Credit Cards, Transfigured Dresses, and BFFs?
June
25th 2022
Number
3 Sutter Street
Rose had woken early and slipped out of her bed, her best friend still sound asleep under the dark purple comforter. Her feet stepped off the rug and onto the cold wood floor before she escaped into the attached bathroom. The red head showered quickly and dressed in cotton shorts and a green Holyhead Harpies tee shirt, leaving her wet hair hanging down her back, and headed down the hall to the kitchen.
"'Morning, Love," Hermione told her as Rose slid in to the closest chair to the door. "You're up early."
"Couldn't sleep," she muttered, pulling her legs up on to the chair. "I'm a bit anxious about tonight."
"You're going to have such a good time," Hermione put a cup of cinnamon tea in front of her and she sipped it gratefully.
"I'm going to get whipped cream in my face or my hand in warm water and I'm going to wet myself!" Rose cried, morosely.
"What?" Hermione laughed. "Where did you get such ideas, Rosie?" Rose shot her mother an indignant, I-don't-like-being-made-fun-of look and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Dad and Al. They said that's what happens to the person who falls asleep first and I thought about it all night and I couldn't sleep so now I'm going to be exhausted and I won't be able to last very long and I'll probably fall asleep in my cake." She paused for a moment, then turned her eyes to her mother. "There is going to be cake, right?"
Hermione laughed. "You are your father's daughter. Yes, of course there will be cake. And the girls won't be here until six so if you want to take a nap this afternoon, go for it."
"But I have to be a proper host to Marinda," Rose sighed, putting her head in her hands and shoving her tea cup away, angrily.
"Marinda has been here a week or two every summer since your first year. She is perfectly capable of being around us without you there chaperoning her." Hermione chastised, becoming impatient with her daughter. "Stop being so dramatic."
Ron came in to the kitchen then, and headed straight for the coffee pot. He poured himself a cup, took the Daily Prophet off of the counter where the owl had dropped it early in the morning, and then placed a kiss on Rose's head.
"Happy Birthday, love." Rose looked up, frowning, and he smiled widely at her.
"Thanks, dad." She sighed loudly.
"Uh oh, what's wrong, Rosie Posie?" Ron sat down on the opposite side of the table, next to Hermione, and looked at his daughter.
"You and Albus have been putting ideas in her head and now she's worried about falling asleep first," Hermione shot him a look.
"Is that all?" Ron asked his daughter. She looked up and nodded. "Well, there's an easy solution to that." Rose quirked an eyebrow but didn't say anything. "Slip one of them a sleeping draught. Then you won't have to worry about it."
"Ron!" Hermione sounded shocked that he would even suggest such a thing, but Rose was smiling all the same. Hermione shook her head. They were way too alike for words.
"I think we should give her present now, don't you love? Before Hugo wakes up and throws a fit." Ron suggested, standing and walking out of the room. He returned half a minute later with a small square envelope in his hands. He placed it on the table in front of Rose, smiling widely.
Rose stared at the pink envelope. Her name was scrawled across the front in her father's messy script. She reached out and flipped it over, noting that he hadn't even bothered to seal it.
"Why taste that god-awful glue stuff if you are just going to rip it open. It is a waste of saliva if it's not going in the mail," said Ron at her raised eyebrow.
"You could have used a sealing charm, Ronald," Hermione chastised. Ron shrugged, taking a large gulp of his coffee.
"You got me a card for my birthday?" Rose questioned, looking at her parents. "For my sixteenth birthday, all I get is a card?" She knew she sounded ungrateful, but she couldn't help it.
"Open it," said Hermione, her lips a thin line. "Before I take it back."
Rose did as she was told and slid the pink envelope open. She pulled out the (shock) pink card that was nestled inside and looked at it. On the front was a teddy bear holding balloons. It wasn't even a magical card that talked or recited a poem. It was a muggle one that didn't move or sing or anything.
She opened the card, a long paragraph of her mother's script off to one side, the printed script on the other. She noticed something thin fall out of the card and clatter on to the table, but she ignored it and read.
As she took in the words, her eyes widened and her face lit up. Rose smiled, literally ear to ear, as she got to the end of her mother's ramblings. Then she looked up at her parents, her eyes dancing with excitement.
"Really?" She wondered aloud, as if making sure her parents weren't playing a cruel, cruel joke on her. Her mum nodded and her dad smiled, but looked a tad bit worried and more than a little hesitant.
Finally, Rose looked down at the object that had landed on the table. She picked up the muggle credit card that had her name printed on it and held it up in the light.
"You're going to let me take four of my friends in to muggle London all by ourselves and I get my very own credit card?" She squealed happily and jumped out of her seat. She threw herself at her father first, hugging him tightly, before turning to her mother and giving her a bone crushing hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"There are a few stipulations, however," Hermione told her firmly, gesturing Rose back to her seat. Rose complied, her smile never faltering. "You are to go floo straight to the Leaky Cauldron, go straight to the restaurant, and then come straight home. No window shopping and absolutely no sight seeing."
Rose nodded happily, fingering the silver edge of the platinum card. "And the credit card?" She wondered how she had come to have such wonderful parents.
"It's for dinner tonight and emergencies only. You have to ask permission to use it," at Rose's nod, Ron's eyes narrowed. "If we see a charge on the bill that we didn't approve, your mum is going to cut up that card before you can say 'mummy-it-wasn't-my-fault,' got it?" Rose nodded again, her fingers tracing over the raised letters of her name on the card.
"We really get to go to Le Pierre's?" She asked her mum, thinking of the exquisite cuisine of her favourite French restaurant a few blocks from the Leaky Cauldron.
"Reservations for six at seven," Hermione nodded. "We've gotten permission from the girls' parents, of course. Except for Marinda," she eyed Ron. "They've made the proper clothing arrangements."
"Is that what you bought me that new dress for?"
"Yes. And I thought it would go lovely with your hair." Hermione tilted her head and smiled at her daughter.
"I'm going to go tell Marinda!" Rose cried, and before either of her parents could protest and argue to let the girl sleep, she was out of her chair and running down the hall.
--
"Is this too casual?" Marinda asked at around four that afternoon. She held up a black short sleeved dress to her body, looking at herself in the full length mirror in Rose's bedroom.
Rose looked up from the vanity where she sat, contemplating the colour scheme for her make up. She turned on the backless stool and looked at her best friend.
"No," she answered her question, but crinkled her nose. "But it is so boring. It looks like something my mum would wear."
"It's from the section of your closet that all of your mum's old clothes are in," Marinda sighed. She threw the dress on to the bed, adding it to a pile of clothes that had already been discarded.
"Didn't you bring a dress?" Rose asked, standing and walking to her closet to find something for her to wear. "Didn't my parents tell you about my present?"
"No!" Marinda cried, slumping in to the chair at Rose's desk. "I guess they thought I couldn't be trusted with such a great secret."
"Well, what have you got? I'm sure my mum could transfigure something for you. Besides, I'm not sure you would even fit in to any of my dresses. You have got a much more womanly figure."
"Scorpius seems to like your stick-like figure enough," Marinda smirked, teasingly. Rose looked up in horror when, just after Marinda had finished that statement, Hermione walked in to her daughter's bedroom.
Either she hadn't heard or chose to ignore it, but Hermione just smiled at the girls and turned her attention to Marinda. "Did you find anything to wear?"
"Not yet, Mrs. Weasley," she answered, shrugging. "Rose said maybe you could transfigure something for me, if it's not too much trouble."
"Sure," Hermione answered. "I could give it a try. What have you got?"
Marinda went to her bag and pulled out two tops, a strapless blue top that gathered in the centre, and a maroon red short sleeved top. She also grabbed a denim skirt and the white one she'd worn the previous day.
"Well," Hermione started, looking the clothing over. "I could try a stretching charm on this," she pointed to the strapless top, "but I'm afraid it may become a bit see through. I could also try and transfigure the white skirt and that top into a blue dress, since they are close to the same material, but I'm not sure I could get the blues to match. Which would you prefer?"
"Just use the skirt," Marinda answered, closing her eyes at the thought of her favourite top becoming sheer and unwearable. Hermione nodded and laid the blue top and white skirt out on the bed, levitating the other clothes and dropping them in a pile on the floor.
She waved her wand over the clothing, muttering a few separate complicated charms under her breath. The first caused the two pieces of cloth to mesh together, the second forced the seams to flow together exactly, the waist bands of each disappearing, and the third changed the colour of what had once been the white skirt. Hermione gathered up the new, single garment, and handed it to Marinda.
Marinda hurried in to the bathroom and put it on, coming out and looking in the mirror. Hermione smiled, pleased with the results. The skirt had turned the exact shade of blue-turquoise of the top, and the result was a strapless dress that reached the middle of Marinda's thighs, that ruffled at the bottom.
"I love it!" Marinda cried, jumping up and down happily. Then she fell to the floor in front of the closet and dug around for a moment, before pulling out a pair of black, strappy, heeled sandals. "Can I borrow these?" She asked Rose without looking up as she slid them on her feet. They pinched like the dickens, but they looked smashing on her.
"Just so you know," Rose answered as she nodded. "I'm wearing that exact pair in white."
"We will match!"
--
"Mum!" Rose groaned. She saw splotches of pinks and greens and wondered again who in the hell had given her mum a camera. Whoever it was, she was going to murder them. Literally.
She stood in the crowded kitchen, arm threaded with Marinda's, as her mum snapped away. She almost couldn't even keep her eyes open any more. "Okay," she held her hand up to shield her eyes from another flash. "That's enough, mum. At least wait for the other girls."
Rose heard a barking laugh ring out through the kitchen, and she turned to glare at James. All five Potters had showed up at five-thirty. She had thought it was just going to be Aunt Ginny and Lily there that night, but then she found out that her mum was making them all dinner and they would leave as soon as she and her friends returned from their dinner. Rose rolled her eyes, knowing it was her dad's doing. He probably wanted to make sure Rose got home okay.
The fireplace roared green, and the group stood back waiting to see which guest it was. A tall, blonde girl in a cream-coloured dress that had little pink flowers fell out of the fireplace and landed in a heap on the cold tiled floor. She pushed herself off the ground, oblivious to all of the people watching her, as the fireplace came to life again.
Another blonde, this one wearing a black halter dress, stomped out of the fireplace and crossed her arms over her chest. The first blonde was brushing soot off her dress; both were still unaware of the others.
"I cannot believe you pushed me!" the first blonde cried, stomping her pump-clad foot angrily.
"I cannot believe you told mum that you caught me snogging Jeffery Tomas right before this party!" The second girl yelled.
Hermione cleared her throat and both blondes looked over to the group of nine who were watching them. The identical girls smiled sheepishly, waving. "Hey, Rose!" The second one said, stepping forward and handing the redhead a small box Rose hadn't noticed before then. "Happy birthday!"
"Yeah," the first one stepped forward, handing Rose a lumpy package that looked like it had been wrapped by a toddler. "Happy birthday!"
Rose took the gifts and laid them on the table, turning to her parents. Her mum looked shocked and startled, her dad looked bemused. "Mum, Dad," she gestured to the twin girls. "This is Lora," she nodded to the girl who had come first, "and Lola Tucker."
"It's so good to finally meet you!" Lora stepped forward, shaking Hermione's hand enthusiastically. "You have a lovely home."
A snort was heard amidst the group of Potters and Ginny smacked the back of James' head. The twins turned to them.
"Ah, James," Lora started, cocking her hip to the side and placing her left hand on it. "I didn't know you would be here. Pity I left my wand at home."
--
Before he could give what would have undoubtedly been a snappy retort, the fireplace roared green again and a shorter girl with black hair and dark skin stepped out, the skirt of her white dress swishing with the movement.
"This is Kendal Oxley. Kendal, my mum and dad," Rose wasted no time with the introductions this time, and the girl stepped forward and shook both of their hands, commenting on the house as well.
"Come on," Rose said, gesturing to her friends to leave the room. "I'll show you my room." The three new girls plus Marinda followed her out of the kitchen and down the hall.
"Oh my gosh," Lora gasped as she walked in to the purple-decorated room. "Your room is huge!"
"I wish we had rooms this nice at my house," Lola agreed. "I would be in heaven if I could have my own room and not have to share with…this." She tilted her head towards Lora.
"Oi!" Lora cried, her blue-green eyes going wide. "I will have you know it is more hell sharing a room with her than it's worth! She can't keep her stuff on her own side and she won't keep her side clean!"
"She is a Hufflepuff, Lora," Kendal reminded her in the soothing tone of hers that she reserved just for dealing with the twins and their petty arguments.
Rose and Marinda shared a knowing smile while Lora just huffed.
"So," Kendal perched herself on the edge of the bed, her clutch purse falling to the side. "What do we have planned, Rose?" She picked up the gold purse and opened the snap, pulling out two small objects. She set them on the bed next to her and pulled out her wand, saying 'engorgio' while pointing it at each object.
Kendal was the only one in the group who had turned seventeen and was allowed to do magic outside of school. She would be in her seventh year while the other four would be in their sixth, and had become friends with them when Lora and her both became Chasers, along with James, on the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
"Oh, I told mum you could do that!" Lola cried. "She didn't want the snow globe to burst, though, so – " she stopped and shot a look at Rose like she'd just said something horrible. Rose shrugged nonchalantly.
"Let's see your bags, then," Kendal said, moving her bag and the gift she'd just made bigger off to the side to do the same for Lola and Lora's bags. When she was done they all sat on various surfaces around Rose's room.
"I love your dress, Rose," Kendal commented, crossing her legs at the knees on the edge of Rose's bed.
"I agree," Lola nodded. "The green goes lovely with your hair."
"Reminds me of Christmas," Lora grinned.
"At least the primary colour isn't green," Marinda pointed out, laughing at Rose's scowl at Lora's comment. Rose hated the fact that any time she wore green Lora always made a reference to Christmas.
"Oi," Lily said from the door, and the girls all turned and looked at her. She wore a knee length yellow dress with thin straps, her red hair falling over her shoulders. "Aunt Hermione said it's almost time for us to leave and she wants to take pictures."
All five girls groaned, but obediently stood and gathered their things to leave. They walked, giggling like school girls, down the hallway. The kitchen was empty and so they kept going until they entered the sitting room.
James was complaining about having to watch Rose and her friends get their picture taken, Harry was rolling his eyes at him, Ron and Hugo were playing chess off to the side, and Albus was looking straight ahead, his elbow on the arm of the sofa, and his head resting against his upturned palm.
"Mum," Rose groaned when Hermione began situating the girls the way she wanted them to stand.
"Oh don't you girls look lovely?" Hermione squealed, bringing the camera up to the right height. "Ron, tell the girls how lovely they look."
"You look lovely," he muttered, barely glancing up from the chess board.
"You really do," Albus agreed, his eyes lingering on Marinda, in her pretty blue dress and heels. She looked at him and blushed, biting her lip and looking down at the exact moment the flash went off.
"Smile!" Ginny commanded. "Ho, ho, ho. Hee, hee, hee," she said, using the saying she'd used when her kids were little to get their smiles to appear at the same time.
The girls all laughed and mimicked her, turning in to a mess of giggles at the end. Hermione then wanted individual shots of the girls, even splitting up the twins, and a full twenty minutes had passed by the time they were nearing the end.
"Oh, Albus," Hermione said. "I want a picture of you and Rosie." Albus did as commanded and stood, wrapping an arm around his cousin's waist and smiling at the camera. At the last second, he placed a kiss on her cheek, and she giggled.
"Ooh, that'll be a good one! Can I have a copy?" Ginny asked, jumping up and down and clapping. Hermione nodded enthusiastically.
"Mum," said Rose. "What about me, Al, and Marinda?" Hermione nodded, and Marinda joined the two by the small fireplace. The girls sandwiched Albus between them and giggled. Albus put an arm around each other their shoulders.
"One more!" Hermione called. "Let's get the six girls again. Do a funny one!" They all laughed as Lola and Lora stuck out their tongues and crossed their eyes, Kendal picked Lily up and cradled her like a baby, making her signature "pimp" face while Lily laughed and held the skirt of her dress close to her body to keep from flashing her knickers, Rose struck a pose like a body builder, and Marinda blew a kiss to the camera.
"Now it's off with you!" Ron called, ushering the girls in to the kitchen. "You had better be home by nine!" He insisted.
"The Leaky Cauldron," Rose mentioned, and then Lola flooed out of the house. Lora went next, and then Kendal.
"Got something important to do, Mr. Weasley?" Marinda smirked as Kendal disappeared in the fire.
"Just a Quidditch match on the wireless," Harry laughed. Marinda giggled, and then, with a small wave she disappeared as well.
"You have got your credit card, right?" Hermione looked at her daughter.
"Of course, mum. Like I could forget about that!" In the background she heard the boys grumble about that fact, but she ignored it. "We will be back by nine. I promise," she assured her parents, watching Lily disappear leaving her the last one.
She grabbed a handful of floo powder and shot a winning smile at her family before stepping in. The last thing she heard as she whirled away silently praying she didn't get anything on her dress was the seven family members left all call out at the same time, "Happy Birthday!"
--
Rose led the way to Le Pierre's. She had been there four times in her life. French cuisine was her favourite because of the bold flavours and rich sauces. She wanted to spend time in France after she left Hogwarts, studying in Paris and soaking up everything French. Her dad had teased her about it once, saying she could live with her Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur and all of their stuck-up kids, but had not mentioned it again since she had thought he was serious.
She clutched her white purse to her body as she and Marinda walked side by side down the sidewalk. The other girls were behind them, lonely Lily bringing up the rear. The sextet walked for three blocks before coming to a stop in front of a building with a beautifully decorated terrace and lit area.
They entered the posh restaurant and were seated by the maitre d'. Their water goblets were filled, and the waiter came. His name was Christophe and he was tall, blonde, and generally quite handsome. Lola and Lora giggled over him while he explained the specials. He left after a few moments with a promise to return after giving them a bit of time to review the menu.
"This whole thing is in French," Kendal gasped. Rose nodded, opening her own burgundy-coloured menu. She already knew what she'd be having.
"I can't read French, Rose," Lola admitted quietly to Rose's right. Marinda, on Rose's left, agreed and Rose sighed.
"Just tell me what you are looking at and I will tell you what it is," said Rose.
"You know French?" Lola looked up, a tad bit shocked.
"Of course," Marinda laughed, rolling her eyes. "She is our brainiac. So, Rosie, what exactly is Coq au vin?"
"I believe that is chicken. In a red wine sauce, if I'm not mistaken. What are you going to have, Lora?"
"I'm thinking something safe like Poulet frites."
"You don't even know what that is!" Lola giggled.
"Well I'm assuming Poulet means poultry, see how the words are similar. And frites is close to fries, so I'm assuming that it is chicken and fries and that is perfectly fine with me."
"Well," Lily started, as not to be ignored, "the Foie de veau sounds divine." She reached for her water goblet and took a big sip.
"Sure," Rose laughed. "You enjoy your calf's liver there, Lils."
A few minutes later, Christophe came back and they placed their order.
They ate and laughed, especially when Lily decided that calf's liver wasn't all that bad, and then ordered dessert. The girls sang to Rose over an éclair and they all ate their pastries. Lily reminded them of the fact that they still had birthday cake at home, but Kendal said quite snootily, "You can never have too much chocolate!"
The girls walked back to the Leaky Cauldron, giggling like mad over the fact that Christophe-the-dreamy-waiter had given Kendal his phone number. Kendal stared at it blankly, wondering why he'd written a bunch of numbers on a paper cocktail napkin, but Rose had pulled her away by the arm, thanking the man and smiling wildly.
Lily stomped ahead of them as they neared the Leaky Cauldron and by the time they entered the Inn, she had already disappeared in to the fireplace. The girls all flooed out, Rose bringing up the rear, and by eight forty-five, they were safely back at Number Three Sutter Street.
"Have fun?" Hermione asked as Rose stepped out of the fireplace. She was washing dishes the muggle way, and the kitchen was otherwise empty.
"Of course, mum!" She laughed. Her face fell when Hermione dried her hands on a towel and turned around, a frown on her face. "What? What did I do?"
"Can you please tell me why Lily came in a few minutes ago crying?" Rose winced.
"She was crying?"
"Yes! She marched right in here demanding Ginny take her home. Ginny is in the spare room right now trying to calm her down. I sent your friends to your room to change out of their dresses. What happened, Rose?"
"I don't know!" Rose threw her hands up in the air. "She didn't say anything to me! I mean, I guess the girls may have been a bit hard on her because she's so young, and doesn't really talk to us at school, but it was nothing. A snippy comment here or there. She's tough!"
"Go apologize to your cousin. She thinks you don't want her here."
Rose rolled her eyes, but did as she was told. She stomped out of the kitchen, nearly running in to Marinda, who had changed in to shorts and a tank top with her bare feet squishing in to the beige carpet of the hallway. Rose grabbed her arm and dragged her with her down the hall in the direction Marinda had just come from.
The door to the spare room was slightly ajar when they got there, and Rose could see Lily laying facedown on the bed, Ginny sitting next to her rubbing her back soothingly, and, to her shock, Albus laying on the other side of her, propped up on his elbow, running his hands soothingly through her hair. He leaned down and whispered something in her ear, and Lily snorted with laughter.
Rose knocked and pushed the door open. Ginny stood and moved back to allow Rose to talk to her daughter, but refused to leave the room. Albus continued his ministrations on Lily's hair and Marinda smiled at him, perching herself on the end on the bed.
"Hey, Lils." Rose kneeled next to the bed and put a hand on Lily's back. "What's wrong?"
"Your friends hate me," she sputtered, pushing herself up on to her elbows and wiping her bloodshot eyes.
"They don't hate you," Rose insisted, but she knew it was a lie. Lola definitely did not like her and Kendal had a problem being at a party with someone who was barely fourteen, but that had more to do with her upbringing than with Lily.
"Yes they do," Lily insisted, burying her face in her arms.
"So what? You're not here for them, are you? You are here to help me celebrate my birthday and I want you here. You can't leave, Lils."
Marinda stood from the bed and squatted next to Rose. She reached out and fingered a lock of Lily's long red hair. "I think Lola's a prat and Kendal's jealous of you. Do you want to give them the satisfaction? We've got so much planned to do tonight, Lily. We both want you here. We'd send any of those girls home before we'd want you gone." Rose knew it was a lie, and that she was only saying that to keep Lily happy, but she was incredibly thankful for it.
"Will you stay?" Rose cocked her head to the side, waiting for a response. "Please? What do you say?"
"Okay," Lily sighed, sitting up and straightening her skirt. "If you insist."