The first -and hopefully last- fitting!

[michelle]

Michelle stumbled into Madam Malkin’s for the first time. She was surprised to see how this store was much smaller than the bookstore she had been at previous. All that was here in the small room was a wall of mirrors and a small desk in the corner.

Michelle walked up to the desk and called, “Hello? Is anyone there?”

It wasn’t long before she heard a drawling voice answer. I’ll be with you in a moment.[/i]

Michelle nodded to herself, setting her pack full of books on the floor. She then turned around facing the front door.

What school are you attending?

Michelle jumped quickly turning back around. “Oh!” She shouted. “You scared me!”

That’s nice…what school are you attending?

Michelle stopped finally getting a full view of the clerk. It was a man, which somewhat surprised her. He was very skinny with thin black hair that was smoothed back, and was wearing very long purple robes. After a moment she finally answered. “I’m going to be attending Hogwarts.”

The man frowned. Oh. Black then? Humph.

She watched as he pulled out his wand and gave it a wave. Instantly a heap of black material appeared in front of him. Go stand over there while I go get my needle and thread.

He stopped and looked her over. Michelle tilted her head to the side and looked back at him. After a while, when she hadn’t moved, he pointed to a place on the floor in front of the wall of mirrors.

Go on then you! Over there! Go stand over there!

Michelle immediately jumped into action standing directly in front of the mirrors.

He turned heading for the back room then stopped turning back to her. Yes, well, I’ll be back.

And with that he stepped into the other room, leaving Michelle alone in wait.

[flora]

Flora strolled into Madam Malkin's to get her new set of robes for Hogwarts. This wasn't her first time in Diagon Alley but it was her first time here. "I vill vait for you out here Flora." said her sister Alexis. "When your done, come find me."

Deciding not to give her sister a hard time over shoping, Flora decided just to keep the piece for now. "Fine. But if you're not here, I'm telling mother." she told her in her accent. Going in, she ran into an old woman, "What school?" she asked her. "Oh, umm...Hogwarts." she replied to her. Nodding her head, she beckoned Flora to follow her.

Going to the other side of the store, she ended up having to stay infront of a large mirror. Leaving her in the room, she guessed for needles and such, Flora turned around to see another girl standing next to her. To her, the girl looked to be around her age. If not, then maybe a year or so older. "Hi zer. Vat is your name?" she asked.

[michelle]

Michelle looked up at the other girl who had entered the room. She didn't look any older than her but unfortunately was much taller.

She stood in her spot quietly glancing at her reflections in the mirror's then back at the girl. She was glad when the silence between the two was finally broken by the other girl.

The first thing she liked was the girl's accent. She herself did not know how to speak french, but she loved the sound of it. The accent of a 'french person' was so...dignified.

Michelle smiled brightly and extended out her hand. "I'm Michelle. Michelle Paul. What's yours?"

[flora]

Flora smiled back and shook the Michelle's hand. "My name's Flora Linden." Flora loved to meet new people, especially after being with only her parents for a whole year after moving to England. However, it never really stopped her from causing a bit of mischief when at home. She wondered what would happen once she got to school and also if her sister might try to get her into trouble. "Are you going to Hogwarts as vell?" she asked Michelle.

[michelle]

Michelle nodded quickly. "Yeah, I am. So I take it you're a first year there too? I'm really excited. I can't wait to get school up and running."

Michelle glanced behing the girl's head to see if the man was coming back out to take care of her robes. "So, Flora, what house do you think you'll be placed in? I'm not really familiar with the whole 'house' thing but I figure hope I'm not in Slytherin. I heard from my older brother that they are a really bad lot."

[flora]

"I can't vait for school to start either." Flora said. Which was the truth. She would actually get to be with people her own age. "And yes I'm going to be a first year." Flora never saw the man come in behind her to take mesurements.

"I really hope I'm not in Slytherin either. My sister told me ze same about Slytherin. I read zis book about Hogwarts and it told me about ze houses. I hope I go to Ravenclaw myself. My sister is in Hufflepuff, but I don't know if I vant to end up in ze same house as her."

[michelle]

Michelle laughed as she watched the man switch from Flora to her. "I know what you mean. My brother is in Gryffindor. I really don't want to be in the same house he's in. Let's just say we haven't able to get along for awhile."

Michelle glanced down at the floor. "Your sister, what year is she? My brother is a fifth year this year. He thinks he knows everything. Has to tell me what to do at least a million times a day like if I'm stupid or somethin'. You know what I mean? I don't think I could stand being in the same house with him."

[flora]

Flora laughed as Michelle told her about her brother. "My sister sometimes acts like she knows it all, and also ze fact that she plays on the Hufflepuff quidditch team." Seeing the man go to Michelle to take measurements Flora continued, "My sister's in her fifth year also! Except she's in Hufflepuff like I said. Vat house do you want to go to? I only know zat the house names are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin."

[michelle]

Michelle looked up to watch the man leave the room only to return quickly with two cloth robes.

"You know, I'm not sure. I know I don't want to be in Gryffindor, or Slytherin. So I guess Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw are the two on the top of my list."

As the man began pinning Michelle's robes on a question formed in her head that she just had to ask.

"I know this is probably going to sound retarded but, do you know how the ceremony goes? I mean the sorting one. My brother has told me something about having to know the school song and takign a test where you have to do a spell and then something about balancing a broom on your head. I know that can't be true, but I'm not sure what happens anyway. Do you?"

[flora]

Flora looked at the ground in deep thought. After a few moments she replied, "You know, my sister has never told me how it goes either. Vell, she did meantion something about trying to make toads come out of your vand and catch them vhile singing the school song." Flora said. "But of course zat can't be right. Must be some prank students like to tell first years." she continued shaking her head.

[michelle]

Michelle laughed. "Wouldn't that be horrible if they weren't lieing? I mean, could you imagine us trying to balance a broom on our heads while catching frogs and singing the school song?"

Michelle paused in a moment to catch her breath so as she could stop laughing. "I mean, how awful would we feel? Of course, I don't see how that would help sort someone into a house, but you never know these things. Maybe the most athletically gifted goes to Gryffindor, the best singer to Hufflepuff, the best frog charmer to Ravenclaw, and the best complainer to Slytherin!"

Once again she started to laugh holding her sides to keep from doubling over. In the next moment the man had taken off her pinned robe and quietly excused himself.

When Michelle finally was able to stop laughing she looked at Flora. "I just can't wait to get on the train. Hey, I got an idea. You wanna meet up at the train station that day? Maybe then we can share a train car together."

[flora]

"Zat would be horrible!" Flora laughed. "I vould fell so embarassed if I had to do zat. Just imagine all ze people laughing while one of us trips over a frog or somezing. And if zat vas the case vith the houses, I'll have better chances going to Hufflepuff! Or maybe Slytherin because I vould definatly been conplaining."

Finally the old lady who lead Flora to this room came in and took one of the two cloth robes and started to pin Flora with them. Then Michelle asked her if she would like to ride on the train together. At this Flora's expresion lit up, "Zat would be great!" she said. "I could get away from my sister Alexis." she wispered smiling.

[michelle]

"And I could escape the evil clutches of my brother." Michelle smiled. "Good, it's a deal then. We'll meet at the platform and get on the train together."

The man entered the room again handing her her new robes. Michelle paid him then turned back to Flora. "Well, I guess I'd better go. I'm supposed to be with my brother but he ditched. Hopefully I can find him somewhere. It was really nice meeting you Flora."

Michelle folded her robes and tucked them into her knapsack. "See you at the platform then?"

[flora]

The old lady was still pinning her when Michelle was finished with hers. "I vill definatly see you at ze platform!" Flora told her. "I can't vait!" As Michelle paid for her robes, Flora was beginning to wonder when the old lady would finish with her because, she could have sworn that there was a pin poking her on the back.

[michelle]

"Alright, see you then!" Michelle gave her new friend a wave goodbye as she quickly headed out of the store.

She still had to go and find her brother. She had a feeling that by now he wouldn't be at the Quidditch store anymore. But, instead of looking, she decided now would be a good time to go and get her wand. She'd go and look for Michael later.