When Arik woke up the next morning she was scared to see her room in complete shambles. Taking a deep breath she opened her eyes and looked around.
"Well it's not that bad," she said to herself, "But if Mother sees it I'll never see the light of day again." So she quickly set off to repair everything she could.
The second she had repaired her last perfume bottle, she heard a pop in her room, Arik spun around to see her house elf, Grace, standing by her dresser.
"Good morning Missus Arik." She squeaked.
"Good morning Grace, how are you?" Arik was always kind to her house elf, she saw no need to be cruel to her, she had never done anything to hurt her.
The little elf blushed, "I am good Missus, but Madam Williams has ordered me up here to ensure you are getting ready for tonight."
Arik groaned at the reminder which Grace took as bad and started beating herself with a shoe arik had let out."Bad Grace! Made Missus upset! Bad Grace!"
Arik grabbed the shoe away from Gracce and hrew it into the closet. "Grace, don't hurt yourself over that, you didn't do anything to maek me upset, I had forgotten about the dinner." She smiled down at the elf as she said this trying to prove she was ok.
Grace wiped her huge eyes and loked up at her. "I'm sorry Missus, i thought I had upset you." Arik shook her head as Grace continued. "Madam Williams wanted you to get up and shower, so she sent Grace up to wake you up and tell you."
Arik laughed a bit and looked at her door, "Thank you Grace, I'll go do that now."
Grace sprung into action when Arik said this, getting clothes ready for after the shower and scurrying to the bathroom to turn on the faucets.
Arik waited on her bed until Grace came out and announced that her shower was ready. As she stepped into the bathroom she dismissed Grace and said she'd call her after the shower.
After her shower Arik felt refreshed and got dressed in the clothes Grace had layed out. Looking into the mirror, she admired how her legs looked in her skinny jeans and how the shirt went perfectly with it. She called Grace back as she headed down the stairs to see her parents again.
"Missus looks better than she did last night" Grace beamed up at her master.
"Thanks Grace, now where's Mother and Father?" Arik asked as she looked for them.
"They have gone out to get your dress for this evening."Grace stated.
"What do you mean 'My Dress'? I already have pleanty." It was true, every formal occasion, her parents made her get a new dress.
Grace looked around. "The Nott Family has requested that you wear a special dress that they picked out for this occasion, your mother and father went to go get it."
Arik groaned, "It's probably going to be an old horrible dress."
When Arik's parents returned later that day, they carried the new dress for Arik, along with decorations for the house. Her mother went up to Arik's room and found her sleeping, she gently placed the parcel that held Arik's dress in it on her floor trying not o disturb her, then walked over to her sleeping form and kissed her forehead. "I love you darling." she softly said as she walked out to order the house elves to start the decorating.
When Arik awoke this time she found a box on her floor and opened it to reveal a rich navy strapless dress with gold along all the edges. The dress was floor length but not heavy like she had been expecting, it had an empire waist and the bottom flowed out from it. Arik admitted she was wrong, this dress was beautiful, nothing at all like what she was expecting. The dress seemed like it was made just for her, no one heard the pop of Grace apparating into her room, and turned to greet the elf.
"Missus, Madam Williams says it is time to get ready." Grace said looking at the dress.
She sat Arik down and began to do her make up, the whole time she made Arik face away from the mirror and covered any reflective surface. When she was done with makeup, she got Arik into her gown . Arik looked down at her self and saw just how much the bottom flowed, it seemed to have a pulse of its own the way it seemed to shimmer and mover around her legs. Grace got her attention again and started to do her hair. Arik could feel Grace using magic on her hair, curling it and twisting it until finally she said she was done.
"Over here Missus," She said dragging Arik to the center of her room. "Grace will show you." With that she snapped and all the covverings vanished, Arik was in shock when she saw her reflection. Surely this couldn't be her.