The Taming of The Viper

Chapter 12: All Debts Settled

To get to Diagon Alley they passed through a corner shop by the station, with a sign so weathered that the shop remained nameless. The merchandise had a layer of dust settled on it and the package design could be dated back to the previous decade. The ceiling lights flickered and the air was stuffy and stale. It smelled like her mum's shop, Amicia thought.

A portly man with tiny glasses and bulbous red nose sat behind the register, not bothering to look up from the newspaper to greet them as they weaved through the shelves and back into the storage room. Behind towers of unopened cardboard boxes stood a door with a plaque that read 'Employees Only'. Draco tried to turn the door handle but it didn't budge. He jiggled it and tried again.

"Is it locked?" Amicia asked cautiously over his shoulder.

"No, it's not bloody locked!" He grumbled, pushing against the door and putting all his weight onto the handle. "It's just an old piece of-,"

The door flew wide open and Draco went stumbling into a busy alleyway, bouncing off of a plump gentleman's belly. The man barked at him to watch it, waving a cane over his head, and Draco replied with some choice words of his own that made the old man shrink back. Amicia stepped through the doorway and onto the noisy cobblestone street of Diagon Alley, wondering if the awe magic gave her would ever subside. She walked up beside Draco, stifling a giggle.

"What are you laughing at?" Draco asked hostilely as he adjusted his jacket and brushed off invisible flecks of dust from the sleeves. His cheeks had a faint flush, not just from the cold, and his hair was tousled out of place, making him look uncharacteristically disheveled.

"You, of course," Amicia said truthfully with an amused smile.

They stood in the center of the alley, witches and wizards scooting past them and ducking into shops. She looked up at the sign swinging above her head.

Madam Primpernelle's Beautifying Potions.

Through the window, she spotted a woman spritz a bottle of what looked like perfume onto her décolleté. The pink mist swarmed her, turning to sparkles before disappearing, and to the woman's delight, her chest began to swell in size. Amicia quickly averted her gaze to her feet, feeling like she'd just witnessed something that should've been done in private.

"Come on, let's get your damn uniform." Draco brushed past her, forcefully parting the crowd like the red sea as he walked down the alley.

Amicia meekly apologized to everyone Draco had shouldered past as she tried to keep up, glimpsing behind her at the disgruntled faces he left in his wake.

Ding!

A bell chimed as they entered the shop and Madam Malkin herself peaked out from behind the counter to greet them, measuring tape readily in hand. She looked like a strawberry meringue; stout, clad in pink, her nearly white hair coming to a polished curl atop her head like a dollop of cream.

"Welcome in, dears. Need to be fitted for new robes?" She approached Draco first, standing on her tiptoes to measure his height, then prompted him to lift his arms so she could measure his chest. "You all grow so quick, I can hardly keep up!"

"Thank you, but not today," Amicia turned her down swiftly, sensing Draco was seconds away from saying something rude to the shopkeeper. He looked like a mean old dog being prodded, fur bristling and teeth bared. "I just need a standard house sweater, Slytherin, if you've got it."

"Always do," Madam Malkin chimed before pattering away, much to Draco's relief. After rummaging through the shelves, she returned holding a grey sweater with emerald trim, the Slytherin emblem embroidered onto the breast, conveniently in Amicia's size. "This the one, dear?"