Watch out for Nargles! (a Luna Lovegood fanfic)

6

After dinner the next day, Sara and me went straight to the Hufflepuff common room to chat with the other girls, that all waited for the party in the evening. Sara did most of the talking, like usually, and I just listened and laughed at the right times. After a while my friend decided it was time to go to our room and prepare. She needed a lot of time to choose an outfit, I knew from other parties, and she used to ask for my opinion. These dressing rituals were very important for her, so I followed her up the stairs.

Finally in our dorm room Sara extended a beautiful red dress from her wardrobe and showed it to me. 

"What do you think?", she asked me. But before I could answer, she took the word again. "Beautiful, isn't it? My mum bought it for me this year, because there were so many parties upcoming, and my old dress is quite outworn."

I didn't know what to say. My mum hadn't bought me a new dress, and it hadn't bothered me at all up to this moment. I suddenly didn't know what to wear. What would Luna decide upon? I was sure she would have a dress out of the ordinary. But me? I couldn't keep up to either Sara or her. 

I opened my wardrobe and searched for something not old and washed out.

"Let me help you", Sara said. She rummaged in my closet for a while, then shook her head and went over to hers.

"You don't have any dresses, do you?", she asked. "But don't worry, I'll lend you one of mine. I think this would fit you."

She turned around with a plain but beautiful purple dress. It was very long, but not so much that you'd trip on it, it had long sleeves, that would also hang almost to the ground, and the neckline was not too wide, so I wouldn't be uncomfortable in it.

"Wow, this is perfect!", I said with a hushed voice.

"Let's see if it fits you", Sara replied and signalled me to change into the robe.

She herself put her dress on too. She was of course beautiful, with her long blonde hair falling in waves over her shoulders. I had brown middle-lenght hair, a bit wavy and I was quite happy with it, but nothing could compare to Saras magnificent head of hair.

The dress was a bit tight, because Sara was slimmer than me, but not too uncomfy. I asked Sara to close the buttons on the back, and I closed hers.

Then we stood next to each other in front of the mirror.

"I hope you have fun tonight", the words escaped Saras mouth and I wondered where they came from. "I really do! I'm sorry that I've been mean to you and Luna, you were right. She is nice."

That was so unexpected that I turned to actually look at her.

"You mean that?", I asked, astounded.

"Yes, of course. And I'm not mad at you for going to the party with her. Just don't go around telling people there are Nargles in every corner", she added with a smirk.

"I won't!", I laughed. "Thanks."

My voice came out thicker than I intended to, but Sara didn't seem to notice, or she didn't act on it. I gave her a quick hug.

"And thanks for the dress."

"No problem. You're my friend!", she told me. Those words were comforting to hear, especially after these last days. I didn't know why Sara had changed her mind, but all that mattered was that our friendship was back. It showed, that it needed more to separate us. 

"So, let's go, don't you think?", she exclaimed. "Or we'll be late!"