The Years of Blue [2]

Chapter 22: Sirius Black

We found Rosalie the next morning as she was walking down to the dining hall, looking out of place with the wrong uniform and her face caked with makeup.

It was a blessing on her end that Marie and I were there to force her back into her dorm to change and fix her. It was for this reason that the three of us arrived later than usual to breakfast, gaining the iron glare from Madam Benoît for our tardiness. We ignored this however, as Marie and I were in an important conversation with Rosalie about the importance of wearing little makeup at school, if not none.

"You want to look like you are wearing nothing, even if you are wearing plenty of products."

"But- But you all are wearing red lipstick and-"

"Red lipstick doesn't count. It is a necessity."

Mila and Ana stood from their table as we arrived, and heared the end of our conversation as we joined the table. Immediately they understand what we were trying to do and joined in.

"If you came down with a full face of makeup on your first day, that's not so bad. You are not the first to pull that nor the last," Mila explained rationally.

"Though it looks like you did a great job with your uniform," Ana noted, checking Rosalie out thoughfully. Mila nodded along.

"Yes, even your hat is at the right angle. Good for you!"

"We had to fix her uniform," Marie explained in quick Dutch that I only guessed the meaning of. The two others gave Rosalie knowing looks as we sat down together to finish our breakfast.

"We all go through that at least once. Be happy you have us to help you along the way. Made life easier for you, right Ava?" Mila questioned me with a smile.

"I would have been fine," I said back confidently gaining eye rolls from the others. Rosalie smiled quietly to herself, something I was more used to seeing her be like at home. I watched as she twisted her hand across one of her massive pearl ear studs, before quickly dropping her hand to her tea.

"Sounds like Ava. Always wants to do things herself," She said quietly in English. The language switch took the girls a moment to respond but they all seemed to understand and agree on her end, while I only joked along further, making a tut-tut sound.

"There is nothing wrong with being confident. My mother says it's a very important skill for a witch to have currently."

"Well your mother does have a lot of confidence," Marie agreed, "Though whether it is possible to have too much confidence is another question." The girls snickered while I cast my roommate a playful glare which she egged on good naturedly.

"Looks like you two forgave each other mighty fast," Mila commented, gaining looks from both myself and Marie. I shrugged and turned back to my muffin while Marie spoke on.

"That's what happens when one receives such a sappy apology letter from this one." I could sense Rosalie looking at me as I went for my milk glass.

In truth, Marie and I did more than just forgive each other because of that one letter. After we departed from Mila and Ana late last night, I told Marie the truth about my winter break, including my father's breakdown on the house elf to the weird meetings I had shared with Draco Malfoy. It's one thing to get an apology letter from someone as stubborn as myself, but it is a whole other ordeal to have that same friend admit that they had one of their worst breaks to date and wished they spent it elsewhere.

Safe to say, that after crying out what happened to Marie, she and I seemed to get a better understanding of each other's standpoints with our parents. She knew mine were demanding on the social ladder, and I knew Marie's parents were nitpicky about everything she did.