"So what all do you have to get?" Fred said after the three of them stepped out of the goblin bank.
Digging into the pouch in her plain dress she drew out her acceptance letter. Feeling slightly guilty for breaking the interesting and authentic seal on the back she unfolded the parchment. Before she had barely skimmed over the basic preamble George quickly swiped the letter from her. "Welcome to Hogwarts. . . blah blah blah Ah supplies!
" Couple of books, blah blah blah… a cauldron blah blah blah. . . hum nothing new."
"Except for the text books for the newest Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher." Fred chuckled and even Judith laughed. Hopefully this one would really be who he said he was, and knew what he was doing unlike the others she'd read about. Except for the werewolf, Remus Lupin, who seemed to be made for the job.
George passed the letter back. "Okay well the first shop I'd say that'd be best to stop in on is Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. We have to have you looking like you're an actual transfer student as soon as possible which means you've known you were a wizard for at least the past 6 years. Also meaning you should be walking around here in robes not muggle clothes."
"Right." Fred nodded and then they were stepping off the large stone stairs of Gringotts and into the sea of people. While they made their way Judith began to notice how many of these magic folk were actually youth and likely here in the Alley to buy supplies before the new school year. While quickly passing she'd sneak looks at the different crests that were sown on some of the older youths looking for a house from Hogwarts. Though intrigued by the thought of what one of the crests might look like she hoped she wouldn't run into one looking like a muggle at the moment.
When the trio finally walked into Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions they were assaulted by the sight of various bolts of cloth covering the walls in all different colors and textures. The closest thing she could find to compare to a muggle clothing store was that there were some pre-made garments on display but even those were few and foreign to Judith. The twins as usual were completely unfazed.
In a swirl of fabric they were greeted by a woman in light brown robe who settled her chocolate eyes on her immediately. "Hello my dear. New to Diagon Alley?" Judith nodded. "Ah I can always tell by the dazzled look and the lack of robes. I'm Madame Malkin the owner of this shop. Now are you just looking for robes?"
"Actually she's looking for a Hogwarts uniform." George interjected as he took a seat in one of the proffered chairs for relatives of children getting fitted.
"Hogwarts! Oh dear my apologies but you seem too old to be attending school. This must be your 7th year then, yes, that would explain it."
Judith could only get a slight nod in before the woman had taken her hand and had her dragged farther into the shop. This new area had a few more people. Some were youngsters who looked like they were likely getting fitted for their first robes as well by other magic seamstresses.
Herded ontop of a stool, even though doing so seemed pointless because she was already tall, another woman appeared from around a robe rack and draped a big length of black cloth around her. Judith was terribly surprised and she was immediately at unease. However after watching and feeling the adjustments the women was making to the cloth she realized they were magically sewing her a robe. In 5 minutes, over top her light summer muggle dress she now was wearing a very smart and elegant black wizard robe.
The woman who had been working on it gave her a cheeky grin. "Well it looks lovely child and this is only the sketch garment. Now if you'll take it off we can get Mary in the back to get the magical measurements off of it and you'll have the robes you need."
Madame Malkin was suddenly again in her face. "Yes! And what robes will you be wanting my dear? 3 regular work robs is the standard for Hogwarts school I know but will you be wanting anymore? Perhaps a fancy one or two for the Yule ball and any other occasion?" Judith blinked trying to get her mind to catch up with the speed of the lady in front of her. She must have been in the business of magical garments for a long while to be so speedy. In fact, Judith doubted she would have been able to remember getting a robe for the Yule ball. Even with the proposition of becoming an ally to the side of light, an idea that still seemed alien to her, she doubted she'd still be here come Christmas time. However the help was still staring at her expectantly waiting for an answer. Dumbly she nodded her consent to the additional robes.
As she did, what was becoming a trademark Weasley laugh sounded from one of her sides. In the whirl wind of these speedy ladies she had briefly forgotten about the brothers. Looking over she found the two grinning at her from a set of chairs. Fred caught her eye and gave an over exaggerated yawn and pretended to fall asleep.
"My dear?" Madame Malkin interrupted her humorous twin watching and drew her attention to the uniform she held. "If you'd please put this on in the change room we could then adjust this to your size."
Judith nodded and took the bundle of clothing she was handed. Before going off in the direction of the indicated change rooms though she stepped up to the twins and hit Fred and George with a Mademoiselle Magic magazine upside the head.
"Since you too are so bored why not ditch the muggle?" She joked about herself.
Fred added lightly. "Well we would but you know we told Dumbledore we'd escort you…"
"Ah but shopping is very tedious for guys. Magical or not, I'm beginning to see it's the same. Don't you guys have something else you do besides baby-sit muggles Dumbledore decides to adopt to Hogwarts?"
"Of course we do!" George replied humorously appalled. "We run our very own prank shop! Weasley's Wizard Wheezes."
"Oh yes." Judith rolled here eyes at the mention of the business the boys had started in the fourth book.
"OH yes…" Fred mocked in a high and percing voice, pretending to sound like a girl.
"Well then since you boys are still in business why is it your here sitting around bored, attending to me like butlers, while you could be pleasing customers!"
Both blushed a light pink. "We'll Dumbledore did ask and you consented plus it wouldn't do to have you lost."
Judith gave a very unladylike snort. "I'm not going to get lost in a single alley. Even if it is full of shops and very long. Also if those are the only reasons why your sitting around paying compliments to the flies then why don't you head back to your shop?"
"Would you mind?" One of the twins she was beginning to think she'd forever have trouble distinguishing, sincerely asked.
"Not at all in fact I've been itching to do some exploring on my own. You two have seen all there is to see of each of these shops. I haven't even seen the shops! I'll just bore the daylights out of you by people watching and playing with trinkets. I can meet you guys back at the leaky cauldron tonight for dinner." She spoke with perfect calmness but inside she was actually nervous they wouldn't let her be. Time alone with her thoughts was what she needed most now to adjust.
Fred gave a nod to George and they rose, gave a flourishing bow, and headed to the door. "Oh and Judith…" George called back. "Do keep out of trouble."
She just shook her head and laughed. They sure were ones to talk about keeping out of trouble. She was relieved that they had agreed to her idea.
However her smile disappeared after she walked into the change room and changed into the uniform to find it consisted of a knee length skirt, blouse, sweater vest and bobby socks! Oh god! Suddenly it had hit her that a boarding school like Hogwarts mean horrible mid 1950's prep clothes day to day, month to month. Okay so they weren't that bad, it would mean there would be a lack of who-could-dress-the-most-expensively, and maybe she didn't completey dislike the idea of boarding school clothes (though she's never admit it) but they were all too big!
While she worried behind the privacy curtain the shop keepers voice filter over the barrier. "Oh don't be shy child come on out. Don't worry if the clothes are too big we'll just fix them right up to your size!" Judith rolled her eyes at her reflection and stepped out after bunching up the cloth.
"Oh my those are big." One of the help stated and then flicked her wand with some spoken words. Suddenly Judith found her hand no longer gripping cloth. Tentatively moving her hand away she found the skirt stayed in place, now snug against her hips and the shirt and vest also fitted. Glimpsing her imagine in a close by mirror she found she slightly looked better. Her belly no longer looked like it belonged to hippo and that she was going to give birth.
When her uniform was done with she ended up choosing a bright aqua cloth for one of her fancy robes and heavy red and green velvet for the other which she could use, should she still be here come Christmas. After a little wait she was greeted with the finished product of five fine new robes and three other fitted uniforms. Three plain black robes for Hogwarts and two fancy ones all with her name stitched in the collar like the school letter requested. For the lot she paid two gold pieces which she was reminded were called Galleons.
When she exited the shop with her packages nicely folded and wrapped in brown paper she set off down the alley in her aqua robe seeing that she didn't have to wear her uniform till school. However as she made her way through the crowds and into some shops she was starting to believe perhaps she shouldn't have got such a bright robe. People were staring still but not like before. She'd catch one taking a glimpse and catch the persons eye and they might blush or turn away. Suddenly she realized she was probably looking like the idiot Lockhart in her vibrant robes. But none of the people looked to be completely shocked or disgusted though so she shrugged off the feeling.
Now that she was dressed like a wizard -to a degree- she decided to get the most important thing she'd need as a wizard: her wand. And not surprisingly Ollivanders was just a shop up.
When she stepped inside she was immediately greeted by the tiny old shop owner a moment after stepping into the gloomy shop with it's wand boxes up to the ceiling.
"Greetings new comer-" He seemed slightly startled when he got a full look at her. A frown crinkled his eyebrows till they were touching and then if was disappeared by a still surprised look but one which was more calm and in wonder. "Yes new comer…" he spoke to himself and reached out and grasped her hand. Judith was slightly uneased but as soon as he had taken her hand she dropped it.
"You are familiar to me and yet you are not. You have secrets. For the first time I do not know the customer that has entered."
"My name is Judith Nichols."
"So you say but you are not like the Nichols that I have met before. Bethie Nichols 9 inches unicorn hair. Gerald Nichols 12 inches mahogany and phoenix hair. They were the last two Nichols I have had here in my shop and that was some time ago. Even still you are not one of their children." Judith rose her eyebrow at that.
" But your features they are familiar but I have not seen then in so long… Well never mind." From out of his pocket he drew a long tape measurer with silver markings. "Please extend your wand arm."
Her other eyebrow shot up and she had to think for a moment which she wanted to be her wand arm. Finally she extended her right arm and then he was taking measurements. Mr. Ollivander gave her another peculiar look and then turned and scurried off around a row of wand boxes.
"The strange one I think. Yes. I have not sold a white wood for sometime." Mr. Ollivander's voice echoed through the shop back to her. "How appropriate."
'This guy is really weird.' She thought while still musing over his cryptic words. What was so strange about her features? Was he seeing a Romanov resemblance?
Ollivander appeared again with what looked like a crumbling box. Out of it he pulled a long creamy white wand. She was a bit surprised. There were white wands? What wood was this white?
He pushed it into her hand and she held it moronically.
Mr. Ollivander animatedly encouraged her with his hands. "Well… Give it flick."
Judith did as told and a peculiar sensation moved through her. Besides that nothing happened. This slightly disappointed her. She'd been hoping for an explosion or some sparks in the slightest.
Mr. Ollivander seemed overjoyed though. "I knew it! A strange elegant wand for and a strange and elegant wand hand." He gave her a smile. "14 inches, one of my longest and a braid of two hairs: phoenix and unicorn and a single Dragon heartstring. Use it well miss Nichols."
She nodded slowly and slightly suspiciously.
"That will be 7 galleons."
Reaching into her coin purse she drew out the amount and handed it to him. Without a glance to recount the coins he gave a nod, a deep bow from the waist, and then returned to his desk. Judith just shook her head and exited the shop. Immediately she was back shopping.
In the cauldron shop she bought what the shop keeper said was a very durable student's cauldron even though the collapsible ones intrigued her. She quickly got her other supplies as well as some trinkets and magic products. In a wizard beauty shop she even found a hair styling potion that said on the side it was guaranteed to glue her hair in any position she wanted. She had sniggered at that and bought it in hopes of trying out a punk spiked look sometime. Hogwarts didn't have rules against how students styled their hair did they.
Finally all she had felt to do, 'besides browse' she thought with a smile, was buy her text books. Making her way up to Flourish and Bolts she smiled at the masses of books she could see through the shop window. This shop was quite large and had both of it's stories open to the public instead of just the bottom one. It didn't matter much since Judith was in heaven. She was a book worm through and through. Her entire family was.
Oh she was so happy to see different books from the ones of her personal and town's public library. Here many were leather bound and some looked to be ancient. She picked up one: The Book of Nothing and when she flipped through the pages found exactly that. Laughing she put it back down and continued to browse. Eventually she did find a section that was devoted to potions and began looking for 'Advanced Magical Drafts and Potions' by Arsenius Jigger.
Having no luck with the top shelves she was now sitting cross legged on the floor taking in the names of the books on the bottom shelves at an easy reaching distance. Eventually at the very bottom in the corner was what she was looking for. She pulled the book out and ran a finger over the leather cover.
"Exactly what I was looking for." A lazy drawl came from above her and she looked up to see a young man with blonde hair smirk down at her. "Thanks for doing the hard work for me. Mind passing me one of the others?"
Malfoy! Judith's mind hissed at her. This was the brat Draco Malfoy. He had to be. The robes he wore seemed too fancy with sliver buttons likely and lots of intricate sewing. His features were pale and the angles of his features were sharp almost pointy.
Trying to hide any sign of recognition or surprise on her face she immediately grabbed for another text and handed it up to him. He took it and she was slightly stunned he didn't wrench it from her.
"Going to Hogwarts?" he asked in that drawl which was pure lazy self confidence.
"Yes," she answered, a little more curt than she wanted and she began to rise. Surprising her again the spoiled little rich kid offered his arm to assist her. She didn't really want to take it but to stay on neutral turf as long as possible she did.
He gave her a look as she pulled her hand out of his grip after standing. Those cool gray eyes assessed her dress with a raised brow. "I've never seen you before."
"That's because I'm new. I'm transferring to Hogwarts from Madeleine Trublé's School for the Magical in Quebec, Canada."
Draco actually looked surprised. "I didn't know Hogwarts took cross-Atlantic exchange students."
"I didn't either."
"Why did you decide to switch schools if your going into your final year. This is your 7th year isn't it?"
Judith nodded as her mind raced to bullshit her answer. "I wanted to do some traveling and go to school in a different place. Hogwarts seemed good because it's so old. Madeleine Trublé's is a terribly modern school. We didn't even have to wear uniforms." She hoped everything she was saying was okay and that Malfoy didn't know about this school.
Looking down at her list she moved over from the potions section into herbs to find: 'One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi' by Phyllida Spore. Malfoy followed.
"Well there's four houses and there's a hat that sorts you into whichever you're best suited." He informed her with a superior tone. Judith groaned internally. 'I already know you pompous arse!' She wished could say but silently shouted it back to her neurological cells instead.
"There's Hufflepuff, Grynffindor,"He spat, "Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. The Slytherin house is the best there is."
Judith had to resist rolling her eyes. "What about Grynffindor? I take it from your tone of voice you don't like that house too much."
He gave an indignant snort. "Grynffindor's are supposed to be brave, daring and chivalrous. I think they're all idiots."
"Why do you think they're idiots?"
"They just are. They're always breaking rules thinking they're higher than the rest and they never get caught! The teachers, even the headmaster, favor them. And you must know by now from the Daily Prophet or Wizarding Weekly Tabloids how even the savior of the wizarding world Harry Potter is in Grynffindor."
Judith nodded and attempted to silently quell her anger but Draco's little speech had her temper simmering. "I still didn't hear any reason for them to be idiots. It sounded to me like your more jealous."
Draco Malfoy's gray eyes immediately turned serious and icy. Judith knew she had probably just blow the chance of being on tepid ground with the boy but should didn't really care. Besides looks, Draco Malfoy didn't seem to have much to offer, except money, but Judith wasn't about to degrade herself to such a shallow level. Perhaps now he'd let her seek out her remaining books in peace.
'Now who was the author of that herb book?' She thought.
Judith looked down at her list again, shifted the weight of her packages and continued looking. Eventually she did find it bound in died green leather. When she moved on to the next couple of shelves she noticed Draco had watched her and picked up one of the herb books when she moved on.
'Cheater,' she thought. 'I don't care if it's only a book, I spent nearly five minutes finding it he took five seconds to watch and pick up his own.'
She realized she was being petty but erg! Could a guy get more irritating in a time span of one a few minutes?
Moving on she noticed he was right on her tail. Turning and facing him she sent his raised eyebrow look at him. He answered by doing the same. Judith gave a short laugh and then turned back to the book shelf.
Draco was still looking at her. Judith was starting to dislike this book store because it was hindering her search for the books and keeping her in Malfoy range longer than she would like.
"What's Canada like?" The question stopped her as she just began reaching for Mrs. Spore's book.
The absent of the drawl was what made her look up. He actually looked like he was interested in the answer. So she answered him as she picked up the book and then continued on to find Miranda Goshawk's 'Standard Book of Spells (Grade 7)'.
"It's beautiful and I love it there. It's so big and we have a great diversity in the land. Our government does a good enough job even if the Prime Minister might not be too great. Our culture is mix of all different kinds and we have two official languages: English and French. Also I'll have you know that we aren't all nice and that not every other word we speak is 'eh'."
"Can you speak French?"
"A little; I had been working on it before I came here. Now it's going to have to go on the back burner. While here I guess I'll just have to brush up on my fake British accent. Wouldn' you say mate?" She said while trying to over accentuate her impersonation of the locals.
Another surprise: Draco actually gave a small smile.
"I can speak some," he said with a hint of the superior tone returning. "My family is known for it's culture and my father has me tutored every summer."
"Fascinating," Judith nearly yawned but thankfully had the decency to contain it. "Do you do anything that isn't because your father's somehow involved or might uphold your family status?"
The thunderous expression returned to his face but it was laced with confusion because Judith had actually managed to say exactly what she did in an even, calm and light tone. It was strange for Draco Malfoy to be insulted in such a way it was almost nice.
"Of course," he finally said simply.
"Well would you mind telling me about them?" She quirked a smile while giving up a silent prayer of thanks that he hadn't blown a gasket.
"I like Quidditch." He said confidently.
"But that doesn't really count, it's school related."
Draco frowned.
Judith was quickly getting into this. What exactly did evil nemesis kids like Malfoy do to unwind? "Oh come on think. What do you enjoy? Perhaps it's something you began before being enrolled in Hogwarts."
His pale features scrunched up, Judith waited for a moment but then returned to looking for the book on the current shelf. Two minutes later he simply said. "I draw sometimes."
She shifted around and looked at him. From his casual stance, leaning on one leg and looking over the shelf as well she could see the self-assuredness was still there but toned down. She guessed he got the hint that she didn't much like the holier-than-thou attitude. Too bad it'd supposedly been ingrained since birth.
Judith thought herself to be an average artist and she did enjoy drawing. Unfortunately they didn't offer art classes in senior high. "I like drawing. How good are you? The next Michaelangelo?" She said, her habit of teasing making an appearance, but suddenly realized Malfoy would likely take the fun out of it and say yes.
"No, no where near his caliber." Malfoy answered evenly. Despite the fact the casual assuredness was still there his answer did surprise her. It was getting to the point she was beginning to think she should simply stop thinking Rowlings' books over and just take the things as they were.
"But sometimes when I see something I really like and I concentrate I can produce a good reproduction."
"Same here." So Malfoy is remotely human…Who would have thought it?
Continuing around a corner she found the next book very quickly. Malfoy again picked up the book after her. Now all she had to find was her transfiguration text book and she could hurry off before the arrogance returned.
Walking over to the stairs Malfoy shifted his pile of books and followed. Momentarily she wondered why he didn't have one of his poor house elves next to him to carry the growing pile but then shook that thought off. If he had she probably would have slugged him already in anger.
As she stepped off, the last step the question "So what is your name?" filtered up to her. Promptly afterward she did a 180 turn on her heel and looked at him with blank eyes. She'd been told her stare was very unnerving in it's emotionlessness. There was no response expect his hand reached out for the railing; his gray eyes were calm and drilled into her's just as much.
With a blink her eyes became more lively and she answered. "Judith Nichols." Interested in what his reaction may be she extended her long fingered hand for a handshake.
Gray eyes flicked down to it and an indistinguishable look briefly flashed in his eyes. But then a warm hand- proof he wasn't a cold blooded snake like his house emblem- grasped hers. "Draco Malfoy," he said.
She didn't lower her eyes from his, knowing he would likely think her to be weak if she did and answered, "I know." Pulling her hand away she went off in the search for her book leaving the mildly surprised boy behind her.
TBC
Ciao darlings ;)
Digging into the pouch in her plain dress she drew out her acceptance letter. Feeling slightly guilty for breaking the interesting and authentic seal on the back she unfolded the parchment. Before she had barely skimmed over the basic preamble George quickly swiped the letter from her. "Welcome to Hogwarts. . . blah blah blah Ah supplies!
" Couple of books, blah blah blah… a cauldron blah blah blah. . . hum nothing new."
"Except for the text books for the newest Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher." Fred chuckled and even Judith laughed. Hopefully this one would really be who he said he was, and knew what he was doing unlike the others she'd read about. Except for the werewolf, Remus Lupin, who seemed to be made for the job.
George passed the letter back. "Okay well the first shop I'd say that'd be best to stop in on is Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. We have to have you looking like you're an actual transfer student as soon as possible which means you've known you were a wizard for at least the past 6 years. Also meaning you should be walking around here in robes not muggle clothes."
"Right." Fred nodded and then they were stepping off the large stone stairs of Gringotts and into the sea of people. While they made their way Judith began to notice how many of these magic folk were actually youth and likely here in the Alley to buy supplies before the new school year. While quickly passing she'd sneak looks at the different crests that were sown on some of the older youths looking for a house from Hogwarts. Though intrigued by the thought of what one of the crests might look like she hoped she wouldn't run into one looking like a muggle at the moment.
When the trio finally walked into Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions they were assaulted by the sight of various bolts of cloth covering the walls in all different colors and textures. The closest thing she could find to compare to a muggle clothing store was that there were some pre-made garments on display but even those were few and foreign to Judith. The twins as usual were completely unfazed.
In a swirl of fabric they were greeted by a woman in light brown robe who settled her chocolate eyes on her immediately. "Hello my dear. New to Diagon Alley?" Judith nodded. "Ah I can always tell by the dazzled look and the lack of robes. I'm Madame Malkin the owner of this shop. Now are you just looking for robes?"
"Actually she's looking for a Hogwarts uniform." George interjected as he took a seat in one of the proffered chairs for relatives of children getting fitted.
"Hogwarts! Oh dear my apologies but you seem too old to be attending school. This must be your 7th year then, yes, that would explain it."
Judith could only get a slight nod in before the woman had taken her hand and had her dragged farther into the shop. This new area had a few more people. Some were youngsters who looked like they were likely getting fitted for their first robes as well by other magic seamstresses.
Herded ontop of a stool, even though doing so seemed pointless because she was already tall, another woman appeared from around a robe rack and draped a big length of black cloth around her. Judith was terribly surprised and she was immediately at unease. However after watching and feeling the adjustments the women was making to the cloth she realized they were magically sewing her a robe. In 5 minutes, over top her light summer muggle dress she now was wearing a very smart and elegant black wizard robe.
The woman who had been working on it gave her a cheeky grin. "Well it looks lovely child and this is only the sketch garment. Now if you'll take it off we can get Mary in the back to get the magical measurements off of it and you'll have the robes you need."
Madame Malkin was suddenly again in her face. "Yes! And what robes will you be wanting my dear? 3 regular work robs is the standard for Hogwarts school I know but will you be wanting anymore? Perhaps a fancy one or two for the Yule ball and any other occasion?" Judith blinked trying to get her mind to catch up with the speed of the lady in front of her. She must have been in the business of magical garments for a long while to be so speedy. In fact, Judith doubted she would have been able to remember getting a robe for the Yule ball. Even with the proposition of becoming an ally to the side of light, an idea that still seemed alien to her, she doubted she'd still be here come Christmas time. However the help was still staring at her expectantly waiting for an answer. Dumbly she nodded her consent to the additional robes.
As she did, what was becoming a trademark Weasley laugh sounded from one of her sides. In the whirl wind of these speedy ladies she had briefly forgotten about the brothers. Looking over she found the two grinning at her from a set of chairs. Fred caught her eye and gave an over exaggerated yawn and pretended to fall asleep.
"My dear?" Madame Malkin interrupted her humorous twin watching and drew her attention to the uniform she held. "If you'd please put this on in the change room we could then adjust this to your size."
Judith nodded and took the bundle of clothing she was handed. Before going off in the direction of the indicated change rooms though she stepped up to the twins and hit Fred and George with a Mademoiselle Magic magazine upside the head.
"Since you too are so bored why not ditch the muggle?" She joked about herself.
Fred added lightly. "Well we would but you know we told Dumbledore we'd escort you…"
"Ah but shopping is very tedious for guys. Magical or not, I'm beginning to see it's the same. Don't you guys have something else you do besides baby-sit muggles Dumbledore decides to adopt to Hogwarts?"
"Of course we do!" George replied humorously appalled. "We run our very own prank shop! Weasley's Wizard Wheezes."
"Oh yes." Judith rolled here eyes at the mention of the business the boys had started in the fourth book.
"OH yes…" Fred mocked in a high and percing voice, pretending to sound like a girl.
"Well then since you boys are still in business why is it your here sitting around bored, attending to me like butlers, while you could be pleasing customers!"
Both blushed a light pink. "We'll Dumbledore did ask and you consented plus it wouldn't do to have you lost."
Judith gave a very unladylike snort. "I'm not going to get lost in a single alley. Even if it is full of shops and very long. Also if those are the only reasons why your sitting around paying compliments to the flies then why don't you head back to your shop?"
"Would you mind?" One of the twins she was beginning to think she'd forever have trouble distinguishing, sincerely asked.
"Not at all in fact I've been itching to do some exploring on my own. You two have seen all there is to see of each of these shops. I haven't even seen the shops! I'll just bore the daylights out of you by people watching and playing with trinkets. I can meet you guys back at the leaky cauldron tonight for dinner." She spoke with perfect calmness but inside she was actually nervous they wouldn't let her be. Time alone with her thoughts was what she needed most now to adjust.
Fred gave a nod to George and they rose, gave a flourishing bow, and headed to the door. "Oh and Judith…" George called back. "Do keep out of trouble."
She just shook her head and laughed. They sure were ones to talk about keeping out of trouble. She was relieved that they had agreed to her idea.
However her smile disappeared after she walked into the change room and changed into the uniform to find it consisted of a knee length skirt, blouse, sweater vest and bobby socks! Oh god! Suddenly it had hit her that a boarding school like Hogwarts mean horrible mid 1950's prep clothes day to day, month to month. Okay so they weren't that bad, it would mean there would be a lack of who-could-dress-the-most-expensively, and maybe she didn't completey dislike the idea of boarding school clothes (though she's never admit it) but they were all too big!
While she worried behind the privacy curtain the shop keepers voice filter over the barrier. "Oh don't be shy child come on out. Don't worry if the clothes are too big we'll just fix them right up to your size!" Judith rolled her eyes at her reflection and stepped out after bunching up the cloth.
"Oh my those are big." One of the help stated and then flicked her wand with some spoken words. Suddenly Judith found her hand no longer gripping cloth. Tentatively moving her hand away she found the skirt stayed in place, now snug against her hips and the shirt and vest also fitted. Glimpsing her imagine in a close by mirror she found she slightly looked better. Her belly no longer looked like it belonged to hippo and that she was going to give birth.
When her uniform was done with she ended up choosing a bright aqua cloth for one of her fancy robes and heavy red and green velvet for the other which she could use, should she still be here come Christmas. After a little wait she was greeted with the finished product of five fine new robes and three other fitted uniforms. Three plain black robes for Hogwarts and two fancy ones all with her name stitched in the collar like the school letter requested. For the lot she paid two gold pieces which she was reminded were called Galleons.
When she exited the shop with her packages nicely folded and wrapped in brown paper she set off down the alley in her aqua robe seeing that she didn't have to wear her uniform till school. However as she made her way through the crowds and into some shops she was starting to believe perhaps she shouldn't have got such a bright robe. People were staring still but not like before. She'd catch one taking a glimpse and catch the persons eye and they might blush or turn away. Suddenly she realized she was probably looking like the idiot Lockhart in her vibrant robes. But none of the people looked to be completely shocked or disgusted though so she shrugged off the feeling.
Now that she was dressed like a wizard -to a degree- she decided to get the most important thing she'd need as a wizard: her wand. And not surprisingly Ollivanders was just a shop up.
When she stepped inside she was immediately greeted by the tiny old shop owner a moment after stepping into the gloomy shop with it's wand boxes up to the ceiling.
"Greetings new comer-" He seemed slightly startled when he got a full look at her. A frown crinkled his eyebrows till they were touching and then if was disappeared by a still surprised look but one which was more calm and in wonder. "Yes new comer…" he spoke to himself and reached out and grasped her hand. Judith was slightly uneased but as soon as he had taken her hand she dropped it.
"You are familiar to me and yet you are not. You have secrets. For the first time I do not know the customer that has entered."
"My name is Judith Nichols."
"So you say but you are not like the Nichols that I have met before. Bethie Nichols 9 inches unicorn hair. Gerald Nichols 12 inches mahogany and phoenix hair. They were the last two Nichols I have had here in my shop and that was some time ago. Even still you are not one of their children." Judith rose her eyebrow at that.
" But your features they are familiar but I have not seen then in so long… Well never mind." From out of his pocket he drew a long tape measurer with silver markings. "Please extend your wand arm."
Her other eyebrow shot up and she had to think for a moment which she wanted to be her wand arm. Finally she extended her right arm and then he was taking measurements. Mr. Ollivander gave her another peculiar look and then turned and scurried off around a row of wand boxes.
"The strange one I think. Yes. I have not sold a white wood for sometime." Mr. Ollivander's voice echoed through the shop back to her. "How appropriate."
'This guy is really weird.' She thought while still musing over his cryptic words. What was so strange about her features? Was he seeing a Romanov resemblance?
Ollivander appeared again with what looked like a crumbling box. Out of it he pulled a long creamy white wand. She was a bit surprised. There were white wands? What wood was this white?
He pushed it into her hand and she held it moronically.
Mr. Ollivander animatedly encouraged her with his hands. "Well… Give it flick."
Judith did as told and a peculiar sensation moved through her. Besides that nothing happened. This slightly disappointed her. She'd been hoping for an explosion or some sparks in the slightest.
Mr. Ollivander seemed overjoyed though. "I knew it! A strange elegant wand for and a strange and elegant wand hand." He gave her a smile. "14 inches, one of my longest and a braid of two hairs: phoenix and unicorn and a single Dragon heartstring. Use it well miss Nichols."
She nodded slowly and slightly suspiciously.
"That will be 7 galleons."
Reaching into her coin purse she drew out the amount and handed it to him. Without a glance to recount the coins he gave a nod, a deep bow from the waist, and then returned to his desk. Judith just shook her head and exited the shop. Immediately she was back shopping.
In the cauldron shop she bought what the shop keeper said was a very durable student's cauldron even though the collapsible ones intrigued her. She quickly got her other supplies as well as some trinkets and magic products. In a wizard beauty shop she even found a hair styling potion that said on the side it was guaranteed to glue her hair in any position she wanted. She had sniggered at that and bought it in hopes of trying out a punk spiked look sometime. Hogwarts didn't have rules against how students styled their hair did they.
Finally all she had felt to do, 'besides browse' she thought with a smile, was buy her text books. Making her way up to Flourish and Bolts she smiled at the masses of books she could see through the shop window. This shop was quite large and had both of it's stories open to the public instead of just the bottom one. It didn't matter much since Judith was in heaven. She was a book worm through and through. Her entire family was.
Oh she was so happy to see different books from the ones of her personal and town's public library. Here many were leather bound and some looked to be ancient. She picked up one: The Book of Nothing and when she flipped through the pages found exactly that. Laughing she put it back down and continued to browse. Eventually she did find a section that was devoted to potions and began looking for 'Advanced Magical Drafts and Potions' by Arsenius Jigger.
Having no luck with the top shelves she was now sitting cross legged on the floor taking in the names of the books on the bottom shelves at an easy reaching distance. Eventually at the very bottom in the corner was what she was looking for. She pulled the book out and ran a finger over the leather cover.
"Exactly what I was looking for." A lazy drawl came from above her and she looked up to see a young man with blonde hair smirk down at her. "Thanks for doing the hard work for me. Mind passing me one of the others?"
Malfoy! Judith's mind hissed at her. This was the brat Draco Malfoy. He had to be. The robes he wore seemed too fancy with sliver buttons likely and lots of intricate sewing. His features were pale and the angles of his features were sharp almost pointy.
Trying to hide any sign of recognition or surprise on her face she immediately grabbed for another text and handed it up to him. He took it and she was slightly stunned he didn't wrench it from her.
"Going to Hogwarts?" he asked in that drawl which was pure lazy self confidence.
"Yes," she answered, a little more curt than she wanted and she began to rise. Surprising her again the spoiled little rich kid offered his arm to assist her. She didn't really want to take it but to stay on neutral turf as long as possible she did.
He gave her a look as she pulled her hand out of his grip after standing. Those cool gray eyes assessed her dress with a raised brow. "I've never seen you before."
"That's because I'm new. I'm transferring to Hogwarts from Madeleine Trublé's School for the Magical in Quebec, Canada."
Draco actually looked surprised. "I didn't know Hogwarts took cross-Atlantic exchange students."
"I didn't either."
"Why did you decide to switch schools if your going into your final year. This is your 7th year isn't it?"
Judith nodded as her mind raced to bullshit her answer. "I wanted to do some traveling and go to school in a different place. Hogwarts seemed good because it's so old. Madeleine Trublé's is a terribly modern school. We didn't even have to wear uniforms." She hoped everything she was saying was okay and that Malfoy didn't know about this school.
Looking down at her list she moved over from the potions section into herbs to find: 'One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi' by Phyllida Spore. Malfoy followed.
"Well there's four houses and there's a hat that sorts you into whichever you're best suited." He informed her with a superior tone. Judith groaned internally. 'I already know you pompous arse!' She wished could say but silently shouted it back to her neurological cells instead.
"There's Hufflepuff, Grynffindor,"He spat, "Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. The Slytherin house is the best there is."
Judith had to resist rolling her eyes. "What about Grynffindor? I take it from your tone of voice you don't like that house too much."
He gave an indignant snort. "Grynffindor's are supposed to be brave, daring and chivalrous. I think they're all idiots."
"Why do you think they're idiots?"
"They just are. They're always breaking rules thinking they're higher than the rest and they never get caught! The teachers, even the headmaster, favor them. And you must know by now from the Daily Prophet or Wizarding Weekly Tabloids how even the savior of the wizarding world Harry Potter is in Grynffindor."
Judith nodded and attempted to silently quell her anger but Draco's little speech had her temper simmering. "I still didn't hear any reason for them to be idiots. It sounded to me like your more jealous."
Draco Malfoy's gray eyes immediately turned serious and icy. Judith knew she had probably just blow the chance of being on tepid ground with the boy but should didn't really care. Besides looks, Draco Malfoy didn't seem to have much to offer, except money, but Judith wasn't about to degrade herself to such a shallow level. Perhaps now he'd let her seek out her remaining books in peace.
'Now who was the author of that herb book?' She thought.
Judith looked down at her list again, shifted the weight of her packages and continued looking. Eventually she did find it bound in died green leather. When she moved on to the next couple of shelves she noticed Draco had watched her and picked up one of the herb books when she moved on.
'Cheater,' she thought. 'I don't care if it's only a book, I spent nearly five minutes finding it he took five seconds to watch and pick up his own.'
She realized she was being petty but erg! Could a guy get more irritating in a time span of one a few minutes?
Moving on she noticed he was right on her tail. Turning and facing him she sent his raised eyebrow look at him. He answered by doing the same. Judith gave a short laugh and then turned back to the book shelf.
Draco was still looking at her. Judith was starting to dislike this book store because it was hindering her search for the books and keeping her in Malfoy range longer than she would like.
"What's Canada like?" The question stopped her as she just began reaching for Mrs. Spore's book.
The absent of the drawl was what made her look up. He actually looked like he was interested in the answer. So she answered him as she picked up the book and then continued on to find Miranda Goshawk's 'Standard Book of Spells (Grade 7)'.
"It's beautiful and I love it there. It's so big and we have a great diversity in the land. Our government does a good enough job even if the Prime Minister might not be too great. Our culture is mix of all different kinds and we have two official languages: English and French. Also I'll have you know that we aren't all nice and that not every other word we speak is 'eh'."
"Can you speak French?"
"A little; I had been working on it before I came here. Now it's going to have to go on the back burner. While here I guess I'll just have to brush up on my fake British accent. Wouldn' you say mate?" She said while trying to over accentuate her impersonation of the locals.
Another surprise: Draco actually gave a small smile.
"I can speak some," he said with a hint of the superior tone returning. "My family is known for it's culture and my father has me tutored every summer."
"Fascinating," Judith nearly yawned but thankfully had the decency to contain it. "Do you do anything that isn't because your father's somehow involved or might uphold your family status?"
The thunderous expression returned to his face but it was laced with confusion because Judith had actually managed to say exactly what she did in an even, calm and light tone. It was strange for Draco Malfoy to be insulted in such a way it was almost nice.
"Of course," he finally said simply.
"Well would you mind telling me about them?" She quirked a smile while giving up a silent prayer of thanks that he hadn't blown a gasket.
"I like Quidditch." He said confidently.
"But that doesn't really count, it's school related."
Draco frowned.
Judith was quickly getting into this. What exactly did evil nemesis kids like Malfoy do to unwind? "Oh come on think. What do you enjoy? Perhaps it's something you began before being enrolled in Hogwarts."
His pale features scrunched up, Judith waited for a moment but then returned to looking for the book on the current shelf. Two minutes later he simply said. "I draw sometimes."
She shifted around and looked at him. From his casual stance, leaning on one leg and looking over the shelf as well she could see the self-assuredness was still there but toned down. She guessed he got the hint that she didn't much like the holier-than-thou attitude. Too bad it'd supposedly been ingrained since birth.
Judith thought herself to be an average artist and she did enjoy drawing. Unfortunately they didn't offer art classes in senior high. "I like drawing. How good are you? The next Michaelangelo?" She said, her habit of teasing making an appearance, but suddenly realized Malfoy would likely take the fun out of it and say yes.
"No, no where near his caliber." Malfoy answered evenly. Despite the fact the casual assuredness was still there his answer did surprise her. It was getting to the point she was beginning to think she should simply stop thinking Rowlings' books over and just take the things as they were.
"But sometimes when I see something I really like and I concentrate I can produce a good reproduction."
"Same here." So Malfoy is remotely human…Who would have thought it?
Continuing around a corner she found the next book very quickly. Malfoy again picked up the book after her. Now all she had to find was her transfiguration text book and she could hurry off before the arrogance returned.
Walking over to the stairs Malfoy shifted his pile of books and followed. Momentarily she wondered why he didn't have one of his poor house elves next to him to carry the growing pile but then shook that thought off. If he had she probably would have slugged him already in anger.
As she stepped off, the last step the question "So what is your name?" filtered up to her. Promptly afterward she did a 180 turn on her heel and looked at him with blank eyes. She'd been told her stare was very unnerving in it's emotionlessness. There was no response expect his hand reached out for the railing; his gray eyes were calm and drilled into her's just as much.
With a blink her eyes became more lively and she answered. "Judith Nichols." Interested in what his reaction may be she extended her long fingered hand for a handshake.
Gray eyes flicked down to it and an indistinguishable look briefly flashed in his eyes. But then a warm hand- proof he wasn't a cold blooded snake like his house emblem- grasped hers. "Draco Malfoy," he said.
She didn't lower her eyes from his, knowing he would likely think her to be weak if she did and answered, "I know." Pulling her hand away she went off in the search for her book leaving the mildly surprised boy behind her.
TBC
Ciao darlings ;)