Magic? || Years 1-5

Ron and Hermione: Year 3/Summer

Draco paused before he replied to her question, his mouth open slightly in surprise.

Amisty felt her eyes narrow as she watched him closely. When he caught her suspicious gaze, he forced his mouth to curl into a scoff when he was interrupted by his father.

"Let's go, Draco," Mr. Malfoy ordered, turning rather rudely away from the shop owner with a bag in his hand.

"Why would my owl concern you?" He sneered, the surprise gone and replaced with the usual mean expression.

"Just answer the question, Malfoy," She snarled back, annoyed with his evasion of her asking.

"Draco," Mr. Malfoy looked over his shoulder, his grey eyes just as cold as Draco's were usually.

The boy in question straightened his spine at the call of his father, and then it wasn't only his expression that had gone back to normal.

"Goodbye, River," He nodded stiffly, following after his father only a few steps behind as he left the shop.

She watched them go, wishing she could follow after them and find out what Mr. Malfoy had bought.

There wasn't any chance she could ask the shop owner, customer's business was their own, after all.

Draco, to her displeasure, took great care in making sure she couldn't get a clear view of his owl, carrying the cage on the side of his body she wasn't on.

He sent her a flirtatious sort of wink as he left, no doubt fooling the shop owner that he and her fancied each other.

She shuddered at the thought, ignoring the heat in her face. After exchanging goodbyes with the shop owner, she made her way over to Flourish and Blotts, where Harry was waiting outside, a pair of robes folded up in his arms.

She shoved her thoughts out of her mind. It just wasn't possible. Glancing over at the window, her eyes went wide at the sight of the books inside it.

They were the same title as the books Hagrid had sent them. The Monster Book of Monsters.

"You were at the Owl Emporium again, weren't you?" He grinned, opening the door to the book shop for her.

"Obviously," She laughed, shoving him lightly as she walked inside.

He followed after her, pulling out his booklist and scanning over it.

"Hogwarts? Come to get your new books?" The manager of the store hurried toward them, looking very disheveled.

"Yes. We need -- " Harry started, only for the manager to cut him off as he shoved past them, pulling on a pair of thick black gloves and picking up a walking stick.

Amisty understood the second he started heading toward the cage of Monster Books.

"Hang on, we've already got those," Harry protested quickly, holding out a hand to stop him.

"Have you? The two of you?" He asked, relief already flooding over his face after Amisty nodded. "Thank heavens for that. I've been bitten five times already this morning -- "

His voice was cut off by a loud tearing noise.

Amisty looked over at the cage, taking a tiny step back at the sight of two of the books trying to rip a third one in half.

The manager grabbed the walking stick yet again, poking it through the bars and knocking the books apart.

"Stop it! Stop it! I'm never stocking the again, never! It's been bedlam! I thought we'd seen the worst when we bought two hundred copies of the Invisible Book of Invisibility -- cost a fortune, and we never found them... Well... is there anything else I can help you with?" He asked, slightly breathless from his rant.