A Walk Down the Alley

[Aidana Hawkins]

A fork of silver lightning tore its way across the dark sky. It was closely followed by a brilliant flash of light, and the loud grumble of thunder. The light breeze in Diagon Alley picked up, turning into a strong wind. Scrap bits of parchment and dust swirled around on the cobblestones, assulting anyone who dared step into their dance. Not many dared for no one had decided to venture outside in this gale. Loud laughter could be heard on the other side of the brick wall, inside the Leaky Cauldron. Even Florean Fortescue's Icecream Parlor looked crowded. Everyone had taken refuge indoors from the coming storm.

Aidana Hawkins clutched her cloak around her, looking around the deserted alley. Why had she decided to come here? Today of all days there had to be a storm, making everyone go inside. She needed to go out and do something. Sometimes she felt that so suffocated by the school. She needed her freedon. Her thoughts were temporarily inturrupted by another rumble of thunder. It was louder this time, the storm was getting close. A few raindrops trickled down her hair, a small warning of what was to come. She needed to get inside.

Quickly, Aidana drew her hood to sheild herself from the torrent of rain. Not a moment too soon either, for the water began to pour itself from the sky. She grumbled, looking around. She was standing in the middle of the street, and now she couldn't even see where to go. Blindly she wandered towards a dark shape she took to be a building. Throwing open a door, she stepped inside feeling the warmth envelop her. Madam Malkins. She smiled, this was exactly what she needed. Retail therapy.

She grablled the nearest set of black robes and held them up in front of her by the mirror. Aidana frowned, looking at herself. Her cloak was dripping from the beating it had taken outside, and her firey hair was only partially protected from the hood. This was just perfect. Her day of freedom ruined by a force of nature. There was only one way to fix this, she thought with a growing grin. More shopping.

[Barnett Lee]

"Goddamnit."

Young Master Lee shoved open the door to the robe shop only a few moments after Aidana. The doorknob hit the inside wall with a sharp clang, but he didn't notice. He was all swept up in his moody moment. Out of breath with a slightly pink nose and cheekbones, Barnett obviously had not been as lucky in escaping the rain. He stood on the welcome mat, shoulders hunched, regaining his breath. However, his dramatic entrance earned him a sour look from the woman behind the desk. He didn't notice. Blinking stringy, wet black hair out of bloodshot eyes, he stared down at the clump of envelopes in his hand. Ink was already beginning to run down to form a stain at the corner of the top envelope.

"Oh, beautiful." He muttered, trying to pat the ink dry with the corner of his sleeve before remembering, of course, that his sleeve was soaked.

Remembering himself, he glanced up at the clerk who was making a show of clucking and drumming her garishly colored fingernails against the desk. He rolled his eyes and gently laid the envelopes in his pocket before sending her a pointed look and stomping into an aisle. There was no way he was going back into that downpour. And the envelopes! The last time he had tried a drying spell on something so soaking wet, he had accidentally lit it on fire.

Looking up to check on the rain pounding against the window, Barnett's face fell when he saw where he was standing. Damnit. He quickly maneuvered himself out of the girls dress robe section, carefully avoiding the clerk's hawk-like stare. Quickly tearing around a rack of robes with unnecessary pockets, he ran straight into Aidana. Damnit.

Backpedaling slowly, he frowned apologetically. "Sorry there."

[Aidana Hawkins]

OOC: Sorry for the crappiness of this post. First day of school, and I'm overflowed with work already...>.<

Aidana looked at her reflection in the floor-length mirror in front of her. Ignoring her drenched hair, she considered the robe that was held in front of her. No, she didn't like it at all. She carelessly cast aside the robe on an empty chair next to the mirror. Grabbing another robe, she came to the same decision. Black? All they wore up at the school was black, she had enough and didn't need any more. She was about to turn around and wander off in another direction when suddenly something wet collided with her.

She looked up to see a boy standing in front of her. Correction, a soaking wet boy standing in front of her. Obviously he had been caught in the same situation she had. A small smile grew on her face as he backed away. Unlike her, however, he hadn't taken the opportunity for some shopping. Juding by the dark look on his face, he wasn't enjoying the shop at all.

" Oh no, it's fine," she replied lightly with a smile. " Lovely weather we're having, isn't it? Perfect weather to spend the day outside playing Quidditch. You're from up at the school, aren't you? Funny, I would've seen you some time. I'm Aidana Hawkins, Gryffindor, by the way." She held out her hand to the boy in front of her.

[Barnett Lee]

(OOC: Ah, lucky you. Congratulations!)

Tilting his head to the side thoughtfully, he tried drying his hand off on his pants before briskly shaking her hand. "Funny that we haven't met - I'm Gryffindor as well. Barnett Lee, a pleasure to meet you." He murmured graciously, before curling his tongue in his bottom lip and gesturing toward her attire. "And, er - I think I got you a bit wet." He smiled sheepishly.

"Weather's beautiful though, yes. Perfect for a little stroll to the Post Office with paper-made envelopes in your hand." He added dryly, obviously still a bit ticked. Though, peering curiously at Aidana, he was trying to figure out why they hadn't met earlier. He prided himself in being anywhere he shouldn't, if that meant eavesdropping on the girls in the Common Room or watching students in class instead of actually working.

"What year are you going into?" He asked Aidana, glancing subtly over at the clerk. She was clearly staring at them, so he picked up the nearest clothing piece - a plain plaid skirt - and, without realizing what he was doing, looked to see if it was his size.

[Aidana Hawkins]

Aidana smiled and warmly shook Barnett's hand, noticing that it was slightly wet. She wasn't bothered in the least, and waved off his apology. Growing up with three brothers, she was used to getting messy. Especially with her twin, Aylen, who was a known walking disaster. "Ah, yes," she agreed. " I do love going to the post office when it's raining. Well, we must have seen each other sometime in the Common Room if you're in Gryffindor too, or maybe I'm just invisible."

Tilting her head, Aidana raised her eyebrow and watched Barnett pick a skirt with an expression of amusement on her face. Either he was nervous, or she had him understood all wrong. " Seeing as how I'm 15, I'm going into fifth year. How about you? And I'm afraid that isn't your color," she replied with a smirk, gesturing towards the plaid skirt. She looked over his shoulder to see that the woman at the desk still watching them, and failing miserably trying to look as if she was doing otherwise.

" I believe that you'd be much better off in this one here," she said with a wink, understanding why he was acting that way. She reached over to a shelf, and removed a garish looking pink dress edged in lace. It was obviously two sizes too small to fit him, and would no doubt come down to his knees." It would much better suit your skin tone, and really bring out the color of your eyes," she said, trying to surpress her laughter.

[Barnett Lee]

"Oh, indeed." Barnett nodded earnestly at her, pulling the hanger lightly out of her hands so he could hold the ugly thing up at his collar. He stared down at the less then beautiful sight for a long moment, some dramatic inner turmoil bouncing around in his head.

What are you doing, Lee?

Shrugging at unspoken words, an impish smile tumbled onto his mouth. He raised his free hand to his forehead and swayed in an exaggerated swoon. "Oh, how scandalous I would look. I'd certainly be the talk of the gossip mill if I wore this to History class, eh?" He batted his eyelashes theatrically at her. Shoving the dress back onto the rack, he spotted neon orange dress robes with a greenish trim that was nearly as raffish as the pink dress had been. He held the hanger up at arms length, clucking gravely and examining it.

"I'm a seventh year. Well, I mean I won't be seventeen 'til November, but the school I used to attend had a slightly different enrollment schedule then here." He told her casually, holding the robes out for her to see. "I think I'll need to have these hemmed, hmm? Wouldn't want them dragging everywhere." He smirked cheekily at her.

[Aidana Hawkins]

Aidana laughed as the mental picture of Barnett walking into a class wearing the hideous dress appeared in her head. Yes, that would be something exiting happening in History wouldn't it? " Oh, it would be scandalous all right," she said wryly. " But I'm sure all the girls would just die if they saw that you had worn it before them. I mean it is a designer high end fashion isn't it? I'm sure I saw one just like it somewhere in Teen Witch"

She laughed, her emerald eyes dancing. Aidana tilted her head and reguarded the new set of robes he held in front of him. Oh, this was too much. Her day of freedom had ended up being fun, despite the storm brewing outside. As if to remind her of this fact, a rumble of thunder from outside could be heard inside the shop. Ignoring it, she smirked and pulled the orange robes away from the boy.

" Oh, don't flatter yourself Barnett. Do you really think you could pull this off?" she asked in mock horror. Aidana held the hateful robes up in front of her and turned towards him. " Now with hair like mine, I can wear it. You, however, cannot." She looked down at the robes, and smiled. Maybe she could "persuade" Aylen to wear these robes, just like she had "persuaded" him before.

" Hm, you said you came from another school," she said just remembering. " Why did you transfer here all of a sudden? I mean, especially in your last year?" She took the green robes and carelessly tossed them in a random shelf. That woman could fix them later.

[Barnett Lee]

Barnett shrugged stiffly, his face turning masklike. He was that she had put such a logical and observant question together so quickly, but he obviously wasn't able to express this.

"Astute. But people can still move. Parents can be just as selfish no matter what year their kids are in." He put mildly, deciding that throwing in the parental card was a winning decision.

Quickly wheeling around so as to cut the interrogation short, he spotted the small box of Honeydukes sweets on the stool beside the clerk. Quite suddenly his eyes flickered and brimmed to the top with mischief. Sure, it was a small conquest, but it would give him something to focus on until the roads were bearable again. Tilting his head to the side in a look of what he hoped was innocence, he scanned the room for possible props. Then, remembering to be polite to his company, he turned back to Aidana.

"Hey," he said in a low, conspiratorial tone. "You hungry?"

[Aidana Hawkins]

Aidana was taken aback at Barnett's response to her question. Suddenly he had become so cold towards her, and she didn't know why. It didn't make sense at all. She had just asked an innocent question about his previous school, something she was sure he had been questioned about before. She frowned, not accepting his answer. There was obviously much more to it that he wasn't willing to share. To her, it didn't seem as if it was his parents who were the selfish ones.

The only explination for his behavior had to be that something had happened at the school where he went. It would explain quite a few things to her actually. Aidana's head jerked up at his question. There was something so familiar about his facial expression. It was something she had seen hundreds of times before: mischief. Her eyes followed his, and landed on the box of chocolates on the front desk, near the sales clerk. Genuinely, she was intrigued at what Barnett was going to do, but her face didn't show it. If he was going to be cold to her, then she would be doing the same.

" Not right now, thank you for asking," she replied. " I'm sorry, but I really do have some shopping to do." Aidana turned to the nearest rack of robes, and began rifling through them looking for nothing in particular. Out of the corner of her eye though, she watched what scene was going to take place.

[Barnett Lee]

"Suit yourself." Barnett shrugged casually, though his smile drooped slightly. He strutted forward several feet, pushing the thoughts from his head as he tried to sort through a million ridiculous ideas that bloomed into details the moment he had spotted the prize.

He cleared his throat and tried to straighten out his clothes, though they were clinging most uncomfortably to him. Just have to make it difficult, eh? He strode casually up to the desk and curled his fingers around the edges, putting on his most winning smile. The clerk stared at him boredly with eyelids caked in a rather repulsive glittery blue makeup. Her lips looked cracked under her dark lipstick. Her eerie gaze was nearly derailing, but Barnett knew better then to back down.

"Ah, hello! Excuse me." He rumbled in what he imagined to be a silky suave voice used by the leading men in the romantic movies. "I'm terribly sorry to bother you, young lady -" His grin almost became inappropriately wide for a moment, but he choked it down. "I'm actually here for a bit of birthday shopping, you see. For my - cousin who's about the same age as I. But I'm simply terrible at this fashion business, and you look about the same size as her - she was always so petite!" Again, staring at the middle-aged, rotund woman, he had to fight the laughter scratching his throat. "If you're not otherwise engaged, could you please help me pick out some appropriate dress robes?"

He leaned across the counter appealingly, his eyes only darting toward the chocolates for a split second before returning to her face with a convincing smile.

[Aidana Hawkins]

Aidana watched out of the corner of her eye as Barnett tried to casually stroll up to the woman at the counter. Trying to look as if she wasn't paying the least bit of attention, she rifled through some school uniforms. She tried to choke down her laughter as the boy's voice floated down towards her. Young lady? He was trying a bit too hard for her taste. If a boy ever spoke that way to her, she would probably laugh in his face and move on.

Anyone could see that the woman wouldn't fall for it. Maybe in her wildest dreams, but definitely not her reality. Aidana bit her lip, feeling slightly guilty for brushing him off. She needed to do something to help him. After all, it was chocolate he was trying to take. What he needed was a distraction, and she was the perfect accomplice to do it. A quick plan popped into her mind, and she began to slightly grin. It wasn't the perfect strategy, but it was the only think she could think of.

She headed to the back of the store, where all the more expensive items were kept. Stopping in front of a rack filled with silk burgandy dress robes, she knew that she had to act now. Fixing her face with a convincing look of horror, Aidana gave out a little shreik. " Merlin's beard!" she yelled, waving her arms to get the woman's attention. " All the silk dress robes! They've been stolen!" A look of panic crossed the woman's face as she hastened towards Aidana. After all, it was during her shift that they had been stolen.

Knowing she had accomplished her task, Aidana gave Barnett a shadow of a wink before turning her attention to the slightly hysterical shopkeeper in front of her. By now, the woman had reached her destination, and the worry on her face had been replaced by annoyance. The dress robes were clearly still there. Aidana looked the woman straight in her eyes, and gave her what she thought was the most angelic smile she could give. " Oh, look!" she exclaimed innocently. " They're right there on the rack. How silly of me!" She turned on her heel and ducked out of the aisle before she could burst into a fit of laughter. Aidana looked towards the front of the store to see if Barnett had completed his mission.

[Barnett Lee]

The flustered woman turned back to her desk, taking small peeks behind her at the apparently batty young lady with fiery hair. Barnett was still leaning there, casually waiting for a response. The box of Honeydukes sweets beside the desk was full of empty wrappers.

Unfortunately, with no reason to back out of his earlier spouted 'cousin' story, Barnett was dragged across the store to a rack of women's dress robes. She began picking things up and running her fingers down them, calling back to him what he thought. Though he kept the bright facade for the clerk, he scowled dramatically at Aidana and slowly backpedaled so he was standing beside her.

Rolling a chocolate out from his sleeve and popping it into his mouth audaciously, he winked.

"Show off." He murmured to her under his breath, though not unkindly. "Do you have much exp - yes, the turquoise is lovely, Miss! " He coughed. "D'you have much acting experience to speak of, then? You were very convincing." He said, discreetly offering her a chocolate. "But, you must've known I completely had everything under control. You just wanted a cut of the profit, eh? I see how it is, Hawkins." He teased.

[Aidana Hawkins]

Aidana grinned as Barnett neared her. Had she been showing off? She didn't think so. At least she didn't think he should've been complaining. It had been because of her that he had the chocolates now. Otherwise it would've taken too long trying to distract the woman. Though Aidana had to admit, he had done a good job, even though his story wasn't very convincing. Then again, was hers?

" Of course I wanted a cut of the profit Lee! It was always about the chocolate, never about helping you," she answered smiling, and took the chocolate. " I can't resist chocolate, you should know that about me. I have done things like this...once or twice...before. Besides, it didn't look like to me that you had everything under control." The woman had noticed them talking and had turned sharply to look at them both. Aidana winked cheekily at the woman before turning to a rack of dress robes. She was here, and she might as well do some shopping.

Her fingers ran lightly across a row of silk dress robes, stopping on the ones she had claimed were stolen. Aidana pulled set of robes off the rack and admired them. They were rich burgandy in color, and the light from the store accented it to a deep crimson. Simple, yet elegantly cut, they would've been the perfect thing to wear to any formal occasion. " So what do you think?" she asked. " For your cousin I mean. Before you let that woman go crazy in her taste for clothes." She nodded towards the shopkeeper who was holding the pink and orange dress robes that they were making fun of earlier. Though it looked like the woman was seriously considering them for Barnett's imaginary cousin.

[Barnett Lee]

Barnett looked down at what Aidana held out and shrugged, seeing her logic. The woman was working herself up with all of the positively ugly robes. Tossing another chocolate into his mouth andrunning the back of his hand over his lips, he gushed loudly. "Oh, these are perfect." He took the robes from her and went forward to show them to the clerk. She clucked in grudging approval - apparently she didn't like to be outdone by the crazy red haired witch, but couldn't deny it's quality.

Barnett looked out the window, wondering if he would be forced to actually buy something before the rain clouds would part.

"So, is this your purchase, honey?" The woman asked in her nasal tone.

He frowned. She was perfectly willing to throw him out onto the rain slicked street, wasn't she? "Er...I'm not sure if these would fit her, actually. I'd like to be certain Do you have fitting rooms?" He asked, surprising himself at his own wit. She pointed toward the back of the store silently. "Er. Well, they're girl robes," he pointed out slowly, then a real smile blossomed on his face. "Aidana? Be a dear?" He held out the robes teasingly.

[Aidana Hawkins]

Aidana raised and eyebrow at Barnett's request. Was he trying to make her feel as if she was dying a horrible painful death? She loved shopping, it was true, but she really didn't feel like trying on things for other people. It made her feel as if she was being used, especially in this situation. She had already bailed him out with the chocolates earlier hadn't she? Now why should she have to do this? A thought popped into her head, she could use this to her advantage later, couldn't she?

She looked up and gave both Barnett and the shopkeeper an overly sweet smile. " Of course I would love to try those on for you," she said in what was clearly a sarcastic tone. She walked up to the boy and harshly snatched the robes out of his hands. Her facial expression had changed dramatically, the smile replaced by a peeved scowl. " You owe me for this Lee, big time. Or else..."she threatened in a low tone, her emerald eyes narrowed. She turned on her heel and practically stomped towards the back of the store.

Reaching the small room, she slammed shut the door as if to remind them that she was being forced to do this. Quickly, Aidana changed into the silk burgandy robes. Because of her bad luck, they just had to be her size didn't they? Wanting to get this over with, she neglected to look in the mirror to see how well it suited her. She opened the door, and walked to the front of the store grumbling. Her face clearly showed displeasure judging by the scowl on her face.

" Well?" she demanded. " Are they good enough for your cousin?"