Chapter 6: The Language of Flowers

### Chapter 6: The Language of Flowers

After leaving Madame Malkin's, I went outside to wait for my mother. Marcus had already left. I was curious about the bookshop next door, but I waited as instructed because I didn't want to worry my mother. After 15 minutes, she still hadn't shown up, and my legs were starting to go numb, so I decided to go into the shop called "Miscellaneous Books: Come in and Discover."

Inside, the shop was filled with shelves. Despite the small space, I had to navigate sideways to get through the narrow aisles.

I encountered a man coming the opposite way in the same aisle. We both stopped, unable to proceed due to the tight space.

"Please go ahead, young man. I'm heading out," the man said, stepping aside at an intersection and letting me through to the store's reception area.

"Hello there. How can I assist you? Is there a particular book that catches your interest?" A disheveled man in a somewhat torn and dirty suit greeted me with a warm smile.

"Nothing in particular. Do you have any interesting novels? The genre doesn't matter." I was looking to find something to read, maybe for the journey to Hogwarts or even just for leisure. The magical world was fascinating, but constant study without other forms of entertainment could be overwhelming, so I was looking for a novel to indulge in.

"Hmmm, novels… I'm not sure, but you might find something interesting on the shelves. If you're not in a hurry, why not browse and see if anything catches your eye?" I couldn't help but laugh in disappointment. The man didn't seem particularly helpful, and with the large number of books, it wasn't a quick task to look through them.

I started examining each shelf. The books didn't seem to be organized, and there were different types on each shelf. I was relieved the shop was empty because, otherwise, navigating the narrow aisles would have been difficult.

"The Treasure of an Ancient Egyptian Wizard," I read aloud. The title was somewhat interesting, but I lost interest when I saw the author's name.

'Gilderoy Lockhart'

That name reminded me of the second-year professor from the Harry Potter films. If I remembered correctly, this person stole other people's work and sometimes wrote fantasies that weren't helpful to the wizards who read them.

Certainly, I wasn't looking for something real or useful to read, but I didn't want to consume the content of such people either. Sometimes being ignorant is an advantage; if I didn't know about him, I might have read and enjoyed his books without any prejudice. 

"Let's hope I find something entertaining," I told myself, trying to stay positive.

As I went through more books on one of the shelves, I found a somewhat interesting book titled "Tales and Legends about the Origin of Magic." The title seemed like an entertaining read, and I wanted to check it out, but I heard someone behind me clear their throat.

"Hmmm…"

"Young man, if you wish to read any book, you first need to pay for it," the receptionist said, somehow appearing behind me without me noticing.

"Okay," I responded neutrally.

I didn't want to argue with the clerk, so I didn't make a fuss. It wasn't like I was short on money at the moment. I continued looking for books that might interest me. If they ended up boring me, I could give them away or throw them out, though it would be a waste.

"The Origin of Egyptian Rituals and How They Impacted the Current Magical World" seemed interesting, so I took that one as well.

"What Happened to Atlantis? Discover What the Elites Don't Want You to Know" was another one. It looked like it might be about speculations and conspiracies.

I was about to head to the counter when I noticed one book that immediately caught my peripheral vision: "The Wonderful World of the Language of Flowers." The book had a very striking yellow cover with colorful flowers on it. Unlike the other books, which looked dirty and worn, this one had a nice presentation. "Why not?" I thought. I had already picked up several uncertain reads; one more wouldn't make much difference.

"Please charge these books," I handed the books to the disheveled man, keeping my distance. I could swear I saw his bad breath visibly wafting out in a greenish color. I bought four books in total, a bit disappointed. I had hoped to find something unique in the shop, given its intriguing name.

When I left the shop, my mother was already outside. She didn't say a word when she saw me, but I could tell from her expression that she was upset. There was something large behind her, but I didn't have time to discern it as I was already bracing myself for a scolding.

"Didn't I tell you to wait outside Madame Malkin's?" she said, first looking at me with anger for a few seconds.

"I'm sorry, Mother. I was waiting for you, but you didn't show up, and I was bored. I thought I'd distract myself for a moment in this shop next door," I said, looking down. I knew my mother was more lenient than Lucius, so I hoped she would let it slide.

"Look up," she scolded in a loud tone.

I looked up and saw Narcissa's frowning, angry face.

"How many times do we have to repeat the same thing in one day? Don't apologize, just acknowledge it. No more excuses," she said in a neutral tone. She wasn't angry anymore, but her manner of speaking still kept me on alert.

"Mmm…" I was trying to come up with an excuse and almost apologized again. I didn't know what to say; I hadn't been raised to be so proud in my past life.

"Remember that apologizing just lets the other person have the upper hand. Don't apologize easily; if you have to, it should be for something serious, not these little things you've been doing lately. Remember, you're a Malfoy. Do you understand?" she said slowly, never once breaking eye contact.

"I understand," I replied calmly, keeping my gaze steady and not lowering my head.

After all, I was now Draco Malfoy and needed to get used to acting the way my family expected.

"This isn't the time for discussions like this. Look what I bought for you," my mother said, gently stroking my hair before stepping aside so I could see what was behind her.

There was a creature in a cage, which was easily about 1.80 meters tall. The creature inside was a bird, standing on one of the cage's perches. The creature was about 1.50 meters tall, taller than me.

"This is…" I was speechless, both surprised by the creature's size and unsure of what I was seeing.

"It's an owl with a somewhat distant relation to a dragon," my mother said, seeing my confused look at the creature.

These words left me even more puzzled than before. If it was related to a dragon, how did that work? Aren't owls birds and dragons reptiles? How could they be related? Did the magical world work differently, or was it a forced union by a wizard's hands?

"You can admire your owl at home. For now, let's go back to the carriage. We need to leave; I have an important dinner in a few hours." My mother didn't let me analyze the owl further. She called Field and had him take the owl away. We both headed back to the carriage we arrived in.

I was curious why we were walking instead of using magic to move. I remembered how wizards moved like mist at high speeds in the films; I think it was called "Apparition," but I was also afraid that the answer might be something obvious I should already know, raising further suspicion about my mental health despite the recent examinations.

"And your uniform?" My mother asked, pulling me out of my train of thought and starting a new conversation as the carriage moved through the sky.

"I gave it to Field to take first."

"And what's that you're carrying?" she asked, pointing to the bag I hadn't let go of since we met outside the shop.

"Well…" I hesitated, unsure if buying these books would lead to a scolding. I couldn't hide them either, considering that taking me to St. Mungo after noticing my change showed my mother was not someone who would let things slide easily.

"I actually went into the shop next door to see if I could find something interesting, so I bought some books with intriguing titles," I said without hesitation. If I was going to be scolded, it was no longer something I could avoid, so I faced the situation without any nerves.

"I see. And what books did you buy?"

"These ones here," I took the bag where I carried the books and showed them to my mother.

"'What Happened to Atlantis? Discover What the Elites Want to Hide,' this book seems to be about conspiracies. Be careful reading these kinds of stories," my mother said in a neutral tone, still looking at the book.

"Yeah, I'll treat it as a work of fiction."

"'Tales and Legends about the Origin of Magic' does have an interesting title," my mother commented with a small smile as she looked at the book.

"I didn't know you enjoyed reading novels," she remarked.

I was sweating cold. My brain stopped thinking for a moment, but as a survival instinct, I came up with an explanation without thinking too much.

"Haha, I actually wanted to start reading as a habit, and I thought beginning with something entertaining might encourage me more to read," I said with a nervous smile, quickly reflecting my anxiety.

"You don't need to be nervous about that. I also started

 enjoying reading through stories and novels. It's a very good habit," she said as she picked up the next book.

"'The Wonderful World of the Language of Flowers.' Oh, seeing this book brings back memories," Narcissa commented, gently stroking the book's cover.

"Have you read this book before?" I asked, intrigued by her reaction.

"Yes, I read it occasionally when I was a child," she said with a bigger smile as she got lost in her memories.

"And what's the book about?" I asked, as I hadn't had a chance to glance at even one page.

"It's just as the title says; it's nothing special. It's simply the meaning of flowers based on how someone presents them to you or recites them in a poem."

"Oh, so it's just that," I was a bit disappointed. For a moment, I thought it might be a special language like Parseltongue, where you could speak to snakes.

"Even so, this knowledge is elegant and fits well with our family. If you're interested, it wouldn't hurt to memorize and appreciate its reading."

"'The Treasure of an Ancient Egyptian Wizard.' Oh, this wizard has become famous in recent years," my mother commented.

"What?" I couldn't believe that book was among the ones I bought. I was alarmed thinking it had been swapped with the other book I was interested in, but upon checking, there was the other one too: 'The Origin of Egyptian Rituals and How They Impacted the Current Magical World.'

"But how? I'm sure I didn't pick that book. Even when the clerk charged me, that book wasn't included in the bill." I was trying to understand how Gilderoy Lockhart's book had slipped into my collection.

"Could it be that the disheveled man slipped it into my things without me noticing? But why?" I couldn't understand why he would give me that book. "Maybe he saw me glance at it at some point, but I didn't notice until he scolded me for trying to read it. When did he see me pick up Lockhart's book?" Just thinking about it gave me chills, and my skin tingled. The situation was so strange that I couldn't make sense of it. I tried to stop thinking about it, but the tingling sensation remained.