Self-conscious and insecure Evelyn Garrick has a history of comparing herself to others, longing to be anyone but herself.
She is trapped in her own mind and is drowning in her negative thoughts.
She meets a boy. A boy who also struggles to accept...
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"Your birthday is coming up," Pippa stated, once Saturday morning.
"I know," Evie said, with her head stuck in her History of Magic textbook.
"What are you thinking of doing for it? Same as last year?"
The previous year, Pippa and Evie had spent the day in Hogsmede together. Pippa had insisted on buying everything since it was Evie's 17th birthday.
Evie paused. She had been thinking about what she wanted to do for her birthday. She had an idea, but didn't know whether it seemed stupid or not.
"Well, I-um," Evie began, closing her book. "I was thinking about having a party. Like you did."
Pippa furrowed her eyebrows. "I thought you didn't like parties?"
"Well that was when I only had you and I was extremely shy around everyone else," Evie began. "Now I have Remus, and his friends seem to like me too, and I'm not as scared of stuff anymore."
Pippa didn't reply, thinking.
"Actually never-mind," Evie said, taking her best friends silence as a bad sign. "It's a stupid idea."
"No it's not!" Pippa said, suddenly full of life. She moved to sit beside Evie on her bed. "I'm so glad you're breaking out if you shell!"
Evie laughed as her friend hugged her. "Maybe fell everyone that it's just a random party. They mightn't come if they know it's my birthday."
Pippa smiled as she pulled away. "Ok fine. But we need to go and buy you a dress. Soon."
"There isn't a Hogsmede weekend until after my birthday," Evie pointed out.
Pippa jumped from the bed. "Well lucky for us, your boyfriend is best friends with the two best pranksters of the century, who know the secret passages in and out of the castle."
"He's not my boyfriend," Evie said.
Pippa rolled her eyes. "Yeah right."
♥ ♥ ♥
Less than two hours later, Pippa and Evie had found the marauders and convinced them to show the secret way out of the castle. The Hufflepuffs found themselves by the statue of a witch, muttering a spell and climbing into the tunnel that revealed itself. They were surprised to find themselves in Hogsmede, almost certain that the boys had tricked them.
"This shop is really good," Pippa said, pointing out a very fancy looking boutique. "I got a few of my dresses from there."
They had a quick scan around the shop, but found nothing.
"Don't worry," Pippa said when Evie left the shop looked fairly glum. "There's plenty more shops."
The shops seemed to get worse as they continued. Every dress Evie tried on seemed to be too tight, too short or and wrong colour, sometimes all three.
"Maybe this is a sign," Evie sighed. "I'm not meant to have a party."
"Hush," Pippa wagged her finger in Evie's face. "Begone negativity," she exclaimed, waving her finger around like a wand.
Although she was losing faith, Evie let Pippa bring her into more shops. It was only in the last shop that things got a little brighter for Evie.
"You like that one?" Pippa asked as Evie examined a dress. "Try it on!" Pippa encouraged when Evie nodded.
Evie did, and was so glad she did. The dress was black on top, with long sleeves that Evie really liked. The neckline was round, with lace poking up. The skirt was red and fairly tight, but the fact that it didn't cling to her skin made her love it.
"You look amazing," Pippa smiled.
"I look like me," Evie whispered, stroking the fabric of the dress.
