A/N: This chapter is still at the mall at the same time that chapter six was, excepting this is Gilderoy's little adventure with Liz. His point of view. Enjoy y'all! I STRONGLY suggest y'all read Scarlet Rurouni's (Liz's) fic "The Student, The Typhoon, and the Closet" where you will find the same chapter set up but with her POV and Vash's POV at the mall, of course with Gilderoy and I still there too. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Come on..." Liz said, grabbing Gilderoy's sleeve and dragging him off to another store. "One hour! Front of the Disney Store! Bye!" She called over her shoulder.

Once they were away from Stephie and Vash, in another store with, she whirled to face him. "You do realize that you were about to become a speck on the pavement simply over a set of shirts?" She accused letting a very physical growl accompany her words.

Gilderoy gulped, "Er ... are you two perhaps related?" he asked, laughing nervously wondering if he was indeed going to live through this without the two wanting to murder him on the spot.

He glanced at her as she sighed heavily and explained in very clear tones, "Alright look. Let me explain something: A) I am FAR more frightening than anything you may have seen from Stephie, I just generally try to control it a bit more. B) I do NOT like you anywhere near as much as she seems to, I simply saved your butt because I don't necessarily believe in killing without just cause ... and C) Just because you think it looks good on you in Potterverse doesn't mean you won't get laughed at for wearing it here. In other words, your sense of fashion does not apply in this reality, so get over it." She finished, and with a very huffy demeanor stalked over to peruse some shirts still making that trilling sound in her throat.

He gulped and felt he should at least explain himself, but he vaguely wondered why their opinion, especially Stephie's mattered so much to him. "It's just a lot to get used to. People don't know I exist here and I am told I am not real. Might as well be ghost ... everything I am used to is upside down. Even my memory."

It was true, ever since ... well he didn't remember what it was that happened that had lead to his residence in that hospital, St. Mungo's, but ever since that had happened, nothing had been the same for him.

"Well, you could do yourself a favor and try NOT to act so pompous all the time... it's alright to be confused and lost, just don't be so arrogant about it." Liz told him over her shoulder, still slightly huffy as if not forgetting how much he had angered Stephie.

She did have a point, even if he didn't necessarily want to admit it to himself. He sighed, "Right. " Liz turned at his sigh and gave him a quizzical look, "Hey... look I'm generally not all that bad." She said, sighing herself. "I just tend to be very over-protective of my friends ... nasty little habit it is ..." and here she took up a few shirts and handed them to him. "Here. Try these."

"All right, but ... er ... there are changing rooms right?" He asked, aware of the crowds moving around them as they stood there.

She laughed at that, and he wondered what was so funny. "Yes baka. They're over there." Liz told him pointing over his shoulder, but then glanced at him again with a wicked smile. "Unless of course.. you prefer to get dressed in public?"

Now why would he want to do that, he wondered. He may have egocentric tendencies, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he had not modesty whatsoever. Perhaps he should clue everyone into that distinction, he though to himself. "I'd just as soon as spare the public." He responded with his eyebrow quirking up, as headed off to the changing rooms.

He went into one of the small rooms that could have passed for a cubbyhole and set out the shirts before him on the bench. Hmm, which would he try first? Well, these grey ones are nice. He took up one of the shirts and unbuttoned it. After he got it on himself he swiveled to face his reflection in the mirror.

"Not bad, Gilderoy ... " He turned and glanced over his shoulder to see another angle. It fit nicely and wasn't exactly ghastly. This would do. He then tried on all the others, each time swiveling to get all the different angles and ensure the shirts looked nice.

After a few moments, he left the room and returned to Liz, holding the pile of shirts she had given him. "Just how many are we getting?"

"Just a few, once you have them you can always come out and get more should the need arise. I'd say three at best for now." She answered after a pause in which she glanced up at the racks that held more shirts of all different colors and sizes.

He smiled and then glanced down at the pile in his hands. "Well ... I say ... I'd say this blue and grey ones are nice, but these other ones ..." he trailed off, holding up a white, beige, and a green shirt. "Which do you think is my color?"

She seemed to force back a laugh before she answered him. "Well... I personally like green... but that's just me."

"Green it is. A lady's opinion is always the better one." He grinned and put the green shirt with the grey and blue ones.

"Ah... flattery will get you everywhere. Here." Liz smirked, taking the rejected shirts from him and then handed him a stack of pants. "Try those, while I put these back..." She indicated the rejected shirts.

"It wasn't flattery!" He stated told her before he made his way back to the changing rooms.

Well it wasn't, he was being honest when he said that. Men had no fashion sense, at least most didn't. Women had that inate ability to link color and style. It was true, and she had mocked him. What he wouldn't give to just have a rule book of what to say and what not to. It would certainly help him that day as nothing he said or did was right apparently.

A few moments later, he returned to her once more after having tried on the various pants. "Well, these three are fine." Gilderoy told her, gesturing to a pair of denim and two pairs of khaki pants.

"I approve." She actually looked slightly surprised, but then shrugged it off with a grin and led him towards the counter to pay for the clothes. "Let's go pay for these and then we can get you some decent shoes."

Grabbing the bags she nodded ahead of her, beckoning him to follow. He vaguely wondered why she was carrying the bags. Should he try and get her to let him carry them? Or was it custom here in this strange place that women do that?

"So... what do you think of it here?" She asked him, cutting into his thoughts.

Good question. What did he think of it here? "It's different I'll say ..." He glanced at her for a moment, before asking, "So you and Stephie are close friends?"

"Yes. I'd have thought that to be fairly obvious." She smirked and shifted the bags in her hand. Again he wondered if he should ask to relieve her of the bags as well as wondered if she would kill him for asking.

"Well you can be friends with someone and not necessarily be close ..." He managed to say amid his thoughts on the bags in her hand.

"Yes ... That's true." She frowned slightly, but not in an angry way, more of a thoughtful way.

"So, where did you to meet?" He asked her, very curious about this.

"In English class at school." She replied, grinning in a nostalgic type of way. "We discovered we had a shared interest in a particular group of actors ..." her voice trailed off in memory.

"Oh. How long have you known her?" He asked, having the impression that they'd known each other for years.

"A few months now I believe." She glanced over at him, an unreadable expression on her face.

"And Vash ... he's not from here either is he?" He asked, curious about her companion who was somewhere with Stephie at that moment.

She almost sighed plaintively. "No... Even though where Vash is from isn't all that much different from here... it's not exactly the best of places..." Though here she suddenly grinned wickedly at him. "Though you know... he's famous where he's from too."

Wonderful ... she's mocking me again, he thought. Well she may play that way, but he would try and play fair. He turned his gaze to her and asked politely, "Really now?"

"Yes. But not in a good way ..." She answered with another sigh. "You're lucky... most people that recognize you don't want to kill you."

"I should hope not!" He cried, scandalized. Now why would anyone who recognized me want to kill me, he mused.

"Yes, well, Vash isn't quite so lucky. Basically every living person wants him dead... at least where he's from... though there are a few exceptions. That is why Vash tried to give you that false name when you first met, remember?" She laughed quietly at the memory.

"False name? Oh! Yes!" He suddenly rememebered.

She grinned. "We're here." Liz declared, indicating the store and motioning for him to follow her inside.

However once inside, she suddenly frowned. "Hmmm... I've no idea what size you are..." Glancing around, he watched her grab a pair handed them to him. "Try these."

He tried them on and found to his surprise they actually fit him. They were quite snug and comfortable. How did she do that? "You know, you're kind of scary when you do that."

"Do what?" Liz asked nonplussed.

"Pull something off at random that actually suits me." He explained, pulling the shoes off.

Liz awarded him with a laugh, "Just one of my many talents, Lockhart."

"Right, I'll say." He responded and wondered why she always called him by his last name.

"So I take it you like them then?" She asked him, eyeing the pair of shoes in his hands.

He nodded in the affirmative. "Yes, I do. Will that be all here?"

She glanced around for a moment, as if mentally making sure there wasn't anything she was forgetting. "Yes ... I think so ..." She then glanced at something on her wrist, the same thing that Stephie always seemed to look at every second that caused her to rush around muttering about time, and turned back to him. "Well... we've got about half an hour before we need to meet Stephie and Vash... Anything you'd like to do?" Liz asked as she paid for the shoes.

"Not particularly, though I am curious about that store over there ..." He indicated the store just across the way that was titled Bath and Body Works

She snorted. "You really want to go into a shop dedicated entirely to bathing supplies?"

"Well, can I help it that I wish to stay cleanly and fragrant? I am sure I am not the only one." He returned, aware that he was slightly peeved.

"Calm down, Lockhart. I didn't mean anything by it. We can go if you wish." She headed towards the aforementioned shop, wincing ever so slightly as she added the extra weight of the bags to her hand.

"Would you like me to help you carry those?" He offered concernedly, mentally thinking he may or may not have been breaking a rule, but not the rule of chivalry.

"No, thanks. I'm good." I replied, never lessening her stride.

"No, I can see you're lying. As those packages are for me, what kind of gentleman wouldn't help carry those?" He implored her, his hands already outstretched to take the weight from her hands.

Liz stopped and turned to gaze at him levelly, almost as if she was judging the sincerity in his offer. "Well I'll be damned ." Liz muttered with a small smile as she handed him a few bags. "And here I though chilvary was supposed to be dead ..."

"You thought wrong, gentle lady of the world of reality." He shook his head and smiled at her.

She laughed at that. "Gentle?" She started amused, "You looked a bit frightened by me not too long ago."

"Work with me here, will you?" He retorted, vaguely aware that he was using one of Stephie's lines.

She just laughed again. "You've been hanging around Stephie far too long my friend."

"Yes. I still find it strange that I ended up in her closet. Weirdest thing that has happened to me thus far ... excepting that incident in this tunnel thing ... can't remember what happened ... but it was dark and my memory has never been the same since." He remarked nonchalantly.

She nodded. "That, I can understand," and gave him a sympathetic smile, "but cheer up. Everything will turn out all right in the end."

He smiled his own bright smile. "I hope."

"Our ticket to the future is always open ... you'll be fine." She stopped. "We're here."

"Anything you want?" She asked after several moments where Gilderoy had just stared transfixed at everything.

Everything was so nice in here, he thought. Such fragrant smells and ... oh! "Merlin!" He exclaimed before composing himself. "This will be fine." He held reached out and plucked a bottle from the shelf and handed it to her.

"Who'd 'would've thought someone could be so amused by body wash?" She muttered to herself as she went to pay for the items.

"It's the fragrance I like!" He said in a playful huffy voice.

"I'm sure it is." Liz rolled her eyes at him. "Is there anything else you'd like to do?"

"Not particularly, will we go back to that store and wait out front for the others?"

She nodded."Yup." She then lead him out of the store and back the way they had originally come. "So ....you seemed very interested in Stephie before ..."

Had he been that obvious?

"Well I was curious. She seems to be so independent and so solitary, I was curious as to how close you two were. I know she still lives with her parents, but it seems like ... she may as well be an orphan. It's strange really." He tried to explain.

"I see." She murmured softly and seemed to lose herself in her thoughts.

"Galleon for your thoughts?" He asked her, looking a little curious and yet concerned.

She seemed to shake off her thoughts. "Hm? Oh, nothing. I was just thinking ... how we all seem to be similar in that way ...."

"I beg your pardon?" He asked a bit confused, wondering if it was true what Stephie had said about Liz being the brains out of the two of them.

"Wel l... it's just what you said ..." She frowned slightly, "I mean, each of us, you, Stephie, Vash, me ... we all sort ... function independently and yet ...."

"Yet ... ?" He prompted her, very much curious now.

"And yet ... we really all seem to sort of need companionship ... though it seems that all four of us have a tendency to try and distance ourselves from anything meaningful ... friendwise ..." She shook her head. "Or perhaps I'm reading a bit too deep into things."

"You're making sense." He told her reassuringly. She had brought up a fairly good point after all. Stephie did have that tendency to push others way, or was it just him she was pushing away?

"It's sort of ironic when you think about it ..." She let out a soft laugh. "I really need to stop trying to analyze everything, don't I?"

"No, but Stephie was right when she said you were the brains of the group." Gilderoy grinned and now thought he understood Stephie's words.

She laughed hard. "Not really. Most of the time I'm quite moronic, I assure you." She smiled playfully.

"I find that hard to believe." He returned with a rogueish smile.

"Right." She rolled her eyes. "Oh hey! There's Stephie and Vash!" She waved, and Gilderoy was relieved to see that they both seemed to be in good spirits. "Looks like you'll be rid of me sooner than you thought, eh Lockhart?" She grinned.

"Now why would I want to be rid of you? You're relatively harmless." He laughed warmly, his eyes however on Stephie as she approached.

Liz snorted, " 'Mostly harmless' ... now where have I heard that before ..."

She grinned however, as Vash and Stephie approached. "You two have fun?"

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Special thanks to:

Scarlet Rurouni: You rule girlie!

Crystalunicorn14: Hope you liked!

A word: Now that the semester is almost over, just another week and then finals, I shall have more chapters out for this story. So yay!