Dress for every occasion

[Andromeda Morningstar]

Andromeda told her mother of the Winter Solstice dance that was coming up soon. She told her mother that she would rather not attend, but her mother was very adamant that she attend the ball. You'll regret not going. She had stated in her owl back to her daughter. Along with the letter was a parcel wrapped in plain brown wrapping but inside was a very elegant dress of oranges, reds and a deep grey color. Her mother knew her tastes and while most people might expect her to show up in black or a deep green dress, she preferred the orange color that he mother sent. It was absolutely stunning, the only problem was, she didn't have a date, nor did she really have anyone to tag along with.

She would be attending the dance alone. She hadn't really asked anyone either, she couldn't get the courage together that she needed to approach and ask someone to go with her. Her mother wasn't aware of that, to be fair she wasn't really aware of how much of an introvert her daughter really was overall.

Now, the young woman sat in the Gardens, the dress laid across her lap and her mind lost in thought. Should she really attend the event? If she didn't she wouldn't get another opportunity to wear the dress her mother had sent, and Andie knew full well that was why she had sent it. Andie would not have gone dress shopping on her own and her mother knew that. The desire to wear the dress could be enough pull for her to attend the dance on her own. Or she could shove it in the bottom of her trunk and never see it again. Therefore never thinking of it until the night of the dance. She could make herself scarce that night though. She doubted anyone would really miss her anyway. A few fake friends, and professors who had too many other students to keep track of.

Her eyes lingered on the dress and she rolled them as she shoved the dress back into his bag and tossed it on the bench next to her. "Tricky ploy, mother." She muttered to herself before letting out a sigh.

The dress

[Colette Descoteaux]

Colette quite enjoyed wandering the grounds of Hogwarts. It reminded her of home and it also allowed her to think, a rare luxury it seemed in the school. What with the Ball coming up, almost every it appeared wanted to go or bring it up as a subject of conversation. Sadly anyone wishing to discuss with Colette the dance, was doomed to failure, such a conversation would rarely grip her notoriously fickle attention for long. She would either leave without warning or completely zone out, withdrawing into her own mind or otherwise losing herself to whatever flight of fancy came up.

With a dream like expression of serenity, she moved through the gardens feeling somewhat at peace. The air was cool and so far no one had approached in regards to the Ball. Colette had not been asked by anyone, she was for many of the students too weird. Not that this state of affairs bothered her, she would turn up, dance once if something came up, drift over for some cake for what was a party of any kind without cake? Then retire to the dormitory to sleep. This was not a prediction or a vision, merely what she intended to do. If some boy decided to ask her as a date to the Ball, she may accept, she may not, it may depend entirely on the day or her mood at the time.

Abruptly and much to her surprise she found herself in one of the courtyards, where a girl, possibly a year or two older than her was examining a dress. No doubt what they intended to wear for the Ball, assuming they were going. But if they weren't going to go, why bother with getting the dress sent? Unless family members were insistent on the subject. She watched as the girl put the dress back in the bag, before saying something to herself which Colette failed to catch. "Bonjour." Colette began, approaching the girl who was sitting on the bench. "That is a very nice dress. I think... Er... How do you say erm... It will make you the bell of the ball yes?" She ventured uncertainly, English had never been her best language. What she would not give for a Hogwarts student who spoke her own native tongue fluently. "Do you mind if I sit down next to you please?" She asked with a small smile, though her brown eyes lacked focus, as if they were looking at something only visible to Colette. Unfortunately, this made her look as though she were fixated on a nearby bush.

[Andromeda Morningstar]

Andromeda really had no intentions of going to the ball. She had no one to go with unless she asked Nathaniel and he'd probably give her a serious look and sort of wave off her question. He was just a friend but it would have been better than going alone. So she didn't go out and buy a dress, she didn't need one, nor did she want one. But now, as she sat here on the bench, this beautiful dress, she questioned whether or not she wanted to go to the ball. After stuffing the dress back into the back to think about it another time, she looked up to see Colette. A younger Ravenclaw student.

"Hello...And thank you. My mum sent it to me...I think she wants me to go so I don't have regrets later in life." She sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "Sure, If I even go to the ball that is." She smiled and nodded her head. She patted the seat next to her. "By all means, have a seat." She looked over at the girl who seemed to be zoning out. Andie smiled and let her do her thing before saying anything. "Are you, uh...I mean, have you thought about going to the ball at all?" She didn't really want to talk about the stupid ball, but that's what the other girl brought up so she only assumed...

[Colette Descoteaux]

"She has excellent tastes when it comes to dresses." Colette commented, though given her unusual tastes and broad sense of fashion, things to her tastes were not always complimentary. Here however, she meant it as a compliment. For all her faults, Colette knew not to slander peoples' clothing, especially if it had been recently delivered, even more so by family members. "Ah oui yes, that is always a problem for the living non? Do one thing and you might regret it, don't and you might regret not trying." She pointed out softly. "Do you not wish to go?" Colette inquired, tilting her head to the left as she voiced the question.

"Merci." The seer thanked her as they seated themselves down nearby. For a long moment, it appeared Colette had entirely missed the question before her gaze seemed to sharpen and she drew herself back in to the material plain. "The ball?" She repeated quietly. "Oui and non, sometimes I think I will go but then again if there is no cake then it is not a ball worth attending. Then other times I have visions showing me in a dress, attending with some boy who did not wish to go alone." Colette chuckled at this. "Part of me wonders if it is a vision or a dream." She shrugged her shoulders. "But what can I do? But you do not seem to wish to go in spite of the dress? To go alone without the bother of a boy surely allows for peace of mind non? There will be many of them going alone too I am sure." She blinked slowly and then offered. "I can always ask someone for you?"

[Andromeda Morningstar]

She looked down at the box that held the dress and nodded. "She knew it would be something I would want to wear, hence why she sent it." She shrugged her shoulders at her question. She wasn't sure if she wanted to go. She didn't have many friends to attend with and she knew if she went stag she would be sitting at a table alone. It wasn't exactly something she considered to be fun. "I don't know. I don't really have many friends, and I don't have a date. Not that I except to have one...Just that being alone at a dance doesn't sound all that fun." There was someone she wanted to go with, but she didn't think he would even ask her. She also didn't know if he even wanted to attend. "I can have more fun roaming the school or sitting out by the lake." Walking into a dance alone she felt like all eyes would be on her and there would be judgment.

She shook her head quickly at the question. "No, I think you asking this particular boy would make it worse. If I want to go with him I should ask him myself. However, I have not the courage or the nerve to ask him." She had never felt this way about someone before and she didn't know how to approach it. It was not lost on her that she mentioned visions as well. "Are you...A seer then?" She hadn't met on in person before, not that she was going to make it awkward by oohing and awing over it. Just a question to establish the facts. "I'm sure they'll have cake..." She smiled at the idea of cake being at the dance. "I suppose I could go alone...unless you and I..." It was a silly idea...but it seemed neither wanted to attend alone. "Perhaps it would save you from a boy taking you the dance as a last resort?" She scoffed at the idea. Boys could be so cruel. "I mean...attend as friends together, perhaps?" She felt she was all over the place. She hoped this girl wouldn't be annoyed by her.

[Colette Descoteaux]

"Mothers can be clever and sneaky like that." Colette agreed with a knowing smile, she had heard a similar story about how her grandmother managed to get her Mother to go to the dance. The very same dance where she met Colette's father and, thus the future wrote itself. "It is not the number of friends who matter, but how strong those bonds are." She pointed out encouragingly, trying her best to stay focused on the conversation and not allow for her mind to wander off, pondering the mysteries of the possible futures.

A difficult task at any time for her.

"As for not having a date, surely any boy who sees you in that will be smitten and have to ask you for your hand in a dance." Colette added serenely, her attention clearly wandering off as her eyes unfocused for a few seconds. Abruptly, she snapped back to the present and shook her head, before blinking. "If that is what you wish to do and it makes you happy then do that." She told her, still unknowing if she would go herself or not.

"Hmm... Maybe you can take a potion to make yourself brave enough to ask him? All he can say is no. Maybe is a lot worse of answer." Colette spoke dreamily as if all of this were mere problems with simple solutions. Perhaps they were? Perhaps they weren't. "Oui, I am." She confirmed, still in the same serene or dreamlike manner, her being a seer did help to explain some of Colette's oddities.

"Oui, it would be very disappointing without cake." She said this as if the lack of cake happened to be the worst possibility in the world. Colette shrugged her small shoulders. "It is... Not the first time one will have done so. I am... Peculiar to many, especially here they find me weird or so some say." Not that she minded, words were merely words at the end of the day. Unless the listener gave them the strength to do harm, they bounced off in a manner not to dissimilar from a successfully deflected spell.

Colette blinked her eyes focusing again for a heartbeat as she tuned out, but in fact, she happened to be thinking, considering the words and the offer. "What if... We do that and the boy does not ask you because we went together even as friends?" She left out her own fate, whether a boy went with her or not was not a huge concern. Not as much as the presence of the cake was. "Do you think it will be chocolate or Red Velvet?" She asked abruptly.