Narcissa made sure Draco had everything, then she turned to Crabbe's mother Drusilla, and Goyle's mother Malory.
"Are the boys ready?" she asked.
"Yeah they should be. Oh for crying out loud, where is Vincent?" sighed Drusilla.
"I'll go and look," offered Malory. "Oh hang on, here he is."
"You stupid boy, have you been in the kitchens again?" snapped Drusilla, as Crabbe sauntered in stuffing a chunk of cake into his mouth. Crabbe started to stutter. "Oh never mind, come on, we need to get going." The party of six disapperated, with the women helping their sons, and arrived in the muggle street in London, just outside the Leaky Cauldron. The Leaky Cauldron was the gateway between the muggle world and the wizarding world's shopping centre, Diagon Alley. Not a shopping centre like you would find in the muggle world. This was more like the main place to go to buy almost anything the wizarding world has to offer. Including a wand. As they got to the bar, old Tom, the barkeeper, looked up from serving Dedalus Diggle; a tiny, excitable elderly wizard, who often wore a bright purple hat.
"Mrs Malfoy, how lovely to see you again. Can I get you anything?" he crooned.
"No, thankyou Tom, we're ju......."
"Orla!" cried Draco, cutting his mum off mid-sentence. "I thought you were at your grandparents today?"
"Yeah I was, but Grandpa got called away to the Ministry, so mum thought we may aswell get my Hogwarts stuff today," she replied, her face lighting up at Draco's appearance. Crabbe and Goyle rolled their eyes, and managed to drag their mothers away to do shopping on their own.
"Do you want to come and get your Hogwarts things with us then?" offered Draco, happy to be finally spending the day with her.
"Yeah, hang on, I'll just get mum." She walked off to find Liv, and came back to see a mildly confused Cissy and a grinning Draco. "Ready?" she asked.
"Ready," he grinned. The two eleven year olds followed their mums out to the back of the Leaky Cauldron, where Liv tapped the bricks in a specific order, and before their very eyes, Diagon Alley appeared from the, now, opened wall.
"Right, first stop, Gringotts," Cissy said bracingly. The last time they were in there they had bumped into, quite literally, Mrs Weasley and her tribe of red headed children. Draco had stared, mouth wide open, but Narcissa wasn't in the mood to explain who these people were, so she had hurried him along, giving the excuse they were running late. It was so wrong how they had to share the same buildings as these people. There should be a section for those lower class witches and wizards. The poorer dregs of society. But there wasn't much she could do. Her husband had plenty of influence at the Ministry and did what he could to keep things running the way they wanted. She though that trying to push the lower class magical folk out would only cause uproar in the community.
Once they had taken enough money (and plenty more) out of their vaults, they stopped at Florean Fortescue's for an ice cream for Draco and Orla. Florean was in a happy mood today, and tried to engage Cissy and Liv in conversation, but they just stared down their noses at him and ordered him to hurry up as they didn't have all day. Their next stop was Flourish and Blotts, where they bought all the books listed on the letter sent out to all new students. Orla really wanted to look at the Dark Arts books, but Liv dragged her away, saying they were only in to get the books on her list. This resulted in a sulky Orla, until Draco pointed out they might be able to get an owl or a cat each from their mothers if they nagged them enough. By the time they had to get their school uniforms, Draco and Orla were both really bored.
"Well in that case, why don't Liv and I go off for a little bit, and you two can go and get measured up together. You don't need us for that," suggested a frustrated and worn out Cissy.
"Fine," drawled Draco, "but you have to go and see if I can get a racing broom. Father promised me th..."
"Your father told you that he would see. Professor Dumbledore has already made it clear you are not to bring one to school, as first-years are to use the school brooms only, while they learn to fly," his mother sighed, handing him a bag filled with galleons. Liv did the same with Orla, and they both looked relieved as they left the children outside Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions. Draco and Orla entered the little shop and were hit by the coolness of the place. An enjoyable change from the heat of the summer sun outside.
"Ahh, good afternoon children. Come in, come in." A squat little witch, dressed all in mauve, came bustling out from the back of the shop to greet them. "Hogwarts, I take it?" Draco nodded. "Good, good. Now if you just hop up there in front of a mirror each, I can start measuring you each." As they stood in front of the mirrors, Orla caught Draco's eye, and they both tried to stifle a giggle. Within a few minutes, things were starting to take shape, and they were starting to look like Hogwarts students.
"....just need to get yer robes now." The door opened, and a voice wafted in. In walked a scrawny boy, about their age, with messy black hair and glasses. Madam Malkin came out from the back again and got the boy set up in front of another mirror. As the three of them stood there in awkward silence, Orla thought she had better say something.
"So, which house do you think you will be placed in?" she asked the boy.
"I dunno," he shrugged, not sure what to say next.
"I'm hoping for Slytherin, myself. I'd hate it if I were put into Hufflepuff. That would be the worst thing ever. I think I'd throw myself off the top of Gringotts if I was put in there." She flicked her long dark hair back over her shoulder.
"You are one of us, aren't you?" Draco asked. "I think it's disgraceful that they let that other sort in. Hogwarts should be kept to our kind only."
"If you mean witches and wizards, then yes," said the small boy, his eyes narrowed. Orla rolled her dark eyes.
"Oh my goodness, look at that large man out there," laughed Orla. Draco and the boy turned to the window to look.
"Oh him. Yeah he's called Hagrid, he's really nice. He brought me here today," said the small boy, forcefully. Orla wasn't sure about him, but Draco didn't seem to notice.
"Why did he bring you?" asked Draco. "Where are your parents?" The small boy didn't have a chance to answer, as Madam Malkin finished him up and took him over to the till to pay for everything.
As they headed back up to the Leaky Cauldron, Orla asked Draco about the boy.
"So who do you think he is?"
"I dunno," shrugged Draco. "But I doubt we will need to worry too much about him."
