Delicate | James Potter

2.19

~

"Can you tie me?" Alice almost fell backwards over the skirt of her dress as she tried to waddle around to where Marlene was stood near the mirror. Her dress had a ribbon up her back, one she couldn't reach well enough by herself. It wrapped around in an elegant manner, but wasn't half an inconvenience. Still, it was a perfect fit, and so of course had been the perfect find.

"Sure, just give me one sec." Marlene, who since the discovery of eyeliner had also taken interest in other vivid makeup, was busy applying bright red lipstick. She mushed her lips together to spread it all into place, doing so perfectly first time. It was muggle lipstick, she'd told Alice already, but apparently much better than the Witch lipstick she owned that always changed colour and was a weird consistency. It suited her. "Right, what do you need?"

"Please can you tie my ribbons?"

Marlene smiled, "Of course."

Alice's dress was blue, a blue so perfectly matched to her eyes that it was a miracle they'd ever even found it. It was simple, yes, with no patterns or lace or frills or sequins, but Alice loved it, more so than she loved her summer prom dress. She wasn't sure how winter themed they were all supposed to look, but it was enough. She had on her snowflake necklace to match, and silver earrings that dangled down and shimmered under the light. Overall, she felt rather pretty.

Once Marlene had done up the back, Alice thanked her. Then Marlene turned to Lily, "Excited to see Alex, Lils?"

Lily blushed brightly and made her way to the bathroom, "of course."

It was only the three of them getting ready together; Mary had long since left with Evangeline, who somehow had this weird control over the girl. Mary seemed happy enough with her new friend, but Alice still found their friendship odd, especially when Eve had been so horrid to her about her blood. No one else seemed to think anything of it, even Marlene or Lily, so Alice had decided to leave them to it. She'd rather not get in the way of Evangeline again anyway.

"What about you Alice?" Marlene then asked, jumping down onto her bed so that she bounced a few times before it settled. Her eyebrows wiggled. "Did you ever manage to track down a date?"

It was Alice's turn to blush. "Um, yes, actually."

"You did?"

"Don't look so surprised."

Marlene grinned. "Go on."

Alice smiled back sheepishly. "I asked James."

"You asked James?" Marlene asked, again looking almost surprised. "James as in Potter?"

"Yes... well, sort of."

She blinked. "Sort of? What does that mean?"

"I said I'd go with him, and he said yes." Alice wasn't sure whether to tell Marlene it was only after Lily had rejected him that he had agreed, but then again, she hadn't asked him before. Maybe he would have said yes then too.