6 Friends*

When Draco hosted his birthday party, he made some friends with whom he regularly corresponded ever since. Amongst them he got along very well with Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott - two girls with who Draco spend the most of his time at the party after he greeted everyone else. Draco also liked the quiet kid Theodore Nott, however, in his letters Theo didn't write much, so after awhile it felt as though the communication between the two boys was too forced. Draco felt a bit helpless when he thought about his new friend.

Another girl, with whom Draco was very close, was Daphne Greengrass. Ever since the birthday party she came once per week to the Malfoy manor for the dance lessons, so they got to know each other very well. Daphne had long black hair and sparkling green eyes. The Greengrass family was one of the sacred twenty-eight, just like Malfoys and Notts. However, since her family didn't have a male heir, Daphne was raised to take over, so she was very mature for her age. Draco also remembered that the original Draco Malfoy from the book later married Daphne's sister Astoria, who was younger by two years.

Theodore Nott, or Theo (as he requested to be called), was a son of a Death Eater, just like Draco. However, his father was quite old, and Draco suspected that he belonged to the first generation of Voldemort's followers, joining him when the Dark Lord was still at school. Theo didn't seem to be deliberately cruel, he also wasn't arrogant. The dark haired boy was quiet and intelligent - the only real responses Draco got from communicating with him were mostly discussions about various magical subjects.

Susan Bones was the niece of Amelia Bones, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. So even though Susan was a half-blood, no one in pureblood circles shunned her. She was a nice girl with dark red hair and bright blue eyes. Most of her family, including cousins and grandparents, were killed in the war with Voldemort. Thankfully, her parents survived.

Hannah Abbot was Susan's best friend. Their parents got along well in school, so the two girls were familiar with each other since birth and were very close. Hannah was a shy girl with warm brown eyes and blond hair, a bit darker than Draco's. However, she was shy only with strangers and, as Draco gradually got to know her, she opened up.

In his correspondence with Hannah, the girl once mentioned that she always wanted to see unicorns, thunderbirds and werecats. Her parents were both mediwizards and they were always quite busy, so they could never find the time to take her to a magical zoo.

Thus, Draco got the idea to get closer with the girls and pull Theo in as well. He arranged the time and place to meet and sent everyone the invitations.

On the day of the outing Draco met with Susan, Hannah, Daphne and Theo in the Malfoy manor foyer, in front of the fireplace, as that was how the children arrived.

"Everyone ready?" Draco asked with a smile when everyone was gathered. "Let me introduce you all to my language teacher, Mr Rabbit. He agreed to chaperone us today, so don't be afraid to ask him if there's anything you need."

Draco motioned to the old gentleman, who was standing behind him. Mr Rabbit looked kind, so the kids relaxed when they saw him. Draco was sure the kids thought that anyone, whose name was Rabbit, wouldn't be bad.

"We will travel with portkey, so gather around, everyone," the aforementioned old man stepped forward and extended his hand. He was holding a broken quill.

Everyone was already familiar with this traveling method, so they didn't hesitate to extend their hands and touch the item.

With a cracking sound they disappeared from the Malfoy manor and appeared at the Scotland's most famous Newt Scammander's Magical Zoo.

"I heard that when Mr Scammander finished writing his book about the magical creatures, he gathered them here and created suitable environments for them to live in," said Susan as she gazed up at the huge metal gate with the zoo's sign.

Theo nodded, "I heard that when he was writing his book, he gathered the injured magical creatures in a trunk with an extended magical space. When the space could not be further extended, Mr Scammander gathered them all here."

"I believe that this zoo even now belongs and is managed by the Scammander family," Mr Rabbit commented thoughtfully.

---

Even though Draco knew that magical creatures existed (he even rode them before!), the sight that greeted him in the zoo still shocked him.

This place was too magical!

On one side he could see snowy storms and thunderbirds flying around, flapping their huge white wings. On the other side there seemed to be a calm morning in the woods. Draco thought he saw some bowtruckles in the trees.

And in front of him was desert - just by standing near it he could feel the scorching heat. There, resting on a sandy hill like a king, was a sphinx.

As soon as they saw the half-human, half-lion creature, everyone quieted down and tried to quickly pass the area. The sphinx was just too intimidating!

Even though there were no cages or any kind of magic preventing these magical creatures from leaving their territories, they didn't wander around. However, the visitors were strictly cautioned of never crossing the boundaries, which were separated by stone walks. If they entered a dangerous creature's territory, there was a chance they could get seriously maimed or killed, and the zoo won't take responsibility.

While everyone was walking along the stone paths, it didn't take long to get from one creature's territory to another's. Gazing at the different spaces, Draco thought that they should be a lot larger on the inside.

When they stopped to admire a herd of unicorns, Daphne asked:

"By the way, Draco, seeing all these magical creatures, I remembered that your family has stables. Do you think we could ride some magical creatures sometime?"

Draco was a bit surprised. Somehow, he never though of inviting anyone to go on rides with him. But he liked the idea. Hannah's huge doe eyes held so much hope that he would feel bad to refuse this request anyway.

"Sure, why not?" The blond boy grinned. "You guys are up for it, right?"

He received a lot of enthusiastic nods as a response. Even Theo was nodding.

Draco felt that these kids were very cute.

On that day Hannah fulfilled her wish of seeing various magical creatures - she saw more of them than she has ever heard of before. She had even extracted Draco's promise to invite them next week to ride abraxans.