O r p h a n ● Tom Riddle [Harry Potter Fanfiction]

➑ Huit - Wonderful World of Sugar & Fur

"Tell me, Ophelia... what do you see?"

Clasp onto my hand, sweet child.

 Breathe deep, hold onto your fears, clench onto the hope, and say goodbye to your nightmares, sweet, sweet, dear, Ophelia.

"I see hazel light fires, cascading down rooftops, drenching the coats of the men, and lighting up the life of her beloved."

 

....

 

I fought through the racks of colorful cloaks; green, blue, pink, and every other shade beyond the rainbow hung in every wooden nook and cranny of Madam Malkin's Robes Shop.

My throat felt dry after breathing in so much dust, breathing and navigating was a struggle. It was getting harder and harder to believe I'd ever find anything in my size here... I mean, with all these robes, I was sure I'd find something, but where to look? Robes were everywhere! Where? Where!

The shop was lit brightly, wood covering every inch of it (as well as robes), it was strangely inviting, and homely even. It was a place you'd have fond memories of your mother dragging you into, dressing you, helping you, and codling over every inch of you as she tries to find the perfect fit of robes.

When I first stepped into the store, it was practically bustling with families, and mothers ogling over their children. In my attempts to charge further into the store, I ended up being pushed through a large rack of robes, and falling to the ground by a pack of burly looking girls who didn't mind hurling others aside simply because they were in their way.... So here we are now, attempting to work my way back into an inhabited part of the store.

I pushed through a bundle of pink silks and I could finally see a more open part of the shop where a single vanity mirror stood by a beautiful, middle-aged woman, with a head full of brown chocolaty ringlets, armed with a wand, and surrounded by floating measuring tapes in all sorts of wonderful colours. "Now, now! Hold still or you'll be ending up with a set of robes 5 sizes too big! And we don't want that now do we, little miss Malfoy?" She playfully scolded the young girl in front of her.

"Sorry, Madam Malkin..." she replied timidly, cheeks flushed as she let her long platinum blonde hair fall like curtains over her pale face.

Madam Malkin flicked around her wand as she spun the girl, making her squeal in delight as the measuring tapes wrapped around her, and tickled her sides.

I decided to take this opportunity, seeing my last hurdle: tall, wide, daunting walls of prickly looking fur coats, to push through to seek help from the first and only people I've seen for the last... - who knows, it felt like an hour, at least.

"Hello!", I hollered as I started to push through, "um... do you... think...-" I fumbled around, almost tripping as I squeezed past another set of fur, "-one of you might be able to help me out here?" I gingerly took a step out of the large rack of coats, feeling as ridiculous as one could be in these circumstances.

The two witches looked over at me - Madam Malkin, trying to hold back laughter, and the blonde who was simply left wide-eyed at whatever monstrosity had just appeared from a seemingly harmless bundle of coats. "Come here, dear. You should see yourself, you look absolutely ridiculous!" Madam Malkin beckoned.