Chapter 40: In Which Girliness Ensues
Ginny and Hermione had one tradition that they had never broken. Although the year Ginny was nine months pregnant with JS and went into labour the day after, they had come pretty close.
Every year, on the Saturday before the Graduation Ball, they had lunch, went gown shopping, and wrapped the day up with getting their hair done and massages. It was a thoroughly decadent treat, and both of them relished it.
This year they met in front of Patils' Pretties to begin the hunt for a proper Graduation Ball Gown. Five years ago the Patil sisters opened their dress shop. Unlike Madam Malkin's, they offered robes, dress robes, and, in a move that startled the wizarding community, but was quickly accepted, gowns. And, unlike Madam Malkin, (in actuality Ms Malkin, the Madam had been dead for seven years now, but her daughter kept the shop exactly the way her mother did, almost as a shrine.) they spent at least a month per year travelling around the globe to see what was new in fashion. So, if you wanted an excellently made set of black professor's robes, you went to Madam Malkin's. If you wanted something that looked like it walked down the runway in Milan last spring, you went to the Patil sisters.
Hermione and Ginny wanted something that looked like it had walked down the runway. Tradition held that robes (and now gowns) for the graduation ball would be black to honour the school as a whole and the house colours of the person wearing them.
Ginny had thought ahead and made an appointment to see the Patils. She had figured that this time of year, especially with wedding fever running high, just walking in was likely to get them little attention and less time.
Even with taking wedding fever into account, they were still shocked to see the inside of the store.
Usually, entering Patils' Pretties meant walking into a forest of beautifully vibrant fabrics surrounding a work table, a fitting area, and a three way mirror. This year they walked into a winter wonderland, every shade of white either of them had ever imagined surrounded them. Ginny took one look at it, glanced at Hermione, and began to laugh.
"I guess we're getting your wedding dress."
"Wedding dress?" Parvati popped out from the back. "Who's the lucky man, Hermione? I thought you two were here for your yearly graduation gowns."
"We are here for the graduation gowns, and maybe a wedding dress for Hermione. All the white made me think of it," Ginny answered.
"Almost everyone coming in is looking for one these days. We didn't stop stocking the colours. They're in the back. I was just getting the reds and golds out for you two." She led the women to the back. "So, come on Hermione, tell me all about it, and show me the ring!" She sounded immensely excited. "Padma, get over here! Hermione's engaged."
Padma joined the three of them. "Oohh, are we going to get to do a wedding gown for you as well? I've been wanting to do one for you for quite a while. So, tell us all about it. Who is he? How did he ask you?"
Hermione looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Both of the Patil sisters were looking at her expectantly, glee in their expressions. Well, this will be interesting. "Severus and I had a long chat, and at the end of it we decided to get married."
Padma and Parvati looked stunned. Finally Parvati said, "Severus Snape?"
"Yes." Hermione nodded, eyebrows slightly raised.
Padma gathered her wits about her faster than her sister. "Well then, let's get to making you a dress that gets him to give you a real proposal. None of this 'we had a long chat' nonsense! By the time we get done with you, Hermione, you'll be so lovely; he'll have a hard time breathing."
Ginny laughed, Hermione grinned, and the Patils went to work. Bolts of fabric in every shade of red from lightest pink to almost black and gold from white with fine gold threads woven throughout to actual cloth of gold joined them by the work table. Black in every weight, in every fibre followed the reds and golds. Padma took a quick look at Ginny, and several measuring tapes flew over to join them.
While Ginny's new measurements were being taken, Hermione browsed the fabrics. Parvati was already sitting at the table, sketch book in hand, pencil scratching as she drew her first idea for Hermione.
A fine translucent red silk, with intricate gold designs along the base caught Hermione's attention. She ran her fingers over it, enjoying the succulent texture. "I love this."
Padma looked over, "We brought that a back from India the last time we were there. Traditionally it would be used for making saris."
Parvati looked at it. "Oh, stick with that one. I have just the idea." She tossed the sketch she had been working on aside, and began to draw again. "Go find a solid gold you like, and a medium weight black in silk. I think you are going to love this."
Hermione did as she was told, browsing the golds, and settling on a heavy, old-gold silk. The black was easy to pick, she had chosen the same black silk for each of her other gowns. She took the bolts to Parvati and looked over her shoulder as she sketched.
"None of that. You wait until I'm finished. Go help Ginny." Ginny was no longer being measured, and was telling Padma that as long as she had her nursing breasts, she might as well take advantage of them.
"Lots of cleavage then." Padma had started sketching as well.
"I want to cleave as long as the cleaving is good. These luvvies will be back to their small selves soon enough. I might as well show them off while I can."
"I think we can come up with something that will suit you," Padma smiled, "and Harry."
"He's pretty easy to suit. Keep the breasts front and centre, and he's a happy guy." Ginny was laughing as she joined Hermione browsing the fabrics. She had a harder time than Hermione because her hair didn't go well with her house colours. The golds were fine, but the reds… well… that was a yearly challenge. "This is the only time I wish I had been a Slytherin. I look fantastic in green and silver."
Hermione handed her a pale, pale pink. "How about this? It's almost white."
Padma looked at it. "No. Go for bold colours. I want a good, strong crimson and gold. Then get your hair done blonde for the night; you'll look smashing." Ginny pondered blonde hair while Hermione put the pink back.
"Hermione, come see this." Both Hermione and Ginny went to see what was on Parvati's sketch pad.
The dress on the pad was lovely. A fitted bodice of black spiralled up from the left hip to the right shoulder. The underskirt was an ankle length sheath of the gold Hermione had chosen. The overskirt was a loose flow of the red silk that fell from the base of the bodice to the floor. The golden design that marked the edge of the silk had been twisted to fall from her left hip to her right ankle, and back again to the left hip on the reverse of the dress.
"I think the asymmetry will work really well with your figure. Plus this way the lovely pattern on the red won't be hidden at the bottom of the dress. If you really want to go all out, a band around your right bicep, matching the pattern on the red would finish this perfectly."
Hermione looked at the dress and tried to imagine it on herself. "Oh, we forgot to tell you, we've got a new feature. Robin worked it out for us two months ago when the Marriage Act passed. Go stand in front of the mirrors." Parvati gestured to the three-way mirror.
Hermione did as told, and saw herself wearing the dress. "Too many of our customers couldn't decide from the sketches alone. So he made this for us to help them decide and cut down on the amount of time we'd spend watching girls dither over one design or another."
Ginny walked over to Hermione, who was still staring at herself. "I think this is the best one yet. How do you do it? Every year you make me something new, and every year I think it's the prettiest thing I've ever seen, and then the next year you turn around and do something even better."
Parvati smiled at the compliment. "So, shall we being to make you a dress?"
"Yes, let's."
The measuring tapes flew over to Hermione and began their work. Ginny went back to the fabrics and selected a vibrant crimson, the color of light shining through a ruby, and a sumptuous gold.
"Scoot over Hermione. Ginny, this will be much easier to see in the mirror. The sketch pad won't quite show it correctly." Ginny stood in front of the mirror, and only saw herself in her own clothing. "Turn around, so your back faces the mirror."
She did so, and found herself in a black mermaid skirt. The back of the dress was open, and from just above the small of her back, two bands of fabric, red on the left, gold on the right circled her back, and went toward the front of the dress, under her arms, crossing over her bust and heading behind her neck. At the top of the back the bands joined together again. This time the red was on the right, gold on the left. They came together in a knot at the back of her neck, and then trailed down the back of the dress. She turned around and saw the coloured fabrics crisscrossed in the front just below her sternum, flowed over her breasts, up her shoulders, providing the dress with a deep V neck, and then tied behind her neck.
"I figured the Mermaid cut would take advantage of all your post pregnancy curves. You've got a great hourglass right now, so we might as well take advantage of it." Padma was looking at the dress on Ginny, and quickly did something with her wand. The mirror showed Ginny with golden blond hair. "See what I mean about changing your hair for the night."
Ginny was nodding. "I like the hair. I'm not sure about the skirt. I usually try to look like I don't have hips, and this certainly does not help that illusion."
"No, it doesn't do that. It does make you look like a wanton sex kitten, though. I think Harry will approve… I know Harry will approve," Hermione said. A certain conversation that Ron and Harry had had back in fifth year, one that would have caused both of them to spontaneously combust had they known Hermione was listening, ran through her mind.
"What do you mean, you know?" Ginny's eyebrow rose. Her lips curled into a smile.
"Let's just say that Ron and Harry were not always as cautious as they should have been during late night conversations in the common room."
"Really… I'll have to test this theory. I'll take the dress."
Padma began cutting silks, while Parvati asked, "So, are we making a wedding dress as well?"
Hermione hesitated. Ginny answered for her, "We most certainly are. At least we're going to bounce some ideas around!"
"Let me guess," Padma said. "You want something with clean lines, a minimum of lace and beads, and if anything even remotely like it ever showed up in Witch Weekly you don't want it?"
Hermione looked at Ginny with a slight glare. "You told her that didn't you?"
Ginny looked mock distressed. Padma looked up from her work, "She didn't need to tell us. We've made four gowns for you, and not a bead or bit of lace has been on any of them. We don't think you'd decide to look like a pile of meringue for your wedding."
"I don't know that we're having a wedding. Hell, I don't even have an engagement ring. I don't think he really gets this stuff."
Ginny's expression went unreadable. Snape had told her on Wednesday that he had the ring, and was just looking for the perfect time to give it to her. Then she spoke fervently, "If you want a wedding, you're having one, even if Harry and I have to drag him there at wand point. Now, let's talk wedding dresses!"
Parvati showed Hermione and Ginny to a stack of Muggle magazines. "We can do almost anything you see in these. Just start flipping through and mark the ones you like. We can design from what you pick."
Hermione and Ginny began to flip through while the Patils were busily cutting and basting away behind them. As Hermione looked at the images her opinion of lace and beads began to rise a bit. The muggle magazines seemed to have a better idea of how to use them to create a fetching composition than Witch Weekly did. Or maybe it was because Witch Weekly was aiming at a different market than Brides, Modern Bride, and The Knot.
As she and Ginny continued to flip through the magazines, marking pages when they saw something they liked, Parvati said, "So, Hermione, how did you end up with Snape? I don't want to be insulting, but…"
Hermione shrugged. "I think everyone over the age of sixteen and under forty-five who knows about us is wondering that. The Act passed, we both opted to fill out questionnaires, and it turned out that we matched up very well. We had a few dates, and we just... fancy each other. He's not as dark or sarcastic as he used to be. And we've got lots to talk about."
"That makes sense, both of you have the brains of Ravenclaws, even if you weren't sorted with us," Padma said.
"What's he really like?" Parvati asked.
"He's comfortable. It's not a heart-pounding, romance novel relationship, but it's enjoyable. He likes to cook and dance, and he's good at both as well."
"He can cook, dance, and keep up a good conversation? If you don't snatch him, I will," Padma quipped.
The other three laughed. "Well, I've got him, and I'm not going to let him go anytime soon. You'll just have to settle for life with your husband. How is Brian these days?"
"Lovely, he's in New York looking shopping for our fall line of fabrics."
"Hermione, look at this one." Ginny was thrusting a picture at her. The first thing Hermione noticed was the model had long curly brown hair. Secondly she saw that the dress was a very simple, elegant sleeveless A line. A little pleating at the top of the bodice, a fitted band below the bust line with just a sprinkling of pearls and beads, and a lace up back. Hermione never realized that she said, "Ooohhh" when she saw it. Ginny did, and her grin grew.
"I think we've got a winner, ladies."
Hermione was still looking at the dress while both of the Patils came over. "That would look smashing on you," Padma said. "Let's get you in front of the mirror."
Parvati went to the fabrics and began sorting thought the whites for the exact right shade of just barely ivory to go with the warm tones of Hermione's hair and skin.
Hermione was once again in front of the mirror, when the version of the dress in the magazine appeared on her. Padma was right; it did look smashing. It was so simple, restrained, and deliciously elegant.
Then Parvati made it better. The gown in the magazine was white, very, very white. Parvati had selected a heavy satin in an ivory that complimented Hermione's skin tone, and made her all but glow.
"Oh, one more thing…" Two more wand swishes made two more changes to the dress. It had originally had white pearls and clear crystals, but the first swish made the crystals into little emeralds. The second swish made the ribbon that laced up the back a matching green. "To honour your new husband. We'll make sure we get him into something red for you."
Hermione stared at herself in the mirror. She was almost afraid she'd start crying. This was just... It was the perfect image of something she never thought she'd have. And it was so pretty, and elegant, and still it was an illusion. She knew she was wearing a light blouse, jeans, and trainers. And she knew, no matter what Ginny said, she couldn't just force a man into a wedding he didn't want.
It was still a dream, a dream she had thought died with Ron. But now it was closer to real than it had been in a very long time. She realized the others were watching her, expecting her to respond to something. Her brain skittered around to find the last bit of conversation.
"I didn't think you did menswear," Hermione finally said.
Padma looked downright gleeful. "Oh we'll do menswear for Severus Snape."
A quick prickle of fear jolted Hermione. "You'll be kind, right? Neville just punched him on Monday; I don't want to put him in another position where any of his other former students will try to get back at him for the past."
Parvati looked insulted, with an underlying level of mirth. "We will be kind."
Padma, wearing the exact same expression of her twin added, "We are always kind."
Parvati finished, "And we will be especially kind to a Mr Severus Snape, because he is your chosen, and because he won't let us have any fun with him if we aren't."
Hermione's dread began to grow, both of the twins looked happier by the second. Ginny was enjoying this all too much. "What do you mean by fun?" Hermione asked.
"First and foremost, we are going to design something that cannot billow no matter what he does. Secondly, it will not be black. Thirdly there will be no more than ten buttons on the whole outfit, and probably less. Fourthly, the outfit will fit him properly. And fifthly, we will make sure that the color we choose will actually make him look good," Padma said, looking for all the world like a General planning the objectives of an attack.
"Yes, Ma'am." Hermione snapped off a salute.
"So, are we making this for you?" Padma asked.
"Erm…" Hermione was torn, she really liked the dress. Really, really liked the dress. But she also liked her husband to be, quite a bit more than the dress. She couldn't see deciding what kind of wedding they were going to have without some input from him.
"Can you save the design?"
"Yes, that's not a problem." Parvati was charming a sheet of paper to remember what they had come up with.
"Then save it for me. I have to find out what kind of wedding we're having before I get this gown."