RAVENCLAW!

24. Robes and Books and Monsters

What was he doing in that shop?
The question consumed Draco's mind and drowned out any other impressions. Usually he loved shopping but right now he couldn't focus on the robe Madam Malkin was fitting on him for even a mere second. Actually being in this dressing room just made it worse. Here was where everything started. Here was where he'd met him.

The Boy Who Lived

Though he hadn't known that back then of course. Exactly one year ago.

He was standing on this exact same stool, the dresser fussing about him like she was right now, and his mother gone to pick up his books for him. He was so proud - finally he could attend to his business on his own! (He also felt a little lost without his mother but that's besides the point, isn't it?) And then this small, black-haired, bespectacled boy entered. He must have been the same age as Draco - he asked for Hogwarts robes - but he still looked so tiny and cute-

NO! Not this word again!

The weird boy was wearing a ragged, oversized sweater, had broken glasses and ugly messy hair. When the boy stood on the stool next to Draco, he wanted to throw him an angry glare as he now wasn't the main center of Madam Malkin's attention anymore but all the rage disappeared when he caught sight of those eyes. They seemed to be glearing with excitement - very unlike the shy smile on the boy's lips - and they were so green. Flicking across the room as if he needed to take everything in. As if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Draco was fascinated and his heart got caught in his throat when those eyes finally looked back, right into his soul. Shocked by this new sensation he snapped his head back to the front. Taking a deep breath he calmed himself down until he could think relatively clearly again. A quick sideways glance showed him the boy nervously looking down at his dirty, overused, way to big muggle shoes. A mudblood? Draco didn't hope so. That would mean he couldn't befriend him and this weird feeling he got around him was scary but also extremely intriguing and he just wanted more of it. So he did what had never failed to impress other people, yet. He proudly raised his nose and showed off who he was. And in the end when the boy had to go again he smiled, sure of having done this as well as he did with everything else. Though he found some things that the boy had said a little weird. Like, which pureblood didn't know about the Hogwarts houses? But that was unimportant. He could find out all about him when they meet again at school and get into the same house and become best friends. Only when he lay in bed that night he remembered that he hadn't even introduced himself, nor had he asked for the boy's name. So it was that it took him one more week to find out that it must've been Harry Potter who he'd met, making him want to be friends with him even more. Imagine the fame. The whole school would know them as the kings of Slytherin! And then the train thing happened. Stupid Weasley. That blood traitor ruined everything.

"You're done, Mr Malfoy! Shall I send the bill together with the robes to your father as soon as they are finished?"

Draco blinked twice to stop the burning in his eyes before turning to the woman.

"As always, Madame Malkin's."

"Alright, have a nice day, Sir."

He didn't return the wishes but just took off the robes before joining his father at the door. Then they left for the bookshop where Lucius once again left him in order to buy some quills on the other side of the Alley. Draco wanted to look for a new quill himself after he'd picked up the books but he wasn't prepared for the sheer amount of people waiting at the counter. It was horrible and nothing seemed to be moving. When he saw the sign explaining what was going on he rolled his eyes and went upstairs. This could take ages so he might as well just use the time to do some further research on creatures that could possibly be the inhabitant of the chamber of secrets. In the course of the past three weeks he had narrowed it down to creatures with these attributes:

  - can kill without causing visible injuries
  - is either invisible or has the ability to travel unseen by other means
  - can paralize people
  - connection to Salazar Slytherin (might be snake-like?)
  - either highly intelligent or controlled by someone who is

He'd drawn these conclusions from old newspapers and medical reports of attacks at Hogwarts. Most of them were about 50 years old, a time where there were rumours of the chamber being "active". Draco was really a little concerned as to why his father had copies of hogwart's medical reports of a time when he hadn't even gone to school but he didn't give it too much thought. Much rather he was happy to have the information and used it well for his research. While he was scanning about every magical creatures and beasts books there were in the shop, there was excited chatter and giggling travelling upstairs from the main event. It was annoying but Draco tried to fade the noise out to his best. It was working and he made great progress until there was a shout.

"Harry Potter! What an honour-"

Draco rolled his eyes once again. Of course Potter would be the center of everyone's attention wherever he went. Even at the signing session of a wanna-be-famous author. Well, maybe Lockhart was quite popular and maybe also quite handsome but it didn't make him any less of an idiot. But with Potter in the shop everyone seemed to be even more excited and loud. Why did excited people always have to be so loud?
There was the sound of rustling and pictures being taken and applause and Draco just tried to ignore it all. Just as he was about to give up he found something. A basilisk. He'd heard about that creature and according to what he knew, everything fit into the profile. First he wanted to proofread the page but then a mob of black hair and a lightreflex caught his eye. Potter was heading for the exit. He was going to see him. So he just ripped out the page in a hurry, put on his perfect mask and strut down the flight of stairs. The following encounter was a huge mess filled with a mix of some angry and some unreadable glares, insulting the youngest Weasle (a girl for a change), also insulting Harry's so called 'friends', Lucius joining in with insulting Granger's parents and having a weird conversation - actually they just exchanged like 5 words each - with Harry and then having a full on fist fight with Arthur Weasley, leaving the store in a real state. You don't want to hear the details. Anyway, they got picked apart and the bookshelves were restored with a few flicks of a wand. Mildly injured, both father's left the shop, taking their respective families with them and going down the Alley in opposite directions. And that was that.

The day after, when Draco told his father he hadn't been able to retrieve the books Lucius seemed about to explode but Narcissa gave him a glare and in the end he wrote a letter to Flourish & Blott's with a plea to send the books straight to the Manor along with a bill, just like they always had it with robes. Everything that had happened on their shopping trip just felt unreal. Like a weird dream. But Draco couldn't get it off his mind. All the things that had happened. And Potter. So cunfusing, that bloody git. Stupid, too. Draco sighed. He really ought to come up with some better insults if he wanted to keep that feud going. It was exhausting, really. Some days he cursed himself for sending Dobby on that 'mission'.

He knew he shouldn't but it was undeniable. He missed Nobody. His personal safe house. Home. In a truly desperate moment a nice, brunette girl crossed his mind which made him groan out loud at his own pathetic behaviour. Never again would he talk to that Mudblood Hufflepuff. Langdorn could get lost if she thought otherwise. The basilisk page turned out to be useless. It just didn't really fit all that much and as he'd worked himself through all magical creatures books in their Manor library he had to wait until Hogwarts before he could resume his research. Still, when Draco was packing his things three days early because he didn't have anything better to do, he carefully put the by now creased piece of parchment between the first two pages of 'Hogwarts: A History'. Somehow he found that fitting and smiled to himself about it. He smiled because soon he would be back at school.