Dora opened her eyes and smiled. It was Saturday. No lessons for two days. No homework, either, although she'd likely read ahead and review her lessons. All the same, the weekend was hers to enjoy. She stretched, rolled over in bed, and closed her eyes briefly to enjoy the warmth and softness of her bed, her nightgown, and of course, her night corset.
She remained in bed for a bit. It was still early, barely 7:30, and she'd gone to sleep around 10 the night before. Come to think about it, Dora had had an unusual dream, too, involving a cat. Hadn't her tea leaves predicted an animal entering her life? Thinking hard, Dora remembered the cat was brown, with white fur on its feet, and quite furry. She could almost feel the softness of the fur...
Finally, the need to use the loo made Dora leave her bed. Wrapping herself in her dressing gown, she pulled the curtains aside. About half of her roommates were already up, and Becky was lacing Demelza into one of her day corsets. It was yellow, covered with daisies, and so pretty that Dora thought it was a shame it would be hidden by her robes.
By the time Dora returned, it was Becky's turn. She had a smile on her face, clearly enjoying the feeling of being laced up, and let out a contented sigh when Demelza tied them off.
"Thank you," she said, turning around and giving the other girl a smile.
Demelza just laughed. "Thank you!"
Dora exchanged her nightgown for her chemise beyond the confines of her four poster bed, then pulled the curtains aside and pulled out her day corset and a pair of blue robes from her trunk.
"Want any help?" Becky asked, now fully dressed.
Dora shook her head. "Thanks, but I'm better at determining on my own what I want to lace to."
"Well, it's clearly working," Becky noted, a look of admiration on her face.
Dora fastened the clasps on the front with ease. "You're getting smaller, too. Demelza as well."
"It's funny," Becky mused, glancing herself in the mirror, but at an angle so as not to stand in front of Dora, "but sleeping looser almost helps me get smaller during the day."
"Well, you're sleeping better, I imagine," Dora observed, beginning to pull on her own laces, and Becky nodded her agreement.
She stopped talking then, and a week of seeing her roommates being laced in made her realize she wasn't the only one. Being laced up, whether done by yourself or someone you trusted, was very enjoyable, and talking during it could both interfere with the process, as well as detract from the experience. Dora now savored the gentle, slowly increasing pressure until she knew that she could go no further without discomfort. Before tying off the laces, she experimented with a deep breath. Yes, this was still easy enough to accomplish. Then, she did a quick inventory of how she felt. Very, very comfortable. Smiling, Dora tied the laces into a bow, and used her wand to measure herself. Seventeen and three quarters on the dot! She hid a squeal of delight as she examined herself in the mirror.
"You'll be at seventeen and a half by the dance," Demelza noted, with a knowing look. "You reached seventeen and three quarters just then, didn't you?"
Dora nodded. "I don't know about seventeen and a half, though. My mum says it takes about a year to get down every additional inch, once you reach eighteen."
"That's what mine says," Demelza agreed, with a shrug, "but it's just an average. Some are faster than others."
Was Dora one of the faster ones? She wasn't sure. She supposed that she hadn't been lacing long enough to be able to determine her speed, anyway. It would likely be awhile before she could detect any pattern.
She dressed in her robes, and, slowly, the other girls rose from their beds. Nearly everyone went to the bathroom first, and Dora heard the sound of water running almost immediately. About half of her roommates showered in the morning, and the other half at night. Dora was among the group that showered in the evening. It felt nice to climb into bed clean, especially on the days she washed her hair, and it meant she could sleep in a bit during the mornings.
Elizabeth and Sarah emerged from the bathroom first, still clad in their nightgowns, talking amongst each other. They looked rather serious, and stopped abruptly as soon as they reentered the dormitory. Then, they eyed the other girls-all except Morwenna and Hannah had returned.
Demelza was now lacing up Polly, having taking on the task of being the person to do so each morning and evening. She must be quite adept at it, Dora realized, as she'd seen her lacing up nearly all of her roommates at some point during the week.
"We, er, have a favor to ask," Elizabeth began, casting a look at Sarah, who nodded back at her.
"Of who?" Demelza asked. Seeing Polly wriggle her hand to indicate that her laces were tight enough, she stopped pulling them in, and proceeded to tie them off into the standard bow.
"Any of you. Perhaps, all of you," Sarah returned, looking first at the ground, and then back at Elizabeth.
"What's that?" Polly asked, pulling her rose colored robes over her head.
"We were, er, wondering if we could try on one of your spare pairs of corsets. To-to see if we found them comfortable," Elizabeth explained. Her face was red. "That is, if you don't mind? Would it be all right?"
There were smiles all around, and the girls all talked over themselves, even squealing a bit, assuring Sarah and Elizabeth that they did not mind, not in the least! The muggle borns' faces changed from embarrassment to relief, even happy. Sarah had a small smile on her face after a minute of their chatter.
"You ought to be fitted for one if you're going to wear them regularly," Hannah cautioned, "but we can see if any of ours would fit you to test it out."
Demelza suggested that they compare heights and body types to find the best fit. There wasn't a great range in heights between the eight of them, but their waist sizes and hips were quite varied already.
"You'll also need a chemise," Dora put in. "But that's easy enough to sort out. You can each use one of mine. It's as long as a nightgown on me, and would likely be that length on you." She glanced at the girls-Elizabeth was slightly taller, and Sarah a bit shorter. "The house elves might need to shorten it a few inches for Sarah."
"She's right. If you wear a corset against your bare skin, it will be terribly painful," Polly added. "Sarah, you're my size, you can use one of my extras."
"Thank you!" The girls answered at once.
"Pull your nightgowns tight around your waist, will you?" Morwenna spoke up. "To give us an idea of your frame?"
They obeyed, and Morwenna and Demelza measured them individually with their wands, then had the other double check before setting the numbers to parchment.
"Now, let's see," Demelza began. "Elizabeth, your waist is about twenty-four inches, your hips are thirty, and your bust is also thirty." She turned to Sarah and took her measurements. "You're tiny! Your waist is twenty-two, your hips are twenty-eight, and so's your bust."
The other girls then began to take out their spare corsets from their trunks, easily discarding the ones that would be far too large or too small. In the end, Elizabeth had her choice between three which closed at twenty inches, and Sarah with two that closed at twenty and one, rather shorter one, that closed at eighteen.
"Not that we would attempt to lace you that far!" Demelza reassured her, after selecting that corset of hers as an option.
"Not today, at least." Morwenna grinned, a bit mischievously. "If you join us, you might end up close to that size by the dance."
Sarah laughed, a bit nervously. "Just how far do you plan to lace us up today? I rather fancy being able to breathe properly."
"You will," Morwenna assured her, tone now gentle. "If you're uncomfortable, it's either too tight or a poor fit. We wouldn't put you through that."
Sarah nodded, relief evident on her rosy face.
The girls began speaking at once, some saying two inches, others three (for Elizabeth) and two (for Sarah). Dora, recalling her own experience, spoke up.
"We ought to start slowly. My mum only laced me in an inch, and I stayed like that for the better part of a week. When I told her it was starting to feel too loose, she thought I would be ready for a second one. I didn't have a third inch for nearly two weeks," Dora recalled. "I think we ought to start with one inch for each of them. If Sarah or Elizabeth want to be tightened further, after they get used to the compression, we can certainly do so."
"Dora's right," Becky put in, nodding. "You don't want to feel squeezed to death!"
"Two inches is hardly squeezed to death!" Polly protested.
"It might feel like that for someone who's as small as Sarah," Hannah reminded her. "Anyway. This is just an experiment, of sorts, for them. They should enjoy it, not want to transfer to Ravenclaw afterwards!"
This received some giggles, and Elizabeth and Sarah both spoke up, agreeing that one inch was enough for now. Sarah looked rather nervous, and if Dora had been closer friends with the girl, she might have hugged her.
Demelza offered to lace up Sarah, and Dora for Elizabeth. Once they returned from the bathroom, having exchanged their nightgowns for her chemises (marveling at their softness), Dora carefully lifted up the twenty inch corset. It was light pink in background, and covered with embroidered flowers. Very carefully, she began to loosen the laces before removing the clasps on the front.
"Can you fasten the clasps?" Dora asked, once it was on. "I needed a bit of help in the beginning."
"Let me see..."
The muggle born managed quite well, her hands far more skilled than Dora's. Once everything looked all right, Dora asked if she was ready.
Elizabeth laughed. "I suppose so. You won't let me faint, will you?"
An inch, especially off of a twenty-four inch frame, was unlikely to cause any fainting. But Dora simply promised that the moment Elizabeth was uncomfortable, Dora would loosen the laces, even remove her corset.
Elizabeth looked very relieved to hear this.
"All right. I'll stand behind you. Take a deep breath and hold your arms up high in front of you. It shouldn't take long," Dora promised.
Oddly enough, she suddenly felt rather nervous. Of course, she'd been self lacing for nearly two months...but she was suddenly responsible for someone else's comfort.
She took a deep breath, and began to pull.
It was easier than lacing herself in. All the same, Dora was very aware that the girl in front of her must be as nervous as she had been on that first day. Dora now looked back on that day as a happy one, even joyful, but it could have gone badly had her mother not been cautious in numerous ways. Dora was determined not to cause any pain or discomfort to her roommate.
Elizabeth might decide that she didn't want to wear a corset ever again-there were girls who simply couldn't stand any compression-but it wouldn't be because of any mistakes Dora made.
She paid close attention to the gap along the sides. It began a little more than five inches, as it wasn't entirely snug around Elizabeth's waist to begin with, so she had to take it down by two inches. The first to get the corset the same size as her waist, and the second to reduce it.
Elizabeth made a small noise as soon as her waist began to diminish, before going entirely silent. It wasn't a pained noise, rather surprise (or so Dora imagined), so she continued to pull gently. After another minute or so, the gap was three inches, and she held the laces taut with one hand, and used her wand to measure with the other. Twenty three inches on the mark. She tied the laces into a bow.
"You're all set," she told Elizabeth. "How does it feel?"
Elizabeth turned around, a small smile on her face. Then, she took a couple of deep breaths, and the smile broadened into a grin.
"Oh, it feels like I'm being hugged!" she answered. "I can't believe how comfortable this is!" She peered at herself in the mirror, and her smile widened. "Wow!"
"You look great!" Dora told her, smiling. "So, it fits you all right? Doesn't poke or anything?"
Elizabeth shook her head. "Feels a bit like I'm being held, really. I have no complaints. I just feel so comfortable!"
Demelza, who had finished lacing up a now smiling Sarah, turned and grinned. "It suits you. Both of you! Have a look in the mirror, Sarah."
She glanced at her reflection, grinned even more widely, then twirled.
"Oh, pretend you didn't see that!" she pleaded, covering her face with her hands. "I feel so silly!"
"Don't worry about that!" Morwenna assured her, wrapping an arm around Sarah's shoulders. "I spent a good quarter hour staring at myself in the mirror the first time my mother laced me up. It felt lovely, of course, and I rather fancied that I had become a real lady all of a sudden."
"Me too," Hannah added, and the other girls all nodded.
Sarah still looked rather embarrassed, but smiled as she stood by Elizabeth's side. Elizabeth squeezed her shoulders.
"You know, I never really minded my bras, but this is a good deal more comfortable," Elizabeth noted, glancing in the mirror once more, and then down at herself. "I mean, it supports them, which is what a bra is meant for, but there aren't any straps to adjust or wires that could poke you if you put it on the wrong way."
"Bras don't hug your frame, either," Sarah pointed out. "Oh, I much prefer wearing a corset."
"Bras sound dreadful," Demelza murmured, sympathetically.
"Oh, they are!" Dora affirmed. "I was half considering becoming an animagus and living away from people just to avoid wearing one."
Sarah smiled. "They're not so bad, once you get used to them. Now, though, I rather prefer wearing this," she added, gesturing to her corset and smaller waist.
"What I like," Elizabeth mused, placing her hands on her hips, "is how it holds me upright without hurting. It's the hug part, isn't it?"
Morwenna spoke up. "My mum says it molds you, as long as you wear it. Keeps you from slouching or bending over, unless you bend at the hips."
"It's odd, how something rather restrictive can feel so comfortable," Elizabeth mused. "Do you find it difficult to concentrate in lessons, having to sit so straight?"
"It takes practice," Dora admitted. "But, do you know," she continued, rather contemplatively, "it was easier to concentrate on brewing last Monday. As though the corset calmed me down, a bit."
"You looked rather less tense than usual. The happiest of all of us, really," Elizabeth mused. "Can you ask your mum? If wears one can help with staying calm?"
Dora nodded. "I'll ask." She'd have to find a way to bring it up in a roundabout manner, perhaps with a coded word or phrase. Owls rarely got intercepted, but it did happen, and the thought of a stranger reading her private thoughts about her undergarments was too embarrassing for words. Turning to her roommates, she added, "You will, as well? I'm hardly an expert."
Other voices promised that they would.
"And," Elizabeth added, studying her reflection and taking another deep breath, "could you tighten me a bit more? Maybe another inch?"
"Me too!" Sarah put in, with a smile.
Dora smiled. "Turn around, and take a deep breath."
Elizabeth obeyed, as did Sarah.
An hour later, Elizabeth was entirely at ease with a reduction of two and a half inches, and Sarah equally happy with a one and a half inch reduction. (Two proved to be too challenging for the first day!) Even after dressing, they both kept sneaking glances at themselves in the mirror, and smiling at their reflections.
The robes certainly covered their corseted figures, but the girls both knew they were still there.
At Dora's suggestion, they had their corsets loosened-although neither wanted them removed-when they went down for breakfast. Elizabeth's new waist measured twenty-two and a half inches, and Sarah's twenty-one and a quarter. The girls paid extra close attention to Dora and the others as they ate their breakfast, taking care to take small bites and eat enough to feel satisfied, but not overly full. Afterwards, they returned to their dormitory.
"Can we lace back up to our measurements before?" Elizabeth asked, and Sarah nodded with enthusiasm.
There was some debate among the girls. Half were of the mindset that any tightening should occur after lunch. The other half thought that none should take place that day. In the end, they compromised, with each girl being tightened a half an inch.
"You really don't want to overdo it," Polly cautioned, as they sat down afterwards. "Besides, these may fit well enough, for now, but they weren't made to fit you. It might hurt if you take too much off, and all at once."
"It's not that we mind you borrowing them," Demelza added, being the owner of Elizabeth's corset, "but what fits at at inch or so reduction can be another thing entirely if you tighten it too much more. If you're going to wear them daily and train your waists, you need ones that fit you, really fit."
Sarah slumped, then quickly straightened. "My mum would never allow it."
Elizabeth looked sympathetic. "I think mine might. If I told her that most of my roommates were, and that I tried one on and found it comfortable. I would need to talk to Annie, get her support. But...where do I get fitted? I mean, I can't keep yours forever."
"Madam Barnatte's," several girls, including Dora, answered at once. "She's in the same store as Madam Malkins."
Elizabeth nodded, then turned to Sarah. "If I could get my mum to say yes, she might be able to convince yours."
Sarah sighed. "Perhaps. I rather think she was influenced by her mum, who had to wear them until they stopped being so popular. Said her mum made her lace to eighteen inches every day, and she could hardly breathe."
Dora did some quick calculations. Muggles stopped wearing corsets, or the ones like the kind that she wore, around the time of the first muggle world war. Sarah's grandmother must have been born in the early part of the century, makes her almost eighty.
"What about your dad's mum?" Dora asked.
"She's dead. Cancer," Sarah explained, looking rather wistfully. "But she was almost ninety, before she passed, so she likely wore them when she was young. My grandfather, her husband, died about ten years before her."
Cancer was, of course, a muggle disease. Well, there was the occasional witch or wizard who contacted it, but they were generally half blood or muggle born. A trained Healer could brew a potion designed to Vanish the disease for good, and after repeated dosages for a week, and full rest for two, the witch or wizard would be completely fine.
Dora hadn't known anyone magical who had had it, but her father's grandfather had been diagnosed when her father had still been in school. Unfortunately, muggles couldn't be treated with potions, so he'd gone the muggle route-and died before his grandsons had finished at Hogwarts.
The other girls probably didn't know much more than Dora did, except maybe Elizabeth, but they all murmured apologies.
"Anyway," Sarah sighed, "maybe Elizabeth can help. I suppose I can wear this one in the meantime?"
"Of course you can," Demelza reassured her. "But you'll want to use a different one for sleeping, if you decide to."
"And," Morwenna added, "you ought not begin to sleep in them until you've been wearing them for at least two weeks."
Elizabeth and Sarah raised their eyebrows at this.
"You all sleep in them?" Elizabeth asked.
"I don't," Hannah put in, with a long-suffering sigh. "My parents think I'm too young to start with that. But I want to."
"It's just...isn't it rather hard to sleep? They're comfortable and all," Elizabeth put in, quickly, "but I expect it would be rather difficult to move around and such."
"I use an underbust model for sleeping," Dora answered. "It stops around here." She put her hand just where her rib cage ended, allowing a space of five or six inches between the end of her underbust at end of her day corset. "You have more room to move around, and you keep some pressure on your waist. We also lace more loosely at night, about two inches for most of us, which you rather need if you want to relax."
"It takes a few days to get used to sleeping laced up, however you do it," Demelza cautioned. "I woke up feeling as though I couldn't breathe for almost a week. My mum unlaced me the first few days, then loosened them a bit when I woke up again." She made a face. "I was so embarrassed by the fifth time, but she said that it was normal, and my body would adjust. And it did."
Others, Dora included, voiced their agreement, recounting similar experiences. Hannah raised her eyebrows.
"Well, you've made me think twice about wanting to sleep that way!" she complained.
"Oh, but it's lovely, once you're used to it!" Dora reassured her. "You wake up in the hug, you see, and it's so relaxing that you don't want to leave your bed."
"Not that this is uncommon for you," Polly teased, and Dora laughed. "But she's right. Once you're used to it, you'll never want to go back. Not if you're laced well enough to feel warm and supported, but not so tight that you can hardly breathe."
Hannah looked a bit reassured, and the muggle borns exchanged glances.
"I expect we ought to approach it slowly with your parents," Elizabeth noted. "My mum might take well enough to me wearing a corset during the day, provided I can still breathe properly. But sleeping in one might be too much for her to handle."
"If your parents let you, it might be best to start slowly," Morwenna offered. "I began at twelve, because I was already starting to change, but I didn't begin sleeping in one until this summer. Like Hannah's parents, mine thought it was too soon. You know how parents are, muggle or witch or wizard. They can be so cautious, and so overprotective. Besides," she added, with a bit of a shrug, "our bodies are still growing, and it does rather prevent you from eating large meals. You won't starve, but you certainly won't become stout if you wear one nearly all the time."
"There was a girl in my muggle school who had the beginning of scoliosis. She had to wear a back brace, under her clothes, all the time. She said it wasn't uncomfortable, but she also said that it kept her from eating very much at once, and she was looking forward to it coming off," Sarah recalled. "She was still wearing it the year I received my letter."
Dora hadn't heard about those before. She supposed it was a muggle method of treating diseases. In the wizarding world, perhaps that girl would have started training her waist earlier, or perhaps, there would be a potion or spell to straighten her spine.
"Do you want to ask them in an owl, or wait until you see them over the holidays?" Hannah asked.
Once again, the girls exchanged looks. "Perhaps, it can't hurt to write down what we'd like to say. If it comes out all right, we can send it," Elizabeth said, finally.
Sarah nodded.
Everyone took turns keeping their eyes on Sarah and Elizabeth throughout the day, ready to loosen their laces-or remove them entirely-if they fancied a rest. Dora was of the opinion that they should take rests for meals, as her mum had done with her, but they seemed happy enough with loosened corsets and smaller portions.
By the time everyone was preparing for bed, Sarah and Elizabeth were certainly ready to have their corsets removed.
"Oh! My back rather hurts!" Elizabeth admitted, once the corset was off. She began to rub at her side. "Is that normal?"
Sarah stretched. "Mine rather aches as well."
Dora hid a sigh. "I expect you both rather overdid it. We ought to have insisted on you taking breaks," she mused.
"Oh, but it felt so nice wearing them!" Elizabeth protested, lightly. Then, she added, with a light laugh, "I suppose we're paying the price for it, now."
Demelza had her sit down and began to rub her shoulders. "Well, yes. If you wear them for long periods of time, without breaks, it likely will result in some stiffness. We're not used to sitting or standing upright for so long," she mused. "Don't worry. If you keep on with this, in a few days, your body will adjust."
"It's why sleeping laced up right away isn't recommended," Morwenna put in. She looked at Sarah, who had a rather wistful look on her face, and then at Elizabeth. She gestured for the girl to sit beside her, and then proceeded to massage her shoulders.
Sarah nearly sighed with relief as her friend worked out the stiffness. "Oh, that feels so nice. Thank you, Morwenna."
Morwenna smiled. "I was just as enthusiastic as you two. And my mum rubbed my back a lot quite a bit during the first week. And then, after I was learning to sleep in corsets."
"Do you think we overdid it?" Elizabeth asked, eyes closed.
"You didn't hurt yourself by having us lace to to fainting point, and you're letting us treat you now," Morwenna answered, with a light laugh. "So, no. Dora, how long did you start out for?"
"Most of the day, only with my corset removed entirely for meals, and an hour or so afterwards so my food could digest," Dora recalled, as she removed her day corset. "I expect it was about a week before my mum allowed me to remain in them throughout the day."
Sarah sighed, but whether it was from Morwenna's ministrations or the knowledge that waist training would be more difficult than she expected, Dora didn't know.
"Am I hurting you?" Morwenna asked, her hands now along the middle of Sarah's back.
"No, it's lovely. I feel like a cat," she added, with a contented sigh.
Morwenna giggled. "Mine plays with my laces. I had to give her a spare set."
Sarah laughed. "I can imagine!"
Dora left to shower, and a half hour later, everyone was sound asleep.
Sarah and Elizabeth, Dora expected, were sleeping particularly well that night.
Author's note:
Initially, I was going to have a distinct separation between the muggle born girls who would be opposed to wearing corsets, and maybe one or two half bloods who didn't wear them.
But I think that doesn't take into account the culture of teenagers and peer pressure. And, in a wizarding world where none of the girls who have parents to enforce waist training measurements from afar, I rather believe it would be easy for an "outsider" to see their roommates looking nicer, and feeling comfortable, and wanting to experience it for themselves.
Side note. Many years ago, I was a junior counselor at a day camp, where I was assigned to the class heading into third grade. One of the girls had scoliosis, and was required to wear a back brace for most of the day. There were also marks that showed how tight it was to be pulled around her frame, with (I believe) it eventually closing around her without a gap. Even though I was still of the misinformed notion that corsets were uncomfortable and harmful undergarments, I did make the connection that this was like a corset, but obviously medically needed. Plus, the gradual tightening could be a parallel to waist training. I put that in to show that there are muggle parallels to corsets today.
I was very excited about this chapter, and the one that will follow. I am making a determined effort not to take a one size fits all OR one story fits all approach for my characters. I also wanted to show how girls, especially teenagers, can influence each other.
Finally! I was thrilled to see the amount of feedback from my latest chapter. Even if you already commented, please don't hesitate to do so again if you have something to say. And if you have some ideas, I might use them, and will credit you. An idea from one reader will be used in a later chapter, and at that time, I will provide due credit. Thank you!
Up next: More planning, and perhaps, a letter or two home?