"Yo, yo, yo! G!! Now I know you trippin' for real! Check it, Jake does not wear…what are these called again?!" Jake grimaced as Lao Shi held up a pair of blackish gray cotton robes.

It was just the two of them, as Fu dog had spotted a shop three blocks from their current location, and had decided to check it out. Grandpa ran his eyes over the robes, approving them with a small nod. Jake stuck a finger into his mouth as if to gag himself.

"I don't need any new threads. What I have is fine!" he reasoned, a dramatic switch from only minutes earlier when he'd begged for the first stop to be for new, clean clothes.

"These are required uniform," Lao Shi informed his grandson matter-of-factly, "And you will wear them regardless of whether you like them or not."

"But yo! This is like—Haley-type wardrobe!" Jake stubbornly crossed his arms.

"It is your wardrobe now,"

"It's whack is what it is!" Jake spat, "What kind of magical universe is this, yo? Land of boring black hideous robes?"
This gained the black-headed New-Yorker several stares from across the shop.

"Young one," Lao Shi said lowly, "I advise you not to make fun of anyone while you are here. It is not wise."

"Yeah, whatever! I don't think it's wise for everyone to dress alike. What happened to originality?"

Lai Shi ignored the comment as a smiling, overly perky witch strode over to them, suggesting for Jake to try the robes on in order to make certain that they fit. The woman ushered Jake to a brown stool, shuffling around for needles and pins.

"I don't need to try them on!" Jake complained to her, "C'mon…I don't even know if I'm getting them."

"Nonsense, boy, of course you'll be getting' 'em. Need 'em for school, do yeh not?"

Jake just groaned.

"Besides, these need plenty of trimmin' down…you're quite short, you are,"

"I am not short!" Jake objected hotly, a slight blush creeping into his cheeks, "I haven't hit my growth spurt yet,"

"Well, of course not," the woman replied.

Jake rolled his eyes, I have got to get out of here, he thought desperately. I have got to find someone to chill with. I have got to find someone my own age. I have got to find someone young and hip like me!

So he used the lamest, most obvious excuse in the world. It wasn't brilliant, but he had nothing else up his sleeve at the moment.

"Hey, would it be cool if I used the bathroom real quick before this fitting? It's sort of an emergency…"

"Sure, sure," the woman replied.

Lao Shi exchanged a look with Jake, one that clearly stated, don't you dare pull anything. But Jake responded with a look as well, one that was convincing and almost real, one that relaxed his grandfather. One that said, I won't run off. Trust me. I won't. I'll go so far as to promise it. Even swear it.

He jumped off the stool, but not too anxiously as to keep up his innocent act, and only when his back faced Lao Shi did the slyest, most cunning smirk grace his features.

The woman kindly directed Jake to the restrooms, and even more excitement and relief greeted him when he stepped inside and saw that they had windows. The windows were off the ground, but why in the world would that stop Jake Long? Jake Long, the American Dragon!

"Dragon up!" he whispered.

Within moments, the young boy had transformed into a huge, beautiful red dragon. Flapping his wings, he flew up to the window and flew right out of Madam Malkin's. As quick as he had dragoned up, he dragoned down. His grandfather had warned him to keep a low profile about his abilities. Apparently, even though it was a magical universe, the American Dragon was nevertheless to remain secret.

Scurrying down the alley, Jake fell in with an enormous crowd of witches and wizards, blending in even as he passed the exact same shop that he'd escaped from. His mind was racing now with incredibility. Had he really just done what he thought he'd done?? Was he really out on the streets, avoiding his own grandfather? And why? Why did he feel the need to do this? Was he truly a rebel now? Everything traced back to the exact same question—why? Why, why, why???

Of course, having the laid-back personality that he did posses, he was able to apathetically shrug it off. Minutes later if was as if he wasn't worried at all. He casually moved along with the crowd, occasionally breaking off with a certain group, until the flow of people around him had condensed to merely five or six.

One by one, the wizards departed into shops, around corners, down alleys. It seemed like Jake blinked and suddenly he was following a single wizard. Vaguely he wondered if he would be considered as a stalker. No, he reminded himself, I just wanted to follow someone that would lead me as far as possible from my previous location. I'm not stalking. I just happen to be going the same destination as this dude.

The person was obviously a wizard, and not a witch. He wore an extremely long—extremely odd, in Jake's personal opinion—dark, satin robe. It was much nicer and probably much more expensive than the one that grandpa had tried to purchase for Jake. But more expensive didn't make it any less painful to wear. It was still unoriginal. It was still strange. It was still Haley-type wardrobe. And Jake still refused to wear it.

The wizard's steps grew slower and slower, and abruptly he came to a halt. Jake's heart hammered against his chest. What if this man was powerful and concluded that Jake was a villain or enemy or something like that?

Jake held his breath in fear. They'd stopped in a dark, dirty, quiet alley. Almost too quiet and too dark. Jake had learned in all his years of American Dragon duty that too quiet and too dark meant danger.

"I know you're there." The man spoke softly and sternly.

Jake remained silent for a moment, but then, "I'm not following you."

"Oh yeah?" the man replied in an almost amused manner, but also a tone that threatened. "You think you can obviously, non-secretly stalk me and then when your confronted, you think you can innocently lie and I am going to be a dense blockhead that believes you?"

"Uh…"

"Well, let me tell you something. Either you are the blockhead, or you just don't know who I really am. I'm guessing first year. Yes?"

"I don't know what--"

"No, wait." He chuckled lightly and confidently, still with his back facing Jake, "You're a mudblood first year?" It was honestly more of a statement than a question.

Jake stood agape, completely bewildered. Grandpa had never mentioned anything about years. Was he a first year? And was the heck was a mudblood?

"Definitely a mudblood first year. Well guess what? You are one lucky duck. Because I'm about to give you your first lessen. Yeah, you heard me. Prehogwarts and already you're about to learn something new. Something…magical. You see, I already hate mudbloods. But I'm willing to overlook that little detail, as long as they stay in their place. And their place is out of my way. Now when they get in my way and begin to stalk me…that's where I have a problem. What's your name, kid?"

"Uh…Jake."

"Right then. Jake, would you be displeased if some stranger stalked you one unsuspecting afternoon?"

"Displeased? Wha--?"

"What about aggravated? Annoyed? Angry?"
"Uh…"

"Exactly. Especially if it was someone lower class, correct?"
"Lower class?" Jake exclaimed, stunned at the classification and automatically putting aside his fear, "Yo, you trippin'!"

The dark-robed figure disregarded Jake's second comment, maintaining his perfect posture, level-headedness, and mysteriousness.

"Back to my point. Say you were in such a position, Jake. Would you not want to make sure that the stalker never stalked you again?"

It was as if all of Jake's earlier mistaken-as-a-stalker worries had come true. As if because he'd thought about them, they were occurring. Would this still be happening had he not wondered about the whole stalking issue?

"I'm not a stalker!" Jake repeated, "I swear. I just wanted to ditch my G, that's all. Yo, I was just going with the flow, and I just happened to be behind you--"

"I'm sorry, but did I ask for your mouth? I don't talk to mudbloods often. Especially not first year mudbloods with very odd language. Honestly, I don't care what sort of muggle device you wanted to ditch or what sort of flow you were going with. You're an ant in my life. But of course, even as lowly as you are, you do deserve to see the face of the man about to give you your first lessen, right?"

"Bring it on! I've been anxiously waiting to see your ugly face. Cuz' you know, nothin' can top my beautiful face!"

Apparently, this wasn't even worth response to the man. Gradually, he turned around, until Jake had full view of the menacing wizard that Jake had mistakenly 'stalked.'


A/N: Oooh...Jake's first run-in with...someone. Lol. I hoped everyone liked it!! And I promise, chapters really WILL begin to gradually become longer. I really do mean it. Really. Heh, heh...:)