Author's Note: Oh, just for people who were curious, Porlocks and the various species of winged horses are mentioned in Fantastic Creatures and Where to Find Them, a book that can be bought at any bookstore. I think. I only stole it from my sister; I don't know where you really get it. Oh, and now for the review responses.

Tynkerbell: I hear you, but I like the Muggle references because they're pretty good similes that most people would be able to understand. At least in my opinion. But don't worry, there aren't going to be a lot of them.

Canadian-Chick: Thanks.

LMTran: It's nice to know that I got you back into reading cannon fics. The plot begins to unfold in this chapter so you won't be in the dark for long.

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Everyone did their Hogwarts shopping at the last minute, mostly because the lists weren't sent out until a couple weeks before the semester started. Now, with only a few days until the semester started, there were more people looking for school supplies than doing anything else.

Fighting through the crowds only to buy a specific book was pretty depressing, but people did what they had to do. That didn't mean that everyone enjoyed it, or that it didn't rip his or her nerves to shreds.

"So, we got the books right?" Blaise asked, looking over Draco's shoulder at the folded, crumpled and smudged list he held in his hands. Prefect or not, school supplies did not hold a special place in his heart.

"No, we forgot the revised edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," he answered after inspecting the list.

"What? No we didn't!" the girl said quickly, snatching the parchment from his hands. After looking through the titles that they had bought and comparing it to what was on the list, she had to agree that they did forget the last book. Why they needed a revised edition was beyond her though. Hadn't the last edition come out only a few years ago? Or was she thinking of The Monster Book of Monsters?

"While you two find what you need for school, I'm going to stop in Knockturn Alley. You can get back to the mansion alone, correct?" Blaise's mother asked sourly. At this very moment, that little wench was... no, she couldn't think about that. It would give her premature frown marks and that would only make her husband want another mistress more.

"Yes, mother," her daughter replied automatically, still looking through their new books in hopes that she had over looked the one they were missing.

"Stay out of trouble," Nicoleta advised. "Don't go running around, screaming that the Dark Lord is coming or anything like that."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Blaise said and then gave Draco an exasperated look. "We really don't have the book."

"I told you."

"Shove it."

"Oh, and one more thing," the adult of the group said, looking over her shoulder at the two teenagers. "Be careful where you step. Everyone's paranoid now."

The dark haired girl made a face at Draco as her mother swept through the crowds with her expensive cloak fluttering lightly at her sides. The looks of complete contempt that she gave to whatever unfortunate person got in her way were priceless and they helped her get a clearer path to her destination.

"Malfoy, I have a wonderful idea. You can go in and get the books for us and I'll stay out here and save our place in the street," the girl said with false, bright enthusiasm.

"Blaise, I have an even better idea. You can go buy the rest of the things on our lists and I can get myself some ice cream," he mocked in just as bright of a tone.

With a snort, she said sarcastically, "I don't think I'd even be able to get in the store."

Sick of hearing her complaining, the platinum blond grabbed her wrist and began to drag her back into Flourish and Blotts. And really, once they got past the crowd that was crowded near the entrance, fighting over the remaining copies of So the Dark Lord's After You: Ways to Protect Yourself, it wasn't that hard for them to find their way around the store.

"Oi, look here, Frank. It says that if you put water in a crystal goblet and mix it with slivers of unicorn horn and then sprinkle it on the threshold of your house, no evil can enter!"

"That's lies and you know it, Rose. Besides, how could we afford slivers of unicorn horn?" the man replied, pulling the book from his wife's hands and steering her towards the exit.

"Can you put a price on our safety? Or the safety of our children?" the woman protested in outrage as another couple pounced upon the abandoned book. Apparently news that several Death Eaters were thrown in Azkaban and that the Dark Lord had arisen had finally begun to spread despite Fudge's attempts to stop them.

"People believe that stuff?" Blaise asked, raising a carefully shaped eyebrow in Draco's direction.

The young man snickered, his lips twitching up into a casual smirk. "I'd love to see their faces when evil does enter their house, despite their heroic attempts to stop it."

His female companion snickered in amusement, then pulled in front of him as she saw the last book they needed on one of the shelves.

"Finally," she breathed, reaching out for two copies of the deep purple book. A hand, much less taken care of than her own carefully groomed one, grabbed one of the books at the exact same time she did.

The two girls, Muggleborn and Pureblood alike, looked at each other with contempt in their eyes. Blaise let go of her end of the book as if there was a contagious disease on the other end. Her face even contorted into a disgusted grimace like she had just had sludge dropped at her feet.

"Granger, what's worse?" she asked, "The state of your nails or the fact that I have to see you before the year's even begun?"

"Zabini, what's more suprising? You speaking to me before the year started or you holding a book?" Hermione replied cooly, balancing her book in the crook of her arm while the other girl carefully pulled a different one off the shelf.

"Something wrong, 'Mione?" asked a familiar looking red head that came up behind her. Upon seeing the two Slytherins, his face fell and he wrinkled his freckled nose. "Oh."

"Tell me, Weasley, is your family going to buy a book to learn how to protect yourselves from the Dark Lord or are you just going to trust that Potter's going to always be there for you?" Draco asked, pulling Blaise back near his side.

"I think we'll manage, Malfoy. But tell me, how's your father doing in Azkaban?" Ron asked in what would have appeared to be a concerned tone to anyone who was passing by.

Rather than buying his attempt at innocence, Draco narrowed his eyes and squeezed Blaise's wrist so tightly to keep from doing anything extremely regrettable that she had to stop herself from whimpering or crying out.

"Watch it, Weasel. You're on thin ice," he threatened darkly.

Hermione's eyes darted between the two males. Worry leapt into her thoughts as she bit her lip, about to break the silence that descended over all of them. A fight in the middle of the bookstore hadn't happened since second year when Arthur Weasley and Lucious Malfoy let their anger get a little out of control. Was that about to happen again with their sons?

"Draco, let go," said Blaise in a shaky tone that almost seemed to echo around them as she attempted to twist her wrist out of his grasp, but to no avail.

Her helpless sounding voice snapped the two boys back to reality. As soon as the blond realized what she was asking, he let go of her wrist and she clutched it to her chest, trying to rub the feeling back into it.

"See you at school, Weasley," Draco said through a clenched jaw. Without another word, he turned sharply, brutally shoving his way past two young witches that were looking over a colorful book with a unicorn on the cover.

Even Draco himself probably didn't know where he was headed. He just suddenly felt like he had a lot of steam to blow and that a human punching bag would be the perfect outlet. Suprisingly, he wasn't usually that violent of a person. Usually.

Outside, the sky had grown dark and overcast like it seemed to be every single day in England. By the time he had bothered to look up, he felt the first drops of rain falling onto his nose. Hopefully it would only be a light sprinkling, but with the sort of weather they had all the time, no one ever knew.

"Draco! Draco, slow down," called a voice somewhere behind him, somewhere in the crowd.

The young man in question turned, his cold eyes falling upon Blaise's face as she skirted between people before suddenly appearing at his shoulder.

"Take your bloody book," she scowled, thrusting the book that she had to buy after he stormed out at his chest before glaring up at him accusingly. "What was that all about in there?"

"You saw what happened. You should be able to figure it out," he snapped in return.

How she felt like slapping him. Smacking that sour look off his face would've given her such pleasure. "Didn't you listen to my mum? She might be completely neurotic, but she did have a point. Do you honestly think that you could've just started a fight and walked out in one piece?"

Now it was his turn to turn hostile. His eyes narrowed once more as he looked down at her, at the angry fire in her eyes. "Are you saying that a Weasley could get the better of me? Whose side are you on, Zabini?"

"The side that doesn't want to get thrown in Azkaban," she replied coldly. "Haven't you noticed that everyone's so paranoid? Haven't you noticed that the Ministry is being called in for every tiny thing that people think goes wrong? Everyone's afraid that the Dark Lord will turn up on their doorstep and kill them. Or have you not noticed what happens since your father got locked up?"

"Don't you dare bring my father into this," he said in a severe, deadly tone. Blaise, however, didn't seem anywhere close to the end of her rant and took no notice of the danger in his voice.

"Everyone is scared, Draco. And everyone is looking for a reason to blame it on us. Now is not the time to get in fights with Mudbloods or Muggle lovers. Seriously, we can sneeze the wrong way and people get suspicious," she finished scornfully.

"You're not one to lecture me about my temper," he commented harshly before snorting at her and continuing on his way. There were too many Mudbloods around here. He had to get to a place where he would be around people who listened to him and understood where he was coming from. Maybe he could go to a pub in Knockturn Alley or strike up some sort of conversation with a hag. They at least were worse off than he was.

"Trust me, things are only beginning," she called after his retreating form. Seeing that he didn't even change pace when she spoke, Blaise scowled and stormed off in the other direction. Men could be such pricks.

When Draco finally reached the dark alley, all his plans vanished from his mind. The entire street was empty. As far as he could see, every shop had been cleared out and there was no one in sight. Even the occasional scraps of paper that could usually be seen floating around were gone. It was like he had entered a ghost town.

Eyebrows knitted together in confusion, he slowly walked through the alley. His eyes picked up every detail that they could, but all that was there was the abandoned alley and the empty shops. How could there be absolutely nothing left? It was like everyone had packed up and in a hurry too.

A fluttering paper caught his attention, probably because it was the only other thing in the alley beside himself. It was attached to one of the walls, like some sort of poster or warrant, but had begun to peel off at the bottom. Curiously, he approached it, reaching for it and carefully tearing away whatever was still holding it to the damp bricks.

Although the notice couldn't have been that old, some of the letters had run together from the various rains it had been through and the slight drizzle it was facing now. If Draco made an effort though, he found that it wasn't that difficult to read.

"Because of suspicious behavior, Knockturn Alley has been closed until further notice," he read. "The people thought to be responsible shall have their dwellings searched thoroughly by trained Aurors. In these dark times, we find that we can take no risks that would allow He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to rise to power once again. If we are fortunate, these actions will be all that is necessary."

The Slytherin let go of the paper, watching it flutter away in the wind as the rain continued to drip on him annoyingly. If the Ministry was able to shut down all of Knockturn Alley, it would be too simple for them to destroy everyone's home in search for whatever dark materials they could find. God, he had hardly any idea what was going on. If his father hadn't been in Azkaban, he would've known about this sooner. But it was up to him to keep his eye and ears open. Technically, he was the man of the house now.

"Blaise was right," he murmured to himself. "Things are going to get messy."

Shoving his hands into his pockets, he headed back towards Diagon Alley. He had absolutely no idea what was going on and how complex the situation actually was. Right now, all he wanted to do was to finish buying whatever else he needed for school and tell Blaise and any other Slytherins he met about what was going on.

As soon as he entered the bright street, someone crashed into him. Draco got an eyeful of blonde hair, the shade of peroxide, and an earful of shrieking before realizing whom he had crashed into.

"Parkinson?" he asked warily, holding a hand to one of his ears.

"Draco!" the girl squealed, as if she were a Muggle that had just run into Orlando Bloom. "Draco, how are you?"

"Fine," he lied, making a face as he tried to pop his ears. "Look, are you here with other people?"

"Millicent Bullstrode's getting new school robes and I thought I saw Blaise skulking about somewhere," Pansy replied, clutching Draco's arm happily.

"Can you find them and bring them here? We have a serious situation on our hands."