Dresses

It was strange having all the girls together again. It had been a while since they had gone out altogether. They were going dress shopping for something new to wear to the ball hosted at the Manor on New Year's Eve. Ara was excited to have time with Mary again. It felt as though they hadn't seen one another really one on one in a while. Even At Hogwarts, it was hard to get together with her. 

 Ara was waiting with Cissy in the parlor for everyone to arrive, and then they were all going to go together. Hermione found a muggle store with beautiful dresses, and everyone thought it would be a nice new place to go. She had even rented a limo for them to all ride in to go to the store. 

Ginny and Lily were the first to arrive. Lily looked so excited to be going. She was the youngest of the girls going, and she looked like she was going to burst at the seams with excitement.

"Do you know what you are going to get, Ara?"

"No idea Lily. I am hoping that I can know it when I see it." 

"I don't really know either, but I am just really excited to be trying on all the dresses." 

"You know I heard that this store has the most dresses in one location in London. We could be there for hours," Ginny looked at Cissy, concerned. 

"We will be if I cannot find anything. Do you remember how picky I am? I am definitely going to need help." Hermione had come in; she had been in a meeting at the Ministry. 

"I thought for sure you were going to be the last one here, mother," Ara kissed her mother's cheek.

"Me too, honestly. Where is everyone?"

"Sorry we are late!" Romilda had a hand on both of her daughter's wrists. Margret and Milly were twins and got into a lot of trouble all of the time. It always took them forever to get out of the house. 

"You are not late, Romilda, but mother is," Ginny laughed. Ginny always thought they were running late to everything because there were so many children in her family, but since they had all moved out, she learned quickly her mother was actually the one that was always running late. 

"Here I am!" Mrs. Wealsey walked in at the exact moment, and Ginny smiled warmly at her mother, but her face turned a shade of deep red. Even though all of her children were adults with their own children, they were still subject to Mrs. Wealsey's scoldings. 

"That means that Mary and Hannah are the last ones. I wonder if they are alright," Ara thought about ringing Mary. She had been given two muggle phones from her mother that were for her and Mary to keep in touch, and they used them all the time outside of school. 

"I am so sorry," Hannah looked as if she had been fighting in the war again, "There was a huge crowd at the inn, and I couldn't make the wait staff understand that I needed to leave." 

"Are you excited, Ara?" Mary came right over to her friend.

"Yes," Ara hugged and smiled at her in return. 

"Well, we should get going; I think that our ride is already here," Hermione ushered everyone outside and into the limo. 

After they arrived, even the adults looked like little children again. There were so many dresses in this store that they all thought they would be here all night. How were they supposed to go through all of these?

"Come on, Ara, come with me," Mary grabbed Ara's hand, and they began searching through everything. Every once in a while, someone would try something on, and everyone would take a vote. So far, no one had found something that they really loved. About an hour and a half passed before Romilda came out of the dressing room with a dark blue strapless mermaid dress. The top was all beaded; it was beautiful on her. 

"Wow," Ara whispered to herself. She wanted to find something that made everyone smile. Mrs. Wealsey was already in tears. She had grown close to Romilda over the years, and Ginny was glad that they grew past the differences they had while still in school and had become great friends. 

"It is perfect, Ro," Ginny and everyone else watched as she twirled around in a circle. It really was perfect for her. 

"I love it!" Romilda declared. 

"Momma, I love it," Margret smiled.

"It is so pretty," Milly added. 

"Should we find something for the two of you now?" She looked at her daughters as they nodded eagerly. 

"While we are all here, I just wanted you all to know that all of this is on me," Cissy smiled warmly at everyone.

"Narcissa, we couldn't," Romilda looked at the dress; it must cost a fortune. 

"Nonsense, I want to. So make sure you find something you absolutely love, trust me, I will know if you don't," She smiled at everyone again before shooing them back into the racks covered in satin, lace, and tule. 

The next person to come out in a dress was Ginny. Lily jumped up and down in excitement as her mother came out of the dressing room.

"'Mione?"

"I think it looks perfect," Hermione smiled. The black dress looked as if it had tiny stars all over it, and the way that Ginny's hair contrasted the dark material made her stand out even more. 

"Do you think we will ever find anything?" Ara looked hopelessly around with Mary still. 

"Yes!" Mary declared, holding up a dark red dress with lace all over the dress. It looked beautiful. Ara thought it would be perfect for her, though she knew that she didn't want red. Maybe she should get green. That would be nice to match with Mary in a sort of way.