Rose Dursley: The Girl Who Lived

17. Trip to Hogsmeade

The next morning was a Saturday. Rose was still laying in bed. She had been awake for a while, but was feeling warm and comfortable under her blankets.

As Rose lay staring at the ceiling, she heard Hermione yawning and waking up in the bed next to her's. Hermione rolled over and looked across at Rose. When she saw that Rose was awake already, Hermione grinned at her.

"So you and Ron are going to the Ball together?" she said.

"Yeah, what about it?" said Rose.

"Well I was thinking, have you got a dress to wear?" Hermione asked.

"Hermione, in all the time you have known me, have you ever seen me wearing a dress?" Rose said.

"I know, but you need one for the Yule Ball," said Hermione. "Everyone has to wear dresses or dress robes. It the rules."

Rose pulled her blankets up to cover her face. "Urgh," she moaned.

"We should go into Hogsmeade this morning," said Hermione. "Gladrags will have something for you."

Rose groaned. "Urgh, do I have to?"

"Yes!" said Hermione. "Come on, get up and get dressed. We can grab some breakfast in Hogsmeade."

Rose reluctantly rolled out of bed. She took off her pajamas and grabbed some clean clothes from her dresser. The weather was getting colder, so she went with her usual jeans, and on top she picked out a thick woollen jumper and her black beanie hat.

Hermione came back from the bathroom just as Rose finished tying up the laces on her DM boots. Hermione frowned at Rose's choice of clothes. It wasn't the usual thing you would wear to go shopping for dresses, but she was used to the way Rose did things by now.

Rose went to the bathroom when she saw Hermione pull off her nightie and start to quickly get dressed. Once Hermione was ready, they both started the long walk into Hogsmeade.

There was still a chill in the air, as the sun had not been up long enough to warm it up. So Rose and Hermione hurried along the path and headed to the Three Broomsticks for some warm butterbeer.

Once they had warmed up, Hermione and Rose walked the rest of the way to Gladrags Wizardwear. It was a large shop, filled with all sorts of clothes that a wizard would wear. There were all types of robes, from the normal everyday robes, all the way to the fanciest of dress robes. And on the other side of the shop, there was a row of pretty dresses.

Hermione headed straight to the racks full of dresses. "They are all so pretty," she said. "What colour do you think?"

Rose hung back reluctantly. "I dunno," she said.

"Oh, how about something green to match your eyes?" said Hermione.

"Maybe," said Rose.

Hermione pulled a dress from the rack. It was a light chartreuse colour silk dress, with an emerald green leaf pattern embroidered on it and little jewels scattered down the front. "Oooh, this one's pretty," she said. "I think it would look great on you."

Hermione held the dress up to the front of Rose. "The light green goes well with your dark hair," said Hermione. "And the little jewels match your eye colour. Don't you think?"

Rose shrugged. "I guess," she said.

"I bet Ron would love it," said Hermione.

"Yeah, well, let him wear it then," said Rose.

Hermione put the dress back on the rack, then turned around with her hand on her hip, and gave Rose a disapproving look. "Don't you want to look your best for Ron?" said Hermione.

"I just want to wear something that I can feel comfortable in," said Rose. "And I wouldn't feel comfortable in a dress like that.

Hermione threw her hands up. "Ugh, well what would you feel comfortable wearing?" she asked.

Rose turned around slowly and looked at all the other clothes in the shop. As she did, her eyes fell on one of the racks of dress robes. There was a set of black dress robes with white frilly bits and purple trim. Rose walked over and took them from the rack.

"These look good," said Rose.

"You can't wear those. They're boys dress robes," said Hermione.

"Yeah, well you said everyone had to wear a dress or dress robes according to the rules," said Rose. "So I want to wear dress robes."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Well I'm not sure what Ron will think about that," she said.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," said Rose. "Why would he care about what I'm wearing?"

Hermione was starting to get frustrated. "Because you are supposed to be wearing a dress," she said.

Rose started to get annoyed. "Why? Because that's what girls do?" she said. "Well maybe I don't want to."

"Urgh, you can't just wear boys clothes all the time," said Hermione. "Sometimes you have to just act like a normal person to fit in."

"Yeah, well I'm sick of having to fit in!" Rose shouted. "Why can't I just be myself!"

"Fine, buy your dress robes!" Hermione shouted. "I'm leaving!"

Hermione turned around and stormed out of Gladrags. She slammed the door and went stomping up the road on the direction of Hogwarts castle.

Rose was still in the shop, and filled with rage. She felt like she wanted to kick something. Eventually she took some deep breaths and calmed down. She picked up the dress robes from the rack and took them to try on.

When Rose stepped out from the changing room, the shop assistant came over to her. She looked up and down at Rose, then took out her wand. "You look lovely, dear," she said. "I would just need to adjust it to your size."

The shop assistant waved her wand, and the robes that Rose was wearing started to change shape. They came in a little tighter around her belly, and went out a little wider around her hips.

"There, much better," said the assistant. "Would you like to see?"

The shop assistant lead Rose over to where there was a full length mirror. When Rose looked in the mirror, she gasped. She looked so different, but at the same time, it felt so right.

After admiring herself in the mirror for a few more minutes, Rose went back to change into her own clothes again. Then she took the new robes to the counter at the front of the shop.

"They suit you," said the assistant.

"Thanks," said Rose. "I will take them."

Once Rose had paid, the assistant wrapped up the new robes and put them in a bag. Then Rose left the shop and started to walk back up to Hogwarts castle.