Stay - Theodore Nott

Jasper Rowle

"Oh, it's you," said Ron, looking at Malfoy and Theodore as if they were something unpleasant on the sole of his shoes. "Bet you're surprised to see Harry and Kirra here, eh?"

"Not as surprised as I am to see you in a shop, Weasley," retorted Malfoy. "I suppose your parents will go hungry for a month to pay for all those." Ron went as red as Ginny.

Kirra had, had enough, she balled her fists and her and Ron both angrily started toward Malfoy, but Hermione and Harry grabbed onto Ron while Fred and George grabbed onto Kirra.

"Ron!" said Mr. Weasley, "What are you doing? It's too crowded in here, let's go outside."

"Well, well, well — Arthur Weasley." It was Mr. Malfoy. He stood with his hand on Theodore and Draco's shoulder, sneering in just the same way as Draco.

"Lucius," said Mr. Weasley, nodding coldly.

"Busy time at the Ministry, I hear," said Mr. Malfoy. "All those raids . . . I hope they're paying you overtime?" He reached into Ginny's cauldron and extracted, from amid the glossy Lockhart books, a very old, very battered copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration.

"Obviously not," Mr. Malfoy said. "Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?" Mr. Weasley flushed darker than either Ron or Ginny.

"We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy," he said and the two Slytherin boys smirked.

"Clearly," said Mr. Malfoy, his pale eyes straying to Mr. and Mrs. Granger, who were watching apprehensively. "The company you keep, Weasley . . . and I thought your family could sink no lower —"

There was a thud of metal as Ginny's cauldron went flying; Mr. Weasley had thrown himself at Mr. Malfoy, knocking him backward into a bookshelf. Dozens of heavy spellbooks came thundering down on all their heads; there was a yell of, "Get him, Dad!" from Fred or George as they and Kirra cheered him on; Mrs. Weasley was shrieking, "No, Arthur, no!"; the crowd stampeded backward, knocking more shelves over; "Gentlemen, please — please!" cried the assistant, and then, louder than all — "Break it up, there, gents, break it up —"

Hagrid was wading toward them through the sea of books. In an instant he had pulled Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy apart. Mr. Weasley had a cut lip and Mr. Malfoy had been hit in the eye by an Encyclopedia of Toadstools. He was still holding Ginny's old Transfiguration book. He thrust it at her, his eyes glittering with malice. "Here, girl — take your book — it's the best your father can give you —"

"Hey Draco, take your snotty attitude and grumpy ass - it's the best your father can give you," Kirra spat at Draco, but was just smirking over at Lucious the whole time, clearly trying to antagonise him more than she was trying to antagonise Draco.

"I see you haven't changed Emily," Lucious spat towards the girl. Pulling himself out of Hagrid's grip he beckoned to Draco and Theodore and swept from the shop, Theodore looked over at the girl one last time seeing her talking to the twins and just as he had five minutes ago.

He felt a burning sense of anger in his stomach, but it wasn't as bad as it was when he had seen her in Diagon Alley, she wasn't supposed to be coming back to Hogwarts this year, he had ordered dobby to make sure there was no chance of her coming back, but clearly, the house elf had failed. Finally, Theodore left the shop and followed after the two Malfoys.

"My name isn't even Emily you dumbass," Kirra muttered under her breath and refrained from flipping the finger as the males left.

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