* ~ The Eighth Year Universe Series ~ *
PART THREE
The Eighth Year
Chapter 28: Time for a Change…
As Harry sat in a small classroom looking into McGonagall's rage-filled face, he sighed and wondered how on earth they had wound up here. They were all beaten up with dark marks around their eyes because they had been kept awake all night while they awaited their punishment. Everyone had minor injuries, the likes of cuts, bruises and scratches. No one had said a word since they had been led to this classroom, and a teacher had always been present to keep an eye on them.
Harry looked around at the faces. Some were stoic and poker-faced like his, some had tears running down them like Hermione's, some were pale with nerves like Sadie's and some just looked plain bored, tired and fed up like Draco and Theo's.
Dawn was breaking outside of the four walls that they were imprisoned in, and Harry hoped that they would be allowed out of here soon. He sighed once more and shook his head; they had been so stupid.
14 HOURS EARLIER
"I swear, I think she's a real seer!"
Harry was trying to convince the others over dinner, but they were not in the slightest bit convinced. However, Harry was sure that underneath the facade, there was something real about Trelawney.
"Harry, real seers are incredibly rare," Hermione said logically, but of course, she wouldn't believe him, what with her track record for Divination.
"They are rare, but I see your point," Sadie said, ever the diplomat, "She is much better this year than she's ever been before."
Tracey nodded and said through a mouthful of apple pie, "Her predictions are much better; almost all of them come true."
"Really?" Draco asked sarcastically, "I personally never took Divination, always thought it was a bit of a woolly subject myself."
Harry and Hermione shared a grin. Sometimes Harry could see that Draco was perfect for his best friend; she'd described Divination the same way many years ago.
"I think it's a load of rubbish," Theo said, "How can anyone tell the future? It's made up of lots of things you don't expect to happen. Someone can make a prophecy that someone will die in a few days, but then the next day, a miracle cure for their sickness could be found."
"But you can agree that real seers can make small predictions?" Harry asked, understanding Theo's point.
Theo shrugged, "I guess, I just think it's very temperamental magic."
Hermione nodded and said, "Yes, I quite agree with you, Theo, but I must give Trelawney the benefit of the doubt. After all, she made two predictions that came true."
The others didn't know about this, so Harry briefly explained, "Trelawney made a prophecy about me. The prophecy said a boy born at the end of July whose parents had thrice defied Lord Voldemort would be a threat to him. Snape overheard it and told Voldemort, who then killed my parents. He'd been friends with my Mum, and he felt guilty for causing her death. That's why he came to the side of the light."
The others knew parts of the story, but it was good to fill in the gaps. Hermione added, "And she predicted in our third year that Voldemort's most loyal servant would return to him and that he'd be resurrected. Then a year later, Voldemort came back."
"Okay, so she made a couple of predictions, but mostly she's a fluke," Dean chuckled.
Harry sighed and gave up; nobody was going to believe him. The conversation had moved on when Daphne said quietly, "I believe you, Harry. This year she's been so much happier, and her predictions are much better."
Harry smiled. He knew Daphne wouldn't say something she didn't believe to make him happy; that wasn't who she was, "Thank you," he said. He kissed her lightly and turned back to the conversation, which was now about Quidditch.
In the last game, Hufflepuff had surprised everyone by beating Ravenclaw. The score had been 70-50 when the snitch was caught. It put Hufflepuff in the lead with 210 points, second was Slytherin with 190 points, third were Ravenclaw with 50 points, and last were Gryffindor, who had a mere 40 points. Harry was determined to redeem himself, but their next game wasn't until February.
Later that evening, everyone was gathered in the common room.
Harry and Draco were lazily playing chess by the fire. Hermione had her nose stuck in a book. Neville and Hannah were engrossed in a book about rare plants of the Scottish Highlands, and Daphne, Sadie, Tracey and Susan were working together on a Transfiguration essay.
The common room was quiet and peaceful. Theo and Dean were playing gobstones and occasionally shouting out false moves to Draco and Harry to distract them. Mandy and Gabrielle quietly read in the corner of the room, and Michael and Terry were discussing why the Tornadoes were the best Quidditch team ever. Ernie and Justin were helping each other with homework by a desk, and Zacharias was huffing around nearby, having being dumped by his girlfriend Megan that morning.
Then the door burst open, and two very pissed off girls stormed through it.
"You are a lying bitch! You're supposed to be my best friend!" Annie was shouting.
"It takes two to tango, Annie!" Sally bit back, "I didn't exactly force your boyfriend to sleep with me!"
Terry jumped up to hold back his girlfriend, and Harry quickly intervened and held Sally back before a fight could break out.
"You think you are so perfect, Annie!" Sally spat, "With your perfect life and your perfect boyfriend! Well, he's not perfect because it was easy to get him to sleep with me, and I saw him snogging Megan too!"
Annie fought as Terry held her, "Let me go, you fucking bastard!" she shouted tearfully.
"No, you'll only get yourself hurt," Terry said quietly, "And it's bullshit. I didn't sleep with Sally, I swear."
"Oh, so I should listen to you instead?" Annie asked hysterically, "The bloody serial cheater?"
"I'm not," Terry said helplessly, "Megan did kiss me, but I didn't kiss her back."
By this point, Zacharias had targeted Megan, "Was this before or after you split up with me?" he asked bitterly.
"Before," Megan said quietly.
Zacharias laughed humourlessly, "You are such a slut, Megan. You should have been a Slytherin; you would have fitted in perfectly!"
"Shut your fucking mouth, Smith!" Tracey shouted angrily, she jumped up to punch the Hufflepuff, but Dean held her back.
Sally sneered at them, "It's true! The war might be over, but you are all still evil bastards like he was!"
"How dare you compare us to Voldemort?" Daphne hissed. She grabbed her wand and got held back by Harry, who muttered at her to rise above it.
"Yeah, because you Gryffindors are such saints," Draco said bitterly, "You might have fought for the light in the war, but it was a Gryffindor who resurrected Voldemort!"
Harry let go of Daphne and turned on Draco with a fire burning in his eyes, "Fuck you, Malfoy! Pettigrew is the reason that my parents are dead!"
"Like I have it any better! My Mother is homeless, and my Father is in Azkaban!" Draco spat back.
"Which is where he deserves to rot, just like the rest of your sick family!" Harry yelled, then both boys had their wands out and were duelling.
"Leave my family out of this!"
Neville was on his feet at that, "How can you defend them? Your aunt tortured my parents!" he shouted as he joined Harry in his duel against Draco.
Back by the portrait hole, the fight was still ongoing about the cheating situation.
"Who else did you sleep with, Sally? Theo? Probably, he'd do anything no matter how ugly it was," Zacharias said nastily.
"Theo would never cheat on me!" Sadie snapped as her temper flared up, "Leave him out of this!"
"He isn't the saint you think he is," Sally said, "He tried something with me."
"Why would I want anything to do with you?" Theo asked in disgust, "You flirted with me, and I told you to leave me alone."
"You're such a lying bitch, Sally," Sadie muttered under her breath.
"If you have something to say, say it to my face!" Sally snapped, "Oh, I forgot, you're a cowardly Slytherin."
"Better than being a chronic liar of a Gryffindor," Sadie remarked coldly, "And I called you a lying bitch, by the way."
It seemed that was the final straw because shortly after that, Sadie was duelling Sally, and Annie had joined in against her former best friend.
"Why would you tell Sadie that I'm cheating on her when I'm not?" Theo asked angrily, his wand was now at the ready, and he pointed it at Zacharias.
"Because you're the biggest manwhore t this school!" Zacharias said simply.
"Alright, then, Smith. You are clearly jealous that I could have any girl I wanted and everyone thought that you were gay," Theo remarked with an evil smirk.
Zacharias cursed and drew his wand. In seconds flashes of red and blue light were flying between them, "I don't even know why I came back for this stupid year, I hated you all before, and I hate you even more now!" he shouted as he duelled Theo.
"None of us were exactly best friends with you either," Michael Corner remarked, glaring at the guy.
"Even Justin and I can't stand you, and you're in our house," Ernie said to the red-faced Hufflepuff.
"Fuck off, like I ever wanted to be friends with a couple of pansies anyway," Zacharias said with a nasty laugh.
Ernie and Justin turned on him immediately, and Michael joined forces with them and Theo.
"This is all your fault, Megan!" Terry shouted at the distraught Hufflepuff, "You just had to try and kiss me, didn't you?"
"So much for Ravenclaws being clever," Megan said nastily, "If you were clever, you'd have told Annie what happened, so she didn't have to find out like this. Like she'll ever believe that you aren't a lying cheat now!"
"Hey!" Came shouts from Mandy and Lilly, Terry's fellow Ravenclaws.
Lilly remarked, "Leave our house out of this. Anything is better than being a Hufflepuff; what are you good at?"
"I can think of one thing they're good at," Mandy said nastily, "Dying."
"You bitch!" Susan said as she rose from her chair, "Cedric died for the cause. He was one of the bravest people who fought in the second war!"
Hannah had risen to agree with her fellow housemate, "And some Hufflepuffs are smarter than Ravenclaws, clearly!"
In the next few seconds, several flashes of light flew between the two groups as Terry, Lilly, and Mandy turned on Megan, Susan and Hannah.
Hermione had been trying and failing to split the fights up when eventually she shouted, "Can we please stop fighting and just talk about this?"
Blaise smirked, "Oh, do shut up, you bushy-haired freak."
Hermione glared at him, "Impressive Blaise like I've never heard that one before. You can insult my looks all you want, but at least I have a personality."
Blaise glared at Hermione and shot a spell towards her, which she narrowly dodged, but she had to send another one back for self-defence. As a result, she found herself locked in a duel with Blaise, who proceeded to call her a mudblood.
Draco and Harry, upon hearing this, stopped fighting each other and turned on Blaise with shouts of "Leave my girlfriend alone!" and "Shut up about my best friend!"
There was only one part of the room not filled with the light from duels. Daphne, Tracey and Dean were watching in shock as Gabrielle stood close by watching the sight, "I don't know why I wanted to come to this school. It's horrible," she sighed.
"You can't just come into our school and start slagging things off," Daphne said irritably.
"So I can't comment on the fact that you all seem to hate each other?" Gabrielle asked angrily, "You should be united and grateful for each other after a war, not fighting!"
"What the hell do you know of the war?" Tracey bit, "You were hiding away in France while we were the ones suffering!"
"Suffering?" Gabrielle said coolly, "You were on his side!"
"On his side?" Daphne hissed, "Oh, that is a step too far!"
It all happened very quickly because Gabrielle turned out to be excellent at duelling, but she was duelling both Daphne and Tracey in a flash. Then Dean came to his girlfriend's rescue and helped them out.
The entire common room was full of shouts and insults and flashes of red, blue, yellow, white, purple and orange light. No one saw or heard the door open. No one saw or heard McGonagall enter the room and stop and stare in horror at the scene around her.
However, everyone did hear the Headmistress shouting at the top of her lungs, "SILENCE!"
Immediately the fighting stopped. Wands fell from hands, and everyone turned to look at the Headmistress. Nobody had ever seen her so angry before; her face was bright red and horribly contorted.
She spoke in what was barely a whisper, but they heard every threatening word, "Give me your wands and go to the empty classroom at the bottom of the tower. Wait there for your punishment."
Everybody did as she said. They handed over their wands and walked in silence down the staircase to the classroom. They all took seats and waited as teachers came in for an hour or so, then left, and this cycle continued all through the night.
Nobody said a word until McGonagall finally re-entered the room at around 6 am.
"I have tried many things to unite the houses of this school. I do not do it for fun. I do not do it for the good of my own health. I do it for you. I do it to give you a better experience at Hogwarts. I do it to help you see past your childish grudges, but no matter how hard I try, you are determined to let your houses divide you. This is my last attempt to create house unity in the eighth year," McGonagall said. She spoke with a low, dangerous tone of voice as she pulled out the sorting hat and placed it on the table at the front of the room.
They were silent and a little scared as they waited to be told what was going to happen, "I am going to re-sort you into new united dorm rooms, and they will not change. However, before I do that, I want to make an example of a couple of people. I want Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy to come up here right now."
Neither of them questioned McGonagall. They simply walked to the front of the room warily. Once they had reached the Headmistress, she said, "I am going to show you exactly how alike you all are, and I am going to do that by putting this hat on the heads of these two people. It has been instructed to tell you all the thinking process it went through when it sorted them."
Harry paled slightly because he knew exactly what the hat would say.
"Starting with you, Mr Potter," McGonagall said tersely as she pointed to the stool in front of the desk. He took a shaky breath as he sat down on the stool and grimaced as McGonagall placed the old hat on his head. He felt quite sick as it began to recount what it had told him as an 11-year-old boy. It was sort of disjointed, though, like a slightly faded memory.
"Difficult, very difficult...plenty of courage...Not a bad mind...There's talent...and a thirst to prove yourself. Now that's interesting, but where to put you? Not Slytherin, eh? Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin could help you on your way to greatness! No? Well, if you're sure...better be GRYFFINDOR!"
"Woah," Neville breathed, "I knew you were a hat-stall, but you were really nearly a Slytherin."
"Yes, I'm aware of that," Harry said a little irritably as everybody stared at him.
"I mean, you had to persuade it not to put you there," Daphne said. She was just as surprised, "You were seconds away from being a Slytherin."
"And he saved the entire wizarding world and killed the darkest wizard of our time," Dean said firmly, "So nobody can say that Slytherin is just a house for dark wizards, can they?"
"Precisely, Mr Thomas," McGonagall said firmly, "Thank you, Mr Potter, you may return to your seat."
Harry nodded and did so. He was still slightly shaken from having to relive that experience. When he sat down, he saw Draco get onto the stool, and he looked just as pale and nervous as Harry expected that he had. The rip that was the hats mouth opened, and it began to speak.
"Ah, not the usual Malfoy! A desire to prove yourself, just like your father. Oh, I see, not like your father, are you? Well, he had a malicious side, of course. No, I don't see that in you...But there is intelligence, yes...and lots of it...and defiance, oh and you are a witty one, a fiery one! You have the fight within you. Not Gryffindor, eh? You could be great there; you could shine! No? Well, then I suppose it better be SLYTHERIN!"
"Draco, seriously?" Harry said in amusement.
"Oh shut up, Potter, you were nearly a Slytherin," Draco said sheepishly.
"Yeah, and you were nearly a Gryffindor," Harry grinned.
"You two nearly switched places," Neville said as he looked between Harry and Draco, "I mean to think I could have been best friends with Draco Malfoy."
Draco rolled his eyes, "Never would have happened, Longbottom."
"However," McGonagall said curtly, "You are all aware that Draco Malfoy made mistakes during the war. Yet he was very nearly a Gryffindor. I hope this is teaching you to look further than the cover of the book. Thank you, Mr Malfoy, you may take your seat."
Draco was thoroughly red-faced as he walked over to his seat and sat down.
"Now, as I said, these dorm rooms will not change for the rest of the school year. Am I understood?" McGonagall asked coolly.
There were nods from around the room, but nobody spoke.
McGonagall glanced down at her list, "In the first female dorm; Hermione Granger, Daphne Greengrass-"
The two girls had brief eye contact and communicated that they were glad to share a room.
"-Susan Bones and Gabrielle Delacour."
McGonagall continued, "In the second female dorm; Tracey Davis, Hannah Abbott, Sadie Cauldwell and Sally-Anne Perks."
This group seemed happy with their new dorm, although Tracey and Sadie were sad to be separated from Daphne who they had always shared a dorm with.
"Finally, in the third female dorm; Sally Smith, Megan Jones, Lillian Moon and Mandy Brocklehurst."
"In the first male dorm; Neville Longbottom, Theodore Nott, Dean Thomas-"
Under normal circumstances, Neville and Theo would have shared grins at being in a room together, but they were too scared of what McGonagall might do to them if they smiled.
"- Ernie MacMillan and Justin Finch-Fletchley."
"In the second male dorm; Michael Corner, Terry Boot, Blaise Zabini and Zacharias Smith."
The conflict in that room was going to be endless, considering the cheating scandal.
"Now, as the numbers are incredibly uneven, the final male dorm will simply consist of Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy," McGonagall said as she glanced up from her list.
"The reasoning behind this being that there has always been conflict between you two, and it needs to be resolved for good."
Draco and Harry gaped at each other; they were sharing a room, just the two of them? This could be hell. They might have become friends, but Harry didn't know if he could handle sharing a dorm room with the Slytherin.
"That is all, dismissed!" McGonagall said sharply, and everyone left the room silently. It was only when they reached the common room that all the complaining started.
"I can't believe we have to share with Justin and Ernie!"
"I wish we were still sharing with Daphne."
"I don't want to share with Potter!"
And so on, and so on. Although, it did encourage some apologies. Sally and Annie still weren't talking to each other, and despite his excuses, Annie had broken up with Terry.
Zacharias still hated everyone, so he kept to himself, which suited everyone fine. Harry and Draco had shared an awkward make-up hug, and even Gabrielle and Daphne had shaken hands and agreed to a new start. It seemed the fight was what everyone had needed to put their issues to rest and start over.
The change-up of the dorm rooms had occurred early on Thursday morning, and the group had gotten through the day with difficulty after having no sleep the night before. By the time the day was over, they didn't care who they were sharing a dorm with because they just wanted to sleep. The dorm rooms were a neutral white, and the drapes on each bed were the colour of the person's house.
Daphne tutted when she walked into her dorm room, "Red, green, yellow and blue do not go at all. This is so tacky."
Hermione had rolled her eyes and collapsed onto her bed, fully clothed, "Who cares about the interior design? Just go to sleep," she mumbled.
Most of the dorms were the same as any other dorm, but when Harry and Draco reached their dorm room at the top of the stairs and walked in, they were happily surprised. This was no ordinary dorm room. Instead of five small four-poster beds, there were two large double four-poster beds and French doors leading out to a patio with a view of the black lake. It was really rather luxurious. Harry noticed a note on one of the dressers; he picked it up and read it aloud;
"Mr Potter and Mr Malfoy,
If luxury cannot bring you together as firm friends, I do not know what can. I am invested in this friendship. Should it succeed, it sets an excellent example for your own year and future students. I am sure we understand each other just fine.
Sincerely, Professor McGonagall."
Harry and Draco laughed and agreed that they could definitely get used to this.
The following day at breakfast, Harry and Draco may have boasted a little about their room, and everyone complained apart from Daphne and Hermione. They claimed as girlfriends they had 'visiting rights' to the luxurious dorm room. That day passed quite peacefully, and McGonagall had eventually calmed down enough to not shout or glare at every eighth year that passed her.
Harry was looking forward to getting back to the common room later and having an early night as he tucked into dinner; everybody was still catching up on their night of missed sleep. Nobody expected the announcement that came at dinner time until McGonagall stood up to give it.
"I would like to announce that there will be a Yule Ball this year. It will take place on the 24th of December from 7 pm to midnight, in memoriam of Cedric Diggory. The theme is masquerade which means masks, dress robes and beautiful dresses. I am sure you will all have fun shopping for your outfits which you can do this weekend as I have decided to make it an extra Hogsmeade weekend. The eighth years," she added, looking to the 8th year table, "Are lucky to have been invited at all and should not need to be reminded to be on their best behaviour."
The eighth years must have looked sufficiently ashamed because McGonagall seemed pleased with their reaction to her intense glare. McGonagall thanked them for listening and sat back down. As soon as she had, the hall began to buzz with excitement as everyone talked about what they were going to wear or who they would bring as their date.
On Saturday morning, everybody ate and walked into Hogsmeade together before splitting off into groups to do their shopping. Daphne, Harry, Draco, Hermione, Sadie and Theo went off to a designer shop at the top of the village.
Tracey, Dean, Neville, Hannah, Susan and Lilly went to a much cheaper shop at the start of the village. Theo and Draco were paying for both their dress robes and their girlfriend's dresses, so it had been their choice to go to the expensive shop so they could treat their other halves and themselves. Harry paid for everything for himself and Daphne, but he didn't particularly like designer clothes personally. However, he was smart enough to know that this was one occasion where he had to bite his tongue and remember that he was dating a high maintenance Slytherin pureblood.
When they walked into the expensive shop, a shop assistant came over and gushed over the girls' amazing figures, then ushered them over to the dress section. Thankfully there were exceptionally comfy chairs that Draco, Harry and Theo fell into, and then they opened a pack of cards to pass the time by playing exploding snap.
Daphne looked at dresses for two hours before eventually trying on six and deciding on the last one. Harry sighed in relief when she came out with a smile on her face; he was starving and wanted to get out of this bloody shop. The dress was beautiful, though; it was aqua blue and looked perfect with her blonde hair. The dress was long, silky and figure-hugging. The straps and bodice were silver sequined, and the back was open. It was sexy, revealing and very Daphne.
Harry told Daphne that he thought it was beautiful, and she said to the shop assistant that she'd have it. He said it was an excellent choice and bagged it for her. Daphne then took another half an hour to pick out matching dress robes for Harry. The shop assistant smiled and said, "That will be 230 Galleons, 34 Silver Sickles and 8 Knuts, please."
Harry muttered under his breath and summoned Kreacher. The elf appeared at once and bowed to Harry.
"Kreacher, take this receipt immediately to Gringotts and have them transfer the funds to the account on the receipt," Harry informed his elf.
Most Wizards didn't carry that kind of money around with them; this was how affluent Wizarding families did things. The elf vanished immediately, and 5 minutes later, the wizard at the desk smiled, said that the funds had been transferred and handed them their purchases. Harry muttered to Draco that he had just paid an extortionate amount of money to look like he was from bloody Beauxbatons.
Hermione complained about the prices of the dresses and said it was ridiculous for Draco to buy her something that expensive. Draco rolled his eyes, "Hermione, you could buy any dress in here, and it would hardly make a dent on my bank account."
Hermione glared at him, "Just because you're a rich bastard doesn't mean you have to buy me the best of everything."
"Actually, it sort of does," Draco joked, "Now pick a dress, or I'll let Harry pick one for you."
"Oh God no," Hermione muttered, which caused both Harry and Draco to laugh as Hermione looked through dresses and found two to try on. Unlike Daphne, she tried them both on and said she liked them both and asked Draco which one he preferred.
He examined them both and said, "The green one is nice because its Slytherin colours, but the blue one is nicer."
Hermione smiled and thanked him. Then she did one last twirl for him. The dress she had chosen was a subtle blue and was floor length and figure-hugging. It had a silver sequined strip under the bust and matching silver sequined straps. The neckline was very low, but it worked for Hermione, and it didn't look particularly revealing.
Once Hermione had her dress sorted, Draco looked through robes and came strutting out of the changing rooms wearing silver robes. Harry and Theo laughed, but the robes actually worked for him. He decided he looked marvellous; Hermione said she liked them, and as quickly as that, they bought their items. Draco had used Kreacher, which was what gave Harry the idea, but by that point, Daphne hadn't even tried a dress on yet.
Although she came from a high-class pureblood family and was used to shopping in places like this one, Sadie was rather like Hermione, so it didn't seem unusual to spend so much money on clothes for her. She looked through dresses for a while with Daphne.
She described them all as depreciating to her figure in some way until finally, she came out in a simple classical style dress that suited her perfectly. The dress was cream with a corset bodice. The bodice had a gold strip up the middle with a gold ribbon tightening the corset at the front. It was pretty much strapless with sleeves that fell to the sides for decoration rather than to hold it up. The skirt also had a gold strip down it matching that on the bodice.
Theo grinned then disappeared, only to come bounding out of the changing rooms wearing gold robes, just to outsmart Draco. Like his Slytherin counterpart, he really pulled them off, so they bought their items with Theo's house-elf Konky.
Things had been much easier in the cheaper dress shop for the others. Neville and Dean sat down in hard, un-comfy chairs and brought out a game of pocket wizards chess to pass the time, but they had been surprised at how fast the girls had picked out dresses.
Hannah had only tried a few when she came out in a beautiful lemon yellow dress; it looked lovely against her tanned skin and blonde hair. The dress was floor length with a halter neck. It had a silver sequined strip under the bust, and the halter neck strap was also silver sequined. Neville bought a new set of black dress robes flecked with silver and at just 24 Galleons, 13 Silver Sickles and 3 Knuts, much less than Harry had paid at the designer shop.
Dean was surprised when Tracey came out after only trying on three dresses, and he had to admit the one she had chosen was very her; it was unique. Unlike everyone else who seemed to be buying long dresses, this dress stopped just above the knee. The dress was very figure hugging at the waist and was strapless. The skirt was dotted with black sequins, and the hem of the dress was adorned with gold sequins. Dean, like Neville, picked out a new set of black dress robes with gold fastenings, and they sat down and waited with Neville and Hannah for Susan and Lilly.
Susan didn't take too long, either. She came out after trying on five dresses and said she was pretty sure the one she had on now was the one for her. Susan's dress was like her, sexy. It was floor-length with a slit that started mid-thigh. The dress was strapless and very revealing, but Susan had the chest to pull it off. It was made up of lots of tiny gold and silver squares arranged like a mosaic, and there was a cream strip under the bust.
Lilly took the longest because she lived in jeans and hated wearing dresses, so it took her forever to find one. When she eventually found a dress and tried it on, it ended up being the one she bought. It was a simple knee-length white dress; it was strapless and had a deep blue ribbon just below the bust that tied at the back. The entire dress was covered in dark blue and light blue flowers, and it looked lovely with Lilly's dark hair.
With everything bought, the group left the shop after only an hour and decided to grab a drink and some lunch in the Three Broomsticks because they knew the others would take much longer.
As it so happened, they all ended up meeting up in the mask shop. Harry, Daphne, Draco, Hermione, Theo and Sadie had stopped for lunch at a cafe and made their way to the shop just as Neville, Hannah, Tracey, Dean and Susan were entering. Luckily this didn't take as long as it had taken to get the dresses. The boys left the girls to get both masks since, apparently, they had to match their outfits. They set themselves up in the corner for a massive game of exploding snap.
Daphne picked out a blue and white eye mask for herself with a blue jewel in the centre. She picked out a silver and black eye mask for Harry; it was silver and glittery, and around the eyes were two black swans facing each other. He grumbled that it was a bit girly but told Daphne he would wear it.
Hermione picked out a blue and silver eye mask for herself. It was silver mainly, and like Harry's, it had two swans facing each other around the eye holes, but the swans were blue instead. She picked one out for Draco that was perfect, it was mainly metallic silver, but the nose and above the eyes was a dark navy blue.
Sadie got a simple eye mask for herself that was lined with white lace. For Theo, to match his robes, she bought him a white mask with a gold trim that was adorned with stars and moons.
Hannah picked out a beautiful gold eye mask. It was speckled with gold sequins and had gold lace trim. For Neville, she picked out a mask similar to Theo's. It was black with a gold trim and gold stars and moons.
With everything bought, they happily made their way back to the castle after what had been an exciting day for the girls and a dull day for the guys (as shopping for these events always was).
Thank Merlin, it was over again.
* ~ TBC ~ *