Chapter Twenty-Eight

What to Wear?

Despite her lack of sleep, Mia awoke early the next morning. She got dressed silently and slipped out of the dormitory so as not to wake the others. She thought briefly about doing some homework, but quickly decided against it. Perhaps a walk in the grounds would wake her up and help her decide what to do today – she wasn't sure she wanted to go to Hogsmeade by herself, a single person in a sea of couples.

The sun was just coming up as Mia got outside. She found a spot to sit and watch the sunrise, first summoning one of the cushions Professor Flitwick had used when teaching summoning charms so she'd have something to sit on other than the frosty grass. Mia had always wondered what Matilda saw in sunrises, but now she understood. There was something so peaceful in watching the world gradually get bathed in light and colour; so reassuring the feeling that everything was clean and new. Somehow, Mia felt a lot better by the time she got up and headed back inside for breakfast.

When she reached the Great Hall, Mia saw Louis sitting alone at the Ravenclaw table. She walked over and sat down opposite him.

"Come to Hogsmeade with me," she said by way of greeting.

"What, with you and Reuben?" Louis scoffed. "No thanks!"

"No, just me," Mia said. "We broke up last night."

"Are you okay?" Louis asked. "Break ups suck!"

"Yeah, I'm alright," Mia said. "It was mutual, although it was my idea in the first place. But I really don't want to go round Hogsmeade by myself with all the couples out there, so come with me?"

"I wasn't planning to go," Louis said. "I was just gonna get on top of homework – I've got loads because I didn't get any done on Monday or Tuesday when I was in detention."

"Let's just go for the morning, then," Mia suggested. "Come back for lunch, then do homework together. Please, Louis? I need to stock up on MIs, and I'd love a Butterbeer."

"Alright," Louis agreed. "But just for the morning, and we're staying well away from Madam Puddifoot's, and you're buying me a Butterbeer."

"Done, done and done!"

After breakfast, Mia went upstairs to get ready and then went back downstairs to meet Louis in the Entrance Hall. The Entrance Hall was full of people milling around waiting for friends and dates.

"Mia! There you are!" Mia felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around to find Lily standing there with Mac. "We've been looking for you everywhere – where's Reuben?"

Mia remembered that she and Reuben had arranged to walk down to Hogsmeade with Lily and Mac.

"We broke up last night," Mia told her.

Lily hugged Mia fiercely. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Mia replied. "The break up was my idea."

"Do you want me to ditch Mac and come round Hogsmeade with you?" Lily asked.

"It's okay, I'm going with Louis," Mia said. She spotted Louis walking over. "You go and have fun."

"Okay," Lily said. "But send me a MI if you want me."

"Alright," Mia agreed.

Louis pulled a face at his cousin's retreating back. "Couples are gross," he sighed. "If Ailie's here with Aikers I might have to punch one of them."

"Nope," Mia said firmly as they walked out of the front doors into the grounds. "No punching anyone, and we're not going to talk about exes today – not even going to think about them." Nevertheless, she couldn't help her thoughts straying to Reuben. What would he be up to today? Would he go to Hogsmeade, or just stay at the castle and study?

"Hey, what are you doing over Easter?" Louis asked. "Vic said she and Teddy would probably take Dotty out visiting people, so if you're staying with Lily or anything, you'll get to meet her."

"I need to write to my parents and ask about plans," Mia said. "But even if I'm not, if I know when Dotty will be there I can always go for a visit. Hey, how do wizards even travel with babies? Are there like car seats for brooms?"

"What's a car seat?" Louis asked.

"Like a special seat for babies that you put in a car and strap them into so they're safer as its moving around," Mia explained.

"I remember flying somewhere on the back of Dad's broom when I was about four," Louis said. "I just sat behind him and held on tight. I don't think I flew with either of my parents before that, though. Mostly we went by floo when I was old enough to speak clearly enough, or one of my parents would apperate with me, and the other would go by floo with Vic and Dom. I know you can apperate with babies – like just holding them - but most of them don't like it very much."

The two of them talked about Louis' niece and magical transportation methods most of the way down to Hogsmeade and then turned to the HEC and the fashion show.

"What are you going as?" Mia asked Louis.

"A chamel," Louis grinned. "I'm just wearing my normal school robes and putting a disillusionment charm on myself. I'm not exactly great at it, which is just as well because I want you to be able to still see me."

"That's a great idea," Mia sighed. "I wish I'd thought of it. I still have no idea what I'm going as and it's only two weeks away."

"Well, let's sort out your costume today," Louis said decisively as they reached the start on the high street.

"We can't buy anything new," Mia protested.

"No, but we can look in the Magical Menagerie for inspiration," Louis reasoned.

"Alright, but let's go to Wheezes first before it gets too busy," Mia said. "You know what it can get like in there, and I just want to grab some MIs and maybe say hi to James and Fred if they're there."

The two of them walked along the buys street, past the Three Broomsticks and Honeydukes to the garish Weasley's Wizard Wheezes building. Inside, it was already pretty crowded. Mia was surprised to see that, rather than being decorated for Valentine's Day, the place was decked out with banners which read, 'Love stinks!' and 'Cupid can suck it!'. The big table at the front of the shop which usually featured new products was piled high with plates of broken-heart shaped cookies which were iced in greens and blues and piped with slogans such as 'H8 U', 'Dream on' and 'No thanks'.

"Accio Louis' pants!" Mia heard a voice behind her say.

Louis flew backwards, almost knocking James off his feet. "Hey!" Louis said indignantly, his hands reaching inside his robes to readjust his clothing.

James grinned. "Sorry, cuz – too good an opportunity to miss. So, do you like our decor, then?"

"Yeah, what's all this about?" Mia asked, looking around.

"Uncle George put Fred in charge of decor and his girlfriend broke up with him last week, so... have a cookie."

"What's in them?" Mia asked suspiciously, picking up one which bore the words, 'You wish!'.

"Nothing, promise," James said. "Vic made them for us – she said she might as well make good use of being up with Dotty at stupid o'clock. So, what brings the two of you here today?"

"MIs," Mia said briefly.

"Right this way," James said importantly, leading the pair of them through the crowds to the large display at the back of the shop. "You know, we hardly shift any of them in the London branch, but they're one of our biggest sellers here."

"I suppose there's not much demand for them outside of Hogwarts," Mia mused, perusing the display. "They don't have a big enough range for most people. Do they get much use at the Ministry?"

"They have their own inter-departmental memos," James explained, "but Dad says he sometimes uses MIs for social rather than work things, and we have a small but loyal customer base from other workplaces. But yeah, owls are still better over long distances. Hey, I'd better get back to work. Tell Al and Lily hi if I don't see them."

James walked off and Mia selected her MIs. Once she'd paid, she and Louis headed outside and turned back the way they'd come.

"Right, time for the Menagerie," Louis said. The two of them walked back up the street to the Magical Menagerie, which was situated next to the Post Office. Mia had been in here before to buy owl treats for Felix and she tried to remember if she needed to buy any more.

The shop was small but well stocked. Owls roosted in perches up near the roof, whilst cats came and went as they pleased and smaller animals were kept in cages which lined one wall. The rest of the shop was given over to food, treats and other supplies.

"You could go as a cat," suggested Louis as one wound itself around his legs. "Do something to your robes, make some ears and a tail out of something..."

"Maybe," Mia said, crouching down to stroke the white-socked tabby. She'd always wanted a cat, but wasn't sure it was the most interesting thing to dress up as.

"Or a Kneazle, then," Louis said. "Aunt Hermione's old cat was part-Kneazle. I've heard her and Uncle Ron only tolerated each other until Rose was born and they both fell in love with her."

"Maybe," Mia repeated. She and Louis started wandering around the shop, looking for inspiration. It didn't take Mia long to realise she didn't want to go to the Fashion Show as an owl, rat or toad.

"We could ask the saleswizard what he things," Louis suggested.

"Alright," Mia agreed, "but we should probably buy something in that case. I'll get some treats for Felix – they have the ones he likes."

Mia got her owl treats and then she and Louis went to pay. As Mia handed over the money Louis said, "Hey, what magical creature would be easy to dress up as?"

"You're the third person to ask me that today!" the saleswizard said. "What's all this about?"

"We're having a fashion show," Mia explained, "and you have to dress up as a magical creature but you can't buy anything new for the costume. And I don't know what to go as."

"I'm going as a chamel," Louis put in. "Disillusionment charm, done!"

"Hmm," the saleswizard mused. "I don't know about easy, but a phoenix would look cool. Or a salamander."

"Maybe I should see what clothes I can get my hands on first," Mia said. "Anyway, sorry to bother you and thanks for your help."

"Three Broomsticks?" Louis suggested as they exited the shop.

"Sure," Mia said, and they began to walk farther back up the road. They had almost reached the Three Broomsticks when a MI fluttered towards Mia. She reached out and took it from the air and then opened it.

The bright purple square was covered in Matilda's tiny handwriting. Mia had long since concluded that Matilda's writing was so small so she could fit in everything she needed to say and today was no exception. The message read: 'I've just thought that for the Fashion Show we should have proper prizes – I mean not just tokens for the Uniform Sale. Obviously the whole point of this is to big up the Uniform Sale, but if I won something like this I'd want something that felt like an actual prize too. So, please could you buy some little bars of chocolate in Honeydukes? We need one for each of the three categories in the two age groups, so that's six altogether. We'll pay you back from HEC funds. Thanks. P.S. I don't know how far MIs can fly so I guess this is an experiment. I guess if you don't get it, I can ask someone tomorrow. I can't wait until I'm old enough to go to Hogsmeade!'

"Who's the essay from?" Louis asked, looking over Mia's shoulder.

"Matilda," Mia told him and explained about the chocolate.

Louis sighed. "Alright, but you're buying me a Butterbeer first," he said firmly, guiding her into the Three Broomsticks. The two of them found a table and discussed their latest rune translation over their drinks. Then they went to Honeydukes for Matilda's chocolate before returning to the castle for lunch and homework.

Over the next few days, Mia got used to being single again. She found it meant a lot of being a third wheel – with Lily and Mac, or Hugo and Rachel, or Al and Cassie – and yet more hanging out with Emma and Matilda. She still spent some time in the Inter-House Common Room with the gang, but they were becoming more and more fragmented these days. Since her break up with Louis, Ailie had stopped hanging out with the gang, but the break up had also put a strain on Louis' friendship with Ailie's brother Alexander, and with more and more people pairing off they seemed to spend less and less time together in a big group.

Mia still wasn't sure what she was going as for the Fashion Show. She'd looked through all her clothes (and those of her dormitory-mates) but nothing had jumped out at her.

"Go as a bowtruckle," Lily suggested at lunch on Tuesday. "Or you could be a cute little krup if we got you a forked tail."

"What are you going as?" Mia asked. She'd been asking the same question for weeks, hoping to surprise Lily into telling her, but to no avail.

"Secret," Lily said shortly.

They were still talking about it as they walked up to Defence Against the Dark Arts.

"What about a knarl?" Lily suggested as they walked into the third-floor classroom to discover the tables all pushed to the edges leaving a clear space in the middle. "Yay, a practical lesson!"

"How would that work?" Mia asked as they walked across the room to join Cassie and Zoë.

"Wear brown, add some spines, refuse if people offer you milk?" Lily shrugged.

"What are you talking about?" Zoë asked.

"The Fashion Show," Mia told her. "I still haven't sorted out my costume. Are you two coming?"

"I'll watch, but I'm not making an idiot of myself," Zoë said.

"Al and I have a couples' costume," Cassie said, blushing.

"I've looked through everyone's wardrobes but nothing's inspiring me," Mia said.

"You could come look through my wardrobe after lessons if you like," Cassie offered. "Zoë's too – she's already taken over half of mine anyway."

"Alright, thanks," Mia said.

Professor Edwards shut the door and started the lesson then, and had them hard at it for the next forty minutes practising blocking spells.

After Defence, Mia had Transfiguration where she sat between Lily and Louis. The pair of them spent the lesson suggesting more and more outlandish magical creatures Mia could dress as. This eventually brought down the ire of Professor Duncan, who took off ten points each for disrupting the lesson and condemned the whole class to silence except for incantations.

Mia's last class of the day was Wizarding Social Studies, which she walked to with Hugo.

"Alright, fourth years," Professor Hawksworth said when the last of them was settled. "As I'm sure you're aware, your essays are due in tomorrow. Hopefully, you're all at the stage of putting on the finishing touches – writing your own personal opinions for the conclusion, perhaps – so I thought we'd spend the first few minutes of the lesson discussing the question. So, who'd like to go first: 'What should wizarding education look like at a primary level?' Mr Finch-Fletchley?"

"I think everyone should go to a Muggle primary school," said Ben. "It's a good way to understand Muggles, as well as get the basics of reading and writing."

Hugo put up his hand.

"Mr Weasley?"

"There'd need to be a lot of memory charms to deal with underage magic," Hugo said. "I think things are fine as they are."

"Miss Andrews?"

"I think every child should be taught to read and write," Cassie said shyly. She'd never been that comfortable sharing her opinions in class but Mia thought she'd been worse since the Howler. "It doesn't matter if that's in a Muggle school or being taught at home, or a wizarding day school, but there should be a way of ensuring no one gets to Hogwarts unable to read or write." She didn't need to add 'like me'; everyone knew what she was thinking.

"Miss Dursley?"

"I think there should be more choice," Mia said. "More wizarding day schools, an easier path into Muggle schools, more resources and guidance for parents teaching their children at home."

Professor Hawksworth asked a few more students for their opinions and then started the lesson.