Where in the world even am I?

Going on my own to shop for supplies was not a good idea, Thea thought looking around the place she found herself in. How even... she blinked a couple of times, still not sure if being a witch was reality or just a really long and complicated dream. Shopping for school supplies in the muggle world turned out to be so much easier - now she had to remember the supply list - because giving it to her younger sister wasn't the best idea, Anna obviously had to lose it and where to buy them all. And that she wouldn't be able to do with a map of the "Diagon Alley". She barely had the money to buy the books and the robes, and now she was looking for copper scales... except the store that she walked into didn't seem to have any of those.

Thea tried to turn around, but the crowd that just walked in only pushed her further into the store. Now she was in a crowded space with no directions whatsoever because her short self obviously couldn't see the entrance. She really needed to get a map.
Confused, she wandered around the weird store for a good couple of minutes, only getting more confused with every weird, magical product she passed. At some point, she somehow got into a corner of the store to see a bunch of pink vials that appeared to be... love potions? - from the Wonder-Witch series and a couple of older girls giggling in front of the shelves.

I definitely should not be here.

Clarke was able to slip away from his mother who had been caught up in Madam Malkin's. They had originally gone for Clarke's new robes but after his mother had made him try them on for what seemed like hours she got distracted by brand new robes that would fit her quite well. Or so she said. Clarke couldn't stand being in that shop for much longer, it was just too boring. So he slipped out and hurried down the street to Weasley's, a store that held a lot more entertainment than a robe shop for him.

It was times like these where he wished he had gone shopping with his father instead. But his father was busy, told Clarke he just had too much to worry about back home with his team and even the English national team. It was an excuse he was used to. If his father was here though, they would have spent all day at the Quidditch supplies store and Clarke wouldn't have needed to escape.

But even so it wasn't like his mother was boring company he just didn't get the infatuation with getting the best robes. They all looked the same to him. So Clarke pushed his way into the busy joke shop and his face lit up just looking at everything. There was a tiny car buzzing around the room like a humming bird, a box of rubber ears that promised to extend allowing you to eavesdrop on any conversation, sharp little teacups, gobstone sets, and a bunch of different types of explosives. Clarke's mom wouldn't let him buy any of this but he could dream.

He was holding a tiny little pygmy puff in his hand, a soft rose pink, when he noticed a young witch around his age who seemed positively lost. Everyone else in the store was similar to Clarke, gazing gleefully at the trinkets and joke gifts that lined the walls and even flittered above them like the little flying car.

Without putting the pygmy puff down he approached her, only needing to take one or two steps in the cramped shop.

"Are you alright?" He asked her inquisitively, "have you lost your parents? I don't believe they'd be in here." He said this as everyone in the store was young, student age.

"Are you alright?"

Thea looked up at the boy who just spoke. He looked like he was her age, but he could be also older as he was a bit taller than Thea. "What?" she replied, a bit startled by anyone actually talking to her, and kind of still not realizing what the question he asked. "Oh," she quickly corrected herself. "No," the girl added, rolling her eyes. Was she annoyed? No, more confused and not sure what to do; but the boy was a stranger, and she could already tell she didn't like him.

"Have you lost your parents? I don't believe they'd be in here." The girl got startled again. "You know, just because I'm shorter than you doesn't mean I'm younger. Have you lost your parents?" she replied in a bit rude tone, rolling her eyes again. "No, they said I should come here alone because I'm the only witch in the family; but my sister lost my supply list so I have no idea what to buy and where to buy it," she added. Okay, I said too much, she thought and reminded herself of what her mother always repeated about people being judgemental and to never talk too much since, well, they are obviously going to be judgmental.

Thea gave the boy another look, still not sure what he meant by what he said.

Clarke raised an eyebrow a little taken aback by the way she responded. He had just been trying to be polite but when she told him she was a muggle born he got it. She must just be overwhelmed, so he decided not to take it seriously.

"Well I mean, I'm here with my mom" he said pointing behind him out the door, "but she got held up at Madam Malkins looking at robes so I ducked in here. She'd never let me come here a lone. Although some of my other pure blood friends get to go school supply shopping a lone" he said that part a little bitterly and maybe he was. This trip would have been a lot more fun if half of it wasn't waiting for his mother to move on to the next store.

Clarke shook his head like he could shake the jealousy out before he looked to her with a smile, pretending like that flash of bitterness never even happened. "Are you buying supplies for hogwarts?" He asked her, "I got my list right here if you want me to help you. I know Diagon Alley like the back of my hand. I honestly don't even know how muggle born students even do it. I couldn't go shopping at, what do you call them? the places with all the shops?" he shook his head, "it's confusing enough with all those gadgets. So I can't imagine this store was you first choice to get lost in." He said that part with a laugh looking around. The store was just so hectic and busy, even a pure blood wizard could get lost in here.

The girl rolled her eyes again as he began to explain that he was her with his mom... and blah, blah, blah. She stopped spacing out and actually started caring about what he was saying until she heard a certain something in his voice.

"Although some of my other pureblood friends get to go school supply shopping alone..." he said it with a certain... bitterness in his voice. He was cheerful and polite up until this point, but that wasn't the thing. "What's this pure-blood, half-blood, muggle-born, mudblood thing everybody's talking about? I don't get it," she rolled her eyes again. A Hogwarts student should probably know that before going to Hogwarts... whatever, she blinked a couple times, realizing the boy didn't respond and continued his monologue.

"Are you buying supplies for Hogwarts?" the boy asked. "I got my list right here if you want me to help you. I know Diagon Alley like the back of my hand," ok, well that certainly wasn't like anything the girl expected. Nonetheless, it was really nice. She tried saying something again but the boy was still talking.

"I honestly don't even know how muggle-born students even do it. I couldn't go shopping at, what do you call them? The places with all the shops? It's confusing enough with all those gadgets. So I can't imagine this store was your first choice to get lost in." he asked. Thea took a deep breath and started talking. "Do you mean malls? Like you know, big buildings with a bunch of shops in them? That's what you mean, malls? Shopping centers?" she chuckled before continuing. "Yes, I am going to Hogwarts. Not sure how that happened since apparently, my family is all "muggles", whatever that means... And I don't really understand what you mean by gadgets or confusing, but okay."

After her way-too-long monologue, there was just awkward silence. Or it appeared like so to Thea, as she was just impatient. "I said too much, didn't I. Anyway, now you answer me - what's this pure-blood, half-blood, muggle-born, mudblood thing everybody's talking about? I'm serious, I don't get it..."

"Oh" Clarke said confused, well he guessed it made sense but he never really thought about how muggle borns didn't know something that was so prevalent to his life. Blood purity was such a big deal, even if you didn't really have an opinion on it. Clarke's family was all pure bloods, and so he knew a lot of the old pure blood families but he also knew most people were at least half bloods at this point. There were just so many more muggles in the world.

"well it's like, magic folk you know, we're a different kind of a person and it's in our blood, it's genetic for the most part. So if you're parents are both magical, then you're a pure blood because your blood is purely magical. If one of your parents is a muggle or... uh... non magic, and the other is a witch or wizard then you're a half blood. And if both of your parents are non magical then you're muggle born."

Then he paused and had to think very carefully about his next words. He knew plenty of people who had used the word mud blood before but he also knew that it was a word he should never, ever say. His moms family was a proud old pureblood family and while she was a proud Slytherin herself she always told Clarke never to use that word. 'It hurts peoples feelings, Clarke, so you need to be very careful' she warned him, 'you don't want to burn any bridges. Besides magic is magic is magic, we would never know someone's blood purity unless they told us.' But Clarke didn't know how to explain how complex this subject was.

"And you probably shouldn't...say um..." he lowered his voice, "mudblood, not in public at least. It's a bad word, like an insult, to people of your kind. If my mother heard me saying that word I'd get in a lot of trouble. People who use that word, they're not friendly and I'd suggest staying away from them." He warned her.

Thea blinked a couple of times, still not really getting why people were taking "blood purity" so seriously. Magic is magic, right? the girl was a bit stupid for basing her knowledge of fairy tales, but nonetheless, she has read a lot of fairy tales including magic, magic schools, students, and all that, but there was no one talking about blood purity in those.

Yeah, I need to get a better source than muggle fairy tales... I really need to.

"And you're a pure-blood, right?" the girl replied after another moment of awkward silence - or so it was to her as she was really impatient, and three seconds of silence basically meant to her that it was already awkward silence when it was just a break from flapping your lips all the time. "What's your name?" Thea asked after another "awkward" 2 seconds. And can I please see that supply list you mentioned, she added in her mind, I really need to get those supplies. The girl waited quietly a couple seconds for his response, looking around the shop.

Obviously, there were the bottles with the love potions; the girls that were giggling over them when she first entered were now gone, giving her a clear view of what the pink bottles looked like. After taking a closer look at them, she decided she's never buying them. Never ever. Just for aesthetic purposes. Taking another look at the shop, she found some trinkets that would actually interest her - dung bombs, enchanted snowballs, exploding bonbons, wizard crackers...

Thea looked back at the boy, taking mental note of all these items. "So, what's your name?"

no worries i get that
"Oh yeah," he said feeling dumb for a split second, scratching the back of his neck along his neatly trimmed hair line. "My name is Clarke Laredo. Both my parents went to Hogwarts as well and they're both purebloods as well, so it kind of runs in the family you could say. Even my mothers parents went to Hogwarts but my dads parents are originally from here so they had to go to another wizarding school," He explained.

"My parents take a lot of pride in being from Hogwarts though, they both say it's the best wizarding school in the world and they hardly ever agree on anything," he said, smiling like it was a joke even though he truly had meant it. "But I guess that's what Hogwarts is all about, there's something available for everyone."

He looked around the shop as the initial crowd started to thin and reached into the pocket of his sweater to pull out his list. "And what's your name?" He asked her holding the folded up piece of parchment in between his pointed and middle finger like he had no intention of opening it just yet.

Clarke pretty much had the school supply list memorized since the moment he got it. Not to mention that today alone he had recited it around 10 times to his mother who kept getting distracted by something shiny and then asking, "What is it that we're here for again, dear?"

"And have you gotten anything yet? Robes? A Wand? or do you just need the books?" He asked. To him the robes and the wand were obvious but he didn't know any true muggle borns, none who were completely ignorant to the wizarding world so he had no clue where she was starting, or what she even really new.

"My name is Clarke Laredo. Both my parents went to Hogwarts as well and they're both purebloods as well, so it kind of runs in the family you could say. Even my mothers parents went to..." Thea let the boy speak for a while, as she was still looking around the store, and started to space out when he started to talk about his grandparents.

In the middle of his sentence she mumbled something, but still tried to listen closely to whatever thing he was talking about, although the amazing tricks she was seeing successfully distracted her and making her be mentally in a completely different state than she was physically. Saying that Thea's favorite activity was daydreaming would be an understatement. At any time, any place, whatever she was doing, she was bound to space out at some point.

"And what's your name?" the 'Clarke' boy asked, shaking Thea out of the absent-minded state she was in. "Thea Knott." she replied, still looking around, walking around in pretty much a circle to get herself to pay attention to the boy instead of spacing out again, which, as you'd assume, didn't work. I mean, walking around a shop filled with the best stuff she's seen since she entered this new world of magical wonders. That sounded unnecessarily poetic.


"And have you gotten anything yet? Robes? A Wand? or do you just need the books?"

"Only the books and robes. Barely understand the money system so that was a pain." she rolled her eyes, stopping and searching her pockets again. "And, as I already said, my sister obviously had to lose the stupid supply list."