A/N : Dear readers, terribly sorry for the delay. My laptop had some trouble with the keyboards, in particular, the alphabet a, the number 1 and the left and up arrows. The service center decided to replace it. Unfortunately, since they had to source the keyboard from out of town, I had to be patient and wait for a week. It's frustrating, and now, I have to deal with backlogs from everything. Enjoy the story.

Chapter 27

In which Harriet established a muggle skin care business in the Wizarding World

Draco really should have known better, that when the girl who cursed you to a bad hair day all of a sudden invited you to a party, there should have been a catch. He buried his face in his hands once he saw the girls sitting comfortably in their pajamas, giggling together while painting each other's nails. Beside him, Theo watched in half fascination, half mortification, the quick shuffling of colors in Professors Higgs and Snape's faces as they realized just what they had been invited to.

"...I was at home when I got it," Padma said as she created a miniature raven in Harriet's toe nails. "Which was a surprise since Parvati was older and she hasn't gotten hers yet up till now. But anyways, my Mama taught us both the necessary charms, and I got this cute silver hair clip to mark the day I come of age. Parvati was so jealous of it, but she was told to wait until she got hers, then we will have this big function to celebrate it together."

Harriet nodded. "I went to a party once, but my Aunt said that I'd likely get it during the school term, so she prepared everything and told me to host a party by myself if it does come during the school year." She pointed to a basket near the table and smiled. "I thought it'll be nice to eat dinner first before trying those."

And then she noticed Draco trying to escape the obviously girl party and said brightly.

"Welcome to my coming of age party! We've been waiting for you to start the feast!"

She had the most evil smirk on her face that had the girls giggling and Daphne, sweet, evil Daphne, deliberately moved to block the door. With a put upon sigh, Draco and Theo sit on the floor while Professors Higgs and Snape settle in one of the sofas.

Draco frowned as he perused the spread on the low tables.

"Why is everything red?" he asked cautiously.

"Because it's my coming of age party." Harriet said serenely.

"But your favorite color is not red. They're something purplish" he said, recalling the color of last year's first date and most of her things.

There's nothing wrong with the color of red, of course. It's just so…Gryffindorish, and there are no Gryffindor in the room at the moment.

"Well, it's because…you know what happened when girls come of age, don't you?" she asked.

Three heads shook negatively, as Professor Higgs calmly sipped his tea with the most nonchalance expression he could summon. Severus looked at him questioningly and he sighed before answering.

"It's strictly girls' knowledge. If you ask your mother or sister, I'm sure they would have said that it was none of your business. Which is something I completely agreed to. But if my Lady wanted to have a party to celebrate hers, then a party is what she get. Though, I have to question the wisdom of telling them about such a private business. Could we just have a party and be merry instead of making some of us uncomfortable?" He looked pointedly to Harriet.

Harriet smiled at him indulgently."of course not, I couldn't let them suffer under the illusion of being delivered by a thunderbird, of all things, to their homes."

"We're not?" Draco asked.

"Aww, I had been hoping that it was true too." Theo whined. "At least the thunderbird theory is what I wanted to believe."

"You mean, you know?!" Draco snapped at his friend. "Theo! I thought we were best friends since we were babies. You should have told me everything!"

Theo looked away uncomfortably. "I might have caught my parents in flagrante delicto, and Father decided to just tell me rather than suffer the embarrassment of trying to explain why a baby that was supposed to be delivered by thunderbirds required the strange act they were performing, especially since Mother got pregnant after and gave birth with only me and an elderly healer in the manor. In between the screaming bouts, threats and no thunderbirds in sight, you can say that I was extremely well educated on the matter."

"Theo, I'm impressed" Daphne said with batted eyelashes.

"I was eight, thank you for asking," Theo said dryly.

"Why weren't you sent out of the house?" Su Li asked. "I was sent to my grandfather the moment my mother found out she was pregnant to keep up with the thunderbird story. I was told of the true story after I came of age last month."

"My mother didn't want me out of her sight, and turns out, she was lucky I was there. Father was out on business, and St Mungo was unable to send any healers due to an outbreak of dragon pox, so we were stuck with my great aunt Thelma who delivered Father, and her hands were not as steady as when she was younger. (she celebrated her 189th birthday and decided to visit with Father). She dragged me by the ears from my studies and instructed me on what to do. My sister's birth certificate had my name on the healer's section." Theo elaborated.

"That's …interesting." Padma said.

"Traumatizing is the word you looked for, but anyways, I delivered Theodosia, and Theresa last summer. Mother figured that she's more comfortable with me than with other healers, and Great Aunt Thelma was there to supervise. She's been trying to prepare me for a healer apprenticeship after I finished Hogwarts." he said with a face.

"So..what do we do in this…coming of age party?" Professor Snape asked to steer the conversation from childbirth to a more neutral topic.

Harriet tilted her head. "The party I attended had this debate topic of what is best to use during our period, The Pads vs. Tampons thing that I was kinda interested, but Madame Pomfrey taught me a charm, and I think it's more preferable than the others."

"Pads?"

"Tampons?"

"What's a period?"

"Harriet!" that was a scandalized Daphne.

"Or we could play games instead." she amended.

Wizards are prudes, after all.

A few hours later, while they were trying out the basket of skincare that Mrs. Kim sent, the sound of a door knock made Harriet stand up to open the classroom door. Standing outside were Professors McGonagall, Flitwick and Dumbledore.

"Hello Ms. Potter…what is that on your face?!" Professor McGonagall screeched as she saw the mud-covered face.

"Good evening, Professors, this is a Dead Sea Mud Mask. It's good for the skin. Would you like to join us?" she asked politely.

Professor Dumbledore looked curious and peeked inside, his eyebrows raised as he saw seven mud mask covered faces looking back at him. Four sour expression glaring at him belonged to Professors Higgs and Snape, Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Nott, while the other relaxed three belonged to Ms. Patil, Ms. Su and Ms. Greengrass.

"Hmm, I believe that all the missing students and professors have been located. But I must ask, what is the purpose of this mud mask, my dear?"

Harriet lifted the now empty container and read the labels.

"Healing your skin, infusing anti-bacteria and reducing inflammation. It's a skin care routine, Professor. It will keep our skin healthy if done regularly."

He took the container of her hand and read it for himself and hummed curiously. Then his eyes caught the basket with different shapes and similarly labeled containers.

"And what of those?" He entered the room and picked the containers to examine them.

"Oh, it's just the other products. We're doing the complete steps today. But the mud mask is only once or twice a week. The others are more regularly used. Daily, even." Harriet explained. "It's a gift from a client. She swore by it, and judging that she looked to be in her thirties while she was actually 45, I believed her."

Professor McGonagall looked interested, so Harriet led her to a sofa and started applying cleanser while explaining what she did to the professor.

"Fascinating."

The other two professors declined the treatment

"we're too old already, my dear. and I'm comfortable with my appearance." Professor Dumbledore said serenely, but he watched what she was doing with interest.

They ended up staying for the whole skin care routine until Harriet applied the last one and announced that they are done. Professor McGonagall touched her face in wonder and asked how to purchase the products for daily use.

Harriet looked thoughtful, and then said, "I'll source it."