"Tell me, Ophelia... what do you see?"
Clasp onto my hand, sweet child.
Breathe deep, hold onto your fears, clench onto the hope, and say goodbye to your nightmares, sweet, sweet, dear, Ophelia.
"I see hazel light fires, cascading down rooftops, drenching the coats of the men, and lighting up the life of her beloved."
....
I fought through the racks of colorful cloaks; green, blue, pink, and every other shade beyond the rainbow hung in every wooden nook and cranny of Madam Malkin's Robes Shop.
My throat felt dry after breathing in so much dust, breathing and navigating was a struggle. It was getting harder and harder to believe I'd ever find anything in my size here... I mean, with all these robes, I was sure I'd find something, but where to look? Robes were everywhere! Where? Where!
The shop was lit brightly, wood covering every inch of it (as well as robes), it was strangely inviting, and homely even. It was a place you'd have fond memories of your mother dragging you into, dressing you, helping you, and codling over every inch of you as she tries to find the perfect fit of robes.
When I first stepped into the store, it was practically bustling with families, and mothers ogling over their children. In my attempts to charge further into the store, I ended up being pushed through a large rack of robes, and falling to the ground by a pack of burly looking girls who didn't mind hurling others aside simply because they were in their way.... So here we are now, attempting to work my way back into an inhabited part of the store.
I pushed through a bundle of pink silks and I could finally see a more open part of the shop where a single vanity mirror stood by a beautiful, middle-aged woman, with a head full of brown chocolaty ringlets, armed with a wand, and surrounded by floating measuring tapes in all sorts of wonderful colours. "Now, now! Hold still or you'll be ending up with a set of robes 5 sizes too big! And we don't want that now do we, little miss Malfoy?" She playfully scolded the young girl in front of her.
"Sorry, Madam Malkin..." she replied timidly, cheeks flushed as she let her long platinum blonde hair fall like curtains over her pale face.
Madam Malkin flicked around her wand as she spun the girl, making her squeal in delight as the measuring tapes wrapped around her, and tickled her sides.
I decided to take this opportunity, seeing my last hurdle: tall, wide, daunting walls of prickly looking fur coats, to push through to seek help from the first and only people I've seen for the last... - who knows, it felt like an hour, at least.
"Hello!", I hollered as I started to push through, "um... do you... think...-" I fumbled around, almost tripping as I squeezed past another set of fur, "-one of you might be able to help me out here?" I gingerly took a step out of the large rack of coats, feeling as ridiculous as one could be in these circumstances.
The two witches looked over at me - Madam Malkin, trying to hold back laughter, and the blonde who was simply left wide-eyed at whatever monstrosity had just appeared from a seemingly harmless bundle of coats. "Come here, dear. You should see yourself, you look absolutely ridiculous!" Madam Malkin beckoned.
Following her orders, I too wondered just how much of a mess I was. I approached the vanity mirror, the blonde girl hurriedly took a step back to allow me a view, and I finally saw the wonder of it all.... I had tuffs of fur stuck to my dress as well as my hair, mounts of mothballs hanging in all sorts of places, and just to add a cherry on top there were tears all up and down my grey stockings. All in all, I was a hilarious mess, and one could easily assume I was attacked by a rabid dog. "You didn't go through our little maze of dastardly robes, did you?" Madam Malkin questioned, picking up one of the corners at the end of my dress for inspection.
"Pins and pricks at every station, dear! It's a good thing none of them got to that pretty face of yours, hmm? Now that'd be disastrous, scarring such a face at such an age!" she fussed about, tucking things back into its place.
She'd started to mutter under her breath as she began fixing up my dress, her other enchanted tools helping her as she went. Undoubtedly, I was very grateful.
The blonde girl was still staring at me, surely, a bit taken back at my appearance. I shrugged, and smiled sheepishly at her, "Anymore fur on me and you could say I've gone into a furrenzy"
Admittedly, that was one of the worst icebreakers in the history of icebreakers, and I should be banned from public speaking.
***
I walked in the ice cream parlor, which just so happened to be across from Madam Malkins robes store so I didn't have to venture far after I was done over there.
I'd gotten my robes all sorted, and even made an unlikely friend in the blonde who was also getting her robes done prior to me disrupting her session with Madam Malkin.
Her name was Susana Malfoy and she was also starting out in Hogwarts this year. We ended up getting measured together, and Madam Malkin assured us it was no problem at all. Susana told me she enjoyed having the company considering she'd been struggling to hold herself together on her own, and it was nice to meet someone who'd be joining her first year experience as well.
We ended up chatting and giggling throughout the entire thing, and during our chat she even spoke of her family and how they were a long proud line of Slytherins, and that, she too, hopes to continue the family tradition. Nym had told me about the Slytherin house, and I was worried she wouldn't make the cut, as she didn't seem to have the typical attributes (I was told) a Slytherin possessed. The Slytherin house valued ambition, cunningness, and resourcefulness. I found Susanna to be timid, a tad bit naive, and quite frankly, nice, and didn't seem like the cunning ambitious type who'd stab a friend in the back for the "grand prize" at all.
Then again, where there is light, there is dark, and I had just met the girl so I was no Susanna Malfoy expert just yet.
The ice cream parlor was brightly lit and smelt of all things sweet and sugary. The furniture was colorful and the store held a playful atmosphere with its brightly tiled walls and pink striped uniforms. As soon as I entered I was greeted with friendly smiles and offers for their special limited time ice cream flavor- this months special flavor was marmaduke licorice spice, which looked as strange as it sounded.
I scanned the room and immediately bounded for the booth in the far left corner that had it's own window and currently seated Dumbledore and a tired looking Tom Riddle.
I sat down next to Tom, right opposite from professor Dumbledore who was lost in the menu. I was bubbling, but admittedly tired as I'd felt like I'd had had more than enough excitement for the day, but even then I welcomed the idea of devouring a pretty glass cup of ice cream as I picked up one of the menus from the table. Tom seemed disinterested, and more focused on the view of the passersby's from the window than the prospect of ice cream.
Dumbledore finally closed the menu shut and placed it down onto the table,
"I think I'd like the Lemon Lime Splendid Surprise. What about you, Mr. Riddle? Care to share a few of your favourite flavors? I quite like Licorice Lemon myself, but I always find myself going for the Splendid Surprise!"
"But surely it's not much of a surprise if you know you're always going to go for it, Professor?" I smiled, looking up from the menu, still having not made up my mind.
"Ah, but listen here, child, there's a reason it's called a Splendid Surprise, but I'm not going to tell you what it is, as I don't quite know myself. But you see there's a secret ingredient added into every scoop! So no one scoop is the same, but always equally splendid, and quite a surprise! Imagine tasting a bit of candy drop in one, and then tasting a bit of bitter butter in the other. But of course, there's always lemon lime. Lemon Lime Splendid Surprise! "
"That sounds horrifying! What if you end up tasting Lemon Lime with some Salt Slime? It can't always be splendid, can it?"
"My dear, that's the surprise! The surprise itself is splendid. You look too much into it, child. A surprise, whether good or bad, is another bit of excitement in your life. Is the unexpected simply not splendid in itself? Dear Ms. Rosewood, you choose your fate, and I have chosen that any surprise in this delectable lemon lime ice cream will be splendid."
I let that piece of strange wisdom sink in, though I could hardly comprehend it, I decided to take with it what I could, and perhaps one day I'll actually be able to understand his words.
I noticed Tom had actually been listening and paying attention to the conversation, as he was now staring at professor Dumbledore with a questionable look. Tom shook his head, and surprisingly turned to face me for the first time since I had entered the store. "He's crazy."
***
Professor Dumbledore had hailed us a cab back to the orphanage; he seemed to trust the driver enough to leave us unaccompanied for the trip back. The Professor had told us that he had some private matters to deal with and as such, he would not be able to accompany us "home", but promised that the driver, who he introduced as Mr. Finnegan Tumblewinter, would bring us back safely.
As soon as we sped off, Tom turned to face me, "The man acts no where near respectable, but listen to this: everywhere we went he was greeted with obvious respect. People would always run up to us and try to give us a helping hand. It was disgusting, honestly. I had never been so sick of smiles as much as I had today! This day has been tiresome, but look-"
He reached into a leather pouch that he'd attached to his belt and pulled out a long thin wand, which had what looked like a bone as a handle, "My wand. Impressive, isn't it? Perhaps you might have gotten one too had you come along, but you left me with the old fart! How is it you knew where you were going, hm? You never told me you had knowledge of this... this world. I expect to be informed, Vivienne."
I scrunched up my face in disgust. I had always hated being ordered around, and found that my natural instinct was to lead than be led. But I kept calm, and replied with a smile, "I had a map, that's how I knew where I was going. That, and I had some help along the way when I needed it. So with that, it wasn't too hard to get everything done. Besides-"
I pulled out my wand out of my pocket, to the disgust of Tom who seemed intimidated by the elaborate carvings on the handle, "My wand was made and given to me as a gift on my eleventh birthday last year. My parents were witches, Tom, and so were yours, and that's how you and I have these abilities and the opportunity to even have these wands or see the things we'd seen today"
Tom took everything in, and calmed down. He shifted back into his seat, now facing ahead, he was quiet for a while, and all seemed peaceful as we crossed back over the bridge. Mr. Tumblewinter, the driver, told us that the fare had already been paid, and to be careful as we got out. By the time we got back, the sky had turned dark.
Stepping out of the taxi, I tidied up my dress a bit before bounding up the steps leading to the large double doors of Wools Orphanage where Tom stood, waiting for me to reach his side before heading in.
Just as I reached the landing, Tom grabbed the door handle, but made no effort to turn it. I was a bit confused, and wondered if there was something wrong. "Tom?" I asked, gently tugging on the corner of his grey jacket.
"Tom, aren't we going in?"
He paused, and before I knew it he'd turned around. He took in my worried face for a moment before forcefully grabbing my arm, and dragging me to the side. I was jerked forward and almost lost my footing at the steps before Tom tugged my arm in again. There was a thing layer of ice at the ends of the steps, and he'd positioned me just a bit over the edge so that'd I was pretty much dangling as my shoes kept slipping off the edge of the steps, desperately flailing and trying to find my footing. "Tom! What are you doing?!" I was afraid.
"Vivienne, I will only ask this once..."
His grim face was barely lit by the light of the street lamps,
".....Tom" I was so very afraid.
"Tell me about your enchanted book, where did you get it?"