Chapter 2 – The Dark Haired Duo Unite
The Leaky Cauldron per usual was a dark, damp and dreary place to be, and Hermione quickly shuffled to the special wall and tapped the memorised pattern out on to the bricks, to open up the passageway to Diagon Alley, before Tom the barman realised that he had lost an another customer.
Being midnight there was hardly anyone wandering the normally busy street and none of the shops were open except for the library which was always open. So Hermione, being the bookworm she is, took refuge among the books she loved so dearly. The smell of old parchment and leather quickly sent her to sleep.
At around eight in the morning Hermione woke to the sound of the hustle and bustle of magical life. She rifled through her bag for the book and equipment list for all sixth years. She bought her long list of books from Flourish and Blots, needed for this year and the next, with a little help from the store assistant. Hermione wandered the busy street before stopping at Madam Malkin's for a new winter cloak.
After finishing all of her essential shopping for school she decided to walk back through to the Leaky Cauldron to access the muggle world, as she had an hour to kill.
She found a Blue Banana store only a five minute walk from her second life. When Hermione entered the boutique a cute almost twenty-ish guy walked up to her.
"Morning Darling, is there anything I can help you with?" He said in a scarily cheerful voice.
Hermione decided to splash out using the money she had 'borrowed' from her father.
"I need a new belt and I would love to have a new dress." She replied with fake enthusiasm, dragging the guy over to the massive rack of different belts and spent the next ten minutes talking about different belts and their lifespan and materials.
Once Hermione had chosen herself a black leather studded belt with a long lifespan, she made her way to the section filled with every single kind of dress known to man.
A black and white pinstriped dress called out to her from the rail. It looked Victorian so it was obviously steampunk, it had a laced-up bodice and a satin hood that doubled as a collar and had buckles down the sides of the dress. It looked great. Hermione tried it on and went to ask the guy if it looked alright, but from his shocked open mouthed expression, she believed his stunned silence to be in the positive. Hermione ignored the look from the other customers and wandered around the shop looking for accessories to go with the gem she had discovered. She was already thinking of the Halloween party promised to everyone by Dumbledore in her letter. So Hermione decide to buy the dress with fishnet tights and a small black clip on hat with netting and feathers.
Looking at the clock on the wall above the counter Hermione realised that she should be getting on the train now, if she wanted a good seat, Harry and Ron always shot-gunned the window seats. She ran out of the store and passed a beautiful choker necklace with a silver pendant of twisting knot of thorns and tears of blood-red Swarovski crystals. The pendant was supported by a thin leather thong. Hermione loved it, but she spotted the price tag. It was in three digits, which was so much more than she had in her pocket. So Hermione apparated to Kings Cross Station gutted that she couldn't buy that stunning piece of art.
She arrived in a secluded corner of the busy station and walked towards the magical barrier between her two worlds. When Hermione got to the barrier she found a man standing there who looked familiar. With dread she started backing away but the man in the light green coat her mother had bought for him turned around.
"You had better come back here you ungrateful bitch." Her father said softly, not drawing attention to himself from the public.
As to avoid any more anger being projected towards her by her father, Hermione walked towards him. Her father grabbed her arm and pulled Hermione back towards the barrier but she tripped and went flying towards the brick wall, hitting her head hard on the cold stone edge of the pillar. She was stunned and sat on the floor trying to wonder what had just happened but her father didn't take any notice of the fact that he had caused her harm.
"I am taking you home now, how dare you leave that house without asking first? Where the hell have you been? I told you I didn't want you going back to that freak school of yours again. As your father," He spat the word father as if it tasted foul in his mouth. "You have no right to disobey me especially while you live in my house. You are coming home with me, you stupid bitch," Hermione began to struggle as her father grabbed her wrist to drag her away and kicked him in the shin, "I will teach you to not disobey me."
Hermione froze in fright. Surely her father couldn't touch her in public, but his eyes said that was exactly what he was going to do. Her father had started to raise a hand but was interrupted by a dark character coming around the corner.
Draco arrived in Knockturn Alley at two in the morning exactly. He was looking for a specific shop, a tattoo parlour to be exact. It was a shifty looking place, like the rest of the shops down that lane. The door was open. The owners had clearly not shut up shop yet.
When Draco entered the boutique, he found a young guy, who had at least eight different piercings, two of them stretchers, and two different colour eyes, one blue and the other brown. He was leaning against the counter without a care in the world.
"Ah Young Mister Malfoy, how can I help you this fine morning?" The man said raising an eyebrow, "I can do hair charms, piercings and tattoos, magical and muggle."
Draco didn't answer, but instead looked around the shop for inspiration, then decided to go for impulse as that was the closest he got to having an emotion now.
"What's the difference between magical and muggle tattoos?"
"Well Young Malfoy, muggle tattoos are applied to the skin using needles and hurt more than magical ones, also they don't move. Magical ones are almost printed on using a wand and doesn't hurt at all, these also move as you wish." The man explained quickly, picking at his nails.
Draco paused before answering, "I would like a static muggle tattoo, a lip piercing and my hair to no longer be distinguishable as Malfoy blond. Oh and don't call me that, call me Draco."
The strange guy eyed him up bizarrely and then nodded.
"I like you already Draco, you have guts." He said understandingly, before starting on the tattoo.
The tattoo took over an hour to do on its own and was then tidied and cleaned with magic. A beautiful phoenix took its place over his heart with the word 'MUM' repeated many times to represent the golden and red plumage. Narcissa Malfoy was well known for her love of the fiery bird.
"You didn't flinch once, I'm impressed." The guy said appraisingly.
"I didn't feel it." Draco murmured truthfully, feeling the gaze of the man on his back.
The man looked at him in disbelief, "Surely you felt it slightly..."
Draco turned around slowly to look at the man in his eye.
"Sure I felt it, but it was more like it was brushing my chest, instead of injecting ink under my skin. I haven't really felt anything since..." He stopped unable to finish his sentence, without thinking of how his mother was brutally murdered at his own hand.
The man noticed Draco shudder, but didn't ask about it.
Next was the piercing, on his bottom lip. This also didn't hurt due to Draco's lack of mental stability. The guy looked at Draco with worry in his eyes. There was something really wrong with this kid.
Draco left the decision of his hair style to the man he had began to trust. He was too busy trying to come up with a way out of Voldemort's grasp without killing Dumbledore or getting killed himself.
"Hey dude, I know it's not my business but is your dad going to be alright about this? I mean you aren't going to get killed or something for this? Or me, I don't fancy being killed prematurely by You-Know-Who's toy boy...no offence." The man said screwing up his face at the thought of being killed.
"What's your name?" Draco asked, ignoring the questions for a second.
"Andy Tuck at your service." The guy winked.
"Andy to answer your questions, yes, my father will go mental. I will probably be killed for it, as this is not proper Malfoy attire. And who do you take me for, I will not mention you in the slightest when I'm being tortured for information. The toy boy comment was great, it sums him up quiet well, but there are other words that would suit him better..." Draco trailed off, lost in his own dark thoughts.
Andy Tuck examined the young boy sat in front of him. It was obvious that something drastic had happened to the kid, his normally light grey eyes were now dark and lacking in any kind of emotion under the spectrum. There were dark circles under his eyes, a sign of a severe lack of sleep. But he knew not to ask personal questions to any person who ventured down Knockturn Alley, no matter their age.
Draco suddenly stood up and examined himself in the mirror. He wasn't surprise he looked dead, in fact he didn't feel anything, but he did find that his new hairstyle suited him and his piercing, but not his clothes. He groaned.
"This looks good, but now I need a new attire. Malfoy's have to be fashionable after all." Draco exclaimed to everyone and no one, "Andy I don't suppose you know where I can get clothes that would suit me?"
Seeing nothing else to do Andy shrugged in acknowledgement before walking out on to the street and shutting up shop. Now it was five in the morning and a few people were walking the street network of Knockturn Alley.
The pair walked shoulder to shoulder down the street towards a grubby looking store called Tuck's Darker Side of Clothing. It seemed to specialise in dark muggle like clothing, but it wasn't open.
"Oi Alerion, get your fat arse downstairs you have a customer waiting." Andy yelled towards the open window on the top floor, grinning like a Cheshire cat.
An arm appeared out of the window and flipped them off. Andy burst out laughing. The person could be heard scrambling down the stairs. A crash sounded followed by a long stream of curses. Finally the door opened, the same time the lights inside the shop came on.
"Dude, after you?" Andy said with a wide smile, inclining his head slightly.
As soon as Draco had walked through the threshold he was being attacked by a floating tape measure. Andy had thrown himself down on the floor and was reading a muggle music magazine cross legged on the floor.
A man who looked similar to Andy came into the room, arms laden with clothes all in his size.
"Ah Mister Malfoy," Alerion exclaimed joyously making him flinch, "You look different. Actually, you look much better now that you no longer look like your father."
Draco acknowledged the compliment but said, "Please don't call me Malfoy."
"Of course, Draco. I see you have brought my brother along with you, you unfortunate soul." He said grinning, his eyes twinkling with humour.
The brothers chuckled.
Draco began looking at all the clothes Alerion had brought with him from the back room, that were now suspended in mid air. He liked the style of almost all of them but then some of them were too colourful for his current mood.
Pulling out his shrunken trunk from his pocket, Draco set it on the floor before charming it back to its original size and unlocking it. A picture of his father and mother sat on the top, but he ignored it as if it weren't there. He was on a mission. Draco pulled out all of the Malfoy-ish clothes that were bought with his father's approval and piled them on the floor of the shop, before setting them on fire. The flames calmed him.
Behind him Alerion had moved to get up to stop Draco burning his shop down, but was stopped by his younger brother who just shook his head.
"He is in control." Was the only reason given.
Once the mound of garments had reduced to ash, Draco used him wand to sweep the ash into the fire place and repaired the burn in the carpet. Turning round he saw that the two brothers were staring at him.
Andy shrugged and said "Well, it's a sort of retail therapy isn't it."
Alerion laughed, even the corner of Draco's lips moved, before they set on to the task on hand, fitting Draco with enough clothes to fill his trunk. The three of the sorted through around fifty different outfits, putting different pairs of skinny jeans, studded belts, hoodies, steampunk jackets and band shirts into either the 'Yes' pile or 'No' pile.
"Where do you get all of this stuff?" Draco asked suddenly.
"Muggles." Was the only answer he got, but he was alright with it, it totally contradicted everything Lucius had ever said about them.
Two hours later Draco left the store with a promise to stay in touch with the two brothers. He was wearing one of the many pairs of black skinny jeans, a black hoodie, a woollen trench coat covered in buckles with the collar turned up, shielding his face from the cold wind, and a pair of knee high black leather buckled boots. Draco's hair was covering his eyes, making him look sinister and found that people seemed to move out of his way even though they didn't know who he was.
Next stop was the fabulous Borgin and Burkes for a browse. Mr Borgin looked up and quickly put the magazine he was reading down, but not before Draco saw the title, PlayWitch.
"The dirty old bugger." He thought to himself, Borgin being over 70 years old.
"How may I be of assistance, Master..." Mr Borgin said with a tone that implied that he was busy, it seems not being seen has its draw backs.
"You don't need to know my name Mr Borgin." Draco replied in a no nonsense tone that scared the old man slightly.
He began to wander around the shelves, looking for a hidden gem. Twenty minutes later Draco spotted an ornate silver dagger encrusted with tear shaped blood red rubies on the hilt. The little sign floating next to it didn't have a list of dark enchantments like many of other ornaments in the shop did.
"How much is this?" He asked quickly, wanting to leave the store that was pulsing with dark magic.
"Twenty-two galleons Sir, it's a bit expensive for most people." Mr Borgin said implying it to Draco, his nose stuck in the air.
"I shall take it." Draco replied almost throwing the money at the insufferable old man before Apparating to a blind spot in Kings Cross Station over three hours early.
He settled into a seriously uncomfortable seat around the corner from the magical barrier, waiting for the barrier to open.
At around 10 o'clock Draco was startled awake by a disturbance by the barrier.
"...I told you I didn't want you going back to that freak school of yours again...You are coming home with me, you stupid bitch...I will teach you to not disobey me." A man's voice said quietly as to not draw attention to himself.
Draco thought back to when Lucius said those same words to his mother, 'I will teach you to not disobey me.' He didn't want to leave the person in the same position his mother was in.
He rounded the corner to see a man looming over a clearly dazed girl who was sitting on the floor.
"Excuse me," Draco said to the man and when he didn't respond he tapped him on the shoulder, "Oi mate."
"What?" The man snarled drawing himself up to his full height, which was still three inches shorter than him.
"If I were you I would leave the girl alone, unless you want to get arrested for harassment." Draco explained calmly.
"I am her father. I have every right to do what I like with her." The man spat, punctuating the end of the sentence with a swift punch to Draco's gut.
He didn't feel anything and instead of bending over in pain, Draco was bent over laughing. The older man had made a massive mistake of attacking Draco. It had made him angry. It was first emotion Draco had felt since killing his mother and he was relishing it.
"Man that was rubbish. Grow some balls dude so that you don't punch like a girl. And you actually have no right to assault me for sticking up for my friend," Draco made up on the fly, his voice going hard and cold, "And you can't stop her from going to school, it is illegal."
Draco then delivered a sneaky punch to the man's gut before helping up his daughter.
"Where are you off to then?" He asked politely brushing dust off of her clothes, ignoring the wailing man on the floor.
The girl looked around the station but didn't answer, the look in her eye suggested that she knew where she was going, but couldn't tell.
Draco noticed her bag had been unzipped and saw part of the Gryffindor crest on a shrunken trunk.
"Hogwarts then." Draco exclaimed simply before practically falling through the barrier pulling the girl behind him where her father couldn't follow.
The girl looked startled and relieved at the same time. As Draco studied the girls face he saw features he knew like her beautiful brown eyes, but couldn't place.
"What's your name?" Draco asked slowly.
"Hermione Granger. Yours?" She replied quickly, sticking her hand out to shake.
Draco ignored the hand.
"Draco Malfoy, at your service Granger." He said smiling before performing an over the top bow.
Something about his voice showed Hermione that he had changed.
Draco promptly turned on his feet walking away, his coat tails flapping in the wind, with his head held high, leaving Hermione speechless and staring at his retreating form.
She quickly composed herself, before boarding the scarlet beauty. Hermione found the compartment with her friends in easily, it was the one with all the noise coming from. Sliding open the door, she found Harry and Ron engaged in a game of exploding snap.
"Hi guys." Hermione said forcing fake happiness to show.
They both looked up from their game.
"Who the hell are you?" Harry asked harshly.
"God. Harry it's me, Hermione." She replied puzzled to where all this animosity stemmed from.
"No you're not. We aren't friends with an emo whore." Harry sneered, Ronald stayed silent believing the sun shined out of his rear.
"What?"
"Get out." Harry turned back to his game and Ron just shrugged.
"Great friends you are." Hermione spat at them, a tear rolling down her cheek.
She walked back down the train to find somewhere else to sit.
The only compartment with room by now was with Draco Malfoy.
"Are you just going to stand there Granger or are you going to come in?" Draco asked without looking in her direction, he was staring out of the window.
"Sorry but there is nowhere else to sit." She said apologetically.
"Granger, it's fine, just sit and please stop talking." Draco was still looking out the window, remembering his mother, a tear escaped and rolled down to his chin, which Hermione noticed.
She was silent for a second, before asking one of the questions that were bugging her.
"Are you alright?"
Draco chuckled coldly, "Yeah I am just peachy."
"Seriously Malfoy, what's wrong? Seeing as though my friends have just blanked me because of the way I dress, I would like to be able to get along with someone in this school."
He turned to look at her, "Why Granger, you look like a hot pixie in that corset." He winked with a grin on his face that soon turned sombre. "Fine. I call for a truce, but I can't tell you what's up with me as it will get you killed. All I can tell you is that I saw my mother die yesterday."
"Oh my lord. I'm so sorry Draco." Hermione exclaimed, sitting next to him and wrapping her arms around him.
Draco tried to force the sobs down but the sheer undeserved compassion shown by someone whom he had bullied for years overwhelmed him and he spent the next half an hour, until the train started, whimpering like a beaten puppy into Hermione's shoulder.
