Must Have Done Something Right / Scorbus

Chapter 49 / Shopping

Being the only child of a wealthy aristocrat, Scorpius had an almost unhealthy supply of money available to him at any one time. Of course, he had enough sense in him to not let it get to his head, and Scorpius made sure to never abuse his father's money. But in this situation, faced with the prospect of hundreds of clothing stores and an entire afternoon devoted to visiting each one, Scorpius had no qualms dipping into that supply and spending it on clothes he only ever saw in magazines. Muggle shopping was a foreign concept in the Malfoy household; the "non-wizard" half of his wardrobe had been acquired only through the perusal of such magazines, and incessant pleading on his behalf. But non-moving pictures on a glossy page was hardly enough to satisfy his curiosity. He needed the real thing.
The flashing shop signs of the row of stores before him told Scorpius that he was about to get exactly that.
"Oh, Albus," he gasped as he spun slowly on the spot and took a full panoramic view of the buzz of life around him. "You've truly outdone yourself."
Albus' grin could easily have stretched beyond the boundaries of his face. "Yeah well," he said, scratching the back of his neck. "I know you love this kind of stuff so I wanted to take you. Consider it an early Christmas present."
Scorpius took a break from looking around him to focus his gaze on Albus as an affectionate smile settled on his face. His heart warmed when he looked at Albus. It was a rare thing for someone to go deliberately out of their way—and out of their comfort zone—to treat another; and this wasn't the first time Albus had done so. "Thank you. This is ..." He paused. "This is brilliant."
Albus winked at him—his way of saying 'you're welcome.' "So, just gonna stand around all day?"
"Goodness, no. When can we start?" he inquired eagerly
Albus chuckled. "Right now. Lead the way. I'm officially taking the post of your bag carrier today. I'm useless otherwise."
Scorpius laughed and shook his head. "No, you're not," he said kindly. Smirking, he added, "You're also my chauffeur!"
"Ha ha ha," Albus said dryly. "It's my lot in life to wait on you hand and foot, then, is it?"
"Of course! You should have read the fine print when you signed up to be my friend," Scorpius joked.
"Funny; I thought I did. Didn't it say, 'Surprise him with spontaneous shopping trips to keep him happy'?"
Scorpius' face softened and he smiled tenderly, wanting to convey his utmost gratitude and joy at Albus' initiative. "I'm happy otherwise, Albus. You didn't need to take me—"
"I know I didn't," he interrupted. "I wanted to. I like seeing you happy."
"Mission accomplished, then," Scorpius replied warmly.
"Mine may be, but yours isn't. Come on then, the stores await you!"
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Albus was impressed him with himself. Laden with four large bags and a life-long dislike of shopping, even he had to admit he was having fun. It didn't escape him that this wasn't the first time he'd had fun shopping with Scorpius—and Albus was beginning to wonder if Scorpius was inadvertently changing everything about him.
The next store they entered was an enormous department store that looked to sell everything from plasma televisions to socks. Scorpius observed all the different sorts of technologies with a slack jaw and Albus had fun trying to provide him with a layman's description of all things Muggle.
"What on earth is this?" Scorpius asked him as he peered curiously at a black palm-sized rectangular gadget.
Albus chuckled. "It's called an iPod. It's for music."
"Music?"
"Well ... it's got music inside," Albus tried to clarify.
Scorpius' eyebrows shot up in bewilderment. "Inside?" he echoed. "How does it get in there?"
Laughing, Albus tried to explain the concept of downloading and memory storage. When all he received was a blank stare, he attempted another tactic. "It's like using your wand to get memories out of your head and into a Pensieve. In this case, the iPod's the Pensieve and your wand does the 'downloading'".
Scorpius looked mightily impressed, as if realising that Muggles aren't all that stupid. And when they hopped onto an escalator to head up to the clothing department, Scorpius told Albus that, "The staircases at Hogwarts should move up and down like this one! I hate it when they rotate." Albus only hoped Scorpius wouldn't tell his father of his experiences. Albus was sure Draco Malfoy would have his head if he knew Albus was turning his son into a Muggle lover.
The entire second floor of the department store was full of clothing. As they stepped off the escalators, they veered off to the right towards the massive sign that read, 'Men's'. But before they even reached the men's section proper, Scorpius' arms were already holding a pair of trousers, two button-up sweaters and a long winter coat.
After ten minutes of following Scorpius as he wove around islands of racked clothing, Albus started to notice that many of the things Scorpius was choosing to try on later were in sizes too big for him. He chose not to comment on it, trusting that his friend knew exactly what he was doing.
"Alright," Scorpius said a while later as they walked into the changing rooms. There was a row of three empty cubicles face a long comfortable looking couch, which Albus was looking forward to sitting on while he waited for Scorpius to try on his clothes. But then, Scorpius turned to him and said, "In you go."
"Go where?"
"In," repeated Scorpius, gesturing over to the cubicles.
"What, me?" Albus asked.
Scorpius rolled his eyes. "You didn't think I was picking up these clothes for me, did you? Albus, they're three sizes too big and besides," he said, holding up a pair of jeans that looked very different to the ones Scorpius normally wore, "Have you ever known me to wear jeans that weren't tight?"
Albus shook his head numbly and swallowed. "But Scorp, you can't be serious."
"Get in, Potter," Scorpius commanded with a smirk on his face, and Albus got the sense that arguing with him would get him nowhere.
Still, he had to try. "This was supposed to be a shopping trip for you."
"And all this," Scorpius said, pointing to the bags of clothes already bought, "is for me. You're the one who needs clothes more than me."
Sighing, Albus knew this wasn't a quarrel he would win. "Fine," he muttered. He turned and headed towards the open door of the closest cubicle. "What am I supposed to try on?"
"You go in and take off your clothes. I'll hand them to you. Knowing you, you'd probably try on the green long-sleeved shirt with the navy-coloured sweater," he remarked with an exaggerated roll of his eyes and shake of his head, as if the thought of wearing a green shirt with a navy jacket was about as absurd as a downloading music.
Albus had no idea what he was talking about, but he had to admit that he wouldn't know the first thing about colours and styles. With an apathetic, "Yeah, okay," he went into the small room and shucked his clothes, feeling weird standing in only his boxers.
When a few long moments passed in silence and Scorpius still hadn't given him anything to try on, he asked, "If you're planning on making me stand in the nude all day, then—"
Giggles. "Calm down. I'm just deciding which outfit to give you first."
"What does it matter? Just chuck something over!"
Albus heard Scorpius sigh loudly and exasperatingly. "Albus, one does not chuck clothes. Honestly!"
Albus replied sarcastically with, "Oh I'm sorry. I haven't read Proper Care and Handling of Clothing."
"Oh, did you want me to lend it to you?" Scorpius retorted wittily, wiping the victorious smirk off Albus' face.
"Alright, alright," Albus muttered grouchily. "Just give me the clothes."
The sound of Scorpius laughter travelled through the cubicle door. "Here, try these on first," he advised, carefully holding them up over the top edge of the door.