Disclaimer: I own nothing, know nothing, hear nothing. If I say I do they'll be on to me…
Chapter Summary: Sirius and Remus take Harry to Diagon Ally to do some shopping, and have an unwanted encounter.
A/N: Yay for reviews! –Happiness- Anyway that's not what you guys are here for is it? Lol. On with the chapter.
Chapter 10: The Malfoy's
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Sirius, Remus, and Harry - who was dressed in dark green wizard robes, of Sirius's, complete with hood, which said wizard had shrunken to fit the small boy before departing for the Leaky Cauldron by Floo Powder…which was scary, but not as scary as apparating had been in, Harry's opinion, just more…dizzying… - were currently in front of the brick entrance that led to Diagon Ally, after craftily leading their hooded charge from prying eyes who would have most likely recognized him on sight. Harry wondered if there was a reason as to why he had to dress in such a way, but did not voice it.
After Remus tapped the bricks in the right order with his wand, the archway to Diagon Ally was opened, much to Harry's surprise. Other than Sirius, Remus, and Hagrid, Harry had never seen other witches and wizards. There where so many!
"Like it, kiddo?" Sirius asked as they walked, his Godson's hand in his, as Harry's head turned every which way, trying his very best to see everything he could. The emerald eyed boy nodded vigorously.
"But…these arwen't wegular stores…" Harry commented with a funny look on his face as he gazed at a barrel of frog eyes, five for five Knuts, in the Apothecary window.
"They're for wizards, for making potions and things. You won't find a muggle store here," Remus explained.
"Oh," Harry sighed, remembering that a Muggle was a 'normal person', no magic in their system.
When they finally arrived at Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions, the woman pleasantly greeted Sirius and Remus, giving Harry the impression that she must know them.
"And who is this?" Madam Malkin inquired kindly, looking down at Harry who promptly lowered his gaze to his feet as if fascinated by them.
"Oh, erm, just a kid of a friend of mine...he asked me to get him some new shoes and clothes," Sirius supplied, happy he did not have to go too far from the truth and come up with some cockamamie story - like he usually tended to do…he was not sure why. She smiled and nodded, motioning for Harry to follow her to the back for fitting. Noticing the motion, Harry looked up at Sirius, uncertainty showing in his emerald eyes. Sirius gave him a reassuring nod, as did Remus, and upon having received such, Harry followed the woman.
In the end, they left with Sirius and Remus carrying two huge bags worth of clothes and robes each, and Harry, a bag with his new shoes. The raven-haired boy could not stop saying "Thank you", even after Sirius and Remus, both, had told him that it was fine and that they were happy to do it.
"Better stop at the apothecary to buy a cauldron and the potions ingredients to make the Wolfsbane potion, Padfoot," Remus reminded quietly.
Both men entered the shop assuming Harry was following them as he had been up to now, but the boy had absentmindedly stayed outside to look at the different barrels of ingredients on sale. He found it hard to fathom using things like these to make…well…anything, really.
Nasty, he thought, suppressing a shudder.
Some ways down the street was a shop with a few kids gazing into the display window; and not for the first time Harry's Gryffindor curiosity got the better of him. He edged through the thickly crowded street toward the shop, trying to not get flattened by the numerous shopping Wizards and Witches. When he arrived, he found the shop to be a broom shop with a nicely polished Nimbus 500 broom on display. But for some odd reason, the other kids still seemed to look at it with awe and longing.
"It's just a bwoom," Harry stated, disappointment evident in his voice and demeanor, he had expected something more…how else could it be put?...Magical.
"Just a bwoom? Are you mental?" demanded a platinum blonde haired boy from his right. The boy looked about his age, but was a few inches taller than him. A few other kids murmured their agreement with the blonde.
"No…and it is just a bwoom," Harry answered, not liking this boy very much. The kids slowly began to disperse as their parents came to fetch them, ultimately leaving the blonde boy and Harry alone - excluding the ambling people - in front of the shop.
"Awe you even pure-blood?" The boy asked condescendingly.
Harry, who had no idea what a 'pure-blood' was, did not want to answer wrong, so he replied challengingly, "Yes, I am."
"You don't act wike one," the aristocratic boy shot back.
"So?"
"Your mummy and daddy were pwobabwy Muggles," the boy stated with an impersonated sneer that a child could only know how to do if they had watched a parent do it various times.
"Nuh-uh, they were a witch and wizard. Padfoot told me so," Harry retorted, defensively, happy that he had at least known what a 'Muggle' was.
"Padfoot? What kind of name is that?"
"A good one!"
"And why did he tell you? Where awe your mum and dad?" the boy asked with a smirk.
"They're…dead," Harry conveyed, trying to hide the sadness that seeped into his tone.
"Oh…" the boy said, without a hint of sympathy, before changing the subject, as though they had never stopped talking about names. "So, you pwobabwy got a weird name too, huh?"
"'Padfoot is not a weird name, and mine's Harry Potter."
"Sounds muggle," the other boy replied easily, far too young to have drilled into his head just who the 'Boy-Who-Lived' was... That would come with age.
"Stop saying that!" Harry insisted angrily.
"At weast I have a weal wizard's name: Draco Malfoy," he said sneeringly.
"Sounds wike a circus clown's name," Harry retorted, grinning at his own comeback. Draco took a threatening step toward Harry, but almost immediately yelped, and jumped back, as if he had touch something as hot as fire in the air.
"How'd you do that?" Draco questioned anxiously.
"Do what, burn you?" Harry asked. Draco nodded apprehensively. Harry smiled mischievously, but said nothing. It was then that a blonde haired man came up behind Draco, who, upon realizing the man's presence, looked up guiltily.
"Where did I tell you to be, Draco?" he inquired, clearly annoyed.
"Madam Malkin's…" Draco answered softly. Harry had a bad feeling about this man for some reason, and was no longer smiling, but looked uneasy.
"And who-" the man began, but stopped abruptly as his gaze fell on Harry. His eyes widened in surprise as he saw the thin outline of the scar on the raven-haired boy's forehead.
"Prongslet, where did you…-" Sirius called, but ceased when he noticed the company his Godson currently held. Remus was behind him, and both men approached at a fast pace.
"Why if it isn't Black and Lupin," Lucius sneered contemptuously, regaining his usual demeanor after receiving the shock of seeing Harry Potter here of all places, wide in the open.
What idiots, Lucius remarked mentally.
"Malfoy," Sirius returned, hate unmistakable in his voice.
"I take it you have custody over the Potter boy now?" Lucius probed maliciously, his eyes briefly returning to Harry who had gone to Sirius's side, and was presently holding onto a piece of the older man's robe, tightly. How his master, the Dark Lord, wanted this boy! But here and now was obviously not the time to try and take him.
But as we found our master not a few months ago, finally, this will most likely be wonderful news. No longer is Potter protected at his 'family's' home, but instead he's with these two bumbling fools…
"You should learn to mind your own business, Malfoy," Sirius spat the surname.
"Heh, yes, shouldn't we all... Come, Draco, we have much to get done," Lucius said, a sneer on his face, then turned and led his son in the opposite direction.
"…We should get a hold of Dumbledore," Remus suggested shakily once they could no longer see the retreating backs of the Malfoy's... Lucius was one of the last people they would have wanted to catch sight of Harry.
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A/N: Good, bad? Harry will be told a lot of everything soon, not to worry. I believe I said it was June, in my story, a few chapters back, so those of you who know when Harry's b-day is should know he's a soon-to-be 4-year-old. That's off topic though, sorry I ramble sometimes…-Sigh- It can be a curse. But, anyway, Harry stood up for himself, his parents, and Sirius in this chapter, huh? You might ask, and with good reason, 'where had the shy, cautious Harry gone?' Well since Draco was around Harry's age, and not as big as Dudley, Harry didn't feel as wary as he does with adults he does not know and kids who are bigger than him. Do you guys like these little author notes I put down here or would you rather I didn't? Your opinions mean lots to me so keep 'em coming. Review please, and chapter 11 will be out hopefully just as fast as this one.