Ch. 4 Diagon Alley
They arrived in front of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor to begin their shopping in Diagon Alley. Draco happily accepted an ice cream cone that continually changed from chocolate to peanut butter and Hermione got a cone that switched from licorice to lemon sorbet. Hermione took a lick of her sorbet and felt the bile rising in her throat. She looked longingly towards Draco's cone and wished she had just gotten a classic combination. Draco noticed her looking and discreetly scooted the cone out of her line of vision.
"Draco . . . are you going to finish that?" Hermione asked in a flattering voice.
Draco rolled his eyes knowing that this was going to happen. "Hermione next time get a normal flavor like I told you to."
Hermione walked over to Draco and kicked him in the shin (hard) while swiftly snatching his ice cream and leaving hers to melt on the ground. She ran towards Flourish and Blotts, leaving Draco to clutch his leg in her wake. She watched him carefully and noticed that he was losing his balance. He tumbled over into a nearby fruit stand, knocking the oranges over into the face of the owner. The squat, plump lady scolded him and flicked her wand, promptly mending her stand and reorganizing the fruit.
Draco ran over to where his mother and Hermione were waiting.
Narcissa looked up at her son. "Draco, it was very kind of you to give Hermione your ice cream cone."
Draco glared at Hermione, who was giggling into her palm. Narcissa smiled at her son adoringly. "Why don't we go inside and get your school supplies?"
Hermione had run off, and they didn't know where she went, but when she reappeared a while later no one bothered to ask questions
After they finished in Flourish and Blotts they walked through the rest of the stores to get the remainder of their supplies and flooed back to the Manor.
* –* – *
Hermione stared anxiously from afar at the tea cup Lucius was holding, which was quivering in his pale hand. She looked as he slowly pulled out his wand (which was sticking out his coat pocket) and tapped the handle, the liquid turning lighter, something that Narcissa failed to notice but Hermione watched with a pitiful gaze.
Narcissa had lectured Lucius the day before about his drinking problem, and began replacing his alcohol with tea – him turning it back the moment she looked away. In fact, he began turning every tea batch into fancy liquors Hermione had never heard of, much less seen. Narcissa didn't even realize how much Lucius's lazy sense of humor seemed to be amplified by the afternoon. Hermione always found it delightfully hilarious whenever Draco accidentally poured himself a cup of the same batch his father drank from; she never bothered to stop him. She was fairly sure she was the only one (besides Lucius) who knew of his sneaky antics.
Hermione smiled and stifled a snicker when Narcissa said proudly, "You know, Lucius, I'm proud of you, never would have thought you'd be able to keep up with your limited-alcohol- schedule," – she raised her eyebrows challengingly and tapped the tea cup – "very," – tap – "very," – tap – "proud."
The last time she tapped it, it went darker, and when Lucius went to take a sip, he sprayed it on The Daily Prophet (quite convenient, he wasn't fond of the article he'd just read) and hastily wiped his chin on the now damp linen cloth lining the table.
"What the bloody hell was that?"
"Tea, you berk – and quit spiking the pot, yes, I know what you've been up to. Do you know how hard it was for me to put my drunk son to sleep? You have no idea, do you?" She threw what was left in the bottom of the cup at Lucius's face. She put it down and turned back to her husband. "What were you thinking?"A house-elf obsequiously rushed to Lucius and handed him a napkin. Narcissa purposely ordered the elf to stop drying his face and sweetly sent the dutiful creature on his way.
Draco hastily shoved his tea cup onto the table at this revelation, and him and Hermione turned to leave, the bickering parents not noticing their disappearance. Lucius reached slowly for Draco's tea cup, but Narcissa slapped his hand away.
Draco took handfuls of pumpkin pasties and a few chocolate frogs from the pantry and snuck them into a bag. He saw the open trapdoor and jumped off the stairwell straight into the wide open tunnel, landing swiftly on his feet when he finally touched ground. Hermione stood hunched over a few papers, as usual, and was taking notes with a beautiful green quill – except she wasn't touching it; it was moving on it's own.
He tipped the pumpkin pasties into Buttercup's dog dish, who pushed it away with his paw, his nose upturned in disgust. Draco looked curiously down at him.
"He doesn't like sweets," Hermione stated, answering his unasked question. "He hasn't even attempted to steal from the stash in the corner."
Draco furrowed his brows at Buttercup jokingly. "Just when I was starting to like him." He picked up the dog dish and began eating the pumpkin pasties himself. Hermione looked at him with the same disgust as the horrified dog. "He wasn't going to eat this, was he?" Draco stuffed the treats into his mouth.
"What's that you've got there, anyway?" Draco asked through a mouthful, crumbs falling to the ground. He pointed a pastry towards the floating quill.
"It's a Quick Quotes Quill. I got it at Quillitorus," Hermione said with a grin. The quill began writing again.
"No, don't write that down!" – it hastily scratched a line across the words it had just written on a legal pad, which was also floating – "Anyway, I've been testing some spells, and you wouldn't believe what happened," she said excitedly.
Hermione told Draco a quick brush-up of what had happened when she'd left him with Narcissa after he tumbled into a fruit stand. She said that after she'd gotten her wand, she had begun testing the spell combinations that they had been working on for the last few years.
"How did it go?" Draco asked.
"Most had worked perfectly well," said Hermione to Draco, who stared, waiting intently. "But I was really looking forward to using one in particular. . . ." – Draco could guess what that was, and apparently he guessed right – "The Imperious Curse."
"Can I have that silver Unicorn horn," Hermione asked a shop owner, who looked a her bitterly. Claws hung in loose ropes from the ceiling, ensnared in tight knots, looming over her as if to attack. Blood stained the tips. She saw the price of the sterling silver horn, and stared with shock when she caught sight of the string of numbers; one hundred fifty-two galleons and seven sickles.
"Ya' got money?" he growled, going back to buffing the glass case that held the only shining works of the store.
"Not much."
"Then get out."
Hermione had begun boiling with anger to the brim, though she didn't know why. Maybe it was the fact that he told her to leave, or merely because she didn't get what she wanted, but for some reason she found herself slowly pulling out her wand from the new box she had bought it in, plasma shooting through her bloodstream; she directed the point at the man's back, who had turned away for the moment. Hermione whispered, "Imperio," and felt a tingle in her fingers; the man suddenly went stiff and hesitantly reached for the sparkling Unicorn horn shining in it's display case, then, more forcefully, tugged it out the small door on the bottom and carefully placed it in a bag, which Hermione took happily – without paying. She felt a surge of energy and cheerfulness. She thanked the man, letting sarcasm saturate her words, and left the shop without another word, bag in tow. The man was just recovering from the curse when Hermione turned the corner of the confusing street, too late to notice the glittering object peeking out the top of Hermione's bag.
Honeydukes had expanded their business chain, and a shop of theirs had just opened in Diagon Alley, which Hermione immediately rushed to and experimented with The Imperious Curse again.
It works perfectly, Hermione thought happily as she dragged a large bag of candy behind her.
"Wait, wait, wait," Draco signaled for Hermione to put her story on pause. "How did no one notice you carrying a two gallon bag of sweets?"
Hermione laughed. "I'm a kid – with candy – what's so unusual about that? And what do they care?" she added. Draco nodded and Hermione continued.
"There was this new candy shop that had opened further down the street. . . ." Hermione continued.
She entered the new candy shop – Thumbsuckers – and she exited with even more candy than before; these sweets were different than the average wizard candy you'd normally see on a trolley – Thumbsuckers specialized in lollies that changed flavor every few seconds, so you couldn't stop eating it or you may miss out on a delicious taste. Hermione couldn't wait to tell Draco, which she was doing right then.
"Wicked," exclaimed Draco with begrudging respect, finally noticing that the stack of sweets in the corner had grown twice as large, climbing even higher up the walls. He was just about to ask her if he could try one, when a worried look crossed his face.
"What if you get into trouble?" he said with a lingering, concerned look towards her.
Hermione looked at the sweets, too, and said, "Oh, please – anyone I took from was under a spell, and if it didn't work, then why would they give me all this stuff?" She pointed at the beginnings of another pile spilling over itself in the corner, one that Draco knew would definitely be expanding in the future. Hermione didn't seem worried, but he could see it in her eyes, he knew her well enough.
Draco looked down at his ever-changing colored shoelaces then stared, once again, at Hermione. "Your right, your right," he said, and witnessed the concern wipe straight off her face, though he only said it to make her feel better; he didn't believe it himself.
"Besides, at least I got my schoolbooks for free," she wiggled A Beginners Guide to Transfiguration playfully in the air. She put it on the table, smiling, muttering, "All free of charge," dreamily to herself. She snatched the floating quill out of the air and stuck it in her front pocket. Draco's smile was rather fixed when they left the room together.
* – * – *
They sat on the couch in front of the telly, enjoying Thumbsuckers lollies' while Narcissa refused to let Lucius consume any liquid on her watch, for she didn't trust him. Draco and Hermione sat shoulder to shoulder, Hermione twirling the lolly in her hand, fascinated by it's change in color; Draco sat with his eyes closed peacefully, an exaggerated mmmmmm . . . escaping his lips. Three lollies hung from each corner of his mouth.
Draco suddenly jolted awake, spitting out all six candies. "Ugh!" he exclaimed. Hermione thought he'd gotten a vomit flavor.
"Ugh, ugh, ugh," he spit in a napkin. "Grape!"
Hermione began laughing as he started waving his hands in front of his open mouth and flopping around on the floor. Her shoulders shook with delight when one of the Thumbsuckers he'd spat out got stuck in his hair. Narcissa and Lucius didn't notice the disturbance.
"Oh, stop being so dramatic," Hermione cried happily. "Draco, relax!" Hermione helped him up and brought him to the bathroom to rinse out his mouth. She took a small scissor and cut out the section of his hair with the little candy stuck to it. He looked ridiculous. "Come on, let's go make supper," she said soothingly, holding out a hand as he jumped down from the counter. He took it and they left the bathroom behind them. "Aunt Cissy's still making sure Lucius doesn't die from alcohol poisoning."
Hermione began preparing the leftovers from her birthday feast, and at that moment, the heated argument between Narcissa and Lucius became even more heated.
Narcissa slammed her hand on the extremely long dining table, which Lucius was sitting at the other end of. "How could you?" Tears were steaming her eyes. Had Lucius cheated on her?
"Well, simple, I – "
"No, not how, idiot, I put you on this schedule for a reason – I care about you, and I care about our children," – when she said children, plural, Hermione's heart swelled; she would've hugged Narcissa had the circumstances needn't be so serious – "and I want them to grow up with a father who isn't on the brink of addiction," Lucius looked down, the same way Draco always did when he was worried. "Oh, you know you want the same, you know you have a problem, you just don't have the balls to admit it! You can't go on like this – you can die," –she ended her argument with a sour note – "and I don't have to take it anymore, knowing any moment my husband will drop dead!" She said the last words like she was telling him to do just that.
"Narcissa – "
"No! I don't want to hear you speak. Ever. Again. I probably won't anyway, your mouth will be full of Brandy."
"Please, I promise I'll make it up to you."
"You also promised you'd stop drinking so much."
No one had ever seen Lucius look so weak, including Narcissa, and Draco and Hermione decided it was time for them to leave. Hermione floated a couple of plates and a container of butternut squash Cavatelli down the trapdoor without the parents noticing and her and Draco decided to take the long way down.
"So . . . do you think they'll work it out?" Hermione asked delicately.
Draco looked away from her. "They always fight like this – but look at them still! – their together aren't they?" he said bitterly.
Hermione grimly agreed but didn't say another word. She could almost see his glowing eyes in the darkness; she wrapped her arm around his shoulders and they descended down the stairs in silence.
As they ate their dinner, they listened sadly to their parents exchanging arguments.