First Bite

Narcissa had always loved shopping and getting the chance to outfit a young Heir with everything he needed from the bottom up was both fun and a challenge she welcomed. That she could be of service to Heir Potter, Hadrian, in this way calmed something inside her that had been full of spikes since he had given her that betrayed look. She knew that she should think more about that, worry more about that, but she didn’t. She couldn’t. It didn’t matter. And that too, was worrying, far, far back in the back of her head, behind her Occlumency shields.

They began with a trunk, as to have something easily on hand to put his new wardrobe away in. She could always shrink Hadrian’s purchases, but as neither he nor Regent Potter could use magic at this point in time, a trunk would be far easier to handle.

“My family, the Blacks, have always gotten our school and travel trunks from Hollander’s Quality Trunks,” Narcissa said before stopping in front of the door. “We usually get two. One simpler one while we are children, that one is supposed to last until our O.W.L. year when we get another, bigger and more kitted out trunk. I still use my O.W.L. trunk when I travel. The quality of his work is second to none and you get a lifetime guarantee.”

Regent Potter looked at Hadrian. “You are soon to be thirteen and there is only two years before you O.W.L. year, would you like a better and bigger trunk now, or would you like a more rudimentary one now and a bigger one later?”

The child hesitated. “It seems a bit … silly … to only have a trunk for two years. Maybe we could look at both kinds first?”

Regent Potter nodded and they went in. Mister Hollander was as gracious and as helpful as he always was, and he of course didn’t react to Harry Potter in his shop at all. He showed them the simpler trunks first, trunks that Hadrian could get with three, seven and nine different compartments, including a library compartment.

Then he showed them the more kitted out trunks that could be made into a big wardrobe that could stand in a room, a big writing desk, with a chair of the costumer’s choice, naturally, a big cabinet that would fit all school supplies, including several cauldrons and potions kits and a telescope. There were also three big bookshelves with more space than seemed likely, a safety compartment that could withstand anyone but a very well-versed Curse Breaker, that could also hold people alive and safe if a truly dangerous situation happened. At last, there was the choice of a potion brewing station, a rune carving station or a small kitchenette with a cooling cupboard, a functioning sink and heating plates, or you could get all three, of course. All three was fully, if basically, stocked with appliances, dishes, silverware, caldrons, stirring rods, carving tools, and so on.

“We do also sell apartment trunks,” Mister Hollander said, “but school aged children seldom want those.”

Hadrian looked up at his aunt with big, and a bit confused, eyes.

“Personally, I would choose the more kitted out trunk,” Regent Potter said. “The first type of trunk isn’t bad, at all, but I liked the second better, and the third … If you become an avid traveller later, then you should absolutely take a look at those, but before that, such a trunk seems a bit excessive. Unless you want one, of course. It seems like it can double as a school trunk, too, you don’t have to go down in the trunk to get a pair of socks …” She read on the brochure and then looked up at Mister Hollander.

“No, indeed, you can access everything in the apartment trunk as if it was a normal trunk with different compartments, unless it’s on a table or the floor or similar, it needs to be put away for you to access it from the outside.”

Regent Potter nodded at that and looked at Hadrian again, who gave a long look to the apartment trunks on display before turning towards the second option.

“Isn’t it dangerous to brew without supervision?” he asked Mister Hollander while tapping the rune on the display trunk and brought up the potion station.

“It can be, yes, so don’t brew something that you aren’t sure of without supervision, Heir Potter,” Mister Hollander nodded. “But both the potion station and the rune station have wards to keep mishaps inside the wards, so you just have to get out of them if something should happen.” He pointed at the rune sequences that made up the safety wards and Regent Potter nodded.

“I should probably choose the potion station, if I practice enough maybe Professor Snape will actually stop terrorizing me.”

Narcissa felt herself blanch at the ice-cold hatred that she could practically feel spilling from Regent Potter. The woman knelt in front of the boy and looked him in the eye. The blue eyes were cold as ice, but her touch on his shoulders were so very careful.

“Harry, darling, listen to me. If a teacher, or anyone else, treats you in a way that makes you feel terrorized, or just simply bad or sad, you tell me, and I will take care of them. Lily would have done it without hesitation. She would have brought the roof down on their heads, while James would have sued them into oblivion, so I will do so in their stead. You do not make this choice, or any other choice, because of fear, but because you wish it. Do you understand?”

Hadrian nodded slowly, but Narcissa was uncertain if he really meant it. She feared that the child had had far too much distress, fear and terror in his life to think of it as anything but normal. Just the fact that he mentioned a basilisk like it was a normal thing to see, in a school, or at all! Much less normal for a twelve-year-old to kill such a monster. 

“So, are you able to decide what kind of trunk you want?” Regent Potter asked.

Hadrian looked down. “I want to get better at potions, but I have also read those two rune books you bought me, and I really liked them, and I think I will really like runes. And Arithmancy, that was strangely easy. Ron talked about it like it should be incredibly hard.”

“It will become harder, I’m sure,” Regent Potter said drily. “But you are good at Maths, and that helps a lot. Even more, you like Maths, and that is important. You want both the potion station and the rune station in your trunk?”

Hadrian nodded and looked cautiously at her. “Having the opportunity to make my own food would be great, though,” he whispered.

Regent Potter swallowed hard and nodded decisively. “Of course, darling, of course. The brochure said that you could get an oven too, would you like that? Or are just heat plates alright?”

“I actually like baking,” he whispered without looking up.

Narcissa was almost certain that Regent Potter was fighting tears by now.

Regent Potter cleared her throat. “Then you will get a trunk with all three options, in addition to all the compartments.” She got to her feet and looked at Mister Hollander, who nodded and began to set up the trunk immediately while asking Hadrian for the specifications he offered as a part of the package, like colours, insignia, what kind of security he wanted for the different compartments and so on.

“Lady Malfoy,” Hadrian asked and looked wearily up at her.

“Yes, Hadrian?”

“Aunt Cassia told me that the Potter colours is a deep maroon and gold, and I have asked to get that colour on the inside of my trunk, but it feels like too much to have on the outside. But my last name is Potter-Black, even though I don’t know why or how, and you said that your last name is Black Malfoy, do you know the Black colours by any chance?”

“Yes, it’s black and a deep royal blue, our insignia is always in silver.”

“And do you know if I can, or should, use both the Potter and the Black insignia on my trunk?”

“As your last name is Potter-Black, you should definitely use both, side by side. You don’t have to use both, or any, but it would be best with both if you use any of them.”

“Thank you,” he nodded at her before hesitatingly telling Mister Hollander that he wanted the trunk to be black with the Potter and Black insignia on the lid in gold and silver, respectively. The handles, nails and reinforced corners would be in a gleaming silver.

They left the shop half an hour later with the trunk shrunken in Hadrian’s pocket. They had only gone a few steps out of the shop before Hadrian lifted his head, blinked and then looked at his aunt.

“Dudley and Uncle Vernon are done at the bank, Aunt Cassia. Should we go get them before we do any more shopping?”

“Yes, I think we should. We should also just go to one more shop today, as we need to find a hotel for the night, too. The goblins won’t be done with our home for a few days yet.”

Hadrian nodded and Regent Potter looked at Narcissa and asked if a small detour to get the rest of their family and their luggage would be alright with her. Narcissa had no reason to protest, even if she couldn’t understand how Hadrian knew that the rest of their family were done at the bank. They soon found said family members just a bit down Diagon Alley. A boy and a man who both were bigger than average, but who seemed to carry that without any trouble. The boy was grinning and showing off in front of Hadrian and Regent Potter, talking fast about how much better he felt, that it was easier to move and even breathe and that he felt like he could actually run now and that he had had lunch some time ago and ate only a normal portion and he still wasn’t hungry.

Hadrian smiled and Regent Potter hugged the other boy, her son, hard. Narcissa thought she heard the words “gluttony curse” snarled from the man, and the whole scene suddenly made a lot more sense to her. Who could ever be so cruel as to put a Gluttony Curse on a child, a Muggle child, but still a child! He and his family had no defences at all, nor any easy way to get help, apparently. Even though Regent Potter seemingly moved around in the magical world with ease, now. She knew there still were things she didn’t understand about the situation, things she didn’t know, but the picture of something bad happening to this family became clearer and clearer for every titbit she got.

They went into the bank again and Hadrian gleefully unshrunk his trunk and placed the luggage for the whole family into one of the compartments while the other boy, Dudley, and the uncle, Vernon, both looked on with shock and awe.

Then she led the way into Fantastic Alley again and to her own family’s tailor who fortunately had some time for them, as the vacation rush had yet to begin, and the school rush was about seven weeks away. Regent Potter decided that all of them should have three sets of day robes, to more easily blend into the magical world, and Hadrian and herself should have two sets of formal robes and the two others should have one set, for now.

Hadrian again seemed reluctant to ask for anything after they had all had their measurements taken, but Dudley found a book with fashions and another with swats of fabric and almost dragged Hadrian down into a sofa to look at both. Then he proceeded to talk about all the different styles and colours and textures on the fabric, and somehow, after about ten minutes of this, he got Hadrian in on it, and they managed to decide on their robes in under half an hour. Only, Dudley managed to get Hadrian to choose five sets of day robes, all suitable and fashionable styles and with flattering colours to Hadrian’s darker complexion. Regent Potter praised them both for their selections, as did the tailor, while also giving Dudley extra praise for his eye for style and colour. The bigger boy blushed at the praise.

Not long after that, they left the tailor with the promise of their new robes in the owl post within a day.

“You mentioned wanting to find somewhere to sleep as your home is unavailable at the moment?” Narcissa asked while standing in a small square.

“Yes, for a few nights at least. Hopefully no more than two,” Regent Potter affirmed.

“Most people would go to The Leaky Cauldron,” Narcissa began, and Regent Potter gave a small sigh and a nod.

“But there are … better establishments in the Alleys. Some cheaper while still having better rooms and service, and some more expensive, while naturally having better rooms and service. Had you all been magical, I would not hesitate in advising you to go to one of the cheaper ones, but those are found in Nocturn Alley. While the establishments themselves will be welcoming to anyone and everyone, the Alley itself is not the best place for anyone not magical, or at the very least, not very well known with the magical world. Even though, if anyone could go down those streets without trouble, even as a Muggle, I believe that to be Regent Potter.” She gave the other woman a respectful nod and got one in return.

The man chuckled, seemingly agreeing with Narcissa.

“The more exclusive one seems to be our only choice then, if we want a magical establishment,” Regent Potter said. “I will not bring my family anywhere that might threaten them.”

“Oh, Mum, please let us sleep in a magical hotel, if only for one night. Please! We can find a non-magical hotel tomorrow. Please, Mum!” Dudley said, and Hadrian made his eyes big and pleading beside his cousin.

Regent Potter rolled her eyes. “Yes, yes, a magical hotel it is. Would you please point us in the right direction, Lady Malfoy, and then we will take up no more of your time.”

“Nonsense, I will take you to the hotel and make sure you get the welcome you deserve,” Narcissa said without a second thought and then did so.

Before she left them inside the hotel by the welcome desk, Regent Potter coached both boys in how to bid someone of Narcissa’s station farewell, before she herself and her husband did the same. Apparently, the husband had also gotten at least some etiquette lessons from the late Lord Potter.