you will see your beauty every moment that you rise

[cleverness]

Hermione feels her chest tighten from the moment she steps into the dress shop. There are soft colors surrounding her on all sides, a mixture of white and faint pastels, in such quantities that Hermione can't even imagine how she'll ever be able to find the right dress in time. For years, she's dreamed about what her wedding day might look like, and even if Hermione doesn't have the extensive notes that others her age might, there's an excitement that thrums just under her skin as she hurries into the shop.

She's invited some of her friends to join her — anyone who has a couple hours and the patience to spare. Even though Hermione knows that the wedding will be perfect simply because of the man who will be standing at the end of the aisle, she wants all of the other details to fall in place. Having more eyes and opinions will only make her feel more secure in her skin.

"Do you know what style of dress you're looking for, dear?" the shopkeeper asks her, a sweet woman with a heart-shaped face and delicate brunette curls.

Hermione parts her lips, on the cusp of deferring to her judgment entirely, but a moment later, she nods. "I think I'd like a long dress," she admits, feeling her cheeks flush. "White, perhaps with a hint of lace."

Half an hour later, Hermione stands back up on the stool in front of the tri-panel mirror, turning around slowly and feeling the weight of the skirt.

"What about this dress?" she asks, brushing errant curls of hair out of the way as she spreads the skirt, feeling the fabric against her palm.


[ help hermione pick between dress one, two, three, four. ]

Comments

[beyondtheblonde]

Elle laughs, rolling her eyes affectionately. "Boys," she sighs. "They can be so ridiculous about those things." She remembers being eleven and not really caring about any of that. She'd like clothes and dogs and pep squad and going shopping with her friends. Boys were cute, but not exactly a priority, and she's not sure when exactly that changed. Little Elle had her priorities straight, she thinks.

"It's like the moment they realize you're a girl," she says, patting Hermione's shoulder as she steps back, "it's some crazy shock, like they totally didn't even realize you had boobs before."

[cleverness]

"Exactly," Hermione says, making sure to smooth out the sleeves on the dress. The lace is soft, but still feels slightly strange as she moves her arms around, but the tighter contour of the dress immediately appeals to Hermione as she steps out to look at her reflection in the mirror, still beaming from cheek to cheek.

"It worked exactly like that for the two of us. There was a ball that was being held at our school, you see, and he and our friend Harry were agonizing over what to do about the ball. Both of them tried inviting some of the most popular girls at school, and after both of them were rejected, they froze and didn't know what to do," she explains with a grin. "By then, many of the girls at school had already been asked. Only then, in a fit of desperation, did Ron point out to Harry that I was a girl, and therefore a potential option for his date. Making the assumption, of course, that I didn't have a date. It vexed me at the time."