The Mists of Memory

Chapter 6 - Draco's New Room

'Where are you going, my child?' The witch asked, grinning.

Ginny could see her teeth, yellow and spotted with black, under her crooked nose. She turned in Draco's direction to see him staring around, without paying any attention to her. After a few seconds, two more witches and four wizards surrounded her, all of whom weren't a pretty sight to behold.

'Baby, wha' d'yeh think 'bout going fer a ride?'

'Did yeh get lost?'

'D'yeh wan' us ter help yeh fin' yer way back?' they asked, smiling at her with false sweetness.

She fought not to start panicking; even if the effort of biting back the scream she wanted to let out was physically hurting her throat. She stammered some words of apology, feeling the sweat trickle down her neck.

'Ginny, let's go,' said Draco, holding her arm and glaring at the people nearby with a look of disgust. When the group saw him, their eyes widened and they moved away, bowing and creating a path for the two to leave. Ginny didn't understand why, until she shot Draco a glance—he wore his cloak the other way around, and now the crest of the Malfoys stood out, bold, on his chest.

'This is one of the rare places where my name still commands some respect,' he said, noticing the direction of her gaze.

'Where are we?' asked Ginny, looking around suspiciously. They were walking through a dirty alleyway and were just passing in front of a shop which showed, inside its windows, a large collection of tarantulas and other frightening arachnids. Ginny shuddered, glad that Ron wasn't here to see it. She didn't like spiders either, but her brother was second to no one in his fear of them.

'Knockturn Alley,' replied Draco, quickening his pace. Ginny tried her best to stay close to him—she didn't have any intention to lose sight of him.

'What are we doing in a place with such a bad reputation?'

'You'll see it shortly; we're there. What d'you want to do, stay outside or come in?' Draco drawled, an amused grin spreading all over his face. The shop in front of them was called Borgin & Burkes; inside it, Ginny could see various objects, none of which she was very pleased to see. But the crowd around her was much worse... so she followed Draco inside.

The place was exactly as Draco remembered. As always, there were poisons, dark and prohibited artefacts, and stuff that no other shopkeeper would've wanted even close to their shop. There were skulls, human bones, strange amphorae full of eyes and precious stones, and other stuff coming from many countries. A lot more was hidden in the shadows, but even what was under the light, Ginny was deeply aghast to see. Draco smirked at her disgusted frown and approached the counter, ringing a small brass bell. Ginny jerked at the sound.

'Don't touch anything,' Draco hissed when somebody from the back of the shop muttered that he was coming. Ginny sent Draco a disgusted look, which meant that she would never touch any of this stuff, even if he'd forced her to.

'Let's see... who do we have here... oh! Young Master Malfoy, what a pleasure to see you again. Of course, I never trusted the stories in the newspapers about you... disgraceful stories, indeed—'

From the back of the shop appeared an old man, with oily black hair, peppered with grey. He walked a little crooked, and rubbed his hands as he observed his new customers, a ghastly look spreading across his face. Ginny found the way he drawled his words quite annoying, as he pretended servile flattery which he appeared to not feel.

'Which one d'you mean? The one about my death or the one about my soul being eaten by a Dementor?' snapped Draco, dryly. Ginny watched him as he talked with Mr Borgin, and noticed that Draco was acting differently. Maybe he was, unconsciously or willingly, playing Lucius' role, mimicking his father's ways.