SALEM ᵈ ᵐᵃˡᶠᵒʸ

iv. The Slug Club

AN invisible hand took a hold of my wrist and my heartbeat spiked by a tenfold. Harry's face popped out in my line of vision, his head floating in the air without a body holding it up.

I yelped and clamped a hand to my mouth, darting my eyes around furiously to see if anyone glanced over with suspicion. Signing with relief, I clutched my beating chest.

"Are you bloody out of your mind!" I hissed at him with dagger eyes. "Just because you have that bloody cloak, Harry Potter, doesn't give you the right to scare people out of nowhere!"

He rolled his eyes and threw the cloak over me. Within a blink I found myself huddled closely with Harry, Ron and Hermione under the invisibility cloak that now covered the four of us entirely.

"What are you—?"

"Shhh!" Ron hissed.

"Come on!" Harry whispered furiously.

I had no choice but to shuffle with them towards the entrance of the shop and eventually out into the streets of Diagon Alley.

The contrast between the quiet area compared to the loudness in Fred and George's shop was easily detectable. Even the atmosphere out in the streets felt different. Outside was colder, more lonely and almost evil. I suppressed a shiver.

"He was going in that direction," Harry muttered so that Hagrid, who was guarding outside, wouldn't hear. "Come on."

They started walking ahead before I had the chance to ask who they were talking about or what the bloody hell we were doing. I looked down at my feet anxiously, trying to avoid stepping on the backs of their shoes.

They guided the way, peering into different shops and turning up into different corners leading me to silently do the same.

Hermione pointed up ahead. "That's him isn't it? Turning left?"

"Hermione, who—?" I was once again cut off, this time by myself once I saw a flash of platinum-blond against the dark alley walls in the distance.

"Don't tell me we're following who I think we're following," I murmured with dread.

"Big surprise," Ron muttered.

Draco dived into Knockturn Alley.

"Quick, or we'll lose him."

We sped up after Harry's command, my heart beating louder with each step we took and the nearer we reached Knockturn Alley.

When we turned the same corner Draco had, a wash of cold drifted over me. The feeling of evil was definitely much stronger here, all because of the shops that hosted dark artifacts and practiced dark magic.

Thankfully, it was deserted.

"Look!" Hermione whisper-shouted. "He's in there!"

We stood a few meters in front of a shop called Borgin and Burkes. Inside, Draco stood with his back to us, partly hidden by shelves of old bottles and different styles of skulls. He was talking to a man who looked like he had the greasiest head on earth, I assumed he was the owner. They stood in front of a big black cabinet.

"I wonder what they're talking about," I whispered.

"If only we could hear what they're saying," Hermione agreed.

Ron brightened up beside me. "We can! Hang on—damn—"

He fumbled with the boxes he was holding, taking out the biggest one whilst dropping a few of the others at his feet. I huffed and picked them up one-by-one and dropped them into my bag charmed with the Extension spell.