An hour and a half later, the seven of them trudged out of the shopping centre, their arms laden with shopping and smiles plastered to their faces.
"That was so fun!" Pansy squealed, collapsing onto a bench. The others collapsed next to her, all thoroughly exhausted.
"I still can't believe that you've never gone shopping before" Ginny said, rolling her eyes.
"I've gone shopping" Pansy cried adamantly before saying quietly "Just not like this and not with friends"
Blaise sniggered. "We wouldn't have been very good shopping pals, Pans"
Pansy smiled at him. "I know. I wonder how you lot survived today"
Draco coughed violently into his shoulder, smiling mischievously and sharing a look with Harry. Little did the girls know that the boys hadn't been right behind them like they were supposed to be, instead the boys had gone on their own Primark journey to the men's section, altogether abandoning the girls.
At that moment, there was a familiarly peculiar popping noise from nearby -apparition.
Hermione froze, snapping out from her weary state and suddenly alert for any unusual signs around them. "Did you hear that?"
They nodded.
"That popping sound, right?" Theo asked, looking over his shoulder as if expecting someone to jump out at them.
"Apparition" Harry agreed, fumbling for his wand in her pockets.
Hermione moaned lowly. "We should've never gone out today"
"You had fun though, right?" Harry confirmed.
"Some things are more important than fun, Potter" Hermione berated him, her voice still low, and her eyes darting around the alley. It was spacious enough, but there were many shoppers passing by. Anyone could easily camouflage themselves in the midst.
"Trust me. I know that" He scowled.
"Maybe we should walk a bit, not draw attention to ourselves. We are a large group" Blaise suggested, heaving himself off the bench and waiting for the others. "Come on"
It took at least three whole minutes for the seven of them to gather all their shopping equally.
"Will you shut up!" Hermione snapped peevishly, performing lightweight charms on all the bags, when Pansy and Blaise began to argue about which bag was heavier and therefore which of them should carry it.
"Cool it, Herms" Blaise joked, placing his hand on her arm, which she shrugged off.
"I've got a bad feeling about this place" she murmured.
"Relax, Hermione. We've been here for the past two hours. If someone wanted to hurt us, they could've done it then" Draco said, comfortingly hitching his shopping to rest on his elbow, so he could give her a one armed hug. Hermione leaned in to his touch and was soon calm once more.
Theo breathed a sigh of relief from behind them, which earned him a slap on the arm from Ginny.
"She's only worried" Ginny whispered harshly, out of earshot from Hermione and Draco.
Smartly, Theo didn't reply.
"Why don't we go McDonalds" Harry offered, trying to dissipate the tension "I'm starving, aren't you"
A smile erupted on Hermione's face. "Yeah, it's been ages since I've gone there"
"McDonalds?" Ginny asked "Like from that nursery rhyme? Dad used to play it to drown out Mum's-"
"There's a restaurant named after a nursery rhyme?" Blaise asked, nonplussed.
"Well, I'm not sure whether it was named after the nursery rhyme per se, but the names of the farmer in the nursery rhyme and the brand's name do-" Hermione explained, but was cut off by Theo.
"Is the food good?" He asked.
Harry chuckled ambiguously "Matters what you call 'good'"
Hermione nodded chuckling, as well. These pure-blood royalties were in for a great shock.
"Let's go!"
"I could squeeze oil out of that burger!" Draco exclaimed another hour later after a filling meal at McDonalds, as the seven of them entered a secluded side street to adjust the shopping bags on their shoulders.
"That's the point" Hermione giggled, unloading the three bags she was holding off of her shoulders.
"To make us all fat?" Ginny asked, then as an afterthought "Is the farmer in the nursery rhyme fat too?
"Not necessarily" Harry replied, biting his lip, to stop himself from bursting into laughter
"Then why-"
It was then that it happened.
They had all forgotten about the lone pop they had heard an hour ago, when it happened again, only this time there were more pops and the result was far graver than before.
Grimy figures, dressed predominantly in black, materialised around the group of seven, wands drawn and hexes at the ready.
"DUCK!" Hermione cried and the seven of them rolled onto the floor, their shopping forgotten in a heap.
Hexes and jinxes flew threw the air and Hermione crawled across the floor to avoid them all, finding a moderately clear ground, standing up and getting ready to fight. Draco followed her, his wand arm up in defence, pleased that the Death Eater were all wearing their masks.
"Apparate!" Blaise called out to the others, yearning for safety as quickly as possible.
"You can't apparate out of here, my dear boy!" the high-pitched voice of Bellatrix Lestrange resounded over the sheiks and cries of spells. "You're trapped!"
Hermione panicked, shooting random spells at the nearest Death Eater, having distracted Theo with a pair of dancing legs and advancing towards her. It was only when a well-aimed jinx hit the Death Eater's mask that she realised who her opponent was.
"Dolohov" Hermione breathed, diving out of the way from a 'Crucio' and causing the gas cylinders behind her to erupt into flames.
"Remember me" Dolohov sneered, attempting to send a burst of purple light towards her momentarily decapitated body. Herminone rolled out of the way, as she heard Lucius Malfoy roar "Don't kill her!" from nearby. Unfortunately, in the flurry of the battle, she rolled right into the path of Draco, who was advancing upon a masked Death Eater with the help of Ginny, but now stumbled and fell on top of the brunette.
The Death Eater in question laughed cruelly, whipping off his mask and revealing himself to be-
"Rodophus" Ginny called, trying to deflect his attention away from Hermione and Theo, who were struggling to get up. Rodophlus ignored her with relish.
"Stupefy" he yelled, aiming for Hermione, but instead of the brunette, the spell hit Draco instead and the boy was rendered limp.
"Draco!" Hermione screamed hysterically, having not heard the spell and thinking the worst, shaking the boy hysterically. "Draco!"
"He's only stunned" Ginny tried to tell her, but she was too late. Firm, coarse hands grabbed Hermione from behind and the next thing she knew she felt the familiar sucking sensation of apparition, Ginny's cry echoing through her mind along with a frantic yell of 'No!' from another.
A/N: This was so fun to write! How are you guys enjoying this? Please read and review...