Dressing Up and Talking Down

[Odette Madison]

Odette didn't enjoy changing clothes in this old lavatory, but she hadn't been able to think of any better place. The Yule Ball was coming up, and she wanted Margo's opinion on what dress she should wear. She would have preferred to try on dresses in her dorm, but Margo wasn't allowed in there. It wasn't safe there anyway, she wouldn't put it past Hayley to pour ink on her dresses or something. Her mother had sent over quite a few of them, and Odette needed to try them all on to see what the perfect one was.

Of course, she knew that her mother already had one picked out. This was a test of sorts, to see if Odette could pick the right one. She knew how it worked by now, and already anticpated the disappointed letter she would get after sending the ones she hadn't picked back. Her mother was quite frustrating sometimes, but she still couldn't help but want to make her proud.

Now, she wasn't sure why she wanted Margo to help her decide, but out of all her friends she was the one she wanted for this. She told herself it was just because she would look so much better in all of the dresses, though she wasn't sure if that was the real reason. Margo would be thrilled to try them on at least. Or Odette assumed she would be.

She had sent the Ravenclaw a note to meet her here, using a First Year as delivery system. While she waited, she displayed the dresses she had to try on by hanging them from the stalls with the hangers. There were quite a few different ones. Long, short, bright, shiny, muted... which one would look best on her? She needed to shine at the Yule Ball this year. She was twelve now, she no longer had the excuse of being just a kid.

 

[Margo Ellis]

The Yule Ball was fast approaching, and Margo still didn't have a date. Of course she didn't have a date; she was too afraid to ask anybody to go with her, and she was too meek and awkward for anybody to want to approach her. She sighed sadly, flipping through her History textbook without taking very much of it in. A school dance was hardly as important as her exams, yet her mind drifted persistently back to it, as if somehow getting a date might make or break her entire future. She couldn't help it; Cynthia and Brogan had both had dates to their school dances when they'd been twelve, and now they were beautiful and popular and had a different boyfriend every month. Maybe, thought Margo, if she could just find somebody to dance with, she might grow up to be just like them.

The Ravenclaw was interrupted from these wistful thoughts by a small, red-faced first year thrusting a note at her. Unfolding it, she frowned. Odette wanted to meet her in the antiquated lavatory? What for? Thanking the first year, Margo packed away her things and headed straight there, happy to prioritise her friend over studying. Truth be told, she was glad for the break; thinking about the Yule Ball all day was beginning to get tiring.

Pushing open the door, Margo's heart sank. At least half a dozen dresses were hung up on the stall doors, like some strange boutique display. Beautiful dresses, of all different lengths and colours and fabrics. Just one of them must have cost more galleons than Margo had ever owned. "I got your note," she said to Odette, approaching a pale blue dress and stroking the skirt. "Are these your dresses? They're beautiful. You are so lucky."

 

[Odette Madison]

Odette turned around when the door opened and she saw Margo approach. It seemed like firsties were useful for some things. Margo looked impressed by the dresses, but not entirely happy. She assumed they were all hers, which Odette would let her believe even though she knew her mother would return the ones she didn't pick. "Hi!" She said brightly. "Yes, my mom sent these over for me to pick one. I figured you might be able to help." She smiled. "And we could just have some fun trying them on together. Right? Just the two of us, I haven't seen you as much lately as I would have liked." She wanted Margo to stay loyal to her and knew she had to work for it, it would be an amateur mistake to just assume Margo would continue to look up to her without giving her things to look up to. "I think this green one with the straps would look amazing on you." She said, taking it down to hold out to Margo. "Try it on." She urged.

 

[Margo Ellis]

Suddenly Margo was beginning to feel better and better about the ball; if only she could convince Odette (or Odette's mother) to let her wear one of these dresses, she would be the most enviable girl on the dance floor! Well, besides Odette, of course. There wasn't a girl in school more beautiful than Margo's best friend. "Wow, really?!" Margo said, hardly able to contain her excitement at the thought of trying all these dresses on with Odette. It was only because she wanted to appear dignified and ladylike in the eyes of her friend that she didn't jump up and down on the spot. "OK!" she said, taking the pretty green dress and holding it up to her chest to see what it would look like. After a pause, she said, "I'll just... take it in here..." Blushing, she hurried into one of the toilet cubicles and changed awkwardly into the dress. It was a little too tight around her waist and a little too loose everywhere else, but maybe nobody would notice. Holding one of the straps in place so that it wouldn't fall down, she let herself out of the cubicle and smiled and Odette. "What do you think?"

 

[Odette Madison]

Odette was glad to see Margo get so excited from her offer. Honestly, she was sort of excited for this. She really had meant to spend more time with Margo than she had lately, and her reaction made her feel softer towards the other girl. She waited to try on a dress of her own as Margo got dressed in the green one. In all honesty, she was a bit worried that all of them would look awful on her.

This worry increased ten times when Margo stepped out of the cubicle looking incredible. She had always felt like Margo was easily less pretty than her, and thus no threat. But now... Her soft feelings evaporated at once. She looked her up and down. "Hm... the color is nice, but it makes your legs short. It's also a bit tight." She smiled. "My turn." She grabbed a pale pink floor-length dress and headed into the cubicle herself. She changed into it, looked down at herself before leaving the cubicle again to show Margo. "What do you think?" She asked, posing with a hand on her hip.

 

[Margo Ellis]

"Yeah," Margo agreed, letting go of the strap. It fell limply over her shoulder. "It is a bit tight. It's my enormous bum," she joked, waddling back into the cubicle and changing back into her robes. She only had to wait a moment once she emerged for Odette to come out of the adjacent one, wearing what had to be the most beautiful dress Margo had ever seen. It had looked all right on the hanger, but on Odette, it was just gorgeous. Realising her mouth was open, Margo closed it. "Wow. Odette Harper, is that you?! You look like a princess." She really did. It was almost enviable, even though Margo wasn't supposed to care about that sort of thing. "OK, now me. I'll tryyy... this one!" Unhooking a knee-length, dark pink dress from one of the stall doors, Margo hurried into a cubicle to change into it. "Wow," she said, before she'd even come out. "This one is really nice." And it was; where the green dress had been tight, this one fitted perfectly, and where the green dress had been loose, this one was snug. She almost felt... pretty. Putting on her best pout, Margo slid open the bolt and strutted out, dissolving into giggles almost immediately. "What do you think? Am I dazzling?" Margo threw her head back dramatically, putting a hand on her hip.

 

[Odette Madison]

Odette felt softer again when Margo joked about what she had said, almost feeling bad for what she had said. Honestly, it was just jarring to see Margo as both a friend and as competition at the same time. It kept making her swap back and forth between how she felt about the other girl. Honestly, she felt exhausted by it sometimes.

When Margo complimented her, her confidence grew. She did feel like a princess, though she thought her mother would find pink sort of childish. "I know." She said, twirling once in front of the mirror. "But I want a different color... maybe dark." She took a dark blue one, but waited for Margo to be done first. She watched as her friend came out and fought the jealousy clawing up her throat. Margo looked good when she tried, ba3d50 preferred it when she didn't try. "That one's...." She paused. "Nice." She said grudgingly. "Too bad you won't be able to borrow it for the actual ball." She couldn't help adding. Then she slipped into the cubicle to try on the blue dress. It fell just over her knees and was a bit big around the chest. She also felt very pale in it. She had to show it, though, and opened the door again. If Margo dared to say anything bad about it, she would get back at her. She should have made up flaws about the pink dress. The other girl might start thinking she was above her.

 

[Margo Ellis]

Margo felt a little deflated at Odette's weak reaction, but supposed she was probably right anyway. It was nice, but no dress could make Margo as beautiful as Odette. She went back into the cubicle to change out of the dress, re-emerging a few moments before Odette did. Even when the Slytherin didn't fill the dress out properly, she still looked beautiful in it, and Margo made an extra effort to tell her so, just so that she didn't feel as disappointed as Margo had done when the reaction had been weak. Margo didn't want to try any more dresses on - she didn't look that good in them anyway - but she offered her opinion on them as Odette tried each one in turn, making sure to pick out a few positive qualities even when she didn't like them. It was quite exhausting, and when they finally packed up some time later, Margo was left feeling just as worried and sad about the Yule Ball as she had done before she'd come.

---

END​