Chapter 29: Knockturn Alley to Diagon Alley
Although he belittled him, Lucius Malfoy was actually afraid of Arthur Weasley.
On August 12, when he took his son to Diagon Alley to buy school supplies, he first took a detour to Borgin and Burke's in Knockturn Alley and sold a few dark magic items that might be detected.
That morning, he had been bitterly indignant towards Narcissa, attempting to put up a fight before the dust settled. "Cissy, you know me. I don't actually use most of these things. I just look at them...purely for admiration...Isn't that okay?"
"Lucius, I've never restricted your little hobbies before. It's just that times have changed. We can't take any risks now," Narcissa said firmly. "My book club is almost unsustainable! Just think about it, if the guests frequently see Ministry of Magic officials trespassing into Malfoy Manor and treating us in such a casual manner, they will suspect that we have lost the Ministry's respect. What if he really finds out something in front of others... It's not a good reputation that is conducive to socializing."
"It's all that damned Weasley's fault. He came here twice in one week," Lucius said angrily. "What's he going to do next? Clock in regularly at Malfoy Manor? I don't even pay him overtime."
"It would be easier if he took our 'overtime pay,'" Narcissa said. "He's stubborn. What can you do? Have you complained to Fudge?"
"Of course. He's very smooth, saying 'greatly shocked' on one hand, and 'can't do anything about it' on the next," Lucius said. "A considerable number of people are paying attention to the Muggle Protection Act drafted under Weasley's leadership. They are all low-ranking officials. Although their positions are not high, the actual number is still quite large. It's not easy for him to arbitrarily prohibit Weasley from doing his job reasonably in accordance with the operating terms at this time."
"Hmph, he's really cautious and doesn't want to give anyone a chance, right? I think he's planning on getting re-elected, which is why he's so concerned about what others think of him." Narcissa narrowed her eyes and said, "Even if he were to paint himself white, he wouldn't be as pure and flawless as a unicorn."
"He's content as long as his enemies don't get a hold of him," said Lucius, with a sudden wave of dejection. "There's no room for negotiation, is there? Must sell it?"
"I have to sell it." Narcissa took advantage of her son's meal to glance at Lucius with a smile and said in a barely audible voice, "Come back early after you finish your business. I'll give you some unconditional compensation, okay?"
"...Okay." Lucius' eyes lit up and he agreed readily.
He felt his son's curious eyes, so he coughed lightly, took a sip of tea, and the corners of his mouth secretly raised behind the teacup.
What on earth did his mother just say? Draco was puzzled.
Given the fascination with Dark Arts running through the Malfoy family's bloodline, his father probably wouldn't be able to bring himself to do anything cruel. Yet, after just a moment of distraction, his father actually agreed? And even seemed a little happy about it?
His overjoyed look didn't seem like the result of being threatened by his mother.
Draco was constantly surprised during the journey from the breakfast table to Knockturn Alley. He was bewildered by Lucius's abnormal behavior.
Knockturn Alley always looks gloomy, cramped and dirty.
After passing a spooky witch selling dead people's nails, passing a shop selling voodoo candles, and passing a few shops selling dark magic items, Borgin and Burke's spacious and dim wizard shop appeared before them.
As soon as he entered the door, Lucius put away his happy expression and put on a cold and majestic posture again.
He walked across the shop, casually glancing at the items on the shelves. He cautiously rang the bell on the counter, turned around and instructed his son, "Don't touch anything, Draco."
The young master of the Malfoy family had lost interest in the dark magic items displayed on the counter. He had seen them before in his own secret room, so they were nothing special.
Draco listened absentmindedly to Lucius and Mr. Borgin's complaints about the Ministry of Magic's raids, and the long and boring bargaining that followed. When no one was paying attention, he walked straight to the only thing in the store that interested him - the Vanishing Cabinet.
He looked at the large black and gold cabinet and thought to himself: This thing is a rare treasure. I must find time to buy it from Mr. Bogin. Maybe it will be useful in the future.
Suddenly, he saw a pair of emerald green eyes through the crack of the vanishing cabinet door.
How is this possible?
Is anyone using the Vanishing Cabinet?
However, those eyes were not an illusion and looked extremely familiar.
He whispered, "Harry?"
Those eyes flickered nervously at his words, looking more like Harry's.
Draco dodged and stood in the crack of the door, blocking the view from the counter.
The eyes disappeared, but a low voice came from the crack in the door: "It's me, Draco."
"Why are you here?" Draco asked with interest.
"Accident." Harry's voice was a little embarrassed.
"Accident..." He repeated slowly, trying to digest the meaning behind the word, "I think you'd better leave here as soon as possible." He shook his head, opened the door, and quietly let Harry out.
Under Draco's protection, Harry, his face covered in soot, tiptoed out from the other side of the shelf. When he was about to reach the door, Draco heard Mr. Borgin ask suspiciously, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"
Harry didn't dare to look up, and said evasively, "I'm sorry, I..."
"He's my friend. Seeing me here, he came in to say hello. Right?" Draco jumped out quickly to smooth things over.
"Yes." Harry seemed relieved.
"Your friend?" Lucius put down the list in his hand and chewed over the words slowly, looking suspiciously at the mottled soot on Harry's face and body with his cold gray eyes.
"I didn't know you had a friend with such...unique tastes." He glanced at his son with a look of disgust on his face.
Draco smiled awkwardly.
Father, this is the Harry Potter you've always dreamed of...
"Father, I have an appointment with Blaise to meet at Fusco's ice cream shop. It's almost time, can I go say hello first?" Draco asked in an innocent manner.
Bryce, thank you for taking the blame.
Lucius waved his hand nonchalantly. "Alright, stay put and buy your friends some ice cream or something. I need to take care of my business. Meet at Flourish and Blotts in an hour."
"I understand, Father. Also, Mr. Borgin, did you give me too many gold coins?" Draco said smoothly. "I noticed that you seemed to take one back just now."
Mr. Borgin gave a twisted smile and put the gold coins in his hand back on the counter in embarrassment; Lucius glared at him coldly.
Draco pulled Harry out of the shop, leaving Mr. Borgin's slick excuses and his father's angry accusations inside the shop.
He casually tapped Harry's clothes and glasses with his wand, and the unsightly soot finally disappeared.
"That's much better." He said with satisfaction.
Harry's mouth curled up at the sudden brightness of his glasses. "Thank you, Draco."
He checked his clean, new clothes and couldn't help but sigh, "Hermione has some truth in what she said. I really should learn the Decontamination Charm..."
"Let me guess, this is your first time using Floo powder?" Draco glanced at him.
Harry nodded sheepishly.
"You need more practice," Draco said sympathetically.
"Where is this?" Harry asked as he walked.
Draco raised his chin towards an old wooden street sign nearby. "Knockturn Alley. It's not safe for you. You might get into trouble here. Imagine the tabloids saying, 'Harry Potter Spotted in Knockturn Alley - The Boy-Who-Lived Befriends Dark Wizards'. That's not a good thing. We need to move on."
"Is that really that exaggerated?" Harry gave him a horrified look. "Are you trying to scare me?"
"You have no idea about the bottom line of those unscrupulous tabloids." Draco looked at Harry meaningfully and took him around, away from those gloomy wizards.
They quickly passed through the winding dark alleys and finally emerged into the bright, wide, straight street of Diagon Alley.
Across the alley was Gringotts, and Draco saw Hermione standing on the steps at a glance.
The little girl I hadn't seen all summer. Her brown hair was hard to ignore against the white wall.
At this moment, she turned around inadvertently and immediately found him. She quickly ran down the stairs and greeted them happily.
"Oh, Draco, there you are! And Harry...it's so good to see you two. Are you going into Gringotts?" She looked between them with a broad smile, her bright brown eyes sparkling in the sunlight.
Draco shrugged, "I've already withdrawn the money from Gringotts."
Harry was a little tempted. He said to Hermione, "Can you wait for a while? I'll go after I find the Weasleys."
While they were talking, Hagrid arrived.
"Harry, where have you been? I met the Weasleys. They couldn't find you and they were going crazy!" He ran to Harry and asked in a hurry.
"Knockturn Alley," said Harry.
Hagrid's face darkened and he said seriously, "Oh, that's not a place for a little wizard to go. I think I'd better wait with you for a while until the Weasleys arrive and then do my thing. Oh, hello, Hermione -"
Hermione raised her face to Hagrid and smiled.
She wanted to say something to Hagrid, but was abruptly interrupted by Draco.
"I think we shouldn't keep your parents waiting," he said to Hermione, ignoring the others. He glanced at the uneasy couple standing in front of Gringotts - they seemed to be very uncomfortable with the gaze of the goblin guard at the door. "Let's exchange the money first while there are not many people around. It can save some time."
"How do you know they are my parents? I haven't introduced them to you yet!" Hermione asked in surprise.
"Guessed," Draco said briefly.
Was he going to admit that he had once met the Grangers on the platform for the express train in his first year and that he had inexplicably remembered what they looked like? Impossible.
The Grangers gave one the impression of being refined and easygoing. Draco knew at first glance that they came from a well-educated family.
Mr. Granger was tall and handsome, and Mrs. Granger was elegant, gentle and modest. They were undoubtedly family with Hermione because they had the same bright eyes as Hermione.
"Hello, Mr. Granger, Mrs. Granger, I am Hermione's classmate—" Draco walked forward under Hermione's guidance and saluted them.
"Oh, you must be Mr. Malfoy," said Mr. Granger kindly. "I heard all about you from Hermione."
Hermione looked a little uncomfortable. She said, "Oh, come on, Dad."
"She said you were the smartest little wizard she had ever seen," Mrs. Granger said with a smile. "I rarely hear her praise others. You must be very outstanding..."
"Mum!" Hermione gave her mother a warning look.
"I think she's the smartest of our age group," Draco said in a pleasant and polite manner. "May I have the honor of showing you around Gringotts?"
"With great pleasure," said Mrs. Granger, smiling.
In this way, the young master of the Malfoy family skillfully led the Grangers into the only wizard bank in Diagon Alley.
Although the Grangers were amazed at the appearance of the goblins and the number of rubies as big as coal piled up like mountains, they still maintained a certain composure, which was different from the Muggles Draco knew who loved to make a fuss.
"Ma'am, please allow me to talk to the goblins for a moment," Draco said gracefully. "They will be more polite to familiar faces."
The Grangers obeyed every request.
They watched Draco with great interest. This young wizard, without any stage fright, walked straight up to an arrogant goblin manning an empty counter and started talking: "I need to exchange British pounds for gold Galleons... yes, a 5:1 ratio... what for? Need I tell you? Fill in education..."
The goblin behind the counter glanced at him, realizing he was a regular customer, and dropped his arrogance. He nodded in agreement to Draco, not daring to look down on him because of his age.
Then, the platinum-haired boy turned around, and his tone changed from arrogant to casual again, "Oh, Hermione, how much do you want to change?"
After a while, the respectful goblin took down a large bag of gold Galleons from the cart behind him and exchanged them for the pounds in the hands of the Grangers according to the ratio.
"I'm really puzzled. Why did you only mention his grades and not anything else? He's so thoughtful, polite, calm, and looks very..." Mrs. Granger's voice drifted faintly from behind her, her tone slightly excited.
Hermione mumbled something in reply that sounded a bit irritable.
Draco pretended not to hear. He crossed his arms over his chest and watched the goblins counting the coins intently.
Goblins are even more greedy and cunning than Mr. Borgin, so you have to be extra careful.
When they walked out of Gringotts, Draco saw that Harry and Ron were already waiting for them.
"Where are your family?" Hermione asked.
"Mom and Dad said they were going to the bookstore to buy books for us, and everyone else went about their own business. You can't expect so many of us to act together, right?" Ron said, "But we agreed to meet at Flourish and Blotts later."
Draco's plans were a little disrupted.
He had originally wanted to take advantage of the time he was separated from his father to go to Ollivander's Wand Shop. He wanted to ask about the Elder Wand.
However, the situation is a bit tricky now.
He had spent so much time with the Grangers that he now had to go to Flourish and Blotts to join his father - especially when he learned from Ron that Mr. Weasley was there too.
He wanted to urge his father to finish the matter as soon as possible. This way, he might be able to avoid an argument or even a fight between Lucius and Mr. Weasley in the bookstore.
In his previous life, his father had publicly brawled with Mr. Weasley in a bookshop, a scandal unto itself, and he didn't want to go through that embarrassment again.
He didn't want Hermione to be ridiculed by Lucius again. Could there be a worse first meeting than this?
So he hurriedly said to Hermione: "I have an appointment with my father to go to the bookstore. The time is almost up, I have to go first."
"Okay, Draco. Thank you for helping us." Hermione said goodbye to him regretfully with a reluctant look on her face. Mr. and Mrs. Granger also expressed their gratitude in the same way.
Draco suppressed his inner anxiety and said goodbye to the Grangers with a smile. He nodded slightly to Harry and the others, then turned and hurried to Flourish and Blotts, located on the north side of Diagon Alley.
However, when he arrived at Flourish and Blotts, he was still a step too late.
Lucius and Mr. Weasley were facing each other fiercely near the bookstore stairs, like two black-eyed chickens. They were having an unpleasant conversation.
"Let me put it this way, you should go find those pure-blood traitors who have close contact with Muggles. They are more likely to let magical items fall into the hands of Muggles, rather than a pure-blood wizard like me who is clean and has nothing to do with Muggles." Lucius had an arrogant expression on his face.
"That's not what the report says. The letter claims that the Malfoy family has close business dealings with the Muggle community!" Mr. Weasley said with his neck stiff, refusing to give in.
Lucius sneered at him. "What old news! Before the Statute of Secrecy, which wizard could honestly say they had no dealings with Muggles? How dare you bring that up!"
"Don't be so evasive. The report is about the present!" said Mr. Weasley. "Do you dare to swear to Merlin that you have never touched the Muggle world? Since you claim to be a pure-blood?"
Lucius was furious and glared at him.
Next to him was a little red-haired kid, Ron's sister, holding a second-hand cauldron and a pile of old books precariously, his face pale with fear.
"Father!" Before they started fighting, Draco struggled through the crowded crowd and called out to his father. "There are too many people here. Let's go check out the brooms first. Didn't you say you wanted to go?"
Lucius was brought back to his senses by his son's cry. He nodded arrogantly, playing with the silver snake-head cane, glared at Mr. Weasley, and stormed out of Flourish and Blotts.
"Father, didn't you always teach me to at least maintain a superficial friendship with Ministry officials?" Draco followed Lucius closely as they headed towards the nearby Quidditch boutique. "Why did you argue with Mr. Weasley in public?"
"Politeness only works for people who are polite. You know that Weasley has been keeping a close eye on our family. When the dignity of the Malfoy family is challenged and the manor is regarded by some people as a place that can be invaded at will, it is better to put those politeness aside for the time being." Lucius dusted off the non-existent dust on his body and said with a grim face.
"Ron Weasley is Harry Potter's best friend at Hogwarts. Harry Potter spent half of this holiday at the Weasleys'. Under the circumstances, I don't think it's wise to offend the Weasleys." Draco said carefully, "That's what you taught me, Father, wasn't it?"
Lucius looked offended.
"Are you lecturing your father, Draco?" he asked grimly.
"Of course not." Draco's eyes flashed cunningly. "I just thought that if Mother heard about this, she might be worried about you."
Lucius snorted through his nose, reluctantly accepting the statement.
"It seems that Harry Potter's brains are not as good as you said. He actually hangs out with the child of a pure-blood traitor. What future can he achieve?" There was some disapproval in Lucius's words, and a subtle malice revealed on his cold face.
"After all, he has entered Gryffindor and is under the protection of Professor Dumbledore. It is not easy to get him to get close to the pure-blood family of Slytherin immediately." Draco said, trying to persuade his father not to target Harry, the future "Dark Lord Nemesis" too much.
"If he wants our recognition, he must first prove himself with his magical prowess. If he is just in name only, then he is just another blood traitor with no future like Arthur Weasley, not worthy of the Malfoy family's efforts to make friends with him." Lucius said coldly, still in a bad mood because of the conflict between him and Mr. Weasley.
"This requires long-term observation and cannot be seen in one or two interactions." Draco said uneasily.
My father is just like in his previous life, very anxious.
"Maybe, I'll have a chance to verify this soon." Lucius smiled coldly and strode into the Quidditch boutique.
"Father, what does that mean?" Draco asked confusedly.
He always felt that there was an air of conspiracy about his father.
"Nothing. Stay away from those pure-blood traitors, Draco. In the new school year, you better show some spirit and play Quidditch well." Lucius had calmed down and looked at the rows of neatly arranged brooms in the shop, turning back into the arrogant, indifferent and domineering head of the Malfoy family.
Draco felt a little guilty. He had already been hanging out with Harry and the others, and he had no intention of drawing a clear line between himself and them in the future.
But how could he explain this to his father, who had never concealed his prejudices on the subject of ancestry?
It would be harder to expect him to suddenly become reasonable and be nice to Draco's pure-blood traitor friends, or even his Muggle-born friends, than it would be to expect Lucius to cut his long platinum hair.
Draco was so worried about this that he ignored the strange malice that had just flashed in his father's attitude.
Lucius had always assumed that his son's sudden dejection was because he was thinking about how to make a splash in the Quidditch tryouts.
"Stand tall, what are you afraid of? The Malfoy name is your confidence!" He softened his tone, patted his son's shoulder, then turned his head and said to the clerk behind the boutique counter with a slightly arrogant attitude: "Have the flying brooms I ordered arrived? The ones that Mr. Whitehorn specially cared about...
"Brand new brooms, just waiting for you! Several customers have come to ask, and we told them we were out of stock!" The cashier smiled at Lucius and then shouted towards the workroom behind him, "Bring over Mr. Malfoy's new batch of brooms..."
This was the end of the conversation between Malfoy father and son.