The Mists of Memory

Draco woke to an inviting smell, which immediately reminded him how hungry he was. His stomach groaned loudly. He stretched his arms and legs and looked around; nothing had changed since the day before. However....

He stood up and thought about having to wear Ron's clothes again. He didn't like them at all; they fit him well enough, but his pride couldn't stand them. He decided that he'd need to go and buy some new ones, but the very thought of going back to Diagon Alley gave him the creeps. Fortunately, it was very unlikely that anyone would recognise him; who would suspect that this filthy vagrant could actually be one of the richest men in the country?

He put on the warm maroon jumper and robes, which was also made in the same sickening colour. Where the hell is your taste Weasley? he thought, quite disgusted. He then finished tying up his shoelaces and went straight to the kitchen, settling his hair in order with his hands; recently he spent very little time on his appearance, having more important things to think about. Right now his most urgent desire was to find something to eat. Draco was absolutely ravenous-- of course, sleeping very close to the kitchen didn't help.

'Morning, Malfoy. You're definitely up early!' Ginny's joyful voice called to him from the distance. The girl was busy preparing the meal and she didn't bother to turn around.

'Seems you're an even earlier riser than me, Weasley. The smell of your cooking woke me up,' he said, trying to be polite. He still remembered what he had done the night before, and he was still ashamed of himself. He had shown his weakness ... in front of a Weasley. He'd never forgive himself for that.

'Oh, if you're hungry, the eggs and the bacon are on the stove. You can lay the table and have your breakfast,' she ordered, still preparing the meal and talking to him without looking at him. Draco stayed still for a moment, wondering if it was a better idea to wait for Weasley to do it for him. Soon he decided that he would try doing it himself; if he had to wait any longer, his stomach would begin eat itself. He approached the stove and put two eggs and some bacon onto a plate.

'No House Elves, huh?' he muttered, annoyed. Hearing that, Ginny raised her sight from the meal, and stared at him in surprise.

'Not here, Malfoy. Firstly, we don't have enough money to have one.' She noticed that Draco was sighing at her words and added, 'Secondly, Hermione would never agree to it.'

Draco rolled his eyes and Ginny smiled, watching him walk away from the stove with a plate in his hands and seat himself down at the table. As she had now finished preparing the meal, she decided to be kind and make him an orange juice. After giving it to him, Ginny wiped her hands on her apron and sighed.

'I'll have to go buy some stuff today. My wand needs cleaning and I'll have to go to Diagon Alley as well,' she said to herself. Draco's interest in her speech grew.

'I'll come with you then,' he said sharply; it seemed more like an order than a request, and this annoyed Ginny.

'Says who?' she retorted, glaring at him.

'I do,' was his curt reply. They stared at each other, both determined not to be the first to look away. But eventually Ginny lowered her gaze and Draco smiled. 'It's not like I'm looking forward to going out with you either, Weasley. Still, I need to buy some new clothes and I've got go to Gringotts. And....' He stopped for a moment to drink some of his juice. Then he stayed silent, not willing to say any more.

'And...,' she prompted.

'I have to go somewhere else,' Draco replied, trying to look very interested in his eggs.

'I'm afraid I'll have to follow you,' she said as she ordered the plates to wash themselves with her wand. 'You're still a wanted criminal, you know.'

'That's the whole reason why I should go alone. There's nothing more conspicuous than a Weasley out shopping.'

'We can't let you go to Diagon Alley by yourself,' a voice said from behind them. Draco turned and saw Harry who still looked half asleep, as his eyes were half shut and his hair was even messier than usual. He was wearing blue robes with purple lining, the hems softly touching his dark shoes. 'Don't misunderstand me. We do trust your oath ... I'm pretty sure that you won't say anything willingly. I'm trying to trust you. However....' Harry trailed off as he got himself some breakfast and sat down next to him at the table. 'However, Voldemort knows how to wring the information out of you, so that's why we just can't risk it.'

'What d'you want to do then, are you all going to come with me?' Draco stifled a laugh. 'I'm sorry to have to point this out to you, Potter, but I don't believe that Weasley would be that useful against the Dark Lord, if he finds us. Or ... maybe you want to keep me tight on your leash?' he drawled, glaring at the Boy-Who-Lived. They stared at each other, exchanging glares of pure and utter loathing. Seeing that this was going nowhere, Ginny cleared her throat.

'Whatever you want to think, Malfoy, I'm going to follow you everywhere you go, and that's final.' She took off her apron and clapped her hands together to clean them. Then she hurried off towards the door, 'I'm going to get ready. Harry, please tell Hermione that everything's almost done, she'll just have to put the pots on the stove and keep an eye on them.'

She was about to leave the room, when she stopped for a moment and turned around again. 'If you want to come with me, be sure to be ready in half an hour. We've got to leave early to avoid the tonnes of Muggles who are always around for the morning peak hour traffic,' she told Draco. Then she left, leaving the two boys speechless.

'I doubt anyone could recognise me if they tried,' huffed Draco, brushing off the soot from his clothes. Ginny cleaned his face and ruffled his hair, which he tried to set back in order a moment later, making it look even worse. She tossed him the hat that he had to wear as part of his disguise. Draco was still cleaning his clothes and muttering about how much he hated Floo powder when Tom, the innkeeper, appeared behind the bar, glancing at them with curiosity.

'Oh, I thought that I heard voices over here,' he said. 'Let's see ... good morning, Miss Weasley. Who's your comp--?' Tom shut up suddenly as Draco glared at him. The innkeeper froze, eyes wide, and immediately took his handkerchief out his pocket and wiped away the sweat from his forehead. He opened the side door of the bar and approached them.

'Merlin's beard ... I thought you were dead, or kissed by a Dementor,' he hissed under his breath, showing an expression of surprise.

'I'm sorry I disappointed you,' replied Draco sarcastically. His face showed nothing but confidence, but in reality his heart was thudding loudly in his chest. So, there were still people who could recognize him, even dressed like that. Damn ... 'If it makes you feel better though, you were nearly right.'

'My boy, I can't say that I liked your father. However, you're not your father, Mr. Malfoy, are you?' As he said that, Draco's eyes blazed with anger. This scared Tom to death and his face blanched. 'Oh ... err ... I'm sorry, Mr. Malfoy ... I ... didn't mean to offend,...' the man started to stammer and mutter aloud. Ginny put a hand on his shoulder and beckoned him to shut up.

'Tom, we don't want anybody else to notice us. You know, he's wanted by the Ministry ... so ... can you please let us go and not say anything else? We're in a bit of a hurry.' He stared at her very seriously as she said these words. Tom picked up his handkerchief again and wiped at the sweat drops that were forming on his forehead. 'Of course, Tom ... you can understand that ...'

'O-of course. Of course Miss Weasley. Of course, I-I came over here because ... I saw a ... mouse. Yes, I'm trying to kill that bloody mouse, yes!' said Tom, trying to not stare at Draco as he grabbed a poker from the side of the fire. Draco sneered and put on his hat, sending Tom a glare that turned the innkeeper's blood to ice. It was much too similar to Lucius's one for comfort.

Then, Draco grabbed Ginny's arm and walked straight towards the door on the other side of the room. Ginny just had time to hide her hair under her hat and to stare reprovingly at him that they had already exited the inn and were in front of the wall. A few moments later, they were walking amongst the crowd of witches and wizards that filled Diagon Alley. Only then did Draco let go of her arm, and Ginny kept watching him with narrowed eyes, shocked by his behaviour.

'Malfoy ... was it really necessary to grab my arm and run away like that?' she asked, hurrying after him, not wanting to lose him in the crowd. All around them children were running from one shop to another, yelling and giggling about the window displays. One of them bumped into her and caused her to stumble, so that she had to quicken her pace to catch up with Draco.

'If I hadn't done that, you would've stayed there all day chatting with that bloody git. Besides, please stop calling me that, it's dangerous,' he replied, glaring at yet another boy who crossed the road and stopped in front of a shop-window, sticking his tongue out at them.

'What should I call you then? And where are you going at this speed?' she asked, already out of breath. She was doing her best to keep up with his pace, but she couldn't maintain this speed for long and she didn't want anybody to notice--they already had enough problems without people staring at them.

'Call me Dray. Where d'you think I'm going? To Gringotts!' he said, dryly. Then he stopped for a moment and spun around stopping Ginny in her tracks. 'I warn you, Weasley, you've permission to call me by that name, only in this situation.'

'Fine. But you have to call me Ginny.' She glanced back at him, very seriously. 'And ... please go slower, Mal ... err ... Dray.'

'Okay, okay,' he said, resuming his walk but lowering his speed. A few minutes later they were in front of the tall white building that had been used as the Wizard's bank for centuries.

They climbed up the stairs and opened the door, crossing the white and black marble floors, which were shining as usual. Draco hurried up a bit as few goblins stopped to avoid bumping into them.

Draco looked around and experienced the wonderful feeling of finally being at home. The Wizarding World could change as much as it wanted, but not this place--Gringotts was always the same. You could breathe a different, almost ancient air in these enormous rooms.

They approached a free goblin, who was counting money. Reluctantly, the creature tore his sight away from the glittering gold and blinked at them as Draco cleared his throat.

'Good Morning. How may I help you?' he asked with an oily tone, rubbing his long and spidery fingers together.

'I want to take some money out of vault five hundred and thirty,' Draco whispered, staring around suspiciously. He took a key out his pocket--he had retrieved it that morning from his old Muggle clothes. The goblin inspected it carefully, then he stared once again at the boy and at his companion.

'Everything seems to be in order. I will have someone take you two to the vault. Dokidook!' he called, addressing another goblin who was standing nearby. He then instructed him to take them to vault five hundred and thirty. The new goblin bowed respectfully and beckoned Draco and Ginny to follow him.

They descended to the dungeons of the bank and, when they arrived at the front door of the right vault, the trolley stopped. The goblin let them get out and took his time to open the door.

When they finally entered the vault, Ginny's eyes widened in amazement. It was the largest vault that she had ever seen. It contained hundreds, no ... thousands of gold and silver pieces that had been meticulously stacked in neat piles. And that wasn't all. Surrounding the mountains of gold were paintings, frames, a massive gold candelabra, documents that seemed ancient and important and jewels of varying sizes.

The girl tried not to let Draco notice her astonishment, but it wasn't easy; her entire family could've lived for generations on only a fraction of what the vault contained. However, Draco had clearly noticed her shock--he sneered at her as he filled his pockets. After that, the boy approached some other objects in the room, and carefully chose three of them, putting them into the pocket of his cloak.

'Fine. We can go now,' he said to the goblin, who showed them the exit. When he closed the door, the goblin immediately gave the key back to Draco, before stepping into the trolley again.

'Malfoy, what are those thing you took?' she asked, sincerely curious.

'It's none of your business, Weas--er ... Ginny,' he snapped. They came out the dungeons, still upset from the quick trip, and made their way out of the bank.

'Good. Now, the second stage,' Draco muttered, starting once again to walk much too quickly. Ginny had to stop him once again to remind him that she couldn't walk that fast; he sighed and slowed down a bit.

But, suddenly, Ginny's heart sank as someone grabbed her shoulder. She turned around to see who it was and she met the accusing gaze of Cornelius Fudge. She felt the blood drain from her face.

'I thought I heard your voice, Miss Weasley. Or should I say ... Mrs. Potter?' the Minister asked as his face moved into the grimace that he used when he wanted to appear cheerful. In reality, Ginny mused, it made him look like a smirking pig.

'Miss Weasley, thank you very much,' she replied, cooler than ever. She had been Harry's girlfriend for two years now, but she absolutely hated it when people assumed things like that.

'I see. Why are you here with a stranger?' the Minister asked, gazing at Draco with interest. Ginny breathed a sigh of relief--Fudge didn't recognize Draco, after all. She tried desperately to think of a plausible answer while Draco was still, few steps in front of her, attentively observing the contents of a shop-window.

'N-no ... he's just ... to honest ... I,...' she stammered, her heart thumping madly in her chest. If Fudge suspected anything, not only Malfoy would be sent directly to Azkaban; they would all be in serious trouble for having assisted a wanted criminal.

'She was waiting for me,' said a voice, allowing Ginny's heart to calm down a bit. She was glad to see Remus Lupin's familiar face. Ginny gave him a brilliant smile. 'Please, Miss Weasley. If you keep smiling at me like that, I'll certainly envy Harry Potter for my entire life!' They both giggled. Fudge stared at them suspiciously.

'I thought,...' he said, eyeing Draco who kept staring at the window, shamming lack of interest.

'Who, Mr. Fudge? T-that man? Oh, I o-only asked him for the time,...' she retorted, and finally the Minister seemed to believe her.

'Well, have a nice day, Miss Weasley. Give my respects to Mr Potter. Lupin, I'll see you at the Ministry,' he said, setting out to leave. He waved to her politely, nodded to Lupin and left. Even after that, he continued to stare at Draco until he disappeared into the white walls of Gringotts. They all gave a sigh of relief.

'What on earth were you thinking? Going for a walk in Diagon Alley! Thank Merlin Harry sent Hedwig to me and asked me to keep an eye on you two, it could've ended up worse!' hissed Lupin as he followed them down the street.

'I wanted to go alone. I told Potter it wasn't a good idea to come here with her, but he insisted,' Draco replied, still shocked. Cornelius Fudge was the most pompous, nosy and foolish wizard he knew, and he was the last person he wanted to meet right now. And not only for the most obvious reason....

Since Lucius pleased him with huge donations to the Ministry of Magic, Fudge had been his best friend. But the second he got the chance to ruin Lucius, he immediately took it. The first time, when he had sent his father to Azkaban at the end of their fifth year at Hogwarts, Lucius had succeeded in gaining his trust back with money. The second time, however, no price would've been high enough to save his life. Which one could've it been, after all? thought Draco bitterly.

'You didn't have to come here, Malfoy. You're wanted,' said Lupin, breaking the thread of his thoughts. Draco looked at his former Professor and then walked straight to Madam Malkin's shop. He eyed the window and decided that he ought to buy two of the robes that were shown there. It was useless to order new robes, as he wouldn't have the chance to come back--Madam Malkin could call the Aurors before he'd return. No, he would have to take what was already available and be content with it. The green robe wasn't that bad and neither was the black one.

'I needed some decent clothes, and I had to go to some shops, Lupin. Now, please, give me the opportunity to buy my stuff before Fudge changes his mind,' Draco drawled, sending him a dry look and going into the shop, followed by Ginny.

Immediately, a short and friendly witch came closer, striding towards them. Then, she caught sight of their clothes and Ginny's hair and her smile died on her lips.

'Good Morning, sir and madam. Err ... if you're looking for the second-hand robe shop you're in the wrong place. You go out and head towards Gringotts, then--' she said. Ginny blushed to the roots of her hair. But nobody could blame Madam Malkin; doubtless the Weasleys never or rarely came into the shop. Madam Malkin's robes were astonishing ... but her prices were even more so.

'I'm not in the wrong place,' was Draco's curt reply. He glared at Madam Malkin aristocratically and pulled his hat off. The witch paled.

'M-Mr Malfoy ... Merlin ... I thought you were dead,' she muttered. Then she sat down on a chair close to her and fanned her face until it returned to its normal colour.

'Yes, you and the rest of the Wizarding world,' he replied, colder than before. The witch stood up and rubbed her hands, coming closer to him.

'I-I'm sorry for the terrible mistake. B-but I-I'm not used to--' she stammered, blushing. Draco approached one of the windows and beckoned for her to shut up.

'Please, don't waste my time. I want to try on those two robes, the green one and the black one.'

'But Mr. Malfoy! I'd never permit you to wear clothes that were not made exactly for your size ... I ...'

'I will repeat it one more time, and slowly. DO-NOT-WASTE-MY-TIME. You know perfectly well I can't come back.' Draco's glance would've melted an iceberg.

Madam Malkin recoiled slightly. Then she breathed deeply and began taking down the robes from the window display for him to try on.

In the end, it turned out that they were too long for him, but Madam Malkin told him that her assistant would fix them while he was still there. Draco allowed it, but he forced the girl to work where he could see her, and to hurry up. Waiting for it, he bought various clothes to wear under his robes, including some black jumpers. He didn't want Madam Malkin to leave the shop either--he couldn't take the risk that she might call the Aurors.

In the meantime, Ginny pretended to have come into the shop to look for a present for Ron, and she asked the prices of the hats. When she saw that Draco had almost finished his purchases she made as if to leave. Draco played the role of the wanted criminal with her too, and forced her to stay in the shop until he left, hoping that Madam Malkin wouldn't understand his trick.

The shopkeeper requested that a badge with the Malfoy crest was sewn onto his new cloak. Draco agreed, but only if the cloak could be made to be double-faced, so that he could wear it on the side without the badge showing.

When he had finally changed his clothes and was ready to go, he said goodbye to Madam Malkin and went out of the shop wearing his new hat to hide his face. The witch bowed at him profusely, which annoyed him greatly. Why should he have been annoyed by the fact that somebody respected him more than Ginny? He didn't understand why, but his insides burned when he noticed that the witch didn't even consider Ginny worthy of a glance. Since when did he care about the feelings of a Weasley?

'Where are you going now?' asked Lupin, breaking Draco from his thoughts for the second time that day. Ginny seemed to be relieved to be out the shop and, for once, Draco understood how was she feeling.

'I have to pay a visit to Ollivander's to clean up my wand. Then I'm going to go to the Eeylops Owl Emporium to buy some food for Hedwig. D'you want to follow us, Remus?' asked Ginny, smiling at her old Professor.

'I'm afraid not, unfortunately. I have to go,' replied Lupin. His glance was following someone who disappeared into the distance. 'Please try and not get yourselves into anymore trouble, okay?' He watched them leave before he briskly set of in the opposite direction.

They were almost opposite Gringotts, when Draco suddenly grabbed hold off Ginny's arm and dragged her down a dark alley on the left. She was about to ask what the hell was going on, when she bumped into a witch with a hooked nose and greasy hair who gave Ginny an evil sneer. She barely choked a scream.