A/N: sorry it took so long to update. is the story moving too slowly? r&r and let me know.
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The next morning Emily ran into Draco on her way out of the Great Hall after breakfast. He was just entering the Great Hall so they met face-to-face in the gap between the Slytherin and Ravenclaw tables. She stopped directly in front of him, blocking his path.
"So, that's twice now you've saved me from her," Emily prompted.
"Yeah, so what?" Draco shrugged indifferently.
"So…," Emily drawled. "You don't, like, have a thing for me, do you Malfoy?" She gave him a playful grin and he narrowed his eyes at her.
"You wish." Was he flirting with her? Emily just gave him a look and walked past him, intentionally brushing against his shoulder.
"Going somewhere?" Draco asked, turning his head over his right shoulder as he noticed her muggle clothes and jacket. Emily stopped and turned back to face him.
"Yeah, McGonagall's set up a trip for me to get my books and stuff. Wanna come?"
"Be seen in public with Pothead, Weasel, and two mudbloods? No thanks," Draco scoffed. Emily winced inwardly at the word but was determined to appear unaffected. Words only had power if you gave them power. Even Draco chastised himself secretly. He hadn't meant to say it, it just sort of slipped out.
"Suit yourself," she shrugged and went to meet her friends.
"What was that about?" Hermione asked when Emily reached the doors of the Great Hall where she, Ron, and Harry were waiting, throwing a suspicious look at Malfoy's back. Emily simply shrugged again and led the group out of the Great Hall.
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McGonagall had connected the fireplace in her office to the Floo Network for the trip to Diagon Alley. Ron demonstrated the proper way to use the Floo before Emily tried. She had much more success than Harry had on his first attempt to travel by Floo and all four students ended up safely in the lobby of Gringott's Bank.
Hermione explained to Emily how the bank worked and how Wizard money differed from Muggle money. They had spoken to a goblin at the front desk and were taken, by cart, deep into the levels of vaults below the bank. Harry, Ron, and Hermione waited by the cart as the goblin led Emily to her vault, which contained a large stack of galleons, sickles, and knuts. She gathered as much of the money as Hermione told her that she would need, plus a little extra, into a small leather bag.
From Gringott's Hermione led the group out onto Diagon Alley and first to Flourish & Blotts.
"Ok, you'll need The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 7; Guide to Advanced Transfiguration; and Self-Defensive Spellwork. You can borrow my books from the past six years while we get you caught up," Hermione informed Emily.
Emily nodded and set off to find the books. She was on her way to the stairs to the second floor, while studying the list that Hermione had given her, when she literally walked right into a tall man. He had been walking briskly and the force of the impact sent her to the ground along with a stack of books that the man had been carrying.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Emily exclaimed and started to gather the man's books. One book in particular caught her attention. It was very old and dusty, it's pages were yellow and faded. It looked to Emily as though it must have been hidden away somewhere, forgotten for years.
"It's fine. That's not necessary," the man said shortly. He picked up his remaining books and snatched the one that Emily was holding away from her. Once he had all of them he stalked off toward the front door.
"That was rude," Emily said to herself as she stood and brushed herself off.
"Talking to yourself, mudblood?" Emily spun around to find Draco Malfoy standing behind her wearing a trademark smirk.
"How did you get here?" she put her hand on her hips and narrowed her eyes at him.
"I have my ways," he said slyly.
"Ok, fine. What are you doing here? I thought you didn't want to be seen in public with a mudblood," she teased, emphasizing the word.
"It's not safe outside of Hogwarts these days. If you ask me they're bloody idiots for sending you lot out here without a chaperone." He was staring at a spot behind her shoulder. She turned to see Harry and Ron throwing jelly beans at each other while the other tried to catch them in his mouth. She turned back to Draco with a withering stare.
"Why isn't it safe?" Draco pondered for a moment before speaking.
"Well you've already been attacked once, haven't you? What's to say that they haven't tracked you down again?" Emily looked at him strangely.
"Why would they do that? Professor McGonagall said…"
"Professor McGonagall doesn't know what she's talking about," he said bluntly.
"Oh, so you know more than the headmaster?" she asked doubtfully. Before Draco could respond Emily heard Hermione calling her name and turned around to look for her.
"I've found two of the three books you need," Hermione said walking up to Emily. "And I believe we can find the third upstairs." She handed the two books to Emily.
"Oh, thanks," Emily smiled at Hermione. She turned back around to deal with Draco, only to find that he had disappeared. She stood up on her toes, craned her neck, spun in a circle, but Draco was nowhere to be found.
"What's wrong?" Hermione asked as Emily's face drew into a look of confusion and frustration.
"Huh? Oh. Nothing, sorry," she smiled again and went up the stairs to find her third book.
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After Flourish & Blotts the group went to get gather the rest of Emily's things; more sets of robes and uniforms, a cauldron, a broom, and finally, and most importantly, a wand. As they went from store to store Emily got the eerie feeling that someone was watching her. Damn Malfoy, she thought. He's got me all paranoid now. No one is looking for you… She was having trouble convincing herself, though, and more than once had spun around abruptly only to find no one behind her.
Their last stop was Ollivander's. Harry pushed open the door and they all stepped into the dimly lit shop. Mr. Ollivander was nowhere to be seen so Harry went to the counter and rang the bell once. No one answered.
"That's odd," Harry mused, and rang again. This time a harried looking old man with glasses came bustling up to the front counter from somewhere in the shelves behind.
"Sorry, so sorry," Mr. Ollivander said. He appeared to be very twitchy. "Ah, Mr. Potter. Back again? You haven't damaged your wand, have you?" He said the last part a bit nervously in Emily's opinion.
"No, no it's fine," Harry assured him. "We're actually here for our friend, Emily." Emily stepped forward and extended her hand toward Mr. Ollivander, who stared at it curiously. Hermione shook her head knowingly at Emily and she dropped her hand back to her side.
"Nice to meet you," Emily said, still eyeing the man strangely. Something was off about him…
And for a moment he stared back at her equally as strange, but then his face went blank and a smile formed. "Emily, it is nice to meet you too, my dear. Now, let's see…" Mr. Ollivander trotted back into the shelves and returned with a small rectangular box. He opened it and handed the wand inside to Emily. "Give it a swish."
She did, and suddenly there was a flash of sparks and the group dropped to the floor as a green beam of light bounced madly around the room, knocking things over and finally shattering a vase.
"No, that won't do," Mr. Ollivander said and took the wand back, carefully. He returned to the shelves several more times with several more wands, and each had a similar affect. "Interesting…" Mr. Ollivander mused. Then suddenly, as if a light bulb had been turned on inside his head, his face brightened and he hurried to a very back shelf. This time when Emily swished the wand the room was filled with a warm golden glow.
"Very interesting, indeed," Mr. Ollivander said in a low voice so that none of the children heard him. More loudly he told Emily, "That wand is made of alder wood with a hippogriff feather core; twelve and one-quarter inches long." Emily handed Mr. Ollivander the money and thanked him and they headed back to Gringott's to use the Floo and return to Hogwarts.