To say that Emery Fowl was surprised would be an understatement.

"Holy Merlin and Merlin's Grandma and the rest of the Merlin population," she murmured out loud, her eyes wide and her jaw open.

Cecilia laughed. "Merlin population?" she snorted, "Couldn't you think of something better?"

Emery shook her head. 

"Oh, well," she said, "You're not upset, are you?"

"No," admitted Emery. "I'm just shocked how all this was under my nose and I couldn't solve it."

"Yeah, I thought you knew, so I yelled at you earlier," Cecilia said. "I'm sorry."

Emery said nothing, but pulled the girl into a hug, wrapping her arms tightly around her slim figure.

"Hold on a second," said Emery, breaking away. "I just realized something."

"What?"

"You have a brother?"

"Oh, yes," said Cecilia. "He graduated from Hogwarts last year. I met with him last month. He's actually really sweet."

"Wait, wait, wait," called Emery dramatically, "Did you just call Lucius Malfoy sweet? I've pranked him loads of times, and now I feel really guilty," she moaned, clutching her face and pulling her cheeks down.

Cecilia burst out laughing.

***

The Christmas ball was in two hours.

The entire castle was in a state of turmoil, and there was panic and rush everywhere. Cecilia and Emery were in the girls' dormitory, which seemed too small all of a sudden. 

Sybil Trelawny, one of Emery's dormmate, was wearing a deep green dress that reached her ankles, paired with a strange sort of ornamental Christmas hat.

Hestia Jones, along with Emmeline Vance, both inseparable, were wearing identical dresses of deep burgundy, which in Emery's opinion made them look like twins.

Cecilia was getting dressed, styling her blonde curls into an interesting, fancy updo. In Emery's opinion, she looked divine. 

She wore a long, black dress, made of a soft velvet material, with thin spaghetti straps holding it up. It was simple, yet she looked like a goddess.

Only Emery wasn't getting ready.

She was sitting on her bed, playing Wizard chess against herself.

Once Cecilia was ready, she looked at Emery, who was shouting at herself for helping the opposite team, which was...herself.

"Em, why aren't you getting ready?" Cecilia inquired, "The ball is in an hour."

Emery shrugged. "I don't know what to wear," she sighed.

Cecilia giggled. "Oh, you always do this," she said, shaking her head and smiling to herself. 

"Well it's true," whined Emery. "I don't want anything fancy, or anything too bright. Why couldn't I just go in pants and a blouse?"

Cecilia hummed. "Em, you know you can't, and you know why. I don't know why you bother to ask the same question every single time, while still knowing the answer."

She shrugged. "Someday the answer might change," she sighed hopefully.

Cecilia went through Emery's trunk. 

"Em, you naughty girl," she scolded, after pulling out the thirty sixth stuffed animal.

"What?" asked Emery innocently, knowing very well what Cecilia was complaining about. 

"You know very well what," said Cecilia. "You didn't carry a single dress with you on purpose."

Emery smiled slyly. 

"Well young Missy, you underestimated me," said Cecilia naughtily, smirking. "I was one hundred percent sure that you would do this."

"How?" Emery asked.

"I know you too well," said Cecilia. 

"And I was prepared for this," she continued, going through her own trunk and pulling out a large white box.

Emery's eyes widened in horror. "You knew?" she asked. "You knew, and so you brought a dress," she accused Cecilia. 

Emery moaned. 

"Oh, I wish I'd picked my own dress. Then at least I'd have had a choice," she whined bitterly.

Cecilia smirked. "You should have thought about that before," she sang. "Maybe this will teach you a lesson."

Emery groaned.

Cecilia slammed the box on Emery's desk. "There you go," she said with a sigh. "Your dress."

Emery scooted far away from the dress. Slowly, she came closer, looking at it with hate, as if a monster would pop out of it any moment. 

"I wonder which dress she chose," muttered Emery to herself.

She came closer to the box, then held its lid. Slowly, she slid the lid off.

Inside lay a sheer white fabric, made of delicate chiffon and silk.

Emery lifted it out, and spread it open. 

"Well," she said. "The dress isn't that bad," she wondered out loud. That was her way of saying she liked it.

Cecilia gave a knowing smile. She knew that Emery liked the dress. In Cecilia's opinion, she thought the dress would fit Emery perfectly. It was simple, and not too bright, nor was it too fancy.

Emery skipped into the bathroom to put on the dress. 

She came out, looking like an angel. 

The dress hung off her in a loose, elegant manner, and the skirt flowed around her floatily. It was sleeveless, the top made of white satin covered with a white net mesh. The skirt was made of silk and georgette, along with chiffon woven to give it an airy look. Her waist was bound by a tight satin ribbon. 

She felt grand. Like a princess. 

"Oh, Cecy, this is beautiful," she whispered. "Where did you get it from?"

Cecilia smiled. "I ordered it last week after checking your trunk, because I knew you wouldn't bother. It suits you," she said, beaming at the outcome.

Emery had never really worn white formally. She mostly always wore blues, and yellows, and she couldn't help but feel confident in white. She liked the feel of the dress; it gave her confidence she never knew she had.

She felt like a woman.

"Oh, Emery, you look so pretty," gushed Cecilia. "Really."

Emery showed Cecilia her teeth, and walked towards the mirror to do her hair.

"Sirius is going to faint," Cecilia muttered faintly.

"Why?" asked Emery, oblivious.

"What?" asked Cecilia. "Oh, nothing," she hummed. 

"No," insisted Emery. "You said Sirius will faint. Is he alright? Will he be okay? Is he sick?"

Cecilia burst out into a violent set of giggles, then quickly masked it as a coughing fit. "No," said Cecilia, choking. "You look really nice. That's why."

"Oh," said Emery, not really getting it.

"OH MY STUPID HAIR!" yelled Emery, ten minutes later, as she flung the brush down exasperatedly. 

"Here, let me help you," said Cecilia, as she grabbed Emery's long blonde hair and began styling it.

"No," said Emery. "I'm done. I can't sit still for another moment."

Cecilia arched her brow.

Emery suddenly beamed as an idea struck her. "I'll be back," she said, grabbing her vanity kit and whizzing into the bathroom.

What Emery did in the bathroom, nobody knew. Until the bathroom door opened ten minutes later. 

When she emerged, Cecilia's jaw dropped as she gasped.

Emery's long hair was gone. Instead, she had shoulder length, wavy blonde locks, the tips grazing her collarbones. On the left side, wavy bangs cascaded down, slightly covering her eye.

"What do you think?" asked Emery with a smirk.

"Mother of Merlin," said Cecilia, awestruck. "Do you have any idea how mad your mother will get?"

Emery nodded, tossing her blonde locks out of her eyes. "I do. It's my hair, not Mama's hair. Personally, I like it much better this way, don't you think?"

"Yeah," said Cecilia. "It looks fantastic. Do mine after the ball, alright?"

"Wait, really?"

"Hell yeah," said Cecilia grinning. 

Emery glanced at Cecilia. Cecilia never said things like 'Hell yeah'. Strange. Nor did she even trust Emery with her hair. Emery decided she liked the new Cecy.

"Okay," she agreed. 

"You need something for your hair," said Cecilia, suddenly remembering. "Wait, I know exactly what."

She walked over to her bedside, taking out a simple, white accessory.

It was a silver wire, twisted in the shape of a crown, woven with pearls and diamonds to form flowers. 

"Woah," Emery gasped. 

Cecilia placed it on Emery's hair. 

"There," she said, "all done."

Then, the two girls walked arm in arm to the Christmas Ball of 1976.

a/n: dress in the external link and the comment right here: 

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm not used to writing dress up scenes, so I hope i did alright. i usually like writing scenes of gore and dialogue..

please vote, comment and share. thanks for reading.

love, elsie.