NOTE: Bold = Anastasia's written response Slanted = Anastasia's mind-link response
My brother's voice makes my head pound in pain. Groaning slightly from the discomfort, I hold onto my head as I sit up from the floor. Why do I always end up in pain? The throbbing starts to slowly drain away as I continue to massage my head. While I continue to rub my head, Harry's voice gradually increases in volume as the fog surrounding my brain diminishes.
"Sister? Are you alright?" my brother's voice finally speaks clearly. Nodding my head, I notice that his hand is outstretched for me and I groan as he helps me up. I smack his arm after stabilizing myself on my own feet. "Ow! What was that for?"
"That was for not speaking clearly while we were back at the Weasley Burrow," I tell him, and he rolls his eyes. Sighing, I take this opportunity to look around the room that we have fallen into. Okay, this room is pretty creepy!
The room is dark and eerie with an aura of mystery surrounding the entire place. There are display cases all around the room and the entire place is curtained by a layer of darkness. A gasp flies out of my mouth when I notice what is inside of the glass display boxes. Inside of the display case in front of me, there are different mummified heads with a strand of dark hair or just baldness. What kind of shop has heads for merchandise?!? I definitely would never have come to this kind of shop unless, of course, it is by accident like right now. Turning away from the heads, I notice that there is a layer of dust around everything besides the front desk that holds the cash register.
"Um, big brother? I don't think that we should be here," I whisper through the mind link. I notice that he nods his head, but he continues to look around the store. I watch my brother, who has dust on him from earlier, walk over to the other side of the small store. He stops in front of the mantelpiece and notices that there is a large jar filled with more of those heads. Big brother lightly knocks on the jar before walking to his left. Following behind him, I start to dust him off while he looks at a mummified hand that is attached to a board. As I continue to get the dust off him, he gasps in surprise and I instantly look up in alarm. The hand is holding a death grip on my brother, and I try to help my brother get his hand out of the thing's grip. Finally, after a few more tugs we get his arm away from that horrible invention.
Unfortunately, before I can check to see if he is alright he pushes my hands away and runs to the back of the store. He quickly hides inside an iron maiden looking coffin while I look in his direction in confusion. The sound of the bell ringing above the door makes my entire body go rigid for a split second. As quickly as possible, I start to run to a hiding place but as my luck will have it, I slip on my Slytherin cloak and end up banging my head against the floor. Oh, come on! I just got rid of the pain in my head from earlier and now this! A painfilled groan escapes my lips while I hold my head in my hands and tears fill my eyes. After the groan leaves my body, I remember that someone has just entered this weird shop.
"Ana?" a familiar voice calls out directly above me. Slowly, I open my eyes and the only thing that I can clearly see is the ash blonde hair. Sniffling, I give Draco a somewhat smile as I feel a warm liquid spread across my hands. As tears roll down my face, I take a look at my hands and I realize that there is blood on them. Welp! I have officially gone to a whole new level on wounds that I get from accidents.
"Oh, Godric! Are you okay, Ana?!" Draco asks me as he grabs my arms to help me stand up. I slowly shake my head while I place my hands on the back of my head. As I am applying pressure to the wound, I watch as he walks around me to look at the back of my head. He gently moves my hands away and looks a little bit before letting out a sigh of relief. "Don't worry. The wound isn't severe or anything. I think that if you keep pressure on it, it should stop bleeding in a moment." I nod my head as I go back to what I was doing before.
As he goes back to being in front of me, I hear the door open again and I look over to see who it is. A man with long ash blonde hair and a cane with a snake's head as the handle walks into the shop. Oh, my Salazar! This must be Draco's father and I am about to meet him like this! Draco must have seen how nervous I am because he gives me a reassuring smile before looking at his father.
"Draco, who is this?" his father asks as he walks up to us. I give him a friendly smile as my friend introduces us.
"Father, this is my best friend, Anastasia Potter. Ana, this is my father, Lucius Malfoy," he says, and I give him a polite nod while I check to see if the bleeding has stopped. Please, don't be bleeding anymore! Thankfully, at this point, it is barely bleeding! Taking this opportunity, I grab the notepad and muggle pen from my back pocket.
"Hello, Mr. Malfoy!" I say to him and he nods his head before a look of realization crosses his face.
"Oh, yes. Draco has talked about you. You are the girl that can't talk," he says, and I nod my head in confirmation. Honestly, I don't mind if that is how he remembers me as long as he remembers. I smile at Draco as he looks away in embarrassment. I wonder why he is embarrassed because we are best friends! Of course, we are going to talk about each other a lot. For me especially because I think of him as another brother of mine. Trying to get the attention off himself, Draco turns back to me with confusion on his face.
"Ana, why are you here?" he asks me, and I instantly think of my brother who is still hiding from them. Giving them a sheepish smile, I point at the fireplace while writing down a slightly different experience then what actually happened.
"Well, my brother and I were using floo powder for the first time, and, unfortunately, while we were heading towards our destination, I accidentally slipped from my brother's grasp. When we separated, I ended up landing here and I have no idea where 'here' is," I tell them while starting to dust myself off. No one says anything for a few moments before Draco hugs me unexpectedly. He laughs at my story while telling me that this happens to everyone when traveling through floo powder for the first time. Unfortunately, as Draco and I are hugging, I feel a large bulge hitting my side and I pull away to find out that Draco is holding a chest of some sort.
"Where are we, Draco?" I ask him, but Mr. Malfoy answers my question instead.
"We are in a shop in Knockturn Alley," he says with elegance. Sadly, before we can speak further on the subject of where we are, an older gentleman walks out from the back of the store and greets the Malfoys as if they come here often.
"Ah! Mr. Malfoy! It is a pleasure to see you again," he says, and I decide to leave them to their business by looking around the store. I can tell that Draco is about to follow me as well until the shopkeeper noticed him, "and young Master Malfoy as well. Welcome!"
Thankfully, the shopkeeper didn't notice me because honestly, he kind of creeps me out. He and this store definitely make me want to run far away from this scary darkness. Tuning their conversation out, I walk to the front of the shop and I peer out the front window. The outside world doesn't look any better than the shop. Both environments make me very uncomfortable and want to hide away from the scary looking people. Why are the Malfoys in a place like this?
"Draco!" Mr. Malfoy calls out to my best friend. I turn away from the window and watch as my friend places the chest on the counter. After he carefully sets the chest down, he quickly turns around and walks up to me with a hesitant smile, almost as if he shouldn't be smiling in front of others.
"What do you think of the shop, Ana?" my friend asks me, and I glance around the room, my eyes briefly stop at Harry's hiding place, before finishing my assessment of the place. Turning back to my friend, I quickly write down my feelings on this entire Alley that we are in.
"Honestly, this entire place scares me, and I don't want to be here. The people are even creepy and there doesn't seem to be any happiness here. There is only fear, and those that feed off of fear," I show him, and he nods his head. After I am sure that he has read my message, I carefully put my writing materials back inside my pockets, and I look out the window again. A shiver of fear crawls up my spine when I notice that one of the people outside is staring at me. A warm hand enveloping mine makes me look at my friend, who is giving me a smile that tells me that I am safe, and I give him a nod of trust as a way of saying that I trust him.
"Why didn't you answer any of my letters?" his sudden question makes my eyes widen in shock before thinking about that stupid house-elf. As Dobby passes through my brain, his warning starts blaring in my ears and I wonder if I should inform Draco about the house-elf. Um, I don't think I should because I feel like if I tell Draco about the danger warning then he might make me stay away from Hogwarts this year. Well, I mean he can't really stop me, but I don't want to make my best friend, who is basically a brother, become disappointed in me for not heeding the warning. Mentally, I shake my head before pulling my hand away from his and quickly grab my writing materials again.
"Come, Draco! We are leaving! Come along as well, Ms. Potter," Lucius tells us as he walks out the door. With Draco in front of me, I start to write my response while walking safely behind the Malfoys. After, with some difficulty, writing out my response, I pull on my fellow Slytherin's sleeve.
"I'm sorry that I couldn't write to you. My aunt and uncle have kept Harry's owl in a locked cage. Even if they did let Hedwig out of her cage, she still wouldn't be able to leave," I tell him and with a lot of hesitation I write out the rest of my experience at my relative's house. "They put bars on our windows and we weren't allowed to leave our room. Draco! It was horrible! I had nightmares and shed a lot of tears. Thankfully, the Weasel and the twins came and saved us!" I end my writing on a happy note. I didn't mean to write down all of those facts, but I believe that he is my best friend and he deserves to know what happened.
After Draco finishes reading my explanation, a shout escapes his lips as he stops walking. He turns to me with anger on his face and I flinch away a little bit out of fear. Maybe, I shouldn't have told him the entire truth.
"What do you mean that they put bars on your windows?! Was it like this during the entire summer?!" he nearly shouts, and I notice that the creepy people are starting to stare. Quickly, I shake my head no and start to scribble down my response. As I nearly throw the paper at my friend after finishing, I notice that Mr. Malfoy is also reading my response. Oh, no! I shouldn't have said anything!
"No! It wasn't like that during the entire summer break. Unfortunately, towards the end of the break, we made them angry and a letter was sent to us about regarding some minor magic that has been made in the house. In the letter, it reminded us that we aren't supposed to do magic outside of school and that's when my relatives realized that they didn't have to be afraid of us. Then they put the bars on our windows and wouldn't let us out of our room," I tell them, and I still remember them getting the letter. It was delivered a day after Dobby ruined the party and that same day Vernon put metal bars on the windows. He didn't even waste any time in making our lives even more miserable than they already were.
A warm hug brings me out of my dark memories, and I realize that there are a few tears rolling down my cheeks. Draco is trying to reassure me as he continues to hug me, and I hug him back as tightly as possible. My emotions are jumbled up at the moment that I just need to hug my best friend and enjoy the moment.
"Miss. Potter, what your relatives did was very unnecessary. Especially, if all you did was make them angry. Ignorant muggles," Mr. Malfoy says to me as he let Draco out of the hug. After he says that, Lucius looks around us as if he is thinking about something. Finally, he turns his attention back onto me and glances at my hand that is holding his son's, "If you would like, during the breaks you can come visit and may even stay at the Malfoy Manor."
Draco starts getting excited at the thought of me visiting and staying with them, while my eyes grow large at the idea of seeing my friend's house. This is the first time that ever been invited to even go to a friend's house. Well, let's face it, I've never even had a friend before meeting Draco. Happiness swells up inside my small body to the point that I let go of Draco's hand and throw my arms around Mr. Malfoy. After hugging him for a split second, during which Draco's father's body went rigid, I quickly let go with a huge smile on my face. My head is going up and down so fast that I start to worry that it might pop off. Draco laughs at my enthusiasm and grabs my hand again. Draco, Mr. Malfoy, and I walk out of the darkness and into my favorite on this planet with giant smiles on two of our faces. Things are starting to look up for this new year!
Author's Note: I'm so sorry that it took such a long time for me to update and such a short chapter as well!! Now! My dear readers, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please comment below to tell me what you think or what you think will happen in the future! I would love to read your comments! Also, I realized that one of the main things that I do when writing this fan-fiction is focus on making this different than other Harry Potter fan-fictions. I would love to hear if I am doing a good job or if any of you have suggestions! Anyway, have a wonderful and magical day! :-)