Zephari grinned as she dragged Dethol down the street to Madam Malkin's. "We can start here." She said, grinning.
"Zephari..." He mumbled, resisting.
"You come with me willingly, or I make you try on the fluffiest pair of pink robes in stock." She threatened.
Dante and Zoë giggled slightly, earning a glare from Kai. Sirius, however, had a wide grin on his face. Draco looked amused and Severus did as well, though only those who knew both well could tell. Dethol mumbled something and followed her without another word against it.
"Hogwarts, dears?" A kindly witch asked them, looking at the five children.
"Durmstrang for him." Draco said with authority, putting a hand on Sirius's shoulder.
Sirius did not look pleased about this. "Why do I have to go to the land of ice and snow?" He muttered.
Draco glared at him, "Durmstrang builds character." He said firmly, though Zephari got the feeling he was not telling the whole truth.
The witch led the youngest four into the back of shop. She positioned Dante and Zoë on stools, leaving Zephari to talk with Sirius. Draco, Severus and Dethol had been left in the front because Dethol had his ice cream, Severus had received her cone and Draco needed to go through the arrangements for Kai to get his robes altered to fit.
"So, you don't want to go to Durmstrang?" Zephari asked him as another witch joined the first in pinning a pair of robes to fit the other girls.
"Who would want to go there?" He demanded, "I may be pureblood, but I don't want to-"
"Hey! I'm pureblood too!" She snapped, "It was just a question; don't get your knickers in a bunch."
He took a deep breath and looked away, "Sorry, just touchy. I've often been judged as a typical pureblood and it annoys me."
She shrugged, "I can understand." She said simply, "Most people think I'm like all Blacks, and they don't have a very good reputation."
"One a murderer, numerous Death Eaters and the good majority of them dead." He murmured, "My grandmother was one."
Zephari nodded, "My great-grandfather's cousin."
"Great-grandfather?" He repeated.
"Oh, right, you don't know. I'm a generation ahead of most of my cousins and the kids of people my uncles' age." She informed him.
"Ah, right..." Sirius said suddenly, "Father mentioned that both your parents were born not too long after he graduated from Hogwarts."
Zephari nodded, "My dad was friends with him. I vaguely remember visiting the Snape Manor when I was younger."
Sirius grinned, "You must've had fun there."
"Oh, I did." She said truthfully, "I was raised by an overgrown bat just like them, after all."
"Okay, you two now!" The first witch said briskly, returning from the front of the shop where Dante and Zoë had gone.
"So, is Dethol as weird as he seems?" Sirius asked her.
Zephari grinned, "He's the best, even though he's a little strange." She said loyally.
"And does all your family have red hair?" He asked curiously.
She laughed. "Most of 'em. I've got my dad's hair, though. So, how do the old bats act at home?"
"As surly as ever." He said wryly.
Zephari grinned, "Y'know, you're not as bad as my cousins make Malfoys sound."
He grinned back, "Well, you're pureblood too. We're all so inbred, you're part Malfoy."
She laughed slightly. "Too true."
"Alright, dears, you're done." The second witch said kindly, taking the robes from Zephari and leading the two children back to the front.
There they waited a bit for her to get robes of the right size and alter them as well. Then they handed over their money to buy them and wandered out into the brightness outside. Zephari blinked when she did not see either Dante or Zoë anywhere. However, the three professors were still there.
"Dante and Zoë left us to go with Charlie and Bill." Dethol told her, looking evenly at her, "Do you mind spending the rest of the day with us boys?"
"Sure." She said brightly. "I can teach you all that shopping is fun."
They all looked doubtful at that. However, they now had three different sets of books and supplies to get so they got a move on. Zephari bought her books easily enough, but got bored when it took Kai a while to get his texts and even longer for Sirius. She started looking over the other books and found a few that interested her.
"Dethol, is this book accurate?" She asked curiously, holding up Hogwarts: A History.
He took the book out of her light grasp and checked the production date. He grinned. "Yes, it is. Updated last year, in fact."
"And this one?" She asked, holding up a handsome leather-bound book called Aurors and Other People of Note of the 21st Century.
He nodded, somewhat sadly, "Yes, it's accurate. Are you sure you want to buy that one?"
Zephari nodded firmly, "It'll have everyone in it." She said, clutching it tightly.
Then they went to the apothecary, where Zephari was intrigued by all the strange substances, especially the vibrantly poisonous ones which none of the adults would let her buy. They bought quills, parchment, ink and other necessities at a rather boring shop. They got standard size pewter cauldrons for herself and Sirius at the cauldron store and then went to one of the stores she had been looking forward to the most: Olivander's.
They entered the dusty shop and the three professors looked around rather fondly. Even Kai looked a little less irritated than he had all day. There was a knock on the window and they all turned with a start. There was a black-haired, dark-eyed boy of Kai's age standing outside. He motioned to Kai to come and the Malfoy looked imploringly up at his father.
"Ah, I see Kim is with his grandparents." Draco observed, "Alright, go on. If I find out you snuck off into Knockturn Alley, though..."
Kai gulped and nodded before running out.
"His grandparents?" Zephari repeated, sneering.
"I would pity the bloke if he wasn't such a pain." Sirius muttered to her.
The girl grinned and turned around to find a creepy old wizard staring at them unblinkingly. She jumped with a small squeak, turning the attentions of the boys to the man as well. Dethol bent over to whisper in both the first years' ears. "Olivander himself. Severus and Draco assure me he's the same man that sold them their wands way back when, he sold me mine and he will sell you yours. My theory is that they all look so similar that they come and go without us noticing."
"Ah... Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Snape and Mr. N'ataya." The man whispered, smiling, "It's as if it were yesterday, indeed."
Draco and Severus looked at Dethol, who nodded. "If you'll excuse us, Mr. Olivander, we have other business to attend to." Severus said smoothly before the two glided out of the store.
Olivander turned his creepy gaze on Dethol then. "How is it faring, Mr. N'ataya?" He asked, "I hope none of your insane adventures have gotten it snapped."
Dethol turned a little red at the cheeks, making Zephari smirk. "My wand's fine, Mr. Olivander. Made to last, as you said, and thank Godric for that."
"Durable, yes. Eight and a quarter inches, rigid, maple with a core of dragon heartstring; I have yet to make another wand as fiery as that one, indeed." He smiled. "I heard you nearly lit the school on fire in your first Charms class?"
"You keep up with the times." Dethol said with a laugh, "Nearly, yes, but Professor Flitwick – May he rest in peace – managed to stop it in time."
"Hopefully these two won't follow in your footsteps." The curious man said, turning to the two children, who shrunk back. "Not yours, I say."
"No, no." Dethol said brightly, "Zephari Black and Sirius Malfoy."
Mr. Olivander fixed them each in turn with his creepy gaze. "You're Lily Weasley and Athen Black's daughter?" He asked Zephari finally, who nodded nervously, "We'll start with you, then."
He went to the back of the shop and picked up a wand. "Yew, thirteen inches, springy with a core of unicorn hair; near identical to that of your mother's, except her hair was from a fiery stallion and this placid mare barely batted an eyelash at me."
Zephari stared at the wand and lifted it up; she gave it a little wave and shook her head. "Too calm." She muttered.
The odd little man raised an eyebrow at that and handed her another wand, "Try this one, then, ash, ten inches, rigid with a core of a phoenix feather, a nice wand if I do say so myself." She took it and instantly shook her head. "Maple, seven and a quarter inches, rigid with a core of dragon heartstring, this should suit you." She managed to wave this one, but felt no spark.
"Hmm... A difficult customer... You remind me of another customer I had long ago." He sounded pleased to have a challenge, "Let's try an odd combination now; yew, fifteen inches, springy with a core of dragon heartstring." Another failure, "Even odder now; pine, ten inches, stable with a core of a unicorn hair, no, no." He snatched it back before she could even try to wave it.
"Yew, nine and a half inches, rigid with a core of a dragon heartstring," He said, forcing the wand into her hand.
She grinned suddenly, this was it. She waved the short wand and a large amount of fire spouted from the end. She smirked proudly.
Olivander nodded, "Yes that is the wand for you. The wand chooses the wizard – or witch, as I always say."
Then it was Sirius's turn. Olivander seemed to favour phoenix feathers for him, but he was just as difficult to place as she had been. Eventually, he took out another very odd wand for the young Malfoy. "Holly, twelve inches, springy with a core of a dragon heartstring," He said curtly, thrusting it at the boy.
Sirius took it and a shower of green and silver sparks came from the end. He smirked and Olivander took back his wand, placing it in the box it had come with and Sirius paid him for it. The strange little man was muttering something to himself and Zephari managed to catch a few words.
"What about Harry Potter?" She asked acidly, ready to stand up for one of her grandparents' best friends.
He looked surprised, yet smiled slightly. "Yes, you would know of him, wouldn't you, Mrs. Black?" He murmured, "Interesting, as the Hungarian Horntail he faced in the Triwizard Tournament is the donor of the heartstrings in both your wands."
Zephari turned to stare at Sirius, who stared right back. Dethol grinned slightly. "You know what that means, you two? You won't be able to duel properly, brother wands don't allow it."
"Ah, to the contrary, Mr. N'ataya." Olivander said quietly, "Dragon wands... they are peculiar cases. Nobody knows if they can fight their brothers, as there are no precedents of those with brother-wands duelling."
Zephari, however, did not care about brother-wands at the moment. "Thank you, Mr. Olivander." She said politely before dragging the other two out after her.
"What is it?" Dethol asked, worried by her eagerness to leave.
"Well, I think we spent enough time in that musty room. That and we still have one stop left." She replied, her tone patronizing.
"Oh?" Sirius asked, looking over their shopping bags.
"Eyelops, silly. To get our pets!" Her face broke into a bright grin.
"I don't think you two need to go there." Draco's voice said from behind them.
Zephari turned around to see both of them holding handsome owls in their cages. Both eagle owls, actually. Her eyes widened in surprise. She reached a hand out to stroke the one that Severus was holding. He rubbed his feathered cheek against her hand and made a soft noise, like a croon.
"Think of it as a lot of overdue birthday presents." Severus told her, placing the large cage in front of her, "It's a male, call him whatever you want."
"This one is yours, Sirius." Draco told his son, "I got Kai a cat, as he hates owls, so you get one just like my Diablo. A female, though, as the little witch insisted you would need a female influence at Durmstrang." He sounded slightly irritated.
"I'll call mine Athen." Zephari murmured, crouching and admiring her feathered companion.
"Mine will be Alba." Sirius said at the same time as her.
The adults looked at each other; Zephari saw them as she scratched Athen's ear tufts. She suddenly found that she did not want Sirius to go to Durmstrang. She stood up, putting a hand on her owl's cage. "You're only going to Durmstrang for one year, right, Sirius?" She asked, slowly and carefully.
"Yeah." He replied. "Then I'm transferring to Hogwarts. No matter what Father says."
"Well, I think that sums up our shopping for today." Dethol said brightly.
Sirius could not help but wish that he had somehow slowed their shopping experience. Zephari had arrived late the day before, so he had not had a chance to meet her. Now that he had, he felt like she was a good friend. She understood him, even when his own brother did not. It made him even more reluctant to go to Durmstrang.
They headed to the Leaky Cauldron with their parcels only to find it full of people with red hair. "We finished last?" He asked nobody in particular.
"It took a while to get you your books." Zephari told him, carrying her owl's cage behind her.
"Oh." He said, his tone sheepish though he had not meant it to be.
"Don't worry about it." She told him, "How about we sit over here? I know Dante and Zoë are feeling very anti-Malfoy at the moment."
He felt kind of guilty. He had stolen her from her friends, after all. "You don't mind?" He asked.
"You're more fun to talk to than them; all they talk about is girly stuff." She sounded put-out by that.
He laughed, "Right, and no Black girl is girly." He said sarcastically.
"I have the right to be different." She replied with a grin and a shrug.
They did not have a very long time to sit and talk, however, as Molly and Arthur Weasley began Flooing back packages and children as soon as they had walked in. Before long, the room was empty of red-heads. Molly beckoned him forward and his father took his owl. He threw the odd powder in the fireplace and shouted 'The Burrow!' before vanishing.
On the other side, he gave Zephari a steadying hand when she appeared and earned a small smile. They ate a subdued supper, as they would all be leaving the day after, and a definite air of summer ending blues permeated the house. The children were sent to bed earlier than the day before and Sirius promised to write her, while she did the same.
"What do you think you're doing?" Kai hissed acidly as Sirius entered their room of the tent.
"Entering the room we share?" Sirius replied evasively, feeding Alba an owl treat.
"With that girl." Kai clarified, "She's a Weasley, Sirius. You're a Malfoy!"
"She's a Black, Kai." Sirius corrected, "And if you had spoken more than a word to her, you'd know she's more Slytherin than many Slytherins are!"
"What makes you qualified to say that?" Kai snapped.
"I've met your friends and Zephari's more Slytherin than a good lot of them!" Sirius growled.
"You shut up about my friends." The older boy snarled.
"Same to you." Sirius replied in the same tone.
They glared at each other for a good few minutes before Kai turned and got into bed. "Bloody Gryffindor." He muttered.
"Weakling Hufflepuff." Sirius replied, rolling over.
Kai did not dare retaliate, as Draco had come into their room to watch them. He glared at the two of them; Sirius could feel his eyes on his back. "Don't you dare insult Zephari, or the Weasleys, Potters and any other Gryffindor families in such a way ever again, Kai." He breathed, which was – in Sirius's opinion – worse than when he yelled.
Kai grunted and Draco whirled and left. Sirius smirked into his pillow. That would show that pompous brat. He secretly hoped that Zephari would be sorted into Slytherin, but knew that she would not. She was too brave to be in cowardly Slytherin. But Sirius would show Kai that she – and the other Gryffindors – was better than some Slytherins. He would, if it was the last thing he did.