Draco apparates to Diagon Alley, where Voldemort’s allies still walk freely. It’s the Order members who skulk in the shadows, mumbling cryptic messages to one another. Draco is at his most arrogant, taking up as much of the public space as he can in long, caped robes, and carrying one of his father’s walking sticks – the cobra-headed one with the emerald eyes and the concealed spikes. Lucius drew his son’s blood more than once with that walking stick, and Draco learned as a young child that he had to conceal the pain. Any sign of weakness, even the slightest trembling of his lip, would bring another blow.