Sizing up [Open]

Cora had been looking forward to coming into diagon alley for what seemed like an age, ever since the last year of Hogwarts broke up. She was heading into her third year, which meant several things. She would finally be able to go into hogsmead on the weekends during school, which meant that she would no longer need to wait for her father or older brother to provide her with sweets from honeydukes, and it was also the first year in which she was entrusted to do her school shopping on her own.

Of course, her father had driven her and her brother all the way to the leaky cauldron, where he would wait whilst they shopped. He'd never been comfortable accompanying the children shopping, being a muggle made him feel like he stuck out like a sore thumb, but he would have never forgiven himself if anything had happened to them. He had been coming once a year for the last 7 years, since Cora's elder sister had turned 11, and he still wasn't used to it. He had given Cora's brother strict instructions on keeping an eye on her at all times, but the moment they stepped through into Diagon Alley, he had been off like a shot to meet up with his friends, leaving Cora alone in his dust.

It was okay though, Cora felt confident as she stepped over the cobbled streets that she could do this alone anyway. Parents and Students all bustled their way past her, eager to get the school shopping done and out of the way before it got any busier, but Cora took her time, looking around and taking in the atmosphere. She'd never been able to enjoy the sounds and noise of diagon alley before, always being rushed around by her father, but now she had the chance to take it all in. She was surprised to see how many people were rushing around in their robes. Having a muggle father meant that Cora never wore her robes outside of term time, although she missed them during the colder days and how magically warm they would keep her. Today, she was dressed muggle-casual in torn, pale blue skinny jeans and a striped, v-neck shirt. A lightweight waterproof jacket helped keep the worst of the british chill out.

Finally, Cora reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a list of items that her father had carefully crafted for her. Most of the books from her school reading list had already been ticked off, many of which she had owned for years already and read several times. The ones that were missing were bound to be heavy, and she had no wish to drag them round the rest of the shops with her, so made the decision to pick them up last. The next thing on the list was a new uniform, having experienced a slight growth spurt in the last year and outgrowing the rest of her clothing. Although she was still tiny, her body was definitely becoming less 'girl' shaped now, new curves causing her uniform to tug uncomfortably in the last few months of school. Not to mention the potions disaster that had set her old school robe on fire... a replacement would be needed for that too.

Cora made a beeline to Madam Malkin's Robes for all occasions, peering through the window at the latest designs... which... in esence... did not look all that different from the previous years range. Pushing open the door, she looked up as the bell rang announcing her entrance. She half expected to be quickly ushered into a stall for measurements, but nothing happened. Standing a little lost and confused Cora looked around for some sign of what she should do next, but seemed that all the staff were busy rushing around other students and wizards, too busy to have noticed her entrance.

Clara stepped through the entrance to Diagon Alley, and looked down at her list of school supplies for the coming year. Her parents had dropped her off at the Leaky Cauldron, and then left to investigate a small used book shop down the street. As muggles, they didn't feel entirely welcome in the wizarding shopping center, and she assured them that she could take care of herself.

Scanning the list, she mentally checked off what she already had. She'd need to get her fourth year spell books, though she'd already read a couple of them. Oh, and she'd need new robes, some potions ingredients, and new ink. Easy enough. She made a mental map of the street, planning the most efficient path. She'd go to Madam Malkin's first, then Scribbulus Writing Instruments down the road, then Slug and Jiggers across the street. She saved Flourish and Blotts for last, knowing she'd want to buy more than she needed, and wanting to make sure she could afford all the necessities first.

A bell jingled as she entered the robe shop. It was much more crowded than she would've liked. She stood behind another girl, around her own age, who was also dressed in muggle clothing. She appreciated that she no longer felt she stood out in her dark jeans, grey t-shirt, and navy blue hoodie--she'd decided not to wear her robes, since she was going out to eat with her parents afterward. She absentmindedly fiddled with her zipper as she stood rather awkwardly next to the door.

Cora felt like she stood there for an eternity, rubbing the arm of her jacket awkwardly. She was just about to turn and leave when the bell behind her jingled again, and it was just as well that it did otherwise she would have walked right into the dark haired girl just coming in. Cora let out a quiet, almost inaudible squeek of surprise and span back round to face the front again, but it was okay, the girl didn't seem to have noticed as she joined the imaginary queue that Cora had formed. She froze for a moment, sucking in her puffy cheeks as she rocked up and down on the balls of her toes in her sneakers.

After a few more minutes, Cora hesitated a glance behind her again. It occured to her at this point how close to the door the girl was being forced to wait, if anyone else was to come in now the door would surely push her aside. Feeling guilty Cora took a few steps forwards, turning around to smile kindly to the girl. "Sorry... I'm in the way." she gestured for the girl to go past her, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly for a moment. This was -not- going as well as she had originally planned.

"You should go ahead... I.. uhm..." she looked at the ladies fitting again, letting out a soft sigh. "I don't really know what I'm doing. I think they're busy..." She looked back at the girl, quietly hoping she would take the offer to go first. Maybe she could attract their attention and Cora could watch how it was done. Worse case scenario was that she could flee and see if her older sister had any old uniform at home she could borrow... although the idea of wearing her sisters hand-me-downs did make her skin crawl.

Clara had retreated to her thoughts to block out the hustle and bustle of the shop, so it took her a moment to realize the girl in front of her had moved, and was now speaking to her. Reflexively, she took a step away from the door, now that she had room to do so. The blonde girl gestured for her to go ahead of her, sounding...uncomfortable? Uncertain, judging by her words.

Clara glanced back at the attendants, who were indeed busy with other customers. She shrugged off the girl's offer.

"I think we just wait until someone is free to take our measurements. I'm not very good at this either."

Clara didn't really like coming here. Getting fitted for new robes was probably her least favorite part about school shopping--the attendants always tried to make awkward small talk while they took measurements, and Clara didn't enjoy being touched. She recognized the necessity of it, so she suffered through it, but it still made her uncomfortable. She wanted to just get it over with as quickly as possible, but there wasn't really anything she could do besides wait her turn, cooperate, and let herself get ferried along when the time came.

She looked back to the measuring area. "I think those two are almost done. We'll be next after they leave. If we look like we're waiting, they'll probably come fetch us."

Clara smiled and nodded as the girl suggested they just wait, moving over to the edge of the front desk so that she would be more in view of the attendants. She was sure she hadn't had to wait like this her 1st year... but then she had been so excited by everything it was quite possible that she just hadn't noticed the wait. She wondered why they didn't just get more staff this time of year. She glanced back towards the girl behind her in the queue, sure she had recognised her from somewhere. Was she in her year? She couldn't quite be sure, but she definitely looked like she attended Hogwarts. Perhaps Cora had bumped into her once in one of her daydreaming dazes.

"So are you getting fitted for school robes too?" Cora asked politely in an attempt to make conversation, flashing the girl another soft smile as she relaxed a little. It was only now that she noticed the girl wasn't wearing robes at all and had, like herself, shown up in muggle-casual. "You came in through the cauldron too huh? Do you live in london?" she queried, nodding to the girls attire. She figured most of those in robes had probably travelled there via the floo network, which was one method of travel forbidden in her home - their muggle father wasn't fond of the idea of his children stepping into fireplaces and disappearing with a puff of smoke.

Looking back over to the two stations that had been mentioned, she noticed the attendants were indeed now putting the robes on the occupents to try and check out, each one seemingly happy with the result so it didn't look like alterations were going to be needed. Cora smiled lightly, standing with her back slightly straighter and chin up, waiting to be called over.

Clara tried to suppress a feeling of dread as the other girl started making small talk. She never understood the point of it. Did the girl really care what kind of robes she was getting? Probably not. But her parents told her it was rude to brush people off, so she held back an expression of annoyance, and gave the girl a short nod to answer her question.

The girl kept talking. Clara wondered what it was about people that made them want to know useless things about strangers. When she looked at the other girl, she didn't find herself at all curious about where she lived, or what she was doing in Madam Malkin's. It didn't matter to her, so she didn't feel compelled to ask. Was it different for other people?

Still, if her mum were here, she'd tell her to be polite and answer, so Clara shook her head at the girl's latest question and said, "Bristol."

It was about an hour and forty-five minutes to get to London by train. They'd left that morning, arriving a little before noon, and planned to spend the rest of the day in the city before taking another train back home in the evening. They'd made this trip every year since she'd started at Hogwarts--they'd swing by Diagon Alley to pick up her school supplies, and then they'd go out for a late lunch, and then they'd walk around the city and go book shop hopping, or visit museums. After all, they didn't go to London very often, they may as well make the most of their visit.

Of course, Clara didn't feel the need to say any of this, so she left it at one word, and looked away from the girl, trying to convey disinterest in the conversation without telling her outright. Life would be so much easier if everyone could just say what they meant, she thought, not for the first time. But her mum kept telling her that she needed to be polite, so, though she didn't see the point, she tried her best most of the time.

The girls limited responses did not appear to phase Cora, in fact, it seemed to give her leave to start chatting even more enthusiastically to her. The simple nod in response to the question about whether it was school robes she was purchasing made Cora want to be the girls friend - after all, they went to the same school, which was miles away from both their homes, and the girl looked to be about her age so maybe they would share some classes together. She probably wasn't a 'puff though... but thats okay, Cora didn't discriminate.

"What year are you in? I'm going into third year this year... it's so exciting, I'm looking forward to visiting hogsmeade on the weekends. Have you ever been?"

Cora's chatter became quicker as she became more comfortable, hardly noticing the girls disinterest in her or what she had to say, although she hardly gave breaks for the girl to respond either to the questions she was throwing in her direction.

"I hope they let me take my cat into hogsmeade... she's called Missy. I'm sure there would be plenty of mice there to hunt so she would love it. Do you have any pets? I'm hoping that I'll be allowed more some day. Like a hippogriff! Wouldn't it be cool to own a hippogriff? I don't think it would fit very comfortably in the dorms though..."

Cora seemed to fade off quietly as she thought about that fact for a moment, imagining a lumbering hippogriff attempting to curl up at the foot of her four poster bed in the hufflepuff dorm. She imagined the reaction of the other girls... would they love it and want to pet it? Or would they squawk and hide from the massive 'beast'. Cora got so lost in these thoughts that she seemed to completly fade away from the present day, letting out the odd giggle to herself as her eyes glazed over, forgetting completely that she was waiting for a robe fitting as one of the attendants finished up and began to approach.

Clara wasn't exactly sure what to do. Did the other girl want her to answer? It didn't seem like it. In fact, despite the fact that she was talking to her, the other girl didn't seem to be paying much attention to Clara at all. She jumped from question to question so quickly, and didn't even wait for an answer before changing topics. Clara wanted to be polite, but this girl was making it very hard to figure out how to do that. She didn't know whether it would be more rude to interrupt, or to fail to reply.

She waited until the girl finally trailed off, then tried to remember all the questions that had been asked. "Um...fourth, yes, a cat, and no, a hippogriff would be very impractical and hard to take care of. Their diet consists mainly of birds and small mammals, like rats and ferrets, and they would have to eat a lot every day considering their size. You would need a continuous supply of dead birds and rodents, which would be very unpleasant, to say the least. Not to mention, they'd need a lot of space to spread their wings, they're known to be a little cantankerous, and the time and money required for upkeep alone would quickly surpass the capabilities of the average student."

Clara's eyes drifted toward the attendant that was now making her way over to them, another one following shortly behind. She hoped that meant this conversation was at an end, but, judging by how the girl had been acting so far, she'd probably continue chatting as they were being measured. She wondered if the girl would even notice if Clara just ignored her. She hoped this wouldn't take long.

Cora blinked out of her stupor as she heard the girl start answering all the questions, although Cora had hardly remembered what it was she asked her. As she started talking about how impractical owning a hippogriff would be Cora blushed, rubbing her arm a little embarrassed - not just because she had been put in her place about her dreams, but also because she realised how rude she had been talking over the whole time. When she finally spoke again, she was a lot quieter than before, perhaps even coming across as a little more timid compared to her previous confident composure.

"I guess that's true..." she mumbled, before bringing her eyes up to meet that of the attendant stopping infront of her. She reached back into her jacket for the list of items she needed to purchase and handed it to the attendant to review, before being guided towards a fitting station. Before, moving, she looked back to the girl and gave her a slightly smaller smile. "I'm sorry I bothered you. My names Cora, maybe I'll see you about at school." she raised her hand lightly in a wave, deciding to leave the girl be unless she wanted to talk to her more.

Clara blinked as the other girl got very quiet all of the sudden. Did she do something wrong? She felt she should be happy, considering she'd wanted the girl to shut up, but now that she had, it bothered her because she couldn't figure out why. Was it something she said? Had she made the other girl feel bad? Should she apologize? But what for?

Wordlessly, she followed the other attendant to the measuring area, toward a small stool next to the other girl--Cora, she had said. She felt awkward as she cast a sidelong glance at the cheerful blonde and wondered if she should say something. She opened her mouth halfway, but didn't know what to say, so she shut it again.

She was starting to feel rather stressed out about the uncertainty of the situation. She felt like she'd done something wrong, but she didn't know what it was or how to fix it. Or even if she wanted to--did she really want to risk giving Cora an excuse to start chatting again? But the nagging feeling wouldn't go away, and now the sudden quiet was making her uncomfortable.

Her mum had told her that if she was worried that she might have hurt someone's feelings, she should apologize just in case, and make sure they were all right. So after a long and awkward pause, Clara finally cleared her throat uncomfortably and spoke.

"Um...I'm Clara. Did I...did I offend you? I didn't mean to. I'm...sorry."