Draco smirked as he caught a glimpse of what the stupid little red-haired girl was looking at through the bookstore's window. Of course she was stupid; he'd seen her when she came in with the unkempt herd she called a family. She was a Weasley and all Weasleys were lowborn and stupid without a bit of influence.
"Hold these," he sneered, dropping his seven Defense textbooks on an unsuspecting Dobby before going over to play with the girl.
"Oh look!" he drawled delightfully, as if just stumbling upon the grand display outside. "Potter's got himself a girlfriend . And they obviously want to be alone," he added as the jumped up mudblood led the poncy 'Prince' Potter away to the Magical Menagerie. It was only fitting they surrounded themselves with the other lower animals. That's what you sow when you swap spit with swine. He'd definitely have to teach the girl her proper place this year.
"How'd you manage to let such a golden opportunity to marry up slip away?" he asked, turning to the pale little girl with a look of wonder. "Then again," he sneered, giving the Weasley a critical look. "No wonder he went for a boring book-brained mudblood. It's not like you had anything to offer him, did you?"
The stupid no-named Weasley looked at him as if he'd said the worst thing imaginable. Merlin, he loved that reaction. He should definitely say that word more often.
"Leave her alone, Malfoy, " the girl's idiot and equally pale brother said as he came charging to the rescue, dropping a load of second-hand books into the girl's sorry excuse of a cauldron. He might think saying his name in such a fashion was insulting but it sounded like he was saying 'majesty' to him.
"Oh! Looks like you've got a girlfriend too!" Draco said with feigned surprise. "Engaging in a bit of the 'grand tradition' with your sister, are you?" he smirked. "I thought there wasn't anything a Weasley could do and not marry up, but here you are."
The thrill of victory he gained from the verbal barb making the brother and sister look at each other with same disgust he had for them faded quickly as the presence on his shoulder of a silver serpent capped cane announced the arrival of his father.
"Now, now, Draco. Play nicely," Lucius Malfoy said as he took in his son's choice of prey. His father's voice carried a hint of amusement when he continued. "Let's see, red hair, vacant expressions, tatty second-hand books," he said as he withdrew and examined one of the first year school books from the girl's cauldron. "You two must be the Weasleys," his father concluded, as if their fates were already sealed and no one else would take them but each other.
The rare moment of familial camaraderie was quickly trampled by the balding red-headed man who had to be the insipid source of the stinking cesspit of blood traitors daring to pass themselves off as purebloods.
"Oh, believe me," the Weasley was being told by a silly-haired man said as they entered the shop. "I wish that were the case, but I'm afraid I just have one of those faces."
Draco scoffed at the man, though he was hardly a man. He was a muggle and made no effort to hide his inferiority, parading down their street with his frizzy hair like he had a right to be there, or to be alive for that matter. If they couldn't exterminate the lot of them they should brick up the front door of the Leaky Cauldron so these vermin couldn't find their way in. Failing that, the least these swine could do was hide themselves until they could adopt more suitable clothes, though he supposed having their abnormality noticeable on sight had its uses. It gave everyone a common enemy to look down on.
His father noticed it as quickly as he did, though the look on his face was more of slight puzzlement than disgust. The look faded quickly though, the muggle must not have been worthy of that much effort. The man must've felt the same because he quickly turned and hid himself in the crowded aisles of books he was too ignorant to understand.
"Well, well, well, Weasley senior," his father said, dropping the books back in the stupid girl's cauldron.
Draco felt his lips begin to curl as his father got into the game. This was going to be good.
...
"Isn't it adorable?" Hermione cooed as she thrust her fluffy pussy at him. "Don't you just want to take it home and play with it for hours?"
The kitten had a squashed face; Harry had no idea what she saw in it that was so adorable. It wasn't ugly, precisely, but it certainly wasn't-
"Cute," he said diplomatically, hoping she removed the tiny squashed-faced ginger cat from his chest sometime soon.
"You really aren't much of a pet person, are you?" Hermione asked in consoling tones as she took the kitten back and pet it.
"I just don't like things that look at you like you've done something wrong," Harry answered.
"This from the person who owns Hedwig," she said to the cat.
"She's better than Imogen," Harry defended his pet. "And at least when Hedwig looks at me like I've done something wrong I've actually done something wrong. Besides, she's family."
"You could be family too, couldn't you?" Hermione asked the ginger cat, which looked back at her reprovingly, as if offended it wasn't already considered family.
"If you wantin' any o' them kneazle-kits, you best snatch'em up," the shop owner called as Hermione put the small ginger cat back in its crate. "Word around the alley is the breeder's been nicked for somethin'-," he said conspiratorially as he came over to make sure the lock was secure. "-So might not get mo' fer a while. You sure I can' tempt you?"
Hermione looked torn.
"I better not," she said finally. "Things have actually been rather civil at home lately," she said to Harry. "It'd be a shame to mess it up over nothing. Maybe next year," she finished to the shopkeeper. "I was wondering," Hermione said as the man turned to walk away, "do you know of any snakes that can talk?"
"Don' knows any that have anythin' worth sayin'," the man said with a shrug. "They's all a tight-lipped bunch - not that they have lips. Scales, you see."
Hermione shot Harry a look that asked if everyone tried to explain to him that water was wet or if it was just her.
"Right," she said politely.
"If you into snakes though," the man gestured to one corner, "I got one over there but he's never said peep to me."
Hermione thanked the shopkeeper as he returned to the counter.
"So let me get this straight," she said, returning to their prior subject as they meandered through the store. "You want me to apologize to Ron for him being embarrassed, when it was him who jumped to conclusions in the first place? Why should I apologize for his stupidity?"
"Well, aren't you sorry he's stupid?" Harry asked automatically.
Hermione put a finger across her tight-lipped grin as she fought to keep herself from laughing.
"That's not very nice," she said finally.
"Yeah, I shouldn't have said it," Harry agreed, flattening his hair again. He really shouldn't be talking about his best mate like that, even if it did almost get a laugh.
"Not that," she said. "It's not very nice being funny when I wanted to be flabbergasted at you."
"Why be flabbergasted at me?" he asked trying to divert attention away from himself. "Ron's the one that got confused on what you were saying."
"Yes, but - Wait, that's not what I'm-," she stopped to take a breath. "You are way too good at confusing the issue," Hermione said, properly flustered again. Harry was surprised to find it was quite enjoyable winding her up a bit.
"You're quite right," Harry agreed, earning a rolled eyes, a shake of the head, and a tight-lipped smile from Hermione before she remembered to hide it with her hand again. "Why are you doing that?" he asked curiously.
"Doing what?" she asked, sounding like she'd been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
"Why are you hiding your mouth when you smile?" he clarified. "You didn't do it last year."
Hermione gave him a bit of a pained look.
"My teeth are too big," she admitted.
"I wear glasses," he shrugged and replied with the obvious.
"Well, my legs are like sticks," she pressed.
"I've got knobby knees," he countered.
"And my voice gets all screechy," she said, determined not to lose.
"And I've got this huge scar."
"My hair's a nightmare, " she said.
"Have you seen mine?" he asked incredulously.
That was the one that did it. Harry wasn't sure if it was his sarcastic tone, the point they had in common, or the fact this was the strangest back and forth of all time but something finally cracked Hermione's serious demeanor and made her start to chuckle. He was glad to join in because when they were done she smiled at him like she used to. Yeah, her teeth were a little big, but who cared?
Hermione nudged him with her shoulder and walked over to one sun-lit corner of the shop to peek inside a terrarium with leafy green plants. Harry followed her over, wondering if they had found a cage for some sort of walking plant when they began to rustle. Before he knew it, he was staring at a black-and-blotchy-gold ball of a - whatever it was.
"Well, talk to it," Hermione prompted.
"What am I supposed to say?" he asked.
"I don't know," she said. "Try 'hello.'"
He shrugged and turned back to the ball. "Er - hello," he said to it.
Hermione didn't look satisfied.
"How did you talk to that snake last time?" she asked curiously.
"Wait, you mean that's a snake?" Harry asked. "Neat. I didn't know you could turn into a ball, " he said to the snake which prompted the blotchy ball in question to uncoil and reveal a small head in the center of it. The whole animal couldn't have been bigger than the tank was across.
"Merlin's beard!" the shopkeeper cried. "What's going on over there?"
.....
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