"I can't take it anymore...Melanie, have your assistant schedule a day off. We're going shopping," said Daphne.
"What are you on about this time Daphne?" said Tracy.
"Look at her! She only wears those stuffy, formal outfits," said Daphne.
Tracy paused, as did Hermione, Astoria and the Carrow twins. With Narcissa's glowing endorsement of "Heiress Black", Hestia and Flora were now allowed to openly associate with Melanie. Their parents only had to meet Melanie and Malleus once before they agreed to let their daughters swear fealty once they had begun puberty if they so wished.
Hermione was just glad to have mature friends who didn't mind fueling her book addiction. Sure, she had to tone down certain behaviors and learn polite etiquette, but it was a small price to pay because they usually didn't mind letting her read the rare books in their family libraries...so long as she was made aware which sections were restricted to "family only".
As one, the other girls looked at Melanie and realized Daphne had a point. Melanie did wear mostly formal, stuffy outfits.
Hermione stared at her for several seconds, before she sighed.
"You know, I'm almost afraid to find out if you're wearing modern underwear, or the really, really old fashioned ones."
"I'm pretty sure she wears a corset," admitted Tracy.
"We absolutely need a girl's day," said Daphne firmly. Astoria nodded in agreement, as she had become smitten with Lady Melanie within the first hour of meeting her.
"Only if we invite the boys a week later. Neville could use the distraction," said Melanie.
The girls all winced at the reminder, and agreed that was perfectly acceptable.
Neville's mother had survived the birth of his new sister...barely. It was fortunate they were able to get some muggle doctors to do the procedure, and were able to erase their memories after compensating them, because there was no way Alice would have survived a natural birth. However the doctors were rather firm that she not have any other children...not unless her mental state improved, which was highly unlikely.
Either way, Lady Longbottom had made it very clear she would murder anyone who dared to repeat the same stunt the late Algie had pulled. She was absolutely livid he had done this to the family, and had made it clear that Alicia would not be exposed to the rest of the family until she was seven to avoid a repeat of what they put Neville through.
At least something good came out of the ordeal. Lady Longbottom had a long heart to heart with her grandson, and shortly after the birth of Alicia he had been given his own wand. His control had improved considerably.
"Perhaps Sebek and Silver could take Neville on a shopping trip around the mundane world while we go on ours?" suggested Hermione. "We could do a combined trip for all of us for our school supplies."
"I like that idea!" said Daphne.
She might have found Hermione abrasive at first, but her behavior had tempered significantly over the past few months. It helped that she instinctively knew better than to piss Melanie off.
So the day was set. Melanie was openly looking forward to this.
The day of the shopping trip
"Dear Merlin...who on earth gave you that outfit?" asked Daphne, in disbelief.
"Lord Lilia. When I mentioned a shopping trip with friends, he gave me these," said Melanie. "He has the most experience out of the royal guards about non-formal attire among the mundanes."
Even Hermione was staring.
"Melanie, I consider you a dear friend...but whoever gave you that has some rather...eccentric tastes."
"Eh?"
Melanie's outfit was a hodgepodge of barely tasteful clothes. She wore a long skirt of deep green, a shirt that was a size too big that was vibrant purple, and her hat looked like something out of a tourist shop. Her shoes were the same sneakers she wore during school hours. She even had a pair of violently red sunglasses to partially obscure her eyes.
Daphne's face twitched at the mere sight of it.
"Right. Let's get her a new outfit, immediately."
When Melanie walked out of the department store, it was in a completely different outfit. Hermione however was frowning.
"What's wrong?"
"There's someone who's been staring at us since we entered the store. But I can't get a good glimpse of them at all."
"What did they look like?" asked Daphne.
"Short black hair with pink highlights, pale skin, dark brown eyes, and they were wearing black and green clothing with a skirt. They looked to be somewhat short," said Hermione.
Melanie blinked. She pulled out her phone, which was something Lilia had given her. After several painful moments of messing with the settings, she pulled up a photo.
"Is this him?" she asked. It was a picture of them in their Hogwarts robes with Lilia, Malleus and Baul.
"That's him!" said Hermione.
"That's Lord Lilia. He's on guard duty today as our unofficial chaperon," said Melanie.
"I thought this was supposed to be a girl's day?" asked Tracy.
"Oh it is," said an unfamiliar voice. "However there's no way Lady Maleficia would allow her great-granddaughter to wander around unsupervised in an unknown location."
Melanie brightened at that.
"Besides, your parents were relieved when Lord Malleus explained he was sending one of his personal guard to keep an eye on you girls while you had fun," said Lilia cheerfully. "I won't interfere unless there's trouble, but I'll be keeping an eye on the group while you shop."
Hermione stared at him.
"You have a personal guard?" said Hermione.
"Lord Lilia used to be the right hand of my grandmother. However he retired shortly after her death. Besides, Grandmother asked him to update the castle library after you accidentally revealed how out of date everything was," said Melanie.
"How out of date are we talking about?" asked Daphne.
"Let me put it this way...the last time they added anything more than basic records to the main library, Henry the Eighth had just broken away from the Catholic church and had formed the Church of England...give or take a century," said Lilia deadpan.
The girls all stared at him.
Hermione facepalmed.
"That...explains so much."
Like why Melanie was so woefully behind on current world events, among other things.
"I've been given full permission to pretty much buy out any bookstores you recommend in an effort to rectify the situation," said Lilia. "Obscure bookstores included."
Hermione's eyes gleamed with glee at the thought.
"Wait...does this mean we can use this to update our own collection of cheap romance novels?" said Tracy, perking up.
"She made no specification of any extras I bring back," smirked Lilia. "I know for a fact that the only exposure to manga or anything close to a modern fantasy novel was in my own collection."
"Grandmother basically gave us permission to get as many books as we want so long as we expand the main library," said Melanie. "And thanks to magical travel, we can even visit other countries so long as Lord Lilia or another escort is with us the entire time."
"I see a major shopping trip next year to update our wardrobes and library," said Daphne, eyes gleaming.
"I can speak French passably. We are so raiding as many stores as we can and updating that library," said Hermione firmly. The other girls nodded in agreement.
Melanie thoroughly enjoyed the spa day, and playfully added a few bright green highlights in her hair similar to what Lilia had. It only added to her mystique, according to Daphne who absolutely loved the addition.
Finally came the visit to the first bookstore. The girls were like piranhas set loose.
Hermione went straight for the carts, as it was highly unlikely that a basket would hold all the books she planned to get.
Melanie and Lilia were not much better. By the end of their first run, they had three carts full of books of varying subjects. The others had far more sedate baskets of books.
"How are we paying all this anyway?" asked Hermione.
Lilia brandished a card.
"While magical England is reliant on those vermin for their banking, Briar Valley is a bit more up to date," he said grinning.
The clerk had a look of the damned as they began to ring up the massive order of books. To be fair, it was the largest order they had ever seen in their life.
Lilia happily chatted up the poor young woman, who was going through the massive order as quickly as she could. The manager on duty took up another register, partially to help other customers but also to make sure that the large order didn't try to leave with any electronics. By the time the poor cashier was done scanning every book, she read out the total.
"Your total is...five thousand, seven hundred and thirty five pounds and seventy-eight pence. Would you like to round up your total?" she asked.
"Why not," agreed Lilia.
"Cash or card?" she asked. It was clear in her eyes that she was hoping for card, because there was no way her poor cash drawer was ready for that much cash.
Fortunately Lilia took out the special card that was linked to the royal account. He muttered something under his breath (to unlock the card and prepare it for the transaction) and inserted it.
The cashier and manager waited with baited breathe as the order processed. It was a massive order after all.
To the relief and utter shock of them both, the computer cleared the transaction, and the massive receipt began to print. The poor cashier had to replace the paper roll by the end of it, because the order was so big.
"Do you need help loading this into your car?" asked the manager, all smiles since there hadn't been an issue with the transaction at all.
"We'll be fine, won't we girls?" said Lilia.
Hermione hugged her new bookbag which was filled to the brim with her new books to her like it was a precious treasure. Daphne and the others had even gotten some trinkets that looked interesting or were merchandise from interesting series to take home as well. Astoria in particular was hugging her new Lugia doll happily.
The second they were out of sight, Lilia and the girls began putting the books up in the expanded suitcase he had brought with him. The library inside had a spell to sort the books on the shelves automatically.
"So...anyone interested in round two?" asked Lilia cheerfully.
Hermione visibly perked up at that, as did Melanie.
"We have to return home," said Flora disappointed. At least the muggle books were spelled to look like magical texts.
"Same," said Daphne, Tracy and Astoria.
Hermione looked disappointed at that.
"Let's get everyone home and we'll take Hermione back last," said Lilia.
He planned to get her input on what other texts to get at the next bookstore.
Hermione visibly perked up when she saw they were visiting a book cafe before going home.
"It's not good for growing girls to skip out on meals, and don't think I missed the fact your stomach was growling," said Lilia cheerfully.
She happily went home with three extra books, several snacks and a small tea to go. Melanie and Hermione cheerfully debated some of the series that they had been reading all the way to Hermione's house.
Hermione's parents were relieved that the girls had a chaperon the entire day...and that Hermione looked so happy.
In Blackthorn castle
Lilia quickly faked a coughing fit when Queen Maleficia took one look at the cheap romance novels...and promptly hoarded the entire lot. Lilia wisely said nothing and knew very well that he would be making more runs to the local bookstore. To be fair, the royal library had a depressing lack of books to be read purely for entertainment.
Malleus was already nose deep in a copy of Dragonriders of Pern, three volume edition. It had the first three books and he was already well into chapter three.
Good thing Lilia had bought every single book he could find by the author, and those like her.