III

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝑑𝑎𝑦...

'Magic really is wonderful.'

KENDALL WAS PRACTICALLY JUMPING UP AND DOWN WHEN A STRANGE WOMAN SHOWED UP AT THE ORPHANAGE WEARING LONG EMERALD GREEN ROBES, REQUESTING TO SPEAK WITH KENDALL. She could hardly believe it! It was the day she'd be able to go to Diagon Alley!

But the thing she could hardly wait for was getting her very own wand.

Professor McGonagall was a stern woman, but she was also kind as long as you didn't get on her bad side.

She took Kendall to the book shop, Flourish and Blotts, where Kendall bought her books for her first year, even if they had to be secondhand.

The money Kendall had, however, gave her enough to buy one new set of robes, she concluded after she had purchased her other necessities and was now entering 'Madam Malkin's.'

"Ah, hello, Minerva! What can I do for you today?" One of the witches there asked politely. Kendall assumed that they knew McGonagall already.

"One set of new day-robes for Kendall."

At Kendall's puzzled look, McGonagall quickly explained that day robes would be worn more often, and that the simple robes First Years wore before being Sorted were only worn once. So at least the money wouldn't go to waste.

Two other boys were being fitted, each with black hair and grey eyes. Only, the taller one of the two had medium length hair, and his eyes seemed to contain mischief, but at the moment they seemed to be more bored.

'Huh, who knew I was so good at reading people,' Kendall thought in wonder.

She felt like she had seen them both before, but couldn't quite place her finger on it.

Madam Malkin herself came over to check on how the witch was doing in fitting her, before going to the back of the shop.

"Height...a good five foot two...not bad for a First Year," the witch hummed as she measured her height and width.

Professor McGonagall said that she'd go explore the shop for a bit until Kendall was done, which gave her some time to try observing the other people in the shop.

"Why couldn't we just have ordered instead?" One of the boys drawled to nobody in particular.

"Because, Narcissa is too busy with that Lucius Malfoy and his family to remain in one place for more than five seconds. And Merlin forbid we 'become lazy,'" the other said sarcastically.

'Well somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning...'

The boys didn't seem like people Kendall wanted to get close with, because honestly, their way of speech was a bit...intimidating?

'Really, Kendall? They're just people like you,' Kendall mentally chastised herself.

Sirius Black was currently being fitted for his fifth year at Hogwarts with his younger brother, Regulus Black.

"Why couldn't we have just ordered instead?" Regulus drawled to nobody in particular. They had been in Madam Malkin's for nearly thirty minutes, as they needed 'perfect' robes.

Professor McGonagall was exploring the shop after leaving some First Year to be fitted by one of the witches.

She curiously looked around to observe the shop. When her eyes landed on Sirius, she did well to not stare him in the eye, that would have ended out awkwardly. She herself had dark brown hair and nearly black eyes.

"Because, Narcissa is too busy with that Lucius Malfoy and his family to remain in one place for more than five seconds. And Merlin forbid we 'become lazy,'" Sirius said sarcastically.

Regulus didn't say anything and just glared straight ahead.

"Already?!" Asked a voice in disbelief, and the bell in the shop rang, signalling that someone had entered. Two girls, one with pale blonde hair and the other with light brown-ish yellow hair which was was technically blonde.

"Yeah, being tall is annoying sometimes," the pale blonde girl rolled her eyes as the two stopped by a rack of clothing. Kendall, once again, felt an overwhelming feeling of familiarity with the pale blonde girl. Perhaps it was because all Kendall could remember about her family was pale blondes and yelling?

The pale blonde crossed her arms across her chest and sighed.

The other girl, just gave her friend a matter-of-fact look.

"Well, at least you got an extra two inches."

"And yet I'm still not the tallest," the pale blonde complained jokingly.

"Well, Athena, I think it's only a matter of time before Lily arrives. You said you wanted to get a new set of robes before she gets here?"

"Yeah," the pale blonde, Athena, nodded. "J—"

Athena and the taller dark haired boy just stared at each other for five seconds before they began glaring daggers at each other. So Athena's friend decided to step in and slowly pushed Athena away, to the back of the shop.

By now, Kendall was done being fitted and the witch said that her robes would be ready in twenty minutes.

Kendall paid her, and at that moment, Professor McGonagall had returned.

"Alright, Miss Brooke, let's continue your tour of the Alley and then return for your school robes."