Effervescence | h.p.

i | viii. the boy with blond hair

Heading towards Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, the inseparable duo were as quiet as ever. They had both been relieved to have their best friend back, but they had also been a little on edge, neither knowing what might set the other off and into an angry spiral.

To say both were being cautious because of the looming threat would be an underestimation.

Silently walking into the shop, saying little to nothing on their small excursion from Flourish and Blotts to Madam Malkin's, the two were greeted by a relatively empty shop. The shop contained a squat, smiling witch dressed in mauve and another young man, who was currently being fitted.

"Hogwarts, dears?" the smiling witch asked as soon as the door to the alley had shut. "Got the lot here —another young man being fitted as we speak, in fact."

Nodding in response to the witch, who it could be assumed was Madam Malkin, Harry and Lyra followed her to the back of the store where they would be fitted, just like the other boy in the room. As Harry was led to a stool where he would stand as he got a robe put over his head and pinned to better fit his frame, Lyra decided she would get a head-start on trying to make more wizarding friends.

"Hello," said the boy, "Hogwarts, too?"

The boy had a pointed, pale face and was currently getting fitted by another witch as he stood on his own stool.

"Yes," Lyra responded, smiling. "Can I assume the same goes for you, then?"

"Yes. In fact, Father is next door buying my books and Mother is up the street looking at wands. Then I'm going to drag them to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years aren't allowed their own brooms. I think I'll convince my father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow." He had taken to using a bored, drawling voice as they conversed about the matter.

"I take it you plan on playing Quidditch for your house team your second year, then?" Lyra tried, attempting to keep their conversation going, even if it wasn't her favorite.

So far, she didn't like his tone and attitude very much, but she also wanted to get to know him a little more deeply than, what she could only assume was, his exterior facade. He would conceal his feelings and cover them, similarly to herself most times.

"I do — Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my House, and must I say, I agree. Know what House you'll be in yet?"

"Well, my fathers were in Gryffindor when they attended Hogwarts, so I think it would be quite easy for me to assume I'll be sorted quite similarly," she smiled, reminiscing on the stories her fathers would tell her about their time in Gryffindor House. "Do you know what House you'll find yourself in for the next seven years?" she continued politely.

"Well, no one really does know until they get there, do they? But I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been — imagine being in Hufflepuff. I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"

Harry had been quite irritated from the blond quite early on, especially after hearing him talking to his best friend. He was already very protective of her, but she was willingly talking to this new character.

'Maybe that argument really was much worse than I thought,' Harry considered in his own mind. 'Maybe she's looking for a friend to trade me out for. Maybe she really did want me to stay here at school and to keep away from her. Maybe she — '

"You're all done now, dear," Madam Malkin's voice broke him free of his thoughts. "Step just up here. That's it, darling," she continued on to Lyra after Harry had stepped of of the stool.

"Thank you, ma'am," Harry said, politely while finding himself a place to stay and wait for Ly. His Ly. His Ly that wouldn't leave him for some new kid they had just met in a robe shop. Unless . . .

"So," Harry decided he would join in on the previous conversation that had been held by Lyra and the boy getting fitted. "Are you excited to be starting at Hogwarts this year, then?" he asked.

"Oh, but of course. I'll be able to learn different curses and hexes to use, along with potions. I find potions fascinating, all they can provide one with, as long as they know how to brew it," the blond wizard answered.

"Do you already know any powerful ones yet, or have you focused more on the ones we'll be learning this year in class?" Lyra asked after hearing his response.

"I've been mainly focused on this year's topics but I do know the concepts of some N.E.W.T. Level potions, for sixth year, you know?" he answered, coolly, as if bored by the idea of waiting six years to learn to brew the potions he deemed 'more important.'

"You're finished, too, dear. If you want to just go up to the front counter, I can ring the price up for you," the second witch interrupted.

"Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose," said the drawling boy.

"We'll see you there," Lyra responded with a gentle smiled gracing her lips.

Had she liked the conversation very much? No, not necessarily, but this could be her first friend other than Harry that she could have while at school.

After the boy had left the shop, Harry turned to Lyra, who was getting some final pins placed. "I don't really think I like him very much," he said to her.

She said, in response, "Oh, lighten up, Har. He wasn't all that bad."

"Just because you want to be friends with him doesn't mean I have to be."

"I never said you had to," she shrugged.

She wanted all her friends — new and old — to get along together, but everyone had their own opinions. She couldn't force a friendship for her own sake. They would make their own choice on the matter without her force.

At this point, Madam Malkin had finished her pinning and the two kids paid for their new robes. They decided that their next stop would be to the pet shop, where Lyra had wanted to adopt a kitten of her own. Yes, owls were useful, but she wanted a kitten more.

Getting a dark grey kitten that had green eyes the shade of unpolished jade stones, Lyra skipped out of the shop happily. Harry couldn't help but let out a small laugh at her eagerness to get the kitten, who apparently was very defensive and aggressive around everyone. Well, everyone except Lyra.

The cat in question, supposedly, would hiss at just about everyone and everything that came within a twenty-foot radius of its cage, where it was already pressed against the back wall. But the cat immediately took a liking to Lyra, approaching her and meowing for her attention and her petting. Maybe he could sense that she was a werewolf and somehow knew she could be just as isolated as him at times.

She named him Milo. Milo Lupin-Black.

Harry got a white snowy owl named Hedwig before heading into Ollivander's Wand Shop. At Ollivander's, Harry got his wand first. Harry's wand ended up being made of holly wood with a phoenix feather core, reaching eleven inches, and was described as 'nice and supple' by Ollivander, the wand-maker.

Lyra's wand was a combination of yew wood that had been penetrated with a phoenix feather core, as well. However, her wand core was called curious by Ollivander, who had mentioned that the feather that is hidden in her wand was one of only two feathers gifted from a single phoenix. The phoenix in question, named Fawkes, gave the feather in Lyra's wand and the feather that resides in the wand of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, who had also given her a scar.

Lyra had never mentioned her scar to her family, seeing no reason to draw attention to one of her many scars that she had previously received throughout her life due to her lycathropy.

Nevertheless, Harry and Lyra paid for their specialized wands that had chosen them and began heading out back to the alley, where they would meet up with their parents and travel back to their respective homes.