Excerpt: Come to Nothing

The goblin’s eye twitched as he took the key from her hand and turned it over to examine it. He had eyed up her obviously Weasley appearance with some form of doubt before handing the key back and politely telling her she was in the wrong queue. “Number fifteen,” he told her, nodding to the other side of the room. “You’ll find Glibly on attendance M’am.”

“Oh, Glibly,” Ginny simpered, pretending that meant something to her. She nodded her departure and briskly walked over to her new destination as the next person in the queue moved on. She walked slowly to the other side of the room, completely unsure of herself and feeling like some sort of impostor. Coming to Gringotts with her mother, they’d always lined up in Queue Two. Ginny had always suspected that the Queues were arranged according to the level of the vault, but it had never been confirmed. Queue Fifteen was a long way from Two. Trying to look as nonchalant as possible, Ginny finally made it to the end of the numbered service desks, finding that all queues ended at Fourteen when she got there.

Now what was she going to do? She certainly couldn’t go back to the second Queue and let on that she really had no idea who Glibly was after all. Her cheeks flushed pink at the thought that she might have to do just that.

“Come to rob the bank, Weasley?”

Ginny whirled about and eyed up the tall man before her. Cold grey eyes stared back at her, bringing memories of days spent at Hogwarts and that cold, cold autumn day in the resting place of her beautiful school. Poker-straight platinum blonde hair was combed back and just brushed the neck of his formal robes, and he looked every bit like the Draco Malfoy Ginny remembered. Taller, leaner, a little more severe around the eyes, but still essentially the same. Still Malfoy.

“Come to harass small children and helpless women, Malfoy?” she sniped back, already feeling vulnerable due to her Queue Fifteen dilemma.

He snorted. “Helpless woman? Pull the other one, Weasley.” He walked forward, his hands buried deep in his pants pockets, exactly how he used to do back when they were at school together. He really hadn’t changed a bit.

Ginny glared at him and lifted her nose into the air. “How’s the family business Malfoy? I hear killing and maiming innocent people doesn’t pay as good theses days.”

Draco’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, you know, it still comes in handy here and there.” A hand darted out from his pocket and readjusted his tie as he cocked his head to the side and smirked down at her. “And you, the littlest Weasley. How many little pink-haired weasel brats have you popped out with Scarface already? Very good of you, to single-handedly keep the filthy haircuts and second-hand clothing market alive. You could populate a small country with your hideous family.”

Ginny felt the words slice through her gut and felt viciously nauseous, though she tried desperately to hide it. “Shut your face Malfoy, before my wand shuts it for you,” she snapped, though her threat lost some of its lustre when her voice came out as little more than a squeak. She whirled around to look back at the end of Queue Fourteen and it took a few moments to remember exactly what she was doing there.

Taking advantage of those few moments, Draco stalked around in front of Ginny and sneered distastefully at her.

“Keep your pathetic threats to yourself, Weasley, you don’t fool anyone.” He glanced behind his shoulder at the Queue that Ginny was staring at dazedly, then back to Ginny with an assessing look in his eye. “You appear to have gotten quite lost; you’re on the wrong side of the room.”

Ginny turned her vacant eyes towards him and glared. “I assure you, I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.” She only hoped she looked as sure as she sounded.

His laughter was loud and almost bark-like. “The day you have business to attend to at this end of Gringott’s is the day hell freezes over, Weasley.”