The trip to Diagon Alley was vastly different from his first time, in the sense that he only lied all of 2 times. Once, was when Draco asked him whether or not he was enjoying himself, and the second when his mother had asked him if he had bought anything. He had said no. It was easier than explaining that he just spent 100 galleons on a particular Dark Arts tome. Garron's father would be happy though, Lucius loved seeing what the boy was researching.
Getting their supplies for the school year seemed rather dull to him, purchasing textbooks and cauldrons had never appealed much to him. He'd rather spend the day wasting away inside of Flourish and Botts. However, he couldn't deny the sheer joy and excitement he felt the moment they approached Ollivander's. The last hurdle to overcome before he could perform magic, at least, legally perform magic. Hecate would be so proud to see her young champion so astute and wise before his time.
The shop was musty and covered in centuries old dust, the sunlight was tinted amber here. In the rays, Garron could see every particle of dust swirling around the air with no intent other than to simply exist. The shop smelled of earth and fire, a hint of spice in the back of his throat as he breathed in.
"Mr. Potter!" A voice rang out from behind him. The serene peace of the quit shop broken instantly, he scowled.
"Lord Black, actually."
"Apologies, my boy, the years are creeping up on me." As Garron turned around he was faced with the most ancient character he had ever seen. His skin was paper, frail and torn. His teeth were almost rotted out of his head with white hair that defied gravity. Ollivander was the most hideous creature he had ever seen. But, if one were to look for longer than they felt comfortable with, they would find more. They would find that his eyes were sharp and clear, moving with every piece of dust that floated by. His hands were callused and were topped with deft fingers that twitched ever so slightly. Ollivander was a clever old man, no doubt about it. "You are here for your first wands." It wasn't a question.
"Yes Mr. Ollivander, sir. There's no budget." Draco popped up next to him.
"Right away then. Young Mister Malfoy, you first. An easy job if I ever saw one," the old man croaked.
Ollivander left and came back instantaneously, a long dark box in hand. "Hawthorne wood, 10 inches, with a unicorn hair core. Reasonably springy and excellent for healing magic."
Draco took the wand in hand and immediately, a golden aura sprung out from the tip of the wand. Garron's brother smiled and began to laugh lightly, soon Draco's smile widened and encompassed his entire face. Sometimes, my brother is not a dimwit. I mean, he's still a dimwit but at least I can enjoy his presence like this. "I'll take it!"
The old man turned to Garron and frowned. Oh, this is just going to be lovely. What is it about him that just prohibits things being easy. Why, in Merlin's name, can't he have just been normal. Actually, scratch that. Normal people are so incredibly dim and gullible. Thank the Gods we aren't normal. What? Nothing. Ollivander left once more, this time considerably longer than the last. This time he brought back with him six different boxes and laid them out in front of Garron.
"Run your hand over them and pull out that which draws you to it." Garron did, or, he tried to. Nothing was jumping out at him, not even a little bit. The boy shook his head. "Curious. Very curious."
"What is?"
"It seems, Lord Black, that you require a different approach. Those boxes held every type of wood that is almost every wizard's wand. None of the cores stuck out to you as well. All pointing to the assessment that you require a custom wand." Draco murmured beside him in awe. "Stay put." He left for an immeasurable amount of time afterwards, leaving the two boys to contemplate their purchases. Mentally, Garron was as bored as ever. He needed something to do. Someone to torment or maim. A maiming sounds lovely right now. Physically, Garron morphed his face into an emotion. Whether or not it was the correct emotion, he would never know, but at least it was something. His brother didn't look at him strangely, so it mustn't have been too off. Ollivander came in finally, holding boxes upon boxes of materials.
Another hour passed and Garron had ran his hands over so many boxes he felt he was going to faint. Only one box pulled slightly, but the man said it was supposed to be stronger than that. Finally, he landed on another one that pulled even stronger. Nothing else after that gave off anything at all.
"A Cypress and Vine double core then. Very good, combative and stable. The wand will bend only to you. Time for the cores." This time, one did stick out from the very start. "Ah, thestral hair. A core of balance." Ollivander took the materials and left once more. The final time he returned, he came bearing a deep coloured wand. It neared the markings of runes on the handle and tapered towards the top. It was beautiful. It was his. "Go on, give it a wave."
Garron's flash of light was bigger than Draco's, much, much bigger. He knew that he probably shouldn't be smug about that, he just couldn't help it. He lit up the entire shop with a single wave. The warmth that came from it felt like being in his library. Was it possible to be in love with a wand? He didn't really care about that answer, he finally had the thing that made him a wizard. His very own wand. It was his, really truly his.
"Thank you." That was Draco's first time hearing those words out of his brother's mouth. It wasn't going to happen again.
"That will be 700 galleons for the lot. 150 for young Malfoy's and 550 for yourself." Garron wasn't entirely sure he'd ever handed money over that quickly in his entire life. He loved magic.
After Ollivander's, the two boys had parted ways, Draco to the Quidditch supply store, and Garron to the pet shop. Garron had wandered aimlessly down the alley before coming to a stop in front of the small pet shop in the corner. It was nestled in the crux between Diagon and Knockturn Alley. The boy took a step in side and was hit in the face with the smell of death. It wasn't to the point of rot, but definitely was not coming back to life any time soon. A glance down and the cause was right in front of him, a rat spewed open on the tile with a snake gorging itself with it.
"Don't you know it's rude to stare?" The long, pitch black, snake hissed at him.
"Don't you know you shouldn't talk with your mouth full?"
"A speaker? I haven't seen one of those in a very long time."
"My name is Garron Black, not speaker. Don't be a hypocrite. " Garron scoffed at the viper before him, a smile creeping his way up onto his face.
"Oy! Stop fuckin' 'round wit' it! Either buy the bastard or leave!" The snake's eyes rolled over Garron's figure, appraising him.
"Well, that was rather crass." The snake asked.
"Agreed. How well do you do with idiots?"
"I can tolerate them... barely." The viper scowled at the boy, "Why?"
"I need a familiar to take with me to school and I'd rather not deal with deaths on my hands. At least, not ones that can be pinned back to me."
"And why would I want to take up residence with a child?"
"Because, you need me."
"How do you figure that, boy?"
"First of all, I'm the first person you've been able to talk to in forever, you said it yourself. Secondly, you would be coming with me, a wealthy young lord able to provide with grounds to roam, idiots to terrorize, and an escape from this hellhole."
"You make a fine point child. I will come with you. However, I refuse to let that oaf sell me, I have more brains that he could ever possess. I will follow you out and you will pick me up outside."
"Very well. I believe I told you once already, my name is Garron. I won't be repeating myself again." Garron turned to the man at the counter, his mouth curled into a self satisfied smile. "Farewell then, I suppose you don't want Lord Black's business. After all, what good is millions of galleons worth to a man of such fine decorum." The look of pure shock and regret on the man's face made it hard to keep in a laugh at his expense. Garron turned his back on the owner and opened the door just long enough for the snake to move through undetected alongside him. Does this count as thievery? No, definitely not. If anything, I'm an animal right's activist. Mother will be so proud.
Once outside, Garron knelt to the ground and picked up the snake and looked at it questioningly. "What's your name anyway snake? How old are you? Is this as big as your kind gets?"
The snake laughed with a hiss. "I don't have a name hatchling, so I suppose we will need to think about that. I hatched around 10 moons ago and I truly have no idea how large I will become. I've been in that hell since I was hatched, none of the other's looked like me. You can't take back your offer, hatchling, I want what you promised."
"I'm not going to give you away, I just needed some answers is all. What do you think would be a good name for you? I can't just keep calling you 'snake'."
"Something respectable, if you must."
"What about Phobos? The god of terrors."
"No, not that please."
"Ambrose?"
"I rather like that. Ambrose sounds kingly enough."
"Ambrose it is. Now, let's go meet the others."
"Others?"
"My family."
The newly dubbed Ambrose climbed Garron's unfurled hand and moved towards the boy's neck, circling himself around Garron's throat until the snake felt secure. Most people would probably be terrified having a snake around the most vulnerable part of their body. Garron, however, felt much more comfortable having that area protected than it being out in the open beforehand. The two traveled Diagon Alley to meet Draco. They found Garron's brother still roaming the aisles of the store with a brand new broom in hand and uniforms piling up in his arms.
"I'm back." Garron's voice was quiet to not bring attention to himself. Unfortunately, his brother hadn't gotten that message.
"Blimey Garron! There's a snake on your neck!" The blond's exclamation rang throughout the entire store. Lovely.
"I know that. Do you really think I'd be this calm if I hadn't put him there myself?"
"You have a point." Draco was quiet for a split second, "What's his name? How much was he? What kind is he? Is he going to bite me?"
"His name is Ambrose, brother. He was absolutely free. We don't know what kind he is, and he won't bite you unless you bother him." Draco's smile grew in size, until it stopped. His brother's expression turned from joy to curiosity and pensiveness. As much as Garron would believe his brother was a dunce, Draco truly wasn't.
"What do you mean, 'we'?" His voice was quiet as a whisper now.
"I can speak to him."
"You're a parselmouth!"
"Shhh!"
Draco flinched and lowered his voice once again. "You're a parselmouth?"
"Yes. I am. This stays in the family, got it? Don't. Tell. Anyone." The brunet's whisper morphed into a growl. Ambrose hissed in agreeance, deciding to add to the threat.
"I wasn't going to tell anyone don't worry. I'm just excited. Do you know what this means?"
"What does it mean, Draco." He sighed and sarcasm dripped with every utterance.
"Slytherin designed passageways in the castle that are guarded by snakes! They say only a parselmouth can get through! The tunnels run all throughout the castle and aren't supposed to be tracked." Sometimes, his brother was an idiot. And sometimes, Draco was a fucking genius. Why hadn't Garron thought about Slytherin? The man was the most famous parselmouth since who knows when. Of course the founder would have passageways in his own damn castle. Garron could use these to conduct his business. Maybe there were even rooms he could use for the rituals he had planned. This was brilliant! He was already excited for Hogwarts and now he had even more reason to be.
"Interesting."
"Draco. Garron. It's time to head back to the manor. Your mother has your going away Galla tonight before you leave tomorrow. The curses she would place on us if we're late I cannot fathom." Lucius Malfoy's voice was clear over the ruckus of the shop.
"Yes father." The boys' reply was swift. Draco paid for his things while Garron and Lucius stayed near the doorway.
Lucius turned to Garron and inspected him head to toe. "What did you get today, then?" The man still emulated regality and power years since their talk. Garron looked up to his father. He wanted to be exactly like him when Garron had power. Fierce. Powerful. Threatening. Deadly. The whole married thing was idiotic, but Garron didn't even understand how people could be attracted to women. They seemed too needy to him, he didn't have the patience to dote on a woman like how his father dotes on Narcissa. Sometimes, he would think women to be weak, but then he'd remember his mother and his aunt Bellatrix and quickly resort his thinking. Women weren't weak, they just simply were not what appealed to Garron. That was okay to him, he was only 11. He may be getting ready to overtake the wizarding world, but marriage was far from in the picture.
"Ambrose."
Lucius's eyebrow raised a minuscule amount. "And who, would that be?"
"Him." With his cue, Ambrose rose from his coiled position on Garron's neck and perched on his shoulder. The ebony viper hissed menacingly towards Garron's father.
"Is this one of yours?" Ambrose questioned.
"This is my father, Ambrose. In fact, he's the least idiotic person I know. Please don't bite him. That would be difficult to undo."
"A parselmouth." The words came as a grunt. In response, Garron nodded his head once while Lucius's eyes twinkled with an unnameable force. "How interesting my son. Were you ever going to let on?"
"It is on a need to know basis. Be lucky I've deemed you need to know."
Draco came back with his new quidditch supplies in hand, and a whopping smile plastered onto his face. "Ready to go?" The father and son nodded and they left as Lucius apparated the three of them to the manor.
Garron walked away from his family first and headed towards his library, fiddling with his new wand in hand and Ambrose affixed to his shoulder. Draco was next, taking his new quidditch gear towards the family's private pitch. Both of his sons went in opposite directions, leaving Lucius to walk in to the manor right to his lovely wife.
"How was the alley, my love? What did the boys come back with?"
"They both got the school requirements, of course. Draco bought the newest broom, that child wastes his time with that sport, by Merlin I swear it. And Garron - Garron brought home Ambrose." He chuckled lightly into his wife's hair and he embraced her.
"What's an Ambrose?"
"A magical bred black mamba."
"WHAT?"