Written for the International Wizarding School Championship practice round.
School and Year: Ilvermorny, 3rd year.
Prompts/Theme: "Give me one good reason why I should wear a dress." (dialogue), red polka dot apron (clothing), lighting a candle (action)/Family
Word Count: 808
Terms
Menorah: candle holder used on Hanukkah, with nine candle places.
Shamush: the middle candle used to light the other candles
Latkes: potato pancakes fried in oil for Hanukkah
I don't own Harry Potter or Fantastic Beasts
"Give me one good reason why I should wear a dress," Tina said. She glared at Queenie in disgust. Her sister was holding out a light blue dress. "I will be just fine wearing slacks. Besides, it's just Jacob. He won't care if I'm in pants." Queenie huffed, annoyed.
"It's Hanukkah. You need to dress up for Hanukkah!" Tina rolled her eyes.
"You didn't make me wear a dress when we went to Ruth's on Tuesday."
"Ruth lives next door. She sees you in slacks everyday." Tina turned and flopped down on Queenie's pink quilt.
"I don't think Jacob has ever seen me in a dress. I'll need to wear slacks to keep him from dying of shock." She sighed.
"Remember when we went to The Blind Pig? He saw you in a dress then." Queenie looked absolutely ridiculous holding out the nicest dress Tina owned, while wearing the red polka-dot apron she always wore when cooking dinner by hand.
"Why do you have to be so difficult?! Please Tina. Please just wear the dress." Her irritation was obvious in her voice.
Queenie opened her mouth to say something else, but the smell of burnt oil invaded the room. She threw the dress down on the bed next to Tina and hurried out the door.
Tina stood in front apartment building, waiting for Jacob to arrive. still wouldn't let any lady in her boarding house allow a man on the premises, even for the holidays, so they needed to sneak him in. Tina stood by the stairs in the cold. The New York winter had been unseasonably warm, allowing Tina to stand outside with only a light coat on.
She pulled at the hem of her skirt, feeling uneasy. The dreadful thing ended just under her knees, but still felt incredibly unnatural. She would wear a dress when she had too, but they were so impractical in her opinion. They would ride up when you ran, you always had to make sure that a strong breeze didn't lift the hem, and made it so you couldn't do anything! Tina much prefered pants. The things she did for her sister.
She leaned back to survey the street. At this hour, it was the stragglers that filled the streets, as well as families on their way to parties. She caught sight of Jacob rounding the corner. He was holding a rather large pastry box in front of him.
"Hey Jacob," she called. He looked up and smiled, hurrying down the street. "How the bakery?" He reached Tina.
"Doing well, lots of business for the holidays," he chuckled, "We've actually been doing more frying than baking this week." He patted the box. "Jelly doughnuts, fresh from the oil this afternoon. I figured I'd bring desert."
"All sweets are welcome, Jacob. Are you ready to go in?" she gestured to the stairs. He nodded. "We need to be quiet, is home."
They crept up the stairwell quietly, only to bump into a small woman with curly hair who was holding the hand of a young man.
"Ruth!" Tina whisper-shouted. The woman blushed and shot a look at Jacob.
"Happy Hanukkah, Tina." she said before pulling the young man into the open door of her apartment."
Tina vibrated with laughter, "Seems like she had the same idea as us," Jacob looked at her questioningly, "Everyone takes advantage of the holiday noise to hide male visitors from . It happens every year."
Tian unlocked the door of the apartment with her wand and waved Jacob in. She hooked her coat on the rack and held out her hand for Jacobs. He handed it to her and moved further into the main room.
"Queenie!" he greeted.
"Hey Jacob!" she turned away from the table to come and greet him and looked outside at the rapidly darkening sky, "It's almost time, are you two ready to light the candles?"
Jacob and Tina both nodded and Tina brought him to the table. They sat down and Queenie pulled a match from the matchbook. Their menorah was made of brass and shone almost gold. It was from their parents.
Queenie lit the Shamush and shook out the match. The three of them began to sing the prayers as Queenie lit each of the other eight candles.
Tina and Queenie sat on the couch next to each other after Jacob had gone, eating the latkes that had been left over.
"You know Queenie, he didn't mention my dress once. I don't think he noticed. I didn't need to wear one." Tina said. Queenie rolled her eyes.
"Thank you for wearing it anyway Tinnie." Tina readjusted her position.
"Hey, did you notice that you never took off that awful apron?" Queenie's eyes flew down to her body. She was still wearing her red polka-dotted apron.