A Set of Clothes [Jeremy]

After having moved to London, Mo was feeling rather good. Something about London was very … homey. He had found himself a very nice apartment in Surrey and people were so kind and welcoming. Of course, they had been very kind in his homeland. But he didn't miss it all that much. And though moving to London had nothing to do with the homey feeling it gave him, he wasn't complaining. He loved his job as well. The people were always kind and gave him lots of pats on the back. They were hell when it was a last minute shoot and they were stressed. That was horrible.

And now he was walking along Diagon Alley. If there was one thing he truly loved about London, it was the magic. The shops were amazing and the clothes were awesome and people wandered about just being themselves. Mostly. Having two jobs was a bit difficult sometimes, though. As he was a model on the non-magical side as well, it was hard for him to explain to them how he had another modeling agency that he worked for, but being unable to tell them what and they couldn't really find it either. He had never told them it was a modeling agency, just that he had another job as well that he couldn't let go of.

And this was another reason for why he loved the magical side: they were so understanding. So he loved them more. They were willing to let him go for a day if he had to be with the muggle one. So if he was every to quit one of those jobs, it would definitely be the muggle one.

Mo stopped when he reached his destination. Madam Malkin's. He walked inside and smiled as the woman behind the counter gave a laugh and walked up to him. She placed her hands on both sides of his head and pushed him down so she could kiss him on the cheeks. Mo loved this woman. She was amazing. "So, I've prepared all the clothes you need, but I would love it if you could show me one of the outfits?" she asked, smiling sweetly at him.

Mo laughed and nodded. "Sure," he said in his thick Korean accent, "Which one?" She didn't have time to respond before another person entered the shop. Mo turned to see who it was, and his eyes widened considerably.

Jeremy had been forced to attend a stuffy formal lunch with some old family friends. Unfortunately, he had an appearance to keep up, or else he would have gone bungee jumping or something. Most of the event was spent eating, but he did make the effort to involve in conversation when he could. Politics were his specialty. With the responsibility of showing up came the necessity to wear tight, uncomfortable dress robes. Even for work he wouldn't dress like this. When he finally got the opportunity to leave (since he had "other things to do"), he was quick to loosen his tie and take off his awkward blazer.

On the bright side, the food had been amazing. It melted in his mouth, every bit of it, and it was all he could think about at the moment. The house elves that family had were spectacular cooks. He'd been up for seconds and thirds and fourths. And he'd eaten far too much of that delicious chocolate fudge sponge for dessert. No regrets, though.

It was probably a bit late for bungee jumping now, so Jeremy apparated to the centre of London. Diagon Alley. He could do with new dress robes, it seemed, that actually fitted, as well as a few ties. The only ones he had left were the funny muggle cartoon ones, which weren't appropriate for work.

When he got there, he made a beeline for the shop. Usually, he'd stop and get an ice-cream or something else to eat, but if he saw anymore food now he'd throw up. Jeremy pushed open the door, only to find a man in discussion with the woman in the shop. Ah... was he interrupting something? "Er... sorry," he said and stood awkwardly to the side of the shop.

Mo was surprised to see the Minister for Magic himself, looking as though he had disturbed something and almost looking ashamed of this. That was a different kind of policy. He had never seen the Minister before, so it was weird to see him look all casual (even though he was in party robes) and standing in a shop like this. No offense to Madam Malkin, it was quite obvious a very brilliant shop, but even the fact that the minister would go buy his own clothes was weird.

He looked at the shop keeper, who seemed about as amazed by the minister's appearance as himself, but then she took a deep breath and smiled at the man. "I can handle two costumers at a time, minister," she said, a bit breathless, but very happy. Mo nodded. "You're not disturbing anything," he said kindly and backed a bit off to let the man come closer. He looked at ms. Green. "Which clothes did you want me to try on? I'll go change to them while you talk to him," he suggested lightly.

Ms. Green nodded and pointed out the clothes. Mo smiled and gave a nod to the minister before walking into the dressing rooms. He looked at what she had found for him and he smiled. That woman was funny. It were cool clothes though! He just found them pretty ordinary, considering that this was the magical side. Maybe muggle clothes were really hitting it up on fashion shows, he thought when he pulled up the baggy pants. Very comfortable. Not just quantity over quality, as was often the case with fashion clothes.

He could hear them talking outside, but didn't want to listen in. It was the minister after all. But when he had pulled on the jacket and boots, there really was little more to do than to walk out. So he pulled the covers aside and walked back to them. Ms. Green gasped happily and rushed over to him. "This looks amazing!" she said joyously. Mo smiled, and noticed that the minister was still there. "Mo Jae, actually, uhm. The minister is looking for some new dress robes, do you have any suggestions?" she asked him and looked from the minister to Mo.

Mo thought it was very weird that she'd ask him that, she was more than enough skilled to do so herself, but maybe it was a bit intimidating to decide what the minister should buy? He gave a kind smile at the minister and walked over. "I don't mind," he said and reached out his hand, "I'm Mo Jae Hwa, but please, call me Mo."

The vaguely familiar man looked a little surprised to see him. The shopkeeper looked a little flustered and bewildered. It was incredibly stupid. Jeremy didn't want to sound like those muggle celebrities who insisted that they were very humane and normal, but him being Minister didn't give her the right to act like that. All he wanted was to buy some dress robes. Hopefully it would be nice and easy.

"Ah, thank you," he nodded to the man when he went off to change, then took a few steps towards the woman. "I'm looking for some dress robes, please." He raked his hand through his hair. It was getting long, needed a cut. At the moment, he was thinking a nice clean buzzcut. SkinheadJeremy. Perhaps not.

While she buried her head in some racks of clothes, he waited patiently. Then the man was out. Wow, that was one stylish outfit. Wonderful. If he was still young, Jeremy could pull that off just as well as this man. But now he was old and he'd just look ridiculous in anything even slightly similar to that. Now he'd have to live with boring suits and the likes, instead of fashionable jackets and baggy bottoms like that.

It seemed Mo, as his name apparently was, knew a lot about fashion. So much, at least, that the shopkeeper was asking his opinion on dress robes. Did she really need his advice? It only made her sound as though she didn't know what she was doing. Nevertheless, he wouldn't object if it meant he got more appropriate dress robes.

"Good to meet you, Mo," he smiled. It would be rude to ask who Mr Hwa was. But he was curious. He was pretty. Well, handsome. Model? He did look slightly familiar. But didn't models just wear clothes? Not needing to be very knowledgeable about fashion, only enough to wear the stuff they were given? Mo seemed more than that. A very nice man.

Mo saw that the minister seemed to think it was weird that the woman would be asking for Mo's help. In his silent mind, he agreed. Sure, he knew a lot about clothes, not because of his interest in them, but when you were a model, you picked up things. Like what color was good with what, which jacket suited best the shoulders and which color complimented the skins color. So he wouldn't be completely useless, but he was fairly certain that the woman would know more about it than him.

But Mo just smiled as the minister greeted him. He wondered how weird it would be to leave this place, having helped the minister with robes. It would be hilarious. He wasn't that into fashion, despite being a model. He usually preferred the college sweaters and plain denim trousers. But he could help. He'd just say if he thought it looked good or not.

He went through the same stack of clothes Ms. Green had gone through and stopped at some point. He looked at her, and she beamed. He then took out the robes. "How about these?" he asked. They were plain black, with a nice, red, silk bow tie. The shirt underneath was a normal white, but with some red threads weaved through it.

Ah, he did know what he was talking about. Those were very nice robes. Jeremy still didn't understand why the woman couldn't just pick them out herself, though. Nevermind, he could trust Mo's judgement and just roll with it. Even if these robes were horrible and didn't look good on him at all, it wasn't like he had any sort of fashion reputation to keep up. This was the man who once ran through Hogsmeade in a neon pink, green and yellow track suit. People had probably laughed at him then, but did he care? No he did not.

"Looks good," he nodded approvingly. Even he couldn't look bad in these robes. "So... should I go and try them on?" That would probably be a good idea. Yes, that was what he would do. Go and get changed. Haha, he was such an awkward turtle sometimes. Smiling gratefully, he took the clothes and went to the changing rooms.

A minute later, he stepped out and even more awkwardly walked back over. Jeremy liked the robes, he thought they looked nice. But what did he know? These were the fashionable people who would know.

Mo smiled as the minister approved of the robes. So Mo nodded when the minister asked if he should try them on. "Yes, please do," he said with a big smile and handed them over to him. He turned to the shop keeper who was breathing relieved as the minister walked into the changing rooms. She seemed really nervous about dealing with the minister. It hit Mo that miss Green couldn't be the owner of the shop. She was probably just one of the employees.

Mo gave her an encouraging smile. He had been her customer for so long he pretty much saw her as his friend. And a second later, the minister walked out, wearing the robes. Mo raised his eyebrows the slightest. He looked really good in them. But there was something that was a bit off. He was about to point this out when miss Green drew a breath and took on a professional face.

"It looks really good," she said, "But we need to fix that waistline." Mo frowned and realized that was it. It didn't compliment the back. But miss Green had her stuff out in no time and ushered the minister to raise his arms, sticking needles in here and there. Mo almost laughed at how she changed in behavior. Maybe the shock had passed?

He smiled at the minister. "It really works well for you," he said honestly, "Especially that bow tie." He had never seen a person who looked that good in a bow tie. Bow ties did not work on Mo. He'd been told that a hundred times over. Mo then frowned. "I'll go change back," he then said, not wanting to bother the work of miss Green.

He quickly got into his normal clothes, just a pair of denims and a college sweater. Nothing he liked better. And when he got out again, miss Green seemed to be done. And the robes fit the minister even better. "That looks great," Mo commented, smiling at miss Green before looking at the minister. "What do you think?" Mo asked casually.

When he came out of the changing room, Jeremy was relieved to see the shopkeeper had decided to actually help a bit. He nodded, as though he actually understood her comment about the waistline. He'd thought that it looked fine, but after she started to adjust it he found it getting much more comfortable.

Indeed, the bow tie did look good. He liked bow ties, and they usually suited him very well. This one in particular was excellent. Jeremy fiddled with it a little at the back to stop it rubbing his neck. Now it was perfect, with his nice posh waistline and professional-like bow tie.

"Thank you," he murmured to the woman after she had fixed the waistline. He should be ready to pay now, hopefully.

Jeremy nodded in agreement to Mo's compliment to the shopkeeper. "I like it. I think these will be the ones, please." The second sentence was directed more at the shopkeeper. "I'll go and change back." He was quick in and out of the changing room this time. In comparison with these old robes, the new ones were amazing.

Mo smiled at the Minister as he said he liked it. And then he stepped a bit back to see if he found something he liked himself. He usually went to normal, lowprized shops like Primark and H&M to find the type of clothes he liked, but watching the minister buy a new set of robes. Well, it might be time for Mo to do so as well. He decided to not linger by anymore, though. He should soon be getting on with his day, having already spent much more time here than he had intended.

As the minister returned from changing, Mo gave a nod. He smiled at the shopkeeper. "I should be going now. I'll be back next Monday then!" he said with a grin, and she smiled back at him. "Minister," Mo said, giving a smile at him as well, "Have a great day, and I hope you enjoy those robes." Mo walked to the exit and stopped there, looking back at the two people. What a curious place to meet the minister.

Then he raised his hand in half a wave before leaving the shop behind.