lovely lady may • sirius black

Chapter 4

The end of summer is always bittersweet. While returning to school is exciting, leaving behind all the things I love about home isn't. As much as I enjoy my time at Hogwarts and learning magic, there are still a lot of little things that I miss. Like picnics in Central Park on a cool evening in June and listening to the waves while reading a good book at our house in the Hamptons. One of the things that makes leaving New York worth is back to school shopping. I love visiting all the shops on Diagon Alley and watching as confused first years try to figure out their way around.

I keep my eyes open for Sirius as I gather my books and other things. "Will I get to meet your special friend today?" my mom asks while elbowing me playfully.

I roll my eyes, "We're just friends, there's nothing special going on."

"And that's why you write him almost every other day?"

"I promise that I'm telling the truth," I try to distract myself by looking at new uniform skirts.

"Well," Mom passes me a pouch of galleons, "I know it's going to be a while before you finally decide on something, and your father's waiting on me for lunch, so pick out what you want and meet us at that fancy bistro place we always go to when we're here."

I frown, this is the last time I'll get to shop with my mom for months and she has to go get lunch with Dad, "I was hoping you'd help me figure out what to get."

"I'm sure you choose the right thing on your own. You've always had good taste."

"Okay," I sigh, "whatever."

She pats my shoulder, "See you in a few," and with that she leaves me alone in the boutique.

I pick a few outfits to try on before going into the dressing room. They all look nice, and I'm half tempted to buy all of them. I could certainly afford to... I'm startled from the trance-like state of staring at myself in mirror by someone knocking on the door.

"Who is it?" I ask cautiously.

"Guess," Sirius' voice sounds from behind the door.

I snicker to myself, "Didn't realize you've stooped to stalking girls in the changing room... How'd you find me?"

"I saw you just before you went to try stuff on. I figured I'd wait, but you'd been in here for a while so I decided to check in."

"What can I say, I like to shop..."

"Did you get that record?"

"Of course," I admire one of the skirts I'm buying in the mirror. "The cassette too, so we can listen to it wherever we want."

"Nice," he pauses for a moment, "Have you decided on what you're going to get?"

"Yeah, I think I'm going to get everything. I like to have a little variety in my uniforms," I tuck my shirt in and put on the sweater that matches my skirt to see the silhouette of the whole outfit. They're both black with matching emerald green trim. The skirt falls just above my knee. I step out of the dressing room with a small smile. "What do you think?"

He raises his eyebrows, "It looks nice, are you going to show me the others too?"

"Goodness no," I shake my head, "I won't put you through that torture."

"That good to hear, because I'm kind of crunched for time."

"I'm sure you are, I'll be out in a sec," I duck back into the changing room and start to out my normal clothes back on. "I'm supposed to meet my parents for lunch after this. I can skip it, or you could join us if you'd like."