I am so sorry for the long wait and I won't say any more because I'm sure you all don't want to hear any of my apologies and whatnots. Anyways, this chapter is twice as long as usual. At least it was when I typed it...I'm not too sure when I'll update again because my finals are coming up soon but it will definitely be in a shorter time than I updated this chapter. As always, please read and review at the end!
Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They are all owned by J. K. Rowling but I do own those characters that you do not recognize.
Draco was rudely awoken the next morning by his aunt. As he turned away from her pulling the covers over his head, he winced as she began singing some god awful song that nearly shattered his ear drums. He tried hitting her with a pillow to get her to shut up but it did not help.
What made matters worse was when she yanked the blanket right off of him with an unseemly amount of force that Draco could not even guess that she possessed.
"Wake up dear nephew!" she crooned into his ear. "Today is a day of much joy!"
"In what world?" he muttered, flattening the pillow around his ears. He groaned as she yanked that away from him as well.
Andromeda rolled her eyes at him and said, "I've been thinking a bit about what you told me last night-this morning, whatever you want to call it."
Draco scowled at through bleary eyes. "You said it wasn't real."
She laughed loudly and looked down at Draco with a smirk on her face. "That's the thing, dear nephew. Where magic is concerned, there's nothing that isn't real. Magic, when used properly has no limits. Or at least the old magic didn't. Now, everyone's got it so there's only so much we can do." She sighed and shook her head. "Anyways, today, we shall be going into San Francisco."
"For what?" asked Draco incredulously.
"You want to find your girl then you need to make an effort. Do you really expect to find her, moping around like you are?"
Draco scowled and shook his head. "Why San Francisco?"
She grinned cheekily at him. "You'll see. Oh and your mother, she's gone back to England for a bit. She said something about Gringotts." Andromeda glanced over at the dusty clock that was in Draco's room. "Get ready fast. I'll be waiting by the floo for you. We can grab something while we're in the city.
Draco watched warily as she exited the room. He was really beginning to think that there was something wrong with that woman. First, she seemed all cool and collected a lot like his mother was only ten times worse. Then she became all caring and kind and motherly. Now, well, she was being really odd, acting like some overexcited child. You'd think that she hadn't seen the sun in a million years. Her powers must have been screwing with her head, he concluded.
He met her by the floo about half an hour later his blond hair perfectly jelled back. He was wearing his black robes and shiny black shoes. Everything about him screamed class. Not one hair was out of place. Andromeda took one look at him and raised an eyebrow.
"Do you really want to come out looking like that?" she asked.
"It's better than looking like you," he replied sharply. He looked her over once and rolled his eyes. She was wearing a black sweater with a Christmas tree on it and a pair of jeans that had these sparkly things hanging off of the edges. A gigantic pair of sunglasses rested atop her head while giraffe earrings dangled from her ears.
"There's perfectly nothing wrong with how I look yet you on the other hand will be sure to attract a lot of attention."
"Let people give me attention. God only knows that I haven't gotten enough of it in the last month."
Andromeda laughed affectionately and began mussing up Draco's hair much to his outrage. Once she had finished, she smiled sweetly at him and said, "If you attract attention in this place, news will spread that we're here and your father has a pretty good chance of finding us."Now why don't you go back to your room like a good little boy and change into some muggle clothing."
"I'd rather be dead than caught in muggle clothing."
"Alright then I suppose you won't mind if I hand you straight over to your father then, will you?"
Draco scowled at her and swiftly turned around to change, muttering obscenities under his breath. He heard her yell behind his back, "You can always bring a change of clothes for after. I plan on going to China Town!"
Andromeda waited for her nephew for exactly five minutes. When he returned she gave him a rather sickly smile and said, "Let's go." She took a pinch of floo powder from a vase above the fireplace. She threw it into the hearth and yelled, "Marvin's Magical Tours!" As soon as she disappeared, Draco shook his head and followed her in.
He stepped out of the fireplace and was overwhelmed with what he saw. Witches and wizards of all shape, size, and color were walking in and out of the room he was in. He looked up and saw a flashing sign that said, "WELCOME TO MARVIN MAGIC'S MAGICAL TOURS!" He turned his head to survey the people in front of him and saw that about twenty people were walking around wearing orange witch hats on their heads.
A slight giggling brought him out of his reverie. He turned around expecting it to be his aunt but much to his dismay saw that it was a group of five giggling girls. They all seemed to be about two years younger than he was. He gave them a weak smile and nearly sighed out loud when he saw his aunt behind them talking to a witch in an orange hat.
"Excuse me, ladies," he muttered pushing past the girls. That only seemed to make them giggle even more. Draco touched his aunt's elbow and muttered, "Tell me that this tour is only five minutes long."
"It'll go on for about half the day," said the witch in the orange hat. Draco suddenly had the urge to knock that ridiculous orange hat of hers off her head and curse it until it shriveled up and crawled into a hole in the ground.
"Come now, Draco, how bad can it be?" The sound of giggling registered in her ears. Draco pointed to something behind her. She nearly laughed in his face as she saw the five girls whispering amongst themselves and waving to Draco. "There, now you'll have all the attention you wanted. Congratulations, dearie." She patted his cheek and turned back to the other witch.
Draco groaned and hoped that the day would end quickly.
Luckily, the girls were not coming on the same tour as them. The one he and Andromeda had gone on was one that gave a tour of the major wizarding community in San Francisco. He has been very much in awe when he had seen it for floating peacefully in the clouds right above the famed Golden Gate Bridge was the magical center of San Francisco.
The tour bus they were on lifted right off the ground as if it was some sort of a cruise ship and the sky was its ocean. It flew quickly and even faster, Draco guessed, than a broom.
Draco guessed that it must have been even bigger than the whole muggle city itself. Millions of houses were spread about the sky while the witches and wizards themselves walked about as if there was nothing beneath them but the ground. Broom sticks sped around the city at such a high rate that a thrill of excitement shot through Draco every time he saw it. There was a part of him that wanted to fly with them. Flying was something that, surprisingly enough he had always had control over despite what other people thought. It gave him a sense that he was free every time he hurtled towards the ground or soared through the sky.
Another thing that stunned him even more when he realized it was that the air up here sparkled. You could not see the auras blatantly like you could in China Town but it was there. It sparkled. He could feel it swirling around him, embracing him as though marking him as its own. Every inch of magic that had ever come into this place was in the air and it felt wonderful. It was not only good magic. There was a definite taste of dark magic that added to the allure of the city. It was almost seductive in some aspects.
He supposed that he stood staring at the city for a good ten minutes before Andromeda placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Breathtaking, isn't it?" Draco nodded. Andromeda turned to look at the tour guide in the orange hat and murmured, "And this is about as far as the tour will take us."
"It's over already?" he asked, still staring.
"No. But the tour will not get us any farther on what we really want to accomplish." She looked at him levelly and said, "From here on, everything is in our hands."
Draco did not look at her but said, "I suppose you're right." His grey eyes darkened momentarily then he said, "Where do we start?"
Andromeda shrugged and replied, "Wherever the wind takes us."
"Meaning..."
"We need to talk to the locals." She looked around and the bustle of people moving about everywhere and said, "Or...this place must obviously be similar to the wizarding community back home. All the houses and mansions up there are in a certain area- magically designated areas, aren't they?"
"Yes," replied Draco, "But what has that got to do with anything?"
Andromeda looked around the area they were in and pointed to something. "Right there. It's a map of this whole area. Houses and mansions are not allowed to be built outside of this area."
"Then why is China Town down there and not up here?"
"Muggles use it. Do you see any muggles up here?"
Draco shook his head and sighed. Running a hand through his messy hair, he scowled and said, "I suppose that the most logical thing to do now would be to see where Charles and his family live."
Andromeda nodded and said, "That's what I assume but it is best that we do it another day."
"Why?" he asked frowning at her.
She pointed behind him. The tour guide had now reappeared with the rest of the foreign witches and wizards in tow. "Our ride back is leaving also," Andromeda began guiding Draco towards the group, "don't look obviously but there in the corner is a little girl."
As Draco walked towards the tour, he saw a little girl, eating ice cream, out of the corner of his eye. "What about her?"
"She's what you could call a spy. She doesn't know it though," murmured Andromeda.
The two of them got back onto the bus with the tour and once they had begun their descent back to land, Draco asked, "How can she not know it?"
Andromeda sighed and said, "Over here, life runs rather differently back home. Different rules and different customs. Would you believe me if I told you that some family pays for her whole education provided that she told them exactly every single thing she did or person she saw?"
"But she's a little girl," exclaimed Draco incredulously. "What does she know?"
"You would be surprised at the things little children see. They understand more than we think."
Draco watched his aunt with a look of distaste. "How did you know who she was?"
She turned to him with a slight smirk and said, "It's the weekend, Draco. How many little children do you know who come to the heart of a town on the weekend all by themselves? She can't be more than seven or eight. Doesn't that strike you as suspicious?"
Draco said nothing as he turned away from her.
After they had reached the ground, Draco and Andromeda went to China town for Andromeda needed more potion ingredients. Draco had no idea what she did with them. The ingredients he had bought for her the first time, she had used them up within two days and he had bought quite a lot of things too. She had made him go again three more times. Then again, he liked going there. There was something about the color red that drew him in.
"Draco, where's that place you keep getting the things I ask you for?"
"Why?"
"I would like to go there."
"Again?" Draco frowned at her. "What exactly are you making?"
"Something," she replied. "I know what I'm doing if that's what you're wondering."
Draco rolled his eyes at her and said, "Follow me."
As always, as soon as he hit the center of the town, he felt every inch of the red magic flowing through him. He could feel it seeping through his skin and flowing through his blood the way water flowed through a stream. It was strong and commanding and it was times like these that made Draco forget who he was and what was going on at the moment. He watched as the magic enveloped all those around him. An old man was shaking his cane at a young boy who was flying his broom in circles around him. A little girl was playing with her brother who was desperately trying to make her go away. A young muggle couple stood in front of an antiques shop hand in hand, while the red magic flowed past them like wind. He was free to just watch everything here. He could understand the lives of these people for fractions of seconds before the feeling went away only to be replaced by the lives of others and it gave him a warm feeling. A small smile graced his lips and he failed to notice how his aunt was watching him.
"You like it here?"
"Very much," he breathed, barely hearing what she asked him.
"You might not want to do that too often though."
"What?"
"Using magical sight…most people don't have it and when another person uses it, it looks almost as though they're zombies. You go into a sort of trance using magical sight and it's a bit scary to those who don't know what you're doing."
They both finally stopped in front of the Laundromat that Draco had grown so accustomed to seeing. Instead of seeing the kind old woman, Arumi, he saw her granddaughter, Jenny. She was violently chopping a flower into the tiniest pieces he had ever seen it his life. She wasn't even looking at the flower either. He could feel the breathless feeling he had flow away from him as he took in her sight. It was replaced with barely unconcealed disgust.
"Oh, look who it is. The powerful British wizard graces me with his presence." Jenny's coal eyes gleamed maliciously as she gave him a flowery bow. "What do you want?"
Draco was about to answer but was cut off by his aunt who said, "You're rather rude, you know."
Jenny raised an eyebrow and asked, "Really? I never knew. Who are you? His maid?"
Andromeda looked the girl straight in the eye and stood up straighter. Draco could feel the air around them growing colder so he brushed his hand over his aunt's shoulder. She looked at Draco then back at Jenny. "I am Draco's aunt, Andromeda Tonks."
Jenny dropped her knife with a loud clatter that Draco could hear even among the din in the town. "You're the witch grandma's always talking about. She says you're really powerful…"He smirked at her as her coal eyes grew as wide as saucers. Her jaw dropped several inches and he almost had to restrain himself from laughing.
As she continued to stare at the dark-haired witch in front of her, Andromeda nonchalantly looked at her nails and said, "Now that introductions are over with, would it be possible for me to speak to your grandmother?" She looked around and said, "I presume that it is your grandmother who owns this stall."
Jenny, still shocked, blinked rapidly then finally said, "She-she's sick today."
Andromeda frowned slightly but said, "That's a shame. I suppose I'll have to make do with you."
Jenny nodded vigorously and cleaned up the bits of the flower she had been chopping up. She gave a hesitant smile to the older woman and scowled as she saw the smirk Draco had on his face. She shoved the flower under the stall and said, "What would you like?"
As Andromeda began conversing with Jenny about what she wanted, Draco decided to sit down on a bench that was in front of the Laundromat. Taking a seat, he leaned back and sighed. This whole place was so surreal to him. Coincidentally, this was the first place that came into his mind when he "dreamed". He realized now that what he was doing was not really dreaming. He had perfect control over it. It had taken him a while to get the hang of it but once he was asleep and in his dream world, he had full consciousness and could wake up any time that he wanted to.
He compared it to using Legimancy on himself, if that was even possible. The way we saw it, whatever he saw in his dreams was only places he knew that he had already seen and been to. There was nothing created. Nothing imaginary for sure. Draco had talked to his mother the other day about his dreaming but he had gotten the vague impression that she had not even registered what he was saying. Lately, she had been very preoccupied with something. She must have gotten a vision or something.
Draco frowned. Everything seemed to have something to do with their silly powers. "Gifts" or whatever they called them. A bit of bloody nonsense, that's what it was. He shook his head and decided that only a jealous person would think thoughts like that.
He was interrupted from his thoughts by some sort of cheering. He stood up and went over to where his aunt was and asked, "What's going on?"
She shrugged and looked onto the street where a crowd was starting to form. Jenny narrowed her eyes and gasped, "Well, if it isn't the queen of San Francisco."
"Queen?" asked Draco with a frown.
"That's what I call her," she replied rolling her eyes. "Everyone bows down to her feet because they think that she's so cool." She sniffed and said, "What does she have that no one else has? Money. Stupid, stupid, money."
Draco looked at her with an incredulous look on his face. He had never heard anyone talk like she did.
"But everyone loves her anyways," continued Jenny oblivious to the looks Andromeda and Draco were giving her. She drew a finger down her knife and said, "Yes, let the crowd part for Madame Renée Duprés."
Draco and Andromeda's eyes grew wide in an instant. Draco scanned the crowd to see how far away she was and dashed to the other side of the stall and pushed himself under the cart. He did not even care that he was humiliating himself doing so. If she saw him here, he would be dead for sure. Jenny watched him with a confused look on her face. She bent down and asked, "What are you doing under my cart?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?" he hissed, narrowing his grey eyes at her.
"You like an ass," she replied simply. When Draco glared at her, she shrugged and came back up. She looked at Andromeda hesitantly and said, "Um…if it isn't too rude of me, why is he hiding?"
"Don't say a word until she leaves," muttered Andromeda, her brown eyes betraying no emotion. "Act normally." When the girl didn't do anything, Andromeda looked at her and said, "Well, continue cutting."
Jenny frowned and went back to work. She felt very uncomfortable. This witch who was obviously very powerful from what he grandmother had said was scrutinizing her every move and a grown man was crouching beneath her cart hiding from another very influential lady. Jenny had never had that much adventure in her life. She could smell something suspicious going on here.
A moment later, she saw another shadow looming in front of her in addition to that of Andromeda's. She also heard Draco's breath from underneath her cart hitch as he tried to quiet his breathing. Jenny looked up and saw Renée Duprés standing right in front of her. As hard as she tried to, she could not peel her eyes off of the woman.
There was nothing beautiful about her except for her eyes that looked very similar to the one's belonging to Draco. Her brown hair seemed rather course and paper-like giving herself a windblown and slightly fragile look. Her skin was tan and leathery, a fact that disgusted Jenny to no end. But there was a powerful aura about her. It was different from Andromeda's in that it was just that she looked superior to everyone else. That superiority gave her power.
Renée turned to the crowd that had gathered behind her and said, "Continue on with whatever you were doing before I came." She gave them a forced smile and turned back to Jenny. "Hello, is the old lady who normally works here around?"
Jenny shook her head rapidly, still in awe of the woman.
Renée frowned slightly then said, "Well in that case, I'll just look around."
Jenny nodded and kept staring at the woman. Finally, she was interrupted by a slight cough. She and Renée turned to look at Andromeda who was regarding Jenny with a slightly miffed look. "My roots, dear?"
She murmured a quiet sorry to the older witch and dropped her eyes. She frowned and looked back up at Andromeda, her eyes growing wide. The woman before her looked nothing like the witch who had been here except for her hair and eyes. She shook her head muttering something under her breath and went back to cutting.
Renée stepped away from Andromeda and looked her up and down. "Have we met before?"
Andromeda took in a quick breath and flashed the other witch a smile. "I don't think so."
"You're British?" Renée asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, I am."
She looked at Andromeda through narrowed eyes and said, "I have- or at least my husband has family back in England. Maybe you know them?"
"Perhaps," replied Andromeda meeting the other woman's eyes. Her eyes flashed for a moment before she asked, "Who are they?"
Renée's lips curled with disgust as she muttered, "The Malfoys."
"Who does not know the Malfoys?" laughed Andromeda. "Filthy rich family if I ever saw one. Quite rude as well." She paused to see the other witch's reaction.
Renée nodded her head with disgust and said, "I agree." She looked at Andromeda once more and asked, "Are you sure that I haven't seen you somewhere before?"
"This is my first time out of England, actually." Andromeda smiled rather coldly at Renée, who failed to see the malice behind the smile."
She nodded her head and asked, "Pureblood?"
"Of course. I wouldn't have it any other way." A faint snort was heard in the background, which Andromeda chose to ignore.
Renée tossed her brown hair over her shoulder and looked Andromeda over once more. "Well, it's not every day that I see another person like myself. It would be nice I had some company for once. My husband's a bore when he's working and my son well, he's…busy. I would love to have you over for lunch sometime."
"I'm not too sure about that," said Andromeda, tugging on one earring. "You see, I'm here with my nephew."
"Oh, does he live here?"
"Erm…no. It's rather complicated. He actually lives with his grandmother…my sister-in-law's mother. Both his parents are dead from the war. And well, she's getting a bit old so she dumped him on me for a bit as I was coming out here on vacation."
"How old is he?" asked Renée, apparently intrigued by the rather odd piece of gossip.
"Twenty-four…almost twenty-five."
Renée clapped her hands together and said, "That's the same age as my son! You definitely have to come for lunch now!" She watched Andromeda with hawk-like eyes and when Andromeda smiled slightly, she said, "Great! Tomorrow then, 12 sharp."
She turned to Jenny who was violently chopping up her flower again and said, "Tell the old lady that I came. She'll know what to do." Turning to Andromeda she spoke softly, "My house or rather, my castle," Renée shot Andromeda a sugary look, "is unplottable and no one can see it either. So, I guess I'll have to send you a portkey." She frowned and asked, "What is your name by the way?"
Andromeda raised an eyebrow and replied, "Iris…Iris Bennet."
"I think I've heard of your family. Greece?" Andromeda merely smiled frostily at her. Renée smiled back the same way, a grin coming onto her face as she realized that Andromeda was not in awe of her like most people she met. "Where are you staying by the way?"
Andromeda twisted a strand of her dark hair between her fingers and said, "Do you know the place called Marvin's Magical Tours?"
"Yes, I do. It's a rather trashy place for someone like you isn't it?"
"Actually, it has rather nice lodgings in a secluded area of the building reserved for very wealthy guests. You'll have to send the portkey straight to the reception area though. They don't allow floo mail."
"How…quaint." Renée glanced at her watch and scowled. "So sorry but I have to leave. My husband will probably starve if I don't get home. He hates eating without the whole family there." Without one look at Andromeda, she turned and walked away form them, drawing huge crowds with her as she went.
Draco emerged from underneath the cart looking very annoyed. "Took you long enough. Merlin, that was the most boring conversation I've ever heard in my entire life. I almost fell asleep down there." He raised an eyebrow once he saw Andromeda's face. He blinked and her face looked went back to normal.
"You probably would have if I hadn't hit your leg with my knife as I went to get my flower," interjected Jenny. Draco rolled his eyes at her.
"How much of what I said do you think she believed?" asked Andromeda calmly, her dark eyes taking on a calculating look.
"All of it, I'm guessing. Renée is not a very smart woman. Everyone knows that." Draco leaned against the cart and said, "She might not have believed the part about your nephew though. Poor boy, still living with his grandmother at the age of 24. How tragic."
"Not as tragic as it would be if I say, plunged this knife into your head," muttered Jenny.
"Your sarcasm fails to amuse me," shot Draco. He turned to his aunt, his grey eyes weary and asked, "What did you do to your face?"
She frowned at him and replied, "It's what I normally do…you know, to preserve my anonymity."
"That was really cool though," said Jenny. "I didn't even see you pull out your wand."
Andromeda merely gazed at her as Draco said, "Well, she did and she probably went so fast that you didn't even see it." Draco smirked at her while Andromeda muttered something about immature children.
Jenny glared at Draco and pulled out a fresh batch of flowers that she immediately began chopping. Andromeda and Draco stared at her for about five minutes before Andromeda said, "Jenny, my herbs."
Jenny looked up startled and blushing slightly, graciously gave Andromeda everything she had asked for. Once Andromeda had paid for all of it, she said, "Thank you and tell you grandmother the same."
As Andromeda turned to leave, Draco looked at Jenny, with a look of intense dislike. Feeling rather childish, he watched chop her flowers and at the right moment, grabbed the knife from her hands. Her brows furrowed in outrage as he traced the edge of it with his finger.
"You know, if you're trying to become an assassin for the government, you'll never get anywhere by chopping flowers. In fact," he chuckled, "You'll never get anywhere at all."
Jenny was about to say something nasty but then looked at him with confusion on her face. "How did you-I- I've never told anyone that in my life."
Draco sneered at her and tossed the knife back. "Lucky guess." He turned to follow his aunt but she caught him by the sleeve and demanded, "How did you know that?"
"You're bloody trying to murder those flowers, what else could it be?"
"No, you're lying. How did you find out?"
Draco rolled his eyes and yanked his arm from her grasp. "Would you believe me, if I told you that I dreamed it last night?"
Jenny's eyes widened slightly. She stepped away from him and said, "You were in my dreams last night too! I barely remember it at all but I know I woke up right after I saw you and I couldn't even go back to sleep because you ruined my whole dream." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Do you haunt people in their dreams or something? Is that-is that even legal?"
Draco glared at her and said, "You are mental. I don't haunt people, insolent child."
"I'm only seven years younger than you," she countered. "I'm not a child." Her coal eyes flashed. She looked him up and down and said, "I'll let you off this time. But the next time you're in my head, I swear, I'll murder you while you're sleeping."
"I'm quivering with fear," he muttered turning away from her, giving her the impression that he thought she was stupid. In reality, he was filled with wonder. Could he have really done that, gone into her head? It was probably only a coincidence but… magic has no limits.