"So, a robe?" I asked, trying to walk next to him- which costed some effort, since he walked pretty fast-.

"Yes," he replied. "Well, I changed my mind. I was more thinking about a cloak."

"A cloak." I repeated softly. The idea of wearing something like that seemed weird to me. Seeing other people wear it was okay, but wearing it myself...

"That's what I said," he responded irritated. "Stop stating the obvious."

Severus quickly turned around a corner and surprised by his sudden movement, I tried to follow him but bumped into someone again, someone tall, someone big.

"Oh, hey there again, little gal!" he greeted me with a laugh.

"Oh, hello there Hagrid." I stammered regretfully.

"You should really watch where you are going. Ones can happen. Twice is odd. Or do you want to bump into me?" he joked.

I chuckled and blushed. "No, I think I'm just clumsy sometimes."

Hagrid nodded understandingly. "I know how that feels."

Hagrid looked at the side to greet Severus, who had showed up behind me, silently as always.

"What are the odds of bumping into me again, professor?" Hagrid joked.

Severus couldn't laugh at the joke and instead just said: "slim, Hagrid. Slim."

Severus seemed a bit tensed at seeing Hagrid again. Why was he so aloof in showing himself with me?

"I think we have to move on, Hagrid." he stated.

"Well, see you the next time you bump into me." Hagrid joked.

"Yeah, see ya." I responded and the big man- well giant- tramped away.

When the giant was out of hearing distance, Severus snarled: "do you always have to be so...!" He didn't finish his sentence with words, instead he growled.

It felt like he could explode into one monster full of anger, so I stayed quiet.

"We need to move on," he growled and quickly turned around, his cloak twirling around him.

He quickly marched forward and I needed to jog to keep up with him.

"I am sometimes a bit clumsy," I admitted to apologize.

"So I have noticed," he retorted with a frown and marched even faster forward now.

"Jeez, I'm sorry, okay!?"

Severus sighed in annoyance.

"Something is bothering you and I think that something is me. Why am I so annoying?" I snarled.

"Clever in the social field, you are," he stated sarcastically.

"Than what is it!?"

He sighed again, but now in a more frustrated way.

"Many people say stupid questions don't exist, but apparently they do."

My turn to get frustrated.

"And many people say being straightforward is sometimes rude, but most of the time it isn't, so why aren't you just straightforward?"

Severus slowed his pace down.

"I don't want to be rude."

"Most of the time it isn't."

"That depends on the person and the message."

"And you think that the message can make it rude?"

"Among other things, yes."

I sighed.

"Just tell me."

"You know I don't want to walk with you here anyway."

Silence. I didn't know what to say. Severus had already said enough. I knew that was the truth. I knew that was his opinion, but I wanted it to not be true. I normally acted as if it wasn't.

"Yeah, that was rude."

"Stating the obvious again, aren't you?"

Silence from my side.

"You know how I think about all of this, but I shouldn't have let me be persuaded to say it out loud."

How hard his words were. How good he was at lying. Something wasn't right. I felt it wasn't the full truth. And as the curious person that I am, I needed to know what was.

"That isn't the truth."

"I beg your pardon?" he asked indignantly.

"That isn't full truth, how rude your word might be."

"Well, as a matter of fact, it is," he declared defensively. "And you are the one who is rude now by the way. Claiming I lie, ridiculous!" he exclaimed more to himself than to me.

"I am not only claiming. It's a fact."

"It isn't. And shut up now," he snarled.

"Or what? Want to give me detention?" I teased.

He stopped his walking, abruptly, his cloak sweeping behind him. He looked me right in the eyes with the most ominous look ever, pointed his forefinger to me in a way only angry parents do and bowed forward to intimidate me with his length.

"We are not at Hogwarts," he whispered angrily. "So there are no rules I have to take into account."

I was too shocked to react.

"Do not ever claim I'm lying again or you will see what I do when there are no rules!"

Be brave, be brave, I kept telling myself.

"You won't do that."

"Bravery is recklessness most of the time," he mocked. "I wouldn't try it out if I were you, Ellea."

It was better to stay silent now. Severus seemed pleased with that decision and straightened his back again. The scowl stayed.

"Let's move on," he snarled and walked away, not waiting for a response.

I rolled my eyes and jogged after him again.

After a few minutes of silence- not unwanted- between us and passing by the weirdest shops with the strangest names, Severus said: "well, this is it."

I looked at the grey building with the purple extension. Two doors- purple as well- with four windows in it. One with a golden doorknob in the middle, the other with a normal black handle. I found the golden one to be strange. Opening that door wouldn't be easy. Luckily, we took the other on.

In the round-glassed shop window were some- for me- peculiar clothes and accessories displayed. A pointy head Robin Hood like head, a silver ring with a black crystal spider on top, a red blazer with small golden buttons, and way much more, but definitely not what you would see in the London I was from. Not in bad way- I liked the ring-, but just different.

Severus apparently knew his way through the store and immediately walked over to the woman in the back.

She was measuring a boy on a stool with a long measuring tape. Her curly white hair was put in a bun with two pencils. Locks of hair had already fallen out of it, but no of those fell in front of her eyes as she moved. The purled rectangular glasses on her nose focussed with great precision on the small numbers on the measuring tape. The confidence in her way of moving was pretty clear which meant that she was completely in her element.

The boy, on the other hand, looked timidly and uncomfortable by the touching of the woman and watched every step she made. He didn't visit this store often, that was for sure. However, he didn't seem skittish towards his surroundings. He was probably grown up in the wizarding world and that was not only to notice by his behaviour. Hs clothes gave it away too. His wore an old fashioned brown trousers and a blue wool sweater.

The woman noticed her new customers immediately and stopped measuring the boy.

"Good afternoon," she greeted us happily. "Where can I help you with?"

"She needs a cloak," Severus explained. "A black one."

The woman nodded. "Do you already know a fabric for it?"

"No."

"Rayon, like yours?" she proposed.

"No, she needs something stronger."

The both of them looked at me from head to toe, Severus more judgementally than the woman.

"Cotton is pretty strong and suited for a child of her age."

Severus nodded. "Yes. And what would be the price then?"

The woman bit her finger while looking with a critical eye at my body. It started to feel a bit uncomfortable now.

"Well… if I see her length… and the fabric… and the colour… hmm… 9 Galleons."

Severus nodded, but didn't seem happy with the price. However, he didn't complain and complied.

"And when can you be done?" he asked.

"I need to finish taking his sizes first," she pointed to the boy in the back of the store, "and then I can start with her. I think I will need a half an hour. And then making her cloak which is going to take around an hour."

Severus nodded and turned to me.

"Well, don't make a mess," he told me strictly and walked out of the store.

Surprised by his departure I kept looking at the door had had come and left through. He had already done that at the other store and now he did it again. Was it normal for magical folk to leave children alone to do shopping? Or was it just Severus? I guessed- and kind of hoped- the second.

"Well, come on, girl. Let's go to the place you will be measured," she said nicely while waving with her hand to follow her. "My name is Madam Malkin by the way. And please be quiet while I'm working. I need to concentrate."

She straightened her measuring tape and ordered the boy to spread his legs. The boy complied and she measured the length of his legs. All the measures she took were written in a small notebook. I wondered how many peoples measures would be int here.

I seated myself on the stool next to the boy and looked up to see his face.

He looked around my age, had light brown eyes and just as brown short hair- well cut-. His white face had some freckles which made him look like an extreme goody-goody or a rather evil bully.

The boy returned my gaze and felt uneasy for doing it. You didn't need to be a psychologist to spot the regret on his face. However, he didn't stop himself from looking. And neither did I.

"What's your name?" I asked shortly after.

The boy seemed to be pulled out of a reverie and needed time to think what his name was.

"Uh," he stammered. "My name is Ruben." He apparently felt so uneasy, he looked away and dropped a silence. I had given up the hope for a conversation, but after a while he asked: "and what's yours?"

"Ellea."

"Not common," he concluded softly.

"So is Ruben."

"Indeed."

"What does it mean?" he asked.

"My name?"

"Yes, your name."

I had never actually thought about that. What would it mean?

"Uh… I don't know."

"I understand. Not many people know it, but every name has its own meaning."

"So what does yours mean?"

"Well, it's Swedish and means: see, a son."

"Really?" I asked more rude than I had intended to.

Ruben had noticed it and stayed silent, embarrassed, I guess. I had to make it up to him.

"I think you have a wonderful name," I stated nicely.

Ruben smiled and blushed. "Thank you."

"Ellea isn't a bad one too," he said and stepped off the stool, since Madam Malkin had been done measuring him. She wrote the last numbers in her notebook and then waved for me to stand on my stool.

I complied and she immediately started working, my arms first.

Ruben seated himself on his stool and looked up at me, to turn the rolls.

"And which…"

"Could you kids be quiet now." Madam Malkin cut him off. "I need to do my work right."

Ruben nodded and stared to the ground.

After some time, a woman stepped into the shop, her hair the same colour as Rubens'.

"Are you done, Ruben?" she asked.

"Yes," he simply replied and walked over to what I imagined as his mom.

"Bye, Ruben," I said to him.

Ruben turned around with an amazed face.

"Uh, yeah, bye."

The woman sighed and shook her head in frustration.

"Don't act so skittish, Ruben. No need to do that," she told him firmly.

Ruben just nodded to his mother.

"I'm sorry, girl. He is just a bit shy."

"Mom!" Ruben exclaimed.

"What!? It is like it is, honey. And that is just you. No need to shame yourself for yourself."

Ruben sighed.

"But I'm happy you have made a new friend," she told him. "He doesn't have that many friends. He is always so shy," she said to me.

"Mom! Stop! Now!"

"Oh, alright, dear. Say goodbye to your new friend."

"See ya," he stated softly.

His mother rolled with her eyes.

"Tomorrow we come back for the robe," she said told Madam Malkin.

"Fine by me," she replied and the mother and her son exited the store.

Some mothers, I thought and quickly pushed away the thoughts about my own mother to nod burst out into tears.

Madam Malkin finished measuring me, noted the last numbers down in her notebook and took some time to tidy up her stuff.

I, on the other hand, took some time to take a better look at the store.

It wasn't as chic as the other store, but it didn't feel cheap either. The racks and closets had some scratches, but that felt actually better than all the tidy stuff at Twilfitt and Tatting's- not that that store had been bad, this just felt better.-.

"Where are you from, Ellea?" Madam Malkin asked after she had finished cleaning up.

"Uh, well…" I had no idea if I had to say London or Cokeworth.

"Don't worry, I get it. You're not from here."

"Uh, no."

"And professor Snape took you out for getting wizarding clothes?"

"Uh, yeah."

She seemed surprised. "Normally, I only see professor McGonagall with muggleborns around here. I didn't know Snape did it too. And certainly not at this time of the year."

"Well, ehm, yeah…"

At that moment, Severus stepped into the store again.

"Well, are you done?" he asked me.

"Yes, I think so." I looked over at the woman for confirmation. She nodded.

"Good. Well, can I get the cloak delivered?"

"Certainly, sir. For 5 Sickles. Just write the address on this." She got a pen and paper from behind her counter.

She smiled at me while Severus wrote the address down. "I tried to get those muggle jeans to the Wizarding World, but nobody wants them. Trust me, I have tried."

I chuckled.

Severus handed her the paper and the money and she thanked him. And when she looked over to me, she stated: "well, you not only got yourself a new cloak, but also a new friend."

Author's Note:

Hey reader!

Liked the chapter? I certainly hope so.

Want to know what Snape thinks about her new friend? Read next week's chapter to find out.

See you next week!