"Want to come to the ball with me?"

― J.K. Rowling

"JUST STAND THERE -yes...yes-perfect. Now, don't move dear and stay-I said don't move!" Mary-Jane snapped, not bothering to care about the fact that she was snapping at a powerful Scar. Helene closed her eyes and gulped as she put the needle against the skin.

Please don't poke me. Please don't poke me.

Helene opened her eyes to find Brenna laughing at her behind a stack of dresses.

"You are so thick, my dear," Mary-Jane muttered. "Why don't I give you a diet?"

Helene bit her lip to keep from screaming at the tightness of the cloth around her waist. "It's...pfftt...called...agh...muscle."

"Muscle," Mary-Jane hummed. "Don't you think this dress is too tight for you?"

No shit.

"Yes," Helene nodded. "Definitely!"

Mary-Jane let go of her and let all the pieces of clothes drop. It was the second day of her trying to make something look good on Helene's body. The others had found something to wear for tonight, and had chosen their shoes as well. The boys had finished last night and were out on a stroll in the city, enjoying themselves with guards trailing behind them.

"Why don't we let you try on ready mades?"

Helene nodded, trying to regain her breath.

Mary-Jane ushered her towards her and she followed her behind a stack of dresses. "What color would you like, dear?"

"Maybe a silver dress?" Helene suggested.

Mary-Jane looked around, thinking. And then, "Ah ha! Perfect. Just stay here, dear."

And then she was walking away, as quickly as possible on her small black heels clicking quick and fast.

The next three hours went like this: Helene tried on literally every silver dress in the castle. Some were tight and the others were as baggy as a garbage bag.

"This one? No, too bright." Mary-Jane made a disgusted noise at the back of her throat. "Try the next one. Here."

Helene changed and came out.

"Ooh! Do you like it?" Before Helene could reply, she shook her head and muttered. "Too short. Next one, here."

She changed again.

"Disgusting. Here, try this one."

She changed again.

"Eeek! What is this? Try this one, quick!"

She changed again.

"Sweetheart...you're wearing it the wrong way. Here, try this."

She changed again.

"I think it's beautiful! But it makes you look like a balloon, am I right

dear? Take it off."

She changed again.

"Hmmm, that's a green dress. Why didn't you say so?"

And finally, when she was tired to the bones she collapsed on the bench nearby and cried out, "I'm not going to the ball! I'm not!"

Mary-Jane looked outraged, "How dare you not go? A beauty like you must present herself at the ball! You must!"

Helene tried to glare at her but failed. Something shining and bright caught her eye instead and she stood up to take a look at it.

"How about this, Mary-Jane? Do you like it?"

Mary-Jane frowned. "Those are for the lower class. I don't think you would want to go wearing that."

"I want to wear it." Helene shook her head. "I'll pull it off. I'm sure."

Mary-Jane nodded and pushed the dress into her hands. "Go try it on and let me see how you look. If you like it, then this will be the final."

Glad to be nearly done, she slid on the dress and stepped out, a smile on her face, "I love it! I'd like this one if that's okay."

Mary-Jane nodded and clapped her hands. You may change and put on your normal clothes. I'll put this in a nice bag along with those sandals-wait! What shoes will you wear?"

"Um, I'll find one in my suitcase. Don't worry. I have many. Many, many many. So many. Don't you worry."

Mary-Jane nodded, a proud expression on her face, "That is good. A girl must have many options to wear."

Helene nodded, taking the dress from her. She smiled at Helene once more and added, "I will come down to your room in a couple of hours to help you get ready. Don't you worry."

Helene opened her mouth to say that it would be okay and that she didn't need to waste her time on her but Mary-Jane shushed her and pushed her out the door of the dressing room.

"Good bye, Helene. I'll see you later and make you look like Cinderella!"

"Cinder-who?" Helene asked, trying to push the door open. "Wait! Who's Cinderella? What if she's really ugly and I don't want to be like her-"

The door banged on her face.

Helen stepped back, rubbing her nose. "Sheesh. That hurt, you know!"

She tried navigating her way to her room. The castle was huge and Helene had no idea where anything was. Their tourist was gone, and Helene had no idea where to go any more.

"Where is my cursed room?" She muttered as she went down the elevator for the third time. "It was level 2 right? How come I can't find it?"

"Actually, it was level 4, ma'am." Sir Percy muttered as he joined her in the elevator. "You look very tired, my lady."

Helene muttered a couple of curses and pressed level 4, "Of course. I knew that."

Sir Percy nodded, "Of course."

The level 4 dinged and the door slid opened and Helene walked through. She walked down the corridor towards her room and snapped it open with a tired huff of annoyance.

"Stupid castle and this stupid room and that stupid floor 4." Helene tossed the dress on the floor beside her bed. "I'm going to sleep."

She shut the lamp on her bedside table and curled into the covers, closing her eyes and went to sleep, ready for those nightmares to engulf her full.

»»————-❈————-««

THE LOUD KNOCKING on her door woke her from the dreamy state she was in.

"Wait-"

KNOCK KNOCK.

"-I said I'm coming!" Helene roared.

The knocking stopped for a second and Helene took the opportunity to run to the door and spring it open. Outside stood Mary-Jane, holding bags of god knows what and a servant behind her helping her carry something that looked a lot like a makeup box.

"Oh my god-" She looked horrified at the state Helene was in at the moment. "You look hideous!"

Helene scowled. She wasn't quite used to people calling her hideous. "Thanks for the compliment. What do you want, ma'am?"

"To get you ready for the ball, of course! It starts in three hours!"

Three hours?

That was so much time!
Helene opened her mouth to say so when Mary-Jane let herself in and said, "We have such less time. Get into the washroom, your going to take a shower."

Helene opened her mouth then closed it, like a gaping fish.

"What are you standing there for?"She cried. "Get into the bathtub already!"

Helene was pushed into the washroom and the door slammed shut. She heard Mary-Jane muttering under her breath, "Are all Scars this stupid or is it just her?"

Stupid? How dare she?

It pushed Helene to quickly start changing as fast as she could, stripping off all her clothing as fast as she could and getting into the shower to start cleaning herself up. The water ran over hr fair skin, leaving small droplets in its wake. She could hear Mary-Jane setting up her table, preparing for Helene to come out.

Mary-Jane seemed more excited then Helene did in getting herself ready at all. Was Mary-Jane going to the ball as well?

She picked up the towel hanging from the hook on the door and wrapped it around herself and walked out the door, her hair dripping with fresh and clean water. Mary-Jane looked up from where she was putting down a large cream bottle and clapped her hands, pushing out the chair to the large dressing table.

"Sit, sit. We should get started. You have already used up half an hour and we are running late."

Running late? They had two and a half hours left!

Helene obeyed without objection. Mary-Jane had already worked so hard on her and she didn't want to say no.

First, she applied nail polish to her nails and set her hands on the table to let them dry off.

Then, she began drying her hair with a hair dryer, blowing her hair away. Dirty-blond wisps of hair made it to her face and Helene blew them away with her mouth as casually as possible. In real life, her heart was beating in her chest in a dramatic heartbeat. She was excited to see the end result after everything was done.

Time flew by, and Mary-Jane was soon applying cream to Helene's face to moisturize it and keep it clear.

"Stop moving, dear. How many times do I have to say so?"

Helene ceased fidgeting immediately.

"Good, good." She finished applying the foundation and moved to the concealer. Helene clasped her hands in her lap and did as she was told.

Every once in a while, Mary-Jane would tell her to look one way. And then another. It was quiet time taking, and Helene was starting to feel restless.

"What would you like as your eye shadow?" She asked, stopping for a second to look at Helene.

Helene peered at the eye shadow palette and opened her mouth but Mary-Jane interrupted instead, "Silver?"

Helene's eyes widened in horror and Mary-Jane shook her head, "You're quite right. Not silver. Oooh! How about white?"

"Um-"

"Toot toot. That's to...bright? Yes. Too bright. Grey should do."

"Wait-"

"Ew, I can imagine the grey sticking out. How about a nice thick black?"

Did this lady know anything about makeup?

"Please wait-"

"Aha! I know! A dramatic effect of all those colors together!" The lady was practically screaming in delight.

"How about a smokey eye?" Helene suggested.

Mary-Jane looked at her with wide eyes, "That's good. Very good. I like it. Let's do it."

Helene sat still once again as she applied the eyeshadow and eyeliner, squinting her eyes to make sure it was perfect.

"Let's do your eyebrows and then the final touches, yes?"

Helene didn't bother to reply and Mary-Jane got started. She fixed her eyebrows, though they were perfectly fine already, then applied mascara and bronzer.

"Where is that contour bottle cap thing?" She muttered as she bent down to rummage through her large orange bag. "I swear it was right here..."

Helene picked it up and shoved it in her face without speaking. Mary-Jane stood up with a slight, 'oh dear' and was off to smacking that on her face.

"And now my favourite thing! The lips!" She pulled out a nice matte natural lipstick and got to work, making sure it was a light color and not too dark.

"Let me check on those nails, yes?" Mary-Jane quickly pulled out a top clear coat and began to apply it on her nails, and then bent down to do her toe nails as well.

"The hair time!"

She stood back to examine Helene. "I know the perfect style. Don't you move."

By this point, Helene was drained of any energy and so she just nodded, praying it wasn't anything too bad. She wiggled her fingers to get the blood moving into them and waited for Mary-Jane to finish with her hair.

After a good agonizing thirty minutes, Mary-Jane stepped back and gasped at the sight. Helene leaned forward to get a glimpse of herself, but she blocked her view and tsked, "Go change first."

She rolled her eyes and grabbed the dress from the bag and hurried to the washroom to change. It was a bit of a struggle not to ruin her makeup, her nails and her hair, but she got it through and stepped out. She peeked at the time.

She was late.

Ten minutes late to be exact.

"Your heels! Quick!" Mary-Jane handed her some silver heels and nudged her to put them on. Helene had no idea where she had gotten them from, but slipped them on nonetheless.

Helene ruffled her hair a bit, and walked to the mirror to check herself out.

She looked beautiful and she grinned into the mirror. "Wow, you do a great job in making me look good-"

"Quick!" Mary-Jane was already pushing her out the door. "You're late! Ten minutes late!"

__________________________________________

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