Allyna tossed and turned all night. She'd dozed for only minutes at a time. She laid there, smiling at the ceiling. She couldn't believe he had agreed. She snuggled down into the blankets and replayed the scene over and over in her head again. "If that is what you wish, Allyna." he'd said. Yes, it was what she wanted! If he'd known how often she'd had dreams of him, of dancing with him, a dance in the middle of the dance floor during the Yule ball surrounded by everyone, he'd never have said "If that is what you wish."
She blushed and buried her face in the pillow. "Tempus," she said softly and glared at the glow from her wand as it read 3:42a.m. Ugh, she needed to get some sleep. She was going to be completely useless today. She was incredibly glad that today was only a partial-day of classes so that the students could travel to Hogsmeade and find dress robes, dresses and accessories needed for a ball.
Hermione was going to the Yule ball with Ron, Ginny with Harry, Luna with Neville. But Allyna had turned down everyone who had asked her to attend the ball with them. She didn't know why, they just all seemed wrong. As if there was something wrong with her, she knew that none of these boys were the right one for her to go with. Once again, Severus crept into her thoughts. She sighed and turned onto her stomach, pulling the pillow over her head and closing her eyes. She let herself slip into dreams, dreams that starred the snarky Potions Master prominently.
She growled when her wand began to beep, she'd set it to wake her at seven. She threw herself into a cool shower to wake herself up, shivering with cold as she left the stall. She dried her hair quickly with her wand and then pulled on her school uniform and robes. Her makeup was less of a punch today, as she didn't wish to bring a lot of attention to the bags under her eyes. She could glamour it, but she'd always considered that a waste of magic for little things like that or acne.
She hurried down to the Great Hall for breakfast, smiling when Harry, Ron and Hermione waved at her from the Gryffindor table and Luna smiled at her from Ravenclaw. She sat on the end of her bench as usual, taking only a bagel and a little cream cheese. She smiled remembering that the house elves had taken to making very American-style breakfast foods for Allyna. No kippers for her. She poured a glass of orange juice into her goblet and ate swiftly, her eyes flickering over the teacher's table, noticing that Professor Snape was not among them. She hoped with everything in her being that he had not been called before the Dark Lord again.
She noticed that everyone, especially the girls, were excited for the half-day so that they could race to Hogsmeade immediately after classes were released for the day at ten a.m. She caught snatches of conversation as she ate, especially from Pansy Parkinson and her twitter-headed little friends about some fabulous new shop named Splendiferous. Allyna nearly choked at the name; Great Merlin, who comes up with a name like that for a dress shop?
She smiled when the mail came in, including a copy of the new Quibbler that Luna had set her up with. As she flipped through the magazine quickly, she noticed an ad for a new dress shop in Hogsmeade as well, called Ethereal. She smiled and decided she would try there for a dress first. She looked up and saw Hermione, Luna and Ginny sitting together at the end of the Ravenclaw table where Luna usually sat. Allyna hopped up and wandered over to them. "Hello ladies!" she said, finally feeling a wee bit of excitement herself. She told herself yet again it wasn't because Severus had promised to save her a dance.
The other three girls greeted her just as enthusiastically. Allyna threw the Quibbler down, open to the page with the ad. "I think we should try this shop first. What do you think?"
Luna, of course, agreed instantly. After all, it was in her father's publication. Hermione and Ginny looked not quite so sure, but finally agreed. Allyna smiled and clapped, making the Hermione and Ginny giggle at her enthusiasm. "Oh damn!" Allyna said, catching sight of the time on her watch. The other girls groaned and gathered their packs as well and they hurried off to their classes.
Allyna was desperately glad her first class was History of Magic. And thank Merlin, it was a section she had studied the year before in her own classes in the States. She was able to keep up and take notes, but she knew she was going to have to get a nap in some time today, or she'd be falling asleep during the ball itself. She answered a few questions correctly, earning Slytherin twenty points and a few angry glances from her fellow Gryffindors in the classroom. She smiled and shrugged.
Her second-and last-class of the day was Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid. Hagrid was certainly pleasant enough. She smiled when he began talking of Hippogriffs. She'd heard the story about how Draco Malfoy had deliberately insulted one and had ended up in the hospital ward from Hermione. And about how Hermione had punched him in the nose when he'd been a git about getting his father to petition to have the beautiful creature Buckbeak destroyed. Allyna admitted she'd have punched him too. But there was a secret smile on Hermione's face that told Allyna that something had happened and "Beaky" hadn't gotten the axe meant for him.
Allyna was thrilled when Hagrid allowed her to be one of the first to be "introduced" to the Hippogriff that day, since she only would have the class a few more times that year, depending on her schedule, and the Hippogriff section was only a few classes close to being done. So Allyna happily entered the "pen" where the Hippogriff, Lyrica, waited. She watched Hagrid closely, listening as he explained the procedure though she was familiar with it already from her talk that morning with Hermione.
She took three confident strides forward towards Lyrica and then bowed deeply. Lyrica almost seemed to chortle and bowed back. Then the Hippogriff surprised them all when she immediately sauntered over to Allyna and began to nuzzle her and preen her hair with her beak. Even Hagrid looked a bit stunned. "Ne'er seen that b'fore," he admitted. Allyna just shrugged. She was used to the weird and unusual.
But before she could say much, Hagrid had lifted her onto Lyrica's back, surprising her. She wrapped her legs around the Hippogriff's sides as she would one of her grandmother's horses. She wound her fingers gently into Lyrica's feathers and waited. Within seconds, Lyrica took off at a gallop before lifting into the air. It took Allyna's breath away; she could feel every pull and tug of Lyrica's muscles as she used her wings and her back and front legs to paw at the air.
She looked down and was amazed at the sight before her. Hogwarts was glinting in the sunlight, and she could see students the size of ants as they moved around the grounds. As Lyrica flew over the Black Lake, Allyna could see the Giant Squid, and she would have sworn that it was waving at her. She waved back, of course. As Lyrica turned to land, she noticed a figure standing on the Astronomy tower, long black robes twisting in the wind. Severus had watched her flying, she smiled to herself at the thought. The landing was as smooth as the flight, Lyrica sliding to a halt in front of Hagrid. The half-giant helped her down and handed her a dead ferret to feet to Lyrica. Allyna smiled and turned to the Hippogriff, "Thank you," she said and bowed to Lyrica again. Lyrica leaped to her back feet, saluting Allyna with a fierce cry. Allyna smiled and tossed the treat to Lyrica.
Hagrid looked at Allyna oddly. "Never seen a Hippogriff do that to a human. That's a herd reaction, to a fellow member. Odd, innit?" he said, as Allyna hid a smile. "Quite," she replied.
"Class dismissed!" Hagrid called out, and all the students headed to the castle to change and leave for Hogsmeade. Allyna ran to her room and showered and changed quickly. She dressed in warm jeans, a white turtleneck and a Slytherin green sweater over it. She also took her warm, fur-lined cloak and dragon-hide gloves that had a warming charm embedded into them. She wrapped the cloak around herself and pulled on the gloves as she reached the doors. She saw Luna, Hermione and Ginny waiting for her and hurried over. "This morning was amazing! I got to ride a Hippogriff!" she shouted as she reached them. They gathered around her asking questions while they waited to be released to go down to the village.
Finally they were told they could go, so they walked slowly in the snow. They talked about different things, the dresses they hoped to find, the types of accessories they hoped to find. Allyna smiled, she already had what she needed, besides the dress. It took a bit of looking, but they finally found Ethereal on the very outskirts of the village. It wasn't a large shop, in fact it was the smallest shop that Allyna had ever seen. From the outside, anyways. When entered, the shop was much larger, and Allyna heard Hermione whisper to Ginny something about Undetectable Extension Charms. The girls looked around the room and were, to put it simply, stunned. The dresses that were displayed were unlike anything they had ever seen in any of the catalogs they'd looked through.
As they looked around, a witch that looked to be in her early fifties stepped out from behind a beaded curtain. "Oh, hello! Hello and welcome! My name is Edwina, how can I help you today?"
"We're looking for dresses for the Yule Ball at Hogwart's," Luna told her. "You have lovely dresses, Miss Edwina. Do you have anything in yellow?"
Edwina chuckled. "Ahh, the most wondrous event of a Hogwart's ball. Always quite the do! And dear, yellow is not your color. With that hair and those gorgeous eyes, a deep, rich blue is for you!" Edwina hustled off towards a rack. She returned minutes later with a few dresses. "Now you go try those on, dear, and we'll see if one suits you." She turned to Hermione. "Now you, my dear, those gorgeous curls, those wonderful cinnamon eyes, red is your color." Allyna watched her hustle off to find dresses for Hermione, smiling at the woman, she clearly knew her wares.
A few moments later, Edwina returned with a pile of gowns in different shades of red, from lipstick to wine, and placed them in a changing room. "In you go, my dear, and we shall see." She turned to Ginny and wandered around the younger girl, tapping her lip with her fingernail. "It's a cliché that redheads should wear green, but it's a cliché for a reason. One moment, my darling, one moment!" Edwina exclaimed and headed off towards the racks.
It took her significantly longer to gather dresses for Ginny, but soon she returned with dresses in shades of green from emerald to deepest forest green. She ushered Ginny into a changing room with her stack of gowns. Allyna smiled and waited for Edwina to turn to her. Edwina turned to her and smiled. "Your dress is almost ready, my dear. All I need is your measurements, come with me," the older witch ordered and beckoned Allyna back behind the beaded curtain.
"Strip down to your under things dear, so I can get a proper measurement. Do not worry, there are wards against anyone else looking into the room and seeing anything. The beads there are a charm of my own making, no one can see...or take a picture...of anything in this room. It's just us. Now strip, then hop up onto that ottoman." Allyna nodded and began to shrug out of her clothing. She stood up onto the ottoman, pleased at the fluffy, but sturdy, feel of the cushion under her toes. It felt like standing on a pile of marshmallows.
"Will you be wearing flats or heels, my dear?" Edwina asked.
"Heels, ma'am," Allyna answered.
"Ma'am. I like that, hahahaha." Edwina asked, pulling out a measuring tape. "Arms up!" she ordered and Allyna placed her arms over her head. Edwina whispered a quick charm and the measuring tape wrapped itself around Allyna's chest, waist, hips and then her ankles and around her feet, which made her raise an eyebrow. "Done," Edwina said, and nodded for Allyna to get down.
Allyna complied and redressed herself. As she stepped out of the room, she gasped as she saw her friends. Luna's dress was as if it were designed for a Greek goddess, done in a slash from her right shoulder and flowing to the ground in a deep sapphire blue. It was gathered beneath her dress with a golden sun-shaped disc over her heart. The waist was nipped in with a blue-and-gold woven belt that hung off one hip in a fall of fringe done in miniscule beads. Her skin glowed with health, her eyes seemed deeper and luminous. Her hair seemed richer and even hanging down her back as it did, she looked amazing.
Ginny was simply stunning. The emerald green of her dress made her orange-red hair glow, offset her pale skin with a peach tone and made her blue eyes dance. The dress itself was reminiscent of a medieval queen, with long sweeps of fabric hanging from the wrists. The emerald was also embroidered all over with gold-and-silver threads, from the part in the skirt all the way up her chest to where it wrapped around her throat. The skirt parted over a mass of cream-colored underskirt that was embroidered in blue, green and gold in a rampant lioness pattern. It suited the Gryffindor girl immensely.
Hermione's dress, however, was shockingly beautiful. The bodice was simple, wine-colored velvet with cap sleeves and a corseted front. But the velvet was embroidered with black thread that was so close to the wine-colored velvet that it looked as if it were embroidered in a beautiful rose patter by shadows. It vee-d at the waist before flaring out. It fell in layers of wine-colored silk puffing out at the based enough that it wouldn't hamper movement. Hermione's rose-and-cream skin seemed to shimmer under wine-colored dress. Her hair shone with health and her eyes seemed deep and mysterious. It was, without a doubt, the perfect dress for her.
They looked expectantly at Allyna and were disappointed that she wasn't wearing a dress. "Don't worry, dears, her dress will be delivered tomorrow in plenty of time for the ball. Now then, let's get yours wrapped up, shall we?" The girls hurried to take off their chosen dresses, while Allyna waited for them at the counter. They eagerly handed over their galleons and took their packages. "Oh girls, if you are looking for shoes and accessories, may I suggest my sister's shop Influences? It's two streets over." The girls waved as they left and took Edwina's advice and went looking for Influences.
They found the shop easily enough, it had quite a large sign. The opened the door and a playful little bell rang above their heads. Immediately a younger witch, perhaps in her thirties popped out of a back room. "Welcome! I'm Drusilla! How may I help you today?" The girls explained about the ball again.
"Well now, what are your colors?" she asked and the girls answered her. "I have just the thing for each of you! One moment my dears. Please feel free to look around while I gather what I think you'll need."
So they did, looking around at the shelves of jewelry and shoes, even makeup and perfumes. Allyna found a small glass cobalt-blue bottle of perfume that she quite liked. She held on to it and turned just as Drusilla returned, three boxes in her arms.
"Now then, for you, Luna dear." And she opened a box and the girls gasped. There nestled into the deep blue silk of the box was a beautiful set of earrings and a necklace done in sun-shapes just like the piece on Luna's dress. The jewelry were made of large cabochons of water-clear amber surrounded by glimmering gold. There was even a ring of the amethyst with a sun carved into it. Luna's eyes teared up. "Your young man's going to think you're the most radiant creature in the world," Drusilla whispered to her. Luna nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes.
"Now for you, Ginevra Weasley. Yes, dear, I know exactly who you are, sold your Great-Aunt Muriel her tiara. Don't look at me like that, it's the own woman's fault she has no taste, not mine." Ginny had, in fact, started glaring at the woman, but at the last phrase, stopped and nodded.
"Too right, have you seen the woman's clothes?" Ginny whispered to her friends. They all laughed, including Drusilla who'd obviously overheard.
"Ahh, here we are, Ginny dear." Drusilla said, opening the cask for Ginny. Again the girls all gasped. Against white satin lay thin, shimmering drops of emeralds strung on golden strands. Two teardrop shaped emerald earrings were also laying there. The emeralds were deepest green and beautiful and flawless. Ginny knew they had to be expensive. She sniffed sadly. "There's no way I can afford those."
Drusilla chuckled. "Don't fret, my dear. The very best thing about owning the shop and making the jewelry, is that I get to set the price. Plus the fact that you have infinitely better taste than Muriel works greatly in your favor. Besides, these are pieces meant to be worn for many years to come, perhaps even by your daughters and granddaughters. Now then, Hermione Granger. Oh yes, I know you child, brightest witch of her age and all that. Also infinitely kind, infinitely brave. For you, this:" Drusilla said and opened a box of carved ebony.
"Oh my word!" Hermione cried out. Against black silk lay a pendant shaped like a rose bloom, carved from a single cherry-red ruby. Small ruby stud earrings, guaranteed not to get caught in her masses of curls, also glinted against the silk. A bracelet of gold-and-rubies lay there as well. Hermione looked as though she would cry, and Allyna wrapped an arm around her. "You're going to be stunning, Hermione!" she whispered to her friend.
Drusilla turned to Allyna. "Your jewels, my dear, will arrive with your dress."
Everyone looked surprised, including Allyna. "Y...yes ma'am." Allyna stuttered.
The other girls went to pay for their jewels. True to her word, Drusilla charged much less than what Ginny's jewels should have been worth. But now Allyna was nervous. What was going on? Why did Edwina and Drusilla not give her the dress and jewels now? The girls were suddenly beside her, chattering and walking arm in arm back towards the castle.
As they reached the entrance, Allyna noticed Severus just inside the door, out of the air that was becoming colder by the minute. "You young ladies need to get inside and get warm. Headmaster will have my head if you get frostbite. Ginny and Hermione and Luna all shouted goodbye to Allyna as they hurried up the stairs to their common rooms to change and put away their purchases. Severus noticed Allyna was empty-handed.
"Did you not find anything pleasing?" he asked quietly.
Though still slightly worried, she smiled at Severus. "I have it on greatest authority that my things will arrive tomorrow evening in plenty of time for the ball."
Severus nodded, his thoughts still jumbled over this young woman before him.
"Don't forget your promise, Professor. You owe me a dance!" Allyna said, smiling at him once more before turning and walking to her room to warm herself and dress in clean clothes for dinner.