Shopping for Dress Robes

[Aethie White]

Aethie stood uncomfortably on the little stool, holding her arms out stupidly and feeling a little bit like a scarecrow as Madam Malkin pinned up the hem of the dress robes she was trying on.

They were pretty robes, Aethie had to admit; the sheer loveliness of them made her feel less like a loser standing there. They were of a gorgeous blue-green color that reminded her of the ocean in Greece, with wide, almost medieval-looking sleeves, and dark blue embroidery on the bodice. She felt a little bit like a princess.

She thought again about how great she would look at the Healer Graduation ceremony, and felt a little squirm of pleasure in her stomach.

"I'll be right back dear, I've just got to attend to my other customer," Madam Malkin said, standing up and dusting off her hands. "You can drop your arms if you like. I'll be back to finish the adjustments in just a moment." She hurried off, and Aethie dropped her arms. She stepped off the stool and surveyed herself pleasedly in the mirror, swishing her skirt from side to side, when an unpleasantly familiar voice reached her ears.

No way.

Curiosity got the better of Aethie and she peeked around the curtain to see if the voice she thought she'd heard really belonged to who she thought it did.

It did.

"Jaden?!" Aethie cried in astonishment, before she could stop herself.

[Jaden Aerins]

Jaden was going to open her new cafe soon and wanted some nice casual robes to celebrate the occasion so of course she went to her number one robe stop, Madame Malkins. It wasn't unlike her to go in for one thing and leave with three or four. She was such a spontaneous shopper she was thankful for her parents money to back up her crazy spending sprees.

Madame Malkins had pined her up nicely and said something about going to help another customer as she disappeared behind a curtain leaving Jaden to examine the robes in the mirror. Hoping off the stool, Jaden spun around in front of the mirror smiling brightly at the bright red robes that flushed nicely with her tan skin. Picking up the skirt she made a mental note that she would like it a tad shorter as she turned around to see the back in the mirror.

Madame Malkins said something quietly one 'booth' over that Jaden didn't bother to listen to as she grinned at the flamboyantly red dress. Madame Malkins bustled back through the curtain and Jaden spoke brightly, "I think I would like it a bit shorter if you don't mind." She said as she stepped back on to the stool and turning back to face the mirror towar the curtain leading to the other 'booth'.

Madame Malkins nodded briefly before going to the bottom of the dress robes and heming it up nicely. That was when Jaden spotted a familiar set of green eyes peering around the curtain at her. She straightened up trying to ignore it and telling herself she was seeing things, it couldn't be who she thought it was, right? Of course Jaden's chocolate orbs couldn't be ripped from the green pools and dark tresses. The name ran through her mind despite Jaden's serious attempts to ignore it. Aethie.

[Aethie White]

"What are you doing here?" Aethie asked, managing to inject oceans of venom into the word you, making it sound like the worst of epithets. Her eyes ran up and down Jaden's trim figure with obvious distaste.

Aethie hadn't seen Jaden since they'd graduated Hogwarts together. Aethie well-remembered Jaden's grad party, where Aethie had shown up completely overdressed, and Jaden had then proceeded to get herself dressed up in order to upstage Aethie. She also remembered the months of torture in their NEWT Potions class when Professor Cruz had stuck them together making Polyjuice Potion. Aethie shuddered a little, recalling that nightmarish class. She'd thanked God that she'd never have to see the stuck-up Gryffindor again, and now here they were, in the same room, and neither of them could leave as they were both wearing borrowed robes.

Crap.

[Jaden Aerins]

That was when the truth came crashing down on Jaden all at once. She gasped not being able to do much else without some sort of thought. Aethie's voicedripped in the hatred that sudden flared up in Jaden's heart, "Aethie White." Jaden sneered making most probably the worst face she'd ever had.

Madame Malkins glared at the spaced between the two girls and Jaden ignored her and sent a seething glare at Aethie, "I think it's quite obvious that I am shopping." Jaden retorted standing taller, if possble, and holding back the winced as Madame Malkins jabbed her in the ankle with a pin. Jaden suspected that it was done on purpose.

[Aethie White]

Aethie pulled back as though Jaden had slapped her, her nostrils flaring as she quickly regained her composure. "Well Madam Malkin might not want to tell you this," she sneered, "but that color makes you look fat." In fact, the color did nothing of the sort - it enhanced Jaden's tanned skin and made her look quite fetching, actually. But Aethie wasn't about to admit that to Jaden. The girl was conceited enough without Aethie adding to her ego.

[Jaden Aerins]

Jaden rolled her eyes and giggled as if Aethie had been a best friend who had just told he a joke, "Is that really the best you have? At least I have enough respect for you as a human being to say that you look wonderful in the color. It really suits you." Jaden gave Aethie a serious look before glancing in the mirror over her shoulder as if to check her color choice again. Did she really look fat?

[Aethie White]

Aethie caught Jaden's worried little glance into the mirror and giggled as well; despite what Jaden had said, Aethie was sure her remark about Jaden looking fat had hit its mark. "Well, at least I have enough respect for you as a human being to be honest with you about how awful that color looks on you," she said sweetly, adopting Jaden's "best buddies" tone of voice.

"Girls! Enough!" Madame Malkin snapped, rising from where she had been kneeling in front of Jaden. "I won't have that kind of behavior in my shop! Now, both of you, apologize or I refuse to sell you anything!"

Aethie gaped at Madame Malkin in astonishment. Apologize? To Jaden? I'd rather die, she wanted to shout. Who the hell do you think you are, my mother? It was on the tip of Aethie's tongue to shout obscenities at Madame Malkin and storm from the shop, but the cool hand of caution stayed her temper. These were the first dress robes she'd found in weeks that she actually liked - and she needed them for next week. If she didn't buy them, who knew if she'd find something else she loved this much?

"You don't look fat," she mumbled finally, glaring stormily at Madame Malkin and Jaden. "Sorry."

[Jaden Aerins]

Not believing a word of Aethie's apology, Jaden shrugged and whisper, "Right, Me too." She couldn't bring herself to actually utter the words 'sorry' to this girl who irked her so much. Once the thought crossed her mind, Jaden went back in her memory trying to figure out why it was that they originally starting hating each other. The harder she thought about it, the stupider she felt with the whole situation. Not one thing came up to give Jaden a reason to throw insults at the girl, it just sort of happened. It made ehr wonder what life would be like were they friends.

"Hey Aethie, Why is it that we hate each other so much?" Jaden asked before even considering the other girl's reaction.

[Aethie White]

Aethie stopped; Jaden's question had completely thrown her off balance. Why DO we hate each other so much? She began combing through her memories of their Hogwarts days, and nothing came to mind. She remembered thinking that Jaden was a pompous, stuck-up, prissy little rich girl; and hating her for being so lackadaisical about her schoolwork. But despite all of that, it's not like Jaden had actually ever done anything awful to Aethie. I was just jealous of her.

That thought was so radical that Aethie's mouth fell open. Not once, in seven years of schooling, had she ever considered this possibility. But now that it was staring her in the face, she realized it was true. Jaden had always been the kind of girl that Aethie had wanted to be - outgoing, popular, charming...whereas Aethie had been shy and unassuming, keeping her nose buried in her books to avoid having to make friends. She's like Phimie.

This thought shocked Aethie too. How had she never made this connection before? It was so true. Jaden was just like Seraphim. Or that is...Phimie would have been just like Jaden if she were alive.

"I just..." she said finally, impatiently brushing away the tears that had come to her eyes at the thought of Phimie, "You just, you remind me of my sister."

It didn't really answer Jaden's question. Aethie knew that the reason she disliked Jaden had nothing to do with the fact that she was just like Aethie's younger sister, but she couldn't bring herself to admit that she'd just been jealous.

Although in a way, it sort of made sense - Aethie had never stopped missing Phimie, or longing for a sister in which to confide in, to get advice from, someone to help her come out of her shell a little bit. And then there was Jaden, just like Phimie in every way, and Aethie had hated her for not being Phimie.

That sounds completely crazy, Aethie. she scolded herself. But - the words were already out, and she couldn't take them back. And oddly - she didn't want to.

[Jaden Aerins]

Wha-? Jaden's mind pulled up a blank to Aethie's reason. How the hell does THAT make any sense at all?

"Do you hate your sister or something?" Jaden asked. It was the only logic that she could pull out after minutes of deliberation. No other scenario made sense, "That's sad if you do. I mean she's your sister."

Jaden sighed and watched as Madam Malkins stepped away from her and grinned at her handy work. The fiery red dress was complete and looked stunning to Jaden's eyes, though she was slightly worried about that stab at her weight.

"How do I look?" She asked no one in particular, striking a pose and spinning around on the stool quick as if she wee a model. Unfortunately Jaden was far too clumsy for that and almost immediately face plant into the carpet of the store. With a quick look at her dress to make sure nothing ripped Jaden sent an embarrassed grin to the petrified Madam Malkins and reached for her purse.

[Aethie White]

"Of course I don't hate my sister," Aethie snapped. "She's - she died. And you make me think of what she would be like if she hadn't - and I know it doesn't make sense, ok?!" Feeling incredibly stupid, she marched back to her side of the partition and began stripping off the dress.

"And you really don't look fat," she called back over to Jaden, her face burning. "That dress looks good on you."

[Jaden Aerins]

It was Jaden's turn to blush. She felt so embarrassed for not thinkingAethie's sister could be dead, "I'm so sorry, Aethie, I shouldn't have prised. So sorry." Jaden apologized maybe three more times before biting her lip and grimacing. She felt so guilty.

Aethie said something about the dress that sounded a bit more believable than her previous compliment, "Thank you." Jaden smiled as if the statement really touched her, and it had, who didn't like a compliment every now and again, "Like I said earlier, you look wonderful in yours." She dropped the payment for the dress robes into Madam Malkins outstretched hands before standing up carefully and looking in the mirror once more, this time Aethie's mirror where she could see them both, "That color looks like the ocean in Australia!" She stated taking a step closer to Aethie and admiring the dress with a gush admiration.

[Aethie White]

"It's okay, you didn't know," Aethie sighed. But as Jaden kept babbling apologies, Aethie grew a little annoyed. "Just stop it, ok? It's fine!" Then, embarassed herself, she muttered a soft apology.

That color looks like the ocean in Australia!"

"It's the same color as the ocean in Santorini," Aethie agreed. "It's my favorite color." She twisted her neck to get a look of the dress from the back and bit her lip. "You don't think it looks too...old-fashioned?" She asked nervously.

[Jaden Aerins]

Jaden contemplated her question for moment whilst developing her opinion of the gown, "Yes a bit old fashioned I'd say but that works on you. You have the body type for it. If I were to wear it I think I'd look ghastly!" Jaden giggled and spun around for a third time, "That's why I chose a more contemporary style and color!" She then went back to examining the embroidery on Aethie's dress, "Gorgeous. That had to have required a lot of talent." Jaden winked at Madam Malkins who rolled her eyes and turned away form the girls.

[Aethie White]

[This is what Aethie's dress looks like...cept hers is the blue-green color with dark blue embroidery/lacing. Click!]

Aethie couldn't help smiling at Jaden's joke, and turned back to the mirror, her hands resting lightly on her stomach. "I'll buy it," she said finally, a little impulsively. "Er...could you...unzip me?" She asked Jaden awkwardly. She couldn't reach the zipper in the back and Madame Malkin was at the front ringing up Jaden's dress.