Percy Jackson and the Mirror of Erised

9) Draco Malfoy

"Might as well get yer uniform," Hagrid said after we left Gringotts and had gotten me bandaged up.

Hagrid pointed towards Madam Malkins Robes for all Occasions before saying, "Listen, boys, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringotts carts."

My giant friend was a little green so we said that was fine.

We walked inside and Madam Malkin, a plump little witch, said, "Hogwarts, Dearies? Got the lot here. Another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."

A pale boy with curly, honey blonde hair stood in the back of the shop. He'd clearly tried to slick back his hair but it hadn't worked right.

I get that.

Madam Malkin set the both of us on a stool beside the boy before pulling black robes over our heads and pinning them to the right size.

"Hello," the boy asked, "Hogwarts, too?"

"Yes," Harry said. I looked at the boys hand and saw bandages like mine.

He made eye contact with me and smiled slightly before continuing with a bored look on his face, "My father's next door buying my books and step mother's up the street looking at wands. Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into buying me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."

Now that's my kind of deal. I love smuggling.

"Have you got your own broom?" The boy asked.

"No," Harry and I said at the same time.

"Play quidditch at all?"

"No," Harry said (I shook my head).

"I do," the boy said, "Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my House, and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?"

"No," Harry repeated. I shrugged this time. 

"Well, no one really knows until they get there, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all of our family have been — imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"

Harry just shrugged while I said, "I'll probably be in Hufflepuff. I've heard it was the loyalty House. My mom used to tell me that I'd sacrifice the world to save a friend."

The boy smiled softly at me before whispering, "I think I'd like to be a Ravenclaw. My dad would kill me if I wasn't in Slytherin though."

Harry looked baffled at the softer tone the boy took to speaking.

I smiled, "Slytherin isn't very different from Ravenclaw. The cunning and clever. I imagine Ravenclaw as more booksmart. Slytherin is more street smart, yeah? I'd rather be more street smart, so it would be pretty cool to be in Slytherin."

The boy smiled again before seeing something in the window, "I say, look at that man!"

Hagrid was grinning from the window, holding a few ice cream cones.

"That's Hagrid," Harry said looking pleased, "He works at Hogwarts."

"Oh," the boy said, "I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?"

"He's the gamekeeper," Harry said with an annoyed look.

Can he not tell the boy is acting? I have a feeling his is. I mean, there was the whole 'my dad would kill me' issue from earlier. Abuse, much?

"Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of savage — lives in a hut on the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic, and ends up setting fire to his bed."

Coldly, Harry said, "I think he's brilliant."

"Do you?" The boy said, faking a sneer, "Why is he with you? Where are your parents?" The last bit he said with curiosity.

"They're dead," Harry said.

"Oh, sorry," the boy said, "But they were our  kind, weren't they?"

"They were a witch and wizard, if that's what you mean."

"I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. What's your surnames, anyway?"

The boy seemed to have rehearsed this, in my opinion. He was looking a little sad though.

"That's you done, dear," Madam Malkin said to Harry. He quickly stepped off of the stool and left.

I turned to the boy, "Jackson is my surename. Muggleborn, by the way. Harry Potter is my friends name, so you probably know he's a half-blood. But I guess we're half-bloods too. Who's your parent?"

The boy nodded, "My mom is Athena. And sorry about the whole not letting your kind in or whatever. People talk and my dad would beat me if he ever found out I think we're equals. I have a feeling Harry would tell everyone my opinion on things."

"Yeah, I get that. My step-dad hits me for no reason, and it's so much worse when he does have one. My dad's Poseidon, by the way. I found out I was a demigod about an hour ago. How long have you known and what's your name?"

"Uh...Poseidon...well that's not good, but we'll get into that later. I've known since I was seven and my name is Draco Malfoy."

I was confused on the not good bit but nodded anyways, "Well, it's nice to meet you Draco Malfoy. I hope we'll be friends while we're at Hogwarts."

"I'd like that, and it's nice to meet you too, Percy Jackson," Draco said as I stepped off of the stool and headed out.

I had a pretty good week, all in all. I went to the Razorback basketball game yesterday. There they drop these parachutes that have coupons for eye surgery on them. This man in the seat behind my cousin gave the one he caught to me. While I have glasses, I'm not that desperate to get rid of them. Also, we sit in the seats behind some of the girl players. They seem cool. I had a good time with my nana and my papaw and my cousin, who we will call The GingaNinja (he's ginger, obviosuly). After I got home yesterday, my sister, Melon we will call her, took me to Dairy Queen for ice-cream. We also had this long debate on whether or not she should have gotten me a knife from the Dollar General. When we got assigned seats in Careers, I got put with one of my friends. In the table behind us is our other friend and my lovely wife. This makes me happy. And my youth group teacher lady, Miss Melon, is getting an exchange student. I'm hoping to become friends with her. Right now, I'm hungry so I'm probably going to make ravioli.

See you later guys, gals, and non-binary pals. The next post will be on Tuesday.