Gleam

The snow had long since cleared, giving way for springtime. In the month or so since Christmas, Trowa had begun work back at Gladrag’s Wizardware. He’d been working at the Hogsmeade branch since fifth year and he’d been working behind the scenes to create some of the many gowns the ladies of Hogwarts wore to various galas such as the Yule Ball and other festivities. They didn’t know of course and the credit went to the owner of the store but the owner, bless her, made sure Trowa got as much of the profits as possible; and often it was quite a lot as the dresses and accessories could be priced incredibly high. Well, not as high as the adjective would suggest but it was a nice amount of gold that always shocked Trowa when he visited Gringotts.

Today was a Saturday and for once it was a quiet one. Students were milling around Hogsmeade, drifting in and out of the bookshops and supplies stores. The potions shop had a lot of visitors. Evidently the students had run out of ingredients. Gladrag’s was empty, though. It was a shame really but Trowa did use the time productively. Over the course of the morning he had drawn out a few dress designs as well as the design for the drapes the Crofts had ordered. He’d contemplated turning his attentions to the sewing machine but he soon changed his mind. Instead he hopped over to Honeydukes for some chocolate, popped into Madam Puddifoot’s for some coffee and returned to the shop. He was now sat behind the counter with a book in his lap, a steaming mug of coffee in his hand and an open foil-wrapped chocolate bar lay on the counter.

Trowa licked his bottom lip and turned a page of his book. He began to hum to himself and kicked his shoes off, clicking his toes afterward. A sigh of contentment left his lips as he turned yet another page of The Goblin Peace Treaty.

Tish had seen the galas coming up on teh wizarding social calendar as an opportunity to get out of the stuffiness of the castle. Perhaps find some rather special companionship. Tish was very particular--about almost everything. She wasn't a snob, she just knew what she liked.

And she loved the fact that winter was fading away. She had put on a pair of black leggings, some really awesome black flats and a teal and black tunic sweater over a teal cami. She saw eyes of the other male students on her, but none of the ones she saw were particularly interesting to her. Not at the moment. She was on a mission. Social events called for amazing clothes. And in this case, that called for Gladrags. Well, it was the place that everyone envied getting their clothes from.

She walked into the shop, hearing the little bell tinkling when she entered. There was a young man behind the counter. "Hello," she said casually, and then she went in farther--to inspect the racks. She wanted a couple of utterly amazing cocktail dresses. Maybe some outstanding shoes.

An involuntary yawn escaped Trowa’s mouth. He covered his lips with his palm and dropped his hand when his yawn had disappeared and his lips had come together. He licked his index finger and turned yet another page of the book that was quickly beginning to bore the inquisitive Ravenclaw. He closed the book with yet another yawn and broke a piece of chocolate. He popped it into his mouth and washed it down with a mouthful of coffee. Trowa put the cup down on the counter and rose from his seat just as the door opened. The bell above the frame shrieked in what Trowa thought was excitement and he smiled at the visitor who greeted him very coolly. She didn’t greet him with the warmth some of the other visitors did. Still, it was a hello – it was better than nothing which was what he often received.

Trowa put his book underneath his chair by his bag and picked up the pencil he’d discarded before picking up his book. He went over the line of the bodice of the dress he’d created earlier that morning and bit the end of the pencil. Trowa reached for the eraser and rubbed out the neckline. He placed the eraser down and re-drew the line so it would accommodate women with both large and small busts. Marginally satisfied with the look of the dress, Trowa got to his feet. He poked his pencil behind his ear and picked up the design, leaving the others behind on the counter. He’d annotated a few things, accessories, colours etcetera; now it was about finding the fabric that fit and the jewellery that looked good.

Walking over to the shelves that held the silk and other such fabric, Trowa went in search for a pale blue – almost the colour you dressed children in but lighter. He didn’t want it for that particular dress but there was an order for some day dresses that he needed to sort out. He had the mannequin ready, he just needed to get the shape and start pinning everything. Trowa took the roll of fabric off of the shelf and rested it on his shoulder. He crossed the room to where the mannequin was, placing his design on the counter as he passed it. Trowa picked up a pin cushion and adjusted the hip size of the mannequin before unrolling the fabric. He took his craft scissors out of the tin on the floor and cut of the amount of material he’d need. Once he got enough, Trowa placed the roll on the floor and wrapped the cut material around the mannequin. From there, he began to pin it into place, deciding to only help the girl that had entered if she asked. She seemed to know what she wanted. He wanted to leave her to it. He didn’t want to help where it was unnecessary. Last time that happened, he’d been shouted at.

Tish looked at the color of the bolt of fabric the young man had selected. Well, perhaps it was an order and not something that he'd have chosen, if he'd been given that opportunity. She looked over the designs on the racks and liked some of them. There were some relatively standard looking things, classical cuts. Not her style, not her color. She wanted edgy. Clean. Sleek, sexy. She didn't want black for Valentines Day, but it didn't need to be traditional red either.

Still, the young man looked, by his own style, like he had a good eye. That interested her. And Tish wasn't difficult to fit, usually. But she wanted something that would make her noticed--but not too much. She finaly went over to him. Maybe he either could create something edgy and get it slipped by the owner if it was too edgy, or maybe she could hire him on the side. Either way, he did have potential.

"Decent enough design," she said casually. "but, what might you have for me? I need two cocktail dresses. Something different. Edgy. Something creative. Not your mother's style. Think you can help me?"

Quickly, Trowa finished pinning the dress. It was tight at the hips and flared out. He came down to about mid-calf and was more or less what the order had specified. It had been vague at best and Trowa had decided that it was probably best to stay conservative and do nothing outrageous with it. The measurements suggested a fairly thin woman and her specifications hadn’t been one of the more detailed ones. He was going on what he knew about the woman – which wasn’t a lot; but judging by the cut she was the motherly type and wanted something feminine yet at the same time something that could get dirty and not be fussed over. It was a simple enough design with a bit of embroidery along the bottom. It would take Trowa the rest of the day if he wanted to get ahead with the order. Perhaps he would do it, just to get it out of the way. Trowa placed a pin between his lips and contemplated putting a layer of material that reminded him of his grandmother’s net curtains. But with the colour, it would look good he was sure.

Jumping to his feet, Trowa walked back over to the shelves. He lifted off the roll he wanted and quickly cut the amount before putting it back. He returned the mannequin and wrapped it around. He took the pin out of his mouth and pinned it against the belt-like part he planned on making slightly elasticised. There was to be a zip at the back and a clasp at the very top with a piece of material that would overlap and hide the zip itself. Trowa paused and took one of the pins out. He moved half an inch to the right and placed it back in, as the girl spoke. He turned a little and looked over at her. He placed another pin in his mouth and looked down at the skirt. He pulled at it a little and took the pin. He pinned the material to the mannequin and stepped away to look at it. It looked good, or at least in his opinion. Trowa turned the mannequin around and picked up another pin cushion so he could begin pinning the back.

“You want a couple of cocktail dresses?” He clarified. “Well it’s a bit early so we don’t have anything pre-made so it’ll have to be from scratch. Depending on how elaborate you want them to be, it could take anywhere from between a couple of days to a week or two.” Trowa averted his eyes and brought them down to the mannequin so he could watch where he was putting the pin. “Do you know your measurements off the top of your head or do you want me to get a measuring tape?” he asked. “And any colour preferences? Style? Length?”

"Simple, edgy, clean," she said. "Average cocktail length--somewhat short. Doesn't have to be micro length. Um..Color. I really don't want black. Not for this. It actually could be a very simple design, so long as it has amazing fabric. For color, I"m not sure. I'm always open to suggestion. What do you have?"

Then she smiled apologetically. "I wish I did know my measurements, but with Hogwarts cuisine being what it is, I don't know if my measurements are what they were. You might want to jot them down."

"I did notice a really nice pair of gold heels that you have that I liked. But then, they're rather neutral. I'd like to see what you can come up with for a dress. Then I'll get more serious about shoes." She flicked her wand at a pair of heels that were gold with a little bit of rhinestone fussing on the tops. Just enough for a little flash. Not overdone. She liked that. They were cute shoes. "Do you think you might work with this?"

She had seen a few jeweltone colors on the shelves that she rather liked but she truly didn't want to influence him. She wanted to give him the chance to be as original as he could be. She didn't get the feeling he got that chance often. She wanted them both to shine--not only her, but him too.

When the girl spoke of not knowing her measurements, Trowa got up. He crossed the room and took one of the tape measures off of the hooks behind the counter. He motioned for her to lift her arms up before pulling the tape measure around her breasts to measure her bust line. He took the tape away and pulled a bit of paper out of a pad. He scribbled down the measurements and began to measure the rest of her starting with the hips and ending with estimating her shoe size. Once everything was noted down, Trowa ripped the paper out of the pad and walked over to the cork board on the wall. He pinned it to the board and frowned slightly. “What did you say your name was?” he asked, waiting to scribble it down for someone else’s benefit. He remembered the customer by measurements because no two sets of full measurements were ever the same – not even in twins.

Trowa dropped his arm and looked at the shoes curiously. He pointed the pencil at them as he thought before sticking it behind his ear. He walked out from behind the counter and took one out of the air. “You could have a toga style dress. It would be good in white but the gold could perhaps make it look trashy. It’s far easier to find the shoes that match the dress than it is to make the dress that matches the shoes. Plus, gold is always a difficult colour to work with. Silver is too dim. Black is perfect but you don’t want black. White is risky – as is cream but it could work. Green could work as a long toga type I suppose. It could come to your ankles then rip on one side and get throw up onto your shoulder. So to start off with a normal strapless but then...I like that idea actually.” Trowa smiled. “With perhaps a simple gold belt. I’ll modify the shoes because they’re not the nicest. Too blocky, too gold. They need to be more sleek and more...uh, sexy.” Trowa smiled shyly. “I’ll start sketching. How many did you say you wanted?”

"Tish," she said. "Tish MacDougal. And the idea with the shoes is great. I need two dresses. Can we do one long and one short? I like the idea of the toga, one shoulder design. That's fine by me. I take it you do go to Hogwarts, but I don't recall seeing you there. We're obviously not in the same classes. I'd have noticed you." She smiled at him. "I think the green would be awesome. Good choice. What would you do for the shorter one? What do you think of perhaps silver accessories for the second one? Something subtle perhaps? Or do you have some ideas for that too? So far, I like it. A lot. You know, I could be talked into buying things here more often. I like your style."

And Tish did. She was meticulous about fashion, but this guy seemed to read her mind on what she liked and what she didn't, even before he knew her. That was a very good sign for her.

"Can do you me a quick, rough sketch so I can see what you're thinking?" she asked. "Maybe see what sort of fabric you have in mind?"

Trowa smiled and scribbled down the girl’s name before pinning the sheet of parchment to the corkboard. He tucked his pencil behind his ear and introduced himself. “I’m Trowa Macmillan. You’re Morag’s daughter right? I think my dad knows your mum. He’s spoken of her before.” Trowa walked back over to the desk and looked at Tish curiously before adding. “You’re a Gryffindor, right?” He guessed, cracking a smile at her. He pulled a piece of parchment towards him and quickly began to draw out the bust of the mannequin. He didn’t waste time drawing out the whole thing. He was quick with the lines, redefining the ones he wanted in places but mostly kept the lines light and only just visible against the page.

“I don’t really do the jewellery,” he admitted bashfully. “This really nice girl from Ireland, Rhea, does it. She’ll be in next week; she’s gone to visit her mum, so if you want to come back then she’ll be the best person to discuss jewellery with. She sees all of my designs so this will no doubt pass her hands. Yeah, she’s the one to talk to about jewellery. Personally I don’t like it because it usually detracts from the dresses and doesn’t compliment but she’s the best at complimenting the main feature so you won’t have a problem there. Did you want anything else?”