Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions was in its busy stage of the day. Store clerks ran to and fro between customers carrying fabrics and measuring equipment and the noise level of whining and excited customers filled the air.
A store clerk immediately saw the two boys and walked up to them, the magical measuring tape tapping her shoulder impatiently. She swatted it away.
"'Nough of dat!" She snapped shortly, her thick Scottish accent breaking the noise background of the English customers. "Off wit' ye, aye said 'OFF WIT' YE', yeh bloody snake!" As the tape reluctantly flopped down at her command, she acknowledged them. "Ah, me name's Mckenna, 'ow may aye serve ye today?"
Louis smiled pleasantly, taking over Al's shocked expression over the large frenzy. "We need to get fitted for a new set of robes, please."
She waved them forward, righting her uniform and rolled up her uneven sleeves. "Ah'll get ye measured first. Righ' dis way, gents, righ' dis way! An' ye little Runespore!" She regarded the hovering measuring tape. It flopped down in shame. "Ye betta get yer act togetha' or ah'll use ye for a Christmas ornament, ye hear me?" It nodded sheepishly which satisfied her.
Louis pressed his hand against Al's lower back and gently pushed him forward as they walked. Al shot him a warm smile.
"Quite busy today, aren't you?" Louis moved the conversation along as they walked, bypassing many young students excitedly trying on robes. Madam Malkin herself was busy fitting two customers at once.
Mckenna made a so-so motion with her hand. "Ah, ah've dealt wit' worse. It is near close to da next school year afta' all."
They made it towards the back where large mirrors overtook their profiles. Mckenna brandished her wand and flicked it at the measuring tape. "Who's firs'?"
Hand still resting on Al's lower back, Louis pushed him forward. He tried not to look amused when Al pouted at him. Nevertheless, he went first.
Mckenna flicked her wand twice and the measuring tape quickly began measuring his body, pausing only for a moment in each interval so Mckenna can write down the appropriate measurements. Satisfied, she flicked her wand once more and the measuring tape stopped itself from measuring the circumference of Al's head.
"Aye told ye not ta go overboard, didn't aye?" She waved her wand menacingly. The tape nodded sullenly and stopped, dropping onto the floor beside Al in a small heap.
After writing up Louis' measurements with a new set of measuring tape (with Mckenna muttering bitterly about the relative uselessness of having the tapes enchanted in the first place), she collected the measurements and reread them.
"Okay, then!" She started writing something on the parchment with her quill, before addressing them. "Hogwarts 'as recently allowed our noble shop ta carry around House uniforms fer students, 'oping ta decrease da workload o' their house elves. Would ye consider ta buy House uniforms as well?"
Louis and Al nodded. With a nod, she licked the tip of her quill before continuing. "Which 'ouses are ye in?"
"Ravenclaw," Louis answered politely before nudging Al. "And he's Slytherin."
"Very good, very good," She quickly wrote it up. "Standard robes and Hogwarts uniforms for da both o' ye, is dat correct?"
They both nodded.
She made another note. "We'll discuss quantity afta' we get ye fitted then. Ah'll be back wit' da appropriate robes."
Al nodded shortly. A plan suddenly forming in his head, Louis made to grab a random bit the fabric from the rack as Mckenna proceeded to walk off with the measurements. "Can he try something on in the dressing room while we wait?" Louis showed Mckenna the fabric in question.
She shrugged, but her eyebrow raised when she glanced at the item in question. "Aye. It may take o' bit of time anyways." And with that, she left.
Al raised an eyebrow of his own as Louis beckoned him into a large dressing room which was spacious enough to fit them comfortably. "What was that all about?" Al asked as Louis locked the door, dropping the fabric on the wooden bench.
"Properly greeting you," Louis whispered softly. Al picked up the garment with a frown.
"You do realize that this is a witch's dress robe, right? And its pink, for Merlin's-" Unable to wait any longer, Louis finally broke the awkward distance between them by pressing their bodies together. Taking full advantage of Al's stunned movements, he kissed him.
Al was promptly shocked for a moment before eagerly participating, dropping the offending garment. He ran his fingers through Louis' hair and moaned when the kiss deepened even more.
"Shh..." Louis briefly broke the kiss and murmured contentedly against Al's lips. "People can hear."
The rush of being caught sent the boy almost over the edge, whimpering slightly when Louis took the brief hesitance into pressing Al further against the dressing room wall, partaking in his lips again.
Of course, Louis needed to be very careful with not just appearances, but for his own moral code as well. Al was still young by any standard and he would curse himself before he took advantage of his beloved, even if it was well-meaning. So when Al pressed his lower body against his in obvious need, Louis had to fight every amount of will-power in his consciousness to not press back.
Deciding to move the passion along to comfortable waters, Louis paid special attention to not only Al's lips but the rest of his face, breaking the kiss to shower gentle ones over his cheeks, jaw and comfortably settled at the cusp of the boy's neck, sucking at it softly.
Al began to whine at the lack of contact and tried to thrust upward as his hormones obviously flooded his instincts, but Louis would have none of that. He used his strength to hold Al's hips and keep him from trying to initiate contact.
Of course, Al vocalized his protest. "Come on...why?"
Louis reluctantly pulled himself way from Al's neck and tried to reason with him by kissing him again. "You know why," He whispered sternly before cutting off Al's protests with his lips. Giving up, Al allowed the heavy makeout session, happy at least to enjoy Louis' warmth and his sweet kisses.
A few more minutes of sweet bliss and Louis released himself from Al, allowing himself a final nip at Al's now swollen lips before moving aside to compose themselves. Al ran his fingers through his hair when Louis swiftly disappeared outside as Mckenna appeared. Her arms were heavy with the appropriate garments.
"How ye doin' so far?" Mckenna carefully set the clothes on an empty rack. "Ye find anythin' ye like?"
"Not at the moment," Louis carried on calmly as she pulled out the standard robes. "My cousin's just composing himself. He was utterly ravished by how large the price was on a particular set of robes." Grinning sweetly, he thought he heard a loud coughing noise from Al's stall, but paid no mind.
Mckenna nodded, unable to catch whatever Louis' undercurrent response. "Ah, we do have some expensive fabrics on da line o' course." When Al reappeared, she clapped her hands once. "Let's get started, shall we?"
Starting on the standard robes, she fitted Al first, making notes on which parts of it was too long before taking it back so she could hem it. After pinning the sleeves, she relinquished Al to fit Louis.
After that was done, they proceeded in trying their uniforms, having to visit the dressing stalls to put on the slacks and white dress shirt before trying on everything else. Pinning everything that needed to be hemmed from the vest to the slacks, she took everything and retreated, informing that she'll match up the size from the standard robes to the uniforms'. After asking how many in quantity they desired, she left them.
"You've gotten bigger," Louis said in French, his smile widening when Al blushed as he finished squeezing his hoodie back on. "You're growing up very quickly."
It was an unspoken tradition between them to speak in French if they talked about their relationship openly. The odds of someone in Britain understanding French were quite good for them in the Wizarding world. When they were children, they talked in French constantly. With the exception of Louis' father, Rose and Al were the only notable members of the Weasley family to try and learn a second language. Though, Rose was desired to learn Bulgarian after Victor Krum and his family visited her immediate family during the holidays.
Al's eyes darkened a bit as he answered in French back. "But is it quick enough?"
Louis' smile dimmed. "I believe we both agreed to wait until your sixth year, kitten."
"Almost all of my mates have already done it, Louis," Al tried to reason desperately, his French slipping. "They've done it loads of times too!"
"But they're not in a delicate relationship with their much older and male cousin," Louis shut the argument down and returned to English. He regarded his beloved sincerely. "We have so much left to lose, Al, if we don't take care." Al's angered expression softened at the look. "Je ne désire pas vous perdre. But I don't want to lose our family as well if I can help it."
Al's green eyes wandered down and he slowly nodded. "It's hard," He continued in French. "I just want to be with you like every other couple."
Louis nodded as well and discretely brushed his hand down Al's back comfortingly, angry at being unable to do more than that in public. "It's hard for me too, chaton."
Another twenty minutes passed before she returned, their clothes already wrapped and ready to go.
TBC...