FICLETTE TWO: MAKEOVER

(Includes shiny red shoes)

It was two weeks 'til Hallowe'en and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was buzzing with talk about the Hallowe'en ball, a somewhat recent addition to the school calendar.

'So who are you taking? What are you wearing?' Emily giggled deafeningly over dinner while flicking her straight black hair back in a poor imitation of what seemed like every girl in the school.

'Heh, well, I really don't know. I haven't bothered asking anyone and I have no clothes anyway,' Lyra reasoned, her eyes brown and hazel and her brown roots showing through the navy mass. 'I probably won't bother going, actually.'

'I couldn't agree more,' added Aliorumnas, azure eyes void of girly fantasies, 'it's really a waste of time when we have so much work we should be doing.'

Emily gaped. 'Not both of you? What the heck, let's get you all dolled up for it! Come on, it'll be fun. You can borrow two of my dresses; I'll have some sent over for you.'

'Ugh, if you have to...' Lyra was not going down without a fight, 'But no make-up!'

Emily stared at her incredulously, emerald eyes wide. 'You can at least have make-up! And you won't mind me charming away that horrible navy-and-brown hair colour you have. What about you, Alio?'

'Protesting isn't worth the effort once you have your mind set,' she answered succinctly, tucking her wavy short snowy hair behind her ear to better eat dinner.

'That's the spirit. Now you need dates,' Emily looked around.

'As if you have one!' Lyra accused.

'I'm going with Dan Harvey, from Slytherin,' Emily spotted a target and ran over to them further down the table, 'Hey Lucky, are any of you guys dateless for the ball?'

'Well yeah!' he grinned, messing up his messy chocolate hair. 'Most of us haven't asked anyone yet. Who's asking?'

'Well, believe it or not but Lyra and Alio are still free. Does this 'us' include you?'

He grinned. 'Actually it does. I take it lover boy Tracey hasn't asked Lyra, then? I think Sean's still free. You know Sean Ward, right?'

'Yeah, I think so. Black hair, blue eyes, kind of tall, right?'

'That's the guy. He's pretty ... studious, so I think he'll have something in common with Alio.'

'Thanks much, Lucky.' Emily laughed.

'No, thank you,' Felix bowed dramatically.

Emily returned to the others and told them the news. 'Now we wait.'

* * *

Soon enough the day of the ball arrived. Lyra had almost put the unsettling thought out of her mind when she was ambushed early in the morning.

'Wakey wakey, rise and shine. I'm all for beauty sleep but we have work to do!' Emily's voice penetrated Lyra's sleeping mind.

'Whaaa...' she groggily sat up, rubbing her eyes. 'You crazy? It's Saturday, I wanna sleep...' she let out a big yawn.

'You look like a lion when you yawn,' Emily replied distastefully.

'Aren'cha gonna wake the others...?'

'It's 10 so they're up already. You're going to miss breakfast if you don't go soon...'

The retiring Lyra quickly leaped out of bed as this new argument registered, and was changed and downstairs almost instantly.

As soon as she was finished with what was on her plate Lyra was ushered back upstairs with Aliorumnas by the fiendish rich girl with a goal.

'Now team, meet the subjects.' Emily announced to the room of third year Ravenclaws. 'Item one is Lyra Alvey, Quidditch extraordinaire and genuine sports nut. Usually seen hair dyed with cheap Muggle products wearing trainers and tee-shirts.

'Item two is Aliorumnas 'Alio' Argall, studious girl with a mysterious past and oddly white hair. Often seen doing homework in her uniform.

'Ok, firstly we do the hair,' Emily instructed, leading them into the bathroom where she had already set up a makeshift salon. The assistants sat the girls at the two prepared sinks and began washing their hair. 'Now we mix a little of this special hair-dying potion into the shampoo and conditioner of item one.'

Once their hair was washed, Emily had their hair styled.

'Now for the make-up.' Emily announced, quickly going about it.

The girls sat rather uncomfortably as they weren't allowed to see a mirror until the makeover was complete.

'And now the dresses!' Emily had them brought in and put on the subjects, making adjustments where she saw fit.

'Now for the final touch ... shoes and accessories!'

Soon enough the makeover was complete, although in reality it took many hours. However, as there were rest breaks in between when Emily and some of the assistants left mysteriously they had time to relax.

Emily stood in front of the girls, triumphant. 'You can both get up and turn around now.' She announced proudly.

The girls did so and gasped. 'Is that me?' Lyra asked dumbly.

'Well I certainly wasn't expecting this,' Aliorumnas admitted.

'Glad you like it. Now for the moment of truth: we meet your dates in the common room!'

She led them to the common room where they met their dates looking better than ever.

Felix was dressed in a classic black pinstriped suit with a pale gold tie which brought out his golden eyes. His chocolate hair was gelled for a neater look to suit Lyra's pinned-back auburn ladylike bun decorated with pale gold ribbon. Her dress was a pale gold strapless with an at-the-knee semi-sheer panelling skirt. The look was finished with simple black shiny Mary Janes, a simple white gold charm bracelet and a small tiger's eye hanging from a white gold chain necklace. She had on simple but natural-looking eyeliner and mascara with bit of pink lip-gloss and faint gold eye shadow.

Sean arrived in a stunning midnight blue dress suit with a lavender shirt and a silver tie, his blue eyes gleaming with intelligence and black hair short, straight and neatly placed. Aliorumnas wore an equally stunning floor-length midnight blue gown with (though unseen) silver three-inch sandal heels to lessen the height difference. Her hair was pinned back with silver clips and she wore an amethyst chip bracelet and a diamond diamond silver necklace. Her eyeliner was midnight blue and her mascara black, her face had a silver shimmer on it, with light lavender eye shadow, and her lips were a slightly darker shade of pink.

Finally they left the room to meet Dan Harvey in the Entrance Hall, the two couples walking arm-in-arm.

'You look great,' Felix said finally.

'You look pretty snazzy yourself,' Lyra replied with a cheeky grin, breaking the illusion of her having completely changed.

Sean and Aliorumnas exchanged similar compliments.

They finally arrived and met Dan, who wore a grey suit with a scarlet vest, matching Emily's scarlet dress, and a white tie over a charcoal shirt. His black hair was back in a short ponytail and his charcoal eyes glimmered. Emily's dress had a long skirt with a cut up one side to the mid-thigh with glamorous plunging v-neck-line. This was accentuated with an onyx gold necklace with matching earrings as well as scarlet eyeliner and black mascara to accentuate her startling green eyes and very faint charcoal eye shadow. For shoes she wore simple shiny red pumps and her hair was in an Asian messy bun held together with one large red ornate clip.

'Wow, you look amazing!' Dan complimented his date and the three couples made their way into the Great Hall to dance the night away.