Study Date | James Potter

Chapter 25 - "A Nap Doesn't Sound Like A Bad Idea"

Halfway through September came the first Hogsmeade trip of the school year. Tina and Rose woke early and proceeded to Gladrags Wizardware, to get ahead of the crowd of girls that would no doubt arrive soon after.

Gladrags was well known for its quirky clothes, especially socks which were usually enchanted to flash in bright colours, yell loudly, or both, however it did also have a section for formal wear, including some beautiful gowns. The two spent three hours in the shop, trying on various dresses before finally settling on their choices. They made their purchases and wished the owner a warm farewell, then headed to the Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer.

"You know, I really miss this stuff in the muggle world. I should stock up before I go home for the summer," Rose mused, taking a sip. "Oh and that reminds me, we need to stop by Honeydukes. My chocolate and sweet stash is running low."

Valentina sighed. "Merlin Rose, I swear you're on a permanent sugar high. If you ever come down you're going to crash so hard. It can't be good for you!"

Rose laughed. "Yeah well I've lasted this long, haven't I?"

"And what a shame it is," Tina shook her head.

They stared at each other for a few moments, then both burst into a laughter so hard it was silent, attracting more than a few strange looks from the other customers.

Rose was glad to see Tina happy - she seemed to become more and more despondent whenever they saw Matthew with his new friends. He was a sore subject that Alicia and Rose made sure to avoid even mentioning in conversation. Meanwhile, Rose had repeatedly tried to talk to him but hadn't yet managed to catch him alone.

"Alicia asked me to get her some Chocoballs too, since she can't come yet. Oh and I saw they had some tasters for a new treacle toffee recipe when we went past earlier," Rose said as she finished her drink.

"I might grab some liquorice wands while we're there." Tina drained her own drink and stood up. "Wow this is going to be a long day, isn't it?" She yawned.

Rose yawned too, stretching, then picked up the bag containing her dress. "Well at least it's Sunday tomorrow. I'm going to lie in till ten."

"Only ten? We're probably going to be up till at least two in the morning. And we need to pick up a copper cauldron while we're here too, because you said you didn't have one."

Rose shrugged. "Alright, twelve then, and it's a good job you remembered that. I completely forgot."

"Because your mind was on sugar."

"You know it."

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The girls got back to the castle a little after midday, and after dropping their purchases in their room, went to find Alicia, who was stewing lacewing flies in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom on the second floor.

She was chatting brightly to Myrtle when they arrived, and it was rather disconcerting to see the ghost smiling rather than wailing as usual.

"Hi Myrtle," Rose pasted a smile on her face. Myrtle tended to be a little annoying, but it was a lot worse when she was crying. Thankfully, she enjoyed Alicia's company, and therefore tolerated having Rose and Tina in her bathroom too.

"The lacewing flies look good," Alicia informed them. "I checked them before breakfast and then came back here after lunch to check again. Did you two get your dresses in Hogsmeade? Can I see?"

Rose laughed at the younger girl's enthusiasm. "Well we tried on loads this morning so we're a bit tired, but we'll show you them when we get back to the dungeons and we could try them on..." she looked at Tina, "next weekend? We still need to do hair and makeup and accessories."