friends forever ((gabby))

Once she and her siblings had boarded the train, the first thing Aquila went to do was find Gabby. If she wasn't able to find her best friend, then she'd just find a compartment for the two of them and wait for her to get on. It was currently looking as if the latter was happening. Was the whole family there holding her up or something? With how close the Riddles were sometimes, Aquila wouldn't doubt it. Oh well! She was going to put up some of her dorm decorations on whatever she could to make the train ride just a bit more exciting. It could be like a sleepover! The closest they could get to on before arriving to Hogwarts anyway.

"Gabby!" she called out periodically so her friend could echo-locate her.

@Gabriella Riddle

Gabby said her goodbyes to her family at the train station. Of course, that was never as short and sweet as one might expect it to be and she found herself not actually being able to board the train until it was nearly ready to leave the station. She did make it on board, though! As she walked around the car, she looked for her best friend. It seemed like it had been so long since she had seen the other girl and she was looking forward to spending the trip to school with her! That was when the familiar voice calling her name was heard and she followed the sound to the car where Aquila was sitting things up. ”Aquila, it’s been ages!” not really but close enough!

@Aquila Malfoy

"GABBY!" Aquila jumped up from where she was sitting and dashed to give her best friend a tight squeeze. "It has been! How was the rest of your summer?!"

It was too bad that they were in different houses, but Aquila took advantage of every opportunity to hang out.

@Gabriella Riddle

Gabby smiled a genuine smile when Aquila jumped up and hurried over to hug her. She squeezed her friend back. "It was nice. Though, I was getting a little tired of mom's constant shopping trips." She loved her mother and she did enjoy shopping but her mother took it a bit too extreme. "What about yours? Oh! And I brought you something!" She dug in her trunk to pull out a couple of souvenirs from some of the places that she had been shopping over the summer with her mother. Nothing was too extravagant but Gabby thought they were fun little things her friend would enjoy!

@Aquila Malfoy

Her mum was always a huge shopaholic. "I'm surprised you guys have enough space for all those shoes every time I come over!" Aquila wondered if a decent amount of them were kept in a wine cellar or something similar. She went over to Gabby's trunk and watched as she dug through it. A souvenir for her?! "Aw, thanks a lot, Gabby! You're the best!" Aquila now had to figure out where she was going to stick these!

"I spent parts of the summer taking photos of some of my surroundings. I wasn't exactly sure what I was doing, but I liked this one photo I took!" Returning to her side of the compartment, Aquila dug through her trunk until she found an envelope of photos. "Oh wow, I took more than I realized!"

@Gabriella Riddle

Gabby had to laugh at her best friend's statement. "I think we're going to have to build a whole new wing on the house for all of them soon." The sad thing was, Gabby wasn't even completely joking! Gabby was pretty sure it was some sort of obsession for her mother at this point but to each their own, she guessed. She practically beamed when her friend thanked her. "Oh, it was nothing!" She played it down, not really thinking much of it after all! If she couldn't buy her best friend a little gift on one of her many shopping trips then what fun was it?

It was then Gabby's turn to follow Aquila over to her trunk as she dug around for the envelope. "Oh, I'd love to see them!" She said as she waited for her friend to open the envelope and show her the pictures she had taken.

@Aquila Malfoy

"There's probably a separate tent just for her shoes whenever we go to the Quidditch World Cup!"

After a few more minutes of searching, Aquila let out a deep sigh of relief as she pulled out an envelope that was right at the bottom of her trunk. "There they are!"

Aquila opened up the envelope and began shuffling through the photographs.

"I took this one while someone was busking in Carkitt!"

@Gabriella Riddle

Gabby laughed. "I think there was! And those were just her favorites." She said. She did adore her mother, but the woman was very over the top when it came to material things. Gabby had never really understood it but because of her mother's shopping habits, her whole closet was completely full of any type of outfit she could ever want. Most of them just went untouched.

A smile remained on her lips as her friend pulled out the pictures and Gabby reached out to take some of them gently. "These are really good!" Even if most of them were just normal, everyday things, the angles and focus made the images appealing to the eye. "You've got an eye for this, Quila!" She said, shuffling through the pictures she had snatched from the pile.

@Aquila Malfoy

"I think she has enough shoes to give a pair to everyone in Hogwarts and still have enough for herself!" It would be pretty hilarious to see some of their classmates wearing extravagant heels to class.

Aquila smiled so happy to have received her best friend's approval. "You think so?!" she asked excitedly. "Maybe I can take all sorts of photos during term so we can look back on them years from now!" What an excellent way to capture memories!

@Gabriella Riddle

"I think you're underestimating her shoe collection! She could probably give everyone in Hogwarts at least two pairs and still have a whole closet full." Gabby was pretty sure that her mother had so many shoes that she would never be able to wear them all, not even once.

She smiled at her best friend. "That would be perfect! Then we'll never be able to forget this year." She moved to sit on the bench seat in the car. "We'll just have to make sure it's a good one."

@Aquila Malfoy

"What if we're both underestimating?! What if she could give every student 3 or 4 pairs with a whole closet still left over?!"

It felt like her mother acquired shoes daily; how many did she receive as birthday, Christmas, or anniversary gifts? There had to be quite a few!

Aquila nodded as she quickly took a picture of Gabby sitting on a bench. "Definitely! I'll have to bring it out at all of the events!"

@Gabriella Riddle

Gabby laughed at her friend's question. "It's entirely possible! I don't know where she finds to keep them all! And I also have no idea how dad finds any room in any of the closets for his own stuff either." It was the truth, she wouldn't doubt it if her mother had a million shoes by now! She was always surprised at just how much her mother was willing to spend on them and that their father had never told her that she had bought enough. But he was always accommodating to the Riddle matriarch. If there was one thing she had learned from her parents it was what true love looked like.

"Yes! You'll have to bring it to all of them so we never forget a moment!" She said as she smiled and posed for the picture that Aquila took of her.

@Aquila Malfoy

Even Carina wasn't that materialistic, and she and Alayna have had plenty of shopping sprees over the years! Then again, it might've been different with Katherine being an adult and those two still attending Hogwarts. Aquila didn't know what she'd do with a whole bunch of money once she was an adult; it was too overwhelming to think about! "Maybe we'll have to spend Christmas holiday figuring out how deep the closets are!" It'd be like a journey through a jungle! A jungle of clothes and shoes!

"Is there anything you plan on getting into this term, Gabby?!"

@Gabriella Riddle

"We might get lost! I wonder if she has some sort of map?" She said with a laugh, it probably wasn't that bad but she was sure that the closets her mother had were definitely larger than most normal people would ever dream of having in their homes. She gave a thoughtful look for a moment. "I can't really think of anything right off the top of my head... What about you?" Gabby knew that she probably should make some sort of plans but she was kind of just playing things by ear at the moment.

@Aquila Malfoy

"We're going to have to find out!"

At that point, it'd probably be wise to repurpose the wine cellar as a show closet if there was that many!

Aquila began thinking too; other than attending all of the events to take photos, she didn't have any ideas either! "What if we joined a club together?!" That'd be fun!

@Gabriella Riddle