The next morning, Hermione awoke to find herself cornered by her dormmates very, very early.
"So, Hermione, we were thinking…" said Daphne, twirling a bit of her hair.
"…as your fellow Slytherins and co-conspirators…" Millie added.
"…that you should really…" Tracey said, nodding.
"…tell us what the blazes you've been doing to make yourself look so good!" Pansy finished, eyes sharp.
The other three shot her a dark look, while Pansy looked defiant.
"Please, Hermione?" Tracey pleaded. "I know there's a secret to what you've been doing, and we're all getting along so well now…"
"We would all very much appreciate it," Daphne said. "I know I, for one, would like to be able to show up my cousins at Christmas this year."
Hermione looked at them, feeling a sly ribbon of pleasure curl inside her.
They'd taken the bait.
"…All right," Hermione said, being sure to hesitate. She bit her lip. "But it has to remain a secret, okay? I don't want it getting out – the last thing we need is everybody stealing our advantage, okay?"
The other girls nodded their heads rapidly, eyes wide. Hermione bit back a grin.
"Okay. Let's sit in the middle."
Tracey went to block the door with Pansy's nightstand as Millie and Daphne dragged a round table from the far side of the bedroom into the middle with its chairs. Hermione fished through her trunk for her makeup kit. Hermione took her time; she wasn't dim enough to think now that they were all united against Ron together, they were all going to be the best of friends. She knew Pansy still loathed her if nothing else… but it suited her purposes, to let them all think she'd accepted them as her friends, so she would be willing to tell them her secret. Finally finding her kit, she turned back to them, closing her trunk.
The five of them settled around the table, all of them looking to Hermione, who put her kit on the table.
"This," she told them gravely, "is a makeup kit."
She could see them tasting the word in their own mouths.
"It's called that because it 'makes up' for any imperfections you have," she said, opening the kit. "There are small potions and powders in here that help enhance your looks, and some others to change how you look entirely. It depends how you use them – it's almost an art."
Daphne was looking at a compact, jerking slightly in surprise to find herself in a mirror inside of it. Pansy was eyeing a glittery eyeshadow with avarice.
"The trick with makeup is it has to match your own coloring," Hermione told them.
"Like with robes?" Tracey asked.
"Exactly," Hermione said, nodding. "We all have different skin colors, eye colors, and hair colors. You have to pick the right colors to flatter you, otherwise the makeup will make you look weird."
"How does all this work?" Daphne asked, touching a mascara brush with distrust. She glanced up at Hermione. "Can you show us?"
Shrugging, Hermione nodded. "Why not?"
It was an odd experience, Hermione noted, to put on makeup and carefully explain what each step was and what it did. The girls (Pansy especially) were excited by the concealer that Hermione put on a couple spots she had to make them disappear. The foundation powder evoked a murmur of awe, and the eyeshadows and mascara an odd fascination.
"Have you ever stuck the brush in your eye?" Tracey asked.
Hermione laughed. "Maybe once? You just need to be very careful."
Afterward, she showed them her curling iron. Palming the end of the retractable cord, Hermione heated it up with a charm, and curled her hair as best she could. It was a challenge, as she hadn't slept in wet braids to prepare her hair for it this time. She managed somewhat more defined waves, and the frizziness was down, which Hermione counted as at least a partial win. She glanced in the mirror and sighed, before gesturing to Daphne.
"Come here," Hermione said, shifting her own chair over. "I'll show you. Your hair's straight – it'll work better on yours."
Daphne's eyes were wide, but she obligingly moved her chair over and sat next to Hermione, sitting very, very still.
"You can choose how big or small you want the curls to be, and how tight or loose, also," Hermione told them, winding Daphne's hair into the iron and hitting it with another heating charm. "I'll do Daphne's differently than mine – the best I can usually manage is loose waves or curls, but Daphne's hair will take to the curling iron much better. Watch."
There was a murmur as a large, fat corkscrew curl emerged from the iron. Hermione pinned it up quickly to cool and started on the next.
By the end, Daphne had a head of large, fat ringlets. Hermione let the cooled curls down and sprayed them lightly with hairspray to help them keep, before offering Daphne the mirror. Taking a deep breath, Daphne steeled herself and looked into the mirror, only to gasp.
"Is that… me?" she said, tilting her head from side to side. "It's so pretty!"
Daphne turned to Hermione, her eyes alight with amazement and gratitude, and Hermione smiled.
"Did you really think I'd try and mess up your hair?" she teased. Daphne flushed but continued to primp in the mirror, pleased.
Hermione looked out at the table. The other girls looked at Daphne with happiness, and some envy. Pansy's envy was palpable – Pansy's own hair was notoriously limp.
"So, Hermione," Millie said, picking up a compact. "How did you get all of this? How can we get all this, too?"
"Yes," Pansy said quickly. "You said that everyone's coloring is different – how can we get this secret makeup too, but in our own colors?"
Hermione looked at them all seriously. This was the test – convincing them that it was rare and top secret. Hermione gave them all an evaluating look before going back under her bed and bringing out a glossy catalog that she'd carefully edited.
"I have a contact who knows someone who knows who to get it from secretly in America," she told them. "If you want, I can let them know to get some for you, too, but it's not cheap – nothing this good ever is."
She'd picked America because the MACUSA was well-known for having dangerously lax standards with potion and product testing, and she'd needed somewhere that spoke English to claim as a point of origin, unless she wanted to peel off every single label. Luckily, none of the girls seemed to think twice on her claim.
"What is this?" Pansy demanded, flipping through the catalog. "The pictures don't move!"
"That's because each photo is of a specific thing and the models do their best not to move," Hermione snapped back. "If you're trying to just see how someone's eyeshadow looks up close, it's not going to help you if they're moving and blinking all over the place, is it?"
"…I guess not." Pansy settled back into her chair, cowed.
"I've marked the prices in this one by hand," Hermione said. "You'll notice that they call different colors or different shades by code. You write down the codes you want and your own order code, and you send the money secretly another way. That way, if the codes get intercepted, no one knows what they're for or what they mean."
The other girls nodded, murmuring over the secrecy measures. There was a bit of jostling as all of them poured over the catalog.
"This is expensive," Tracey murmured, looking.
"But look at how beautiful she looks!" Daphne said, pointing to a mascara model. "She's so pretty!"
"Mascara, the eyelash stuff, is generally always black," Hermione said. "I have an extra one, that you all could share, if you want."
Daphne and Pansy whipped around to look at her.
"Really?" Daphne asked, eyes wide.
Hermione shrugged. "Sure," she said. "I'll either buy another one with your things, or one of you can replace mine for me."
"I'll cover it," Daphne said quickly.
"Then it's just a matter of none of you having pink eye, and you'll be fine," Hermione said, digging the extra out of her kit. "It'll be good for you to get practice with it – starting out, it's hard to not make the potion clump, which always looks bad."
Daphne quickly claimed the mascara from Hermione, holding it tightly. The other girls poured over the catalog, murmuring quietly. Hermione glanced at the clock – it was nearly time for breakfast.
"Let's do this," Hermione suggested. "I'll leave this with you. Don't let anyone see it. But you can pass it around, and later tonight, we'll write all the codes down on parchment that you want and make a pool of galleons to send. Depending how quickly we can send this off, we can try and get your makeup a few weeks before Christmas."
The other girls murmured their agreement, and Pansy quickly stashed the catalog as they all started getting ready for the day. Hermione helped Daphne with the mascara wand for the first time in the mirror, teaching her how to open her eyes and look up. After a couple misses, Daphne's eyes were coated in black, and Hermione wiped off the smudges next to her eyes with a damp cloth.
"There," she said, smiling. "Look how much longer your eyelashes look."
Daphne stared at herself in the mirror, fluttering her eyelashes, and then looking back at herself in astonishment over and over again. Hermione smirked and went to get ready.