Snakes and Ladders (Fem!HPxLM) (DISCONTINUED)

Monochopsis

Hyacinth reread the letter a few times. She had spoken over the plan with her mother and father, knowing the ins and outs but couldn't help the nervous butterflies that turned her stomach. She shifted the pressed flowers that her old professor had decorated the edge of the letter with under her fingers and tried to make sense of it all in her head but came up short.

While part of her wanted to trust the stern but good-natured Transfiguration professor, another part only saw the trusted friend of Dumbledore, someone who had worked with him for decades. While she couldn't quite place all of her trust in Minerva McGonagall, she knew her mother had all of her faith. So she waited for her mother to send the elf that would bring her down to the tea room to be presented before her old professor for the first time as Hyacinth Iris Riddle-Snape, daughter of Severus Tobias Riddle-Snape and Tom Marvolo Riddle-Snape rather than Hazel Potter, the girl who lived.

While she waited, Hyacinth took to making herself presentable for company to distract herself. She had had her first lesson in pureblood etiquette the day before, with Narcissa and Bellatrix joining to fill in any gaps that, while unlikely, could crop up.

She had learnt that a witch's power lay in their hair and should be protected. A witch should always keep their hair up to avoid the risk of it ever being cut, and it must be brushed daily, twelve strokes with the brush on each section of hair. Narcissa had said the longer a witch's hair, the more powerful the witch. Hyacinth had jotted it down on the first page of the journal her mother had given her on Christmas. 

She was surprised to note that her hair now reached mid-thigh, whereas it sat at her hips only a few weeks earlier. Summoning the special ritual brush, Bellatrix had dug out and gifted her, Hyacinth took her time in sectioning her hair into three parts before brushing each section twelve times. 

The brush was an opulent one made from ivory and gold with an intricate gold rose in the centre of the ivory backing.

After brushing her hair, she pulled her hair back into a tight bun at the back of her head, smoothing down flyaways with her hands and a small amount of rose-scented hair oil made by a hard-to-come-by Romanian witch who specialises in hair care.

From there, Hyacinth moved to her walk-in wardrobe, where Narcissa popped into a frame that hung on the wall farthest from the door. 

"You want to look smart, my dear—a lady never underdresses. Don't go too fancy, but not too casual, either. Sit between those two categories," came the ever-fashionable woman's advice.

Hyacinth thought about her words before she moved to pick out an outfit. Her first two choices didn't meet Narcissa's approval, but they both agreed that her third choice was the right choice regarding clothes.

The chosen outfit was a simple black dress with pearl-like buttons running down the centre, stopping early, allowing the rest of the material to flow and split just above the knee before continuing to mid-calf. The back of the dress was high to make space for long sleeves, and Hyacinth paired the dress with black heeled shoes with pearl anklets that tied at the back of the ankle with black ribbon. She finished the look off with a pearl necklace and matching earrings.

Narcissa gasped in delight at the whole picture the girl before her created. 

"You look wonderful, my dear. You look the picture of Pureblood society. Now, chin up, shoulders back," she ordered, sounding much like an army commander Hyacinth remembered seeing on the TV once while she dusted. 

Hyacinth's mask of confidence nearly crumbled when she heard the telling pop of an elf appearing in her room, but she kept Narcissa's words in mind. 

Chin up, shoulders back.