Chương 8: Diagon Alley

As they stepped out of Gringots, Holly was carrying a small magic bag that Draco had given to her for carrying money. Inside it, Holly had Two-hundred thirty Galleons. Two-hundred for this one time to help her get settled in, and thirty for her once a month withdrawal.

Holly had found the carts that they'd ridden in to be quite exciting, and regretted that she'd only get to try them once a month! Draco thought that she may have been becoming an adrnaline junky. Draco actually found it to be rather adorable, and looked forward to how excited she'd be to get on a later today..

Draco chuckled and took her hand "People don't know what you look like, but they do know your name, so as long as you don't tell them, and you keep your scar hidden, everything should be fine" Draco quietly advised Holly and looked across the street at the Daily Prophet, which was next to the entrance to Noctourne Alley "You'll want to avoid Noctourne Alley and the Daily Prophet if you want to stay safe." he indicated each place and saw Holly nod in understanding.

"Good." Draco chuckled and headed over to Madam Malkin's robes for all occasions "We'll use my name when you purchase the clothes" he told Holly before leading her inside by the hand. It seemed only fitting that this should be their first destination after Gringott's, considering this was the place he should have met Holly, if he hadn't gone out of his way to rescue her. Of course, he could never be the Draco that he had read about in those books, so he was trying to establish a very different relationship with Holly here.

Madam Malkin was a short elder woman dressed all in purple who had a very friendly as she approached Draco and Holly "My, aren't you two just the cutest." she chuckled "Welome to my shop. How may I assist you?"

"My name's Draco Malfoy. My companion here just moved and needs a Fresh Wardrobe. Lets say that our budget here is 100 Galleons for clothes, including the things she wont be wanting me around for when she tells you about them, so I'll step out for a bit," Draco offered.

Even saying that much was embarrassing enough, Holly thought, but at least she was relieved that she'd only be talking about it to a woman, even though Draco had still eluded to it.

Draco left the shop and headed down the street to Florian Fortesque's Ice Cream. There was a bit of line, but Draco was finally able to buy two Ice Cream Sundaes once he got through it, and carried them back to Madam Malkim's.

Draco entered and went to a waiting table, and was soon joined by a very happy-looking Holly. When he slid one of the colorful sundae's across the table, Holly almost blurted out something embarrassing. Fortunately, she caught herself and only blushed with embarrassment and took her spoon to begin eating her sundae while Draco started eating his "did you sort out your clothing concerns? Feel a bit better?" Draco asked.

"Yes. A lot better." Holly admitted "This is amazing." the flavor of the Sundae was bringing tears to her eyes out of happiness.

"I thought I should actually pay to treat you to something today." Draco pointed out with a chuckle.

Holly looked confused "But, you gave me 230 galleons." she pointed out.

"As much as I enjoy your gratitude for that and all, it's not actually my money. It belongs to your godfather." Draco admitted to her "I am able to manage it, but cannot use it for myself. The paper I showed the goblins at Gringotts proved that he was your godfather, so I can authorize the use the it to help you."

"I have a godfather?" Holly asked with surprise.

"Yes, his name is Sirius Black. He's also my uncle." Draco told her matter-of-factly "He can't help you because he's in prison, and while I cannot prove it, I believe him to be wrongly convicted." he certainly couldn't tell her how he knew that though. "He does not get along with my parents, which is part of why I am hiding this from them. I am trying to do what I think that Uncle Sirius would want me to do for you. My parents would have their own ideas if they knew, and would seek to make you feel indebted to them and use you. Since I don't want you to feel like I am using you, I'd rather help you a bit in secret. I expect nothing in exchange, though my parents would."

Holly was stunned by this information "If he's innocent, why is he still in prison?"

Draco tsked, kinda relieved that she focused in on that rather then what he'd said about his parents "Uncle Sirius never got a trial to begin with. It was right after Voldemort was defeated, and the allegations against him were so severe that the Ministry locked him up and threw away the key, to use an analogy. Never questioned the facts, never investigated further, they just concluded 'the truth' of things based on hear-say. The magical world still has problems, there are still injustices, but all we can do is our best and hope things sort themselves out in due time."

"If you are right, then..." Holly looked saddened.

"If Sirius was free, he likely would have raised you, Yes." Draco admitted to Holly "He was a true gryffindor, despite being from a family of Slytherins. He never would have betrayed your parents. Everything I know about him tells me that much. There is more to it then we know. Since there was never a proper investigation, we can only guess."

"Betray....?" Holly asked, stopping eating her Sundae and having a serious expression.

"I can only speculate, but I think the one that betrayed you and your parents was Peter Pettigrew. He was tagalong. Your father, my uncle, and two others were always together throughout Hogwarts. Three were similar, handsome, smart, talented and popular, and then their was Peter Pettigrew." Draco told Holly "Peter Petigrew was a Hat-stall, for a long time the sorting hat couldn't decide where to place him. It ended up putting him into Gryffindor in the end, but not because he had bravery. In fact, Peter Petigrew was a pathetic guy that did not embody a single virtue aspired too by a single house. He lacked Loyalty and Intelligence were immediately ruled out. The hat had a 50-50 shot between Gryffindor and Sltherin in the end."

"A hat?" Holly seemed confused by his explanation.

Draco chuckled a bit "When your parents used the fidelius charm to hide away, everyone assumed that Uncle Sirius would be the secret keeper, but that meant your parents enemies were definitely going to be after him to get to them. I suspect that Pettigrew was the true secret keeper, because he was so invisible and no one thought that the Potters enemies would go after someone so insignificant."

"What happened to this Peter Pettigrew?" Holly asked, trying to control the rage that was growing within her.

"Officially, the Ministry says he is dead, that my uncle, your godfather, killed him, but since their wasn't a proper investigation I cannot be certain. All I know is that they only found his finger." Draco concluded and resumed eating his own Sundae.

"Th-thanks for letting me know." Holly said to Draco, since she had no idea how her parents had actually died.

After hearing Draco's explanation, Holly had decided that Draco was probably right, that Peter Pettigrew betrayed her parents and got them killed, but that her godfather had killed Pettigrew and avenged her mom and dad. She still wanted to clear her godfathers name from betraying her parents, but wasn't sure how to do it yet.

Once they finished the Sundae's, Draco put the bowls and spoons into his inventory to return to the Ice Cream Parlor later, and he got up and grabbed Holly's hand and pulled her up to her feet "We can return in a bit when your clothing is ready. There is one more place you need to see."

Draco had a huge grin as he led her out of the shop and passed numerous shops, telling her what each was, before getting to his final destination, 'Quality Quidditch Supplies'.

"This will probably be your favorite store in all of Diagon Alley." Draco told Holly boldly while leading her inside.

Holly was a bit perplexed at first as she looked around the store "Your father was a seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, so I suspect that you were also born to fly. We're going to get you a new broom, lets go with a Cleansweep 220." Draco suggested to her "The best on the market right now is the Cleansweep 260, but I have it on good authority that the Nimbus Company is releasing a broom in the next two years that will put the 260 to shame." Draco explained to her "Since you are going to want to upgrade brooms then, anyway, you may as well save a little money now and get the older model to learn with."

The aspiring adrenaline junky that was Holly already had an expression of awe and reverence towards Draco at the mention of her being able to fly. Holly nodded in agreement, very enthusiastically.

Draco chuckled and picked out a broom and had her select some other quidditch equipment. As Draco had guessed, she was thoroughly hooked and made Draco promise to take her out flying some time, which he was going to do anyway.

By the time they finished shopping for Quidditch equipment and went back to get the clothes Madam Malkin had prepared for her, Holly only had a bit over 23 Galleons left of her original 230. Draco took her for a tour of other shops, but after the Quidditch store, the level of excitement wasn't remotely on the same level, just like Draco expected, though she still had fun.

Holly felt that she had a really great day, and by the time Draco brought her home, her heart was beating wildly. Holy wasn't sure what it meant, but it felt really good. Then she realized something that made her blush.

More then anything else she'd done with Draco, or anyone else before, wasn't this very much like what a date was supposed to be like? Draco noticed her blushing but didn't comment, instead helping her to unpack her Quidditch Equipment, figuring she'd be too embarrassed if he helped to unpack her clothes.

"Th-thank you for today." Holly managed to say when the time came for him to finally leave and he was headed to the fireplace.

Draco turned back towards her, offered a charming smile then stepped up and hugged her "I had a great day as well, so it's fine." he kissed her cheek and then let go of her to grab some floo powder and entered the fireplace "Malfoy manor."

After dropping the powder, Draco was gone a moment later, and Holly put her hand over her heart "Why is it beating so fast?"