Madam Malkins' Robes for All Occasions

[Lily Evans]

.

[Trey Davis]

After having arrived in Diagon Alley, and waiting along the side of a building for Trey to stop panicking when he realized just how many people were there - a lot, Tracey and Trey managed to make their way over to Madam Malkin's so they could get Trey's robes for school. Trey knew he shouldn't be acting like such an excited little kid - once he got over how many people there were about - considering he was from a respectable pureblood family and should act as such, but everything was just so interesting he couldn't help himself. He stood perfectly still as the lady measured him for his robes. Tracey was about just as excited as her brother was and kept chatting happily away. Much to the annoyance of the lady working there. Tracey remained oblivious to the annoyed looks though.

After getting his robes and such, Trey and Tracey made their way out of the shop and continued on about.

[Miela]

An hour after the incident at Gringotts, Miela had moved to Madam Malkins' Robes for All Occasions to get Madam Malkins to make a special outfit for her for prom. Although no one had asked her, and she didn’t know anyone, she still wanted to go, as she believed that this would be a good opportunity to get to meet some new people, and if she could, she would tell Her that she was sorry she didn’t get into Slytherin, but instead, ended up on the opposing team.

Upon stepping into the shop, before she could even say anything, Madam Malkins had already ushered her onto a stool and started draping cloth over her, and telling her not to worry, Madam Malkins had got it all under control!

“Wait! I am sorry, please wait! I don’t want to make robes, well, at least not yet, maybe I’ll come back next week for robes, but there is something else I need urgently.”

Madam Malkins squinted at Miela suspiciously, but did not put down her pins. “Well, if you are not here for robes, then what are you here for?”

“Please, prom is tonight, and I need a-”

“Well my dear, you are in the wrong shop” Madam Malkins said brusquely, and started to yank the cloth off Miela, all the while muttering under her breath about “kids who have nothing better to do then to waste my time.”

“Wait please, listen to me, I need a specially made outfit for prom, and I can pay you for it!” Miela cried out. It would not do if she didn’t have the outfit, it would not do at all. She must have it. It is her tradition, her culture and her surest bet as a conversation starter.

Madam Malkins sighed. This girl wasn’t the first to enter her shop asking for a ‘whole new outfit’ that didn’t look like what they could have gotten from Muggles shops. Looking at the girl, she could see the sincerity in her eyes, and she seemed really desperate. Maybe Muggle shops were closed for the day and it was really late, so she would need a dress.

Look at the clock on the wall, Madam Malkins said “I would have to close up the shop in about an hour or so, provided your design and is simple and materials common, I am afraid I can’t help much.”

Miela smiled at the kind woman and replied, “Oh yes! The design is really simple, here are the drawings, the trick is in wearing it properly, and as for materials, I have the cloth here that I need, please take a look at them!”

Madam Malkins looked over the sketches. They were obviously done by an amateur, but it was still easily understandable, and she could see that it was really a simple design. While studying the drawings, she reached out to touch the cloth, and realized that although it had a beautiful pattern to it, it wasn’t necessarily expensive.

“Alright, this shouldn’t take more than a hour. I’ll do it. You’ll have to stay here and help though, in case I don’t know some details.”

Miela thanked the woman repeatedly, and proceeded to help with the outfit for prom. She was sure this was going to be the perfect outfit for her, and she was going to make it work.

[Miela]

Miela walked into Madam Malkins’s shop, and Madam Malkins immediately grabbed her, and started pinning cloths to her and while the measuring tape fly around, measuring her while a quill on the counter wrote down the measurements Madam Malkins shout out.

Miela felt rather shy, and thankful that there wasn’t anyone else in the shop, as her measurements were being read out.

“How did you know what I wanted?” Miela asked, trying to break the silence, and Madam Malkins laughed and said “You told me last week that you were going to come this week to get your school robes, I have been waiting for you for the entire week.”

“Waiting for me? But why?” Miela enquired, as she was whirled around and Madam Malkins started working on her back.

“Because you promised, and I never let a customer go. And I am done. Do you need a travelling cloak?”

“Oh yes! I would need one, and a few other items as well,” Miela said, as she searched for the list McGonagall gave her. Locating it, she passed it over to Madam Malkins. As the older woman looked over the list, she picked up a quill and wrote down the exact locations of where to get what, while telling Miela the directions and the fastest way to pick up everything and be back in the shop by an hour.

“An hour? Why the rush?” Miela asked, puzzled at the woman’s insistence that she be done and back in an hour.

“Because my dear, students are going to start coming in by noon for their new school wear, and my assistant is currently down with the flu, so I need a new one, and you are it!” Madam Malkins replied as she pushed Miela out of the shop, onto the curb outside. “Remember! One hour!” she yelled before shutting the door in her face with mutters of “Busy busy!”

Standing on the curb outside, Miela mused at the older woman, and decided that she might as well help the woman, with all the help she had received last week, and she might always get some useful information from the woman. Smiling to herself, Miela walked off to her next stop.

[Miela]

[Anything in italics is said in Japanese.]

“Just in time! Put your school stuff behind the counter and come here. Thought you might arrive earlier though, thought you were the type” Madam Malkins yelled out from the back of the shop.

Miela apologized while setting down her supplies, but Madam Malkins cut her off mid sentence with “No my dear, I am not scolding you. I was just saying, that I thought you would have arrived earlier, though I understand the fleeting minds of young ones, so tell me, what distracted you?”

“Quidditch Quality Supplies, I have never seen anything like that back from where I was from.” Miela replied.

“Hmm,” Madam Malkins looked Miela once over and said “Didn’t think you were the type, though you were more likely to have been held up in Flourish and Blotts, which is why I sent you there first.”

Miela’s eyes sparkled at the mention of the book store, taking the clip board and quill from Madam Malkins, she checked the measuring tape that was flying about, and wrote it down, while saying “Oh yes! I was really excited to see such a huge books store, and with such a wide variety of books, so many different ideas and views of great minds, and not to mention the fact that the subjects varies from not only the wizarding world, but also to the muggle world and-”

Miela cut short when she realized that Madam Malkins was chuckling at her monologue. Blushing inwardly, Miela said “I am sorry, I am babbling on and on, I apologize if it bores you.”

“No, not at all, it was refreshing to hear that, instead of the usual whining of how much work there is. So, what made you go to Quidditch Quality Supplies instead?”

“Oh,” Miela frowned and continued “The assistant there, he was weird. He kept talking about owls when I was there to buy books.”

“Owls?” Madam Malkins echoed, while frowning along. “Well what did he say specifically?”

“I can’t quite remember,” Miela replied distractedly, the measuring tape was getting itself into a frenzy and she tried to untangle it, “But it was something along the lines of getting how I must have gotten 9 owls to buy the books I wanted.”

Madam Malkins burst out laughing, which shocked Miela into silence as she just stood there and wondered what she had said that was so funny. As Madam Malkins calmed down a little, with spurts of hiccoughs and giggles, she choked out “You must be kidding right? Galloping Gargoyles, that is the best joke I have heard in a while, oh dear me, I haven’t laughed that hard since ole Tom down at the Leaky cauldron told me the joke about the witch, the hag and the banshee.”

Miela’s frown deepens, and Madam Malkins realized that this poor girl might just be telling the truth. She looked around the store, and realized that it was still rather early, and preparations were done, so she sat the girl down and the counter and started to explain to her what O.W.Ls are.

As she continued explaining, Miela frown continued to deepen. O.W.Ls were the short form for Ordinary Wizarding Levels, and they were taken by students of Hogwarts in the fifth year. Once through, they will move onto to more specialized subjects in the sixth year, where their studies would reflect what their future jobs needed.

“But I am new to Hogwarts, this is only my first year.”

“Now that can’t be, show me your book list again, I am quite sure they are for the sixth year.”

As Madam Malkins looked through her books list with mutters of “weird, very weird,” she thought back to last year. After Sanshi was released when she was 11, Toji Ojisama (Grandfather Toji) had put her on a strict studying spree, and she even had to take a test every once a year. During the test, a foreign looking wizard would come and sit with her, till the test is done, and then take the test away. Toji Ojisama had said that that was the examiner, as having someone from the clan is the examiner wouldn’t be fair.

“Genius, really Miela, you are usually really smart, but when it comes to Toji san, you are absolutely clueless aren’t you?”

”What do you mean?” Miela whispered under her breath.

”I mean, Toji san has put you on the Hogwarts curriculum. Not including the other things that I taught you and the extra stuff he has passed to you as well.”

”That’s ridiculous. How would you know it?”

”Oh really. Try opening up ‘One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi’.”

Apprehension written all over her face, Miela reached for the new school book, opened it up, and gasped loudly. It was the same book Toji Ojisama had her study back home. The only difference was that the cover page wasn’t in torn off and it didn’t look like it had been used.

Once again, Miela marveled at the steps that Toji Ojisama had taken to ensure that she would have a life outside of the Hyakki Clan. Overwhelmed with gratefulness, she placed the book back in the paper bag, and roused Madam Malkins from her thoughts.

“So are you sure you have never studied these before?”

“No, I was quite mistaken, I have been studying them, just that I didn’t realize it. Thank you Madam Malkins.”

“Oh dear lord, that was quite a fright you had given me! Are you quite yo-”

Suddenly, the bells to the shop door rang out, and Madam Malkins jumped up with a glee, all thoughts about Miela’s school problems forgotten. Not that Miela minded. She would rather not talk about it with Madam Malkins, no matter how nice the woman had been. Getting up, she replaced her school list and supplies behind the counter, and walked out to help Madam Malkins.

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