The atmosphere in Madam Malkin's shop had a sort of zen energy. The dust danced in the sunbeams that streaked through the window. Wizards and witches slowly browsed the wares of the clothing shop; they were relaxed, casual, and also somewhat more peaceful than those rushing by on the streets, eager to finish their daily errands. Part of the calming nature could be attributed to the shop attendants - they carried themselves in a way that immediately helped the customers feel more at ease. 

Currently, there were just a few adults in the shop browsing the professional work wear: suit jackets and trench coats in muted colours. On the other side of the shop, a young family was in the process of getting fitted by a shopping attendant. The father and mother watched quietly as a young blonde girl stood on a raised wooden box and a late middle-aged attendant bustled around her in a grandmotherly sort of way.

"Hold out ya arms, dear," instructed the assistant, and Lucy complied. With her arms straight out, she glanced around the shop, enjoying this small bit of personal attention. I would get everything fitted if I could. This is fun, she thought, listening to the attendant mutter under her breath as she charted Lucy's new measurements. A bewitched tape measure zoomed along her back, spanning her arms, as the somewhat portly lady directed her attention to the hem of Lucy's robes.

"Well, it looks like ya arms got just a little longer, but your legs!" The attendant whistled, eyeing Lucy up and down in a critical way. "Ya hem needs to be let out. It's a good thing ya bought your robes large last year. They should fit ya just right this year. Here's the receipt - I'll finish fitting this cherub and you'll be set," she continued, turning to Lucy's parents in mid-conversation and waving a receipt over with some sort of levitation spell.

Her parents smiled in approval and left to pay the balance. Lucy watched them travel through the shop, her perch on the fitting block allowing her full view of the cosy store. "Now I'll just be right back. I left my seam ripper somewhere, but blast if I know..." the attendant wandered away, muttering to herself. Lucy turned, peeking over her shoulder at her reflection as she let her arms flop to her sides. The tape measure was now sitting quietly next to the block, no longer taking measurements. Her sleeves hit her arms just right - they fell to the middle of her hand. Her hem, however, was a few inches above her ankles. That must be what the attendant went to get. They had hemmed her robes last year since they were too big, and now they could let out the excess material that had been previously tacked up. 

Okay, well, maybe this isn't that fun, she thought wryly, fidgeting on the platform impatiently. With the attendant gone who-knows-where and her parents now window shopping in the street, this moment seemed positively dull. It'd be nice to at least have someone to talk to.

Aaron entered the shop alone with a list in hand. Looking around with boundless curiosity the boy kept checking the list of what he needed. That was until another boy that looked the same age rushed up beside him and pointed Aaron towards the robes of their size.

"Are you sure these are the right size, Nolan?" asked Aaron to the other boy to which the latter responded "Well, I guess? They look fine." Aaron then began to take the items he needed from the Hogwarts supply list (as did Nolan). Aaron went off from Nolan and began to look at the pointed hats "These are cool." he grinned then picked one with a brim up off the rack. Meanwhile Nolan went to the front and began to checkout his own list.

As Aaron collected his own items he gave nervous glances and nods to the others in the shop. Tucked up under Aaron's arm was a box from Ollivanders, and a few books in his cauldron. It was then that Aaron noticed a girl getting fitted by a magical tape measure. Aaron walked over towards the girl "Excuse me, uh.. do you go to Hogwarts to? I'm going there myself." He didn't seem to be shy but at the same time the entry was still a tad awkward. Aaron gave her a smile and his hat tilted forward on his head, but Aaron pushed it up and to the side a little "I'm Aaron." he tugged a shoulder towards Nolan at the desk "That's my cousin Nolan, hes going to."

Aislyn gave a light groan as she gazed upon the list of supplies. There were too many books required for her tastes. Deciding that she needed a break from looking at a scroll of paper, she returned her focus on Diagon Alley. It had been several years since she was last here, and this time her mother promptly left her to her own devices, making a beeline for divination supplies. This place really doesn't change, does it... Her thoughts caused a slight frown to form. Looking back at the paper, she decided books can wait, that she might as well get her robes first.

Entering the parlor, Aislyn immediately felt slightly out of place. As if purposefully contrasting her own clothing of a light pink tank top and a pair of black shorts, the room was filled with long robes, largely black. She almost visibly recoiled at the thought of wearing them. Ugh, well, it's not going to go away by just standing here... she sighed to herself, proceeding forward to pick out the robes she needed.

Dreading the ordeal, the slight murmurs she could hear provided an instant distraction. Peering towards the sounds, she saw a young boy talking to a girl currently being sized. Students presumably. She began looking through the robes in front of her while listening. It's not like I'm against talking, but I'm not sure I'd want a stranger to come up to me while being sized, that's almost like being trapped. She bit her lip at her brief thought.

She did make a great effort to continue her eavesdropping, but eventually the perceived cumbersome nature of the robes stole her focus. "Ugh!" She groaned with vexation, her patience finally quit. "How do people wear these! There's so much...clothing!" Her exasperated voice unintentionally carried through the store.

"So much clothing, huh?" Michael asked from behind Aislyn. He tapped his wand on his knee, watching the other three students in confusion. Sure, he didn't like talking to people, but these guys seemed to be first years. He was superior.

He looked out of place in the small shop, something he'd normally be quite flustered about. However, this time, Michael felt like he was in the company of people who hadn't quite figured out what they were doing yet. He reached down to polish his wand with the hem of his Jurassic Park T-shirt (something many witches and wizards had gawked at as he walked down the street. Pity, really.), using his other hand to mess with his hair.

"I'm pretty sure that's the point." He grinned at the first year, quickly shaking his head afterwards with embarrassment. Funny how he could lose confidence at the drop of a hat like that.

Honestly, Michael could probably do without new robes. However, lately his limbs had started poking out at awkward angles. He was all elbows and knees and long legs now, the robes he had bought the previous year reaching up to his mid-calf. Not ideal, really.

If he hadn't thought it absolutely necessary, he wouldn't've come. After all, Madame Malkin's tended to smell like mildew and mothballs to him most of the time.

Quinn entered the shop one of the few places he was happy to say he didn't need to visit often if ever. The place was so dull to his rampant and fast paced mind. It also smelled strangely like his grandmother's coat closet, all musky and mildewy. He kept his wand tucked into the inside pocket of his buttoned short-sleeved plaid shirt of varying shades of light blue and white. It was currently unbuttoned revealing a slateblue graphic t with a faded white-gray question mark smack in the middle. He felt like wearing his muggle clothes for a change especially since he needed to get the hem on his robes taken out.

He walked through the store looking for one of the people who ran the place, but he was stopped by the sounds of conversation. He curiously followed all of the sounds stopping just short of two people of similar ages. One was definitely a first year from what he could tell, while the other was most likely a second year if the way he carried hos wand and his clothing was any indication.

"Oh good, there are others my age here. I thought this trip would just be a rather dreary one. I guess I lucked out, as my dadeo would say, today huh?" Quinn found himself lightly chuckling presenting himself in quite the warm manner to the two strangers.

Suddenly, a wild boy Aaron appeared! Okay, well, maybe he wasn't really wild. And maybe Lucy watched him walk around with another boy in the shop for a while before he finally approached her, so it wasn't really all that sudden either. But, nevertheless, she had wished for someone to talk to and here he was, talking to her. Hm. I wonder if that would work on other things, she thought, noting the emptiness of her stomach. She was really hankering for some sweets. Maybe something chocolate, covered in -- wait... her wish for someone to talk to had come true. That meant the boy was talking to her. Oh crap! What was he saying? Something about... Hogwarts? Right? Oh and some names. Okay, back in the game now.

"Hi!" Lucy chirped brightly, her eagerness to converse apparent in her sparkling eyes, giant grin, and way-too-enthusiastic greeting. "Yeah, I'm getting fitted for Hogwarts. I grew a lot over the summer, so I had to get my robes let out. I mean, last year we bought robes that were too big, so I'm excited to have something that actually fits. Anyway! Nice to meet you. I'm Lucy." At that moment, the shopping attendant came back with her newfound seam ripper, ending Lucy's short monologue. Without a word to the two students, the self-assured woman knelt behind Lucy and started ripping the seams on the hem of the back of her robe.

"So are you done shopping for the day? This is my last stop. Shopping always makes me so hungry," she admitted, trying to hold uncharacteristically still as the lady worked on her garment. She looked up briefly from Aaron, scanning the windows for her parents. Maybe they were getting her some food. One could only hope. As she scanned the room, she noticed a few more students in the shop. When did they get here? How did they arrive? Probably through the door, you dolt, she thought, mentally rolling her eyes at herself. By this time, the woman had made a complete circle around Lucy.

"Ahll right, luv, ya done. Took me longer ta find this thing than ta actually do the work. Off ya go," the shop attendant said, making a shooing motion with her hands. Lucy jumped off the platform, landing next to Aaron with a soft thud and a sigh of relief. "Are you getting fitted, too?" she asked, nodding toward the now-empty platform. "If so, you're next."

Grinned at the girl "A pleasure to meet you! I don't think I need fitting, I think its big enough yeah?" he held up the robes then gave a slight jump as the one girl had an outburst "What's her deal?" he whispered quizzically to Lucy about the other in the shorts and brightly colored top. Aaron's attention went to the boy who had just come up to the both of them "I'm Aaron! Aaron Wolfe, and uh wheres my cousin?" Nolan had already left the shop, no doubt to get his parents to pay for something extra. Aaron turned to the girl once more "Well his name is Nolan Wolfe, he'll be going to Hogwarts as well!" Aaron put his arms around both the boy that just arrived and another around Lucy with a confident, beaming, estatic smile "We're going to be brilliant! Did you know that Hogwarts has a Quidditch team? We should all tryout." he urged. Even though they had just met it was clear Aaron was quite the people person. His attention was then stolen by the older boy with the Jurassic Park tee. His eyes narrowed on the design and not being able to really tell what it was about he assumed it was an amusement park "Uhm... muggles don't get to come here do they?" he was confused, but who could blame the 11 year old for it?

Aaron pulled his new comrades closer to him and whispered "We should see if that girl and that boy are dating, they're dressed the same!" he nodded his head towards the slightly older witch and wizard who had the muggle clothes on. At that moment the boy remembered what Lucy had said about food. He was actually kind of hungry but he wasn't starving. Aaron looked to Lucy then "Hey Lucy, what's your favorite food? My is salmon." he turned to look at the ginger now "What about you carrot-top? Whats your favorite food?"

Aislyn heard the voice behind her, she thought it an odd way to approach a stranger, but to each their own, and promptly splayed the robe. "The poi...look at this! I'm trying to go to school, not be a kite!" She spurted out in response. She gave a soft sigh and shook her head before turning to assess her new shadow. Well, he looks like a normal boy, probably older than me. As much as I'd love to ask what he was doing sneaking up on people, I wasn't exactly being an upstanding person myself. She gave a nervous sounding chuckle, "I do apologize if I have disrupted your shopping experience." She had planned to exit the conversation after that, unfortunately a new boy appeared and extended little chat.

"Hm, surprisingly not a happening place for the young adult crowd." She replied to the new kid. Or any crowd, really. 'Dadeo' though, there's a real relic from the past there. "I feel it might have something to do with the fact that people wear clothing and not blankets." She continued bitterly and scowled at the robes around them. Another soft sigh had escaped her lips, but at least robes were not books, a thought that was quite bittersweet to her, considering she had yet to purchase the books.

Wait, more people...what is this witchery. Nonplussed from what she considered an absurd chain of events, she could only stare blankly. And now they're talking about food? I don't get to eat until I'm done shopping. If this is punishment for eavesdropping, I'm sooooorrry.... She bit her lip at her own thoughts.

Michael laughed a bit, snapping his mouth shut almost immediately. "The shopping experience. You say that as if Madame Malkin's doesn't smell of mothballs all the time."

He frowned at himself, shaking his head. "Sorry. I-am not sure if you like it here or anything, sorry. It just kinda smells like mothballs. A lot."

Not helping, genius.

"Never mind that, I suppose. You a first year? You look a bit old for a first year, if you don't mind my saying."

A beat.

"Do you mind my saying? I hope you don't, sorry. That wasn't. Ugh."

Michael truly could never get words out, now could he?

Stepping back into Diagon Alley earlier that day had felt like a memory, really. He could vividly remember his first trip (not really, he remembered falling over a cauldron filled with dragon scales and running like the wind afterwards).

It all felt a bit surreal, in a way. The very wand Michael'd purchased the last year, sitting in his back pocket.

At the thought, Michael's hands immediately shot towards said pocket, trying to make sure the wand was still there. And in one piece.

Knowing Michael, he'd probably end up losing or breaking it by the end of the day. Almost guaranteed. It hadn't happened yet, no, but something always manages to go wrong, now doesn't it?

Quinn couldn't help but laugh at the plethora of interesting answers and questions, "Oh I like you." He referred to of course the girl's seemingly dry responses to everything. He then turned his attention to the other boy near him that asked the question. "You'd be correct in assuming that. Though my baby face might say otherwise." He cupped his rounded freckled cheeks. "I'm a second year, just came in to get the rest of my hem let out." Casually he responded still smiling like always.

"I was planning to just be in and out as the shy boy stated. It does smell like mothballs in here. Color me surprised,I think that's the saying never really sure...anyway color me surprised when I find others in here." He was beginning to ramble a bit. If he noticed he neither cared or acknowledged the fact, "Anyway the names Quinn Healy, Hufflepuff second year. At your service and don't where ma name out as strange as it may seem." He placed a hand in his pocket running the other one through his messy cut of fiery orange curls.

He wondered if he said too much or came on too strong. The possibility was there, but then of course Quinn was never one to let such remidial things stop him from trying anyway. He just hoped he didn't put anyone off with his behavior, because that just usually made things awkward for everyone.