The boy jumped at this, almost fell off his stool, dropped 5 galleons on the desk, and scampered out, robes half-finished. "What was that about?" Harry asked incredulously, turning to Ron, who shrugged.

Madame Malkin bustled out and hurried Harry and Ron back after questioning where the other boy ran off to and scooping up his payment. 40 minutes later, they each walked out with a new set of robes to find their mothers at Florian's Ice Cream Parlour with two cones and a bag of books each waiting for them.

"Thanks Mum!" they said, almost in sync, taking the books, putting them on the ground and relieving them of the cones.

Harry and Ron then looked at each other and reached a silent agreement: neither would mention how that boy had run off when he heard Harry's name unless either mother mentioned— "Are you guys okay?" Lily's voice interrupted their thoughts.

"Of course not," Molly answered. "I know those faces. They're hiding something."

Harry decided to break the agreement. He didn't want to lie to his mother, and he knew Ron would never dare to either. So he looked at his mom and caved: "OK, so in Madame Malkin's, there was another boy being helped, and based on Ron's clothing and style, he just looked him up and down and labeled him a Weasley without giving him a chance to answer or say anything—"

Ron jumped in— "And Harry said he didn't feel like being appraised, so he said he'd save him time, and gave him his full name. That's when he ran out."

Molly and Lily shared an uneasy look. "What did this boy look like?" Lily asked.

"Er, kind of pale, white-blond hair…" Harry said.

"Okay. On all accounts, you stay away from that boy and his family. They are no good," Lily declared, as if the matter were solved. And as Harry was about to ask why, she finished "Don't ask me here. We'll talk later when James and Arthur are back. Maybe we'll wait until Sirius and Remus can join us as well."

"Okay..." Harry and Ron said almost in unison, albeit a questioning voice.

They finished their ice cream and then went wand shopping. This is really what both Harry and Ron were looking forward to. They'd always only seen Ron's brothers and their parents use wands and magic, but never gotten to do it themselves. The minute they walked in, they knew they were welcome.

Ollivander scurried in from the back, quickly took their names, and had two measuring strands begin measuring every inch of their bodies. After sizing them up, he began pulling wand after wand after wand off the shelves, constantly muttering "No…not this one…not right…" to himself. Ron thought he was a bit mad, but Harry was ecstatic. After twenty minutes of muttering and sampling (forty total), the foursome walked out of Ollivander's and almost right into another family, one far less welcoming—the pale boy, with his parents.