DISCLAIMER = I own nothing. J. is the author; I am a humble fan fiction writer. I do not claim the characters or Rowling's original story. = DISCLAIMER
Read. Review. Enjoy.
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(Malfoy, Diagon Alley)
The Malfoy home, is a handsome manor house surrounded by elaborate gardens, including a fountain and droving white peacocks and enclosed by wrought iron gates that permit select individuals to pass through them as if they were smoke. The interiror is sumptuously decorated and includes ornate furniture, marble fireplaces and gilt mirrors. It has a large entrance hallway with portratis lining the walls and a stone floor mostly covered by a magnificent carpet.
Currently all three Malfoy's were waiting impatiently-in the entrance hall-for Dobby, their house elf, to return with a transaction from the Malfoy vault; at Gringotts. They were to be visiting Diagon Alley, to buy Draco's school supplies. After a long winded discussion Narcissa and Lucius had decided to send their son to Hogwarts, following in their own foot steps.
(The young heir suspected his father was jealous of him for being accepted to Durmstrang, but he couldn't prove it.)
"Lucius, this is taking too long" Narcissa commented to her husband, who was constantly looking down at his pocket watch. Draco knew exactly what the underlining message in his mothers comment was. Punishment.
There was that feeling again, Draco rubbed the spot over his heart trying to disloge the pity that had risen like a volcanoe within his chest; threatening to bubble over and voice itself. He had to work quickly to stifle that god awful feeling.
Thirty seconds or so later, Dobby re-appeared beside Mr. Malfoy carrying a large-deep indigo-moneybag, stuffed with coins and other valuable jewels. "Did you set up my son's trust vault at Gringotts?" questioned Lucius not bothering to look at the vermin who served his family.
"Yes master, thats why Dobby is taking so long for" the disgusting bat eared elf, dressed in a dirty body-covering pillowcase, cowered beside his master. Probably sensing what was about to happen next. "Dobby is sorry master, Dobby is sorry" he shrieked as Mr. Malfoy rounded on him and lifted the poor creature up by the scruff of its kneck and threw it against the brick wall. Draco looked on, a blank face of emotions, precisely the one he had learned from his mother.
"Lucius, we're already running late" Mrs. Malfoy said before her husband could strike Dobby with another almost fatal blow. Draco was greatful to his mother, he just wanted to leave and the sight of the half unconscious elf with blood trickling in a pool by his head was making Draco feel very...
Mr. Malfoy joined his wife and son and placed a strong cold hand on his son's shoulder, before the gut wrenching feeling of being pulled through an extremely tight space threatened to make Draco pass out. He hated side-along apparation.
They arrived in what Draco recognised immediantly as Knocturn Alley, just outside of a 'Borgin and Burkes'. "What are we doing here Father? I thought we were going to go get my Hogwarts supplies?"
"We are Draco, but first your mother and I have decided to get you something to show our joy" said Lucius guiding his young heir into Borgin and Burkes. An eerie tinkling bell rang out somwhere in the shop. "Pick anything you want" he continued giving Draco a little push.
The small nudge was all Draco needed, he strode off deep into the shop leaving his parents far behind. The blonde boy past dark item after dark item, a hangmans noose, assortments of human bones even a severed hand that was still bleeding. Until he came to dusty pillow, with a silver ring placed on it.
The tag read *Signet's ring-Owned once by the powerful wizard Signet in the first Gobblin rebellion, during the seventeenth century. The ring once placed on its new owners finger can not be removed unti said owner is dead. Signet's ring possess the ability to store memories like a pensive and store magic; for a boost in battle.*
Draco new immediantly that this is what he had been looking for, he inspected the ring. A thick silver band, ornately designed around a large square cut black diamond; it was simple, yet powerful.
"Good choice, young Mr. Malfoy"-Draco turned around startled, to see the worn face of Borgin the shopkeeper-"that particular ring has been overlooked for its power for quite some time now. I can give you a good deal for it, follow me" Bogin lead them back through the shop to where Draco's parents were examining a cabinet, they ceased immediantly and turned to greet their son.
Borgin lay they ring down on the shop counter, haggling with Mr. Malfoy over the price for the ring. Eventually the price was settled at 200 galleons and 50 sickles; brought down from the price of 500 galleons Borgin had originally asked for.
Mrs. Malfoy lead the family back through Knocturne Alley, Draco immediantly upon leaving the shop placed the ring on his middle finger of his right hand. The 'Signet Ring' shrank to fit his finger perfectly, he felt powerful wearing it.
Once they melted into the crowds in Diagon Alley, Narcissa sent her son off to get his school robes while she looked at wands and Lucius went to buy his books. Draco's parents left him at 'Madame Malkins' with specific instructions to go to Ollivanders after he had been fitted.
He strode into the shop confidently and searched quickly for a free shop keeper to fit him. Not ten seconds after entering Draco came across Madame Malkin herself. She was dressed in expensive mauve work robes and looked thoroughly flushed.
"Hogwarts is it? Well come along lets get you measured" she said while leading him to a stool in the dressing room. Malkin slipped a long robe over his head and began to pin it to the right length. "You looking forward to starting school?..." she trailed off not knowing his name.
"Malfoy, Draco Malfoy and yes I am. It was a big decision, you know, choosing Hogwarts bacuse I was accepted to Durmstrang Academy aswell. But ultimatly of course I wished to follow in family tradition" Draco meant being placed in Slytherine by this seemingly innocent statement, but Madame Malkin took it for something completely different. At that moment she thought she was fitting a future dark wizard for his first year Hogwarts school robes.
Draco then noticed a small messy black haired boy walking towards him and instructed to stand on the stool beside; by a second witch. The smiling squat witch slipped the black haired boy's robes over his head and began to methodically pin it to fit.
"Hullo" said Draco, "Hogwarts too?"
"Yes", said the scruffy boy.
"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands" Draco was just trying to be polite, but he felt like this particular boy misunderstood his intent. He continued "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first-years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and smuggle it into school somehow" Draco joked, he was honestly mifted about not being able to bring his broom to school with him; he loved to fly.
"Have you got your own broom?" he went on.
"No"
"Play Quidditch at all?"
"No"
"I do - Father says its a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree."- Draco didn't understand why the scruffy boy was being so rude, he was only trying to make conversation. -" Know what house you'll be in yet?"
"No"
"Well no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been - imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" He asked hoping for more than a one word answer.
"Mmm" said the boy, Draco really wasn't getting anywhere with this kid and he was getting annoyed. He wanted the boy to say something a bit more interesting beacuse this conversation was feeling very one-sided.
"I say, look at that man!" he cried out, nodding towards the front window. Where a giant of a man was standing, grinning at the scruffy boy and pointing at two large ice-creams.
"That's Hagrid" the boys said, fianlly illiciting something more than the word 'no'. "He works at Hogwarts" Draco pleased to finally have broken the ice continued on this subject.
"Oh, I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?" Draco asked, not entirely sure. Only repeating what his father had told him once.
"He's the gamekeeper" the boy replied shortly.
"Yes, exactly. I heard he's sort of savage - lives in a hut in the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic and ends up setting fire to his bed" his mother, Narcissa had told him this and Draco saw no harm in repeating it.
"I think he's brilliant" was the scruffy haired boys reply; that answer chilled Draco to the very core. How could someone he had only just met be so cold towards him, he had never been treated like this in his entire life.
"Do you?" Draco said with a light sneer at the boy's rudness. The conversation continued like this until the witch working on the rude boy said he could go and left before telling Draco his name.
Upon his parents instruction, Draco left Madame Malkins in a hurry bumping into a girl and her family slightly-he apologized and left before they could shout at him. Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy were waiting just outside of Ollivanders for Draco and bustled him inside without so much as a hello.
The wand choosing went quickly much to Draco's displeasure, he had waited 11 years for this event and it was over far too fast for his liking. The wand that chose him was, Hawthorne 10' and Unicorn hair. The feeling that encompased his fingers upon holding it for the first time was unimaginable, it felt amazing; he never wanted the warmth to go away.
The Malfoy's returned home to the Malfoy Manor in the early afternoon, having bought all of Draco's supplies. Now all he had to do was wait. September 1st couldn't be that far away.
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(Granger, Diagon Alley)
"Mummy, Daddy, wake up! Professor McGonagall will be here soon! Come on!" Hermione Granger shouted shrilly, banging on her parents door, before heading downstairs to cook breakfast. Mr. and Mrs. Granger appeared in the kitchen fully dressed thirty minutes later. The kitchen table laden with too much food for the family to eat just for breakfast. Hermione had gone overboard...again.
"Mione sweety, you need to calm down. Everything will be fine. The Professor isn't arriving for at least another hour" Jean tried to placate her daughter, drawing her into a comforting hug and then settling down to eat their feast of a breakfast.
At precisley 11 o'clock, three sharp wraps of a knuckle were heard knocking on the Grangers front door and then the door bell rang out. Hermione raced to answer it and almost tripped her father in the process.
"Are you ready Hermione?" Professor McGonagall asked, upon seeing the bushied haired girl open the door.
"She's been ready since 8am Professor" Ian jumped in before his little girl could answer.
"Alright then shall we go? We'll be traveling the muggle way to Diagon Alley, so you can take Hermione next year without my help. Do you have a vehicle?
"We have a car..err, its this way" Jean said grabbing the keys and giving them to Ian. They all squeezed into three door Mini Cooper; Ian and the Professor in the front and Jean and Hermione sat in the back. McGonagall instructed them on how to get to Charing cross road, where they would enter Diagon Alley through a pub called the 'Leakey Cauldron'.
They parked close to their destintion and paid for 4 hours, not expecting to take any longer. Professor McGonagall guided them to the pub situated between a bookshop and record store. The three Grangers didn't think to notice it until McGonagall pointed it out, Hermione suspected that the building was magically enchanted and her excitement grew.
Leakey Cauldron was a dark dingy place that felt suprisingly warm and homey. Hermione-although taught it was rude to star-couldn't help but glance intently at everyone in the room. All she could think was 'these people are like me'.
McGonagall lead them through the bar and out into a small, walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a dustbin and a few weeds. "Three up…two across…" she muttered. "Please stand back. Thank you." the Grangers watched entranced as Professor McGonagall tapped the wall three times with the point of her wand.
The brick she had touched quivered-it wriggled-in the middle, a small hole appeared-it grew wider and wider-a second later they were facing an archway on to a cobbled street which twisted and turned out of sight. "Welcome, to Diagon Alley".
Hermione gasped and clenched on her parents hands, this couldn't be happening, could it? She felt like she needed a serious dose of reality...or someone to pinch her at least.
"Okay, first thing first. We are going to need to go to Gringotts to change your muggle money into wizards currency and then will go get your wand..." McGongall trailed off in Hermione's head, she wasn't really listening to the Professor. Her attention was too busy occupied with soaking up all the things around her.
She turned her head in every direction as they walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping. There were shops selling robes , shops selling telescopes and strainf silver instruments Hermione had never seen before, windows stacked with bat spleens and eel's eyes, tottering piles of spell book, quills and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes or the moon...
"Gringotts" said McGonagall.
They had reached a snowy-white building which towered over the other little shops. Hermione couldn't take her eyes off of the building, examining every inch of it as she followed her parents and McGonagall through the doors. At first Hermione was too preoccupied to notice the small creatures sitting at the desks inside Gringotts.
"Granger come along, no time to waste!" Hermione heard the sharp cry of McGonagall call to her, she turned to see her parents being served by one of the creatures. Hermione chose to stay quiet on the matter until they were well away from the building, in fear of saying something to offend the Gringotts employees.
"Professor McGonagall, what were those creatures?"
"Those, Hermione, were Goblins, extremely smart and not at all that pleasent to deal with. But they handle our money, you can trust them to protect the wealth of the wizarding world" Professor McGonagall said intensly, making it completely clear not to underestimate the Gringotts Goblins. "Here we are, Ollivanders-makers of fine wands since 382 BC" she read aloud the front shop sign.
If this was meant to be a wand shop it didn't dissapoint. The shop itself was extremely simple, only a single wand resting on a faded purple cushion, shown in the window. Hermione noticed that most of the shop was taken up by rows upon rows of narrow boxes piled right up to the ceiling. Her natural curiosity peeked, this place almost seemed to radiate a mysterious type of magic and Hermione was desperate to explore it.
A tinkeling bell rang out somehwere deep within its depths as they stepped inside. Almost immediantly an old man was standing before them, his wide, grey eyes, shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.
"Ah, yes. A new student", it wasn't a question, Mr Ollivander moved closer to Hermione, "Yes, yes, Please extend you wand arm" he instructed while reaching for a measuring tape in his trouser pocket.
Hermione raised her right arm, supposing he meant what hand she wrote with. The old man took out his own wand and tapped the measuring tape with silver markings on it, instantly bringing it to life. Hermione was completely enchanted by the simple act of magic and stood extremely still as it took her measurements.
"Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons or phoenixes are the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand." He repeated his surmon that Hermione suspected he had repeated a lot today. "One moment please" he said and dissapeared down one of the further isle's in the small shop.
Hermione exchanged an excited glance with her parents and turned back to wait patiently for Mr Ollivander. He came back with a stack of several long thin brown boxes. It didn't take too long to find the wand that suited her perfectly, Hermione had tried out 4 of the wands Mr Ollivander had brought out before finally settling on, Vine 10'3/4 and dragon heartstring; bendy, but powerful.
The Grangers left Ollivanders, professsing their thanks and hope to see him again soon. It was only 12:30, so McGongall quickly took them to retrieve Hermiones school books, cauldron and other supplies she needed-Hermione bought a stack of extra magical books, simply for her pleasure. Lastly they were to go get her school robes from 'Madame Malkins- robes for all occasions'.
"Come on-AHHH!" A blur of blonde hair and black robes bumped into Hermione, knocking her off balance before grabbing a firm hold on her and keeping her from falling. But before she could thank the blur or even get a look at the persons face, they were shouting over their shouder apologies and hurrying down Diagon Alley.
"Hunny, are you alright? Did that boy hurt you?" Jean said, swooping down on her daughter; concern lacing her words.
"No. No he didn't." Hermione whispered, her mind in a daze and still reeling from the adrenaline surge.
"Come on lets get your robes" Professor McGonagall said, taking point.
"Sure Professor" her mind was still in the clouds, or more precisely wrapped around the boy's hand and the ornate diamond ring he wore.
Professor McGonagall saw them back to the Grangers car before leaving to make her own way home. Hermione couldn't believe it, it was so surreal.
She couldn't wait for September 1st, to arrive.
*Hope you enjoyed it, not my best work. I'll update soon.