"Watch it Potter." Ooh scathing remark there. Ten points to Slytherin. NOT!
"I think perhaps, you should be the one watching where you're going Malfoy. You walked into me. Not the other way around." Potter turned to walk away and then stopped. "What are you doing here anyway? Don't you have servants to get your things for you?" The way he said it made me feel dirty. The fact that I did have servants meant nothing.
"There are some things that I don't want my servants getting for me." Oh damn! Now that made me sound really dirty! Potter raised an eyebrow and then smirked.
"Indeed? Such as?" Now, believe me when I say I don't blush. I never have, and I hopefully never will. But the way he made that comment made me feel like blushing. It also made me feel like I was in the wrong. It wasn't a feeling I liked.
"Such as things that are none of your business Potter. Now move." I didn't wait for him to take my advice and pushed passed him hard so that I could get away. I knew where I was heading.
As soon as I got into Gringotts I headed to the Malfoy family vault and entered quickly. We had plenty of money in there that day so I knew none of it would be missed if I was to permanently borrow some. I didn't know how much I would need but it didn't bother me. I pulled out my draw-string…ahem…purse and filled it with Galleons. Yes, ok, I had a purse. Only because my mother had bought it for me. I don't know how much I put in my purse but I was sure it would be enough. As I left Gringotts I found myself looking around for Potter, just to check that he wasn't going to run into me again. At least that's what I tried to tell myself. I don't think I believed me.
At the end of Diagon Alley, between two buildings, there is a small alleyway which leads directly to Vertica Alley. Vertica Alley is a more exclusive area where some of the best wizards shop for things other than wands and robes can be found. Although, of course, it was possible to get the traditional boring things, in a more expensive and stylish setting. This was where I found myself looking into the jewellery and wedding shops. I never wore jewellery to school. Mainly because the only jewellery I had ever worn had had girls cooing all over it and that was something that made me feel physically sick. Things that sparkled were bound to draw the interest of many witches, especially the younger ones who knew no better. Unfortunately, being a Malfoy didn't help.
There was to be a ball at Hogwarts at Halloween and I had decided to shock people. I was not going to be wearing black at Halloween. The truth was, everyone would be wearing black. It was a tradition. So I wasn't going to be a sheep. Malfoys create traditions, they don't follow them. Saying that, I wasn't sure what I was going to be wearing, but I was going to be wearing something spectacular. A Malfoy always does. I was staring in the windows of one of the wedding shops when I remembered a little shop at the end of Vertica Alley that was perfect for robes. Mistress Malandra was very exclusive. And so, she was bound to be perfect.
The bell above the door tinkled happily and I rolled my eyes. Every bloody shop has to have a bloody bell. It drives me nuts.
"Ah! The young Master Malfoy. A new set of dress robes by any chance?" A disembodied voice sounded in the corner room and I would have jumped had I not been expecting it. Malandra was an old friend of the family. Every time anyone from the family had needed dress robes she had been the one to provide them for us. She walked out of the shadows, her silver hair pulled in a tight bun behind her head and her pinched face attempting a smile that would have worked on anyone else, but not on Malandra.
"Yes please Malandra." I smiled at her, a genuine smile. Yes, we Malfoys do know how to smile.
"You're too tall boy. Too tall by a long shot. Well, come here and strip and then I'll measure you." A small part of me has always been convinced that Malandra is a little bit of a pervert. I'm sure she doesn't need me to undress before she measures me. I'm also sure she doesn't need to measure quite that far up my inside leg. But, she's a good robe maker. So I let her get on with it.
As always she was quick, lingering only long enough to tell me I had gotten good and strong and then whisked away in a cloud of some cheap cloying perfume. I redressed and started out towards the front of the shop again. The bell tinkled and I rolled my eyes again.
"Carina Bael as I live and breathe! It must have been years since I saw you last. What brings you back to England?" Malandra was a terrible gossip. Most people are eavesdroppers. I, however, was just a good listener. I stood in the shadows and attempted to fade into the background.
"Malandra. You're still working? You do surprise me. I'm back here as a teacher. I'll be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts." Ooooh! The conversation was about to get interesting.
I moved further into the room in order to see the new professor and was astounded by what I saw. Most of the professors I have known, you must understand, are at least fifty. Except Madam Hooch but she doesn't really count. Even she is forty. But Professor Bael was unlike any professor I had seen before. She couldn't have been a day over twenty five. Her hair was long and a proper golden blonde and was obviously real and not dyed at all. She was fairly thin but not in an unattractive way and she was tall, probably about five foot nine, maybe five foot ten. Most teenage boys would have developed a crush there and then but there was absolutely no appeal for me. I could tell she was attractive, more attractive even than Fleur Delacour had been, although it was obvious to me that she was not part Veela, and yet there was nothing. She was just an attractive woman. I frowned to myself and stepped into the light.
"Oh Master Malfoy, there you are! Been eavesdropping have we?" Malandra smiled at me and raised an eyebrow.
"No Mistress Malandra. Not at all." I smiled wryly back at her as she wiggled her eyebrows at me.
"Carina…I mean, Professor Bael, this is Master Draco Malfoy. He'll be one of your sixth year students."
"Pleased to meet you Master Malfoy." She smiled at me and then turned back to Malandra. "Are my robes ready yet? I had a message sent by owl with my measurements on and the items I would be requiring." She had ignored a Malfoy…obviously she really hadn't been in the country for a very, very long time. Otherwise she would know that ignoring a Malfoy was a stupid thing to do. I opened my mouth to complain at her treatment of me but found myself saying something entirely different.
"Mistress Malandra, would it be possible for you to make my robes by Halloween? I'm interested in moving away from my usual black so see what you can come up with ok?" I smiled at her, nodded at the Professor and walked out of the shop.
I decided to take the Floo back home as soon as possible. Something very odd was going on. I had never been so polite to anyone before unless I was afraid of them. And I wasn't afraid of Professor Bael.
You should be Master Draco Malfoy. You should be very afraid. A voice echoed in my head but rather than it being my own I recognised something extraordinary. The voice had belonged to Professor Bael.
Who was she? And why should I be afraid of her?