"Heavenly." Ron snorted, "You're starting to sound like Per-fect Per-cy."

"I'm just being polite." Hermione said loftily, not at all stung by Ron's teasing remark. "Oh, look at the crowd." Hermione pointed to the large crowd outside Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. The reason for the crowd was explained by a large sign on the street.

Masterweaver Lupinius' work here for sale exclusively, the sign read.

"Who's Masterweaver Lupinius?" Harry asked, standing on tip-toe to see over the heads of the crowd. The stop at Madame Malkin's wasn't just curiousity. Harry had grown almost an entire foot over the summer, leaving his robes completely useless. Harry was still lanky and clumsy, unacustomed to his new height.

"You've never heard of Lupinius?" Ron asked incredulously. Hermione and Harry shook their heads. "He's only the best Masterweaver in the wizarding world! He does all his weaving by hand, the stitching too. His work goes for thousands of Galleons." The trio had worked their way up to the window display as Ron continued, "He only puts out an exhibit every five years or so, but it's worth the wait."

Indeed it was. Robes hung on display in the window, along with cloaks, scarves, handkerchiefs, gloves, even a few Muggle-style suits and skirts. Also on display were exquisite pieces of art that first looked to be paintings, but turned out to be embroidered masterpieces, spools of richly dyed thread, bolts of cloth, and knotwork both delicate and complex. Each article was unique.

"Whoa." Harry commented. They eased in the store to be greeted with an even further surprise - one set of robes was being raffled off. The set of robes was night-black velvet with stars and moons stitched in silver along the hem and cuffs. But the true beauty of the robes was the embroidered red-gold phoenix rising from flames done on the back, the wings stretching forward to make the sleeves. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

"Look at this, Harry!" Ron called, gesturing to set of dress robes displayed next to the raffle table. Harry and Hermione made their way over to Ron, who was taking care not to touch the garment that had caught his eye. The dress robe was night blue, with silver ropework along the neckline. It was almost Japanese in style, a thing of elegance and tastefull expense. "Wouldn't Malfoy just die, seeing me in this?" Ron asked wistfully. "Sure beats my usual set." Ron sighed in defeat. "But who am I kidding? There's no way I could afford," Ron checked the price tag, "four hundred Galleons."

"Then enter the raffle," Harry suggested. "You like the phoenix robe, don't you?" Ron nodded. "You've got the twenty Sickles for one ticket."

"Harry!" Hermione rebuked, "That's gambling."

"No it isn't. Come on, you might win." Harry cajoled, a plan forming in the back of his mind. It took some persuading to get Ron to enter, but finally Harry won out. Shortly after Ron entered, Harry told Hermione and Ron to wait while he went to the loo.

That, however, was not Harry's destination. Finding Madame Malkin in the crowd without being seen proved difficult, but not impossible. Harry soon found the gray-haired owner.

"Excuse me, ma'am, I'd like to buy a set of Lupinius' robes." Harry said repectfully.

"Of course," Malkin began, "which set?"

"Well, that's the trouble. I want to buy them as a gift for someone, but I don't want him to know it was me. So, could you say that when you drew the raffle there was a tie. Then give the real raffle winner the phoenix robes, but give my friend the other set?" Harry spoke in a rush, aware that his plan sounded childish and foolish, but he couldn't think of another.

"Wait." Malkin said brusquely, "you want me to draw the raffle as normaly, but say that I'd drawn a tie, and give your friend the other set of robes?" Harry nodded. "Why can't you just give your friend the robes yourself?"

"Because he won't accept them from me. We.. well, we have very different incomes, and if he thinks I've just "blown" four hundred Galleons on him, he'll feel guilty, like he has to pay me back." Harry said, feeling even more the fool. Malkin paused, considering.

"Well, Harry Potter is a boy after all." Malkin said softly. "All right, since I'm not truly tampering with the results of the raffle, I'll do it." Malkin gave Harry a warm glance. "But only once. Go on, get the money to pay me and come back."

Harry flashed Malkin a look of pure gratitude. "Thank you! Thank you!" Harry said, sneaking out the door and running to Gringotts.

The actual exchange took him about fifteen minutes, but Harry felt much better after it was complete. He explained away his long abscence by saying he'd bumped into the Creevy brothers.

"Hmmph. Can't get away, eh, Harry?" Ron said, pointing to a picture of a Quidditch match.

"So have you ever seen Lupinius?" Harry asked, changing the subject. Ron shook his head as Hermione examined a feminine set of dress robes.

"No. No one has, really. He's some strange kind of hermit." Ron said, eyes alight with curiousity. "I'd give my wand to know what he looks like."

"Give up your wand and live as a Muggle? That's a life more worthy of you and your hive, Weasley." Draco Malfoy sneered from behind them. Ron whirled around, face red with anger.

"Better a Muggle than soul-less trash like you." Ron spat, hand going for his wand. Draco's hand moved toward his own, but Hermione averted the impending duel by physically interposing herself between Ron and Draco.

"It might have escaped your notice, but we are currently in a room filled with adult wizards, most of whom are here for the Ministry of Magic conference on International Cirriculum and Educational Cooperation." Hermione pointed out acerbicly. "So consider this, Malfoy, do you really want to be shooting curses around? I'm sure there are easier ways to leave Hogwarts."

"Don't touch me, Mudblood, I just washed my hands." Malfoy hissed.

"Ooh. That's original." Hermione returned, with a sarcastic roll of her eyes. Malfoy stepped back, startled.

"Just like that's original?" Malfoy purred, and slid back into the crowd.

"Whoa, Hermione. Way to go!" Ron said admiringly. Hermione blushed, turning back to Lupinius' work.

"Where did that come from?" Harry asked. Hermione shrugged.

"We really should head back to Flourish and Blotts to meet Mrs. Weasley," She responded, checking her watch, "It's almost one o'clock." Harry began threading his way through the crowd.

"We'll have to come back at five to see if you won, Ron." Harry said cheerfully. Ron gave his friend a lopsided smile.

"There's no chance, but it was worth a try." Ron grinned as he spoke, leading the way through the busy cobblestoned streets.

Mr. Weasley thought that there was a chance, and so it was that the entire Weasley family was at Madame Malkin's at five in the afternoon that day. The crowd outside the shop was just as intense, if not more so. At five o'clock exactly, Malkin emerged from the shop.

"Well, it seems we have a bit of a problem." Malkin announced, holding up two raffle tickets. "We have a tie. A Mister Ambrosius Sealy and a Mister Ronald Weasley."

"Excellent!" Fred and George said, clapping Ron on the back. Ginny squealed in delight, while Molly looked a little faint.

"Since we have two winners and one set of robes, I'll have to ask one of the winners make a concession." Malkin held up the set of robes Harry had purchased for Ron. "Would either of you be willing to take this set of dress robes?" Ron's hand shot up in the air.

"I will!" He nearly shouted, face alight with joy and incredulity. The crowd pushed Ron forward to claim his prize, along with an aging wizard of indeterminate ethnicity. Sealy took the phoenix robes while Ron took proud ownership to the night-blue and silver robes. Wizard photographers snapped pictures with foul-smelling cameras, and the rest of the crowd dispersed.

"Way to go, Ron!" George said when Ron came back.

"A pair of Lupinius robes! Oh, my!" Mrs. Weasley breathed, hardly daring to touch them. "Isn't that fine?"

"Real fine, love. Real fine." Mr. Weasley said with an odd sort of pride, placing a hand on Ron's shoulder. "Let's go home."