Dirty, Pretty Things
Chapter 4
Hermione was surrounded by every colour imaginable, and even some that she never knew existed. Standing in a robe shop in the middle of wizarding London, Hermione was in awe of all the fabrics, designs, and shades. She had never been here before, and suddenly Madame Malkin's Robes For All Occasions seemed a joke. A beautiful shop girl, hardly even 18, with auburn curls walked towards her, a polite smile on her face.
"Can I help you, miss?"
"Um, yes. I need some new robes."
"An entire new wardrobe, actually," Snape interrupted.
Hermione spun around to face her old teacher. "That's really not necess-"
"I insist."
The girl nodded and motioned for Hermione to follow her to a fitting room. "We just need to find your measurements quickly," she said brightly.
Snape waited in the main room, looking at all of the robes. A few moments later, the shop mistress came back out and walked towards him.
"Excuse me, but the woman told me I was to ask you about your price range."
"Ah, yes. Well, she does need an entirely new wardrobe, but please try to keep the price at a moderate rate. But don't be cheap."
The girl nodded again and bustled around the shop, grabbing a couple of robes in every colour and style before walking back into the fitting room, her arms full to the point that Severus was amazed she could see where she was going. Severus was rather uncertain as to what to do with himself. He'd never shopped with a woman before, except for when heattended Hogwarts and his mother would take him. That had been quite some time ago, however. He spotted an unoccupied chair on the other side of the room and decided that he might as well be comfortable. After all, this could take hours.
After trying on nearly every robe that the girl had handed her, Hermione had made a few decisions. The first of which, was that she looked good in neutral colours, and the second of which was that she was definitely going to need some pins for her hair. And the last, and most important in her mind, was that if felt good to actually be wearing clothing that covered her body. She picked out some simple but elegant tapered robes in earthy colours, as well as a couple with more intricate detail for nicer occasions. She even found a nice lavender robe in some sort of flowy, sheer material laid over white silk that she would wear to any balls that could possibly pop up (she liked to be prepared). Just when she thought that she was done shopping, the auburn haired girl turned back around with a grin.
"Good, now we just need to find you some accessories."
"Oh, I don't think I should. I mean, this isn't exactly my money, and-"
"Well then, I'll just ask your husband."
Hermione blushed, starting to object, but the girl had already walked out. Who in their right mind would ever consider them to be a couple? Hermione found herself quite shocked, but in an almost pleasant way. She didn't have time to think more on the subject, however, because the girl had rushed back in, an even larger smile on her face, if that was possible.
"Your colleague said that you were to acquire an entirely new wardrobe, accessories and all."
Hermione realized that Severus must have corrected the shop girl, but she couldn't figure out exactly why she felt a bit sad at the fact. Before she could start moping around, though, the girl was dragging her to the other side of the room to show her jewelry as well as some hair pieces. After nearly a half an hour of debating both internally and with the girl, she picked out a necklace of thin black leather with an old Chinese protection medallion tied at the end, a beautiful but relatively inexpensive pair of chandelier earrings as well as small floral studs in a brass-like metal, and four new hair pieces to keep her hair up on the left side or to clasp at the end of a side braid. She looked at her seemingly large amount of items and was positively dreading hearing the amount that it would all cost.
She didn't have to wait long, however, as the shop girl carried everything to the front of the store to ring up. Hermione stepped out of the room, still wearing her old, worn Levi's, an old but relatively concealing Hello Kitty tee shirt, and tattered black Converse sneakers. She looked up at Snape sheepishly, feeling very bad for making him pay for her many items. He just looked at her with a kind smile and walked over to the girl to pay.
"That will be 97 galleons, 26 sickles, and 4 knuts, please."
"Merlin, Hermione, what did you do, buy a small third world country?"
Hermione looked up, feeling dreadful until she realized that he was chuckling as he said this. "I know, I'm really sorry, and I promise I'll pay you back as soon as I can."
Severus just smiled, knowing full well that he would never allow her to do that. "Of course, all in due time."
He paid the appropriate amount and stepped outside the shop. Hermione sighed and smiled happily, the bags she had insisted on carrying shrunken and tucked into her backpack, which she had flung over a shoulder. When she looked happy, she also looked younger, Severus noticed. It was the first time he had seen her happy since back in school, and it in turn made him feel pleased as well.
"I suppose you'll be needing shoes," Severus said, looking down at his former student. "I don't know what it is about you bloody women and shoes, but I do know that they're always necessary."
Hermione blushed and looked away, smiling slightly. "I'm perfectly fine with the shoes I have, actually. They're the only things I own that fit and look alright."
Snape looked at her for a moment, then started walking down the street. Hermione, rather puzzled, hurried to catch up.
"Wait! Where are we going?" Hermione asked, worried that she had upset him in some way. Snape didn't stop until he had opened the door of a shop for her, allowing her to step inside. She was immediately bombarded with the scent of new leather and the sight of hundreds of shoes and bags. "But I really don't need-"
"Nonsense," Severus interrupted. "If there's one thing I learned from listening to the female population at Hogwarts when they should be working, it's that a woman can never have enough shoes. Now, whether I agree to that or not (which I don't, by the way), or even understand it, doesn't matter. What does matter is that you're happy. And if a couple of pieces of leather covering your feet makes you happy, then go and frolic amongst these confounding aisles."
Severus was now trying to hide a smile, but at the sight of Hermione's glee, he couldn't stop it from appearing. His look of contentment turned to one of slight shock, however, as threw her arms around his neck and hugged him, stating a brief and teary "thank you" before wandering off amongst the aisles of shoes, looking like a small child in a candy store. After at least an hour, Hermione returned carrying five boxes of shoes.
"I promise I'll pay you back. Promise."
Snape paid for the items, walking out of the shop with a considerably lighter coin purse and wondering if he might just take her up on her offer this time...