LANDSLIDE, james potter [2]

Chapter Forty-One

The summer was passing too quickly. Soon Draco would go back to Hogwarts and be faced with his task to kill Albus Dumbledore. He had barely shared anything with her about what his plans were and she was getting worried. He'd gone off on own with Bellatrix a few too many times and he'd come back white as a sheet. 

But, no matter how focused both Bellatrix and Draco wanted him to be on his task, Lyra made sure that he would be prepared to go through with his school work. She needed him to get an education because she still had hope that the Order of the Phoenix would win the approaching war. She needed Draco to have a future if that happened. Unlike Rabastan, who dropped out of school before their seventh year. 

She had forced Draco to go shopping for books, potions ingredients and new school robes for him. He had seemed to grow half a foot over the summer, which she didn't understand. He was supposed to be her little boy, not some tall man. Then again, the Dark Mark on his arm served as a cruel reminder of the fact that he was almost an adult. In only a year, he would legally be an adult, too. 

Draco had wanted to do his shopping alone, but Lyra had a feeling that he didn't want her with him so he could do something behind her back. She wanted to know where he was at with his task, to have control over what was going on. He seemed to have other plans, though. 

But she put her foot down, saying that he wasn't going to go wandering around Diagon Alley on his own. Something, anything, could happen the way the political climate was in the Wizarding World. She wanted them to stick together. 

They had finally managed to find their way into Madam Malkin's, where Madam Malkin herself was making sure Draco's new robes fit him perfectly so he wouldn't struggle with them throughout the school year. It wasn't as if he knew how to sow or hem it if wouldn't fit later. 

That didn't mean that Draco wouldn't be complaining the whole time they were out of shopping. He was quite obviously his father's son sometimes. "I'm not a child, in case you haven't noticed, Mother. I am perfectly capable of doing my shopping alone."

Lyra rolled her eyes, not even bothering to dignify that with a response as she had spent the entire day arguing with him about this. She found herself checking out some new dress robes Madam Malkin had recommened to her as Draco was fitted. 

Madam Malkin seemed to be backing Lyra up, though it was probably only because of the dress shop owner's concerns and nervousness for her own safety in these troubling times shining through. "Now, dear, your mother's quite right, none of us is supposed to go wandering around on our own anymore. It's nothing to do with being a child-"

"Watch where you're sticking that pin, will you?" Draco snapped at the owner of the establishment, mostly because he didn't want her to encourage his mother to put herself in harm's way by following him around everywhere. He needed to find a way to get her away for a while. 

The blond boy pursed his lips and walked to the closest mirror, examining himself in his new, green robes. In the mirror, he could see three people he didn't want to see walking in to get their own robes. "If you're wondering what the smell is, Mother, a mudblood just walked in."

"Draco!" a scolding voice called out from behind the racks. Lyra hurried out to see what was going on and why he would go around saying such foul words in public. He rarely said them around her anyway, but definitely not a lot amongst people as far as she knew. 

Madam Malkin hurried out from behind the racks, watching the situation unfolding. She didn't have time for that sort of thing to happen in her store "I don't think there's any need for language like that! And I don't want wands drawn in my shop either!"

Because there stood Harry Potter and Ron Weasley with their wands drawn, pointed at a smug-faced Draco, who didn't seem bothered at all that they looked like they were going to curse him. Hermione Granger stood next to them, an obvious black eye on her face, and whispered to them. "No, don't. Honestly, it's not worth it."