A dozen or so minutes later, at Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions...
"Oh no!"
"No way?"
Unsurprisingly, when Madam Malkin—the short, plump-looking witch with a kindly smile and dressed in purple—saw what Annie looked like and heard that Annie wanted to buy three sets of school uniforms, she naturally cried out repeatedly and asked:
"Dear..."
"Are you sure you really want to buy Hogwarts School's uniform?"
"Three sets of robes?"
"Are you really a first-year student this year?"
"But..."
"You look only seven or eight years old, don't you?"
It was no wonder!
After all, apart from certain very wealthy families that had their own tailors make clothes from materials they bought themselves, and certain very poor families that made their own or used old school uniforms instead, nearly every other student came to order their uniforms here. She could practically be called Hogwarts' exclusive uniform supplier.
But!
A student as young as Annie, only seven or eight years old yet claiming that she was going to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was someone she had encountered for the first time in all these years.
"Here!"
-
(゜-゜)つロ
"The letter's right here!"
(^o^)/
Annie could not be bothered to explain in response to the woman's exclamations. She simply took out her letter of acceptance and the attached list and placed them in the woman's hands.
"Ah!"
"This is..."
Without another word, upon seeing that Annie had truly produced the letter, Madam Malkin—who had already been astonished, suspicious, and surprised—immediately scanned through it rapidly and began confirming it.
Two minutes later, Madam Malkin finished reading.
"How could this happen..."
"How can this be?"
"This is a serious work error! The Ministry of Magic certainly won't allow it, will it?"
"And the Daily Prophet will surely..."
Even after confirming