Isolation. Draco.

[Lulu White]

It hurt her to admit it.
Being a creature both of extreme solitude and pride, Lulu White had tried to fight the slow, creeping feeling of loneliness that had been plaguing her more often than not in the past few months.
Perhaps that feeling was the reason why she had been wandering around Diagon Alley more often, browsing through shops and eating hearty meals at crowded pubs and restaurants when she usually preferred deserted lounges and quiet, darkened cocktail bars. Why did she find herself strolling through the grounds of Hogwarts in broad daylight? Did the occasional contact with other people that she encountered appeal to her now? Was she really changing that much?

She had to put a stop to this loneliness nonsense. She did not need the company of humans, she never had. Since her parents death many years before, she adapted and had grown to adore detachment, privacy. Books had become her only friends. Mastering the Arts, cookery, music, and dabbling in darker things were her companions through time, she had adapted to living and surviving entirely on her own. Living in luxurious solitude was a comfort to her and she was happy that way, the finer things in life appalled to her, people did not. So why this creeping feeling?

In an attempt to curb such feelings Lulu had decided to purchase an animal of some sort from a tiny store located in the depths and shadows of Knockturn Alley. She had never had an animal before, never a childhood pet or a furry or feathered creature to nurture or love. She was not sure if this little experiment was going to be a successful one, but it was worth a try.

No bell tinkled as she entered the store, no friendly greeting from a clerk. In fact, the store seemed deserted and dark, just rows of darkened cages, dimly lit by candlelight. Strange sounds started emerging from each cage as the creatures inside heard the door.
Intrigued, she ventured forward.

[Draco Malfoy]

Draco just wanted a little peace and quiet. He could only think of one place that would give him exactly what he wanted was Knockturn alley. Not just the alley, but a store. He didn't really care which store just the most abandoned one in the entire secluded centre.

Mostly he just needed somewhere that he could clear his head, somewhere that no one would really bug him that he knew. And he especially wanted to get away from Owls flying everywhere trying to get him to read their letters. He should never have come back to England. He should have stayed up North in the middle of no where doing what he could for the dark lord. But he didn't think it was fair to his sister or many other people to have to deal with more important things down here all on their own. ow Charlene was bugging him to fix her problems and his sister had bumped into him. How could he go back now? He knew he couldn't, he always seemed to get tied into these complicated situations. Those are never fun.

He sighed as he walked down the streets with his hands slid into his pants pocket and he scanned the shops to find the one shop that didn't even have so much as a candle light on. Lucky for him, the door was open, it didn't seem like anyone was there. He went in, straight toward the back and cleaned off a little square on the floor from dust and sat on the ground, cross legged with his hands rested gently on his knees.

He closed his eyes and drifted off, he hadn't even noticed that someone came in quite soon after he did bu he did hear their voice. He immediately got up and pulled his wand out, hiding behind a very large wooden shelf around the corner from where he heard the foot prints coming from. He didn't want to step out, all he wanted was for them to go away and i he drew his wand and exposed himself, there would be trouble and he really didn't need that right now.

He calmed his breath and waited, quietly.

[Lulu White]

She liked this store. Peering into each darkened cage was like a new adventure. It was clear that the owner of this shop had blatantly ignored the rules on restrictive breeding of dangerous creatures. Lulu had already recognized three creatures that were completely banned almost worldwide, one of which she hadn't believed existed until she had set eyes upon it huddled in the corner of the glass tank and peering up at her with its four unblinking eyes. The first row of cages seemed to be filled with strange cross-breedings of the banned creatures, growls, snorts, clicks, screeches, smoke, smells, feathers, fur and even what she hoped was water seeped out of each one, enthralled she realized that not only the entire shop, although small, dark and cramped was filled with rows of the exact same cages, but she had already spent at least half an hour in here already.
With nowhere to go for the rest of the day, and no idea what creature she wanted, Lulu knew that this visit was going to be a long one. With Knockturn Alleys reputation for never closing, she felt a nice sense of comfort and relaxation wash over her as she realized that she could be here for a while and let her guard down too. What kind of creature did she want? She needed something that could look after itself in the event that she would spend more than one day away from it, something that was relatively easy to train, if at all, and nothing too flashy or potentially illegal - even if it was well hidden, she didn't need that burden of the Ministry on her back, she didn't need the burden of anyone on her back, good or bad.


Realizing she could not purchase any of the creatures in this first row, she wandered closer to the back of the store, more darkened cages lay to the side of her but Lulu spotted the old wooden bookcase before anything else. Located at the back of the store it was barely recognizable at first, but at her eyes soon adjusted to the even fewer amount of candles and she moved forward like a rocket, eager to explore the knowledge held in each one.
Books. Here was something she shared a kindred spirit with. Books. Books were an easy chance to escape and forget the rest of the world, to learn and better yourself or to build your imagination. She had hundreds, probably thousands of them at home, and could always spare a space for a new one, no matter the subject.
Bringing herself up close to the case, she inhaled that glorious deep, ancient smell of the paper and leather and sighed contentedly, like inhaling a drug. Running her finger across the first dusty shelf she tilted her head slightly to the side and began to read the titles, skimming over each one until she spotted a dirty old potions book wedged among the others. Pulling its faded cover from the shelf carefully she smiled to herself. This was a very old textbook written in French, it wasn't a particularly dark book, or dangerous, but she turned slightly and slid her body down until she sat crossed-legged with her back against the wall and the book in her lap, throwing her bag carelessly to one side and clearing the area around her of a thick layer of dust, she opened the book and began to read.

[Draco Malfoy]

Draco was dumbfounded at this person. He was standing practically right next to them and yet they didn't seem to care or notice. It was nice to not be noticed or questioned or trampled y stupid people but you would think that someone would say something.

He knew he had to calm back down and keep in check because all he could hear pounding his ears was the blood rushing and the animals flapping their wings or what he thought could be wings but many of them looked to fat or sickly to actually fly.

When he cleared his head he watched the person go about their business and grab a book. They blew the dust off of it right into his general direction and sat down.

Malfoy brushed himself off and came out of the shadows.

"Have you ever heard of being polite? And NOT blowing dust all over people?" He coughed a little and continued to brush his pants and sweater from the disgusting mess everywhere now.

After looking down to wards her sitting on the floor he continued with the questions; hey, he was there first.

"What are you doing here anyway? No one has been selling things from this shop for quite sometime, surely you should know that."

(My computer enjoys not putting letters onto the page sometimes so sorry if some words are confusing or messed up)