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Chapter Nineteen

Hermione burst into her dorm and started throwing things out of her armoire. She knew, more or less, what her costume was going to look like, she'd looked through her manga collection for some pictures. She also knew the hairstyle she was going to be expected to have. Her wild, curly hair wasn't going to cooperate without a lot of convincing; or coercion, if you will.

Lavender looked up from her fashion magazine. "Granger, you're dangerous. I'm glad that was only a pair of rolled up socks. What's the panic?" she tossed the socks, which had missed her head by an inch, onto the floor and stood up.

Hermione dragged a lock of hair forward to glare at it. "My hair. It's ... it's ... Arrg!" She gave a little scream of frustration and threw her hands in the air. "I'm doomed!"

"Drama Queen! Please. Show me what you want." Lavender leaned over to look at the picture. "Ok. Not that big a problem. A little color, a little Sleek-easy, and Bob's your uncle." Lavender picked up her wand and started work. "See, first we give it a good strong straightening spell, just like for that other do." She flicked her wand in a quick spell. "There. Then we color it."

"Another spell?" Hermione bit her lip. "I looked all over for a coloring spell and couldn't find one."

"Color takes a potion. And that helps straighten your hair even more. I would have suggested this a long time ago but the only colors are black, dark brown and that horrible bright yellow."

"But Lockhart colors his hair with a spell, the Twins kept breaking it." Hermione glanced at Lavender in the mirror to see her shaking her head.

"Nope! Not a spell, that is only an illusion, not a spell. There's some sort of difference that I don't get." Lavender produced a box from her dresser drawer. "This is the best stuff. All you have to do is mix it. There's a different mix in for each color. So ... which one?"

"Black, please." Hermione sighed. "I just hope this is worth it."

"Mmmm?" Lavender made a questioning sound as she concentrated on shaking the dye.

"Muggle ... potions are sometimes not worth the trouble. And smelly and drippy." Hermione made her opinion of muggle hair dye plain by scrunching up her nose and sighing.

"Now, I want to look at all the different styles, so I can figure out which one is best for your face shape." She put the bottle down. "That has to set for five minutes on the dot. That's one of the reasons that some dye jobs come out uneven, they get impatient and use it too soon. So ..."

Hermione handed Lavender the 8x10 pictures she'd made by copying the line art from several manga. "I like this one. It's called a ponytail and poof. Why, I couldn't tell you."

Lavender examined the chosen style and nodded. "I think that would be really pretty on you. It's called a poof and tail, though. See, the first bit is a poof, you'll need an appliance for that but I've got one. Then a simple tail. I think I've got some of those jewel headed pins that look so cute ..." she rummaged in her dresser. "Somewhere. And ribbons are no problem. What color are you wearing."

"White top and crimson bottom. But ... I'm not sure my character would wear jeweled pins." Hermione looked a bit bereft at the thought of jeweled pins for her hair. "I think a miko would probably wear simple horn or wood. And ..." She glanced up to see Lavender holding a handful of horn pins and hair sticks. The sticks looked like chopsticks with dangling tassels affixed to the ends. "Oh! Those are perfect. May I borrow them, please?" She gave Lavender a pleading look.

"And what do I get out of it?" Lavender and Hermione had finally become friendly, so teasing was understood.

"I've got a nice bar of chocolate." Hermione grinned then singsonged, "It's Honeydukes best."