Though December was glad to be rid of the rain they had seen in the past couple of days, the bright rays of the summer sun were getting increasingly irritating as she strolled down the cobblestone street. Her pale skin and sensitive eyes were not meant for this kind of UV overload. Thankfully her dads had offered to get her books while she took care of the other items on the list, which would allow them a more speedy return to their air-conditioned manor. Many other kids loved to play during this time of year, but December couldn't comprehend why anyone would voluntarily spend time outside in this heat.

December quickly glanced at the piece of parchment she had clutched in her pallid fingers, eager to pick an item and get into the shade of the store as quickly as possible. Three (black) plain work robes, standard model. December rolled her eyes at the simplicity. Why weren’t they allowed to wear the color they preferred? Must they be doomed to seven years of mundane fashion choices? Black always accentuated her stark white pastiness in a way which made her resemble an inferus, and that was hardly the first impression she was trying to give all the other students. Seeing that she didn’t have a choice in it, she begrudgingly began to head in the direction of the robes shop. If she was lucky, maybe she could find a way to spice them up in a way that was still keeping within the schools dress code but still allowed her to flaunt her sense of style.

It was such an idea day for shopping that the streets were quite a bit more crowded than normal. To her dismay, the flocks of witches and wizards were walking way slower than she would have preferred, which only proved to irritate her even more. She had no tolerance for fools with no sense of direction - she always walked like she had a sense of purpose and felt that everyone else should do the same. She weaved in and out of the horde, not caring if she stepped on a foot or two as she passed. If they didn’t want their foot stomped on, they should have walked faster. She glanced up at the Madam Malkin’s sign to confirm she was heading in the right direction, which caused her to not pay attention to the part of the cobblestone road in front of her that had an abnormally pointy rock sticking up. In her carelessness, December stumbled over the rock and started to fall into the girl next to her.

”Off!” she cried as she regained her balance. ”I’m sorry,” she blurted instinctively to the girl she had almost ran into. ”Are you alright?”