The Dress Robes

Two days later, Errol, assisted by another owl, came swooping into the Great Hall, struggling with a large box. The second owl swerved away just as the string binding the box snapped. Both Fred and Ginny jumped up and grabbed the box before it fell on the table, and Errol collapsed in a heap on top of it, exhausted. The hint of green fabric that showed through a gap where the box opened a bit immediately told Ginny what was inside. The dress robes her mum had sent for the Ball had arrived. Ginny did not want to show everyone at the Gryffindor house table her dress robes and tried to hide the box, but both Fred and George would have none of that.

"Well go on, let's see it then!" Fred said, holding on to the box from across the table and preventing Ginny from successfully stashing it under her seat. Fred pulled the box toward him while she pulled it to her, trying to keep it closed, and the box opened. The mint green dress robes nearly fell out onto their plates.

George jumped up instantly. "Oi, careful there, watch it!" he said, grabbing at the voluminous amount of fabric before it fell into the porridge.

Fred, still holding onto the bottom half of the box, tried to catch the other end. "Hang on a sec, I got it!"

"Watch that piece – the porridge, Fred!" George cried out as he tried to collect the mass of fabric. Lee Jordan moved the bowl of porridge and the platters of eggs and toast out of their way with a few flicks of his wand.

Ginny tried to catch the robes with the top of the box. "Don't get it messed up!" she exclaimed as her brothers struggled with her dress robes.

"Nah, we got it Gin," George said, and together they managed to keep the dress robes out of the food on the table.

"It's a nice color for you," Fred stated with an encouraging smile as he examined the mint green fabric. He leaned over so that the part he held could be collected without falling into their plates.

"Blimey, Gin, this is some dress!" George said as he pulled the dress robes to his side of the table. However, now that he was holding up the dress robes at Ginny's side, George got a good look at it and smiled. "It's... well... not all that bad, Ginny," he said, trying very hard to keep a straight face for his sister. "It will look good with your... er... your hair."

"It's pretty, Ginny," Fred added, trying to be encouraging. "Like a princess."

"Give me that," Ginny snapped, embarrassed. Fred held out the bottom of the box for Ginny as she grabbed the dress robes from George and shoved them into the top of the box. He tried to stifle a laugh as he watched her try and wrestle the dress robes back into the box.

"Here," Fred said, handing over a pair of matching green shoes. "These came with it."

George picked up a letter that had nearly landed in his eggs. "There's a note from Mum too," George said, handing over the note. Ginny shoved it into the box as well. She quickly left, trying desperately to ignore her brothers' looks as she carried the dress robes up to Hermione's room.

"Mind if I come in?" Ginny asked as she approached Hermione's bed.

"No. What do you have there?" Hermione looked up from the essay she was finishing for her first class that morning. A plate with half eaten apple slices and toast sat on her bedside table.

"I just got my dress robes from Mum," Ginny said, plopping onto Hermione's bed and tossing the box with her dress robes next to her. Ginny had to remove a book she sat on, a common occurrence when visiting Hermione in her room.

Ginny looked at the book, confused. It was a guide to wand sewing techniques, Flick and Stitch Made Easy vol. 1.

Four more books lay on Hermione's bed with several markers in the pages. Along with her Charms book and her Astronomy book lay The Magical Homemaker: Magical Alterations Made Easy resting partially under A Witches Guide to Sewing. The top book was lying open to the chapter describing the charms needed to do wand-sewing techniques. The book came complete with three charmed sewing needles, which lay on the book along with thread, pins and measuring tape. A small sewing basket sat next to Hermione's knee.

"What's all this?" Ginny asked, pointing to Hermione's collection of books and sewing items.

"Mum sent my dresses last night, and I had her send these in case we needed to alter them any," Hermione said as she set down her essay and pointed to the small sewing basket. "I ordered this book from Flourish and Blotts," Hermione added, indicating A Witches Guide to Sewing, "the day after you told me Neville asked you to the Ball. You know, just in case. And this one I borrowed from the library." She touched The Magical Homemaker: Magical Alterations Made Easy. "Do you want to see the dresses Mum sent?" Hermione asked excitedly.

Apparently Hermione had received two gowns from her mum, both covered in plastic and hanging on her wardrobe door. The first one Hermione opened was a rose pink, floor-length Muggle gown with lots of ruffles sewn in rows on the hem and along the neckline and short, puffy sleeves. The gown also had a big sash around the waist that tied in the back.

"You wore that?" Ginny giggled, eyeing the dress.

"Yes, at my cousin Michelle's wedding." Hermione smiled, lost in some little private memory. "My dad said I looked like a princess."

"That's what Fred and George said about the dress robes Mum sent. 'Like a princess.' I was hoping for pretty or even beautiful," Ginny said with a sigh.

"Ginny, it's the shape of the dress that really counts. Besides, maybe we can fix it," Hermione said cheerfully. "You can leave the dress here. We will have a look at it after dinner, alright?"

Ginny nodded and ran her hand along the box. The dress looks a hundred years old. But maybe Hermione is right. Maybe we can fix it up some. "I'm sure Mum picked out the nicest one she could," she said as she followed Hermione from the dorm room.

~~*~~*~~*~~

After dinner, Ginny and Hermione were back in Hermione's room, looking at the dresses Mrs. Granger had sent. Hermione removed the plastic covering the two dresses hanging on the wardrobe door. The first was a simple, pale pink, tea-length dress with a ruffle along the neckline. The other was the rose pink bridesmaid gown.

Hermione held the rose pink gown up to Ginny. "And it looks like it may even fit you!" she said, smiling. She unzipped the gown and held it open. "Go on then, try it on."

Ginny pulled off her school robes and slipped into the dress – yes, it fits. But horny horklumps, this dress isn't much better! Hermione zipped up the dress, and Ginny turned to face her.

Hermione looked critically at the dress. "This color looks good with your skin, Ginny, but it's a bit off with your hair. Let's see the one your mum sent."

Apprehensively, Ginny opened her box and pulled out her dress robes. She stared at them, utterly dismayed by the old, second hand dress robes her mum sent her. "It looks over a hundred years old – at least!" she sighed. "I think I'd rather wear this one."

Ginny's gown was a mint green brocade with tiered layers of filmy iridescent mint green gossamer at the waist and bustled in the back. The long sleeves ended with a wide ruffle of the gossamer fabric. It had a wide collar and small fabric flowers in the opaline mint fabric all over it, and large, green satin rosettes all around. "If this was the best one Mum could get, I wonder how bad the others were," Ginny said, trying to hold back the disappointment in her voice.

Hermione laid the dress robes Mrs. Weasley had sent on her bed and looked at them objectively. "Ginny this isn't that bad," she stated, and Ginny shot her an incredulous grimace. "No! Really – it will be fine. We could cut up the dresses and combine parts to make new dress robes. This color is really pretty and goes with your hair much better. If we use this fabric," she said, indicating the tiered layers of filmy opaline mint, "and... maybe we could use the collar, add or... remove the ruffles..." She pointed from the Muggle gown Ginny had on to the dress robes and back again as she spoke.

"I don't like the sleeves," Ginny stated, "on either dress."

"Okay, let's start by removing them." Hermione quickly checked the book, A Witches Guide to Sewing, to look up the spell and then confirmed it in Flick and Stitch Made Easy. Hermione used her wand to carefully separate the sleeves from both the dress robes and the gown. She then began to separate the seams of the layers of filmy iridescent mint fabric on the dress robes, laying them carefully aside.

Ginny watched, then began to try the spell herself, flicking off the rosettes and little flowers. "Be careful with those! We may need them," Hermione admonished, pointing to the flowers. Ginny raised her eyebrows, but was a bit more careful when removing them.

Hermione removed the collar. Next she began removing the ruffles from the bridesmaid dress and took off the sash. All Ginny was left with was a very simple, floor length, sleeveless dress with a low neckline. She stood looking at her reflection in the mirror by Hermione's bed.

"Okay, it's a nice start actually. What did you have in mind then?" Ginny asked. The dress does fit me well, and the skirt is nice and full. It also swishes when I move.

Hermione looked at the collection of pieces on her bed. "I was thinking if we were to add this collar here," she said, placing the collar along the neckline and pinning it in place. Next Hermione held up one of the opaline pieces, studying the wide crescent shape. The smaller top curve to the piece was almost the size of Ginny's waist. "And place these iridescent pieces along the waist," she said. Hermione carefully pinned the longest layer first to the rose pink gown around Ginny's waist, carefully matching the points of the fabric in the front, and then pinned the second, medium length piece over it the same way. Finally she pinned the third and shortest piece and stood back to admire the effect. Each layer lay nicely over the full skirt with the edges curving down, back and around, accentuating the hemline nicely. The rose pink of the skirt underneath showed through the first layer of the iridescent fabric, the second layer showed much less, but the third didn't show much of the pink at all. The effect was great. "Do you like this?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, it's pretty!" Ginny turned, swishing the skirt and looking in the mirror. "We can attach the sash, couldn't we?" Ginny held up the sash at her waist. "It will give me a bow in the back."

"Yes, and I really think a few flowers in the front would look really good too." Ginny shook her head but Hermione cut her off. "Just a few – as an accent, not a whole bouquet!" she said, laughing as she pinned a few flowers where the collar met in front and two just below on the bodice. Hermione smiled. "Well, what do you think?"

Ginny was pleased with the effect of the dress robes turning this way and that in the mirror. "I like it!"

"Alright then, the hard part is sewing all this in place. Take it off carefully so we don't lose any pins and you don't get poked," Hermione warned her.

Once the new dress robes were off, Ginny looked at the sleeve holes. "What about this?" she asked, pointing it out to Hermione.

"We could turn it under or we could trim it with a bit of the green fabric," Hermione suggested as she examined the cut edge where the sleeves were removed. "Which would you like?"

"A touch of the green I think?" Ginny said. "Don't you?"

Hermione examined the leftover pieces of the dress robes now scattered around her bed. "We could use the ruffle from the sleeves," she suggested, picking up one sleeve. "Or cut a sleeve from the skirt and use the same material as the collar."

Ginny eyed the ruffle on the sleeve and the skirt. "I think the ruffle from the sleeves." They removed the ruffles carefully, then Hermione pinned them to the armholes. However, the old style of the ruffle had one side that was longer than the other, so that the sheer fabric fell nicely from the wrists but still allowed the use of the wearer's hands. Hermione pinned the first ruffle to the sleeve hole with the fuller side up, falling over her arm. Ginny crinkled her nose as she looked at the new sleeve. "I'm not sure if I like that. It's too... poofy that way. Like a wing. But if we went the other way and put a flower at the top here... it would be cute." Ginny held a small fabric flower up to her shoulder.

"Aren't you glad we saved the flowers?" Hermione asked teasingly as she removed the ruffled sleeve and re-pinned it.

"Yeah, they are nice. If they aren't all over the dress! Just a few placed here and there are nice." Ginny looked at her dress robes while Hermione hung them up. "It is so much nicer than I expected. When Mum said she'd send me dress robes, I was worried. You saw Ron's; they are ghastly!" She picked up the largest part of the old dress robes. "I would have hated wearing this, actually. I'd never have told Mum though; she would have been crushed... and disappointed."

Hermione showed Ginny the pages she marked in the books on the various sewing techniques. "There are a few spells and wand movements. If we practice on the fabric of the old dress robes before we try it on yours, we might do a better job of sewing it. Thankfully we have time before the Ball."

The next few nights after dinner, and as homework allowed, Ginny would slip away with Hermione to her room and behind the drapes of her bed. There they would spend hours sewing the pieces of the dress robes onto the gown. It had taken both girls several tries on the voluminous skirt of the old robes to get the wand sewing techniques down to where they felt confident enough to use them on the new dress, but once Ginny mastered the spells, she felt a great sense of accomplishment.

When the gown was finished and assembled, Ginny slipped into the dress and was extremely pleased. The dress looked like it had been made by Madam Malkin herself and was a lovely gown. She turned and swirled, watching the full skirt and her reflection in Hermione's mirror, smiling, feeling pretty and beautiful at the same time. "Oh, won't everyone be surprised?" she asked. "It's perfect Hermione, thank you. It's... it's like being a princess!"

"Ginny, you'll be the belle of the Ball!" Hermione exclaimed as she sat crossed-legged on her bed watching her friend, laughing at her, equally as delighted. "I can't wait until Neville sees you... or your brothers, for that matter."

"I think it will knock off their socks! At least Fred and George's," Ginny replied, giggling. "Maybe even Ron might notice, and possibly Harry."

"I don't know, Gin, you are always telling me just how thick Ron is," Hermione said, unzipping the dress to hang it back up. "I don't think Harry is any less dense. But we will at least have a great time."

Ginny hugged Hermione. "We will. I get to go! I actually get to go!"

~~*~~*~~*~~

I owe so much to Elizabeth for reading through this and making it a better story. Thanks