Rylie swished through the entrance of the alley with a snap. Dressed head to toe in her scarlet robes she headed straight for Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. Her usual attire of golds, reds and browns would soon change to sleek silvers and greens. Pushing past the masses of people, she found hundreds of different faces from all over the world. None of which caught her attention. She was looking for someone specific, she just didn't quite know who.

Turning around the corner she bummed into a green and silver cloud of students.

"Watch where you're going," one of the boys grunted, before taking a look at her. "I mean... err, do you need any help, miss?"

Rylie smiled sharply and replied, "No thanks dolly," in her thick American accent, "I'm just off to get my Slytherin robes." With that the boy's faced turned a light shade of pink and before he could fully open his mouth Rylie had pushed through him and the rest of the crowd. This is going to be an interesting year. Hope it isn't as bad as Cleveland.

Rylie had lived in Cleveland, Ohio for seven months before her mother became too frustrated with the narrow minded people. At the Muggle schools the girls called her misfit and tore her sisters down for being prettier than most others in the school. Fixed in her thoughts, Rylie suddenly found herself standing in front of Madam Malkin's shop. She swung open the door and with a little chime from the bells she was in.

"Can I help you, love?" the English woman asked her.

"Yes, I'm here to pick up my Slytherin robes."

"First time attending Hogwarts, is it? Oh yes, you can have a seat right over there. Don't mind the other students, they are just picking up new robes for the new term," Madam Malkin's almost sang as she spoke.

Rylie smiled to herself at the women's sweet nature and sat between both a boy and girl she would surely meet again at Hogwarts.

The jangling of the bell above the door signaled a new customer. The slender redhead looked around as she entered and made her way to the counter. "Madam Malkin?" She asked, her southern accent clear as a bell even in her whisper. "I was wondering if my Quidditch robes were back yet. They should be under the name Cassandra Mills."

She winced slightly as she remembered the state of her practice robes after taking them out of her trunk. It had been a while since she wore them, and last she did she had found some other Quidditch players in her hometown of Gatlinburg and had gotten into a rather rough game of street Quidditch. A few snags, fras or simmilar would have been easy for her mother or eve herself to repair non magicaly, but the state of the robes... Well, they were almost unsaveable.

"Let me run to the back dear." Said the woman with a smile. "Mills you said? Yes I think I remember seeing that name a few days ago..."

As the woman trundled off to the back Cassie noticed a girl, probably about her age, waiting with some other younger looking students. Hogwarts transfer maybe? Whatever the case, she seemed nice enough.

Cassandra Mills.

The name rang in Rylie's ear as she watched the red head talked to Madam Malkin. Her southern accent washed over her like a smooth, warm towel. It sounded like Kentucky. Or wait was that Virginia? She couldn't tell the difference. Her mind was already racing at the sound of ‘Quidditch’. A game she knew so much of from reading books but so little because of no experience. Rylie fiddled with her soft ringlets and locked eyes with the girl.

Rylie felt as though her blue eyes pierced straight through her. Shaking her head softly, she had to remind herself that she wasn't surrounded by Muggles anymore. That she fit in with the people here... well to some extent.

With a quick glance and a small smile, Rylie wondered whether she should introduce herself or not.

Felicia was making one last stop before heading back to Hogwarts after a weekend with her father in London. After saying their goodbyes at the hotel, she walked over to the Leaky Cauldron and after waving to Tom, the bar keep, she walked out back to the brick wall. Three taps later she found herself in Diagon Alley and headed right to Madam Malkins. She needed to pick up the robes and dress robes she had ordered a a week ago.

She was now in the fitting room trying them on when she heard someone in the store meation Quidditch robes. She paused and thought for a moment trying to remember what state her Quidditch robes were from last season. It had been so long since the team played she had a hard time even thinking where they were at the moment. Are they still in the locker room or did I take them back to the dorms she wondered to herself. Oh well, she would deal with that after she finished with what she was doing here.

Felicia opened the door and flagged down one of Madam Malkins helpers, "Agnes, here take this one and wrap it. It's wonderful." she said, handing the emerald green robe to the girl. "I have one more to go, but I'll bring that up to the counter myself." and with that she closed the door.

Soon Felicis emerged from the dressing room and walked up to the front of the shop where two girls from Hogwarts were waiting. She recognized one but not the other.

"Hello Cassandra." she said as she reached them. "So that was you I heard talking about Quidditch robes. I have to thank you, when I get back to the school I have to check on the wear and tear of my own set."

She looked over at the other girl who looked on the timid side, and decided to start the introductions.

"Hello there. I'm Felicia Hartwick, also in Slytherin. Seems like this is the place for Slytherins to meet today." she said introducing herself to the girl and extending her hand to her.

Cassie gave a nervous laugh as Felicia mentioned Quidditch robes. "Yeah, mine were compleatly unwearable after last summer. My mom and I tried every muggle and magic trick I could think of to get them clean and sewn up but nothing seemed to work." Her voice was quiet as usual.

She tilted her head at the girl when Felicia said she was in slythering. I thought so. Deffinantly a transfer then.

"Hi." She said with a small smile. "I'm Cassie." She gave the girl a slight nod. "Slytherin as well, as the dear quidditch captian of our team has pointed out." She shot Felicia a slight grin.

"Just a minor correction there, Cassie." Felicia replied quickly, "I'm not the Captain this year, Seychelle Delany is. After two years in the position I passed the whip on to her. I'm now just the Keeper."

Agnes walked by and Felicia gave the girl the pale yellow robe that she had tried on. "This fit just fine, add that to my order and put it on my account please." she told the girl.

Turning to the new girl, Felicia continued the conversation, "Do I detect an American accent? I'm from the States too, New York, if you haven't been able to pick up on my accent. Though even living here for 5 years has done nothing to break it." she said with a laugh, "Though I doubt anything will break a New Yorkers accent."

Rylie rose from her seat between the new awkward kids. She felt relief when she found both the girls were in Slytherin and American. This won't be so bad after all. Extending her hand she felt the other’s cool, soft one.

“Rylie. Rylie Lauma. New Yorker as well,” she smiled at the girls and continued, “my accent is a bit broken though. I've moved around the states so much that I can just about mimic any one.”

“You girls probably know my cousin, Maggi Alacer. She attended here and left on business I believe it was?”

Smiling at the other girls she felt there was something familiar about them. Maybe she had just remembered stories from some of the letters her cousin had sent her. She fidgeted with her colorful nap sack and her hand then appeared holding three pink wrapped candies. “Jolly Ranchers? I brought a load of sweets. I wasn’t sure whether the Brits had good ammo for a chronic sweet tooth like I have.”

"Jolly Ranchers!" Felicia said with a touch of surprise in her voice, "I haven't seen those since," she paused, "well since my last trip home." SHe held out her hand for one of the delightful candies. "Oh they have their fair share of goodies here. It's just that you have to watch out for some of them. You see they do more than satisfy your sweet tooth." Felicia went on to explain wizard candies to Rylie. "Some make you leviatate, some burn a hole through your tongue, some make you sound like an animal, so like I said, you just have to choose your treats carefully.

Unwrapping the candy, Felicia thought back to Maggi, yes she did remember the girl. "How is your cousin? Doing well I hope."

Unwrapping her own piece of candy she passed one to each of the girls. “She's very well, living in Italy, working with a small bookstore. Or so her letters tell, who knows what she really is up to?”

Just then Agnes, the store clerk, waddled up to Rylie and asked what exactly she needed. Rylie replied with her school uniforms for the Slytherin house and before she even finished she felt something tugging lightly at her back. And then again at her arm. By the time she looked for whatever was crawling over her it was at her wrist. A small yellow measuring tape was measuring her.

Puzzled she just continued to talk to the clerk until she walked off. Now, this is just weird. Rylie pulled at the tape but it continued to measure. Beat she looked up at the other girls for help.

“Uh... Am I supposed to wait until it’s finished?” she asked with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

Felicia nodded as she watched the little measuring tape do it's job. "Yes, you just have to stand there and let it do its thing. Don't worry it should take that much longer." she told Rylie, who was looking quite surprised over the whole process of the fitting.

"So she's in Italy working in a bookstore." Felicia repeated, wondering how Maggi was doing. "Does she at least speak the language?" Felicia asked, not being able to remember if the girl spoke different languages.

During the conversation Felicia was keeping an eye on Agnes, watching to see when she would be needed to go pick up her robes.

Rylie nodded her head at Felicia and out of the corner of her eye watched the measuring tape. She thought back to the postcards her cousin had sent her and the endless letters. Trying to remember whether the girl could speak the language or not.

"I don't see why not. Both our mother's side of the family is from Southern Italy. I'm sure it was easy for her to pick up the language," she finally concluded.

"Where is your family from?" she directed to the girls.

"Oh, Sorry to hear that Felicia." She said with a nod. The girl had been a good captian but I'm sure she was probably greatful to give up the reins of the team for a bit. It was probably a heavy responcibility and Cassie unserstood that.

She shook her head at the name the other girl mentioned. Cassie hadn't heard of her. Well, she didn't know many people to be truthful. She only knew Felicia from quidditch, and odds are she wouldn't have met the girl if it hadn't been as such.

"Hm?" She snapped out of a slight daze s she heard a question. "Oh, well. I'm from Gatlinburg, Tennessee. But my parents moved there before I was born and my mom was offered a job in the Great Smoky Mountian National Park." She nodded. "They were from Virginia. As for my grandparents... My mom's parents, well her father was from North Carolina and her mom was from wisconson. I haven't a clue to as how they managed to meet." She shrugged. For some reason it was easy to talk to them. She was already familliar with Felicia, but did she know of her condition? She couldn't remember. "My dads parents were both from Virgina too."

“I knew I heard a hint of Virginia somewhere in there. One of my closest friends in the states lived there. She had moved to North Carolina where we met,” Rylie watched as the robes were brought to her.

“You have a very proportional frame,” said the clerk, “there was only a wee bit to alter.”

Rylie smiled shyly and gathered her robes from the woman. She turned to the dressing room and when she emerged modeled her new robes in front of the mirror. They were such a rich, deep green. Mesmerized by the color she turned from one side to the other and then turned to the girls.

“What do you think?” she asked. Usually she wouldn’t bother for another’s opinion because her style was so eclectic; it only seemed necessary in this situation. New people, new school, new country. She didn’t want to get anything wrong, especially since this looked like home for the next two years.

Two years, that is the longest you’ve ever stayed put now isn’t it?

No, she felt her conscience reply, I lived in New York for longer.

You were to young to remember, the voice hissed in her ear. You’ll leave again. Better not get attached. Remember the last time you got attached?

With wide eyes Rylie stayed very still. It looked as though she was wanting for criticism from the other girls but really she felt the blow of a memory strong enough to make a solider weak in the knees. After a moment she blinked her eyes, took a deep breath and pinned what felt like a convincing smile on.

“So what do you think?” she repeated shakily.

Cassie nodded in approval at the robes as Riley moddled them "I li-" She blnk as if hit upside the head suddenly and began to sway as a wave of self-doubt, something of the sort, hit her hard. Her knees became weak and she felt in fear of falling. She put her hand out, steadying herself on a rack of clearance priced dress robes. She was breathing deeply as she shut her eyes tight, fighing a swelling feeling of naussia that was trying to escape.

However a few moments later it was gone. She stayed a few more moments against the rack, making sure the feeling had passed before opening her eyes and standing up on her own again. Her face was paler than before, and slight beads of sweat were on her forhead.

"Um... yeah... I like them." She nodded as she blunk again, as if to clear a fog from her head. "They're nice."

Rylie tilted her head slightly as she blinked away some lingering tears. She wiped quickly showing no expression towards them and smiled softly at Cassandra. Her insides, however, were swept over with panic.

Can she hear me? Can she feel me?

She can hear both of us, a voice whispered demonically.

Rylie shook her head a bit and tried to banish the thoughts. She straightened her back and ran her hands over the robes. She felt the needlework under her finger tips and palms. It was so skilled the feel of the reoccurring pattern put her into a mellow trance.

Turning back at the mirror she picked up her heavy long curls and tied them swiftly into a bun. Curls falling around her face, she turned to view the back end and pulled the green hood over her hair. Rylie almost looked saintly. She headed back for the changing rooms and tried on her dress robes. Silver and black. All were exquisite. It almost felt like everything was going to be okay. Almost.

“So what are you girls up to after this?” Rylie asked as she pushed back the heavy curtains of the dressing room.

[Closing due to inactivity.

3 PMs to me in next 7 days or it'll be deleted.

Cheers,
Sarah]