Area 51

Sagebrush

The bus arrived in the Mesquite station, and people started getting off into the station. Merlin and Helena walked into the door, finding a clothing store was at that station.

Helena remembered being there before, but they didn't go there often enough to remember what the store was even called.

"Merlin?" Helena asked as they headed towards the dress clothes section

"Yeah?" he replied.

"What's this store called again?"

"Um, Holly's I think," he said. "Anyway, you wait here, and I'm gonna get one of the people who work here to get these to the right size."

"Okay." Helena said

Merlin walked away from his sister to the front of the store. He saw Sandy Coddle working at the register. He cursed to himself. He had forgotten she worked here.

"Merlin Montgomery, is that you?" Sandy asked him, he turned towards her, wishing she hadn't seen him.

"Yeah, hi Sandy. I was um...wondering if you could come get my sister measured for her Area 51 uniform?" Merlin questioned. She laughed a little.

"Don't tell me you still call it Area 51," she said.

"Well, yeah. You know the rules. We can't call it it's real name outside of school. A no-maj might hear, and then-" Sandy cut him off.

"Then what? What would happen? It's not like they would be able to find it. And even if they did, it's not like they can get in. All they see is a government facility. Barbed wire and everything. They can't get in or anything. Besides, this is a magical store. There aren't any no-majs here," she told him.

"I don't see the point in calling it anything besides Area 51, just in case," he told her.

"Come on. It's called Sagebrush Academy for a reason. Nevada is famous for it's sage, so to any no-majs, it's just another school."

"I guess so, but I'd rather be safe," he said. Sandy scoffed at him.

"I bet your little sister still thinks it's called Area 51," she said.

"Well, yeah. We all thought it was Area 51 before we started school," he said.

"Whatever," she said, pulling her wand out. "Let's just go over there." Her heels clicked as she walked with purpose towards the dress shirt section. They reached Helena, and Merlin could see the relief on her face. She wasn't normally very patient.

"Hey there Harriet, how are you?"

"It's Helena," she said to Sandy.

"Whoops. Anyway, I want you to go put on a large dress shirt, and then come back here."

"Why? I'm like a medium," Helena told her.

"Just go do it! I don't need sass from some kid," Sandy told her.

"Fine," Helena grumbled, then stomped away to the fitting room with a large dress shirt

"Hey," Merlin said to Sandy. "You don't have to be so rude all the time. She's never been fitted for anything here. She just gets whatever size fits. I didn't explain the magic of getting clothes to fit you perfectly," he told her.

"Well, you should've. You can't have her walking around being so ignorant to magic. She's gonna get destroyed when she gets to Sagebrush. This isn't some quaint little Scottish school like that Hogwash school. This is Nevada, and Nevada kids are meaner those those polite British kids," she said.

"First off, it's Hogwarts. Second off, Helena isn't ignorant to magic. She's grown up with it. She's likable, she'll make friends," Merlin said, remembering why he didn't like Sandy much.

"I'm not saying she won't make friends, but it'll probably be with those no-maj borns. A witch from a magical family should know more about magic than a no-maj born,"

"And she does," he told her. "Anyway, she's coming over right now. Just be nicer to her, it isn't hard," Merlin told her.

"Fine, whatever you want," Sandy said, popping a stick of gum in her mouth, and chewing it loudly.

"Alright guys," Helena called as she walked up, wearing the large shirt that she was swimming in. "I'm wearing this shirt now. Any particular reason why?"

"Well, of course, silly." Sandy said. "We're gonna shrink it around you until it fits perfectly. It's easier to do it on a shirt that's a lot bigger." Sandy explained.

"Why didn't you just said so?" Helena asked. "Would've been way less confusing."

"We can't explain everything. You should really know all this by now," Sandy told her. "You can't less those kids at Sagebrush think you're stupid."

"What's Sagebrush?" Helena asked, stretching out her arms so Sandy could shrink the shirt around her.

"Why, it's the Nevada wizarding school of course."