The first two days without lessons passed in a relaxing manner. Without any tension about her (or any of her roommates) having chosen to wear a corset, they were able to lace and unlace in their shared dormitory in peace. Sarah and Elizabeth would look on with some interest during these times, but made no disparaging comments.

It probably helped, Dora realized, that no one was out of breath upon being laced in, or acted as though the removal of their corset was akin to the removal of a torturous device.

Dora spent a good portion of her free time with her roommates in the common room, alternating between reading and pleasant chatter, where they selected comfortable seats near the ever-present fireplace. It might only be the beginning of September, but a fire was always a welcome sight. After reviewing what they had been up to during their summer holidays, many joined in playing traditional wizarding games, or got a head start on their reading for lessons.

She was not the only one anticipating a larger work load.

When the common room became too noisy, or she wanted some time to herself, Dora took walks. It was on Sunday afternoon that she found herself in the library. One of her favorite places in the castle, it was relatively quiet, being the beginning of the year. She did see several seventh year students, likely Ravenclaw, but even the fifth years hadn't begun to prepare in earnest for their OWLs.

Or, if they had, it was in their tower.

Dora scanned the shelves, halfheartedly wishing she had the nerve to venture into the Restricted Section, but even with the few students there, Madam Pince would likely notice. In fact, the best time to sneak back there would probably be when the library was bustling with students. Something to keep in mind...

Her gaze locked on a very large book called "Ancient and Modern Fashions of the Wizarding World : a Comprehensive Guide." Well. That sounded interesting...

She carefully lifted the book from the shelf, and judging by the dust surrounding the now empty space, it had been quite awhile since anyone had bothered to read it. Not surprising, as it was quite thick. Dora flipped to the back and saw it was just over a thousand pages. A bit more dust escaped the book as she leafed through it, but it mostly landed on the floor.

It was the sort of book for research that Dora liked best-with plenty of illustrations interspersed with the text. The text, too, was easy enough to read. While there was some calligraphy within the pages, it mostly described the illustrations.

Grinning to herself, Dora walked over to an empty table and began to read. Likely as not, she would borrow it, but why not begin it here? Madam Pince certainly wouldn't mind, as long as she remained quiet and was gone before the library closed. As it was early afternoon, hunger for dinner would cause her to leave the library long before it closed for the night.

She began to read.

"The history of attire within the wizarding world is a vivid and varied one unknown to many of the youth today." Here, Dora checked the publication date-1920. "It may be controversial, yet no less true, to observe close parallels between aspects of clothes worn by witches and wizards and the muggles within their surrounding communities. This is far from mere coincidence.

"As witches and wizards have lived wary of being discovered and persuaded to use their talents to free the muggle world of their ills, it became necessary to blend in-or not stand far apart-from their neighbors.

"Some witches and wizards outright refused to dress in this manner, choosing relative isolation over adaptation. Others chose glamours to appear to look like the muggles, while dressing as 'traditional' magical folk did according to the time. Most, as determined by sixty years of study, blended glamours, muggle fashions, and traditional garb.

"The muggle style of dress has changed, particularly over the last century, far more rapidly than that of witches and wizards in Europe. No doubt, in another century, muggles may determine clothes-at least the inner garments-to be unnecessary. The Dress Reform movement, while generally belittled, is evidence that what many took for granted as little as a quarter of a century ago.

"The following documents and analyzes the history of what witches and wizards wore over the last three thousand years.

"Mathilda Hortense Aldershot."

Dora eagerly turned the page.

What felt like only a few minutes later, Dora jumped as a hand brushed her shoulder.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Becky took a seat next to her. "I thought that might be less startling than speaking."

Dora rolled her eyes. "Likely as not, I would have jumped regardless."

Becky giggled. "It's nearly time for dinner, and we weren't sure where you'd gone off to."

Her tone wasn't accusatory-Becky was too polite for that-but there was a note of question in her voice.

Also, Dora suddenly realized that she was quite hungry. She supposed that she'd been too immersed in the book to pay much attention.

"Thanks for fetching me. I was growing hungry, but I reckon I didn't notice it until now." She nodded down at the book. "It's fascinating, and I barely started."

She was only a hundred pages in. The text was rather dense, enough that she often had to read each line more than once, even as many as five times. But it was interesting, maybe even more so than the illustrations, and Dora knew that she would be thinking about it as she tried to get to sleep.

"Perhaps you should have been in Ravenclaw," her best friend teased.

"You're lucky I don't have any pillows nearby to hurl at you," Dora mock threatened, placing her hands on her hips. "Mind if we return to the tower before dinner? I don't have my bag with me."

"Sure. What is it, anyway?"

Keeping a mental note of the page she was on (107), she closed it and handed it over to Becky to examine.

"It's all about fashions from our world. It was published in 1920, too, so it's very old. Looks like it hasn't been taken out since then, considering the amount of dust that came off it when I removed it from the shelf," Dora added, now rising. "A pity, because it's fascinating."

"Sounds it! You'll have to tell me all about it," Becky requested, as they walked towards Madam Pince's desk.

"I will."

The witch gave them an appraising look before taking the book in hand.

"You may borrow this, even though it's one of our older books, but you're to be extra careful with it," the librarian cautioned, removing the card and stamping the back. Upon Dora's promising to do just that, Madam Pince softened. "I see you're the first person to borrow it in some time. Usually someone comes along every decade or so to borrow it," she noted, examining the dates of the past borrowers. "Well. You know the rules."

Dora nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

She might bend the rules at time, but she adhered to the library ones to a tee. She enjoyed the library too much to risk being thrown out, and it was often the only good place to study.

Once in her dormitory, she risked a few seconds to look at the names of previous borrowers. The "once a decade" comment was not, strictly speaking, true. Her mum had borrowed the book within five years of Bellatrix, but Aunt Narcissa was not one of the borrowers. Both her grandmother and her great aunt Walburga had borrowed it before them, interspersed with other names she didn't recognize.

All female names occupied the list of twelve (including her own), and the first was just a year after it had been published. Dora wondered about these girls. Well, older women, now. There were only two names that separated her from her mum's. Likely as not, they were in their early 20's. The rest, at least 40. The first one might be dead. Or perhaps not. If she was as old as 17 in 1921, she'd be nearly 80 now. Witches, in particular, could live much longer than that.

If they didn't contact some disease like Dragon Pox. There was no official census, but it seemed to Dora that witches and wizards (especially wizards) often died even younger than muggles. It simply wasn't that uncommon for a disease that resulted only in a few scars for a child would end a life as young as sixty.

Her own wizarding grandparents were dead, rather proving this fact, while her father's parents were alive and relatively healthy.

She hurried after Becky, trying to dismiss these darker thoughts from her head.

She was, after all, not even fourteen. And her parents were perfectly healthy.

Sunday afternoon turned into the evening, and soon Dora (and four of her roommates) were self lacing or being laced up in their nighttime corsets. Dora fell asleep quickly, and rose only when the sun shone in through the windows, signaling the beginning of a new day and a new term.

In the Great Hall, timetables for each student, instead of generic ones for each house year, arrived midway through breakfast. Dora scanned over hers to find that she would have Divination as her first lesson, then Charms. After lunch, she would attend Muggle Studies, followed by Potions.

Dora let out a long sigh at the last part, and she was hardly the only one. Perhaps it was better to have Potions at the start of the week instead of the end, but it would put a damper on the end of each weekend. Dora knew that Snape treated the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw class slightly better than he did the Gryffindors, but that was like comparing a broken ankle to a sprained one.

Well, there was nothing she could do about it, except perhaps dread it. In the meantime, there were two new lessons to keep her occupied...

"Potions on the first day!" Becky lamented from her seat beside Dora, speaking in her usual quiet voice. "Rotten luck."

"At least we'll get it out of the way," Sarah offered, but her face was glummer than it had been moments before.

"Look on the bright side. We'll be over halfway finished by the end of the year," Morwenna offered.

Hannah snorted. "Assuming he doesn't kill us before then."

Dora had to snigger at this. To her knowledge, Snape had never murdered a student.

She scanned her timetable again and saw that Divination was located in the North Tower. They'd explored it before, but never attended lessons there. It was quite a distance from the Great Hall.

"I expect that those of us taking Divination ought to leave," she suggested, trying not to sound like she was being bossy. "It's all the way in the North Tower."

"And it's not as though you'll be able to run easily," Elizabeth pointed out, mildly.

"Yes, that's true," Dora agreed, with a smile.

The first part of the journey wasn't terribly difficult. Unfortunately, climbing the staircases presented enough of a challenge that they had to pause to get their breath back. Then, when Sir Cadogan offered his assistance, they nearly lost sight of him twice. Dora felt very winded by the time they reached the classroom, and all of her corseted friends could hardly speak for trying to regain their breath. Eventually, the color returned to their faces, and they entered the classroom without further problems.

"We ought to leave the Great Hall at least ten minutes earlier," Demelza murmured.

"I say fifteen," Sarah laughed. "Are you sure you're all right?"

They assured her that they were, now.

"Might be best to lace a bit looser on Mondays," Demelza murmured.

Dora didn't entirely disagree, even though it was a bit disappointing. She was just shy of seventeen and three quarters, now. But, as her mum had said, she must never push herself too far.

The lesson was certainly unlike any other she'd had. Professor Trelawney seemed kind enough, although her physical appearance rather reminded Dora of a spider. She spoke about the Inner Eye and cautioned against relying on books to master this class. You either had the Inner Eye, or you did not.

Well, Dora hoped that she had it, or could pretend well enough to pass the OWL in a few years.

Trelawney then had them divide into pairs and...drink tea. Once they were finished with the tea, they would use "Unfogging the Future" to interpret the pattern of the remains in their cups.

It sounded simple enough. Dora paired off with Sarah, as she was closest and seemed rather mystified, and they drank the sweet, savory liquid in expectant silence.

The dregs suggested the entrance of a new animal into Dora's life, and prosperity for a time for Sarah. Then, Trelawney gasped loudly as she held the cup of a pale faced Slytherin Dora vaguely recognized.

"You poor girl! Oh, you poor girl!" the professor wailed. "I am afraid you have the Grim!"

Only the muggle borns had no idea what she was talking about, and Dora felt as though someone had laced her a bit tighter.

"It is a sign, a terrible sign, of impending death." She clutched the Slytherin's hand. "My dear, you must use extreme caution, and even then, it might be too late."

She dismissed them shortly afterwards.

Professor Flitwick, no doubt noticing their pale faces and noting that many had come from their first Divination lesson, chuckled and rolled his eyes.

"Ah, dear Sybill does this every year. Makes for a memorable first lesson, you see. Not to worry-in the years she's been at Hogwarts, not one of the students whose death she's predicted has occurred." He then looked rather speculative. "Of course, death comes for all of us, and it may be wise to keep out mortality in mind, on occasion. Now! Let us begin with the Softening charm."

That lesson was far more enjoyable, and Flitwick even refrained from giving very much homework-just the first chapter of "The Standard Book of Spells, year 3." Which Dora had already read twice, but it couldn't hurt to read it again.

At lunch, the third years compared their new lessons. Everyone was quite enthusiastic, but Dora thought that Arithmancy was very complicated. Ancient Runes sounded like loads of memorization, far more than Divination. She was happy that she hadn't signed up for those lessons.

Muggle Studies, on the other hand, would be a lot of work. Taught by a rather young professor, Charity Burbage, she was very enthusiastic about the topic, and seemed to be under the impression that anyone who had signed up considered it to be their most important lesson. She set them a "short" essay of thirty-six inches of parchment regarding the importance of improving relations between the muggle world and the wizarding world. Also, fifty pages from their "primary" textbook about the life and habits of British muggles.

Yes, it was a very good thing Dora had made studying these books to be a priority over her last month of holidays...

Potions was not quite as dreadful as she has expected. Snape set them to work on a Growing potion, hinting that this was imperative to understanding the Shrinking potion that they would brew "shortly." He set the directions on the board, which were different from their textbook, so everyone was in the position of constantly having to look up and see what was the next step. Why couldn't he charm the directions to appear next to their cauldrons? Because he was a prat, of course.

This would have been bad enough, but Snape kept prowling the room and making snide comments in that grating, silky voice of his. Dora would likely cause her jaws to ache by the end of the term with the clenching she was doing. A shame they weren't brewing a potion for that!

To her surprise, though, as soon as she began to brew, she felt herself relax. She found herself suddenly very aware of her corset-but in a good way. The pressure around her frame, the warm hug, gave her a sense of calm, of stability, and yes, of security. It felt a bit as though her mum was with her, even holding her. Dora knew she was too old to run to her mum in tears at the unfairness of a teacher (and she was more annoyed than anything else), but all the same, the soothing effect was there.

All right, Dora thought. I can manage this.

She took a deep breath, aware of how her small breasts rose within the corset, and even smiled a bit. She was now able to focus. She could tune out the surrounding sounds and movements of Snape better than usual, keeping her mind solely on the task at hand. By the time he came to her cauldron to inspect her progress, she heard him inhale before commenting.

"An...improvement, Miss Tonks. I see you have been learning from your previous mistakes."

"T-thank you, sir," she stammered, continuing to stir.

He made no further comment, simply moved away, voluminous robes billowing.

Well, her potion did look exactly like the instructions said it should. The consistency was the same as well. Dora's potions were always good, but her essays received higher marks. No hovering professors while she worked.

By the time the potion was complete, she even had a few more minutes remaining. Carefully, Dora scooped up a sample to be graded, certain that it was without flaw.

Snape gave her a ghost of a nod when she placed it on his desk, then returned to her seat to wait for the homework assignment.

Of course, he assigned enough to take hours to complete, but this was hardly a surprise.

With considerable more calmness than she had felt upon entering the room, Dora collected her books and returned to the Hufflepuff tower with the rest of her roommates. She was relieved that the worst of her week was over-and that it hadn't gone nearly as poorly as she had feared.

They studied together in the common room until dinner, and afterwards, some continued to study while others engaged in more enjoyable activities. Having had her fill of Chess and Exploding Snap, Dora decided to prepare for bed early and enjoy a bit of her library book.

Teeth brushed, and laced to a very comfortable nineteen and a quarter inches, Dora propped a few pillows behind her back before tucking herself into bed. She did leave the curtains open, just to be social, and began to read.

The rest of the week was far easier than the first day. Her timetable was such that, with the exception of Potions and Astronomy (on Wednesday night), each lesson met twice. Trelawney did not predict any other student's death, but continued with the art of reading tea leaves. It was a good thing that Dora enjoyed drinking tea. Muggle Studies continued to be a lot of work, but interesting, and not entirely new material to learn, given her upbringing. Dora had no days without homework to do, but she finished her assignments before dinner.

This left plenty of time to spend with her roommates and reading her book. She had reached page three hundred by the time she went to bed on Thursday night, and it remained fascinating. In fact, she might be able to use some of the information in Muggle Studies, if they ever discussed fashion trends...

Mathilda Aldershot presented a compelling argument that the early days of the wizarding world consisted of fashions nearly indistinguishable from muggles. Up until what muggles called the Dark Ages, robes and the same undergarments were standard. However, at the point of outright fear of witches (and wizards, but mostly witches), fashions became slower to develop and even slower to change. There simply wasn't as much direct interaction, and people were used to what they wore, so clothing remained relatively static for at least four hundred years.

Although muggles had been attempting to make their waists look smaller for much of history-with exceptions of when the well-fed woman symbolizes beauty and prosperity-witches relied on glamours. However, glamours were highly advanced magic, taking at least a decade for an adult to perfect, and drained magical energy. Therefore, when corsets (first known as "stays") became known to witches through contact with muggles, they became quite popular.

"It was witches, rather than muggle women, who initially developed the concept of training the female frame to become smaller over time," Aldershot explained. "But magic could only secure gored eyelets for so long, and from my observations, the smallest waist to be obtained was eighteen inches. Upon the invention of metal eyelets in the mid nineteenth century, the waists of witches could become as small as twelve, although thirteen and fourteen were considered to be the most attractive. Of course, the size of a witch's body also influenced an ideal waist circumference. A tall witch of nearly six feet ought not, according to many letters, go below eighteen inches. Those closer to five feet could venture to achieve a fourteen or fifteen inch waist without blurring the line between 'beautiful' and 'unnaturally small.'"

Dora thought for a moment. She was still growing, and when her mum measured her a week before starting school, she was four feet and eight inches. Her mum was five feet and five inches tall. Her father was five feet and ten inches. Her aunts were within an inch of her mum. She likely would grow to a similar height.

She thought her mum was beautiful with a sixteen inch waist, hardly "unnaturally small." What if she became smaller than her mum (her grandmother had reached thirteen, and Bellatrix fourteen), and looked dreadful?

Well, even if that happened, it wouldn't be for ages. And if it did, and she didn't like her appearance, she could simply lace more loosely.

Reassured, Dora continued to read until her roommates pestered her to leave her book and join them for a game of Exploding Snap.

She obliged, of course.

She had no idea what sort of news the following day would bring.

Author's note:

I'm excited enough about the next two chapters that I almost want to post them in combination with this. Almost. :) I will say, though, that I might update again later this week. So, if you're enjoying this, or have some ideas, please let me know.

Up next: Sorry, can't say without giving spoilers. But if you're reading closely, you might be able to guess!