After Tommy left her room, Michelle focused on getting ready. She spotted the elegant red taffeta dress lying across the back of her chair. She had left it there to remind herself to wear it to the pageant, and of course, Tommy had ruined it.

She decided to wear something simpler, like on the redone Christmas party. She looked into her closet and pulled out another, simpler red dress. It was nice, but rather plain, aside from the velvet trimming on the hem and sleeves. Red was her favorite color, which was why the majority of her closet consisted of it. It was also a Christmas color.

She had to put on a little makeup. She had felt so weird and plain during the Christmas party without it. She could live with Tommy ruining it. Looking in the mirror, she pulled out her makeup kit from the drawer and dabbed some blush onto her cheeks, giving them a nice rosy hue. After applying some eyeliner to her eyes, she realized she couldn't get away with more without her parents complaining, especially since she was younger.

Her hair was already rather neat, so she brushed it just a few times and tied it into a simple braid that she pulled over her shoulder. She straightened to observe her reflection, her favorite part.

Looking into her handbag, she made sure her "feminine products" were zipped tightly in a pouch inside. They hadn't been on the redone Christmas party, since she hadn't spent much time getting ready.

Just then, Tommy burst into her room. Michelle almost laughed at the suit he was wearing. Her mother must've fought tooth and nail to get him to wear it. And was that gel on his hair? "Shel!"

"What?" she snapped, impulsively grabbing the comb and brushing it a few more times through her braid.

"Read more Harry Potter to me?" he asked timidly.

"No. I'm busy getting ready," she replied, even though she was already finished.

Tommy pouted. "Why do you always have to spend so much time getting ready whenever we go out? Does it really matter?"

"Of course it does!" snapped Michelle. "Just because you don't care if you look like a caveman, doesn't mean nobody else does."

"Fine," snapped Tommy. He started to storm out.

"Wait!" Michelle called. She wasn't really sure why she was so hesitant to read to Tommy again. They had had a fairly good time before. Maybe she was worried it was too good to be true and Tommy would inevitably ruin things, like he always did. Still, she kind of wanted someone to talk about Harry Potter with. None of her friends were interested.

Tommy turned around. "What?"

Michelle sighed. "Fine, I will."

Tommy's face lit up. "Really? You mean it?"

"Why not?" She took the fourth book off the shelf and sat down on her bed, opening it.

"But I thought you were busy getting ready," Tommy noted.

"I'm pretty much finished, anyway," she said.

"I thought you'd take longer," said Tommy. "You always spend so much time in front of the mirror. Even more than you spend time with other people."

Michelle frowned. First her parents, now her brother? Sure, she cared about her appearance, but it wasn't as if she was some snobby film star like they acted like she was.

Suddenly, more memories resurfaced. Her brother had come in while she was still getting ready for the pageant to pester her about something or other, and she had immediately kicked him out before he had a chance to speak, wanting to focus on looking her best. In response, he had come back in and snatched her taffeta dress. She had managed to snatch it back, but not before Tommy had gotten his sticky hands all over it. She dismissed him a lot to focus on her appearance, now that she thought about it.

But still. He didn't have to steal her belongings just to gain her attention!

"Are you going to read or not?" Tommy's whiny voice interrupted her thoughts yet again.

She cleared her throat before starting. "Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."

A while later, Mrs. Webster came in without knocking. "Are you kids almost done? We—"

She paused upon seeing the book in Michelle's lap that she had instinctively closed upon hearing her mother come in and Tommy sitting next to her. "You were reading to him again, weren't you? That's so nice of you. You barely spend any time with your brother."

Michelle shrugged dismissively, not knowing how to reply.

Her mother's eyes fell on the plain red dress she was wearing. "I thought you were going to wear your other dress. You know, the one you've been gushing about ever since we bought it for you?" She nodded towards the taffeta dress lying on the back of the chair.

"Oh, well, I don't know," Michelle replied, wracking her brain for an excuse. "It might be a little much, you know?"

Mrs. Webster looked pleased. "I thought so too. You look much nicer in that one. Really, I don't know why you insist on wearing all these silly dresses and makeup."

Michelle rolled her eyes, already tuning out the lecture. She thought the opposite about her family, that they didn'r care enough about their appearance.

"I swear, you seem to care more about them than about your own brother."

Michelle snapped back upon hearing that sentence. She thought that was unfair. After all, Tommy was the reason most of her clothes were dirty. He was always stealing them from her, ripping them up, getting his dirty, sticky hands on them, just to get her attention.

Yeah, that was why he had done it. She didn't give him attention, so he tried forcing her to by ruining the things she focused on more.

"Anyway, we have to go." Michelle grabbed her handbag, double checking to make sure she had everything and that the pouch with those embarrassing products was safely zipped.

When they were in the car, Tommy eagerly turned to Michelle. "Can you tell me more about Harry Potter?"

"I don't have the book," she pointed out, though she had pretty much memorized it.

"Just tell me!" Tommy insisted, bouncing up and down in impatience. He seemed to like the book almost as much as she did.

She started explaining the following events of the chapter as the car started and pulled out of the driveway.. As they drove down the street, she finished describing Chapter One, ending with, "To Harry Potter—the boy who lived!" She paused to take a breath, suddenly feeling rather parched. She took a small water bottle out of her handbag and took a long sip. "And that's the end of Chapter One."

"Cool!" said Tommy. "So what happens in Chapter Two?"

Michelle took another sip of water. She rarely read—or described—the books out loud. "Several years pass in the Dursley household..."

Their parents were playing loud radio music, which caused Tommy to have to lean on Michelle to hear her voice. When she started describing Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia's blatant favoritism towards Dudley and how Harry ws largely overlooked, she muttered "sounds familiar".

"What?" Tommy turned to her.

"Nothing, nothing." She started talking again, but Tommy interrupted. "What do you mean by that?"

Michelle sighed. "I just mean..." She paused. No, she couldn't say that. "Nevermind."

Tommy lowered his voice, even though their parents already couldn't hear them. "Do you mean Mom and Dad like you more than me?"

Michelle winced. Since when had Tommy become so inquisitive? "Maybe a little, I guess. They're not as bad as Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, of course. I just feel like they let you get away with more stuff, you know? Maybe because you're the baby."

"They always say I don't have to feel bad about messing up because I'm little," said Tommy. "And you're older, so you have to worry. That makes sense, right?"

Michelle supposed it did. Still, there was cutting him slack, and then there was letting him get away with murder.

Michelle awkwardly cleared her throat. "Anyway. Harry was expected to cook for Dudley's birthday..."

As they arrived at the theatre, Michelle realized she had been so caught up in reading to Tommy that she had completely forgotten to prepare for the events of the pageant. And somehow, she didn't really mind.