Draco paused before he replied to her question, his mouth open slightly in surprise.
Amisty felt her eyes narrow as she watched him closely. When he caught her suspicious gaze, he forced his mouth to curl into a scoff when he was interrupted by his father.
"Let's go, Draco," Mr. Malfoy ordered, turning rather rudely away from the shop owner with a bag in his hand.
"Why would my owl concern you?" He sneered, the surprise gone and replaced with the usual mean expression.
"Just answer the question, Malfoy," She snarled back, annoyed with his evasion of her asking.
"Draco," Mr. Malfoy looked over his shoulder, his grey eyes just as cold as Draco's were usually.
The boy in question straightened his spine at the call of his father, and then it wasn't only his expression that had gone back to normal.
"Goodbye, River," He nodded stiffly, following after his father only a few steps behind as he left the shop.
She watched them go, wishing she could follow after them and find out what Mr. Malfoy had bought.
There wasn't any chance she could ask the shop owner, customer's business was their own, after all.
Draco, to her displeasure, took great care in making sure she couldn't get a clear view of his owl, carrying the cage on the side of his body she wasn't on.
He sent her a flirtatious sort of wink as he left, no doubt fooling the shop owner that he and her fancied each other.
She shuddered at the thought, ignoring the heat in her face. After exchanging goodbyes with the shop owner, she made her way over to Flourish and Blotts, where Harry was waiting outside, a pair of robes folded up in his arms.
She shoved her thoughts out of her mind. It just wasn't possible. Glancing over at the window, her eyes went wide at the sight of the books inside it.
They were the same title as the books Hagrid had sent them. The Monster Book of Monsters.
"You were at the Owl Emporium again, weren't you?" He grinned, opening the door to the book shop for her.
"Obviously," She laughed, shoving him lightly as she walked inside.
He followed after her, pulling out his booklist and scanning over it.
"Hogwarts? Come to get your new books?" The manager of the store hurried toward them, looking very disheveled.
"Yes. We need -- " Harry started, only for the manager to cut him off as he shoved past them, pulling on a pair of thick black gloves and picking up a walking stick.
Amisty understood the second he started heading toward the cage of Monster Books.
"Hang on, we've already got those," Harry protested quickly, holding out a hand to stop him.
"Have you? The two of you?" He asked, relief already flooding over his face after Amisty nodded. "Thank heavens for that. I've been bitten five times already this morning -- "
His voice was cut off by a loud tearing noise.
Amisty looked over at the cage, taking a tiny step back at the sight of two of the books trying to rip a third one in half.
The manager grabbed the walking stick yet again, poking it through the bars and knocking the books apart.
"Stop it! Stop it! I'm never stocking the again, never! It's been bedlam! I thought we'd seen the worst when we bought two hundred copies of the Invisible Book of Invisibility -- cost a fortune, and we never found them... Well... is there anything else I can help you with?" He asked, slightly breathless from his rant.
"Yes. We need Unfogging the Future by Cassandra Vablatsky," Harry replied, looking down at his list.
"Ah, starting Divination, are you?" He walked towards the back of the shop, the two of them following along, over to a table covered in fortune-telling books. He picked up two copies of the book they needed off a high shelf. "Here you are. Unfogging the Future. Very good guide to all you basic fortune-telling methods -- palmistry, crystal balls, bird entrails..."
As the manager rambled on, Amisty leaned over to Harry, whose eyes were fixated on a book somewhere else in the Divination corner.
"I'll be looking around. Could you grab my Transfiguration, Charms, and Potions books?" She asked quietly, nudging him with her shoulder.
"Yeah, sure," He replied, still distracted by whatever he was staring at.
So, she left the manager off to his rambling, Harry to his daze, and wandered off further into the store.
Occasionally picking books that she needed for her classes that Harry didn't need, she looked for a copy of The Magic of Wolves.
Her search went nowhere.
She scoured the shelves, newest releases and the oldest copies of ancient books Hermione would die for.
She asked assistants, they hadn't even heard of the title.
There was nothing there. It was as if the book didn't even exist outside of the Hogwarts library.
With a heavy sigh of defeat, she rejoined Harry, who was waiting at the outside of the shop.
After a quick debate between the two of them, she managed to shove a few sickles into his hands to pay for the books he had gotten for her, and they headed back to the Leaky Cauldron.
"See you at dinner, Harry," She waved from outside her room, closing the door with a soft click behind her.
That was when the crushing weight of her possible discovery slammed down on her.
Draco's owl looked just like the owl the mysterious penpal owned... and that terrified her.
Because what were the chances of the owl not being his.
Yes, eagle owls do look very similar, but his hesitation, his need to keep her from seeing it.
There were too many things that didn't add up. And her penpal being Draco Malfoy? Not only had she loved writing with him, her friends would kill her knowing she had been writing him.
What would she even do if he was?
-=+=-
Her time spent at Diagon Alley flew by, with Harry and her constantly on the lookout for Hermione and Ron.
It wasn't until the last day of their holiday when they managed to see them.
Harry had gone to go look at the Firebolt for the last time as Amisty finished up her last of her homework outside of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, when she felt a pair of arms encircle her.
She spun around, a grin spreading across her face and her eyes widening at the sight of them. It was Hermione who hugged her, very tan, and Ron was there as well, covered in more freckles than usual.
"I thought I wouldn't see you two until the train!" Amisty exclaimed, hugging Hermione back and jabbing Ron with her elbow.
"It's nice to see you too, Amisty," Ron rolled his eyes, jabbing her back with his own arm. "Where's Harry?"
"Obsessing over the Firebolt, per usual," She shrugged, closing her books and pointing with her chin to the Quidditch shop.
"Harry! HARRY!" Ron shouted, waving him over.
A broad smile appearing on his face at the sight of them. He hurried over, pulling out his chair between Ron and Amisty.
"Finally! We went to the Leaky Cauldron, but they said you'd left, and we went to Flourish and Blotts, and Madam Malkin's, and -- " Ron started.
"I got all my school stuff last week. And how come you knew we're staying at the Leaky Cauldron?" Harry asked, interrupting him.
"Dad," Ron replied simply, shrugging. It made sense, Mr. Weasley did work for the Ministry of Magic, after all.
"Did you really blow up your aunt, Harry?" Hermione asked, her smile fading a bit and her voice gaining it's usual scolding tone.
Ron nearly fell out of his seat, he was laughing so hard.
"I didn't meant to. I just -- lost control," Harry replied defensively, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.
Amisty hid her laughter with her hand, turning away from them.
"It's not funny, Ron. Honestly, I'm amazed Harry wasn't expelled," Hermione snapped, shaking her head.
Brushing back a strand of hair that had come free, Amisty took a deep breath and turned back to them.
"So am I. Forget expelled, I thought I was going to be arrested. Your dad doesn't know why Fudge let me off, does he?" Harry asked, looking to Ron, who had sobered up as well.
Almost.
"Probably 'cause it's you, isn't it? Famous Harry Potter and all that. I'd hate to see what the Ministry'd do to me if I blew up an aunt. Mind you, they'd have to dig me up first, because Mum wouldn't killed me. Anyway, you can ask Dad yourself this evening. We're staying at the Leaky Cauldron tonight too! So you can come to King's Cross with us tomorrow! Hermione's there as well!" Ron replied, chuckling.
"You'll be staying there as well?" Amisty asked, her eyes glowing with excitement.
"Mum and Dad dropped me off this morning with all my Hogwarts things," She nodded, smiling brightly.
"We could share rooms if you want," Amisty suggested, leaning closer so the boys couldn't hear her. "I don't think you want to hear whatever Fred and George are scheming next door."
"I'd love to," Hermione grinned, looking just as excited as her friend.
Their attention was diverted as Ron pulled out a box from a bag.
"Look at this. Brand-new wand. Fourteen inches, willow, containing one unicorn tail-hair. And we've got all our books -- What about those Monster Books, eh? The assistant nearly cried when we said we wanted two," He gestured to a bag underneath his chair after showing them his new wand.
"What's all that, Hermione?" Harry asked, pointing at the three bags sitting next to her.
She glanced over at them, shrugging.
"Well, I'm taking more new subjects than you, aren't I? Those are my books for Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, Study of Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies -- " She listed off her classes on her fingers.
"What are you doing Muggle Studies for? You're Muggle-born! Your mum and dad are Muffles! You already know all about Muggles!" Ron protested.
"But it'll be fascinating to study them from the Wizarding point of view," Hermione replied honestly.
"Are you planning to eat or sleep at all this year, Hermione?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.
She ignored them, but Amisty kicked them both under the table with a sweet smile as they started sniggering.
"I've still got ten Galleons. It's my birthday in September, and Mum and Dad gave me some money to get myself an early birthday present," The brunette rummaged through her purse, the cheerful jingling of coins following her movements.
"How about a nice book?" Ron asked innocently, his mouth quirking up into another smile.
"No, I don't think so. I really want an owl. I mean, Harry's got Hedwig, Amisty's got Echo, and you've got Errol -- " She began, undaunted by his teasing.
"I haven't. Errol's a family owl. All I've got is Scabbers. And I want to get him checked over. I don't think Egypt agreed with him," Ron cut her off, placing the rat on the table.
His words weren't wrong, Scabbers did look thinner and it seemed as if his fur had gotten even duller.
A feat of its own.
"There's a magical creature shop just over there. You could see if they've got anything for Scabbers, and Hermione can get her owl," Harry nodded down the walkway.
Amisty was slightly relieved as she hadn't been back to the Owl Emporium ever since the strange encounter with Draco.
That was something she would definitely need to talk to Hermione about. They all nodded in agreement, so they paid for the ice cream they had ordered and walked over to the Magical Menagerie.
"So how has your summer been so far?" Hermione asked as they walked, the two of them trailing just behind the boys. "Any letters I should know about?"
"Hermione, do you think we could talk about that later?" Amisty replied softly, just the simple act of thinking of it made her brain dysfunctional.
"Did something go wrong?" Hermione's eyes darkened with concern as she looked sideways at her friend.
"It's just... I'd rather tell you in private rather than letting those two hear anything. I've got an idea of who the writer is and, well, I don't think they would appreciate hearing it," She explained quickly.
"Well, alright. I'm sure it's not that bad, Amisty, but we can talk about it later if you need to," Hermione nodded hesitantly, and they entered the store.
"Thank you."