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The next couple of days kept Draco busy. His mother had decided to take charge of the officially-cleared-of all-charges Sirius upon hearing the verdict and took it upon herself to turn him into a respected member of the wizarding society. For Narcissa, this included new robes, presentable living arrangements, and of course a new wand. As doting on Sirius, who clearly enjoyed the attention, demanded a lot of time, effort and money, Draco had to help wherever his mother thought he could.
One of their first missions was acquiring a new wand. Draco entered Ollivander's first and was greeted by a familiar voice. "Ah, 10 inches, hawthorn and unicorn hair, if I remember correctly. Quite an intriguing combination," smiled Ollivander. His smile faltered when Sirius entered the room behind him. "Dogwood and unicorn hair, 11 inches," stated Ollivander, frowning.
"That would be me," smiled Sirius wistfully.
"To break a wand," Ollivander sighed, "a crime all on its own."
Sirius looked rather uncomfortable.
"Of course, I never believed it had been you who betrayed the Potters-" continued Ollivander.
"He needs a new wand," interrupted Draco's mother, stepping into the shop, not caring for their lamenting.
"Obviously," muttered Sirius under his breath.
"Ah, let me see what I can do for you," Ollivander rummaged through several shelves. "A second wand is quite different from a first wand, you must know." Ollivander started to brabble on about wandlore and Merlin knew what. Draco tuned him out after a few sentences. Instead he watched Sirius try out several wands. It took them quite some time, but in the end, Sirius, for the first time in thirteen years, owned a wand again.
"13 inches, dragon heartstring and cedar," mused Mr. Ollivander as Narcissa handed him the money. "Quite a bit more flexible than your old wand, I must say. A wand which reflects strength of character and unwavering loyalty."
Sirius looked ridiculously happy.
Wandering Diagon Alley was a strange experience. Everywhere they went, heads turned and people whispered. No one dared approach them, but they were the centre of everyone's attention. Narcissa strode ahead, head held high, an air of aloofness surrounding her, and it almost seemed like she was unaware of the people talking about the odd family outing. Behind her was Sirius, excited like a puppy who met another puppy for the first time in his life. It was his first trip to the real world, among people, as himself. Draco trotted behind them, thinking about his first week back in the past and his vow to not attract any attention.
The Daily Prophet had been all over Sirius' case. His story had been the head line for days. Draco was sure it was only due to his father's influence that the Malfoy name had not been mentioned in any of them. But what good did that do if everyone saw them walking along Diagon Alley together? He had even heard that Rita Skeeter wanted to write a book about Sirius Black. He doubted she would manage that without dragging both the Black and the Malfoy names through the mud. Avoiding attention was a lot harder then Draco had originally imagined it would be. At least the Ministry had been criticized thoroughly after the whole ordeal.
Their group was heading straight for Gringotts. It would have been their first stop had Narcissa not insisted to pay for Sirius' new wand.
Sirius had a lot to take care of at Gringotts. Being the only descendant of Orion and Walburga Black who was still alive and having been imprisoned for over a decade had led to a huge pile of paper work waiting for him. Draco and Sirius were surprised to find out that Orion and Walburga had never formally disowned Sirius. Perhaps Draco should not have been so surprised, his mother had mentioned something like that over Christmas, but there had been so much else going on that he had not given it further thought.
"Why wasn't he properly disowned?" Draco asked his mother while Sirius was busy with the goblins.
"With only two sons and a war going on? I think Orion did not want to put all of his eggs in one basket. He probably thought that Sirius would come around eventually. And Draco, this you will understand when you have children of your own, blood is thicker than water. Sirius was, after all, still their son and I assume that they loved him. Even though they fought and disagreed, and sometimes hated each other… They still loved him." She smiled at him but her eyes looked sad.
Not for the first time, Draco wondered whether his parents would still love him once they found out he wasn't on their side anymore. Would they accept him? Or would they disown him and throw him onto the street? He hoped for the former, but feared that if it really came down to it it would be the latter. For all her talk about family, Narcissa had not talked to her sister Andromeda in years and seemed to find nothing wrong with her having been disowned.
"Just out of curiosity," Draco said, changing the topic for the sake of his mood and his sanity, "what happened to the vault of aunt Bella?"
He could see his mother wince. "It belongs to us for as long as she is in Azkaban, just as Sirius' had while he was imprisoned," she said quietly.
It belonged to them? Well, wasn't that a lucky coincidence. An idea formed in his mind. Draco looked at his mother as innocently as he could and asked, "what's in it?"
"Money and some old heirlooms, as far as I remember. I haven't looked inside ever since... you know..."
"Can we go look at it?" Draco asked although he sensed his mother's discomfort. He hoped that he sounded like a nosy teenager and not like a spy intending to rob the vault.
"Why would you want to do that?"
"Just out of curiosity. I never got to know aunt Bella. And we are already here, and I am bored. Sirius is taking forever."
"Fine," his mother finally conceded.
One of the goblins lead them deep into Gringotts. In front of the vault, Narcissa hesitated. "You go inside Draco. Look around. Don't you dare touch or take anything. I'll wait here for you," she finally said.
"Okay, mother," Draco said. He had never considered that his mother might miss her sister. It was a strange thought that someone out there actually loved that vile woman. He wondered whether she would still love her if she knew she had killed Sirius.
Draco entered the vault and the door behind him disappeared. The vault was, from the floor to the ceiling, filled with golden coins, goblets, silver armor, the skins of strange creatures, potions in jeweled flasks and a skull wearing a crown.
He took out his wand. "Accio Horcrux," he tried but to no avail.
How was Draco supposed to find the Horcrux, if there really was one in here?
He'd just have to go through the various items and hope that one stood out to him.
He examined a pile of objects. When he grabbed a goblet, a soaring pain shot through his arm.
"Argh!" he dropped the goblet.
Among impact on the ground, the goblet multiplied and soon the floor was covered in identical cups rolling around.
Draco inspected his hand. It had a few blisters on it. Gemino and Flagrante Curses, he thought.
Draco desperately tried not to touch anything, but it was impossible not to. Every time he turned to look at an object he would brush against another until it became almost impossible to stand anywhere on the floor without touching anything.
He decided that his endeavor was hopeless and turned around to leave, but he stumbled over a silver helmet, which soon turned into 20 helmets.
Draco tried to keep his balance but as one of the helmets burned his arm, he jumped back and fell against a shelf. Everything on it came falling towards him.
"Arresto Momentum!" he cried and the various objects from the shelf slowed down mid-fall before they could bury Draco beneath them and burn him alive. Everything had stopped falling but one goblet, which was immune to the spell and hit Draco straight in the face. He crawled out from under the slowly moving avalanche of old heirlooms and, on second thought, grabbed the goblet.
While the shelf came slowly crashing down next to him, he inspected the goblet. It was a small golden cup with two finely-wrought handles with a badger engraved on the side and a few jewels. Most importantly, it did not multiply or burn his hand.
"Yes," Draco cheered. That must be it.
He hid the goblet in his robes and left the vault.
"What happened to your hand?" his mother asked, a worried look on her face, as soon as Draco had left the vault.
"I think," Draco answered, "aunt Bella really doesn't like it when people touch her stuff."
His mother chuckled. "Serves you right, then."
Back home he hid the goblet in his room, putting several spells on it, so even if someone went through his things, they would find nothing.
After the outing to Diagon Alley, his mother had made it her personal business to make Grimmauld Place, for centuries the home of the Blacks which had been empty for quite a few years, inhabitable and presentable. Draco, naturally, had to help.
It wasn't so much cleaning – that was after all the job of the grumpy house elf – but painting, buying furniture, rearranging stuff, and so on, that kept them busy.
Grimmauld Place turned from the dark and dirty hole it had been when Draco first stepped into it, into a light and friendly place filled with friends and family. Besides him and his mother, Neville, the Greengrass sisters, Remus Lupin and the golden trio were regular guests.
It was a lot of work, but Draco had fun. He could spend time with his friends, his mother and Sirius. Besides, being an only child made summer holidays quite boring, especially now that they had skipped their vacation.
Even the golden trio warmed up to him somewhat. They would still look at him skeptically from time to time, but overall, they accepted him.
Once Grimmauld Place was presentable enough for his mother's liking, Sirius Black threw a huge party, celebrating his freedom with old friends and family.
"Are you sure you don't want to join us?" his mother asked his father before they left for the party.
"Quite," said his father. "Besides," he continued, "I will have guests of my own tonight."
"Who?" asked his mother.
"Nott, Yaxley, Dolohov, Snape and some others. Are you sure you wouldn't rather stay with us, Draco?"
"Thank you, father," Draco said, "but I've already promised Daphne and Astoria that I would be at the party."
Lucius looked at his son for a long moment. "Fine," he finally said. "Do as you please. Just know that soon you might find yourself in a situation where who you associate with and the image you thus create becomes of vital importance. I hope you will make the right decision then."
"Don't worry," Draco looked his father straight in the eyes, "I will."
TBC
Maybe a bit rushed, but I want to write about the Qudditch World Cup and start the next year. Draco has had a pretty good summer so far... this is going to change (laughs evilly). Poor Draco. Thank you for all the reviews. I always love to hear what you think.