Draco flew down the staircase to the parlor where the floo powder was kept, but was stopped by his mother.
"There have been more Dementor attacks." His mother said eagerly. "AND Florean Fortescue has been taken prisoner."
"Florean Fortescue? The man with the ice cream shop?" Draco asked.
"Filthy muggle lover, supporter of Dumbledore." Narcissa spat. "Igor Karkaroff has also been killed."
"The traitor…"Draco muttered.
"Everything is falling into place my son." Mrs. Malfoy said. "Soon enough, your father will be home and things will be as they should."
Draco wanted so deeply to believe that, but nothing would ever be as it once was. When his father returned he would have to remain in hiding as a fugitive from the law. The family name would be beyond repair, and Draco might not even be around to see that day. The task he had been given by Voldemort loomed over him like a storm cloud. He hadn't slept in weeks, and when he did manage to drift into sleep his dreams were plagued with nightmares of his untimely death.
"What is worrying you, my darling?" His mother asked, with more softness in her voice than usual.
"I'm sure that you can figure that out for yourself." Draco replied, more harshly than he meant to.
"I've been meaning to speak to you on the matter." Narcissa said in a hushed voice, "Come with me."
He followed his mother into the library where she told him to sit down.
"I have spoken with Severus Snape." She said.
"Why?" Draco asked.
"He has agreed to help you while you are at Hogwarts." She said, "He made an unbreakable vow that he would do so."
Draco grew angry. Did his mother think that he could not accomplish the task on his own? Voldemort had trusted him, not Snape, to do the deed. Voldemort had made Draco his father's replacement, Snape was just trying to cut in on his glory.
"Help, will not be necessary." Draco replied.
"But Draco!" His mothers tone grew urgent, "Without his help you might not—"
"I will succeed!" Draco hissed, "And not with the help of anyone else."
"But—"
"Good day, mother." Draco stormed out of the room slamming the door behind him.
Draco entered the parlor and reached for the large urn containing floo powder. Just as he grabbed a handful of powder he heard a voice at the door.
"And what, are you doing?"
Draco turned to see Adelina leaning up against the doorframe and giving him a very suspicious look.
"I needed to—needed to—" Draco stammered.
"Get away?" Adelina supplied. "Well you're not leaving without me, where are you going?"
"Knockturn Alley, but you can't come." Draco said. "It's personal business."
"You know, that's not a very nice way to treat your guest." Adelina laughed. "Does your mother know where you're going?"
"No, and she won't find out. Now if you'll excuse me…"Draco prepared to throw the floo powder into the fire.
"I'm coming too." Adelina said. "I do not wish to stay in this house another minute."
"You can't come, now bugger off."
Adelina's eyes narrowed.
"MRS. MALFOY MRS. MALFOY COME HERE QUICKLY!" Adelina cried.
Mrs. Malfoy apparated in right next to Adelina.
"Draco! What are you doing?" She cried after surveying the scene.
"I wanted to go to—err—" He had to think quickly, if he told his mother the plan she would let Snape know for sure, "I wanted to go to Diagon Ally to get my school things."
Draco silently prayed that Adelina wouldn't say anything.
"I called you because I thought you might want to go as well." Adelina smiled charmingly.
"Oh…" His mother said, her gaze going back and fourth between the two. "Well of course…let's go then…"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When the three arrived in Diagon ally, the streets were littered with ministry pamphlets and the people were anxiously moving about their business. Adelina tried to take in all of her surroundings, she had never been to Diagon Ally before, and so far it had not impressed her. There were street vendors all over, selling tools to fight the Dark Arts, and one shop had boarded up windows. The only place that looked at all appealing was a Weasley's Wizard Wheezes which was, from what Adelina could make of it, some sort of joke shop.
"Well, you all need your books, but I think we'll get your school robes first." Mrs. Malfoy said.
The two teenagers walked behind her as she hurried along the cobblestone streets.
Draco picked up one of the purple ministry pamphlets outlining ways to protect yourself from Voldemort, "A lot of good this will do." He laughed.
Adelina took a moment to notice the faces of the people around her. They were scared, looking down toward the ground, trying to get what they needed quickly before something terrible happened. It was a good feeling to know that you were in with the Dark Lord. Being married to a Malfoy was a free ticket of protection as far as Adelina saw it. She and her father had never spoken of Voldemort, but she knew that he was in some way involved with the Death Eaters, as most true pureblood families were.
They entered a store by the name of Madame Malkin's dress robes, and were greeted by a cheerful woman at the door.
"We need two new sets of Hogwarts robes." Mrs. Malfoy said promptly. "Hurry please."
The smile on Madame Malkin faltered a bit as she directed Adelina and Draco to stand on two large boxes. She immediately began taking measurements of them, which Adelina thought was silly, because she could have just told the woman her measurements without all of this nonsense.
"This is really unnecessary." Adelina said as Madame Malkin began pinning her dress. "This takes much too long I could have just told you my measurements and all of this nonsense would be over."
"Hold still." Madame Malkin said.
"How does one end up becoming a seamstress?" Adelina asked, "What sort of course does your life take that puts you in a shop like this, pinning clothes on obnoxious sixteen year olds."
Draco laughed, and Madame Malkin continued on with her business. It was something about Draco's laugh that struck a chord with Adelina. She felt as though, just for that moment, she would die if she did not make him laugh again. She repressed the urge.
"What house are you in dear?" She asked, "So I can choose the color on your robes."
"I have not been sorted." Adelina said, "but you may make they Syltherin colors."
"Surely you're not a first year." Malkin said conversationally, "Are you transferring?"
"Yes," Adelina replied, "from Spain."
"Well I'll just get you generic robes then." Madame Malkin said, "Since you don't know what house you're in."
"No." Adelina replied. "I will be in Syltherin."
"Well…if you insist." The shop owner said, deciding it was not best to argue.
When the robes were done Adelina strode over to the large full length mirror, in its reflection she could see Draco staring at her. She resisted the urge to stand up straighter and turned to him.
"If you want to tell me I look beautiful Draco, just say it, do not stare." She flipped a dark curl over her shoulder and waited for his reply.
His eyes narrowed, "While the robes do compliment your shape, there is one problem with them."
"What?" Adelina asked.
"Madame Malkin has seemed to have left a pin in such a place that, if you were to sit down, it may cause you a great deal of pain."
Adelina slowly reached behind her and pulled out one, extremely, lethal pin.
"What is the meaning of this?" Adelina shouted at the shop keeper, "Trying to make a fool of me?"
Madame Malkin's eyes fell on the pin, "Oh dear I am so sorry."
"You would think with so many years as a seamstress, you would be better at it." Adelina said coolly, tossing the pin on the ground and moving over to sit down as Draco began to be measured.
"I am not a child, in case you haven't noticed, Mother. I am perfectly capable of doing my shopping alone."
Adelina stared at him, she could tell that he was trying desperately to get away from his mother. But for what?
"Now, dear, your mother's quite right, none of us is supposed to go wandering around on our own anymore, it's nothing to do with being a child." Madame Malkin clucked.
"Watch where you're sticking that pin, will you!" He shouted.
Adelina watched as he swaggered over to the mirror. He walked the same way Adelina did. The same long, important, strides, the same 'I am more important than you' attitude. She smiled as she watched him in the mirror. She saw his gray eyes narrow, and for a moment she thought he had noticed her watching, but then she saw that three new people had entered the shop.
The identity of the first, was obvious, Harry Potter. The dark hair, the glasses, the gangly appearance, and the hatred he sparked in Draco all gave it away.
Well he's not very much to be frightened of. She thought. He looks just like any other boy.
Next to him was a tall, red haired boy with a long nose and an abundance of freckles. He looked silly and awkward as he stood in the doorway. His robes were patched and frayed at the ends.
This is Weasel. She thought, remembering her conversation with Draco earlier.
The last, was a girl. She had extremely bushy hair and her robes hung off her body, as though they were a bit too big. Adelina examined her face and immediately noticed that she had a black eye, but more importantly, that she was a pretty girl.
A little hair serum, and some makeup she wouldn't be half bad. Adelina thought.
"If you're wondering what that smell is, Mother, a Mudblood just walked in." Said Draco.
The girl shrunk away behind the two boys who immediately pulled out their wands.
Adelina smiled. This will be the first interesting thing that's happened to me since I arrived in this miserable place.
"I don't think there's any need for language like that!" The shop owner cried, still attempting to pin Draco's robes. "And I don't want wands drawn in my shop either!"
Tension was quickly rising, but that's not what was bothering Adelina. None of the three teenagers had even glanced her way. Not even one of them had even looked at her. Adelina took a quick look in the mirror over by Draco to ensure that there was nothing wrong with her appearance.
Just as I thought, not a hair out of place. She smiled. But why don't they look at me?
"Yeah, like you'd dare do magic out of school," Draco sneered. "Who blackened your eye, Granger? I want to send them flowers."
Adelina suppressed a giggle.
Mrs.Malfoy slowly appeared from behind a rack of clothing.
"Put those away," She said coldly to the two boys. "If you attack my son again, I shall ensure that it is the last thing you ever do."
Harry Potter stepped forward from the group.
"Really?" He looked directly into Mrs. Malfoy's eyes. "Going to get a few Death Eater pals to do us in, are you?"
The tension thickened. There was a sharp intake of breath from Madame Malkin, but neither Harry not Mrs. Malfoy flinched. Adelina noticed Draco clenching his palms tightly.
As though a Malfoy would ever get in a fist fight. Adelina laughed. Or a fair fight, for that matter.
"Really, you shouldn't accuse—dangerous thing to say—wands away, please!"
The little woman struggled to regain control of her shop, but no one was listening. Adelina watched intently as an unpleasant smile spread across her soon-to-be-mother-in-law's face.
"I see that being Dumbledore's favorite has given you a false sense of security, Harry Potter. But Dumbledore won't always be around to protect you."
Stupid thing to say. Adelina thought. He is not here right now.
Harry, seemed to be thinking along the same lines, "Wow…look at that…he's not here now! So why not have a go? They might be able to find you a double cell in Azkaban with your loser of a husband!"
Draco, in an attempt to be brave, tried to lunge at Harry. Halfway through his leap, however, he tripped over his robes which caused the red hair boy intense amusement.
"Don't you dare talk to my mother like that, Potter!" Draco snarled, recovering from the fall.
"It's all right, Draco," His mother said. "I expect Potter will be united with dear Sirius before I am reunited with Lucius."
Adelina hadn't the faintest idea who Sirius was, but his name had struck a chord with the Potter boy. He raised his wand high above his bead, but suddenly the bushy haired girl stopped him.
"Harry, no!" She grabbed his arm. "Think…You musn't…You'll be in such trouble…"
Madame Malkin went back to pinning Draco's sleeve, in some strange attempt to restore order.
"I think this left sleeve could come up a little bit more, dear, let me just—"
Before Madame Malkin could even stick the pin into his sleeve Draco screamed in pain. "Watch where you're putting your pins, woman! Mother—I don't think I want these anymore—"
"You're right, Draco," said Narcissa, turning to look at the bushy haired girl, "now I know the kind of scum that shops here…We'll do better at Twilfitt and Tatting's."
Adelina was never one to be stricken with emotion. The suffering of others had never come into her mind. But at the moment when Mrs. Malfoy made the comment, the bushy haired girl's face turned from quiet anger, to humiliation. And for reasons Adelina could not understand, she felt the faintest pull at her heart strings.
Draco and his mother strode out of the shop, and Adelina gathered her things.
"I do not feel the need to have my robes re-fitted." She said, pushing a long curl over her shoulder. "These will do, how much shall I give you for them?"
"Oh…" Madame Malkin said distractedly. "Twenty Galleons."
Adelina reached into her dragon-skin handbag. "Here you go, Senora."
"Oh—well—thank you—"
"Goodbye." Adelina strode past the three teenagers, and for the first time since they had arrived, they noticed her.
"Seems nice enough." She heard the red haired boy say as she left, "Wonder what she's doing with Malfoy."
"I don't know." The girl replied. "But whatever it is, I pity her."