Chapter 17
Draco got up and pulled on his favorite shirt with a large quaffle on it, and his lucky jeans. He ambled down the stairs and into the kitchen, where he found Mr. and Mrs. Weasley arguing, and Ron eating his toasties at the table.
They quickly quieted when he entered.
"I'm sorry," he said. "Am I interrupting anything?"
Mrs. Weasley smiled comfortingly. "Of course not, dear." Mr. Weasley handed him a letter.
"This came last night," he said, eyeing the ministry label on the envelope. Draco tore it open and quickly scanned the letter.
"I've been called for an appearance in court," he said. "For illegally using magic."
Mr. Weasley frowned. "Were you using magic?"
"Yes," Draco said, but hastily added seeing the Weasley's dejected faces. "But it was in self-defense."
"Oh," Mr. Weasley said, obviously confused.
Ron snickered. "Did Hermione try to do anything dangerous?"
"Don't be crude Ron," Mrs. Weasley snapped. "Of course she wasn't. Was she?"
Draco grinned. "Of course not. We were attacked by Furies."
"Oh not again," Ron groaned. "I thought that whole dead thing was over, I thought that was done with."
Mrs. Weasley harrumphed. "Well, I suppose we'll have to prepare for the trial. When is it?"
Draco glanced at his letter. "A week before school begins."
"Oh good," Mrs. Weasley said. "It will be easy to get to, especially since we're in London. Now, just tell the truth, and everything will be fine."
Hermione entered, yawning widely, rubbing her eyes.
"What's going on?" she murmured.
Ginny marched in, groaning. "Everyone die."
"Is that a way to greet your family?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
After breakfast, Draco and Hermione were about to leave, when someone they hadn't seen in a while appeared in the doorway.
"Hello Draco, Hermione," Professor Dumbledore said, smiling magnanimously. "How was the rest of your trip to France?"
"Hello Professor," Draco said genially. "How are you?"
"Perfectly fine, thank you," Dumbledore said, although he seemed more tired and exhausted than they had ever seen him.
Hermione grinned. "We ended up cutting our trip short, we were just tired of the constant drama, and it would have been uncomfortable if we had run into our accuser again."
"I see," Dumbledore said, a twinkle appearing in his eye. "Forgive me, but I must go and speak with Molly and Arthur. Good day to you both."
Hermione and Draco exited, off to their room to grab their baseball caps and sunscreen.
"There are a few places around London I want to take you," Hermione said, jamming her pink cap on her head, and grabbing her favorite purse. "My brother, when we were on good terms, would take me, a girl-friend, a friend of mine, to London. We had some regular places, and maybe some of the shopkeepers will recognize me."
"What if someone from school sees us together?" Draco asked, putting on his dark sunglasses, and then his lucky blue cap.
"This is the middle of muggle London, I doubt we'll run into anyone," she said, drawing something out of her purse. "And if we do, they won't recognize us." She put on her sunglasses, took his arm.
"Where are we going?"
"Arnie's Interesting Artifacts," she replied, and they Disapparated.
A young couple appeared in the back corner of a rather eccentric shop. He instantly reached for a small glass pyramid.
"What's this?" he asked.
"That's a glass replica of the Pyramid of Giza," Hermione explained. "Watch that you don't drop that." He put it back down carefully, and immediately scooped up something else.
"What's this?" he begged, dangling it in front of her.
She grinned. "That's a rubber chicken, darling."
"How much is it?" he asked, poking the rubber chicken with a hesitant finger, a delighted expression on his face.
"Only a couple dollars," she said. "Do you want it?"
He nodded. "What's a dollar?"
"Don't ask that question in public," she instructed. "I'll tell you later. Let's keep looking around."
"Excuse me," someone asked politely. Hermione looked up from the small dinosaur pen she had found. Arnie was standing there, a polite expression on his wizened old face. "Can I help you?"
Hermione put up her shades, and his face lit up.
"Hermione," he exclaimed. "How are you?"
"Fine," she said. "And you?"
"Not bad," he laughed. "I didn't hear you and your fiancée come in, you should have been more loud…"
"Oh, he's not my fiancée," she said, waving at Draco.
He flushed. "Sorry, I saw the ring, and I assumed." Hermione looked down at her right hand and saw the ruby ring on her ring finger.
"I'm sorry," she said. "We're not engaged, yet."
He smiled. "Well, I'll leave you two alone. Come back anytime, little one. It's good to see you, for old time's sake."
After buying the rubber chicken for Draco, they stepped out onto the street again, putting down their shades.
"Well," Draco said, dangling his rubber chicken happily. "Where to next?"
"Let's go to lunch at Azariah's Fish and Chips, it's just down the street from here," Hermione said, taking him by the arm. "They have great fish, and their chips are the best in town."
Hermione finished ordering, and went and sat down at a plastic table, across from Draco, who was still playing with his rubber chicken.
"You really like that, don't you?" she laughed.
"Muggle kids have such cool toys," he said enviously. "My first toy was a jack-in-the-box with a skull instead of a clown."
"I'm so sorry," she said gently. "You don't seem to scarred."
He shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. I still wish I'd been a normal kid, with a normal family, with siblings."
"Well, it turns out you have a half-brother," Hermione said gently, poking the chicken.
"And he happens to be an ugly twit," he said, laughing. "A complete dork, who landed us in trouble. I bet Blaise hates us now, because of that."
She grinned widely. "No he doesn't-"
"Hermione?" someone said loudly. "Is that you?"
Hermione turned around to find herself face to face with her older brother, Gaelen.
A/N: Hahahahhaha! Return of the imaginary older brother! Yay! Okay, everyone leave a review, and then go see Star Wars.
It's good, trust me on this one.
