RIDDLE ME THIS

31

London had me almost... impressed.

i loved the business of it, the rush and bustle.

i held Draco's hand tight, and when i looked over at Matteo, i found him holding Pansy's too.

we'd taken an underground train which Pansy called a 'Tube' to a part of the city where she said all the best muggle-free shops were.

we climbed the stairs to get out of the Tube and i breathed in the fresh, cold air, realising how hot it had been down there.

i watched everything closely; the big red busses and the black taxis.

the business men hurrying around in suits and the giggling teenagers walking with their arms linked.

Draco ran his thumb over my knuckles and pulled me closer to him.

"do you realise you're giving everyone death stares?" he said in my ear.

i looked up at him, frowned, and put a hand to my face.

Draco only laughed, raising my hand to his lips and planting a kiss there.

"my mother used to come here," Pansy had to shout so we could hear her. "the woman who owns the place used to go to Hogwarts!"

the shop sign read Hailer and Daughters and a bell rang when we opened the door.

"ah," the lady behind the desk smiled at us. "young Miss Parkinson."

"hello, Mrs Hailer." Pansy kissed the woman's cheek. "it's been ages."

"and young Mr Malfoy, your mother visited me just the other week." she nodded at Draco. "who are your friends? they must be twins."

"i'm Matteo, and this is-"

"Lolita." i finished for him.

"my, the two of you look just like a young girl who used to come here... Isaurelia, her name was—Aura." she sighed deeply. "she had your face," she told me. "and your eyes." she turned to Matteo.

Matteo and i shared an incredulous look.

"what else do you know about her?" i asked.

"well, she went to Hogwarts as well—head girl, she was. too clever for her own good, if you ask me. i'd ask her anything on any magical subject and she'd know the answer in a flash."

Matteo's frown mirrored my own.

"she was part Greek, i believe... or was it Italian? beautiful young thing."

"what else?" Matteo pressed.

"she visited me a few times every year to choose a dress for her birthday, the Yule Ball, and Christmas—i even made her wedding dress!"

"who was she marrying?"

"oh, i don't know, but she didn't seem happy about it."

"why not?" Matteo frowned.

"he didn't seem like a nice man, and she had to marry him out of obligation. although, i think she loved him deep down. that's why she overlooked the awful things he did."

"why?" Matteo asked again. "why did she marry him if he was so awful?"

"she was young and pregnant." Mrs Hailer pursed her lips. "triplets, she told me, due in December of forty-five."

my mouth dropped open as i stared at the old woman.

so much of her speech had resonated up until the nineteen forty-five comment—it was uncanny.