The muggle mall that May and Claire led Harry to was big and bright and every store window was displaying something coral colored. Coral was the new pink.
Harry had never been to this mall before. He assumed that had he remained at muggle school instead of going to Hogwarts, this place would be where he would shop. Harry thought a lot over the summer about what his old muggle classmates were up to. Harry had never really made any friends, do to Dudley's torturous influence. But Harry had remembered that some of the kids had been nice people.
"Harry, have you ever been here before?" May asked
"No, I haven't" Harry stated.
"Well, that's ok; I guess boys don't like the mall as much as girls. But still, you ought to come here during your summers. I've read that you get really bored at your Aunt's house."
"You have, haven't you" Harry was still uncomfortable with the idea that a bunch of strangers could know everything about him.
May and Claire led the way into Madame Ripoff's. The exterior was a light shade of coral; the door was still pink from last season. In the window, the mannequins were wearing ultra mini-skirts and super slutty tank tops. But the shoes were what you really wanted to look at. The shoes make the outfit, as everyone knows.
Flip-flops were called sandals, sandals were called flats. Everything was just so chic.
May and Claire sat down on a purple colored couch (the purple was left over from when purple was in style, red was the new purple, then pink the new red, then coral the new pink. I hear yellow is gaining ground).
Harry sat down next to them.
In a few minutes a bubbly brunette saleslady stopped by.
"Hello girls! Back again for more shoes?" said the saleslady.
"Anna! Hello! How are you?" May exclaimed, and then not waiting for Anna to say "fine, thanks," May continued talking, "This is our new friend, Harry Potter."
Anna looked at Harry, but she did not have that knowing look that magical people have when they meet him. The obliviousness was refreshing.
"Well, Harry, aren't you cute." Anna said with her hands on her hips, while tapping her knee high boots.
"Thanks, um, you too." Harry said, not sure how to be polite to a muggle saleslady.
"Isn't he a doll? Anyway, what can I get you girls? Are you in for some more tennis shoes? How about some of our cute new sandals?" Anna asked.
"In a minute Anna, what we really need is some help. Do you have any teen magazines we can read? Those articles are ever so insightful." May asked.
Anna agreed, though she chuckled to herself at the funny request.
Claire and May browsed until Anna returned; Harry had stayed seated on the couch.
"Here you go girls; this month has a quiz on how to tell if your man is cheating." Anna said.
"That sounds perfect!"
Claire, May, and Harry opened the magazine to the quiz section.
May began to read it out loud, "'Does he sneak out at night and not tell you where he has been?' oh that is a good idea! We should practice Quidditch at night!"
"But you can't see the ball, and your parents would worry." Harry said.
"We can work around that. But lets move on to the next question, 'Does he lie about where he has been?'"
Claire jumped up at this one, "we should just tell everyone that we are not playing Quiddtich. You know, lie about it! Like people ask, 'hey what are you doing?' and we would answer, 'we are sweeping the street with these brooms.' No one would ever catch on!"
"Ok, sounds like a, uh, good start. May what does the next one say?" Harry said, averting his eyes to stare at the bright tiled floor.
May turned her attention back to the magazine, "Does he hang out at another girls house all the time, but only says it is because she has a pool?"
"That's it!" Harry exclaimed.
"What? We play Quidditch in a pool. I have not bought a bathing suit yet. There is no way I am wearing one from last season." May said, rolling her eyes.
"That is not what I meant. I meant that my friend, Ron has a pretty secluded back yard, he plays Quidditch all the time."
"But your friend Ron lives pretty far away in a house called The Burrow." May reminded him.
"No, but my neighbor, Mrs. Figg…"
"The one with all of the cats" Claire interrupted.
"…she has tall bushes in her backyard. And nobody in the neighborhood likes her because she is weird. People will just think she is at one of her weird things again." Harry explained.
"But yards in your neighborhood are pretty small. As are yards in mine. We need to use a park or something." May said, correctly.
"Right. Oh, well it could work because we are just going to learn the basics at first" Harry said, a little disappointed. He had been so excited about the chance to play Quidditch again that he had forgotten to include logic in his thoughts.
"Well whatever we do, I think I need to leave this store" Harry said. Harry was starting to feel out of place in the shoe store filled with girls shrieking over "the cuteness" of everything. He was feeling a little embarrassed. He was dying for fresh air.
"Well let me just ask Anna" May said, "hey Anna!"
Anna Naif walked back to them, "Are you done with the magazine or did you decide on a shoe?"
"Oh here, we are done the magazine, but no shoes right now. Harry is tired." May said. "We have a problem. There is a sort of game that we want to play, but we don't know of a place that is big enough, or private enough."
"Uh huh," Anna said, "Any more details?"
"No, just that this is a game that Harry is really good at. He might have high expectations."
"Hmmm. Well if you want to show him a good time, I would suggest a roof. The roofs of this mall are easily accessible, wide enough so that people on the street can't see what is happening in the middle. Just beware of helicopters, and also of the edges. There aren't any guardrails." Anna said.
"That sounds like a great idea" May said, "Now, I sort of had my eye on those low heeled green sandals. Size 8, if you don't mind."