the welfare of those around them, surged down the narrow alley, pushing and clawing, fighting to escape. Harry saw with wide eyes as someone fell, but they were swallowed up by the crowd of people before he could even think to do anything.
"What's going on? What's happening!" Ron shouted over to Harry as he curled an arm around Hermione, holding her between his body and the wall to protect her from the stampede as it threatened to sweep them away.
"I don't know!" Harry yelled back, although he wasn't sure if Ron even heard him. A new round of terror filled screams arose as above them, in smokey green color, the Dark Mark exploded in the blue sky. Instantly, Harry found himself turning towards Draco.
The blonde was staring at the sky, his eyes lighting on the mark. Harry wasn't quite sure what it was that he saw in Draco's gaze, but he hoped it was shock, if not fear. "Malfoy," Harry said slowly, his tone underlined with the unasked questions 'what's going on? What should we do?'.
The sound of his name seemed to spur Draco into action. He gave Harry an exasperated 'you owe me' look and then announced. "Well come on then. You three really are a helpless bunch aren't you?" And then, without waiting to see if they'd follow (because he knew Harry would), Draco turned back into Knockturn Alley.
The next morning Mrs. Weasley demanded that everyone attend breakfast. It made for a very full table. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Lupin, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and even Draco (although the blonde looked more surly and moody than usual as he'd been dragged downstairs in his pajamas) sat over plates of bacon and eggs, pancakes and fruit salad.
"Now after breakfast," Molly was saying as she finally sat to eat, pouring maple syrup over nearly everything on her plate, eggs aside, "I want all of you to get clean, get dressed, and come back down. We're all going to Diagon Alley today to collect your school things."
"Diagon Alley?" Ron couldn't believe his ears. "Already? Isn't it a bit early for that sort of thing?" He was much more inclined to spend forever in summer vacation, if he could, and with still over a month of it to go, Hogwarts wasn't something he even wanted to start thinking about yet. Although school with Harry and Hermione was okay, it was still school. That meant classes and homework and dealing with Snape.
"I guess that's one of the benefits of having the Headmaster drop by every now and then during the summer." Mrs. Weasley seemed glad to be able to do this shopping now. Maybe a little too eager, Ron thought.
Draco stood up suddenly, his breakfast plate untouched and slowly growing cold on the table. "I'm not going." He announced, and stepped away from the table and out of the kitchen.
Mrs. Weasley watched him go and shook her head. "That boy, Arthur, I swear. I don't know how someone can stand to be so disagreeable every single day."
"Don't worry, mum," Ron snorted. "He's had years of practice."
Harry cast a sideways smile at Hermione.
"I don't know how his mother did it." She sighed and took another bite of her breakfast.
"He just needs some time to adjust I'm sure," Lupin buttered his toast lazily.
"It's okay, Mrs. Wealsey." Harry finished his breakfast and the last bit of his juice before he got to his feet. "I'll go talk to him."
"You will?" Ron and Hermione both asked, Ron's fork dropping from his mouth and onto the floor. While the red head ducked beneath the table to retrieve the utensil, Harry excused himself.
For Harry, it really wasn't that difficult to find Draco Malfoy in a house like 12 Grimmauld Place. The rooms the Slytherin haunted weren't many and by far, the most common was Draco's own bedroom. Probably, Harry surmised, because he could close the door.
Unfortunately for Draco, he couldn't lock the door.
It was because of this that he couldn't stop Harry when he let himself in. Of course, what Harry walked in on made him wish he had at least knocked.
"Potter, get out!" Harry barely had chance to escape before a book crashed into the slamming door just where his head had been as he ducked into the hallway.
"That was so stupid!" Harry scolded himself as he leaned against the wall next to Draco's door. It had been possibly the stupidest mistake he'd ever made. He held his hands over his pale face just in time to feel blood rise up in his cheeks as he blushed.
He'd just walked in on a naked Draco Malfoy!
"Sorry!" He called to the still closed door as the thought of what he'd just seen and done formed solidly in his mind. Harry was beginning to think that maybe he should just leave. This obviously wasn't worth it, nor working, and no one downstairs would begrudge him this failure. He was just about to push off the wall to give up when the door opened again and a thankfully fully clothed Draco appeared, glaring death.
"Malfoy I'm really sorry," Harry said again, wishing he wasn't blushing when Malfoy finally appeared. Of course seeing him also made Harry red all over again.
"I'm going to kill you!" The blonde informed him, stepping out of his room and towards him.
Harry backed away. "I said I was sorry!"
"I am going to dismember you slowly and them beat you with your limbs until you stop moving!
Harry soon found himself back against the wall. "Look!" He exclaimed loudly. "If I could take it back I would! I swear to Merlin! If I knew I would have knocked. I'd rather kiss a flesh-eating slug than see something like that again!"
"See what again?"
Draco turned his knife like gaze on Hermione and Ron who were just now coming up the stairs.
"Nothing." Harry and Draco said together, a fact which turned the blonde's glare back to Harry (how dare he mimic him!) much to the relief of the other two Gryffindors.
Backing away from the three of them to relax against the wall, Draco's glare calmed somewhat as Ron and Hermione joined Harry's side. "I guess it's not going so well, huh, Harry?" Hermione took his arm and gave him an encouraging smile.
"This is ridiculous. Don't talk about me like I'm not right here in front of you! And especially like I'm something you need to repair." Draco shook his head and abandoning the three of them in the hallway he disappeared into his room again.
"Oh well, Harry, we tried!" Ron turned around, and like Draco before him, also tried to escape but Hermione grabbed him by the back of his shirt and tugged him backwards to rejoin the group.
Harry had a look of determination on his face now that the color had faded from his cheeks. He followed Draco into his room and since the door had been left open this time, he didn't have to worry about knocking.
"I know why you don't want to go with us, Malfoy." He informed the blonde who was sitting on his bed with his back propped up against the wall and the book he'd thrown at Harry earlier open on his thighs.
"Oh really, do tell." He had also calmed down enough to manage a bored tone as Harry spoke, turning the page.
Ron and Hermione were close at Harry's heels. When they stepped into his room, Hermione was delighted and Ron disgusted to find the place immaculate. Nothing was out of order, although the expensive black and brass trunk leaning open against the wall seemed out of place. Apparently Draco hadn't done much for moving in.
"Because," Harry replied, moving towards him. "You're embarrassed to be seen with us. If someone you knew or your family knew saw you there with the likes of our group, you'd be completely mortified."
Ron drifted away from Hermione's side and moved over to Draco's trunk, peering into it curiously. Draco followed the red head with his eyes and sighed, getting up from the bed. "That's where you're wrong, Potter. I don't care what other people thing." He closed the lid on the trunk just as Ron dared to reach inside. Luckily, he'd managed to get his fingers out before they were pinched. "The Malfoys," Draco continued with proud airs as he glanced at the dark haired Gryffindor "have no peers."
"Maybe not," Ron said gleefully, "but I bet by now they have at least five if not six voices bouncing around in their skulls."
Draco grit his teeth. He couldn't stop himself from glaring at Ron when he said that. He couldn't help the picture that formed in his mind of how satisfying it would be to beat Ron into something unrecognizable as human. He could force himself to sneer though, which he did, and replied in as nice a voice as he could manage, "oh, I'd imagine so by now."
Although Ron looked baffled to have not started a fight, the way Draco's hands shook at his sides didn't escape Harry's attention. "You should go with us, Malfoy," Harry interjected. "It'll be the only chance you'll have to get your school things. You can't show up the first day without anything. Unless, of course, you want to spend the school year here also."
"Not on your life," the blonde replied stiffly.
"Well then I don't see how you could afford to stay here."
"I dunno, Harry," Ron spoke up finally. "I guess mum could get his things for him."
"Absolutely not." Draco sounded near horrified.
"Well then..." Hermione ventured when neither boy said anything. Harry was smiling, it made Draco sick to see him so happy about something like this. What would he care if he went with them to get his school things or not? Maybe Harry thought he could get a good laugh watching Draco Malfoy final forced to count knuts.
"I suppose if anything it'll be amusing to see just how dusty Weasley's vault at Gringotts really is."
"That's not funny, Malfoy." Ron was leading the way to the door. Whether Draco went with them or not wasn't something he cared about. His mother scolding him for not being ready on time, however, was something he didn't want to dare. "Especially coming from someone whose living off of a stipend from the Ministry."
Draco colored, but before he could throw anything at them, Harry, who had learned from experience, rushed Hermione out the door after Ron and closed it tightly behind them.
****
For Harry, the view of Diagon Alley at this time of year, was far different from any he'd seen before. They were there so early the usual crowds of Hogwarts students and their parents were absent from the narrow, advertisement laced street. Now, the flow of traffic was smooth and easy, although it was still busy enough that if they separated they'd have a time of it trying to get together again.
"Alright, now." Mrs. Weasley dolled out lists to each of them, still having one for herself since she was there to make sure Ginny got everything she needed as well. Harry glanced over the usual list of supplies and books and smiled. It was nice to have this particular piece of paper in his hands again. "I know it's hopeless for all of us to stay in groups so let's just say we'll meet in front of Gringotts at noon, alright?"
Harry nodded along with the rest of them, except for Draco, who was barely listening as he eyed the list in one hand and then the small bag of money he had in the other. When Harry glanced back up to Mrs. Weasley she had already gone.
"What's the matter, Malfoy?" Ron asked, ready to retort with something mean and scathing the moment Draco replied.
"Nothing, Weasley,"Draco slid the money into his pocket and folded up the paper. "I've just never had to do this before, usually we just send out a servant."
That obviously wasn't what Ron was expecting because despite the eager look on his face before, he never said anything. Not that the blonde had waited around to hear it! The moment he finished speaking Draco had turned and was leaving the group behind.
"Hey Malfoy!" Harry called after him, earning a glance back from the Slytherin. "Are you sure you don't want any help with that?"
Draco gave him an 'are you really that stupid' look before starting away again. "I think, somehow I'll manage."
After he'd left, Hermione announced their schedule to the boys. They would go straight down to the list. First Flourish and Blots since they were outside of the bank and it was closest, next the stationary store for quills and parchment, then pick up their magical instruments, stop by Quality Quidditch Supply (this step was an amendment later added in by Ron and Harry after a great deal of arguing in which Hermione did well, considering it was two against one), and finally the apothecary.
About halfway through their Hogwarts lists, and after Hermione couldn't take anymore time in Quality Quidditch Supplies, the trio decided to take a break with some ice cream. They back tracked a little bit, weaving through the crowds gathered on either sides of the street to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor.
While the trio sat down beneath one of the umbrella covered outdoor tables and situated their bags around them, Hermione pointed down the alley only a short distance away where a familiar blonde was crossing from one side of the street to the other. "Isn't that Malfoy over there?"
"Who cares?" Ron asked as he licked a long string of caramel off of his dessert.
"Where?" Harry, however, was interested. He glanced around his Gryffindor dorm mate trying to get a good look where Hermione had pointed. "Oh yeah. I wonder where he's going."
"Maybe he's going into Gambol and Japes," Hermione offered.
"Impossible!" Ron laughed out loud as he finally turned to see what everyone else was looking at. "He doesn't have a sense of humor. He's probably going to that second hand robe shop that's down there."
"Ron that isn't funny." Hermione gave him a pinched glare.
"Yes it is, Hermione, trust me. It's funny."
"I think he's going into Knockturn Alley." Harry, the only one in the group who had been to Knockturn Alley before, had also been the only one to notice as Draco detoured off of the main drag and onto the side street.
"What!" Ron exclaimed, getting to his feet so quickly his ice cream rolled off of his cone on onto the floor. "Oh bugger it all!"
Hermione pointed and laughed at him. "Serves you right, Ron!"
"I can't believe it." The red head scowled at his ice cream already melting on the stones beneath their feet and then, with disdain, tossed his useless cone onto the table. "I can't believe I'm actually getting scolded for making fun of Draco sodding Malfoy!"
"Come on, let's see what he's up to." Harry, who didn't seem to really want his ice cream all that much, passed the dessert over towards Ron and grabbed his bags, starting after the now disappeared blonde.
"Finally someone who sees it my way!" Ron was on Harry's heels, his own bags held in one hand while the other housed the ice cream his friend had passed back.
"This isn't a good idea." Naturally, Hermione had to play devil's advocate, the only one in the group with any sense at all. "Your mom would get so mad if she knew you were going into Knockturn Alley, Ron. It's really not a place that decent people should be seen in!"
"If you want, Hermione, you can wait for us in front of Gringotts. I'll even let you watch all of our bags." Ron cast her a glance over his shoulder, still a little bit miffed that she'd taken Malfoys side, yet again, over his own.
"No thanks, Ronald Weasley, but if your mother asks if we were here I'm not going to lie to her."
"Yeah I'm sure whether or not we popped into ole Knockturn Alley is really going to come up in a normal conversation." Ron rolled his eyes, running into Harry's arm when he stopped suddenly to peek down into the side alley.
Everything was just as Harry remembered it. Knockturn Alley still reminded him of a slum with its filthy streets and filthier street walkers. Dodgy witches and wizards selling questionable wares, and not always in shops. "He's probably in Borgin and Burkes," Harry said, more to himself than the two following behind him.
"Okay," Harry began and turned around to address his two friends. "Keep your head down, don't talk to anyone, and walk with purpose. Chances are no one will bug you if you look like you know what you're doing." Of course since the three of them were such obvious children he was sure there was nothing they could do to escape detection completely, but they could still try.
"Right." Hermione agreed verbally, Ron nodding beside her.
"Okay." And with that, Harry ventured over the invisible threshold that separated Diagon from Knockturn, the unabashed sunlight and the embarrassed, secret shadows. He held to his own advice, marching down the alley with narrowed eyes and his hands in loose fists at his sides. He thought he could hear Hermione and Ron behind him so he didn't have to glance back.
His plan seemed to work, as well. The shady denizens of the Alley, mostly loitering clumps of two or three making whispered business deals in the street, paid him little attention if only an upwards glance every now and then.
Harry didn't stop a single time until he reached Borgin and Burke's. Sure enough, he could see Malfoy through the grimy windows, his hands on the counter as behind it Borgin, the shop keeper, laughed at him. Draco looked about ready to commit murder.
Feeling the presence of another body behind him Harry laid out the next leg of their plan. "Alright, we'll go in there. We should just go in and take him out. He shouldn't be here anyway, especially with the position his parents are in right now. Okay?"
"You sound more like you're trying to convince yourself!" A voice that was neither Hermione's or Ron's replied and was followed by a dry, shrill cackle.
Harry whirled around and found himself standing face to face with an aged wizard dressed in ragged clothes with a dirty face and greasy white hair clumped with grime. His teeth were half rotted out of his face. But what made it truly terrible was the fact that he had no eyes. The spaces where his eyes should have been were covered with a mess of shiny, old scars.
Harry's eyes widened and he took a step back right into the front window of Borgin and Burke's. The glass rattled and although he didn't notice, behind him, both Borgin and Draco turned at the noise. Borgin's brows furrowed in annoyed curiosity and Draco's murderous gaze was lost as he closed his eyes, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"Get away from me!" Harry felt dirty and slimy all over as the old man continued to laugh and laugh. Harry slid away from the store front and as quickly as he could, he ducked inside the Dark Arts shop and slammed the door loud enough to rattle a candlestick off of its place on a shelf and to the floor. "Malfoy! We're getting out of here, right now!"
"As amusing as your visit has been, I think your little friend has the right idea, brat." Borgin snapped at Draco. "And if that candlestick is broken it's going on your bill!"
"I don't have a bill." Draco replied acidly. He didn't seem about ready to leave yet, not empty handed. But at the same time it wasn't as if he could collect personal things like he needed with Harry right there!
Harry joined Draco by the counter and took hold of the other boy by the elbow, pulling him away from the counter. "Come on. We're getting out of here, you shouldn't be in shady places like this, Malfoy."
"Oh get off of me!" Draco turned and grabbed Harry by the front of his robes and shoved him backwards. He could see Borgin's eyes flicker over Harry's face and forehead as the Gryffindor stumbled back, catching himself before he fell into a shelf of shrunken heads, and then smile slyly. It made Draco uneasy.
"So that's what you're up to is it?" Mr. Borgin looked devilish, pressing his fingers against the counter top and leaning over it with a slithering smile. "Well, I suppose that's to be expected given the nature of–"
Draco gave Borgin a withering glare of his own as Harry took hold of his arm again and gave him another pull. "If it wasn't for my family this store would have gone under years ago."
At that, Borgin began to laugh even as Draco snapped his arm out of Harry's grasp again and turned on his own to leave the store and the laughing man behind.
Only when they were outside in the relative calm of the Alley could Harry ask, "what was that all about, Malfoy?"
"I'm trying to remember just when it became a part of your business, Potter," the blonde snarled, tugging down the sleeve of his shirt that Harry had messed up with all of his whiney pulling and pleading. "What do you think you're doing anyway? I can go where I please."
"I know but..." Harry began, his voice trailing off. Of course Draco was right. He wasn't anyone that had the right to police another human being. "I just didn't think it would be a very good idea for you to be seen in a place like this."
"Why's that, Potter?" He seethed. Draco seemed at ease here in the same Alley that made Harry cringe. Of course, when he had first come to Knockturn Alley back in second year, Harry did remember seeing the other boy here with his father. Draco had probably been coming here for years, since he was little.
"Well, because of your parents." He tried not to sound so serious, but Harry couldn't keep the worried crease from his brow.
"My parents that you put in Azkaban you mean?" Draco's tone dared the other boy to say just the wrong thing.
"No, Malfoy, your parents put themselves in Azkaban. They made the choices in their life that they did!" Of course Harry took the bait, growling back his reply. He wasn't going to put up with Draco if he was going to whine and complain and make up excuses for his parents. He wasn't going to stand for Lucius Malfoy being a victim. That wasn't even what mattered. "You know, you don't have to make those same choices."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Uhm..." Harry suddenly felt out of place even though he had been secretly planning this conversation for a while. "Well, I was just thinking that maybe you might want to choose to follow a different future than the one they're stuck in."
Draco stared at him for a while, gray eyes narrowed on Harry's face even though the Gryffindor was longer looking at him. He sighed, annoyed, and rubbed the back of his neck and stiff shoulders before smoothing his hair back from his forehead with his fingers. "Whatever, Potter. Where are your two side kicks anyway?"
That's right! Hermione and Ron hadn't followed him into Borgin and Burke's. Had they even followed him into the alley? How had they gotten separated? "I don't know. We all came in together. I think we did, anyway."
"Oh, well, if they got lost by now they're probably in some deranged witch or wizard's stew pot." Understandably unconcerned about the whereabouts of a mudblood and a pauper, Draco started back towards Diagon Alley. He still had all of his own school supplies to purchase.
"They are not." Harry didn't enjoy Draco's morbid sense of humor. He glanced down one side of the street and up another but he didn't see any red hair. He did see the back of Draco's head though as the Slytherin left. "Malfoy!" Harry jogged after him and took hold of his arm when he caught up. "You have to help me find them!"
"They're practically grown, they should be able to take care of themselves. And if they can't, well, they probably shouldn't have come here in the first place." Draco pulled his arm away for a third time and vowed if Harry grabbed him again he'd hex him. He stepped out of Knockturn Alley and back onto the busier streets.
"Hey, Harry! Over here!"
The sound of his name turned Harry's attention away from the gloomy alley behind him as Ron appeared around the corner up ahead only a few steps away from Draco. "Look!" He pointed down the street. "There's some sort of commotion going on!"
Both annoyed that Ron and Hermione hadn't followed him into Knockturn Alley, and relieved at the same time that they hadn't, Harry stepped around the corner and rose on his toes to see just what Ron was pointing at.
There defiantly was something afoot. The street had congested with a thick swarm of people all trying to get a peek at something that was happening further ahead. "What is it?" Harry asked, hopping once. He was smaller than most wizards his age, to see anything over the heads of adults was near impossible. "I can't see anything."
"Either can I," Ron was much taller and still couldn't see anything, either.
The force of the crowd turned so suddenly Harry barely had time to press himself against the wall of a shop to get out of the way. It erupted into screams and cries and everywhere, everyone that had stopped was trying to get away. Wizards and witches, without any regard to the welfare of those around them, surged down the narrow alley, pushing and clawing, fighting to escape. Harry saw with wide eyes as someone fell, but they were swallowed up by the crowd of people before he could even think to do anything.
"What's going on? What's happening!" Ron shouted over to Harry as he curled an arm around Hermione, holding her between his body and the wall to protect her from the stampede as it threatened to sweep them away.
"I don't know!" Harry yelled back, although he wasn't sure if Ron even heard him. A new round of terror filled screams arose as above them, in smokey green color, the Dark Mark exploded in the blue sky. Instantly, Harry found himself turning towards Draco.
The blonde was staring at the sky, his eyes lighting on the mark. Harry wasn't quite sure what it was that he saw in Draco's gaze, but he hoped it was shock, if not fear. "Malfoy," Harry said slowly, his tone underlined with the unasked questions 'what's going on? What should we do?'.
The sound of his name seemed to spur Draco into action. He gave Harry an exasperated 'you owe me' look and then announced. "Well come on then. You three really are a helpless bunch aren't you?" And then, without waiting to see if they'd follow (because he knew Harry would), Draco turned back into Knockturn Alley.