I didn't have much time last night when I'd finished this chapter so I didn't add a note!
I wanted to say thanks to anyone who's been patient and stuck with me recently. I know I started off updating very regularly and thought I could carry on that way, but it turns out married life is a lot busier than I'd thought!
Plus my sister is expecting her first baby in less than 2 weeks!
Not only does that make family life busier but she's also my colleague at work so she's off on maternity leave (and we're not getting cover for her) so it looks like I won't be able to sneak some writing in at work now either!!
Anyway, I recently looked back on some old notes that I'd written and realised that there are a couple of things I need to work into the story pretty soon. There are some things that are left open at the end of HBP and while they aren't major plot lines in my story I feel that it wouldn't be right to leave them out. (RAB and the locket for example. I did originally have this penned in as something the golden trio would discover behind the scenes of the story and just give Ginny a vague explanation but now I feel I'd like to flesh it out a little more!)
I will also mention that things are likely to get a bit more folkloric (if that's the correct word!) in a way... I don't know how to describe it but hopefully it will be good! As Harry Potter is set in Britain (and I live there... handy for getting info!) I wanted to include some old English folklore in the background history of the story.
I know that a lot of what JK Rowling wrote had some basis in these sort of things (the three headed dog, the philosophers' stone itself, many of the character's names, the order or Merlin and so on...) so I wanted to continue in a similar ilk... I hope I do ok!
"Very well then. You may be of use with the other two."
"Ok Malfoy, how exactly do you propose we get in then?"
Draco paused, he realised that he hadn't really thought this through. This was Ginny's plan and he'd been against it from the start. Since she'd gone missing part of his brain had gone into overdrive and the rest of him had just followed along blindly. It was so unlike him to be unplanned that he was slightly shocked he'd come this far. Normally he planned everything well in advance, considering different actions to take for every possible outcome.
Improvising wildly he walked boldly down the dark alley, up to the surprisingly expensive looking back door and tried turning what looked like a pure gold handle. It didn't budge. "It's locked." He said in what he knew was an unconcerned voice.
"What a wonderful plan you had." Mocked Harry as sarcastically as he could manage.
"You have to check the simplest things first." Draco managed to keep a superior tone. "Imagine how foolish you would feel if, after trying spell upon spell you realised that you could just walk right in the back door. Always start with the easiest option and work from there."
"Well the easiest option didn't work. Since you reckon you're the expert, what's next?" Harry questioned, challenging Draco with a look.
"Alohomora?" Ron jumped in questioningly.
"Of course." Draco nodded in a way that suggested he was just about to propose that very thing himself. "You see Potter, think simple like your friend Weasley here. You could learn from him."
Ron started to grin at the praise but paused, wondering if Draco was calling him simple. Before he had the chance to voice his concern Draco had propelled him towards the door.
"Go on then Weasley, you do the honours."
Nervously Ron held out his wand and enunciated clearly, as Hermione had taught him. "Alohomora!" There was an audible click. "Hey, it worked... Look Harry, it worked!"
Harry nodded to Ron who was beaming foolishly. "Great work Ron."
Draco smiled disarmingly at Ron, who was too exhilarated at being the one to get them in to wonder why Draco was suddenly being so nice to him. Anything to rile Potter Draco thought.
Draco swooped past Harry just as he was moving towards the handle and the blonde wizard felt a rush of triumph at beating his adversary to one golden sphere at least. It was childish he knew, but any victory counted.
He turned the handle cautiously and the door swung open silently. All three boys had secretly been expecting an eerie creak from the hinges. Relieved Draco took a step into the building and looked around warily, nothing but blackness met his eyes.
"Lumos." Harry's voice was a welcoming sound in the dark. The flare from his wand lit up all three boys' faces in strange angles and made the room around them seem to stretch away and the tall cabinets that lined the walls appear to loom over them ominously.
"Lumos Maxima." The light from Harry's wand increased noticeably making the room look slightly less creepy.
"Thanks." Draco muttered before he could stop himself. He groaned inwardly expecting the sarcastic reply that, in the Slytherin world, characteristically followed a slip up such as showing gratitude.
"No problem." Harry said, looking a little taken aback but giving his trademark toothy grin nonetheless.
Draco was pleasantly surprised at the lack of rudeness. He had been brought up in a world that traditionally mocked such weaknesses as thankfulness, showing emotions and especially love, but he was strangely pleased at Harry's reaction. Not that he would ever let anyone know so but his brain digested the emotional input anyway.
"Where next?" Asked Ron, craning to see through the gaps in the shelves surrounding the trio. Both he and Harry looked expectantly at Draco.
"Out front I guess, where all the boxes are – that's where you guys went for your wands right?" Draco asked.
"Yeah that's where I got mine." Harry said.
"That's where I got my second wand." Ron mumbled quietly.
"Second wand?" Draco questioned. "Oh of course. You broke your first one crashing into tree didn't you - your spells were going wrong all year!" He chuckled to himself remembering how Ron had tried to hex him with the slug-vomiting charm which had backfired.
Ron frowned and had just opened his mouth to protest when Draco asked – "So where did you get your first wand?"
Ron blushed and looked hesitant, he then pulled himself up to his full height and said a little louder than necessary "From my brother, it was passed down because we didn't have enough money at the time to get me both spell books and a new wand. Before you mock my previously poor situation I'd like to remind you that..."
Ronald held his hand up and grasped a finger with each point " One, I have a wand at my disposal and you don't. Two, my parents are much better off now and Three... Three, you're dating my sister so anything bad you say about my family includes her too and I get a free punch for that!"
Draco almost laughed, Ron was practically bristling with anger... "Wow Weasley, how long have you been saving that tirade up for? I didn't realise you took my words to heart so much." Draco knew that this would be the perfect moment to make a joke at Ron's expense but something made him stop, for a moment he felt sorry for the other boy.
"If it makes you feel better, my wand was inherited too, an antique from my Grandfather Cygnus. So I can't exactly mock that Can I?"
Ron looked absolutely bemused. Y.. You had a, a hand me down too?" He stuttered.
Draco did laugh then, an honest friendly laugh and he hated himself for it. How did these people who had had hated for most of his life suddenly, after a brief forced closeness, seem to burrow their way through his defences and unearth feelings and emotions he never knew he could admit to. No wonder his father had warned him away from them, thinking of his father made him even more angry.
"Not exactly Weasley," He countered. "My family passed down priceless items that were too valuable to be thrown away; yours passed on anything they couldn't afford to throw away, which was everything probably. There's a big difference."
Draco looked at the anger in Ron's eyes and for the first time could see the pain and protectiveness behind it. For once in his young life Draco felt remorse for mocking someone. Losing all hope of ever being himself again he sighed somewhat over dramatically.
"Yes Ronald, if it makes you feel better I, the great Draco Malfoy, had hand me downs."
Not waiting to see either boys' face, he stalked off into the shop's main room. Maintaining the authoritative presence only a Malfoy could truly pull off, he studied his surroundings.
Rows upon rows of massive wooden shelves ran around the room, all were heavily laden with stacks of small, oblong black boxes. Draco ran his hand lightly along one row, a pointless gesture. "How in Merlin's name am I ever meant to choose from all of these, especially without a shop assistant?" Draco said out loud without meaning to.
Harry and Ron, after giving each other shocked looks over his sudden changes in attitude, had followed him out onto the shop floor.
Harry spoke up, "Ollivander took my measurements and then brought me a selection of wands. I tried them all until one chose me." He blushed when the other two wizards looked at him questioningly but held his head high despite the blushing. "I know that sounds really dumb but Ollivander told me that it's the wand that should choose the wizard to get truly great performance. Ron, even you admitted that your second wand just felt like it fitted right in your hand when you got it."
Ron looked a little embarrassed but admitted, "You know he's right and it does work a lot better than my last one..."
"Right." Draco muttered unenthusiastically. "That's all well and good but how on earth am I meant to find a wand right for me, there must be thousands out there and we don't even know what my measurements are..."
Ron looked around him fruitlessly for a tape measure. Trying to think about things logically he suggested the only thing he could think of. "Maybe we should try one from each section and see which is best. Then we can try others from that section?" He looked to the other two for their reactions.
Harry nodded in a half hearted way and Draco shrugged one shoulder. "It's a plan I guess." He said.
Draco slowly started to pull a black box from the shelving section nearest him. When he wrapped his fingers round the box he felt a small resistance but after the initial tug the box came free.
He heard a noise like an outburst of breath; wondering if that meant that he had somehow picked the right wand first time he opened the box and grasped the uncovered wand firmly in his hand. Draco judged its weight in his palm and felt slightly disappointed in the look of the wand; it was short and knobbly and felt very uncomfortable, almost as if it were trying to wriggle out of his grasp.
"Draco?" Ron and Harry murmured in unison...
Draco looked at where the boys were facing and briefly turned his gaze back to the wand in his hand before whipping his head back to the unbelievable sight bearing down on him... Hundreds upon hundreds of the previously neatly stacked boxes were flying wildly off the shelves. They were falling open like shells and wands of all makes and sizes were pouring out of them and creating a humming noise that sounded far too similar to a horde of angry wasps for Draco's liking.
Ron ruffled his long red hair nervously. "Erm, maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all..."
All three boys had backed soundlessly towards the furthest bookcase from where the wands were forming into a group.
"What now?" Ron asked.
"Run?" Harry suggested.
"Where to?" Was Draco's reply. The other two boys followed his nod towards the door where they had entered. It too was almost completely smothered with levitating wands, it felt as though they were aiming themselves at the only human inhabitants.
While trying to peer around the corner for another means of escape, Ron accidentally knocked against the shelf behind them. This shelf, instead of being covered with boxes happened to be full to the brim with what looked like receipts. He grabbed wildly at them, trying to prevent their downward tumble but instead made matters worse and sent tiny strips of paper cascading across the room.
"Look!" Harry cried, pointing behind Ron. The freckled wizard's mistake had unveiled a small metal ring set into the wall. It looked as if it was there for a purpose.
"What do you think it's for? Do you think it stops the wands?" Harry said loudly over the increasing noise.
"No." Draco cried. "It's a hidden handle, I've seen them like that before. There's something behind this shelf" He could barely hear himself speak; the clamouring buzzing sound of the wands was becoming unbearably loud.
"Quickly then." Harry shouted. All three boys began to plough through the piled of paper in a desperate race against the wasp like wands. Each of the young wizards was certain that their time was running short and they were trying not to imagine how painful a wand would feel when embedded in their flesh.
Just as Draco had bodily forced the shelves to one side and was reaching his hand out for the metal ring, the noise suddenly stopped. The silence was somehow deafening and in a way worse than the buzzing had been.
"Look out." Yelled Harry, who was at the back of the trio, he threw himself at the other two, knocking them all over painfully to the floor just in time. Three wands had that had been headed straight for them ploughed into the pile of receipts causing an eruption of paper into the air.
Draco, who had ended up at the bottom of the pile pushed the other two off him, for some reason the closeness of danger had put him in a strange humour. "I'm not really into all this kinky wrestling shit, I understand that I'm irresistible but I have to decline your advances."
Ron and Harry looked up at him gormlessly while he grinned to himself. Giving up on the sarcasm, which was obviously wasted on his current companions he grabbed their shoulders and roughly hoisted them up off the floor.
"Oh come on. They're getting ready to attack again."
He was right, glancing over they could see that three more wands had already separated from the pack and were aligning themselves towards the three teenagers.
Draco curled his finger around the metal circle, lifted it outwards and twisted it clockwise, a wrenching sound came from the wall and a door shaped slit appeared. Hurriedly the three pushed it open and piled through the gap. Harry pushed it closed behind them and it sealed so completely that if you didn't know to look you couldn't have spotted the door.
There were three loud thumps from the wall where the door had been; obviously the wands had been just behind them.
"Reminds me of our first year with those bloody flying keys!" Ron said, grinning broadly despite being completely white in the face and shaking slightly.
"Yeah." Harry smiled a wry smile and slapped him lightly on the back. He remembered what had happened shortly after that. Ron had been knocked unconscious in a life sized chess game and he'd had his first encounter with Voldemort. They were a lot older and slightly wiser now; however the enemy was a lot more powerful than when he was eleven.
They were standing in a narrow room, there was barely enough room for the three of them and they were crowded together uncomfortably. The only immediate exit that they could see was a dark and gloomy looking set of spiral stairs that went down at a steep angle. None of them particularly wanted to find out where they led.
"I guess it's down we go then? It's got to be better than what's back there right?" Draco said.
Harry nodded his agreement warily. He was very unsure about going further.
They stood uncertainly for a moment before Ron had enough. "Oh come on – I'll go first. You can back me up." He set off down the stairs while Draco and Harry stood still, slightly shocked at his decisiveness.
Ron paused on the fifth step down, half his body already hidden from them. "Are you two coming or what?" He asked.
Spurred into action, Harry rushed to catch up with his best friend. Draco followed with slightly more refinement.
They weren't walking for very long before Ron paused, Harry nearly crashed into the back of him, Draco tutted at his clumsiness.
Ron held up a finger to his mouth and whispered quietly, "Did you hear that?" Draco shook his head but Ron held up his hand signalling them to come further down to listen. After only a second he was rewarded. A man's voice echoed pitifully up the stairs.
"Hello? Is there someone there? Who's there? Anyone... Help me. Please..."