5. Catastrophe
Author's Note: The title of this story is a song by Kelly Clarkson. I don't own it, and I don't own Harry Potter either.
Aha, I totally didn't plan this chapter; this was meant to include a short couple of paragraphs describing Rose's outfit followed by the Halloween party itself. I started writing, however, and didn't stop. So sorry, guys! The Halloween party is coming up next chapter, which should be posted on Wednesday. I'm going to university today so that's when I'll be back.
I love you guys and I'm so grateful for the reviews I've received so far, so keep 'em comin'! ;D
Over the next few days, Rose realized just how idiotic she had been. Why did she have to brag about having the best costume? As it were, she'd be lucky to get one at all. She was empty of inspiration and couldn't think of anything to go as; jealousy filled her when she heard her cousin Roxanne speaking about her own outfit. Roxanne was going as a Veela. Rose wondered what she could possibly wear that would make her look more gorgeous- she could already pass easily as at least a half-Veela. Fleetingly, Rose considered dressing as the Muggles' impression of witch. Then she immediately dismissed that idea and went back to the drawing board.
James suggested she go as a wizard. There were some great fake beards at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, he told her; and Uncle George might give her one for free if she asked nicely. Albus gave her the idea of going as a Blast-Ends Skrewt. Rose told him where he could stick that idea. Louis suggested she wear her Quidditch robes and be done with it, but she couldn't win a prize if she went dressed like that. In the end, it was Roxanne who helped her out. Apparently, she said, she'd been torn between going as a Veela or a fairy. She'd whipped up a pair of pale blue fairy wings in her preparation before she changed her mind, which she pushed into Rose's hands the night before the Halloween ball. "Just pair anything with them" she'd snapped.
That was how, at nine o'clock the next morning, Rose ended up skipping her first lesson and sneaking out of the castle. She went to the costume shop at the furthest end of Hogsmeade, lying to the owner – who recognized her immediately – by saying that she was on a trip. The only things she could find that would match the wings at all were a white corset with light blue, see-through netting sleeves that hung loose and long, and a pair of brown gladiator-style sandals with straps that wound up her calves. She bought them – which cost two Galleons; two Galleons! – and slipped back to her dormitory, where she spent the next three hours trying to find something to wear on her bottom half that would match.
While she searched, she read up on a spell that she could use in order to attach the wings to the corset temporarily. The clothing itself was nice and, since it had cost a bomb, she fully expected to wear it again in the future. Besides, the sleeves were blue- they matched her eyes.
Once the spell had been performed, she'd managed to narrow her clothing choices down. She had a pair of white leggings and a long, blue sarong-scarf thing. If she could fashion the flimsy sarong into a skirt, it would be perfect. The leggings would do as a second choice, though. Even if they did make her bum look fat.
Rose was only interrupted once, by one of her classmates. The girl had looked at her and raised an eyebrow. It was clear what Rose was doing: skipping the lessons of the day to fix last minute details on her costume. There was no denying it. Luckily, the girl just rolled her eyes and retrieved the book that she had come up for, before leaving again. Once she was alone again, Rose checked the clock on the wall. Not only had she missed break, she'd missed lunch and it was already fifteen minutes into dinner. Lessons had ended over an hour ago. A loud rumble of her stomach seemed to emphasize that fact, but she couldn't leave until she'd sorted out her outfit. The party started at eight, and it was around five o'clock already.
So she stayed, transfiguring the sarong-scarf piece of clothing until she had something that wrapped around her hips and actually stayed up. Once she'd got the top with the wings on and the sandals, she actually found that she looked quite nice. As she stood in the mirror, observing her flushed cheeks and her messy red strands of hair tucked behind her ears, she felt quite proud of herself. She'd managed to pull this outfit out of her ass in less than two days, and felt incredibly fulfilled. One hand wandered up to twirl in her hair, and she pulled on the brightly-coloured strands as her eyes narrowed. Something had to be done about her hair.
That's how she ended up in the Prefect's bathroom – password courtesy of Albus, of course – with the door locked, her wand at the ready and a book of beauty spell remedies propped open on the sink. Fairies didn't have ugly red hair, she told herself. That was going to have to change. The incantation that was supposed to change orange to blonde was complicated, though, and Rose had to repeat it to herself several times before she felt she had it right. Chiaro Inficio. She practiced the wand movement – that was shown in a practical diagram in the book – as she stared fiercely into the mirror. Finally, she took a deep breath.
"Chiaro Inficio!" she called, flicking her wand and stuttering slightly despite herself.
The area around her head exploded into a fog of grey smoke, stinging Rose's eyes and making her hack and cough as she attempted to get it out of her lungs. She dropped her wand to the floor and knocked the beauty spell book off the sink as she flailed around, trying to rid the air of the putrid smoke. Eventually, it cleared, but when she looked into the mirror, she almost wished that it hadn't. Her hair was such a light shade of blonde that it was almost white- except for the tips, which had been burnt black by the strength of the spell and the heat from her wand. The locks, which had once been shiny and clean, were rendered lank and greasy by the enchantment, and they clung to her face unpleasantly.
There was a moment of silence as Rose looked at herself, but that was soon broken as she screeched in dismay, grabbing her hair and falling to her knees on the tiles. She scrabbled about desperately for the book, which she pulled to her and flicked through the pages so fast that they almost ripped under the pressure. There seemed to be no instructions in the book for what happened when the incantations went wrong, but Rose continued to search ceaselessly. Tears dripped down her flushed, freckle-spattered cheeks before she even knew what was happening.
But it got worse.
The entrance to the bathroom rattled as someone in the hallway outside attempted to get in. Rose whimpered in fear and humiliation- she feared she'd die if someone came in and caught her in such a state. "What the hell?" someone asked outside, trying again and making the entrance rattled harder. Rose froze, before cringing and letting out a dismayed sob when she heard a voice accompany the second. There was some incoherent chatter, before a voice with much more authority called out. "Is there someone in there? By order of the Headmistress, students aren't allowed to lock themselves in the Prefects bathroom."
Rose recognized that haughty voice, and didn't know whether to cringe or laugh in relief. It was Roxanne. With a sniff, Rose realized that she had to face the music, and struggled to her feet. She moved to the entrance of the bathroom and murmured, "Roxanne, it's Rose. I'm in here. I've had... a bit of a problem."
"What kind of a problem?"
"Have you got anyone with you?"
"Yeah- Callie. What's the matter, Rose?"
Rose paused. She didn't like the idea of someone who wasn't family seeing her when she was such an absolute mess. Still, if anyone was going to fix her hair it was going to be Roxanne. She turned and rushed back to the sink on shaky legs, retrieving her wand from the floor and releasing the lock on the bathroom. Roxanne and her tall, brown-haired best friend Callie burst in almost comically, freezing dead when they saw Rose's hair. Roxanne's mouth fell open and Callie stifled hysterical giggles behind her hand until Roxanne punched her sharply on the arm. She approached Rose slightly cautiously, touching her face gently to turn it from side to side, revealing more of her horrific hair.
"I don't think I pronounced the incantation right," Rose informed her sadly, quite a master of pointing out the obvious.
Roxanne stared at her for a moment, before snapping into action. "Right: Callie, I have a selection of dye in my school trunk upstairs. Go and get the red o-"
"I'm not going back to my natural colour- get the blonde one," Rose interrupted, leading Roxanne over to the sink and the mirror. She plucked at her hair as she spoke, rubbing off the burnt edges as best she could. Her cousin stared at her for a moment, before confirming the hair colour and telling Rose to try and wash off the worst of the soot. Callie came jogging back a few minutes later, sealing the entrance to the bathroom once more for privacy.
"Sit here," Roxanne ordered, bringing a wicker chair from beside the entrance and placing it in front of the sink, "and don't try and interfere. I'll fix your hair, I promise- so long as you don't stick your oar in." The Head Girl set to work, running warm water in the sink and rubbing the dye from the packet that Callie had brought her into Rose's hair. Callie sat cross-legged on the tiles, skimming interestedly through the disastrous spell book.
"Hey, guys. There's a spell in here that apparently stops eyeliner pencil from running, so maybe we could try that after we've-"
"NO!" Rose and Roxanne immediately snapped back. The three girls fell back into silence while they worked.
Several washes and a full dye later, Roxanne had almost finished drying off her cousin's hair with her wand. Where there would have been locks a mixture of auburn, red and orange before, a soft-as-silk blondeness now flowed over her fingers. She flicked her wand, cutting off the supply of hot air, and kicked Rose's chair with her foot. Rose jerked, blinking, and stood up. When she faced the mirror, she gasped. Fluffy and light, her hair – a normal shade of pale blonde, fortunately – curled around her face in gentle, slight waves. For the first time in her life, she was free of the Weasley stereotype, and it felt good. On impulse, she spun around and threw herself into Roxanne's arms. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you..."
Roxanne laughed, disentangling herself from her cousin. "You're welcome." She ran a hand through her own blonde hair and added, "So no, I'm not a natural blonde. There: my secret's out!" With the tanned skin that she got as a mixture from her mother and her father, it had been unlikely that her hair colour was genuine anyway. Rose still pretended to look shocked nevertheless.
"I'll see you at the party tonight, Roxie," Rose said, grinning almost maniacally again. She was so relieved that the spell hadn't permanently damaged her hair.
"Alright," Roxanne said. "Make sure you bring your-"
She was interrupted by Callie exploding with laughter. The girls standing turned to look down, confused, as their friend fell backwards onto the tile laughing. They asked what the matter was and, through gasping breaths, Callie gave the reply, "You should really check the labels of the books you read before you take them seriously." She broke off to giggle again. "This one's a Weasley's Wizard Wheezes product! Did you buy this?"
Rose, outraged that the book was full of prank spells, snapped, "Of course not!" Her happy bubble had been momentarily popped.
"Where did you get it from?" Callie asked, wiping tears of mirth from her eyes.
"James got it me for Christmas, and- ohhhh," Rose cut off, giving herself a gentle slap to the head. "Of course it was a prank book!" The comprehension was soon replaced with anger, though, as she added fiercely, "He better have such a good costume that he's unrecognizable, I'm telling you, because if I get my hands on him..."
