The trip through Diagon Alley was quite successful, though there had been some strange occurrences. Rodrick had managed to go to the goblin bank to take out some galleons, once again Cyrus and his family were kind enough to let him do it on his own, although Astoria demanded ice cream in return. Daphne was annoyed with him... He wasn't sure what he did this time.
The first thing happened inside the bank; he found a familiar looking blonde girl with her father there, Rodrick had been confused with what the man was doing until his daughter saw him. She came up to him quickly and explained their theory on the goblins plan to take over Britain by stopping wizards from using their gold. Her father was currently trying to interview one.
Rodrick stared at the girl before he decided to play along and joked that goblins didn't have control of muggle money and so wouldn't be able to do it that easily.
The girl didn't take it as a joke; her eyes widened before she ran off to her father and explained what he'd said. Rodrick was staring as the two unique strangers, left the bank in a hurry. The girl in question was hopping from one foot to the other.
When he spoke to Griphook again, he found out this was a common occurrence from the two Lovegood's.
The second thing was the fact that, according to Griphook, the adult Lovegood had a certain necklace that looked like it belonged to Gellert Grindelwald, it was a circular frame that had a triangle linked inside with what looked like a stick going down the middle.
Rodrick was quite surprised, to say the least, he questioned if anyone was let into his vault before been reminded of the curse inside.
"You really think if it had been from your vault, Mr. Lovegood would currently be alive right now? Although there was a bit magic on that necklace." The warning had only intrigued the boy even more. 'Perhaps a visit to them might be interesting.' Thought Rodrick.
Rodrick left the bank with a large bag of Galleons. The Greengrass adults had stared at the boy with a bemused look, Astoria thought the bag was filled with sweets, she was quite disappointed to find gold instead.
Daphne shook her head before asking him if he had a shrinking pouch, he shook his head and stated he planned to spend all of it by the end of the day.
Roxanne had a stern look on her face before she told him to be careful with his spending.
Rodrick stated all of it was from his trust vault and so it wouldn't affect much of his family vault. The unspoken message did not seem to mollify the mother. There was no one else who would be using the family vault after all. She wanted to argue a little more on that before she felt Cyrus' hand on her shoulder.
"Let the boy enjoy himself, he only recently received access to the vault," the man had whispered to his wife. The woman had softened at that, she still warned Rodrick to be careful to which the boy simply grinned.
Rodrick had asked Cyrus if he could help him with finding a house in Devon as he had no experience on the matter.
Although slightly surprised at the boys chosen location agreed none the less.
Roxanne had a glare on her face at her husband's lack of thought, 'How could he let a child live on his own!?' She quickly warned Rodrick that he was by no means living at the place until he reached adult age.
Daphne laughed at the boy's face when he heard that. Rodrick was both surprised and put out, he wanted to argue but the look on Roxanne's face may have suggested the idea to be ludicrous, instead, he asked if he could spend some time there in the summer to at least make it livable. The woman agreed reluctantly. Surprisingly it was Astoria who spoke next.
This was the third strange occurrence, Astoria hadn't spoken about sweets for once.
"Rodrick you don't have a place yet, so you don't need to leave this summer."
Everyone eyes swept to the girl at this before Rodrick tried and failed to glare at the girl, all he got out of her was a question on why his face looked funny. The rest had an amused look on their faces.
...
They made their way through Diagon Alley, stopping here and there to browse certain shops, they eventually made it to the shop Rodrick was looking for.
Daphne's eyes widened in shock when she recognized the shop he went in, 'Quality Quidditch Supplies' When she went inside, she found him browsing through brooms.
Red alert.
She quickly turned back to her parents before she questioned them on whether they picked up the right boy at the ministry. The adult's only stared at her confused. Daphne made her way over to Rodrick before asking him if his head was okay.
"Relax, I am not here browsing for myself," replied Rodrick.
Daphne deflated slightly before asking what he was looking for.
"I am looking for the broom on display," Rodrick spoke pointing to the Nimbus 2001 shown by the window.
Roxanne had a frown on her face but obliged to her husband's advice; she swept her eyes over looking for her youngest and went to make sure nothing happened.
Another voice was heard behind Rodrick.
"Those brooms don't come out 'til next month," Rodrick turned and found a middle aged wizard staring back down at him.
Rodrick sighed slightly before muttering about someone's birthday coming up.
Daphne's eyes snapped to him before she realized who he was buying it for, she tried to tell him it wasn't necessary but Rodrick brushed her off quickly, "It'll be several years worth of gifts in one, besides she might let me off of watching Quidditch," he spoke with a small smile.
Rodrick lowered his head slightly before he said he'll just have to settle for the 2000 one. Daphne raised an eyebrow at the idea of the broom not been good enough; she was about to speak before she realized the boy literally had no knowledge on brooms.
When the shopkeeper, however, heard the boy was about to settle for a lower priced broom he quickly changed his tone and said Rodrick could have the one at the window, he wasn't one to lose business so easily.
Rodrick raised his head with a grateful smile before he agreed to pay immediately. Daphne facepalmed herself at this but before she could protest Rodrick immediately warned her that she'd have to explain to Tracey why she wasn't receiving a good broom for her birthday. The girl settled for a huff instead.
Cyrus eyed the purchase with amusement, it reminded him of himself as a boy, Roxanne had been about to pay for it herself before Rodrick quickly put his bag down. The woman quickly turned to her husband pouting before she saw the look on his face and gave up on trying to help the boy control himself.
"Look on the bright side, if his trust vault finishes you can help him as much you want then," spoke the Greengrass patriarch barely able to suppress his laughter at his wife's face.
"I am trying to help him avoid that," Roxanne spoke trying to hide a smile.
Rodrick took the covered broom before he shrunk it down and pocketed it inside his robe, the others eyed him curiously at this.
"I did that to my trunk as well," Rodrick spoke before taking out a miniature sized trunk into his hand.
"Of course you did." Daphne replied, sarcasm lacing her words.
The words seemed to relax the adults; they'd been worried his things were still in Malfoy Manor.
...
The group returned to the Manor after having their dinner in a restaurant in Diagon Alley. Rodrick had a smile on his face when he came in through the fireplace; the place looked just as welcoming as the first time. Daphne pulled him along this time telling him she wanted to show him something.
"I am glad to see your not mad at me anymore."
"I am, keep an eye out," she replied threateningly before a smile took over.
The troll came to mind before he quickly shook his head.
Rodrick followed her up. She took him back to the room he'd used in Christmas. He eyed her curiously. There was a look of amusement on the girls face before she opened the door and let him through.
Rodrick inwardly swore when he saw the Quidditch themed bedroom, there were pictures of flying wizards everywhere, the shelves had fake bludgers and golden snitches on them, even his wardrobe was covered in some Quidditch team or another's wallpaper. A horrified Rodrick turned back to a smirking Daphne.
"That was for the letter you sent me," she spoke, her grin growing more and more.