The girls went back to Pansy's room after dinner and got in their pajamas, all the while y/n was thinking about the tattoo on Mr Parkinson's arm. She didn't know much about the Dark Mark. She didn't want to. She never wanted to have it near her. She didn't want the mark of the wizarding world's greatest villain anywhere near her, nor her friends and family.
After a long night of games and lots of giggling, the girls finally all settled in Pansy's massive four poster with room to spare, and started talking. After a while, y/n couldn't help but ask Pansy about her father.
"Pansy, your dad, he has the Dark Mark, doesn't he?"
Both the girls stopped chatting and turned to her.
"Is that why you've been so quiet? Yeah, he has. Got it before I was born. Can't remove them. Dad says he would if he could, but I don't really believe him. He's always talking about how the world would be a much better place without muggles and the problems they cause. If You-Know-Who came back, I think my father would go to him again," Pansy said simply, as if discussing the weather.
"Doesn't that bother you," Sarah asked.
"It did. When I was little, I was so scared of that tattoo that Mum made Dad wear long sleeves whenever I was around. I wouldn't let him pick me up otherwise." Pansy laughed at the memory.
"So...What happened?" y/n asked.
"I got used to it. Dad meets with his old Death Eater friends all the time. Especially Lucius Malfoy, Draco's dad. It doesn't bother me because nothing I can do will stop him from rejoining if the Dark Lord returns." Pansy seemed sad. Y/N suspected she had never told this to anyone. Not even her parents. Y/N knew Pansy didn't like to feel vulnerable.
"Well, then I guess it's a good thing he died trying to kill Harry Potter then, hm," y/n asked, taking Pansy's hand.
"How do you know so much about our world, y/n? Since you're muggle born, didn't you grow up knowing nothing about us?" Sarah changed the subject easily, and with that the girls drifted off into quiet conversation until they had all fallen asleep.
The next morning was a blur as everyone sped to get ready. Y/N was told they were in the Minister's Box and wouldn't have much need for coats, but to bring them anyway. So all the girls struggled into their clothes, shoveled down their breakfast, and sped out to meet Pansy's parents, bundled up in very nice looking robes, with Lorddie the House Elf standing at Mr Parkinson's side.
"Good morning girls," Mrs Parkinson greeted them happily. "Are you ready to go?"
The girls all nodded.
"Well then, hurry up. We don't have all day." Mr Parkinson sounded bored and annoyed as he held out his right arm for his wife to take, while Lorddie took his left. Then, Sarah and Pansy linked arms before Pansy grabbed her mother's. Unsure, y/n grabbed Sarah's elbow.
Suddenly, y/n was shoved through a tiny space, squishing her body through a narrow tube before she felt solid ground again. Her stomach spun and flipped but she didn't allow herself to vomit.
When y/n looked up she recognized the Leaky Cauldron in front of her. She looked at Pansy, opening her mouth to speak, but Pansy knew what she wanted to ask.
"That as Apparating. Takes some getting used to. And the match isn't until tonight, so we always spend the day shopping in Diagon Alley before we meet the Minster and Draco's family."
"Draco's family," y/n asked.
"Yeah, London hosts a match every New Year's and it's tradition for both our families to go watch. Didn't he tell you? I thought he would have." Pansy looked just as shocked as y/n felt at the fact that Draco hadn't told her. He knew they were meeting Pansy. The girls had talked about it for days before the holiday.
"Pansy, darling. What are the rules?" Mrs Parkinson asked, turning toward the girls.
"Meet at Borgin and Burkes at five, anything we buy goes on the tab, and don't talk to anyone we don't know."
"Good girl. See you at five. Sharp." Mrs Parkinson kissed Pansy's forehead before taking her husbands arm and walking away.
Pansy turned to Lorddie. "You're dismissed. Go home."
With a crack, Lorddie vanished. When he was gone, Pansy turned excitedly to the girls.
"Where should we go first?"
"The Ice Cream Parlor! I love their Strawberry and Peanut-Butter ice cream," Sarah exclaimed, excitedly jumping up and down.
"Then we can go to the joke shop! How does that sound, y/n?"
"Whatever you guys want sounds great."
Pansy scrunched her nose. "I have no idea why you were put in Slytherin, y/n, but it surely wasn't because you act like one. Good thing you were, though. I don't think I would have been friends with you or even been nice to you at all otherwise."
Y/N just laughed.
"Come on," Sarah said impatiently, pulling both girls by the elbows to Florean's.
The girls giggled as they ran toward the ice cream parlor, y/n apologizing to other witches and wizards as they passed. When the girls got there, y/n was amazed to see many more flavors than had ever been in any muggle shop. Y/N wanted to try Dragon's Blood or Unicorn Tracks, but stood back so her friend could order. She hadn't brought any money.
"Y/N, want do you want?" Pansy turned to her with a large cone of Pixie Praline.
"I'm not getting anything."
"What? Why not," Sarah asked, Strawberry and Peanut-Butter bowl in hand.
"I didn't bring any money," y/n said sadly.
"Don't be silly," Pansy giggled. "I'm paying! Or, rather, Father is. He won't mind. I always spoil my friends when I take them to the match. Get whatever you like!"
"I couldn't! I don't--"
"Oh, com on y/n! Don't be so stubborn! Just pick a flavor," Sarah exclaimed, pushing y/n up to the glass casing of ice cream.
"Okay fine," y/n giggled before turning to the server. "Unicorn Tracks please. Small."
"Small?! I'm paying for your ice cream, which we had to practically force you to order, and you're going to get a small? You are the strangest Slytherin I have ever met." Pansy laughed.
The girls took their ice cream to one of the small tables by the window, watching others pass in the cold outside as they ate.
When they finished with their ice cream, the girls ran over to the Joke shop next door. Everything inside made y/n's jaw drop. The shop was full of people buying all sorts of magical pranks and gags. Y/N had no idea where to look.
The girls spent the better part of the day in the joke shop trying out pranks on each other. By the time they left it was nearly two o'clock, and the girls were getting hungry. Deciding to go back across the alley to get lunch at the Leaky cauldron, y/n saw a familiar face and gasped.
"What? What's wrong?" Pansy asked, looking around before she spotted the cause of y/n's excitement. "Is that Draco going into Madame Malkin's?"
"Yeah! I have an idea!" Y/N pulled the girls through the crowded street to the robes shop before turning and showing them her finger at her lips. Both girls nod before y/n walked up to the doorway Draco is standing in.
"Can you move out of the way," y/n said in the snarkiest voice she could muster.
Draco turned with a scowl on his face before he saw who it was. His face immediately brightened.
"Can you be a bit nicer? I guess I must have missed it, but I didn't think you owned the alley," Draco said, copying y/n's words from the day they met.
"Hi Draco!" Y/N leapt into a hug, squeezing Draco as if she hadn't seen him in months.
"Hi y/n," Draco said into y/n's neck. They released each other after a moment. "Hi Pansy. Hi Sarah." The girls waved. Pansy was paying attention to Draco, but Sarah was looking at y/n smugly.
"What?" y/n mouthed, raising her brow. Sarah just laughed and shook her head.
The four went to get lunch after their reunion, catching each other up as they ate. When they were done, the group walked through the alley, going to Quality Quidditch Supplies where a group of first years like them were gawking at a Nimbus 2000, and going to the Magical Menagerie to look at all the many crazy, magical creatures.
By the time the group decided to head to Borgin and Burkes to meet both Pansy's and Draco's parents, everyone was set for the next few weeks with a cauldron load of candy each and many trinkets for the match. One including y/n's brand new pair of Omnioculars which she intended to use to get a play-by-play of that night's match.
As the group turned on to Knockturn Alley, they were greeted by an entirely different atmosphere. All around them, very scary looking witches and wizards skulked about, either shopping or just watching people walk around.
Up ahead, y/n saw a terrifying wizard looking straight at her. He looked like a hermit and seemed to live where he stood, as there was a pile of clothing and blankets lying at his feet. Y/N, immensely creeped out by the man's intense stare, grabbed Draco's hand and pulled him closer to Pansy and Sarah who were leading the group. When she felt safe again she looked for the man, and he had disappeared. The only thing that marked he had ever been there at all was his dirty pile of clothes. Nonetheless, y/n did not let go of Draco's hand.
As the group got closer and closer to the spot the man stood, y/n's unease grew. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't turn back, because both the Parkinsons and the Malfoys were waiting in Borgin and Burkes, but everything inside her was telling her to run.
"Don't worry," Draco whispered in her ear, sensing her fear. "Borgin and Burkes is right around that corner."
Y/N took a deep breath and nodded, squeezing Draco's hand even harder to keep herself steady. Relief swelled through her as they turned the corner, but was stifled immediately.
Y/N yelped as the terrifying man popped in front of her, separating her and Draco from Pansy and Sarah who had broken into a dead sprint toward the shop. Draco jumped back and tried to pull y/n with him, but the wizard had grabbed her collar and pulled her close to his face. Everything stunk this close to the wizard, but y/n was to terrified to care.
"This is a scary place for a pretty girl like you to be roamin' about without an adult," the man said in a thick Cockney accent, grinning wickedly as he reached a long, bony finger out to stroke y/n's cheek. She shuttered at the thought of this man touching her any more, but she didn't have to experience the feel of his grimy fingers.
Draco slapped the man's hand away from y/n's face before it could touch her and elbowed him hard in the forearm. Hard enough to break the wizards arm. He yelped, releasing y/n.
Draco immediately pulled her behind him and scowled at the man.
"Stupid boy! You could have broken me arm!" The man rubbed the already forming bruise, turning on Draco.
"Do you know who I am?" Draco looked furious. His face was bright red and he was glaring with all the flaming intensity of the sun.
"Why would I--"
The man paused before squinting at Draco.
"Are you a Malfoy, boy?"
"He is! And so am I! So I suggest you back away from them before you are banished from the alley and have to sleep on the streets with muggles for the rest of your miserable life!"
The wizard spun to face Lucius Malfoy. Behind him was who y/n assumed to be Draco's mother, Mr and Mrs Parkinson, Pansy, and Sarah, a growing crowd forming to watch the confrontation.
"And what power do you have to banish me," the dirty man asked as Draco gently tugged y/n to where his mother stood, who put a protective arm around both of them. Neither of them had let go of each other.
"He might not have the power, but I most certainly do!" A man emerged from the crowd, causing a number of gasps and exclamations. A grey haired, portly little man with a lime green bowler hat stepped out of the crowd. "I assume you know you I am."
It wasn't a question, but the wizard answered nonetheless. "Yes, Minister."
So this was Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic. Y/N, of course, had read all about him, but never met him in person.
"Well, then you know that I do, in fact, have the power to banish you from the alley."
"Yes, sir," the man spat, incredibly disrespectful.
"Good. If I ever hear or see you again, you will be arrested. I don't care what you're doing. You're lucky I don't send you to Azkaban now. Leave."
The evil wizard sneered at the Minister before he disappeared with a loud crack.
"Are you two alright?" Draco's mother looked at them with very concerned looks. Y/N felt comforted just by listening to her soft, maternal voice.
Y/N shook with pure terror, unable to respond. Draco looked at her for a moment before he tenderly pulled her into a hug, surprising both his mother and father. The crowd dispersed around them as Mrs Parkinson and Sarah tried to calm a bawling Pansy and the men started to talk with the Minister. Only Mrs Malfoy didn't move still keeping her hands on both of their shoulders, a ferociously protective look on her face as her eyes darted about, studying the alley.
When Draco pulled back, he grabbed y/n's hand again and looked her in the eye. "Are you alright?"
Y/N took a minute to respond so her answer would be honest. "Now I am. Thanks for protecting me, Draco."
Draco grinned kindly. "Don't mention it."
"We should get inside before the any of the press find out the Minister for Magic is here," Mrs Malfoy muttered to them.
As if on cue, a journalist Apparated onto the alley about a hundred feet away, looking around frantically before spotting the Minister.
As the group was rushed away and hidden inside a now locked Borgin and Burkes, y/n and Draco stayed together, walking hand in hand.