Draco Malfoy and the House of Black

Auntslayer

Father hadn't heard about Draco's unapproved stay at the Burrow, or he surely wouldn't have granted permission for Draco to spend the night before the Hogwarts Express at the Leaky Cauldron. Or rather, he wouldn't have stopped Mother from begrudgingly granting it. Father probably knew through ministry connections that Potter was staying there, but he didn't intervene.

Draco told himself that Mother's ready acceptance wasn't just because he had claimed- falsely, of course- that he might go to Ollivander's for another try at a new wand, which meant that dropping and leaving him before a visit kept her out of the line of fire.

The brand on her hand hadn't hurt her for weeks, but it hadn't faded, not even slightly.

Draco met up with the others, suffering hugs from Mrs. Weasley and Hermione. The staff said Potter had already left for the day. So Hermione said they'd surely run into him somewhere in Diagon Alley, anxious to secure her school supplies.

Draco managed to sweet-talk Mrs. Weasley into letting the third-years go off shopping on their own, based on the argument that maybe he wasn't mature enough yet, but if the standard was so high, why were Fred and George allowed off on their own, who were eons less mature than him?

Potter was not at Madam Malkin's, nor at Flourish and Blotts. The trip there proved less eventful than last year's, save for Hermione and Ron's purchases of The Monster Book of Monsters, which made Draco guiltily glad he wasn't taking Hagrid's class.

The trouble with walking with Gryffindors was that it encouraged more Gryffindors to speak to you. Longbottom went out of his way to introduce Draco to his gran as Draco, he's brilliant at Potions. Draco could tell from the old woman's sharp-eyed glance that she knew who he was, and probably who his aunt was too. But they exchanged polite nods and went their separate ways.

Lavender Brown already seemed a bit sweet on Ron, to judge by the way she invited him to get ice cream with her and her mother, an invitation Draco was grateful to drag him away from. Finnigan was a riskier prospect given their history in first year, but his best friend was won over by Hermione saying they'd been to a football game together. Apparently, Muggleborn Thomas was a huge fan, although of the Western Ham. When an exasperated Hermione declared she wanted ice cream after all, Thomas followed them haranguing Draco for having decided to support Arsenal.

"Are they rivals?" Draco asked, while Ron brought their cones from the counter of Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour. Hermione preferred listening to football talk over Ron again recounting tales of Egypt. She chimed in now and then in defense of her Arsenal-supporting father, while Thomas ranted about the superiority of his ham team.

Thomas seemed favorably impressed when Draco talked about learning how to play with the Grangers. And Draco drew more attention, when that led to the disclosure that Draco had spent two weeks in the Muggle world with Hermione.

"You?" Thomas asked in amazement. He shook his head when Hermione told him Draco had been there last summer as well. "How was everyone so sure you were the Heir of Slytherin?"

"It might have had something to do with how I cursed this one," Draco drawled, throwing an arm around Finnigan's shoulder. "No hard feelings, eh, Finnigan?"

Finnigan snorted but didn't remove his arm. "We were kids back then. We all did stupid stuff. Make it up to me helping me and Neville more in Potions. He's always giving us tips when Snape isn't watching, Dean. But I bet you could give him some tips on football."

"Hey!" Draco protested. "I've learned a great deal! For instance, I know what we think of when we think of Tottenham!"

"Shit!" Thomas proclaimed happily.